Moderator Guidelines and Contributor Rules

[viritys]

On 2/13/2024 at 6:22 PM, MJF said:

There should also be a rule that states that video links submitted in the video link field should be straight gameplay videos (or trailers) and not game review/commentary videos. I've noticed that someone has been adding game review videos to C64 games lately, and to make matters worse, they aren't even in ENGLISH. They are in POLISH, which is a language spoken by a small minority of LB users.

I think this is already covered under the  "use common sense" -rule   Given that we weren't rickrolled, I'm assuming the submitter is not trolling and is only clueless. OTOH moderation is systematically failing.

Suggestion: I have a similar hobby on documenting comics and what Comic Vine has done is quite clever. It's an elaborate system, but one aspect they are doing that could be implemented without having to rewrite a whole lot of code: Person needs to get a certain amount of points before moderation is available. Points are  given for each accepted submission and  lost for each declined submission. This would raise the quality of moderation and would likely lessen the chances Polish video reviews to go through.
We should also try to compile submission and moderation rules and pin the post.

[C-Beats]

3 hours ago, viritys said:

Suggestion: I have a similar hobby on documenting comics and what Comic Vine has done is quite clever. It's an elaborate system, but one aspect they are doing that could be implemented without having to rewrite a whole lot of code: Person needs to get a certain amount of points before moderation is available. Points are  given for each accepted submission and  lost for each declined submission. This would raise the quality of moderation and would likely lessen the chances Polish video reviews to go through.
We should also try to compile submission and moderation rules and pin the post.

Fairly certain we already have this in our DB as well, though I admit I have no idea how many submissions it is before the flag is enabled.

[viritys]

19 minutes ago, C-Beats said:

Fairly certain we already have this in our DB as well, though I admit I have no idea how many submissions it is before the flag is enabled.

Oh my bad, can't remember having to work for the privilege as it's been quite a few years, Maybe that bar should be raised to 10x or some such? I mean I haven't seen these Polish reviews but sounds like some folks are doing a terrible job

[Sagien]

Is there a guideline about the size/resolution of game screenshots?

I have seen some sort of a "fight" with people scaling the screenshots with the original resolution and people trying to revert these scalings.

I couldn't find any guideline regarding this point.

[MJF]

12 minutes ago, Sagien said:

Is there a guideline about the size/resolution of game screenshots?

I have seen some sort of a "fight" with people scaling the screenshots with the original resolution and people trying to revert these scalings.

I couldn't find any guideline regarding this point.

My issue with scaling isn't so much that they are scaling the images, as it that they usually only scale one of the screenshot images that are present In the entry, if you are going to scale images, scale ALL of them instead of just replacing a single image 

Edited 12 hours ago by MJF
Minor edit

[C-Beats]

1 hour ago, Sagien said:

Is there a guideline about the size/resolution of game screenshots?

I have seen some sort of a "fight" with people scaling the screenshots with the original resolution and people trying to revert these scalings.

I couldn't find any guideline regarding this point.

Traditionally it's been a ruling to have screenshots in native resolution. That being said it doesn't always place nice with the UI and so that isn't a hard set rule (that I'm aware of). I personally would prefer though that if it's pixel based systems the scale be a pixel perfect scaling. No one wants to see any stretch/miss-shaped pixels... Generally speaking I think upscaled resolutions in 3D games also should be avoided. The screenshot should be indicative of what the game would look like on OG hardware, and not what it can look like after being manipulated by emulator tricks. Also in general you should NOT be accepting images using shaders that alter the game image in any way. The images where pixel games are manipulated to look like some smudgy watercolor crap doesn't really belong in the database.

[MJF]

2 hours ago, C-Beats said:

Traditionally it's been a ruling to have screenshots in native resolution. That being said it doesn't always place nice with the UI and so that isn't a hard set rule (that I'm aware of). I personally would prefer though that if it's pixel based systems the scale be a pixel perfect scaling. No one wants to see any stretch/miss-shaped pixels... Generally speaking I think upscaled resolutions in 3D games also should be avoided. The screenshot should be indicative of what the game would look like on OG hardware, and not what it can look like after being manipulated by emulator tricks. Also in general you should NOT be accepting images using shaders that alter the game image in any way. The images where pixel games are manipulated to look like some smudgy watercolor crap doesn't really belong in the database.

Same for screenshots with scanlines turned on, right? I mean scanlines generally do look good on a monitor (depending on your perference), but in  screenshot form, not so much

[Suhrvivor]

Can we please have a reminder of the specific rules on the database website? For example, when you select to upload screenshots, have a reminder that native resolution without enhancements is preferred and when uploading background images a reminder that it shouldn't have logos nor watermarks? It would reduce the amount of bad submissions of people that start contributing without reading the rules.

[JoeViking245]

3 minutes ago, Suhrvivor said:

Can we please have a reminder of the specific rules on the database website? For example, when you select to upload screenshots, have a reminder that native resolution without enhancements is preferred and when uploading background images a reminder that it shouldn't have logos nor watermarks? It would reduce the amount of bad submissions of people that start contributing without reading the rules.

In some form, on the Database site, I think that's a good idea.  "Some form" being like a sidebar note(s), popup tooltip or sub heading in that section (as appropriate). Or somewhere consolidated to less than 30 forum pages.  

If it's not already there, add a suggestion/feedback/feature request,  then create a post to let people know to upvote it.  If there is already something there, upvote and [still] create a post to let people know to upvote it.    Feedback - LaunchBox Games Database

[C-Beats]

2 hours ago, Suhrvivor said:

Can we please have a reminder of the specific rules on the database website? For example, when you select to upload screenshots, have a reminder that native resolution without enhancements is preferred and when uploading background images a reminder that it shouldn't have logos nor watermarks? It would reduce the amount of bad submissions of people that start contributing without reading the rules.

Yeah, we really should. I'd do like @JoeViking245 said and create a ticket if one doesn't exist. I know I personally have expressed my desires to have a bit more guidance on the web page UI but I'm not real involved in that side of things to really monitor what is coming down the pipe and when. Will make it easier on the parts of the team making those calls if there a ticket to keep track of and keep it fresh in their mind.