Suggestions for J2Ov2

[Nebula]

Yes, it's that time again. I'm slowly starting to think about it. The site will run much smoother with a nice recode, and it'll load faster and better too. Quist and I know a lot more PHP then when we initially started J2O (well, when he started J2O ;), I was fooling around with DJ).

Anyways, post any and all suggestions you would like/love to see in J2Ov2. Some examples might be...more integration with the JCF, new layout, new site area (like a...new section...like...[fill in the blank]), ACTUALLY FINISHING THE CONTENT AREA, etc...;)

Post your ideas here. Who knows, maybe we'll use it when we recode it ;)

EDIT: Also, if you'd like to see a hack installed at the JCF, let me know here. No super gigantic hacks that slow the whole site down, just ones that make life a little better ;) (Admins, if you don't like this part, remove it ;))

EDIT #2: This is a complete site recode, NOT A WHOLE NEW SITE.

[Newspaz]

Have every page use the same style.. Thick borders/Thin borders, as long as they all look good.

[Nebula]

some of my ideas for the site (recording them here so I won't forget, LOL):


Removal of the J2O PM system, or linking it to the JCF PM system
New Layout
<s>Finish</s> Start the content area :rolleyes:
Cleaner code :D

As you can see, I mentioned my ideas in the first post, but you might have thought them an example ;)

[Nebula]

argh, you beat me to the 2nd post :-P

Yes, good idea. ::wonders why he didn't think of that::

Quist and I were talking, and we came up with a third option of table borders (yes, a third). Thick on the outside, thin on the inside ;) Look at the new GIP script (which I must say is marvelous), and you'll see what I'm talking about.

[FQuist]

Actually, I started working on the content area yesterday. Jcs.Ref actually, not our jcs content area. The JCS button is meant to link to jcs.ref.

Well, everyone is asking for a new layout, but it's not like we have a spare designer. :P

[FQuist]

FYI, the JCF integration is nearly impossible. There are lots of users registered at j2o that aren't at the jcf. How do you want to combine that?

One option is to start allllll over again with our user db. Ouch :)

What exactly do you want to combine, Nebula? The PM system is about the only one I can think of.

<hr>
FYI, people, J2OV2 has existed for a long time already, in secret; I guess Nebula wanted it to be known. :D
We never really got a lot of work done. We have the basic framework almost done but I am too busy with other things to work on it most of the time, luckily it's vacation now. We also always get new ideas, which means we have to remake everything. :)

[Nebula]

oh, LOL, never thought of that. argh, oh well, scratch that idea.

Well, we could *improve* the system so you could delete PMs ;)

[FQuist]

Well, yeah, a system to delete PMs is a good idea, heh heh heh.

[VeggieMan]

Let's ppl delete their own pictures, in the pictures section.

[BæÅüMà Ñ]

eh... ya... i have to agree with ya Nebula... get rid of the J2O PMing system... it's useless... personally... i think it would be better to run all the users on J2O's database... but due to J2O's stability problems... maybe u could make it so whenever someone registers in the J2O, it automatically updates a "copy" database for J2O, just as a backup and so that if the JCF goes down, J2O isn't completely dead. That way, it's integrated, but not dependant... How can you do that, u ask? er... i dunno :) it was just an idea, but i believe PHP, being as auto-updating via imput from something is it's "strength", it can be done. Also, if you ever lose the JCF database and it's unrecoverable (even u guys make backup copies every "X" ammount of weeks [hopefully :)]), you can just work off that...

On top of that, if you figure out how to do the first option, u can make it even Visa-Versa where if someone registers via J2O, it will automatically create an account for them.........

That's my 2 cents for this post, heh...
(even my suggestions prolly burden you with the thought of coding :D)

[Gargoyle]

I suggest making the review more complicated, i.e:
----------------------------------------------------------------------
-Rating accourding to different factors like eye candy, layout, mobility, etc...
-The option to claim the level for yourself, if someone posts a "nice tileset he\she found that he\she thought everyone should have, even though he\she doesn't know who made it", or if someone steals your tileset\level and takes all the credit for themselves.
-Multiple authur ratings: Averige rating goes to all the authors who made the level, and not just to the one who uploads it.

[EvilMike]

Originally posted by Gargoyle
I suggest making the review more complicated, i.e:
----------------------------------------------------------------------
-Rating accourding to different factors like eye candy, layout, mobility, etc...
-The option to claim the level for yourself, if someone posts a "nice tileset he\she found that he\she thought everyone should have, even though he\she doesn't know who made it", or if someone steals your tileset\level and takes all the credit for themselves.
-Multiple authur ratings: Averige rating goes to all the authors who made the level, and not just to the one who uploads it.

I don't quite agree on making the reviews "more complicated". If you ask me, that just puts constraints on reviewing. Plus, it will force people to review levels as the system tells them, meaning that the reviewers opinion on what makes a good level will be weakened by the opinion of the creator of the system.

I think that all of the current J2O systems are fine as they are. They could use a recode, but no current features need to be gotten rid of.

As for my suggestions, I think that the layout could use a bit of a change. J2O wastes almost half of the screen space with those huge empty black spaces on each side. Having those things is just as bad as having a frame there. I have no other complaints with anything else regarding the layout.

The ability to review articles posted on the site would be a great feature. There are some good articles on the site and some bad ones.

Other than that, the site is great as it is. Just fix the bugs ;P

[~SPLASH~]

Split the rating system into J2o Staff members'rating and visitors'rating.

[Stijn]

No. What's the point of it?

You could change the system a bit, so that ratings from reviewers with a better rating strictness are more inportant than other ones. Just an idea.

[FQuist]

Wow, that rating strictness idea may actually work.

[>>Møønßlãzé<<]

Weekly polls Weekly polls Weekly polls Weekly polls Weekly polls
Weekly polls Weekly polls Weekly polls Weekly polls Weekly polls
Weekly polls Weekly polls Weekly polls Weekly polls Weekly polls

;P

[Nebula]

Yes, rating strictness might work...anyone want to tell me how we'd go about determining how strict something is?? :p

[>>Møønßlãzé<<]

When thinking on jazz2online, does that also include forum?
I'd like if it was posible to make head icons under name, that's posible (saw it on other forums)
Like:

Nadine
JCF Member
[picture]

Registered: Dec 2001
Location: BC, CANADA

[Michael]

Polls to be updated more often.
I would like a new layout and would like to help on that one.
****Don't make a new site, updaate this one though!!!!****

[Newspaz]

Originally posted by &gt;&gt;Møønßlãzé&lt;&lt;
When thinking on jazz2online, does that also include forum?
I'd like if it was posible to make head icons under name, that's posible (saw it on other forums)
Like:

Nadine
JCF Member
[picture]

Registered: Dec 2001
Location: BC, CANADA


This has been discussed often. And it has always been rejected because these pictures (avatars) do not add anything to the board. I think most people (including me) agree on that.

[FQuist]

We were not talking about that. And avatars won't be allowed. Let's keep that out of this thread :)

Nebula: j2o already determines that. See <a href="http://www.jazz2online.com/downloads/ratings.php?username=Fquist&id=1282">http://www.jazz2online.com/downloads/ratings.php?username=Fquist&id=1282</a>

It is determined by checking how high the ratings of the reviewer are compared to the average rating of the level they reviewed.

[BæÅüMà Ñ]

As i recall, they didn't accept avatars cause they created LAG :p they still build for the 56kers :)

anyhow, is there any reason for that "Lori Central" banner at the bottom? :D

[Newspaz]

If the strictness thing will be added I would also add the following, which is that people's rating will not be determined by their number of reviews/postings but by their own avarage rating.

I don't think we should consider people with a rating from 1 to 4 able to express their opinion fully. Anything above 4 for 2 out of three and anyone with a 7 fully.

[Cpp]

Flash! Use Macromedia Flash! :P

[FQuist]

Newspaz: But that way, if someone only reviews bad or good levels the system won't get that. I don't get what you mean 100%

Overlord: Flash could be an option if it's interactive and managable enough for php, which it probably isn't. You can combine flash with php but it's a lot of work and not as flexible.

[Red_XIII]

MEHHEHHEHEHE!

Use Flash...... Use Flash...... :D

<? phpinfo ?>

^^
This won't work :D

Heh, USE FLASHHHH, Overlord and me can do it! :D Us eflash.............. :D

[Red_XIII]

BTW, I forgot to say..... USE FLASH!!!! :D It's easy to use, and makes the page look good! :D

HallO!

[FQuist]

Not in combination with php.

[Link]

It doesn't have to be complicated. If you just made, for example, the title bar with links on it in Flash, that shouldn't need to integrate with PHP.

[Bobby aka Dizzy]

I'd say we should not integrate into any flash... it's not necessary for the site.

By the way, the idea of having a user strictness is impossible or at least impractical in the system you are talking about (if I have it right). To caculate a rating strictness, you would need to know how strict other users are in relation to other users, which would be based on yet other users....

User strictnesses would have to constantly change and disrupt previously rated levels if I'm thinking about the system you are... its circular...

Unless you have some sort of "head person" who determines the base of all reviews for a level this is not possible...

[EvilMike]

Ok, I finally have some good ideas that you absolutely must use in the new site.

<ol>
<li>Make a system that informs the authour of a level when a new review to his or her level is posted. The message informing the authour should be visible on the main page as soon as the user is logged in. Same should probably go with photos and articles.</li>
</li>Article reviewing system.</li>
<li>Instead of using a drop down menu to select the tileset you used for a level, make it a text box. That way, custom tilesets can be typed there.</li>
<li>Make the drop down menus for gametype and version (1.23/1.24) be defaulted to something like "Please Select One". That way a level submitter cannot ignore those categories; they must select something. This will help cut back TSF levels being sumbitted as 1.23 ones.</li>
<li>Give us admins the ability to prevent users from making actual reviews, besides N/A. This is so we can punish bad reviewers without giving them the dreaded "low access". Some review abusers don't really deserve to have low access, but don't deserve to be allowed to review either.</li>
<li>Integrate part of JDC into the site, such as the top 5 competitors and the next event. It can be an optional feature, just like the poll and mini-listserver. This feature would mainly be for promotional reasons.</li>
</ol>

More ideas comming soon.

[FQuist]

Originally posted by Bobby aka Dizzy
I'd say we should not integrate into any flash... it's not necessary for the site.

By the way, the idea of having a user strictness is impossible or at least impractical in the system you are talking about (if I have it right). To caculate a rating strictness, you would need to know how strict other users are in relation to other users, which would be based on yet other users....

