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Profile Critique Queue Reordering Suggestion
Topic Started: May 2 2018, 12:12 AM (248 Views)
MurderWeasel
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You've been counting stars, now you're counting on me
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Heya, Staff! Just had a quick thought today and I'm posting it here.

Critiques tend to slow down a little as the registration period goes on. That's totally natural. It can, however, feel kind of bad for a new handler to turn up (or a long-absent handler to return) only to have to wait for a massive queue to clear. So I was thinking it might be cool if any characters that are a handler's first submitted character for the version got fast-tracked to the front of the queue. This would allow the handlers who are most likely to need extra help (due to being new/gone for ages) to get that help quicker, and also to get at least one character approved more speedily so they can actually participate in the game. The trade-off is that handlers waiting on second, third, sixth, etc. characters may have to wait a little longer for those critiques, but I think it'd be pretty rare for someone to lose more than two or three spots in the queue and I also think handlers would be pretty understanding given the goal of getting new folks into the game speedily.

Thoughts (from staff or the peanut gallery)?
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Juliette Sargent drawn by Mimi and Ryuki
Alton Gerow drawn by Mimi
Lavender Ripley drawn by Mimi
Phillip Olivares drawn by Ryuki
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dmboogie
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A Delicate Machine
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peanut gallery here

i like this! pre-game can feel slow even when you have a character to write (or... not write.......... >_>;) so lessening the wait-around time should help with newbie retention; and at least the people who get bumped down a bit in the queue will still have characters to write with while they wait
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Espi
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I also agree with this because as stated once pregame gets going being left out at the end of the queue is discouraging. I'm not really sure this could be abused or backfire, really.
V5: Cut Short


V6: Broken Down


V7: Unprepared
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Slam
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Mr. Danya
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I did actually bring this up whilst I was still staff, so I'm all for the idea being revisited.

notcauseihavemycurrentonlycharacterinqueueoranything

Only challenge would be the extra logistics of tracking whether it's someone's first character or not. That's not particularly difficult, but every step adds on to things.

Other logistic question is if someone withdraws their only character then submits a new one, do they get another fast track?
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Cicada Days
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Wait WTF how long has Slam not been staff

Anyways I also wholeheartedly agree with this! New handler turnover could definitely be lessened if we keep the engagement for them more regular. Like Slam said it might create extra work so end of the day it's up to staff to implement based on the trade-offs, but I think if it's not too overly complicated it's definitely worthwhile.
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MurderWeasel
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Slam
May 2 2018, 02:03 AM
Other logistic question is if someone withdraws their only character then submits a new one, do they get another fast track?
My general feeling would tend towards no, just because it makes it harder to tell if a character is a first (no "List Member's Topics" shortcut) and also opens more potential for edge cases/adding to staff work in ways that don't necessarily get full bang for the buck. I definitely don't feel strongly about that provision, though (especially since it doesn't affect me in any way ><).
V7:
Juliette Sargent drawn by Mimi and Ryuki
Alton Gerow drawn by Mimi
Lavender Ripley drawn by Mimi
Phillip Olivares drawn by Ryuki
Library Vee
Misty Browder drawn by Ryuki
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1245
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Winner
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+1

Perhaps it could use the very same priority system the adoption uses?

Though I wouldn't mind if it was not actually a new rule, but an appeal for staff to consciously choose one handler (the new one) over the other (an experienced SOTFer), since sometimes you check a profile and realise that it is easier to critique than others or for example you notice a template error. As newbie profiles tend to usually involve more work than the profiles of people who have experience in getting a profile done, there would also be the potential risk of every staffer being busy in the queue for having a fifteen revision profile - hypothetically - whereas they could've done 3 profiles of other handlers that have simple to edit profile.

Just playing devil's advocate here, but I'm in for the idea!
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Malloon
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Hm. Personal experience as a newbie last time around tells me I would have very much liked this. Also, grass is green.

One potential problem I foresee is if there's an influx of newbies, they would all get priority and as such they would outnumber the experienced handlers at the beginning of pregame and the game proper. I know (also from experience) that writing an accepted profile does not necessarily qualify you to write decent posts, and I learned to do so primarily by copying the styles I found in other posts, branching out later. And mostly from posts I read in V6, not V5, since that was where I was writing too. I'm worried that this lack of direction coupled with the enthusiastic cluenessness typical of newbies any and everywhere might lead to a noticable drop in quality in the beginning (comparable to V1 and V2) and a far larger quantity of deviations from the rules, leading to more work for staff. And as soon as that standard has been accepted it might easily proliferate through the rest of the pregame and game.

