The AbyssThe Abyss

Posted on Nov 25th 2011 at 12:42:35 AM by (TraderJake)
Posted under Site News, Type of Release, Database Change

I know it is only Thanksgiving in the US, but I still want to wish all a happy Thanksgiving, be you American or not. For those of you that are, may the Turkey be plentiful and tasty.

On a completely different note, the Type of Release field is has been added to our database. At this time, you cannot see it on games or hardware pages because this is a mandatory field that will allow users to filter out entries they feel are extraneous from the database. Many users feel that RF Generation has grown beyond the original scope of the site. For those that feel that way, while we cannot undo the major changes in scope, we hope that this addition will help those that feel the database has grown to be unwieldy.

Please help our staff set types of release for all entries. Please note if you make any edit to the database you will be required now to also set the Type of Release field if it is not set. I must stress again that this field is mandatory.

Should you come across any major technical glitches with this please PM me about the glitch. Any questions or comments about the actual content of the field should be directed to a DB Editor or Mike.

I hope you enjoy this new addition, and oh yeah, Keep it on Channel Three.

-Your Friendly PHP Programmer


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Comments
 
Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

And YAY to the new 'Type of Release' field!  (Easy for me to say since I don't work on the technical backend of the site, but THANKS!!)

This lovely site is just stretching and growing every year.  Must be eating too much turkey.
 
I know it is only Thanksgiving in the US, but I still want to wish all a happy Thanksgiving, be you American or not.

Does that include Canada, too? Just wondering, seeing as how they do the Thanksgiving thing a month early. :p

Many users feel that RF Generation has grown beyond the original scope of the site.

Considering the sheer number of hardware and software releases that have come since this site was established, including the latest generation of consoles with the next gen just around the corner, along with the industry's increasing push to go with all digital-download content, I'm not surprised that a few folks feel that way.

However, I also feel for those running RF Generation. How does one go about adding relevant content and features to the site while still keeping things relatively simple and user-friendly? Add the video game industry's fast-paced evolution and constant technological innovations to the mix, and you've got the making of the most intense migraine ever if you're running the show.

But, I'm not exactly bein' positive here, which is not keeping in the spirit of this day.

Therefore, I give thanks to those who've offered suggestions and recommendations about what should be added to or enhanced on RF Generation. Even if some of them aren't immediately feasible, at least you're letting the powers-that-be know what you think could help matters around here. With any luck, those ideas-- or something similar-- just might get incorporated into RF Generation.

I'm also thankful that the folks running RF Generation are willing to listen and consider the suggestions the users bring to their attention. I'm aware the addition of content and features takes quite a bit of time and effort, something I think some users occasionally forget. I know I do some times. I also sometimes forget that those tasked with the maintenance and upkeep of RF Generation aren't compensated monetarily; it's a labor of love for them. (Though I've heard rumors that some of the mods and admins do occasionally work on the site while they're at their IRL jobs... Wink ).

All right, enough of this maudlin cr@p-- I gotta head over to my dad's main squeeze's place for Thanksgiving dinner.

I'm bringin' the brown-n-serve rolls, and a case of Diet Dr. Pepper.

Have a good one, everybody!


'Late

 
This is fantastic news!
 
Let us know if you run into any issues with this, and feel free to correct any of the release types as you see fit.

This wasn't mentioned in the original post, but here are the policies for the new "Type of Release" field:
http://www.rfgeneration.com/PHP/submitinfo.php?action=policies;id=13
 
Those are the most thorough guidelines I have ever seen. Awesome work!
 
NES_Rules tossed them together with some feedback as we were fleshing out the actual types.
I don't know if it's mentioned in the policies, but there can be multiple release types for a selection...
 
Oh, nice. I can understand complaints about the cluttered database --in fact, it sometimes irritates me when I'm just trying to get a game's name-- but one thing I like about RFGen is that it HAS information about these variants, which many other sites do not. When I'm just browsing the database, it's really fascinating.

May I make a small suggestion? On the actual submit pages like
http://www.rfgeneration.com/PHP/submitinfo.php?action=gameedit;sa=add
, I think it'd be helpful for there to be links to the Submission FAQs pages. So, say, underneath the heading for the new Type of Release Field, have a link to
http://www.rfgeneration.com/PHP/submitinfo.php?action=policies;id=13
. The less barriers there are to finding and reading/double-checking the guidelines in the correct FAQ entry, the more likely the entry is going to be correct. And I remember that, as a (newer) newbie, I actually sometimes forgot where info in the FAQ was...I really like the site's clean design, but one drawback is that without images to work as visual "landmarks", it can be harder to remember which page you were on when you read that tidbit of information about regions, etc.
 
@pdrydia:
Any constructive feedback is certainly welcome. It may be better to toss this suggestion in the Announcements/Feedback forum though, in case some of the members do not end up reading the blog post.

I certainly agree that we need to have some clarity for the Submission Policies, especially the Image Submission policy.
 
Happy Belated Thanksgiving All! I think that this is an awesome idea...just not sure how it is going to pan out...hopefully it turns out to help out. I know a lot of people were stating they wanted some way to have something like a landing page for each game so that there was not a confusing list of different variants. Mind you, I love the variants, but that should be on another page...

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