User strictnesses would have to constantly change and disrupt previously rated levels if I'm thinking about the system you are... its circular...

Unless you have some sort of "head person" who determines the base of all reviews for a level this is not possible...

Bobby, isn't it comparing it already? It compares the reviewer's rating to the average level rating. That way you can see how far the user is off from the average thing. What's wrong with it?

Very good ideas, Evilmike.

[Stijn]

w00t

The review to your level message idea is great, I always wanted that. I would also suggest to make an option for the level-uploader to don't allow his upload to be rated. Like when someone uploads Bash and someone artes it the admins wont have to turn rating ability off or change the review. And (maybe, probably bad idea) make a minimal-characters thing for reviews, so short reviews like "GOOD LEVEL DOWNLOAD NOW!!!11!!" which don't really tell the creator of the upload a thing will be rejected. I know my english grammar is awful, but I hope you get it :P

[-=Payback=-]

Just posting this, cos I think u ppl are kinda not looking at the best solution: SPLASH' idea.

Splitting the rating into a reviewers rating and staff rating. People can compare the different ratings and get a more detailed, neutral point of view. There are major review sites on the net which use such a rating system. If u go to http://www.gamespot.com u'll see such a review system is used there.
For the lazy bums: http://gamespot.com/gamespot/filters/products/0,11114,197669,00.html

Looking at this topic, all the top reviewers here are asking for a system which lets them have more effect on the final score of a download. This would be totally inconvenient, since people who would just sign up as new reviewers could posses incredible review abilities. This way their voice counts less than so called 'higher' ranked persons.

Not only that but the coding of a splitted review would be much easier. U'll need some respected and good reviewing persons as staff, around 5 or so, and yer done. When a lvl is rated 7 by the staff, but has a 9.1 from the users; people will start thinking and see what's the cause of the difference. For example the lvl has only been rated by his pals or someone was pretty new to the system.

[Nebula]

Yes, I was thinking of download/review moderation, and also a staff rating. Good ideas everyone ;)

[FQuist]

I don't know about the staff rating. It bears some form of elitism with it. Like the staff is better then the members. Also, I don't think the staff will ever review levels, hehe. We have always reviewed some, but defenitely not much levels.

[Bobby aka Dizzy]

Fquist, if the average rating is changed by stricness, there is no base to calculate it by... I don't know how to explain it well.

[Derby]

Basing the ratings off of the average rating can cause user ratings to go haywire. They can be too far off if a slew of poor reviewers rates it far from a good reviewer's ratings. Instead, the good reviewer would get a lower score while the poor reviewers will get a higher score. You would need a base with a true and perfect rating, but there is no such thing as a perfect review. The way it is has been working fine, granted that there are a few goofballs that might pop up here and there.

[FQuist]

Here are some of my ideas about the downloads:

1. Have the ability for users to mark a bad review and download. They will appear in the admin control panel.

2. Make it possible for downloads not to be rated, but only if the staff decides so. Otherwise a user can upload bad crap to j2o without it receiving bad ratings.

3. We need *some* way of review/rating weighing, because at the moment good reviews aren't exactly encouraged. This weighing could be based on rating strictness, karma, or other methods. Maybe the staff should be able to give people a point which means their rating weighs more.

4. There will come a content system based on the <a href="http://www.everything2.net">noding</a> idea. It's a system with nodes, and authorized people will be able to add content easily. We can appoint specialized people taking care of content sections.

[Shadow XZ]

Yeah, I agree with the elemination of the PM system on J2O. Not JCF. Also, I was wondering, why do you people have those Party Mode thingie and JCS and Character options on the top of the page. Those really have to go, cuz for as long as I've been here, (about 2 years) those have always said, "Stay tuned!" :p
So how bout also like the toolbar or the thing where you can select downloads and stuff put along the side of the page, and make the page go to the full extent of the internet browser window. :lol: I mean, you could have the options"Downloads" on the side, and then when you click it you get choices that drop down like Submit Level, or View 1.23 levels, or TSF levels. From there it would show the levels in most recent loaded, but then you could obviously go click filters to find the levels which you want. That's about all for now...

(So many spelling errors... I just had to edit it! :D )

[||Slim]

if you look in the first few posts you can see nebulas <strike>"bright"</strike> idea of actually finishing those sections in v2. :)

[dopeh]

Oh well, I think all the ideas I had in mind are already posted....An' dun think I have to repeat everything.....except....INSTALL QUICK-REPLY MOD ON THESE FORUMS!!! WAAAAH!!!

[Nebula]

I was actually considering installing quick-reply hack for JCF ;) Had to talk it over with the other admins tho ;)

[dopeh]

BLEH! TALKING CAN WAIT TILL LATER TIME!! INSTALL THAT HACK!! NOW!!!!



;P


nah. Okay. that's cool :) maybe there are some other funny hacks...I'll seek around..

[FQuist]

Originally posted by ||Slim
if you look in the first few posts you can see nebulas <strike>"bright"</strike> idea of actually finishing those sections in v2. :)

People have been complaining about those since the beginning of j2o. They simply never got finished because nobody wanted to work on them. Newspaz has been the only one actually offering to do work and doing work for it. He finished the characters section. Like I said in this thread already, I am already working on jcs.ref, levels has linked to the downloads section for quite a while, so only the multiplayer section has not been taken care of. Well, we could just as well link this one to jdc. What content would you want there? MP tips? They're in the articles already.

[Krezack]

Originally posted by BæÅüMÃ(-)Ñ
As i recall, they didn't accept avatars cause they created LAG :p they still build for the 56kers :)

anyhow, is there any reason for that "Lori Central" banner at the bottom? :D

Sorry to mention this here however i use 36k dial up and i don't get lag from avatars on the Black Isle message boards. They use 2.2.5 and avatars are not a problem.

*yes you read right, i have a 56k modem however it only actually runs at 36k :rolleyes: *

As for the site i would say either develop or get rid of the rollover icons above the text menu (main j2o site).

EDIT: holy crapola! I just checked, make that 28.8k. Man this is so evil.

[Nebula]

Just for those that don't seem to understand what J2Ov2 is, it's not a completely new JJ2 site, it's just a complete recode of J2O. It really needs it. The site will be much faster, easilly expanded, and easier to maintain.

Just saying this to clear things up for some people ;)

[EvilMike]

Originally posted by Fquist


People have been complaining about those since the beginning of j2o. They simply never got finished because nobody wanted to work on them. Newspaz has been the only one actually offering to do work and doing work for it. He finished the characters section. Like I said in this thread already, I am already working on jcs.ref, levels has linked to the downloads section for quite a while, so only the multiplayer section has not been taken care of. Well, we could just as well link this one to jdc. What content would you want there? MP tips? They're in the articles already.

Link it to gip.

[Stijn]

Make a "maximal-uploads-per-day" thing, so persons (*cough* craccoboy *cough*) can't flood J2O with uploads that cause levels of others to can't be seen.

[||Slim]

craccoboy needs to take the 5 minutes out of his life to zip those files into one zip.

[FQuist]

The files are already removed. :P

[DarkShadow]

I think that a chat room would be cool.

[FQuist]

That's what we have #jj2 for.

[DarkShadow]

That's what we have #jj2 for.

Thats true, But if you look at the list of people browsing J20 & JCF just a few of them are playing jazz or are on IRC, so if they arn't playing jazz or on quakenet/#jj2 then you can't chat with them.

DarkShadow

[||Slim]

so PM them and... tell them to get on irc! :P



or use that java applet thats linked to #jj2...

[Nebula]

Well, just to clue you guys in, Quist and I have started coding it. I've optimized the header routines A LOT. The html is much cleaner. It uses 1 table instead of at least 5, lol. And, it looks the same, whee ;)

Anyways, as we code in certain features, we'll let you know. Expect to see something with your own eyes around mid-June, or whenever Quist or I gets lots of free time, LOL.

Anyways, it'll be MUCH nicer then the current one, and that's all I'm saying. ^____^

Well, I could tell you about the...::closes mouth::...nah ;P

[EvilMike]

Originally posted by Nebula

Well, I could tell you about the...::closes mouth::...nah ;P

(he doesn't know what to tell us about because he has yet to make up the super-cool thing)

[Nebula]

actually...you're right :p

But it's soon to come!! lol

[>>Møønßlãzé<<]

Do I need say it?
Let us delete our own uploads! )#%(%?#(T?#) #¤T
;P

[blaster]

maybe encrypt the password better... the base64 used now is to easy to get out of a cookie(it's quite easy to use thou ;)). try a different encrytpion type :) like mcrypt. it uses a string wich to crypt with that you can choose for yourself, and no-one will see.

[FQuist]

It will be encrypted with another method.

[Newspaz]

Originally posted by &gt;&gt;Møønßlãzé&lt;&lt;
Do I need say it?
Let us delete our own uploads! )#%(%?#(T?#) #¤T
;P

If you'd do that users would be able to mess with their avarage ratings.

[n0]

How about make the "customize" work?

[SteelTalon]

A couple suggestions:

When you look at a user's average rating, you should be able to see the average LEVEL rating, also. Therefore, you could see if the person is a hard or an easy reviewer. Perhaps you could divide the average reviewer's rating over the average of the levels and then get a number. The closer to 1 the "better" of a reviewer you are. Perhaps we could use this as a system to give people more karma (the closer you are to the average score in most of your reviews the more weight you get in other reviews). The only problem this would create would be that people might try to give a level the same score as previous reviewers had given it just to increase their karma.

[Bobby aka Dizzy]

I think what you are looking for is basically the top of this page. The rating strictness is your divergence from the average level rating.

http://www.jazz2online.com/downloads/ratings.php?username=SteelTalon&id=1337

[SteelTalon]

ph34r my not-checking-J20ness!!!!!!!!111111111

;P

[Stijn]

No blame to you, SteelTalon, but in fact I already came up with the rating-strictness-weighting-etc idea :P

[Violet CLM]

I don't think deleting the J2O private messaging system would be a good idea. There are several (if not many) J2O users without JCF accounts.

[Nebula]

Fuist has already thuroughly yelled at me for even suggesting that one. It will be improved though. First step: MAKE IT SO YOU CAN DELETE THEM ;P

[dopeh]

Maybe you'd add the option so you can choose to be e-mailed when you receive an PM, for the ppl who don't visit J2O ery often or just don't login..

[Nebula]

planned ;)

[DarkShadow]

I think you should change the private message thing so that it will send you the message and not just that you got a message.
Then a link to reply etc.