There are ways to counteract this, such as only have this only count from the time when the second profiles can be submitted, but subclauses to rules should be avoided unless necessary or extremely beneficial, in my opinion - bureaucracy can scare people off, after all, and that's at least partially what we want to avoid here, right?

Of course, this is a specific situation that more experienced handlers might be able to tell me is unrealistic, but it seems realistic enough to me.
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Benjamin "Squirrel" Lichter [ ~ / + / + / + / + / + / + / + / + / + / + / + / + / + / + / + / + / + / + / > ] - You'll find him in the clouds.
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Chloe Bruges [ - ] - You'll find her doing math.
Joseph "Joey" Quintero - You'll find him writing speaches.
Keith Rogers - You'll find him out with his gang.

In the unlikely event you want to use my characters...
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I'm a Cactus
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Yeah, I think it makes sense.

I'm totally aware of the irony that I say this as my last character is next in queue, but whatever. It's probably for the best - gets the new blood some priority.
Just don't leave me too long fam.
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backslash
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Who is this sassy lost child
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Take this as like 50% peanut gallery commentary because single staffer vs. the shadowy and all-powerful staff conglomerate, etc. I think it's a nice idea and one that could possibly be implemented if we saw a significant slowdown or another influx of new users, but not one that's necessarily urgently needed right now. The queue's been moving fairly steadily over the course of pregame (in part thanks to handlers being nice and prompt with their edits, which we appreciate); we've got five forfeited/abandoned profiles over the course of nearly five months and none of those are new people who bounced while waiting for an initial critique.
"Art enriches the community, Steve, no less than a pulsing fire hose, or a fireman beating down a blazing door. So what if we're drawing a nude man? So what if all we ever draw is a nude man, or the same nude man over and over in all sorts of provocative positions? Context, not content! Process, not subject! Don't be so gauche, Steve, it's beneath you."
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MurderWeasel
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Malloon
May 2 2018, 06:25 AM
There are ways to counteract this, such as only have this only count from the time when the second profiles can be submitted, but subclauses to rules should be avoided unless necessary or extremely beneficial, in my opinion - bureaucracy can scare people off, after all, and that's at least partially what we want to avoid here, right?
I may have been a bit unclear, but this would apply to everyone with no characters... including returning veterans. Thus, the first cycle everyone would have equal priority. It's also pretty rare for the first app cycle to be slow.

backslash
 
Take this as like 50% peanut gallery commentary because single staffer vs. the shadowy and all-powerful staff conglomerate, etc. I think it's a nice idea and one that could possibly be implemented if we saw a significant slowdown or another influx of new users, but not one that's necessarily urgently needed right now. The queue's been moving fairly steadily over the course of pregame (in part thanks to handlers being nice and prompt with their edits, which we appreciate); we've got five forfeited/abandoned profiles over the course of nearly five months and none of those are new people who bounced while waiting for an initial critique.

I do agree that it's not costing us members at the moment, but that's not really the perspective I'm coming at it from. I'm more thinking that it sucks to have to wait longer to participate in the game at all, and it'd be cool to fast-track handlers into having at least one character so they can actually RP. The queue's currently in pretty solid shape, but there's still been a ~2-3 week average wait for initial critique in the past couple months. That makes total sense given the amount of characters already approved, but it can also leave eager newcomers twiddling their thumbs for longer than is ideal, whereas the cost to those already in queue would be comparatively small (a bump of one spot).
V7:
Juliette Sargent drawn by Mimi and Ryuki
Alton Gerow drawn by Mimi
Lavender Ripley drawn by Mimi
Phillip Olivares drawn by Ryuki
Library Vee
Misty Browder drawn by Ryuki
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Slam
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Mr. Danya
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It would be good if we could get a staff-wide response to this, rather than just slash's.
V7 Freunde
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Lucas Brady - Believing in the Heart of the Cards - 1 - 2 - 3 - 4

V6 Amigos - Spoilers!

Die Slam's Art, Die
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