I want to figure out a better way to manage flavor threads. I do not have much in the way of new proposals in this OP. I have one formal proposal that is simply ratifying something we have been doing by tradition for many years, and needs almost no discussion. For everything else, I am hoping we can develop some proposals collaboratively in this thread. So I very much want suggestions from others here.
Currently we have four pure flavor sections of a CAP project: Art, Sprite, Name, and Pokedex Entries.
I don't think Art or Sprite steps need to change much. I think Art and Sprites are a model of how I wish all flavor steps could be managed. They aren't perfect, by any means. But the art and sprite processes have clear rules, submissions are managed in an orderly way, and most of all -- it's almost completely democratic. There are no subjective slates or disputes of favoritism or bias impacting our final choices.
Up until now, the entire process for handling Art and Sprite threads has been followed by tradition. Technically, according to current rules, the Topic Leader can select all Art and Sprite slates at their whim. So before I get onto other flavor steps, I want to make this official:
It's really Name and Pokedex Entries that are the big mess we need to focus on. We get a bazillion submissions and no clear way to present a fair slate to the community for vote. Right now, there is way too much subjectivity in the slating process, which leads to disputes and problems. I'd like to figure out a way to have a little more structure in the submission and slate-making process, AND hopefully have something that is much more democratic. I can't see an easy way to do both. If we make the process completely democratic, that means we would have to slate everything submitted. I don't think that would work well, but perhaps it is the best way to go.
Currently we have the TL pick a slate of the supposed community favorites from the thread of submissions. Even if we don't have bullshit like BMB pulled in CAP4, even the most well-intentioned TL's are only human. It's very hard to gauge consensus on flavor submission threads. In most posts, people just make submissions and there is very little commentary about other submissions. And even if thread feedback is taken into account, any TL will have a very subjective bias on what is a "good submission". We need to take the whole thing out of one person's hands, and put it on the community.
We do that with art, and here's why it works:
In the art thread, we get hundreds of submissions sometimes and EVERY LEGAL SUBMISSION makes the slate. However, in the end, there are only a reasonable handful of submissions that end up on the slate. We achieve that with the submission process and rules. We did not intentionally make extensive art submissions rules to discourage people from submitting. All the art rules were made to enforce objective standards to ensure art is usable on the CAP website and to ensure all submissions are in one comparable category of artwork (For example, we don't want submissions of art sculptures to compete against cartoon art. Don't laugh, it has happened in the past...) But one somewhat surprising side-effect of the extensive rules, is to keep the number of legal final submissions to a manageable number.
Bottom line: Most people don't bother to read the OP.
Most people don't even know they have to make a formal "Final Submission" in order to even be considered for the art poll. Most noobs see art being posted in the thread, and they post their shitty art along with everything else. In most cases, the art sucks, no one comments, and the artist never bothers to post much further. Lots and lots of "bad submissions" fall to the wayside by simple virtue of having a long submission time, which requires a formal submission post at the end.
In the art thread, if you don't read the art submission rules pretty carefully, you'll probably fuck up and make a mistake if you try to look at what everyone else is doing and copy it. That's because the art rules have specific requirements for linework, coloring, and image sizes. Many artists, even some good ones, get caught on small technicalities that disqualify their art. In most cases where a good artist makes an illegal submission, one of their knowledgeable fans will catch it and warn the artist to correct it. However, crappy artists don't have the fans, so they don't get the warning, and their art is DQ'ed. Don't get me wrong, we haven't intentionally set land mines for bad artists, nor do we discriminate in enforcing the art rules. But I have noticed one unintentional side effect of our extensive rules, is that it tends to weed out a lot of bad art and lazy submitters, and it tends to keep slates to a manageable size.
I don't know if there is any way to impose structure to the Name and Pokedex threads that might help curb a lot of the bad submissions and also allow the more popular submissions to collectively "rise" to make the slate, kinda like what happens unintentionally with art.
Obviously, art is very different from Name and Pokedex Entries, because art takes quite a bit of effort to make a good submission. It takes very little time to make Names or Dex Entries. So we have to assume we'll have a big flood of submissions. I'd like to interrupt the ability for people to whip up a submission, post it on the drive-by and be assured it will make the poll. I wish we could require at least a little more effort or attention, to weed out the half-hearted submissions. Also, even if we can't reduce the number of "legal" submissions, I'd at least like to figure out some way to get a better idea of what is popular or not BEFORE we make the slate. I realize it might not be possible, but perhaps with all of us brainstorming we can figure something out.
For example, we might have the thread open for 24 hours for plain submissions, but require every post after 24 hours to include mention of your favorite other submissions. If you just post a submission after 24 hours, the post will be ignored. Basically, allow a certain time for a pool of submissions, but then make everyone comment after that, if they want to add to the submission base. Or maybe set a post threshold in the thread, instead of a time threshold, since stuff like name threads tend to fill up very quickly. "After the 50th post in this thread, all posts must include comments about a minimum of 3 favorite submissions other than your own, or the post will be deleted." I can see problems with a rule like that, but hopefully you see where I am going with it.
Any suggestions? Surely we can improve on what we do today. Flavor has no impact on our competitive creations. The selection of flavor should be a pure popularity contest. I do think we can impose rules to make a level playing field for everyone and maybe enforce some standards (for example, to prevent troll submissions). But ultimately, I'd like to allow the community to pick whatever is most popular.
Proposals are welcome and encouraged!
Currently we have four pure flavor sections of a CAP project: Art, Sprite, Name, and Pokedex Entries.
