We want you!

[DiM]

About the amount of CAs posts, I don't think is the right way to see the Foundry process. Even if it's true that we could post a bit more, I have to remind you (like gimil did with me) that CAs are here to facilitate the Foundry process, not to rule it. If I have to be honest and I have to find where the Foundry lacks of something, then I think that there's lack of community partecipation into the developement.

back when gimil was a CA we had something closer to what i said earlier: "ideally we would have an abundance of feedback givers and the CAs would simply oversee things and pop in from time to time to make sure things are on the right track. sadly this is not the case."

and that's how a foundry should work but it never did. it aimed for that ideal situation and at moments it even came close but it was never quite enough. and right now it seems at an all time low regarding the community feedback.

and without feedback maps can't be created and if they are then they'll be of poor quality. that's why i think CAs must step in (at least temporary) and help the map making process. they must do what the community doesn't and that's providing good quality feedback. until people are somehow convinced to come back in the foundry and help this is what must be done if we want to preserve quality and keep around whatever map makers are still left.

i don't want to see any more maps abandoned/vacationed/forgotten.

i was just wondering earlier today what happened to istanbul map. i went to the thread and saw that the mapmaker posted an update on july 1st. since then just 2 people bothered to post in the thread. imho an official should have bothered to check up on the situation. to show the map maker that his work does not go unnoticed and that his map should not be abandoned.
imagine isn2 has had personal reasons not to post in the thread. perhaps he's been sick and didn't have time to work on the map. tomorrow he gets well and anxiously comes back to CC only to realise that no official actually cared for his map. he probably won't even bother saying anything and just leave.

[DiM]

I wonder if declining general interest in the Foundry isn't just a matter of the Foundry being a victim of its own success. With the huge number of maps available, I doubt many people say to themselves, "I'm sick of all these, I need something new!" So perhaps the vast majority of CC users are content with the selection they have now, and don't dive into the Foundry to push for the next killer map. Without that grass roots support, the development of new maps will have to depend on the small diehard group of people who enjoy this process at any speed, perhaps simply for its own sake.

you know i was thinking the same thing and i might have a solution. however it might not be something that many people would like.
simply weed out the poor maps. when a map falls under a certain performance standard simply remove it. there are maps who did not get in 2 YEARS as many games as classic does in 2-3 DAYS.
do we really need 190 maps? yes i know even the crappiest map has some fans that will be disappointed. but that's the only way that we could make room for more maps and still keep a high level of quality.

[The Bison King]

I don't think removing pre-existing maps should be considered. Especially as a solution to declining interest in up-coming maps. To me that seems like backwards thinking. If everyone in the world had enough food to eat you wouldn't start starving people so that food manufacturers would have something to do. There will always be room for more maps.

However it may be time (I'm just throwing this out there) to have some sort of method for categorizing maps instead of having them all together on one giant generic page. But that's really a different conversation.

[DiM]

I don't think removing pre-existing maps should be considered. Especially as a solution to declining interest in up-coming maps. To me that seems like backwards thinking. If everyone in the world had enough food to eat you wouldn't start starving people so that food manufacturers would have something to do.

actually your example has nothing to do with the current situation.
lack has expressed many times that what makes this site stand above other sites like grandstrategy and luxdelux is the fact that we don't have thousands of crappy maps. he used to prize quality over quantity. if lack wishes to keep the same image on the market then removing the maps is what he should do. it's all about maintaining the image of a brand, it's about marketing and targeting certain people, not about starving people and whatever you said there.
however i do admit i haven't talked to lack in a long time. i don't know if he still cares about this or what his plans are for the site. maybe he does want to become a luxdelux clone, who knows?

There will always be room for more maps.

yes of course. there should always be room for more maps but only if they prove to be quality maps.
why do you think that classic is the first map and all the rest are alphabetical? because classic is the best, it's the easiest and most pupular map.
put Crosswords for a week in the first position and move classic somewhere in the alphabetical line at letter C.
then start counting the number of new people that join the site and leave after a few games.

