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Tormentor667

Where is /newstuff?

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Bloodshedder said:
I'm brainstorming a system that allows people with a forums account to "claim" WADs for reviewing and then submit a review within a certain timeframe.

I'm already envisioning I could easily contribute to that, as I only like to do certain types of wads, and have varying time available for it (none, little, or more).

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Bloodshedder said:

I'm brainstorming a system that allows people with a forums account to "claim" WADs for reviewing and then submit a review within a certain timeframe. Don't hold your breath, I haven't even started writing anything and it probably won't be done until the end of the month.

That's something I have thought about as well, a review center for /newstuff and old wads as well, and I even have some work done on my local hd

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I'll definitely contribute to this as well whenever Bloodshedder gets it all ironed out. :) Hey, I did it before, I can do it again!

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Tormentor667 said:

That's something I have thought about as well, a review center for /newstuff and old wads as well

No, not for old WADs, just the new ones that get uploaded. Grimm's got the old WADs covered on his "mini-reviews" site. You can also review the old ones on /idgames/ anyway.

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myk said:

The database comments system does the job without pushing or annoying anybody. And the site has its character; pasting random reviews on the front page just to comply with having them on there isn't going to help with that unless the idea is to convert the site into some sort of news wiki*.

The database commenting system is actually very good for one thing: It allows everyone to post their own opinion about the wad and, in the comment list, no one's opinion is considered "better" than anyone else's. This is particularly important for wads which get mixed opinions, like "maps with tons of detail but poor gameplay", weapon or monster replacements, politically incorrect wads and joke wads. If these kinds of wads would get only one review each it would be really, really bad for the wad (Yes, you can say that everyone can check out the wad to make up their own opinion, but the whole point of reviews is to help decide whether the wad is worth checking out).

The only problem with relying on the database alone, and the biggest benefit of having /newstuff is that finding "new" wads from the database isn't the easiest thing to do. The search function helps you to find wads you already know of, but for example finding just joke wads or monster replacements is a big pain in the ass.

I'd say that adding a new field "Category" to the wad entries in the database could help a lot (provided that it's possible to browse for wads based on category). All current wads could be set as "Undefined", and allow users to set/recommend a category for undefined wads.

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Jodwin said:
The only problem with relying on the database alone, and the biggest benefit of having /newstuff is that finding "new" wads from the database isn't the easiest thing to do.

Ironically, it's among the easiest things to do; search for the File name zip by Date and in Descending order. It produces what Bloodshedder linked to in his first post.

As for categories... that applies to any wads, not just new ones.

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myk said:

Ironically, it's among the easiest things to do; search for the File name zip by Date and in Descending order. It produces what Bloodshedder linked to in his first post.

As for categories... that applies to any wads, not just new ones.


The fact that some long-standing forum members here aren't aware of this should be a major clue that finding the newest wads isn't yet easy enough. We want reviews for new wads to be so EXTREMELY easy to find that a blind hamster can accidentally download the best ones. There are a lot of people in the world who don't play Doom now, but have a chance of stumbling onto this site, and they won't stick around unless the site makes it obvious that there IS good new stuff to play.

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You could argue that the reason that people aren't aware of things is that there are layers upon layers of systems pointing to the things they seek. For example, it's been said endless times that /newstuff and T/nC are not the same thing, yet a bunch of people don't even figure that a separate /newstuff directory exists, despairing when T/nC isn't there because they can't see or find the precious new wads. What Bloodshedder is brewing should be cool because it will provide more reviews, but neither is Doomworld simply a promotional site nor will it necessarily make everything easier.

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That's true, Doomworld isn't necessarily a promotional site. But, promotion and ease of use should still be among this sites' goals. If you do a Google search for "Doom", Doomworld is the first hit... after Wikipedia, and official websites, and Doom 3 websites, and Doom Movie websites... but still, this is where Doom noobs (Doobs? Nooms?) will end up before they find any other community websites. I'm assuming here that frequent, visible reviews of new levels will grab the attention of people who happen to come across this site. This assumption may be wrong in most cases, but from personal experience, I can tell you that discovering the /Newstuff Chronicles was a major event, and helped to change my stance on Doom from "Oh yeah, I remember playing this, like ten years ago" to "I fucking love this game." Of course, if you're content to keep the Doom community at its current size and membership, then you can ignore everything I'm arguing for, but I like to see fresh blood in here as much as possible.

I'll be content if Bloodshedder's new system is easy to find.

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I agree with the previous post wholeheartedly. Before I knew anything about how Doom was doing, I did a search in my county library on Doom, despairing that maybe I wouldn't get a damn result, and that nine years later Doom might be totally forgot. To say I was happy when I stumbled across the /newstuff chronicles and realized how active the Doom community still was would be a gross understatement.

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Creaphis said:
But, promotion and ease of use should still be among this sites' goals.

