Why does my customization (mod/theme) take so long to be reviewed?

Started by Joshua Dickerson, March 02, 2007, 02:16:59 AM

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青山 素子

I really should restrain myself from getting involved in these types of topics...

Quote from: Hambil on March 27, 2007, 06:44:04 AM
Member has x number of approved mods (3 sounds like a good talking point)

Member has x number of mod downloads (1000 for a talking point)

Those aren't really good qualifications for allowing someone to review a mod. What about someone who has five approved mods, but needed some help with each one because of small errors on each one? Is someone who keeps making mistakes, but fixes when notified, a good person to be reviewing mods?

Likewise for the downloads. Some mods are very much there to satisfy a niche need. Tying popularity into the equation could remove some very good candidates.

Like it or not, choosing people who are qualified to review mods is not an empirical process, it is very subjective.


There are discussions going on on how to improve the situation aroudn the mod and theme sites, so keep the feedback going.  
Motoko-chan
Director, Simple Machines

Note: Unless otherwise stated, my posts are not representative of any official position or opinion of Simple Machines.


formlesstree4

There appears to be (to me) only one team that reviews all mods. There should in fact be two teams. Here is how i think it should work. (do not quote me for this, as i am very tired and will try to make sense.)

                    Mod arrives to standard Customization team.
                    Mod is tested to see if it installs and does what if it is supposed to do.
--------------- If mod fails to do what it is supposed to do, follow the arrow.
|                    If Mod works, it gets approved, and is shown, author gets a pm.                        |                       
|                                                                                                                                     
|                     ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|   
|-->>>   The mod is examined for parsing (if thats how you spell it) errors in both the php and xml files. (By now, the author has gotten a PM saying that the mod is being debugged by a special team.)
If the error is found, the debug team (Customization debug team) will attempt to fix it.
If they cannot fix it, then the mod is sent back to the author with a reason why.

If this doesn't make sense, i will post later, but i shouldn't get involved in this kind of thing, but to see a community as strong as this be torn apart by simple communication problems and a few others is just amazing.

Hope what i said helps. (Now I am probably off to sleep  :D)





Dannii

If there are errors that's the responsibility of the mod's author to fix. The team is already overworked, it would be silly for them to have to fix broken mods too.
"Never imagine yourself not to be otherwise than what it might appear to others that what you were or might have been was not otherwise than what you had been would have appeared to them to be otherwise."

formlesstree4

The team may be yes, but I am saying have another team formed just specifically for mod checking [kinda like there already is, but different.]

Let me say it like this:

Main Team: Does SMF Core stuff and designs.

Second Team: Made just for Mods and run mod site to allow the Main team to work on SMF.

They are separate that way if one gets a lot of work, the other can keep on going with no problem.

EX:

Lots of mods come in. In current route, the Main Team has to deal with them AND make SMF. With this new way i think would work, the Main Team would be unaffected if the Mod Team got a lot of mods that they had to work on, therefore increasing time towards developing SMF.

The Second Team would be formed like the first team was, but no member of the main team can be a member of the second team and vise versa. Get it?

Dannii

If there's not enough people for the existing teams, where are all these people for new teams going to come from?
"Never imagine yourself not to be otherwise than what it might appear to others that what you were or might have been was not otherwise than what you had been would have appeared to them to be otherwise."

青山 素子

Quote from: formlesstree4 on July 14, 2007, 01:20:53 AM
They are separate that way if one gets a lot of work, the other can keep on going with no problem.

That is the way they are already. The developer team works on SMF. The customize team looks at the mods. If the mod is broken, the author is told so and asked to fix and re-submit.
Motoko-chan
Director, Simple Machines

Note: Unless otherwise stated, my posts are not representative of any official position or opinion of Simple Machines.


formlesstree4

Then why is there a communication problem? Is there not enough 'qualified' people?

If so, what makes a person qualified?

青山 素子

Motoko-chan
Director, Simple Machines

Note: Unless otherwise stated, my posts are not representative of any official position or opinion of Simple Machines.


formlesstree4

The problem that mod authors sometimes do not get any status on their mod, and may not even get the PM that their mod is being reviewed.

That is the problem I am seeing from what I have read.

青山 素子

Adding another team won't fix things then. It will only complicate things further. As far a I know, a PM is sent at the end of evaluation if there are problems with the mod. There has been a problem with a large queue causing backlog, but that seems to have gone down. I only see 25 pending mods right now.
Motoko-chan
Director, Simple Machines

Note: Unless otherwise stated, my posts are not representative of any official position or opinion of Simple Machines.


Aquire

and what about my theme..It's ok.i've my theme on my site.Already tested.

still taking too long..:(

青山 素子

Have patience, it was only submitted seven days ago. Due to some recent issues with copyright violations on our theme site (some being unauthorized conversions of commercial themes that we received legal notice on), things are taking a bit longer as we have to investigate more before it can be approved.
Motoko-chan
Director, Simple Machines

Note: Unless otherwise stated, my posts are not representative of any official position or opinion of Simple Machines.


formlesstree4

Quote from: Motoko-chan on July 20, 2007, 11:46:21 PM
Have patience, it was only submitted seven days ago. Due to some recent issues with copyright violations on our theme site (some being unauthorized conversions of commercial themes that we received legal notice on), things are taking a bit longer as we have to investigate more before it can be approved.

That is something that all the theme creators should be told, not just the ones that ask....unless you have done that already (if you have, just ignore this post :D)

Since when did people do that kind of thing? I mean, do illegal conversions of skins......that is just like using an illegal copy of vBulletin....or worse :O

青山 素子

Motoko-chan
Director, Simple Machines

Note: Unless otherwise stated, my posts are not representative of any official position or opinion of Simple Machines.


Akatsuki_dawn

Hello Motoko-chan. Im impressed by the way things are happening in this thread. I just read like two pages of it. Its unbeleivable. Your great, so thnx a lot for your time to everyone.
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[SiNaN]

Is it correct what I do according to the rules or this just cause my mod to be taken to the end of the que?

1. Mod is sent.
2. Mod is checked by the team member, problem is reported by pm.
3. Member have read the pm and replied as he will fix the problem and then report the update by pm to the customization team.
4. Problem is fixed, mod is updated and the fix is reported to the customization team by pm.
Former SMF Core Developer | My Mods | SimplePortal

青山 素子

Motoko-chan
Director, Simple Machines

Note: Unless otherwise stated, my posts are not representative of any official position or opinion of Simple Machines.


[SiNaN]

Quote from: Motoko-chan on March 11, 2008, 10:43:14 AM
That should be perfectly fine to do.

It took reasonabley much time for my mod to be approved. Just I wanted to be sure that if the pm reporting the uptade caused that. Thanks.
Former SMF Core Developer | My Mods | SimplePortal

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