[ender516]

I wonder if declining general interest in the Foundry isn't just a matter of the Foundry being a victim of its own success. With the huge number of maps available, I doubt many people say to themselves, "I'm sick of all these, I need something new!" So perhaps the vast majority of CC users are content with the selection they have now, and don't dive into the Foundry to push for the next killer map. Without that grass roots support, the development of new maps will have to depend on the small diehard group of people who enjoy this process at any speed, perhaps simply for its own sake.

you know i was thinking the same thing and i might have a solution. however it might not be something that many people would like.
simply weed out the poor maps. when a map falls under a certain performance standard simply remove it. there are maps who did not get in 2 YEARS as many games as classic does in 2-3 DAYS.
do we really need 190 maps? yes i know even the crappiest map has some fans that will be disappointed. but that's the only way that we could make room for more maps and still keep a high level of quality.

I don't think removing maps will drive more people to the Foundry. The fans of those maps may simply leave the site, while others will never miss those maps and still won't need new ones. Plus, you will have mapmakers concerned that their efforts may be wasted if their maps may be dropped at any time in the future.
There is no need to "make room for more maps", as the virtual space is almost boundless. I agree with The Bison King that organizing the Browse Maps function so that the user is more likely to find a map they enjoy would be a better way to market this product. Consumers enjoy choice, but don't want to be overwhelmed by options.

[DiM]

I agree with The Bison King that organizing the Browse Maps function so that the user is more likely to find a map they enjoy would be a better way to market this product. Consumers enjoy choice, but don't want to be overwhelmed by options.

organizing the maps is out of the question. there have been numerous suggestions in 2007 and 2008. people spent a lot of hours trying to figure out the best way to arrange the maps. heck some people even went on and photoshoped some layouts where you could sort maps however you wanted. by size by popularity by complexity, etc.
even a 1-5 star rating was suggested to help the new people chose the best maps when they join the site.

what was done? we got a "random map" button. hooray ... hooray ... the crows chants in joy

i was one of the people that wasted time trying to come up with a solution back then and i surely would prefer having the maps arranged somehow. in any other form than an alphabetical plethora of images.

but seeing that it's been 4 years and nothing was done about this i assume that lack simply does not want to sort the maps. so naturally the only option is to remove them if sorting is impossible.

i would honestly like to see the following arrangement:

most popular maps...................newest maps........................beta maps


with this arrangement you always have the most popular maps in column one so that new people will know what's best for them to join.
in the newest maps we have maps that have been quenched in the last 6 months (this gives them more than enough time to be at the top and get noticed and establish a fan base). they are also present in the popularity column on the left.
beta maps is for beta maps (duh). it's important to have them at the top so that they have a big visibility and more people could join, test and give feedback.

this is a very simply and easy to implement method of sorting maps and has a lot of advantages. will it be done? never.

[WILLIAMS5232]

However it may be time (I'm just throwing this out there) to have some sort of method for categorizing maps instead of having them all together on one giant generic page. But that's really a different conversation.

that would be great to have the maps organized other than alphabetically. not sure how it could be done...genre, size, dificulty.....
but none the less, marketing aside, it would make for a better conquer club. +user friendly

[Coleman]

The Map Surveyors group may not have a private forum, but why does it need one?

I'll try to avoid going into to much detail here. (also a bit late to the party on responding to this but oh well) ((also I failed))

Back when AADOMM was active we would post a Map and say in effect "this map isn't getting much feedback GO!" and there are advantages to not doing something like that publicly or through PMs. Especially when the full rooster of people included in the operation wasn't completely obvious. Some people can look at a map and go, "oh, only feedback assistants and CAs are in here" which does turn them off, if it looks like many regular folks as well they will be more inclined to comment. I understand that sounds unnecessarily covert, but it was quite useful and for a while the frustration turned from not enough people commenting to map makers not responding often enough which is a better problem to have IMO.

that would be great to have the maps organized other than alphabetically. not sure how it could be done...genre, size, dificulty.....