I don't disagree with either, especially as far as promoting community activity in general is concerned, which of course can't be reduced to merely making or playing new wads, and ease of use is a rather subjective matter, like I implied above by pointing out how adding features can make others more obscure.

I'll be content if Bloodshedder's new system is easy to find.

Actually the "noobs" needing to easily find things would naturally get to know the reviewing by the front page as news, as usual. The review submission system itself may be on the front page, or part of the news forum system, as Bloodshedder and other admins see fit, but I don't see why it should necessarily be more prominent than any hosted sites, the information and help pages, 5/10 years of DOOM, the forums, the news submission system within it, or the database, as it's basically an extension of the news (to produce the T/nC news item).

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It won't be a part of the forums. It will be a single PHP-driven page that will not look pretty but will get the job done. Here's an overview of what would happen:

1. (A) new WAD(s) are uploaded to the archives and parsed into the /idgames database
2. The review center picks up the new WADs and puts them into the list
3. Someone claims a WAD or two to review
4. They have a set amount of time to complete a review
5. They submit their review via the review center and submit any screenshots to me, if applicable
6. I look over the review and decide to accept or reject it
7. Once there is a number of new reviews written and accepted, they will be gathered together and published in an issue of The /newstuff Chronicles

General note: You will need a Doomworld forums account to use this, and you'll have to be logged into the forums. The page reads your forums cookie to figure out who you are.
Note on #2: The list will probably only be updated every morning, as often as the /idgames db is (5AM Eastern).
Note on #3: There will be a limit on outstanding claims per person, probably 2 or 3 to start.
Note on #4: The time limit will probably be 48-96 hours, I haven't decided exactly what it will be yet.
Note on #5: Unless someone can come up with a better system for handling screenshots, they'll have to be e-mailed.
Note on #6: If the review is rejected, the WAD will be available for claiming again. If a person has a substantial number of rejected reviews (or just attempts to abuse the system), they will be banned.
Note on #7: Maybe weekly, maybe bi-weekly, I don't know at the moment.

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Bloodshedder said:

Note on #6: If a person has a substantial number of rejected reviews (or just attempts to abuse the system), they will be banned.

If it's not system abuse wouldn't a polite but firm "Don't give up your day job!" suffice?

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Note on #5: We can make a community ImageShack account that people can upload screenshots to. Naming conventions can be WAD name and screenshot number (i.e. CRATER #1.jpg). This is basically what I'm doing for my site.

And again, I'm more than willing to take on any FunDuke uploads or any other old school Doom 1 WADs. So please keep me in mind for that. However, sometimes I end up busy, so I fall out of contact don't wait on me too long.

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GreyGhost said:

If it's not system abuse wouldn't a polite but firm "Don't give up your day job!" suffice?

I suppose so. Maybe they'd just get the hint after all their sub-par reviews keep getting rejected.

Grimm said:

Note on #5: We can make a community ImageShack account that people can upload screenshots to. Naming conventions can be WAD name and screenshot number (i.e. CRATER #1.jpg). This is basically what I'm doing for my site.

I don't know about that. I want the screenshots on the Doomworld server, not Imageshack.

And again, I'm more than willing to take on any FunDuke uploads or any other old school Doom 1 WADs. So please keep me in mind for that. However, sometimes I end up busy, so I fall out of contact don't wait on me too long.

Keeping you "in mind" in mind isn't necessary. You'll just have to go to the page and claim them in time. And if you fall out of contact, your claims will expire anyways.

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Bloodshedder said:
Note on #5: Unless someone can come up with a better system for handling screenshots, they'll have to be e-mailed.

Wouldn't it be possible to add an image uploading function to the submission form? Perhaps limited by file size and number of files (maybe extension too).

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Oh wow, this is a nice functionality. Not pretty but certainly functional. Now to put a link somewhere on the front page...

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You have to logged into the forums to access that page. If you are logged in - check the cookie handling and security settings in your browser.

Well I'll be damned - I'm a /newstuff reviewer! :D

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Could the 'Claim expires' Time adjust to your Time zone? It would be better for reviewers so then know exactly when there review is meant to be in.

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Butts said:

what the fuck? am i logged on when i type a post?

Try using a different browser maybe? *shrugs*

I guess you could also try deleting your Doomworld cookies, emptying your cache and logging in again to see if that fixes it.

Otherwise I don't know. Works for me.(TM)

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It sounds to me like his cookie protection is up to high. I have mine set to medium and it works for me.

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ler said:

Where should we email screenshots?

Instructions added. I already approved your reviews, so you won't be able to edit them. Either take the first route, or the second and just let me know where they are.

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Are the map title, author name, engine, game type, screenshot icons automatically written? Or should I write a complete review containing all necessary data?

Nevermind, I've just sent the /newstuff review now, having only data not already automatically mentioned.

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