48 replies to this topic

[FredFredrickson]

I received a complaint from one of the forum members a few weeks ago about the Graphics Forum. This particular complaint called for the creation of a sub-forum for each of the specific uses for this forum, one for requests, one for people offering their services, etc. And while I feel that we're not yet at the point where we have to split up this forum into smaller pieces, I have observed a few things that bother me, and which I think need to change.

To get straight to the point, there are a fair amount of request topics here that I feel are too general to qualify as legitimate requests. These topics usually go something like these:

I'm making an RPG / MMO, and I need weapons, armor, tiles, and HUD graphics, so make whatever you want and I will use it!

I'm making a Pokemon game and I want all the Pokemon you can make, any size, shape, or color will do!

I don't have any ideas for the characters in my game yet, so you can make whatever you want!

These topics don't usually give specifics on content, sizes, colors, views, etc. They call on people to create and post whatever they want, and turn into a huge mess of people posting random images, discussing game design with people who aren't working on the game, and generally not doing anything productive. There are no criteria for completing the request, so the topic goes on and on and on, bumping very reasonable and legitimate requests downwards.

I know that not everyone can have a popular topic or get all the help they need here, but these topics are bloat, and just make the problem worse. This needs to stop.

So from now on, I'd like to see newly created topics have clearly defined requests. Follow the guidelines posted in the pinned topics. List everything you need, and update the list as necessary. If you haven't decided what your game is going to be about yet, you shouldn't be getting other people involved yet. It's not fair for you to waste their time in creating graphics that you might not want, and it's not fair for the rest of the people on this forum who need help too, and deserve to have their topic seen by others.

For topics that already exist, you should clean up your first post within the next week.

Feel free to post your thoughts about this below. I want the graphics forum to be a fun and interesting place for everyone here, but I also want it to be helpful. If there is enough demand, I may also be willing to attach a poll to this topic to see what everyone thinks. Thanks for reading, and thanks for helping to make the Graphics Forum a better place.

[tacopie981]

Sorry about the NON descriptive request

Can you re-open it or something so I can fix it?

or

Can I post a new topic?

Edited by tacopie981, 17 April 2009 - 05:34 PM.

[A saurus1]

I second this. The graphics forum is filled with these kind of requests. I'm okay with topics where the user has provided a template or something and asks sprites to give it clothing/armor and stuff (and that's stretching it), but no template and no description of the game or what the sprite should look like is very non-committal and does not make you look helpful or informative in any way shape or form.

[yodudez]

Great, this definitely needed to be implemented. Great job FF.

[onpon4]

I'm just afraid that this will make absolutely no difference. This statement is powerful, but it doesn't mean that the mods' ability to remove these types of topics is any greater. No human can ever be perfect, and no machine can ever prevent the problem.

[yodudez]

I agree. I suggest more moderators be recruited, or strict laws agains undescriptive topics be impleminted.

[FredFredrickson]

Well, there is no way to prevent these topics from being created. But I will do my best to ensure that any that are created are either fixed or removed, and the hope there is that eventually people will understand the rule and the forum will self-police itself, in a sense.

[fawful]

Since Fred is planning on enforcing it,i can really see it being a big help to the graphic artists doing these requests here.

So yeah,awesome work,Fred.

[threezeros000]

3 cheers for Fred!

This idea is well...good!


And how about there is a form on some kind of that asks if your topic is about Request, Service, Critique etc.

And if it falls under the Request part, it has to be approved by a moderator before showing?

Im just thinking out loud (umm...out words?) but it could work.

[Flipbee9]

About time someone did this!

[threezeros000]

Nothing has been done yet its just an idea.

[photocopier]

The only problem I can see is that this is pinned so no-one will read it

[Opium_RX]

yeah thats sort of a problem, most people ignore the pinned requests, and yes we need to enforce the requests standards....it gets pretty annoying always asking what size, style etc.

[yodudez]

Pinning it is the only way to keep it on top of all the other posts...Well except bumping the topic every hour

[x-death]

maybe admins should make something were users aren't able to use there accounts until they have read the rules thread once its been read and you leave the thread account becomes usable. it would at least mean people will know were the thread is. whether they choose to read it is up to them, but its just another way of inforcing them i guess.

however this would only work if it was placed on the creation of new threads. for existing users mods would be better of closing any topic that doesn't follow these rules and PM'ing the user telling them they must follow the rules.

just an idea but i think it would work.

Edited by x-death, 20 April 2009 - 03:20 AM.

[Stubbjax]

maybe admins should make something were users aren't able to use there accounts until they have read the rules thread once its been read and you leave the thread account becomes usable. it would at least mean people will know were the thread is. whether they choose to read it is up to them, but its just another way of inforcing them i guess.

however this would only work if it was placed on the creation of new threads. for existing users mods would be better of closing any topic that doesn't follow these rules and PM'ing the user telling them they must follow the rules.

just an idea but i think it would work.

I don't think that is possible. You cannot make someone READ something. It's just like the terms and conditions that appear on software and stuff. Nobody reads those.

[Fury]

Yeah. But even without that, it is stopping the flow of crappy topics.

It's a good rule and it's working.

[LarsonCreativity]

You can't change the ways of vast majority of people roaming the forum, but you can influence them. We should be strict, and we should close the topics that don't give enough information. I'm in favor of this, but do we have enough moderators to see this rule through. The immature member to moderator ratio is overwhelming to say the least. But, we need to take a stand before things get out of hand.

~LC~

[PSC159]

I agree with LarsonCreativity. We need to take a stand.

~PSC

[daman123125]

This definitely is true. I don't really like requests like 'Make anything you want, and I'll stuff it in my game!'.

This would be great to implement a new sub-forum for people to request and one where people can offer their services, since there is no downside to it, and people can find graphics shops much easier.

EDIT: Since this is pinned, not many will see this topic, since April 17 is quite far away, and not many have replied.

Edited by daman123125, 28 April 2009 - 01:03 AM.