A couple years ago (while there were many less maps and it would have required a lot less effort to implement than it will now) we did come up with some things that would work, but were told that while it makes for a pretty picture coding it was more difficult than one would think, which is true. However, as the number of maps grow the need for this feature grows, and it only becomes harder.

[TaCktiX]

Organizing maps has been on the slate for a long time, but it's not coming soon. However, we'll keep on pushing for it, as the potential to have lists (including user-defined ones, for people's faves) would be awesome. Think Amazon's Lists.

Today, CA's are more active on the sum than they were a few years ago. DiM, you say that back in the day CA's stepped in early and gave feedback to a new map. My first map as I recall didn't have a CA post until page 3 (I just checked, and it was only to give me Advanced Idea, no feedback). Back in the day, it was a source of vindication to see Blue in your topic. Also back in the day we had AT LEAST two dozen active commenters on nearly every map to make up for it. So CA activity is up, and overall commenting is down. I literally do not have any more time than I already dedicate to this site, and I know I am not alone.

As nobodies noted, looking at daily posting rates is a terrible metric. A better one is to look at CA posts since last update per map, which I've got a near-100% on Gameplay-stage maps. There aren't enough updates going on to justify making 5-6 posts a day in map topics.

[DiM]

A better one is to look at CA posts since last update per map, which I've got a near-100% on Gameplay-stage maps.

i agree with this to a certain extent. if a map maker updates his map, then you come post and nobody else does it for a whole month then you shouldn't just say "i posted after the update so i'm done with this map"

as i pointed earlier the foundry community has shrunk a lot and i think the CAs should step in and fill that gap when it comes to feedback giving.
i respect each and everyone's contribution and i'm sure you guys give to the foundry all you can. that's why i said you should get more FAs and bring them in the main foundry to give feedback on all maps.

[thenobodies80]

...that's why i said you should get more FAs and bring them in the main foundry to give feedback on all maps.

mmmm...the same people can't give feedback without being a FA or a CA?
"That which we call a rose, by any other word would smell as sweet"

[Victor Sullivan]

...that's why i said you should get more FAs and bring them in the main foundry to give feedback on all maps.

mmmm...the same people can't give feedback without being a FA or a CA?
"That which we call a rose, by any other word would smell as sweet"

I agree with you nobodies, though there is that sort of obligation if you are, in fact, a Foundry Assistant. So in that sense, I can understand where DiM is coming from.

-Sully

[DiM]

...that's why i said you should get more FAs and bring them in the main foundry to give feedback on all maps.

mmmm...the same people can't give feedback without being a FA or a CA?
"That which we call a rose, by any other word would smell as sweet"

I agree with you nobodies, though there is that sort of obligation if you are, in fact, a Foundry Assistant. So in that sense, I can understand where DiM is coming from.

-Sully

exactly.
also i don;t know all the people in the foundry but some of them might be shy. i have absolutely no problem when it comes to going to other maps and giving feedback. i always speak my mind and i'm truthful of what i think about that map. some people might not have the courage to do it. some might see an ugly map and fear saying so. they might be thinking "i don't want to criticise that map because i wouldn't want others to come and criticise mine so i'll just shut up and ignore it". with a blue name, along with some obligation to post your thoughts also come more guts. a shy person might actually come out of his shell and start expressing his opinions. of course i wouldn't want a whole bunch of DiMs running around the foundry bashing each and every map. that would hardly make the foundry a nice place to be

[isaiah40]

... of course i wouldn't want a whole bunch of DiMs running around the foundry bashing each and every map. that would hardly make the foundry a nice place to be

Yea you're right, one DiM running around the foundry is enough!

[TaCktiX]

But as per that suggestion, we'd be taking unproven people with no track record of commenting across a forum as a CA is required to do, and essentially vesting them with power they may have zero desire to wield. What we really need to do is focus less on the number of CA's and more on the number of commenters. The former we've got enough of, the latter we do not.