I'm volunteering to do this, so I'm curious what people think of this. If people seem to like it, I'll legitimately go forward with this.
The Gist:
Step 1:
Cloud is currently tracking updates, daily, on Baka-Tsuki (facebook/twitter). Cloud keeps doing this and collecting data.
Step 2:
Once every month (approximately the first of every month), cloud takes a tally of the projects. I count which projects have been updated (chapter released) in the month, and which haven't.
Step 3:
I generate a list of projects that would essentially say: (HataMaou: updated this month. Sakuraou: updated 2 months ago). I would put this on a pretty spreadsheet.
Step 4:
Get a bot. Preferably Simon's bot because it's nice and smexy. That bot will cycle through cloud's data and add {{status|inactive}} or {{status|stalled}} to the top of the project pages, according to a pre-set definition. The templates are nice because it'd put a pretty box as well as add the category.
What Categories?
Idle: No chapter release in 3 months
Inactive: No chapter release in 6 months
Stalled: No chapter release in 12 months
These would be automatic tags that any user could remove. The tags would say: "Please remove the tag if the project becomes active again."
This is mostly an effort to better categorize activity and help alleviate questions from readers along the lines of: "Is this project active?"
Well, it looks like this was implemented. One thing I noticed is that it appears to be redundant with the Stalled template. For example, the 7 Nights page, and some others in this list.
I'm guessing the answer is just the obvious one of retiring and removing the Stalled template from those pages. But I haven't been involved or paying much attention to this particular effort, so I'll let someone else who has confirm that.
Cthaeh wrote:Well, it looks like this was implemented. One thing I noticed is that it appears to be redundant with the Stalled template. For example, the 7 Nights page, and some others in this list.
I'm guessing the answer is just the obvious one of retiring and removing the Stalled template from those pages. But I haven't been involved or paying much attention to this particular effort, so I'll let someone else who has confirm that.
Thanks for pointing it out. I guess I should have been more explicit when explaining what tags to remove to Simon when he ran his bot.
Fine with me. Just make sure not to touch any project inside the "Completed Project" category.
Another concern that I have is with projects that have caught up with the Japanese releases.
1. The project might simply be waiting for the next release (like Hakomari which would fall into the "stalled" category - and is actually labeled "halted" at the time of this writing).
2. Translation might have stopped, but the project might still be under editing -- what defines "an active project"?
EusthEnoptEron wrote:Fine with me. Just make sure not to touch any project inside the "Completed Project" category.
Another concern that I have is with projects that have caught up with the Japanese releases.
1. The project might simply be waiting for the next release (like Hakomari which would fall into the "stalled" category - and is actually labeled "halted" at the time of this writing).
2. Translation might have stopped, but the project might still be under editing -- what defines "an active project"?
1. There should be a separate template for these I guess?
2. Probably having a declared active translator, and at least one update per x time?
- JAP to ENG translator for AntiMagic Academy "The 35th Test Platoon"; ELYSION virtual region; Omae wo Onii-chan ni Shite Yarouka!?; Only Sense Online - - Retired Manga Redrawer/Typesetter. @Manga-Heaven; @Kono-Basho; @wangan-scans; &anonymous releases.
Cloud's spreadsheet needs to be updated if a project is to be marked as caught up (so that series waiting for the next release aren't tagged incorrectly).
Since it's measured by a bot, a project's activity is effectively the last time the project's main page was modified.
Also, there are a few discrepancies between the way the template is being used and the actual status descriptions:
1)
Active - (No Tag) - Last update occurred within the last 3 months (approximately)
instead of no tag, projects are being tagged with a status of "Active."
2)
Can I remove the tag?[edit]
If anyone is actively working on the project, they should remove the tag.
Similarly, this should probably be re-worded as updating the status parameter instead of removing the tag.
zzhk wrote:Cloud's spreadsheet needs to be updated if a project is to be marked as caught up (so that series waiting for the next release aren't tagged incorrectly).
Since it's measured by a bot, a project's activity is effectively the last time the project's main page was modified.
Actually, I'm manually using the data from Facebook updates to maintain that spreadsheet.
But yes, you're absolutely right. In order for this to work, I need people to communicate to me which series are caught-up and which aren't.
zzhk wrote:
Also, there are a few discrepancies between the way the template is being used and the actual status descriptions:
1)
Active - (No Tag) - Last update occurred within the last 3 months (approximately)
instead of no tag, projects are being tagged with a status of "Active."
Simon, I think, re-interpreted my original idea and made an Active tag. I didn't have one originally.... but if people really don't like it, they should talk to Simon?
Simon only changed the template to add the "...is constantly updated" variant wording because the bot is tagging projects with the active status, which the template did not even handle previously.
So the issue is the bot, not Simon's temporary fix to the template to accommodate what's being marked by the bot.
And of course, make sure the bot doesn't touch abandoned (Accel World) and completed series.
I removed the old stalled tag from some pages, but I left it on a few that didn't get one of the new tags (Ghost Hunt, Shana, and Asura Cryin'). The fact that those three pages didn't get tagged might mean there are others that got missed too.
I like the idea of not having any tag for active, less things to clutter the page.
Cthaeh wrote:I removed the old stalled tag from some pages, but I left it on a few that didn't get one of the new tags (Ghost Hunt, Shana, and Asura Cryin'). The fact that those three pages didn't get tagged might mean there are others that got missed too.
I like the idea of not having any tag for active, less things to clutter the page.
It's kind of nice to be able to know for sure if a project is active; perhaps a less obtrusive design could be used (e.g. a small icon or something instead of that huge, somewhat ugly box)?
"There is always an easy solution to every problem - neat, plausible and wrong." H.L. Mencken (1971)
