This is something that I’ve had on my mind for a while so I thought I’d type it up. I think the Star Wars fanedits and preservations needs a bit of a clean up and reorganisation.
There’s a lot of threads in both categories, well over 1,000, as there are a lot of users, but it means everything is mixed in together. Ideas for edits, edits in the works, completed edits, inactive and unfinished edits and requests are all put together, meaning it can be a pain to navigate at times.
A lot of threads end up becoming simply request chains with everyone asking for the same thing over and over for years while the edit is in development and after its completion. It clogs things up and stops discussion. I’d propose that we make a separate section simply for requests and trying to minimise that kind of post as many people sign up just to request popular works such as Adywan, Harmy and Hal9000, even though there are detailed guides by now on how to get your hands on them. People often double up and makes posts in threads and threads of their own to ask for them with the ever popular Markdown default text as they don’t bother with a body text. Also I think it should be more common to ask through PMs as those posts really clog things up. This is the one thing that drives me up the wall more than anything as I open a thread looking for some legitmate discussion, and find a chain of requests.
I’d like to split the ideas/in the works edits from the completed edits, but I don’t know how viable that is. Beacuse I can rarely tell if an edit is done or not based on the title and first post. It often takes some digging for me to see if the edit is official done and released, or still needs some work done. There is often just a jumble of new TROS or TLJ edits and it’s hard to see what their status is if any as many edits have one post and then are subsequently abandoned/ I know there are index threads, but everything is still mixed in together. The new IDEAS tagging is pretty good as now I can telling something is just a conception and I feel this is a good step in the right direction.
I do caution against too many subcategories though, since there is no real search, people won’t know where things belong, so either we will get lots of duplicate posts, or else topics will just go dead as less eyes get into the various sub-forums.
Sorry for the garble, but I felt it should be said over here instead of FE where I had originally put it.
Yeah… when the mods see you posted it on FE in the ‘OT Renegades Voyeur thread’ - where the old clique congregate to take pot shots at this site - before posting it on here… this reads like a wind up, or an attempt at one.
The moderators at FE deserve credit for removing some of the more barbed and incendiary potshots at this site too - in an attempt to keep the peace.
ooj has already been through the ‘Toys and Memorabilia’ forum and sorted that out - including a new Index for it. As he has done for the ‘SW Preservation’, ‘SW Fan Edits’ and ‘Fan Edits’ sections. He is due to start work on Preservations soon too (it looks like he already has).
Threads have already been relabelled as ‘Ideas’, ‘Info’, ‘Info Wanted’, ‘Help Wanted’, (unfinished projects) - with more added to ‘discussion /idea thread’ index or sections, ‘Help: looking for…’, or a mix of each depending on the thread content. Finished project threads have been left alone - so it is easier to distinguish what is a project - and what isn’t.
That’s around just shy of 7,000 threads he has been through (or will when he finishes).
The Index threads seem to have been updated and added to - and even unfinished projects with useful information have been added to the ‘discssion / idea’ sections. ooj says they may be of interest and help others loooking into projects for the future, and record the efforts on here - even if they weren’t finished or released.
The ‘markdown’ posts which were all over the place on here have been removed (for the most part) - as have many double and triple posts.
Multiple request threads for ‘where are the Despecialized Edits?’ have been merged into a mega thread, along with ‘how-to and help’ questions - and are no longer prevalent through the forums here.
Reading through that FE thread - people seem to have forgot the ‘Star Wars’ section was also split up so it made things easier to find (and ooj says for some people to ignore what they didn’t like). 5000 threads in one forum? Now split into more relevant sections - so it seems the mods didn’t ‘lose their mojo’ after splitting Off Topic?
I don’t know about you but the mods seem more on the ball too - replying to PMs, requests, dealing with trolls, socks, people behaving like dicks. It is certainly a more civil place - without the old clique piling into threads and projects to judge & derail them now at FE.
Bobson, if you’re being genuine and not taking the piss, then I am truly sorry and deeply apologise. Though you may want to have a look around again at the things you have issues with. Posting that on FE, and then this on here… reads like you are taking the piss out of the mods on here. The timing of this, especially as ooj was apparantly the mod a few people now at FE had issues with (and still takes jibes & digs at) - and just so happens to be in the process of finishing up a re-organisation of the Fan Project forums… sucks. That’s not even taking into account you saying ‘this is something that I’ve had on my mind for a while now’…
Maybe asking fan editors or preservationists to keep their fan project threads (and titles) updated is a better or simpler idea? Or for them to let the site moderators know when a project is no longer happening, or that circumstances have changed?
The OT seems to be more laid back than FE in its organisation - yet both are great places and have different outlooks and setups - which is good that we are lucky enough to choose from and enjoy both (and include the FanRes and TSWT in that too) - all diverse and different. We should appreciate that - not knock each other for it.
Me? I don’t know how or why they do it - let alone put up with the shit thrown their way - the mods on here, FE, or anywhere, that is. I’m not even sure why I bothered typing this up - it’ll likely lead to arguments, division and old wounds - sorry mods! (please delete this post if you wish)