RF Generation Message Board

the title says it all really, If a game isn't on the list it gets added to the missing game post then someone lists it.

So what does this involve is i just a matter of filling in the blanks like if a game is missing information or something bigger?

If its as easy as filling in the blanks why cant everyone do it and it just gets checked this would make it much faster to get the majority listed.

If its not is it because its so hard to do that only a few now how?

It's gotta be physically entered in the database.  Although you can submit new info, and edit old listings, one of the staffers has to code the entry into the system, which is why it can take a bit to get new games entered in.

That and when a game is added, we do spelling checks, and make sure punctuation and capitalization is used properly. A lot of times, I find submitted games were already in the database, and the user did not either check properly, or don't have the title 100% proper.


Having to wait a day or 3 at the most for a game to be put on the list is not a lot to ask IMO. Most other sites only update missing games monthly. (sometimes longer)

Like what Rick said.

Currently Rick is adding all of the games submitted in to this thread as well as all of the new NTSC releases. It takes time, I know I've just started listing current PAL releases and attempting to track back and fill the gaps (yes there are a hell of a lot), it takes time and is quite a monotonous task after a while.

The current system works, and whilst not being the most technical, at the end of the day the job gets done and the database remains tidy.


Also Alabama nice sig.  ;) I really don't know how you can cope with that advert. I feel like putting my foot through the TV everytime it comes on.

cope with the advert thats my life every day!!

I'm wasn't saying the system was bad just thought it might have been easier on the mods if anyone could make the listing and if was found to be wrong others could change it like they do now.

I do know what you mean about it being a very long and eventually boaring task to do though as I'm not all the way through my stuff yet and feel i have done the samething a thousand times, I know too the i also don't use correct punctuation all the time so do appreciate what might be involved in making this site work.

Totally off topic but here's a link to the god awful Frosties advert for all of our American cousins to see:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GkeoFBMqO04

I tried for over a year to get 6 Genesis games added to IGN. It never happened. I found RFG then and have never been to IGN for the collection "tool".

i didnt even know IGN had a collection tool

It was OK now it blows ass. The day they change there the collection tool we had 20-25 new people sign up for ours. The best one on the net!

Yea, I tried getting IGN to add games for the longest time and they never did.  Than I saw the link for this site in Tynstar's signature on Digital Press and I've never gone back to IGN for there collection tool.  Actually, I haven't been back to IGN at all really since than.

IGN really went downhill fast once they merged with gamespy, at one point 2-3 years ago, they'd add your submissions within a day or two.

They can say "fuck" in commercials there?  Damn...we only get that shit on late night TV...

I agree it's terrible though...least they coulda done was get someone who can sing...

Shit, I didn't realise I posted that link, I found that video when I was searching for the real one, I was supposed to send that link to my mate at work.

Real link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dRl0XF229IY (real commercial).

Seems like it might not be a bad idea to give the users a form to submit games thru at somepoint in time (I know there are other project ahead of it).  The data could be written to a "pending" table in MySQL (or marked as pending) rather than going right to production so the accuracy still could be reviewed.  I am not sure what your exact process is today but here's some of the advantages that I could see with this approach:

-  I am guessing you guys are doing some cutting and pasting now to get the data where it need to be (or possible retyping), this would eliminate that.
- Having a form would prompt users what data can/should be entered for each title and users could be prompted for all required data before entry is accepted.
- Pending titles could be sorted and worked based on what ever criteria desired (System Type, Date Entered, Region, etc)
- User could be given the option to be notified when title entry has been completed by the staff (or rejected) or a page could be created for users to go and view their submissions and get the status.
- When a user attempts a search, and the title is not found, they could be given a "Click to add button" that would launch this new form prefilled with data entered for search.
- If you wanted to get real fancy a fuzzy search could be kicked off when an entry is submitted and the user could be shown some possible matches based on what they entered, hopfully this would avoid some duplicate entries (and work by the staff!!)  Details of how that fuzzy search works could be somewhat based on what you guys do manually now.

As this site continues to grow (as it is with the cool new Hardware section) it's going to be more and more important keeping this process easy for the users (and more importantly easy for the staff, they are going to have their hands full keeping the users happy since they have set the bar so low already!!)

I like this idea. It would be like the Submit Info and Scans process we have now.

I thoroughly intend on creating a form for hardware that adds titles in addition to allowing people to add new information. I would think that maybe a similar system would be implemented for the games database, but I am not the keeper of that db.  It is my intention to worry about user submissions after I get the search results to be able to span multiple pages, but I am still on my week long repose from working on the hardware system, and now am tidying other scripts that are of use to the staff.

Cheers,

David Murnan
PHP Programmer, Lord of the Forum