Originally Posted By Nebula
Well, just to clue you guys in,
Clue us in? Admit it, I came up with the Ideah ;)





DS

[Newspaz]

-get rid of the picture section and make everyone able to put one photograph in his profile.

[dopeh]

Originally posted by Newspaz
-get rid of the picture section and make everyone able to put one photograph in his profile. nah, then you'd be able to put only one picture of yourself online..This is fine..

[Newspaz]

So what? It'd save room and it's not like we can't see how you look on only one picture.

[dopeh]

Yah it saves webspace..but then we can't see all those funny *old* pics :D

[>>Møønßlãzé<<]

Fix the stay tuned or delete them, fix the bug that you can't edit your review sometimes.

[dopeh]

And upgrade to vB 2.2.6 :P

[Edit :: o_0 they just did...at long last :-)]

[Trafton AT]

Allow more complex reviews, e.g. seperate ratings for eyecandy, enjoyability, technical (masks, etc.), and layout. Also input for pros and cons, a radio button to click if you want to include a "Download Reccomendation" graphic in your post, and also a "Suggested Improvements" area.

[Kirby]

I got an Idea! Just check out my attached file! It does need a bit of modification, though. Problem is I cannot send it.
Help!

<div align="center">
<p><font face="Georgia, Times New Roman, Times, serif" size="-1">Hey, guess
what? I'm a--</font></p>
<p><font face="Georgia, Times New Roman, Times, serif" size="-1"><a href="http://www.selectsmart.com/FREE/select.php?client=coloryoshi"><img src="http://www.buppytropolis.net/lunayoshi/etc/testanswers/lightblue.gif" width="300" height="150" border="0" alt="I'm a Light Blue Yoshi!"></a></font></p>
<p><font face="Georgia, Times New Roman, Times, serif" size="-1"><a href="http://www.selectsmart.com/FREE/select.php?client=coloryoshi"><b>What
color Yoshi are you? Come take the quiz!</b></a></font></p></div>

[Trafton AT]

JCF does not except attachments, sorry.

(I own the third page!)

[BizarrE aka Raz]

Keep J2O as it is now.

[dopeh]

Originally posted by BizarrE aka Raz
Keep J2O as it is now. No. There are way to many bugs and unfinished pages. Not needed.

[MaGoo]

I like j2o, just fix a few things.

[Another Jazz 2 fan]

Can't believe nobody thought of this. Have the ability to rate reviewers. THIS could work better than rating strictness. Anyone can rate a reviewer from 1 to 5 for good reviews and sensible rating. Their rating would be displayed above each of their reviews, and could be used to influence a levels average rating (if you go with the idea to alter the ave rating based on who rates it.) Raters like Aiko would probably get a high score, and thus their reviews would carry more weight, and ppl would trust their scores.

I also say link party mode to GIP.

Here is a unique idea : Put a link to the server from the GIP with the most players playing in it on the main page. (Of course, it would be a public server.) This would be a quick way to play Jazz and you wouldn't need to check the GIP.

I also agree that a textbox should be used for the tileset option. As well, the tileset makers should be notified whenever a level is made with their tileset. (I, for one, would enjoy to see levels using my tileset, even though only one I know of so far has other than the ones I made.) Of course, that would be an option.

Put the links to Downloads, Pictures, Articles, JDC, etc. on the left side much like J2C did, not along the top. Make them buttons. (The kind that light up when the mouse is over them.)

Just like on the JCF, make the option to have a little box pop up when you get a PM.

How about an easier way to submit did you know tips?

Make re-uploads work. As well, when the author reuploads something, move the level back to the top of the list so ppl are aware of the reupload. This also encourages authors to reupload levels instead of uploading version 2s, etc.

For some reason some features on J2O do not work unless I turn off my firewall temporarily. For example, I cannot view reviews of pictures or articles. But I can see reviews of levels! Strange. Anyway, fix this if you can.

Have the option to post a screenshot of the level/tileset when it is uploaded. This can be viewed before downloading, either by having it displayed under level info, or clicking on a link in the level info. (This is a really cool idea. Please consider it.)

Those are all I can think of for now! Make J2O the best site on the web! Make us Jazzers proud!

AJ2f

[Bobby aka Dizzy]

Here is a unique idea : Put a link to the server from the GIP with the most players playing in it on the main page. (Of course, it would be a public server.) This would be a quick way to play Jazz and you wouldn't need to check the GIP.

That's would slow down the main page so much it wouldn't be worth it.

For some reason some features on J2O do not work unless I turn off my firewall temporarily. For example, I cannot view reviews of pictures or articles. But I can see reviews of levels! Strange. Anyway, fix this if you can.

I've never heard of anything like this before, I'd like to know more about that.

[Another Jazz 2 fan]

We have Norton Personal Firewall, which is a software based firewall (as opposed to hardware firewalls.) When I try to view an article, for some reason the page just doesn't load until I briefly turn off the firewall and turn it back on. Pictures load, but the reviews/comments on it also don't until I turn the firewall program off briefly. I need to check if reviews of websites load...

As well, I think in order to login I also have to turn it off. Everything else I can do! I can even play JJ2 online with the firewall running, so I am not sure why the pages don't load. It might be too difficult to figure out.

AJ2f

[Violet CLM]

Originally posted by Another Jazz 2 fan
Can't believe nobody thought of this. Have the ability to rate reviewers. THIS could work better than rating strictness. Anyone can rate a reviewer from 1 to 5 for good reviews and sensible rating. Their rating would be displayed above each of their reviews, and could be used to influence a levels average rating (if you go with the idea to alter the ave rating based on who rates it.) Raters like Aiko would probably get a high score, and thus their reviews would carry more weight, and ppl would trust their scores.

The problem with that is, people who don't like someone would just give them a 1, most likely.

As well, when the author reuploads something, move the level back to the top of the list so ppl are aware of the reupload. This also encourages authors to reupload levels instead of uploading version 2s, etc.

Would their levelID be changed? If so, that would leave lots of non-working files. If not, they're no longer really in order.

[Another Jazz 2 fan]

Okay, then admins could give reviewers ratings! (That would definetly work)

[Fawriel]

I'd like that reviewer reviewing-thing,since there are some guys who are really(how am I supposed to say it...)strange at reviewing.
(I don't say a name okay?)
There are VERY few levels that deserve a 1! And it's a VERY bad rating,so,to be used with caution!

Coming to the thread,J20 is really cool but could really use a few features(which are already mentioned I guess).

[Michael]

Fix the banner that link to j2o.nagcentral.com, heh

[Tubz]

-Remove the About, Characters, Party Mode and JCS links.

-1) When you upload a level you should make it so that the 'Level Type' area is a text box, and so you can type in the kind of level you made.
-2) If last idea won't be made then add to the drop down list: Survivor, Test, LRS, XLRS, Assasination, Cycle Battle, Bank Robbery, Jail Break, Gladiator, Instagib, etc...

-Make an explanation of the game's new JJ2 modes that don't come with the game. I.e. Survivior, Test, LRS, XLRS, Assasination, Hotel, Cycle Battle, Bank Robbery, Jail Break, Gladiator, Instagib, etc. (I dunno what Gladiator and Instagib are)

-Hmm, make a link to most common programs that all JJ2ers should already have.
a. Listserver Patch 1.23
b. Listserver Patch 1.24
c. TSF Race Patch
d. Overlords JCS Patch
e. AntiAccess Violation Patch (Although this patch I noticed has too many bugs, and needs improvement, because I still get 1000s of AV error windows. There are different types of AV errors.)
f. 1.23 upgrade
g. Jazz2 Uninstall Aid
h. Mod2j2b
i. ModPlug Player
j. ModPlug Tracker
etc...

-A separate section in the Links page that's titled Jazz2 help. And it would add links to Overlords MCE/SCE/Ambient Sound/Other Stuff page. Ninja Dodo's JCS Help page also, etc...

-A separate tilesets page that include all the JJ1 remasked and new conversion tilesets.

-An option that allows you to delete your old Private Messages for both JCF and J2O.

-Make it so you don't have to type in your Username and Password everytime you wanna review or do anything on the site, instead make it so if you try to anything on the site that requires site registration then when you try to do the thing it will forward you to the J2O login page.

More ideas later maybe...

[Trafton AT]

Remove the About, Characters, Party Mode and JCS links.
Amen. Those just torture meh. :D

[acid]

I don't think they should be deleted, they just should actually link to something.

[Another Jazz 2 fan]

Try reading the topic before posting stuff. A lot of what has been said recently has been said before.

[Trafton AT]

I'm amazed no one has mentioned this yet, but MAKE IT SO THE CUSTOMIZATION THING WORKS. The yellow layout, while OK, reminds me too much of...well...uh...happy. It is a bit bright for my eyes.

[Another Jazz 2 fan]

Yeah, I wanna make it look more like J2C!

EDIT : Yes, I mean color scheme. The black and blue is awesome. Why did the JCF lose that as an option? Does Deth really not even want us to use the same colors? I still don't understand what happened back then, Dethman went mad, closed the JMMB without warning, didn't allow this board to be called JMMB2 or anything related to it, etc. etc. What's wrong with using the color sceme, though?

[Trafton AT]

Actually, J2C's layout seemed haphazard to me.

If you mean color scheme, I'll go for that.

I like Dark Moogoo's red and black JCF theme, though.

J2O *should* be color-customizable, but there is a glitch that errors out whenever you change a color.

[Nebula]

hehe, we're WAY ahead of you guys. It already works completely ;)

Plus, you can choose between thick borders, thin borders, OR (drumroll please)...Thick on outside and thin on inside! Are we great or what!? ;)

Also, I've been meaning to code in support for additional header/footer templates (not just colors). But as of currently, color customization works fully ;)

[$tilettø]

Add Something like Quik Reply to the News->Comment

Add the Tags B I U SIZE URL IMG QUOTE STRIKE
and make it so we can actully edit our Comments,

[$tilettø]

a Search Function for Pictures News post Articles Would be Nice too

[Trafton AT]

I would like to see the "comments" area in some way integrated with the JCF, as it would prove to be an interesting community event discussion.

[Nebula]

Quick reply for news comments isn't currently coded, but it's a good idea...maybe I'll code it when I get some time ;);)

Search functions are not coded, but planned.

