New Submission Guidelines/FAQs are published!!

[Tan]

These guidelines are meant to help everyone use the submission scripts for adding/editing games, hardware and images. Each field in the scripts are broken down and explained one by one as well as examples given to help understand how it works.

Perhaps some of you may be uneasy about using these because you don't understand something and are afraid to ask. Maybe you're unsure about how to handle the latest script changes and updates. Or maybe you've been using these all along and may yet learn something you hadn't known before. In any case, these should help everyone from new members all the way to administrators.

If you have any feedback or questions, please feel free to post them here or PM them to me, I'll answer them as fast as I can as soon as I can. In the meantime, I encourage you all to check them out here, located under the " About " tab at the top of the page.

http://www.rfgeneration.c...about.php?action=policies

 

[NES_Rules]

I didn't notice anything being said about serial numbers vs UPC. I think it should say somewhere to make sure people are using the UPC and not the serial number (the one on the bottom of newer systems), because the two do look very similar, and I'm sure people could easily confuse the two.

[Tan]

I didn't notice anything being said about serial numbers vs UPC. I think it should say somewhere to make sure people are using the UPC and not the serial number (the one on the bottom of newer systems), because the two do look very similar, and I'm sure people could easily confuse the two.

The hardware database is a lot more complicated in that there are tons more scenarios and complications than the game database has. It's also a lot harder for staff to review hardware submissions and verify information. But your right, someone may indeed confuse the two. And if they do, the staff will catch it, fix it and PM that member so they know the difference. After decades of usage on just about every retail product, it should be well known that they are located on the packaging, not the items themselves. Besides, I've seen these new serials before. You almost can't tell the difference at all, there would be no good way you can sum up the total usage and every circumstance to a couple sentences.

There comes a point where you have to place faith in that the members can tell the difference, and trust in your staff to handle situations like that. For the record, in the 5000+ submissions I've approved from others, it has never happened, nor I have heard about it from the 10's of thousands of others staff have reviewed. That doesn't mean it would never happen, just that it is one of a hundred possible issues one could have that we can't bloat the guidelines with.

The guidelines are less about micromanaging the incoming information we get, and more about allowing members and staff to be independent and work on their own and in teams with little need for help. Just like how a driver handbook doesn't prepare you for every situation, or a console owner's manual doesn't have every troubleshooting circumstance you may encounter. That's why they add the 1-800 line, which is our equivalent of the PM system to staff. Keeping it short and to the basics will hopefully mean more members and staff take the time to learn and use them, a problem which prompted us to rewrite them in the first place.

**If however, the members come forward and ask for a more highly detailed set of guidelines which are practically a step by step process with instructions, we can certainly provide that. But such an undertaking will only happen if there is support for it. I have plenty of ideas and info that I left on the cutting room floor to keep these to a reasonable length, I could certainly expand these again if needed.

Thank you for the feedback, it's very much appreciated. Every comment helps us understand the needs of our members more and reminds the staff that you can forget the little things we take for granted having months/years of experience with the scripts and the database. Keep them coming and I'll address every concern individually.

Thanks,
Keith

[NES_Rules]

Damn, that was quite a long response
What you said does make sense. I know the GB Printer had a serial number instead of UPC, and that took a whole 2 seconds for me to fix, so I guess it really isn't a huge deal to fix incorrect ones.

[Tan]

Damn, that was quite a long response

The future growth of the database will rely on these guidelines, so I want to be thorough about how I respond to feedback. You can probably appreciate how long the guidelines could have been had they included more detail.

You'd prob only be halfway through reading them now. A couple chapters every day before you eyes bugged out and your head exploded.

*RF Generation can not be held responsible for any spontaneous exploding of heads nor the bugging of eyes due to guidelines usage. If you've actually taken the time to read this small print then you've wasted 30 seconds better spent on a game page edit, so get cracking!

[TraderJake]

Yay for CTRL-C

[Tan]

Some of the guidelines have been updated, please check them out, especially if your a new member. Thank you.

[logical123]

Yay for CTRL-C

Took me a while to figure that one out!

[Tan]

The Blogging, Image and Game submission guidelines have all been updated.

In particular:

• The Contribution field for the game submission script has been explained in greater detail.
• The usage of Tags has been added to the blogging guidelines along with an explanation of the blog system.
• Minor wording changes to the Image Submission guideline.

 

[logical123]

Hurray! New guidelines are awesome!!!! 

[Marriott_Guy]

Nice job Keith!  Thanks!

[Sirgin]

These guidelines are great. They certainly make everything clear as to what is what, etc...

I especially liked the Blogging Guidelines. That manual you can download really comes in handy.

[Cobra]

Yay for CTRL-C

Took me a while to figure that one out!

Or Command+C for Mac users

Just wanted to check, so to correspond to the image size guidelines, if I were to take screens of games it is best to have them running at 640x480?

[Sirgin]

For screenshots it's almost the same but a little different.  First, screenshots can be in PNG or JPG format (remember that scans are JPG only).  If your emulator or screen capture software takes them in bmp you can use this program to convert them to JPG or PNG. Also make sure screenshots are no larger than 576 pixels on the short side as well. (PAL Native Resolution) That is vitally important to maintain a neat look to the pages and keep load times down. So, if you are capturing a screenshot from a ROM, we ask that you do not upsize the image, and allow it to be the intended dimensions.

640x480 seems good to me. It's smaller than 576p so it corresponds to the guildelines

There probably isn't a minimum size for screenshots, seeing NES games have a standard resolution of only 256x240 pixels.

[Tan]

For screenshots it's almost the same but a little different.  First, screenshots can be in PNG or JPG format (remember that scans are JPG only).  If your emulator or screen capture software takes them in bmp you can use this program to convert them to JPG or PNG. Also make sure screenshots are no larger than 576 pixels on the short side as well. (PAL Native Resolution) That is vitally important to maintain a neat look to the pages and keep load times down. So, if you are capturing a screenshot from a ROM, we ask that you do not upsize the image, and allow it to be the intended dimensions.

640x480 seems good to me. It's smaller than 576p so it corresponds to the guildelines

There probably isn't a minimum size for screenshots, seeing NES games have a standard resolution of only 256x240 pixels.

576 for Screenshots is the minimum regardless of native resolution. The resolution and the pixel width aren't neccessarily the same thing, especially in this case. You can have a 256x240 screenshot that's 550 pixels wide, it all depends on the emulator and region as well as the size of the window your using it in.

576 just happens to be a convenient number for PAL for emulators that is pretty close to the standard 550 we use for scans.