I don't think Art or Sprite steps need to change much. I think Art and Sprites are a model of how I wish all flavor steps could be managed. They aren't perfect, by any means. But the art and sprite processes have clear rules, submissions are managed in an orderly way, and most of all -- it's almost completely democratic. There are no subjective slates or disputes of favoritism or bias impacting our final choices.
Up until now, the entire process for handling Art and Sprite threads has been followed by tradition. Technically, according to current rules, the Topic Leader can select all Art and Sprite slates at their whim. So before I get onto other flavor steps, I want to make this official:
Proposal:
Art and Sprite polls will be conducted and managed by the CAP moderators. Art and Sprite slates will consist of all legal submissions, as determined by the CAP Moderators in accordance with the mods interpretation of the art and sprite submission rules.
Done. You don't really need to even post comments on the proposal, because it is exactly what we have been doing for years now. This just codifies the official project policy on Art and Sprites.Art and Sprite polls will be conducted and managed by the CAP moderators. Art and Sprite slates will consist of all legal submissions, as determined by the CAP Moderators in accordance with the mods interpretation of the art and sprite submission rules.
It's really Name and Pokedex Entries that are the big mess we need to focus on. We get a bazillion submissions and no clear way to present a fair slate to the community for vote. Right now, there is way too much subjectivity in the slating process, which leads to disputes and problems. I'd like to figure out a way to have a little more structure in the submission and slate-making process, AND hopefully have something that is much more democratic. I can't see an easy way to do both. If we make the process completely democratic, that means we would have to slate everything submitted. I don't think that would work well, but perhaps it is the best way to go.
Currently we have the TL pick a slate of the supposed community favorites from the thread of submissions. Even if we don't have bullshit like BMB pulled in CAP4, even the most well-intentioned TL's are only human. It's very hard to gauge consensus on flavor submission threads. In most posts, people just make submissions and there is very little commentary about other submissions. And even if thread feedback is taken into account, any TL will have a very subjective bias on what is a "good submission". We need to take the whole thing out of one person's hands, and put it on the community.
We do that with art, and here's why it works:
In the art thread, we get hundreds of submissions sometimes and EVERY LEGAL SUBMISSION makes the slate. However, in the end, there are only a reasonable handful of submissions that end up on the slate. We achieve that with the submission process and rules. We did not intentionally make extensive art submissions rules to discourage people from submitting. All the art rules were made to enforce objective standards to ensure art is usable on the CAP website and to ensure all submissions are in one comparable category of artwork (For example, we don't want submissions of art sculptures to compete against cartoon art. Don't laugh, it has happened in the past...) But one somewhat surprising side-effect of the extensive rules, is to keep the number of legal final submissions to a manageable number.
Bottom line: Most people don't bother to read the OP.
Most people don't even know they have to make a formal "Final Submission" in order to even be considered for the art poll. Most noobs see art being posted in the thread, and they post their shitty art along with everything else. In most cases, the art sucks, no one comments, and the artist never bothers to post much further. Lots and lots of "bad submissions" fall to the wayside by simple virtue of having a long submission time, which requires a formal submission post at the end.
In the art thread, if you don't read the art submission rules pretty carefully, you'll probably fuck up and make a mistake if you try to look at what everyone else is doing and copy it. That's because the art rules have specific requirements for linework, coloring, and image sizes. Many artists, even some good ones, get caught on small technicalities that disqualify their art. In most cases where a good artist makes an illegal submission, one of their knowledgeable fans will catch it and warn the artist to correct it. However, crappy artists don't have the fans, so they don't get the warning, and their art is DQ'ed. Don't get me wrong, we haven't intentionally set land mines for bad artists, nor do we discriminate in enforcing the art rules. But I have noticed one unintentional side effect of our extensive rules, is that it tends to weed out a lot of bad art and lazy submitters, and it tends to keep slates to a manageable size.
I don't know if there is any way to impose structure to the Name and Pokedex threads that might help curb a lot of the bad submissions and also allow the more popular submissions to collectively "rise" to make the slate, kinda like what happens unintentionally with art.
Obviously, art is very different from Name and Pokedex Entries, because art takes quite a bit of effort to make a good submission. It takes very little time to make Names or Dex Entries. So we have to assume we'll have a big flood of submissions. I'd like to interrupt the ability for people to whip up a submission, post it on the drive-by and be assured it will make the poll. I wish we could require at least a little more effort or attention, to weed out the half-hearted submissions. Also, even if we can't reduce the number of "legal" submissions, I'd at least like to figure out some way to get a better idea of what is popular or not BEFORE we make the slate. I realize it might not be possible, but perhaps with all of us brainstorming we can figure something out.
For example, we might have the thread open for 24 hours for plain submissions, but require every post after 24 hours to include mention of your favorite other submissions. If you just post a submission after 24 hours, the post will be ignored. Basically, allow a certain time for a pool of submissions, but then make everyone comment after that, if they want to add to the submission base. Or maybe set a post threshold in the thread, instead of a time threshold, since stuff like name threads tend to fill up very quickly. "After the 50th post in this thread, all posts must include comments about a minimum of 3 favorite submissions other than your own, or the post will be deleted." I can see problems with a rule like that, but hopefully you see where I am going with it.
Any suggestions? Surely we can improve on what we do today. Flavor has no impact on our competitive creations. The selection of flavor should be a pure popularity contest. I do think we can impose rules to make a level playing field for everyone and maybe enforce some standards (for example, to prevent troll submissions). But ultimately, I'd like to allow the community to pick whatever is most popular.
Proposals are welcome and encouraged!