Also, integrating news comments into the JCF would be very easy, there's only one tiny problem...there are MANY people registered at J2O that aren't registered on the JCF. And if we integrated it, then their J2O username would be completely pointless. I thought about it (not with news comments, but removing the J2O PrivMsg system, and just using the JCF one), but FQuist gave me a through beating, so sorry, but that one won't happen. Good idea though, that's how DJ's (Dimension Jazz, my old JJ2 site :D) news system worked. We could do this if Quist agreed to reset the J2O userbase, but then we'd have to reset downloads, articles, pictures, etc. all back to zero, and that wouldn't be good, would it?

Also, I have just begun to learn the agony of being in High School (I have very little time, and so much homework), so I don't know how often I'll be able to work on J2Ov2. From what Quist tells me, he's busy with schoolwork, or being sick ;) Don't get us wrong, we want to work on it, we just have a severe lack of time, that's all ;)

Keep submitting ideas! ;)

[FQuist]

I'm busy with both, actually.

[Tik]

Yes, yes, finally, color schemes. I despise yellow =P However it would be even better if it could be fully customizable as far as layout and stuff goes.

I was thinking that if there are any levels that could extremely low ratings (3 and under I guess) that they could be automatically deleted after so-many ratings...or perhaps integrate it with the rating-weight, so that if just a few of those reviewers with more influence rated it extremely low it would be deleted sooner, though I suppose that might now be fair as far as user ratings go. Anyway, it would help to filter out some of the really bad stuff automatically.

Also, maybe expand the Top Downloads on the main page to more than 5...maybe 10? Or 20? I know it's hard for any new reall really good levels to get into the Top Downloads list because its so small and people who just see the main page are much more likely to just download the top few levels and not go into the Downloads section.

Anyway, I have to go right now, so that's all for now.

[Super Saiyan]

Idea:
Make a little chat-box, 130x400 or so. And put it somewhere on a side of the (home)page, left or right. Not in the center.




Sorry, if someone already figured this, dont have much time to read the entire topic.

[Tik]

That's a good idea...like a tagboard like on SJ =P

[~SPLASH~]

v2 should have a big sign saying "ALL HAIL ~SPLASH~". Serious! I'm not kidding!

how about a better integration of the boards in the real site? Don't ask me how, though :)

[Newspaz]

My suggestion is to drop the pictures section.

[Trafton AT]

I'm holding FQuist hostage. If you do not heed my demands, he gets the big troutslap. Got it? Good. I know many of these aren't necessarily related to J2O v2 and are just general ideas. These all may sound stupid, but please don't flame me. These aren't "I'm-100%-sure-it-will-work" ideas, more like "might-be-interesting-to-be-in-the-future" ideas.

1. Word wrap for comments. Yes, Nebula, you know what I'm talking about. ;P
2. Add a "recent downloads" bar to replace "recent articles." Heck, have both.
3. Make the Hail Trafton and Torture Trafton sections. The second one will be loved. You can delete the first as quickly as possible.
4. Have more updated news that doesn't show on page one. Have a "news patrol" or similar to go out and get news, but don't show it on the main page until it is verified to be true and significant.
5. Incorporate pie and marmalade in some way.
6. NO BANNER ADS. NO MATTER WHAT.
7. Let users add ideas more often. Add features as you go online, so we don't have to wait a year and a half for new features.
8. Add review moderators. I know this sounds stupid, but the truth is that a lot of personal attacking and swearing goes unnoticed on the J2O review section. There are many people who would make great and honest review moderators.
9. Don't let people with the same name, heck the same IP, review a level with a rating.
10. Have more clear reviewing rules. The current review rules aren't, well, always clear to understand. And they're hard to find, too.
11. Make it so if you select "tileset" or "other," etc. that you don't have to select a used tileset.
12. Add more often-used tilesets to the tileset used list. Good examples would be Cheq 3, Tavern, Cool Day, etc.
13. Don't allow uploads of pets on the pictures setting unless their owners are also in the pictures.
<s>14. Have J2O automatically rate levels that I make 10.</s>
15. Have a mail or private message automatically sent to an administrator if a review is made of a level that is significantly below or above the current average of the level. This is especially nice because I've noticed some will wait until a level falls off the first few pages (so nobody will be reviewing it unless they find it on random level) and then post an usually unfair score.
16. Make it as customizable as it can get. I love to tweak options for some reason and get it as custom as I can. Many do.
17. Add content that would slow down index loading pages as options so that cable users can see them on their main page while 28.8K Jazzers don't have to suffer through a seemingly endless page load.
18. Correct the error that makes a level rating still appear as the average even after someone has changed the rating to N/A.
19. Add an option for email notification of when a level you've made is reviewed.
20. Add a filter to the reviews section, darnsporkit.
<s>21. Let Derby do everything for you.</s>
22. Make it so it's easier to make a custom theme with every little thing your custom color.
23. There is no 23, but I like the number 23, so I put this here anyway.

NOW DO YOUR JOB AND TEAR MY IDEAS TO BITS! ;P

...I might even keep FQuist for LAB EXPERIMENTS. >;)

[Stijn]

Make J2O compatible with the Opera browser (I'm using it). That shouldn't be hard to do, the only problem I encountered is the table spacing.

Example 1 (http://home.wanadoo.nl/platvoet/J2Opera1.jpg)

Example 2 (http://home.wanadoo.nl/platvoet/J2Opera2.jpg)

[Link]

Originally posted by Nebula
Also, integrating news comments into the JCF would be very easy, there's only one tiny problem...there are MANY people registered at J2O that aren't registered on the JCF. And if we integrated it, then their J2O username would be completely pointless. I thought about it (not with news comments, but removing the J2O PrivMsg system, and just using the JCF one), but FQuist gave me a through beating, so sorry, but that one won't happen. Good idea though, that's how DJ's (Dimension Jazz, my old JJ2 site :D) news system worked. We could do this if Quist agreed to reset the J2O userbase, but then we'd have to reset downloads, articles, pictures, etc. all back to zero, and that wouldn't be good, would it?

Is it possible to manually match the names though? It would be a lot of work, but you could get people to help. If someone is registered at J2O but not at the JCF (or vice-versa), add a new account.

I think a totally integrated wonderful feature like this is worth any amount of work required to do it.

[Nebula]

Fl@sh: Neither FQuist or I have Opera, but I've noticed that in the past, that when something goes wrong in Opera, it goes wrong in Mozilla (both are standards-compliant browsers). I have mozilla, and actively check for problems like this, so we've got it covered.

Link: Yes, manual name matching would be very possible. I guess we might be able to set something up on J2Ov1 (current J2O ;)) that let you enter your J2O username, and your JCF username (if they have one). Although the more I think about it Link, I see no reason why we'd need J2O to syncronize with the JCF. From the way FQuist and I have been developing it so far, there is no need for the JCF, it runs perfectly fine without it. I've coded a super-l33t PM system, our comment and news system is working, I really don't see a point in the syncronization. We pay put in something that lets you put a link in your J2O profile that links to your JCF profile, and possibly vice versa, but I can't really imagine anything more than that this far into the project.

[Stijn]

Opera is only 3,5 MB big. It shouldn't take too much time to download and check it :P

[Ice M A N]

Opera 7 (a beta), right? Opera 6.05 doesn't have that problem.

[Nebula]

I don't have Opera installed because my computer is bloated enough as it is.

[Trafton]

Hmm...another suggestion:
Maybe you could make it so that extra N/A comments can be added in reviews that do not go towards the author's review count? Just an idea.

[Stijn]

In addition to that, maybe don't allow the author of the upload to review their own upload, even it's a N/A comment.

[Trafton]

Originally posted by Fl@$h
In addition to that, maybe don't allow the author of the upload to review their own upload, even it's a N/A comment.
I'm not sure I like that idea. It would stop the level maker from replying to the comments of the reviewers.

[Nebula]

yes. They will be able to comment (no rating).

[Trafton]

Can you add some function that alerts an administrator if a user rates a level by an author with the same or similar IP? I've seen it happen, and it's sort of unfair to other level makers. Also, can you try to make the maximum file size that doesn't cause a 404 a bit higher?

[Nebula]

raising the filesize: possible. But I'm sure we'll make it so that it shows the uploader an error if the filesize is too big ;)

[Trafton]

YaY. It's getting a bit tiring constantly having to explain to new uploaders why no one can download their file. I'm all out of ideas...for now. J2Ov2 sounds great. Pretty much every idea I've given to FQuist so far has already been added.

[Another Jazz 2 fan]

Originally posted by Trafton
Can you add some function that alerts an administrator if a user rates a level by an author with the same or similar IP?

What if you have two people using the same computer? (like Flint and me). I say no to that.

OOH OOH, Have the option to upload 1 screenshot (.jpg or.gif) to show of level/tileset when uploading! (This can be displayed in More Info, or maybe by clicking a link.)

I hope you haven't forgotten the suggestion to move levels back to the top of the list when they are reuploaded.

~AJ2f

When can we expect J2O v2?

[Trafton]

Originally posted by Another Jazz 2 fan
What if you have two people using the same computer? (like Flint and me). I say no to that.

OOH OOH, Have the option to upload 1 screenshot (.jpg or.gif) to show of level/tileset when uploading! (This can be displayed in More Info, or maybe by clicking a link.)

I hope you haven't forgotten the suggestion to move levels back to the top of the list when they are reuploaded.

~AJ2f

When can we expect J2O v2?
I meant when someone rates an upload of an author with the same IP, not two people rating the same upload with one IP. ;-P

I really like the reupload idea, and the screenshot idea is good, too.

[Violet CLM]

He means, what if AJ2F wants to rate something of Flint's, or vice versa? (Or Aiko and his brother, for example)

[Trafton]

That doesn't happen constantly, so I don't really think it would cause too much trouble, but I guess that isn't the best idea. ;P

[MoonBlazE]

A quote ability in comments on pictures and articles.
Also, comments on level uploaded could be cool too.

[Trafton]

Originally posted by Moonblaze
A quote ability in comments on pictures and articles.
Also, comments on level uploaded could be cool too.
Can't we already comment on uploaded levels?

[Nebula]

on multiple IPs, you'd have to take into account, all those poor, unfortunate AOL users ;)

They all have the same IPs. More or less.

[Trafton]

Originally posted by Nebula
on multiple IPs, you'd have to take into account, all those poor, unfortunate AOL users ;)

They all have the same IPs. More or less.
I suppose that's a point. I always forget about dem poor AOL users. ;P

Disregard the idea. Too STUP. Plus, that wouldn't do anything to prevent dialup users from cheating.

[MoonBlazE]

Originally posted by Trafton
Can't we already comment on uploaded levels? There is an indeed difference from a review and a comment Trafton.

[Another Jazz 2 fan]

A comment is an N/A review. Simple as that.

Umm... how about appointing somebody as an official reviewer, some one who is fair and strict. (like Aiko when he used to review everything.) Too many files don't get reviewed. The reviews wouldn't have to go into too much detail. But this person would have to be very committed.

(And he/she should start by reviewing all the currently non-reviewed files.)

[Trafton]

Hmm...I'm not sure that would be a great idea. After all, that would cause the problem where the admins would have to pick certain users over others, which could be a matter of personal preference. Besides, Aiko hasn't reviewed much lately. Still, I think he's a very good reviewer, and would probably do a good job.

[Tik]

Erm, I have no idea if this has already been suggested, but what about instead of having to upload your level directly to j2o, you could give the URL to another location?

This would slightly lessen the load on j2o's server, save filespace, and in some cases probably make uploading/re-uploading something more convenient.

It would also be nice to have the possibility of including other URLs with the download, such as a link to the a site about the specific submission or a link to a level making group's web page. Or to whatever you want =P

[Trafton]

This is about the J2O Downloads section.
I've been looking through the rating list and noticed that some ratings are listed as being rated 1.0 though they aren't actually rated at all. For instance, one of Jaws' packs has one N/A rating but displays as a 1.0. I calculated it, and this did effect Jaws' average ratings. Also, I've noticed that downloads with one ten rating and no other ratings are listed amoung the 2's. The 1.0 bug I mentioned is sort of unfair to people who have a 1.0 rating that is edited or deleted and no other ratings. It could seriously mess up (or, on the flip side, rocket) someone's average rating. Could this please be fixed in J2Ov2?

Originally posted by Spaztic
Erm, I have no idea if this has already been suggested, but what about instead of having to upload your level directly to j2o, you could give the URL to another location? This would slightly lessen the load on j2o's server, save filespace, and in some cases probably make uploading/re-uploading something more convenient.
Actually, this is done pretty easily now. All that is required when someone uploads something is a .ZIP file, regardless of what it contains. Some large downloads (like Overlord's Rabbit Honor Guard) do link to another site and have the .ZIP contain nothing but the link. However, if you mean that as in letting the Download link point somewhere else, I suppose this would be possible if there were no security problems.

It would also be nice to have the possibility of including other URLs with the download, such as a link to the a site about the specific submission or a link to a level making group's web page. Or to whatever you want =P
I like that idea. Maybe a "related links" field or something of that sort?

[Nebula]

The 1.0 rating bug has been fixed, since we're recoding the download system completely.

As for supplying a URL to download the file...well...why would you want to put it on your own server? Updating/reuploading will be much easier now, since we have much more PHP experience on our sides...But, I guess. Also, a related links idea sounds good. I'll go put it in our todo system ;)

[Trafton]

BlurredD wanted me to post this for him.

How about a top 10 or 20 monthly download list?

[Violet CLM]

That reminds me.. when you use the Reupload function, it automatically sets Level Type to Assault, and Tileset to Beach.. (Or something like that. But it does reset some things)

[Trafton]

Originally posted by Unknown Rabbit
That reminds me.. when you use the Reupload function, it automatically sets Level Type to Assault, and Tileset to Beach.. (Or something like that. But it does reset some things)
Yes, I've noticed that too. Does it also reset the version?

[Nebula]

you can rest assured, re-uploading won't reset anything in J2Ov2 ;)

[Trafton]

This is probably a stupid question but:

Will the current downloads remain and what will be changed about them in the conversion if they do remain?

[Nebula]

yes they will remain (there's no way we'd remove them), and no, nothing will change...I think.

[Trafton]

Originally posted by Nebula
yes they will remain (there's no way we'd remove them), and no, nothing will change...I think.
OK, great. In the meanwhile, I noticed how to "fix" the downloads that have a rating of 1 (or 10) that were actually never rated. Just rate them, edit them to N/A, and then delete the review. The rating will be set back to N/A. I took the liberty of going through some of the downloads and fixing their reviews, but there weren't many. Sorry if I shouldn't have done that.

One more question: will there be a beta or demo version of J2Ov2 released? If I have to wait almost half a year see the final version, I may spontaneously combust. ;-P

[Tik]

I had some other ideas. Whee.

It would be nice if you could set the number of viewable downloads to more than 20. It's probably often that someone uploads something worth looking at but soon it is pushed past the main page because someone's uploaded a bunch of (if I may say) crappy levels. Have the default number be at 20, but have a form where you can change the default number you can see as far as your personal preferences.

I had another idea, but it would be much harder to incorporate, I'd imagine. It had to do with making J2O fully customizable. When I work on SJ I use a program called GreyMatter for posting news, and in GreyMatter you can fully customize every aspect of everything using variables. Basically you set up the basic HTML as far as tables, colors, etc, and then for putting in actual content you put in variables that will return the content. GreyMatter's variables appear in a set of two brackets, ie {{post}} or something like that. With this option you could have a large variety of skins and formats for those with enough energy and time to create them, though I don't doubt that this would be rather difficult to consider since you guys have most of the formatting laid out already hard-coded.

Just an idea...

[Trafton]

In theory, the current generation of J2O has skins...but they don't work and just default to black text on a black background (impossible to read.) I think this will be implimented. It would nice to be able to use Black & Red both on the JCF and J2O.

I like the second idea Spaztic had. I've often wanted that.

Thirdly, when an uploaded file is deleted, it just seems to become "hidden." Couldn't it be completely removed instead?

[Violet CLM]

In response to Spaztic's first paragraph, http://www.jazz2online.com/downloads/view.php?view=All&srt=level_id+desc&p=1.

[Trafton]

Originally posted by Unknown Rabbit
In response to Spaztic's first paragraph, http://www.jazz2online.com/downloads/view.php?view=All&srt=level_id+desc&p=1.
True, but that takes extra effort. There should be a default that can be set, maybe even more (or, for those poor 28Kers), or less levels shown by default.

[Snowball]

I have no idea if these have been posted earlier in the thread..: a "report this post to a moderator" at the downloads and pictures
I've often wanted that ;)

and (perhaps) change the name from "pictures" to "pictures and voices" or like that

[Trafton]

Originally posted by Snowball
I have no idea if these have been posted earlier in the thread..: a "report this post to a moderator" at the downloads and pictures
I've often wanted that ;)

and (perhaps) change the name from "pictures" to "pictures and voices" or like that
A "Report this post to a Moderator" in both pictures and downloads would be great. I don't mind the second idea, but "Pictures and Voices" would be pretty long for the somewhat miniature J2O navigation bar.

[Nebula]

the reporting feature is already done, and is working on downloads, reviews, and will be integrated into everything (articles, article reviews, news comments, etc...).

As for the pictures system...I'm not sure if we decided to kill that or not.

[Trafton]

The pictures section seems to be where the most...err...content is. ;P

Many people might object if the pictues section was taken down. What about a pictures section where commenting was disabled?

[FQuist]

Skins are too much work at this time I think.. and I wonder if it will be that usable for a small site like ours. Different coloring styles are available though, and the option to customize parts of the tables and the css.

[Trafton]

Originally posted by Fquist
Skins are too much work at this time I think.. and I wonder if it will be that usable for a small site like ours. Different coloring styles are available though, and the option to customize parts of the tables and the css.
By 'skins' do you mean any default coloring modification of any sort or the type that completely changes how the page looks (including logos, etc.)?

[FQuist]

The latter.

[Trafton]

The current J2O makes everything black-on-black when you attempt to customize it. Will this be fixed, or just completely removed, in J2Ov2?

[Nebula]

fixed. It will also have a greater deal of customization ;)

[Blackraptor]

Well, you can add some features to the article section (As in, view articles by last post or something), but i doubt that will be done.

[Trafton]

Originally posted by Blackraptor
Well, you can add some features to the article section (As in, view articles by last post or something), but i doubt that will be done.
I actually like that idea. The Articles section is useful - I think more people should contribute.

[Violet CLM]

I'm not sure if this was posted before ot not, I saw it at one point on the first page, but it was ignored, and I don't have the time (currently) to check through the other pages.
Some feature in uploading levels/tilesets/etc that specifies other users that should get credit for it in their "levels by this author" area. Of course, the person specified would have to accept the crediting, because otherwise you could upload something which got lots of 1.0s and credit it to someone who you dislike, without them being able to do anything about it.. This would also cut down on all the "Flea and Rage" (more then one person) accounts.

[Trafton]

The problem with that idea is that it could be subject to cheating. Example: User A and User B are friends. User A uploads a level that is very good. Even though User B did not do anything with the level, User A claims that User B did a huge part and shares the rating with User B. Still, if it was refined, that idea would make good sense.

[Violet CLM]

I basically thought that people talented enough to make stuff that gets good ratings would be sensible enough not to cheat.

[Trafton]

That's true, but the problem is that people will evidentally credit people for small things. Someone who did 1% of the level would end up getting as much credit as one who did half of it.

[Tik]

*posts merely to claim page 5*

[¿�à rkér¿ TRC]

J20 VS 2>????? WOHOOO
YAY
YAY
THIS IS THE BEGINNING OF A NEW LIFE

[Trafton]

It seems that excitement is brewing. ;P

It's still about two and a half months away, but it sounds great. I can't wait. :)

[Onag]

Alright, first, here's how ratings should be handled:

1) User A submits item.
2) Users B-K review said item as follows:

&nbsp;&nbsp;B - 1
&nbsp;&nbsp;C - 10
&nbsp;&nbsp;D - 7
&nbsp;&nbsp;E - 8
&nbsp;&nbsp;F - 8
&nbsp;&nbsp;G - 6
&nbsp;&nbsp;H - 7
&nbsp;&nbsp;I - 5
&nbsp;&nbsp;J - 6
&nbsp;&nbsp;K - 9

3) The lowest 5% of ratings, and the highest 5% are ignored as follows:

&nbsp;&nbsp;<strike>B - 1</strike> (low 5%)
&nbsp;&nbsp;<strike>C - 10</strike> (high 5%)
&nbsp;&nbsp;D - 7
&nbsp;&nbsp;E - 8
&nbsp;&nbsp;F - 8
&nbsp;&nbsp;G - 6
&nbsp;&nbsp;H - 7
&nbsp;&nbsp;<strike>I - 5</strike> (low 5%)
&nbsp;&nbsp;J - 6
&nbsp;&nbsp;<strike>K - 9</strike> (high 5%)

4) The remaining reviews are averaged together to define the adjusted rating.

You could even take it further if you wanted, allowing users to vote on individual reviews (rather than reviewing reviewers). In other words, do something like amazon.com does with their reviews. Whenever you see one, you can say whether or not it was useful or valid. The percentage of people who find the review useful is the weight that review has in the overall adjusted rating.

Anyway, just something to think about. Throwing out the extremes will do a lot on its own. It's actually common in many official statistical studies to do this. It accounts for the 10% of the population that are weird, or something.

-----

Next suggestion: This may already be the way it's done, but I'm not sure. The top 10/20/whatever downloads should only take the past week or couple of weeks into account. Who really cares if a file has 10000 downloads if none of them were within the past month?

-----

When submitting articles, there should be a broader range of categories, and users should be able to sort/search based on these categories, or other fields, like auther, date, rating, reviews, etc.

-----

The screen shot idea is absolutely wonderful. I'd like to see shots of both levels and tilesets. At any rate, I think they should be limited in file size and have suggested dimentions (i.e. 160x120).

-----

Being able to submit links would be nice, but just remember who's going to get all of the complaints when the older links start dying.

-----

If you need any mild help with anything, let me know. The majority of the work I do now is on the web, and PHP is basically all I use.

-Onag

[FQuist]

Welcome, Onag! :)

Great suggestions. Especially the ratings one is one we will have to take into consideration. The top downloads is a good one, I believe it was like that but it broke.

We'd use the screenshots one but I am not sure if we should do it now - we're low on bandwith at the moment and it would only boost the data transfer. I still have to talk to Bobby about this.

Considering we have a small community, I am not sure if we should use the rating reviews idea. People would vote down reviews by enemies and vote up reviews by friends, and things like that.

I look forward to speaking to you.

[Trafton]

While I do like Onag's idea, I still think that keeping the rating system the way it is would be good enough. Complex formulas really won't change much other than to add code overhead. But that's just my opinion.

[Nebula]

low on bandwidth? hmm...

::wonders if the pictures section will survive::

;);)

[Trafton]

Originally posted by Nebula
::wonders if the pictures section will survive::

;);)
::wonders if an excuse is even needed to get rid of it::

;P

[Nebula]

who knows? :o:D

let me put it this way...is the pictures system that important that you'd rather us run out of bandwidth and have it completely unaccessable than shut it down?

Maybe we could shrink the file size limits...or prune pictures/sounds that are X days old.

[Bobby aka Dizzy]

It's the JCF that takes up bandwith more than anything else anyways.

[Trafton]

The JCF does account for much of that bandwidth, but getting rid of the JCF would be a shot in the foot. :P

[MoonBlazE]

I've a few suggestions more.

IP adresses matching the same IP adress as the uploaders should not being able to rate the upload, the same account should not being able to rate its own upload

A report option in bottom of reviews so you can repport unfair reviews instead of bother with a PM

Ability to ingore PMs from non-moderating users

Must have e-mail for sign up, and only one account per email (only for new accounts in v2)

Remove the rating ability from links, and give ability to the athour of the link to delete it (It's a link, it shouldn't be reviewed, only commented)

[Trafton]

Originally posted by Moonblaze
I've a few suggestions more.

IP adresses matching the same IP adress as the uploaders should not being able to rate the upload, the same account should not being able to rate its own upload
I have to agree with this, to an extent. I'm not sure what the rules on J2O are about relatives rating eachother's downloads, but generally I believe this is a good idea.

A report option in bottom of reviews so you can repport unfair reviews instead of bother with a PM
I think this is already slated for J2Ov2, and I think it is a great idea.

Ability to ingore PMs from non-moderating users
I'm not sure what you mean or why you would want that. Please explain further.

Must have e-mail for sign up, and only one account per email (only for new accounts in v2)
Agreed.

Remove the rating ability from links, and give ability to the athour of the link to delete it (It's a link, it shouldn't be reviewed, only commented) [/I]
I'm not sure about this one. Link rating really isn't a necessity, but I have no problem with it. I'm fine either way. ;P

[MoonBlazE]

Originally posted by Trafton
I'm not sure what you mean or why you would want that. Please explain further.Some centrain people accused me for review harsley and send me PMs over Jazz2online saying "I HATE U I REVIEW ALL U LVLS 1 HAHA".
An ingore would delete all PMs from that user, just like JCF's ingorelist.
It isen't a must, but it's nice to avoid thing you wouldn't like.

[MoonBlazE]

Originally posted by Unknown Rabbit
*Cough*Overlord*Cough* That didn't make any sense either, explain further.

[Violet CLM]

*Cough*Overlord*Cough*
http://www.jazz2online.com/jcf/showthread.php?s=&threadid=6883

[Trafton]

I'm not sure why people don't all just sign up for a Yahoo account for these purposes and just check it occasionally so it isn't deactivated.

[MoonBlazE]

Originally posted by Unknown Rabbit
*Cough*Overlord*Cough*
http://www.jazz2online.com/jcf/showthread.php?s=&threadid=6883 If you enter a false email, you automatic break the agreement for sign up, and there because deserves a warning or even a ban.
If people want to cheat, then let them do that, because I'm pretty sure on false email accounts giving unfair reviews will not get pretty much accepted.
Unless YOU have a better idea?

[Trafton]

Fake emails are often used for completely valid reasons. Some people don't have emails. Others hate giving them out for privacy reason. I don't think it deserves a ban or a warning.

[Blackraptor]

Another suggestion is that when you view all reviews by a user, you should choose whether they be sorted by name of level reviewed, date of review or rating. Just a suggestion though....

[Trafton]

I like that idea, especially if there was also "sort by review length."

[Blackraptor]

Yes, that would be cool.

[Robbo]

hi, this isn't on the subject I just wanted to harass NOBODY:D

it would be cool if there was an advanced preferrenced area, where you could edit your profile to such detale you could pick any colors for you windows, what kind of border they have, what the emoticons show up as (I have seen downloads for alien face emoticons) + such. well, thats it.

::Harasses NOBODY::

[Radium]

Originally posted by Robbo
::Harasses NOBODY::
That's why you should disable smileys.

[FQuist]

Originally posted by Robbo
hi, this isn't on the subject I just wanted to harass NOBODY:D

it would be cool if there was an advanced preferrenced area, where you could edit your profile to such detale you could pick any colors for you windows, what kind of border they have, what the emoticons show up as (I have seen downloads for alien face emoticons) + such. well, thats it.

::Harasses NOBODY::

*wonders why no-one reads the thread*

Yes, themes are possible. Custom smileys however, are not. If you want to change the color of the windows you will need to set that in the windows control panel.

[Blackraptor]

Quist, what about the thing me and Trafton mentioned a few posts back? The one about viewing all reviews by either lenght, date, name of level or rating...That would be a good idea.

[Robbo]

dumb emoticons always geeting in the way of my evil plots to harass people!

::Decides to hate emoticons for rest of life and never speak to enyone again::

::Plan goes well::

[FQuist]

Originally posted by Blackraptor
Quist, what about the thing me and Trafton mentioned a few posts back? The one about viewing all reviews by either lenght, date, name of level or rating...That would be a good idea.

It's not a priority but I will add it to the To Do list.

[Shen]

I have a suggestion, it's probably been already asked though...

Most levels here use tilesets which are already uploaded on J2O. So, why not add a 'tilesets used' field on the submit download screen, with links to the download screens for the tilesets. Then the zip can be made smaller by not including the tilesets, while if the player doesn't have the tileset they can download it via the tilesets field.

[FQuist]

A very good idea. Consider it added to the To Do list.

[Trafton]

I like that idea a lot...it would be extremely handy, free up space, etcetera.

Regarding the execution, would it be two fields where the user inputed the link and the tileset name, a dropdown box that displays a list of tilesets and whatnot, or something else?

[dopeh]

I'd say a drop down menu is the best way to do this..but that's just meh..

[Tik]

What about level packs that include lots of tilesets?

Also, you know...tilesets don't take up very much space. At all. Although I guess in the long run little by little it could save some nice space.

[Trafton]

Hmm...maybe multiple tileset fields?

Another way would be something that unzip the files midtransit, looks at the filenames, and searches for them on J2O...then again, that would be pretty complex to program.

[Syntax]

Ignore me if this has been suggested...

Sometimes when designing a level, I have an idea of what kind of tileset I'd like to use (spacey, indoors, snowy, etc). However, I do not follow up on every new tileset, and if I've been out of practice for awhlie I have to look through many tilesets before I find one that uses the theme (if that seems like too much work, then I resort to the tilesets I know). Would it be reasonable to have a "theme" field for tileset downloads? I know that most creators write a description of the tileset in the "description" field, but this would allow someone to sort the archive by "theme" (in theory), and not have to skim through all the tilesets.

Some issues to consider if this was done:
- Current tileset archive's compatibility
- A standard for the "theme" categories

(I say "theme" in quotes because I use this as a generic name, I couldn't think of anything more descriptive at this moment.)

[Trafton]

I like that idea a lot. The compatibility problem would be solved if the default was "not specified".

[Lark]

Two suggestions, number one, make it so your rating must be within 5.0 points of the average rating, so, for example, you can't rate Rabbit Honor Guard 1.0, or rate (no offense to you people) levels that people submitted just for a joke a 10.0. Also, you could be able to get a notification when somebody reviews your level.

And I just thought of the last one, you could be able to browse the "Did you Know?" section.

[Tik]

5 points is quite a wide gap. However I think people should be able to rate things whatever they want. Rating that are 3+ points off the average are usually reported and omitted anyway.

It would be nice if it could have the date of the last review posted in the listing.

Notification for reviews is an okay idea, but not that necessary. It's not that hard to check for reviews to your stuff anyway.

I am still for the ability to give rating credit to multiple people for one level. Perhaps there could be some weighing system where if someone made 50% of some download, the rating would effect their overall score half as much as it would. Or something. I can't think exactly how this could be acheived, but it is doable. Somehow.

Page 6. Yay.

[Trafton]

The problem with that idea is that there is no way to specify how much work someone did, and it could be abused. A lot. Besides, the formula would need to be really, really, really complex.

[Tik]

Actually what I was trying to say is maybe there was some way to specify how much that person did by giving a sort of percentage. Like you have maybe 5 rows, each with two text fields. For each row you put in one box their J2O username and in the other how much they contributed. For instance:

You upload a pack of 3 CTF levels. you made one myself. Bob made another one entirely by himself, and the third was half made by Bob and half by Jim. In the fields I put the following

Bob 49
Jim 16

Bob gets 49 because he made 1 of the 3 levels (33%) and he made 1/2 of another 1 of the 3 levels (33 divided by 2 is 16.5%). 16.5% + 33% is 49.5% and rounded down to 49%.

Jim made 1/2 of 1 of the 3 levels, so he gets 1/2 of 33%, which is 16.5%, rounded down to 16%.

You do not have to specify how much you yourself made because that can be calculated according to the total of above. So 100 - (49 + 16) = 35%. There is of course a margin of error since you are getting 2% extra, but that won't effect your total percentage much.

Now, lets say your average rating is a 6.625 with the following:

8.6
7.5
5.5
4.9

The CTF level pack is uploaded and gets an 8.9. You get 35% of this to help your average. Now is the tricky part, and I'm not sure if this makes sense or anything.

8.6
7.5
5.5
4.9
8.9 (35%)

You add up all the regular whole numbers, and then instead of adding in 8.9, you take 35% of 8.9 and add that in (29.615 is that total). And then, instead of dividing for the average by 5, you take 35% of 1 and add it onto the 4 regular one (4.35 for you geniuses) and use that as a divisor for the total.

29.615 / 4.35 = 6.808

Your average becomes 6.808. It <i>was</i> a 6.625. So logically the higher score of 8.9 increased your rating, but you only got 35% of it so it only increased it very slightly.

I have no idea if this was accurate and haven't really tried to apply it to anything else, but I think it just might work. I really just came up with it on the spot. There are probably errors. Perhaps there is another way to do it. I don't know.

And of course, abuse is still possible. Maybe there could be some sort of validation thing..?

[Trafton]

The problem that arises here is overhead-related. Someone would have to evaluate how much of it someone did. Perhaps it could be an administrators/moderators thing that the members could request, explain their reasonings, and then it would be applied. Otherwise, every level would have to been investigated individually.

Other than that, I like the idea. The formula is mathmatically solid. It is just that it might be difficult to apply in the real-world situation, if you know what I mean.

[Tik]

What I had in mind was a sort of verification system where before the level can show up each person who took part has to give verification, and after all of them have, a moderator gives verification that everything is correct and everyone is happy, and then it is uploaded. After that only a moderator can edit the percentages and such.<strike>

[Trafton]

But that would require the moderator to contact the people involved. Not to mention, the other person does not necessarily have any idea how the rating system works, either.

[Tik]

I was thinking it would send out a PM to each person the uploader put on the list and then they could select a moderator of their choice.<strike>

[Trafton]

Originally posted by Spaztic
I was thinking it would send out a PM to each person the uploader put on the list and then they could select a moderator of their choice.
A good idea. Unfortunately, they might choose an inactive moderator.

[Tik]

Perhaps a "verification list" could be generated instead for uploads that need verification for uploading (after the members involved verified it), then any moderator could view it and verify the upload.

[Trafton]

Originally posted by Spaztic
Perhaps a "verification list" could be generated instead for uploads that need verification for uploading (after the members involved verified it), then any moderator could view it and verify the upload.
Perhaps. Still, it would requite an in-depth knowledge of the situation. I suppose if they included comments, it could work. Regardless, it would be difficult.

[Blackraptor]

I agree with Spaztic all the way, because say Gary and Sam made 2 levels and put them into one pack. Gary wants to upload the levels by his account, and Sam wants to upload by his account. Gary makes a suggestion about making a new account called Gary and Sam, but Sam wants this pack to be calculated in his ratings, since he worked hard on it. Gary wants the pack to be calculated into his average as well. Either than having the pack calculated into both their averages, I dont see another way out that they will both be happy with.

[Trafton]

Originally posted by Blackraptor
I agree with Spaztic all the way, because say Gary and Sam made 2 levels and put them into one pack. Gary wants to upload the levels by his account, and Sam wants to upload by his account. Gary makes a suggestion about making a new account called Gary and Sam, but Sam wants this pack to be calculated in his ratings, since he worked hard on it. Gary wants the pack to be calculated into his average as well. Either than having the pack calculated into both their averages, I dont see another way out that they will both be happy with.
It is true that it is a good idea; it is the execution, however, that is the problem. Verification and such. It would be difficult, and although it is possible, it would take a lot of enery to maintain.

[Radium]

Calculating it into both averages just wouldn't work. If Gary wants all his friends to have higher ratings, he just has to divide his pack with them. If Gary wants to annoy his enemies, he just has to upload a crappy pack and split the rating with them. You could devide the rating (e.g. it's rated 8, Gary and Sam both get a 4), but that could potentially drop their overall average.

[Syntax]

At the least, I think it's reasonable to have someone's team projects linked to his/her downloads profile, even if it doesn't count towards the person's overall rating. In other words, if I went to Person X's downloads page (which shows all the downloads that were uploaded by Person X), I should see links on his/her page that point to all the team projects that Person X was involved in (in addition to Person X's solo works).

[Trafton]

Originally posted by Syntax
At the least, I think it's reasonable to have someone's team projects linked to his/her downloads profile, even if it doesn't count towards the person's overall rating. In other words, if I went to Person X's downloads page (which shows all the downloads that were uploaded by Person X), I should see links on his/her page that point to all the team projects that Person X was involved in (in addition to Person X's solo works).
That, on the other hand, is completely possible. I like the idea.

[Tik]

Originally posted by Radium
Calculating it into both averages just wouldn't work. If Gary wants all his friends to have higher ratings, he just has to divide his pack with them. If Gary wants to annoy his enemies, he just has to upload a crappy pack and split the rating with them. This situation has already been addressed indirectly. There would be a verification process that would work like this:

1. The main uploader uploads the file with all of the information addressing the percentages and giving each person's J2O username accordingly.

2. A PM or some other message is sent to each member addressed in the upload, and inside the message is included everything that the first person said in the first, including percentages, level information, etc.

3. Each person must either accept/decline the message.

If any one person declines, another message is sent to the main author with information of why it was declined, and then main author could either change the information and redo the verification process or delete the upload altogether (in essence, you go back to #1).

If all people accept, then you go on to #4:

4. Either a PM is sent to a moderator/admin of the main authors choice for them to authorize the upload, or a list is generated for every moderator/admin to see where anyone of them can decline/authorize the upload.

If authorized, the upload appears on the Downloads list and everyone is happy.

If declined, a message is sent back to the main author and every additional person from the moderator, and you go back to #1.

You could devide the rating (e.g. it's rated 8, Gary and Sam both get a 4), but that could potentially drop their overall average. I already came up with a (seemingly) good working method for weighing the rating based upon percentages given by the uploader above.

[FQuist]

Imho that's still impossible because someone can still just divide his good rating between his friends, they'd agree and the admin doesn't know enough.

Secondly, do you want me to be killed?!?!?! The amount of coding! :O ;-)

[Trafton]

Originally posted by Fquist
Secondly, do you want me to be killed?!?!?! The amount of coding! :O ;-)
Yes. That is secretly the purpose behind the topic as a whole. You have figured us out and MUST BE TERMINATED. Muhahaha.

~ Traft

[n0]

Do you have a deadline? Like a month or quarter or year or decade when this is estimated to be done?

`N0

[FQuist]

No. I'm ill and have school work to do, so I can't do estimates. Especially because I don't know how much help the others are going to give me with the code.

[Trafton]

I would also like to see J2Ov2 be able to have a pop up message when a new PM arrives, much like the JCF.

~ Traft

[FQuist]

$10 :P

[Trafton]

Originally posted by Fquist
$10 :P
What? ;-P

~ Traft

[Radium]

I refuse to pay more than $6.50 for a popup window.

[Tik]

A popup would be nice, I often get PMs and forget to check and answer them until weeks later. Popups aren't very hard to implement into HTML, either, and I don't know but I don't think that would involve a lot of coding in PHP either.

[FQuist]

Sure, but I don't see how you can miss the obvious "There are 3 unread messages" at the front page above the news. ;p

To me, I always see it immediatly.

[Trafton]

Originally posted by Fquist
Sure, but I don't see how you can miss the obvious "There are 3 unread messages" at the front page above the news. ;p

To me, I always see it immediatly.
It is helpful when browing through the site. Plus, the three messages thing is sometimes slow to refresh.

~ Traft

[FQuist]

It is helpful when browing through the site. Plus, the three messages thing is sometimes slow to refresh.

*cough* It's created on the fly *cough*

[Trafton]

Originally posted by Fquist
*cough* It's created on the fly *cough*
It still sometimes does not refresh until I reload the page, which can be annoying.

~ Traft

[Blackraptor]

I never knew that Gary and Sam would become so popular as fictional characters among this topic ;P

[Blade Nightflame]

Allow a special program on this forum whenever you post you can post a image from your computer
Seriously i was getting really (-) up about linking the pictures!

[Trafton]

Allow a special program on this forum whenever you post you can post a image from your computer
Seriously i was getting really (fed) up about linking the pictures!
Eek. I do not think that would be a good idea. First off, that would waste serious amounts of web space. Second of all, a program like that would require a lot of coding.

Just get a good FTP server somewhere or a free image host.

~ Traft

[n0]

Copy, paste

With the Jazz1 editor out now, I thought that people might be uploading Jazz 1 files. Because of that, I thought there might be a need for new sections in the files uploads page. Maybe one for tilesets and one for levels and one for animations.

`N0

[Tik]

I just thought of some features I would like to see:

- Ability to sort downloads, pictures, etc by the last time they were replied to.

- Ability to see the date and author of the last person to reply/review a download, picture, etc.

The reason for this is often people review things I have uploaded and I don't notice from the number of reviews. It would just be an added convenience, I guess.

[Trafton]

I just thought of some features I would like to see:

- Ability to sort downloads, pictures, etc by the last time they were replied to.
That is already there for downloads, but I agree that would be a good addition to pictures, if anything can be added to it. *cough*

~ Traft

[DanYjel]

No.
1) Make photos and images catehories. It will better. I have 250 MB of Jazz imaged on my disc...

2) Make first level category. No. It is not joke. First level is different category than Single Player.

3) Make more categories like Foo Race, Test, Bank Roberry... It will better for orientation.

4) To members, add date of birthday, current clans... VERY LOT OF INFORMATIONS!!! and give choice of sort members by age, by location, by number of uploaded levels, by average rating of all levels... Or... by average length of review, or by number of reviews...

5) Jazz2Online is like whole Jazz2 buggy. I sent list of bugs to Frank, but I think there is lot of other bugs...

6) Give choice of customize colors. Add color schemes, from what we can change. I thing... Like JCF

7) When it will completed? I can't wait for it.

[Tik]

No.
1) Make photos and images catehories. It will better. I have 250 MB of Jazz imaged on my disc...Waste of space, I think. People would abuse this and upload pictures they want to use on the JCF and stuff too. Not a good idea, because people are dumbheads.

2) Make first level category. No. It is not joke. First level is different category than Single Player.In my harsh opinion, all crappy works on j2o should be deleted. This saves space and promotes quality. First levels do not "deserve" their own category. The only reason this might be a good idea is forewarning. Some people won't even look at it if it's someone's first level beforehand. I don't know, I guess it's feasible but I don't like it.

3) Make more categories like Foo Race, Test, Bank Roberry... It will better for orientation.Foo Races also don't "deserve" their own category because they're already assigned to being race levels. A Test level should not even be on j2o if it's just a dumb level they did testing crap and uploaded. Maybe you could clarify what you mean. Bank Roberry, however, is a good idea. All of the new gametypes should be included.

4) To members, add date of birthday, current clans... VERY LOT OF INFORMATIONS!!! and give choice of sort members by age, by location, by number of uploaded levels, by average rating of all levels... Or... by average length of review, or by number of reviews...Good idea, methinks. Actually this might already be in the works. I'm not sure. I don't think it's way too specific, though...not that it needs to be or anything.

5) Jazz2Online is like whole Jazz2 buggy. I sent list of bugs to Frank, but I think there is lot of other bugs...Are you saying J2O has bugs or Jazz2? J2Ov2 is being completely recoded so it is faster, much less buggy, and have many many new additions and features. Trust me.

6) Give choice of customize colors. Add color schemes, from what we can change. I thing... Like JCFAlready a feature, for the most part. Some things (like graphics) are unchangeable.

7) When it will completed? I can't wait for it.Quist last told me it was about 60%-70% done. A lot of the content has already been made and added by Newspaz, but a lot of the gritty stuff is still in the works. Plus all of the old downloads are going to have to be transferred to the new setup which I imagine will be quite a job.

[the WINNER]

No. I'm ill and have school work to do, so I can't do estimates. Especially because I don't know how much help the others are going to give me with the code.
If you are ill, how are you on your computer replying on JCF? ;p

[Nebula]

If you are ill, how are you on your computer replying on JCF? ;p

he's that dedicated ;)

[DanYjel]

But more categories of downloads like programs...
Or make categories SinglePlayer level(s) and SP episode(s).

[DanYjel]

Actually what I was trying to say is maybe there was some way to specify how much that person did by giving a sort of percentage. Like you have maybe 5 rows, each with two text fields. For each row you put in one box their J2O username and in the other how much they contributed. For instance:

You upload a pack of 3 CTF levels. you made one myself. Bob made another one entirely by himself, and the third was half made by Bob and half by Jim. In the fields I put the following

Bob 49
Jim 16

Bob gets 49 because he made 1 of the 3 levels (33%) and he made 1/2 of another 1 of the 3 levels (33 divided by 2 is 16.5%). 16.5% + 33% is 49.5% and rounded down to 49%.

Jim made 1/2 of 1 of the 3 levels, so he gets 1/2 of 33%, which is 16.5%, rounded down to 16%.

You do not have to specify how much you yourself made because that can be calculated according to the total of above. So 100 - (49 + 16) = 35%. There is of course a margin of error since you are getting 2% extra, but that won't effect your total percentage much.

Now, lets say your average rating is a 6.625 with the following:

8.6
7.5
5.5
4.9

The CTF level pack is uploaded and gets an 8.9. You get 35% of this to help your average. Now is the tricky part, and I'm not sure if this makes sense or anything.

8.6
7.5
5.5
4.9
8.9 (35%)

You add up all the regular whole numbers, and then instead of adding in 8.9, you take 35% of 8.9 and add that in (29.615 is that total). And then, instead of dividing for the average by 5, you take 35% of 1 and add it onto the 4 regular one (4.35 for you geniuses) and use that as a divisor for the total.

29.615 / 4.35 = 6.808

Your average becomes 6.808. It <i>was</i> a 6.625. So logically the higher score of 8.9 increased your rating, but you only got 35% of it so it only increased it very slightly.

I have no idea if this was accurate and haven't really tried to apply it to anything else, but I think it just might work. I really just came up with it on the spot. There are probably errors. Perhaps there is another way to do it. I don't know.

And of course, abuse is still possible. Maybe there could be some sort of validation thing..?
OMG it will not objective!

[n0]

Just a thought.
If they are good enough to make a good level that would get a good rating, would they be the type who would share the rating with a friend? If someone DOES share a rating, who cares? And I don't think they would, because the layout would show every author.

And pageclaim.

`N0

[Link]

This is changing the subject slightly, but I don't think it's been mentioned before. FQuist and I were talking this morning and the subject of articles came up. It seems that a lot of bad\non-useful articles are taking up space in the articles section.

One option is to have rating of articles, just like levels. But that poses a problem because it is much harder to rate articles. Do you rate on how well-written it is? How useful it is? How thorough it is? It may be a very informative article but it only applies to some people so others would rate it lower because of that. Or it could be very informative but written by someone who doesn't know English very well, also lowering the rating.

This is why rating of articles isn't a good solution. Something I thought of was instead having an approval process. Unlike levels, articles almost become part of the site content and should all be good. With an approval process, articles would be submitted by anyone but wouldn't automatically appear. They would need to be read by someone on the J2O staff who would evaluate the quality and usefulness, and maybe make minor changes to it.

This way, article clutter would be kept at a minimum, and it would ensure that good articles still get included even if they do not apply to many people or have readability problems while still being informative.

Thoughts?

[Tik]

I think that is a very good idea.

However, the implementation of it might be rather tricky, or at least more work for the j2ov2 team. That's their decision though. For what it's worth, I think that is a good idea.

I also would like to suggest something else. A sort of 'recent updates' side panel thing on the front page, perhaps, that just sort of shows some of the new stuff that has been changed, added. For example, I often don't bother looking at the Articles section because I don't want to sort through them all looking for the newest stuff. It could also have links to downloads that have gotten an 8.0+ rating recently.

That, of course, would be more of a convenience than something essential.

[FQuist]

I think Link's idea is a good one. I would like to add a few things:

1. What to do with the old articles? Should we remove the non-top quality ones?
2. If we have an approval process the admins might also get the option to fix grammar/spice up the article layout.
3. We could have "admin approved" articles which show up, with the option to show the other, non-approved(or old and bad) ones also.

I think that is a very good idea.

However, the implementation of it might be rather tricky, or at least more work for the j2ov2 team. That's their decision though. For what it's worth, I think that is a good idea.

Well, J2Ov2 has a super-moderator-ish user status(called 'newsposter' and 'download admin' sadly) which allows us to appoint special people for it. I have built in options even for a permission system(like, this regular user can edit articles, etc) but it doesn't work yet. It's no priority.

I also would like to suggest something else. A sort of 'recent updates' side panel thing on the front page, perhaps, that just sort of shows some of the new stuff that has been changed, added. For example, I often don't bother looking at the Articles section because I don't want to sort through them all looking for the newest stuff. It could also have links to downloads that have gotten an 8.0+ rating recently.

That, of course, would be more of a convenience than something essential.

Something like that has been in the work with the 'nodes', the content part of the site(you know, the characters, about, partymode thing). We could adapt it for the other things too. It's has priority though, i'll put it on the wishlist like many other things suggested in this thread.

[FQuist]

If someone DOES share a rating, who cares? And I don't think they would, because the layout would show every author.

`N0

Well, apparently people see the average downloads rating for people as important. I've never thought of that when i added it, it was more like a small gadget, but it almost seems like a 'cult'(bad word for it), so i guess people *would* care about abuse.

[FQuist]

Triple post, yay.

Just to give people a small teaser, here's an old changelog for the site:


<font color="red">FQuist</font>

<b>Thursday</b>
<b>Feature:</b>: List reviews is about finished or finished.
<b>Feature:</b>: Added menu to inc.menu.php to accompany NS's great work on the 'Levels' section.
<b>Feature:</b>: Tweaked some things in the 'Party Mode' nodes and menu.

<b>Saturday</b>:
<b>Feature:</b> News archives finished.
<b>Progress:</b> downloads/"List reviews for user
"(listReviews.php) 75% done.

<b>Friday</b>:
<b>Fix:</b> Fixed stupid bug in news/news.php.

(snip)

<b>Wednesday</b>
(snip)

<b>Tuesday</b>
<b>Progress:</b> Worked on news/archives.php

<font color="red">iCeD</font>

<b>Saturday</b>
<b>Feature:</b> Edit Article script is finished and (hopefully) works.
<b>Fix:</b> Fixed categories being displayed multiple times in the articles.

<b>Sunday</b>
<b>Feature:</b> Delete Article script added.

[n0]

Ok, I have an Idea with a capital "I". Instead of letting just anyone rate uploads, we could have a team of raters who we know will rate the levels fairly. They would give the offical rating to the level, and then there could be the unoffical rating where anyone could rate it and give a comment. That way we don't have the seriously screwed rating problem, where everyone is complaining about how overrated everything is.

I know that Trafton and Violet usealy have a very well put together review, so maybe they could be a part of the team, too. Disguise is very experinced with Tilesets, and, well, just look for the people who reveiw nicely and add them to the team.

I for one wouldn't mind giving up the ability to officialy rate levels in turn for a more fair rating.

Oh, and we need a section to upload JJ1 levels. I have a pack started, and will need a place to upload it soon.

[Trafton]

Ok, I have an Idea with a capital "I". Instead of letting just anyone rate uploads, we could have a team of raters who we know will rate the levels fairly. They would give the offical rating to the level, and then there could be the unoffical rating where anyone could rate it and give a comment. That way we don't have the seriously screwed rating problem, where everyone is complaining about how overrated everything is.

I know that Trafton and Violet usealy have a very well put together review, so maybe they could be a part of the team, too. Disguise is very experinced with Tilesets, and, well, just look for the people who reveiw nicely and add them to the team.

I for one wouldn't mind giving up the ability to officialy rate levels in turn for a more fair rating.

Oh, and we need a section to upload JJ1 levels. I have a pack started, and will need a place to upload it soon.
The first idea has been suggested before; the conclusion was that it is simply unfair to chose level raters over others in that manner. The second one is not bad at all.

~ Traft

[Stijn]

Well, you could do it like with the articles: "Admin approved" reviewers and <s>n00bs</s> other reviewers, with the options to show both or only the "approved" ones.