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Minor suggestion for the Downloads/Library page...
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Ziz
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Joined: 26 Feb 2022
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PostPosted: Fri Mar 25, 2022 6:23 pm    Post subject: Minor suggestion for the Downloads/Library page... Reply with quote

https://rancorpit.com/forums/downloads/index.html

When something is "NEW" or "UPDATED", could you post a date next to it of when that is/was? Then maybe after some weeks/months, delete it and just list it straight like everything else?
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Whill
Dark Lord of the Jedi (Owner/Admin)


Joined: 14 Apr 2008
Posts: 10286
Location: Columbus, Ohio, USA, Earth, The Solar System, The Milky Way Galaxy

PostPosted: Fri Mar 25, 2022 9:07 pm    Post subject: Re: Minor suggestion for the Downloads/Library page... Reply with quote

Ziz wrote:
Then maybe after some weeks/months, delete it and just list it straight like everything else?

I'll answer this first. Updates to the Library are usually done 'in batch' because of the extra effort on my part to have to log in and update the HTML coding on the page. So setting a specific timeframe to go in and remove labels would require extra work on my part.

Ziz wrote:
When something is "NEW" or "UPDATED", could you post a date next to it of when that is/was?

It wouldn't take much extra effort to add a date when I am in there and updating it anyway, but I haven't really seen dating the newness of things as very important. The dedicated discussion thread for the Library has a new post every time documents are added or updated, and that post is dated.

If someone is just going through the Library without reading the thread, the labels are removed often enough that they should be able to remember if they downloaded a recent document or not ("It still says NEW but I already downloaded that a month ago.") But if they don't follow the thread and visit the Library more infrequently, then they are less likely to miss a new document if the label is there for a while.

But I would recommend all people follow the thread, and go download everything as soon as they see it in the thread. The ease of use of this site is by design catered mostly towards regular forum goers. Since I no longer share direct links in this thread, the main purpose of the label is just so people can locate it on that massive page after learning about it in the thread. With command-f/ctrl-f, it is easy to find "new" or "updated" things you just read about on the forum. In fact, I only this year added the label of "updated". I supposed it wouldn't hurt to update the Library with a direct link back to the Library discussion thread.

Also, putting a date there just invites disputes and debates over the definition of "new". The only definition I've used (unspoken of until now) is that the Adventurers Journal alway has the latest issue labeled as New, and I only remove a label when I've added a new issue. Originally it was published more often, but now it has slowed to twice a year.

Ziz wrote:
Minor suggestion for the Downloads/Library page

Is there anything I haven't addressed? Have you had a bad experience that lead to this suggestion? Did you download something twice and only later discovered the duplication?
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Ziz
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Posts: 71

PostPosted: Fri Mar 25, 2022 11:48 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Ok. I tend to think in terms of organizing information as consistently detailed/easily updated as possible (as evidenced by my inventory spreadsheet), so I was looking for something faster than finding/reading/following 150-odd threads on each individual supplement.
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Whill
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Location: Columbus, Ohio, USA, Earth, The Solar System, The Milky Way Galaxy

PostPosted: Sat Mar 26, 2022 1:33 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Ziz wrote:
I was looking for something faster than finding/reading/following 150-odd threads on each individual supplement.

150 threads? There is a single thread devoted the Rancor Pit Library, the one I linked above. There is a post in that one thread for every new file added to the Library (after the initial publication of the Library).

If you are coming to the Library fresh for the fist time, then all files on there is equally new to you. Why would you have to read any forum posts? And if you had already downloaded some from somewhere else, then the date they were added to the Library wouldn't be that helpful.

Quote:
Ok. I tend to think in terms of organizing information as consistently detailed/easily updated as possible (as evidenced by my inventory spreadsheet)

Your inventory documents a publication history. The Library isn't trying to do that. It is a repository for the fan works themselves. The only reason the Library was created is because almost everywhere else on the internet you can get these fan works also has the illegal bootlegs of the books on your inventory list, which by Rancor Pit policy are not allowed to be discussed here. The conundrum we had been in was that we couldn't tell people where to go get the fan books without also telling them where to get the bootlegs. The Rancor Pit Library resolved the issue because the fan works are available here without the bootlegs. No conflicts. Even with everything new that has been added since the Library was created, they still don't even come close to equalling the number of documents available when the Library was created less than 4 years ago. Most documents on the Library predate the Library.

I thought you were only suggesting to have all New and Updated labels on the Rancor Pit have dates included, and then the dates be removed with the New and Updated labels. That would only have any impact on people who periodically visit the Library and had trouble remembering which documents they already downloaded, but even if they did, they would hopefully organize their own files in such as way that they could be easily accessed later, so it shouldn't be too hard to look at their folder to see if they already have a document or not. The easiest way to prevent confusion there would be to follow the single Library thread and watch for announcements of new files.

The information on the Library is consistently detailed: whatever documents are labeled as New are the newest subset of documents there. Updating a New or Updated label (including the removal of labels) is one of the easiest updates there are, once I have logged into the interface and began updating. That's cake compared to uploading the files correctly and creating functional URLs for them on the Library. Adding temporary dates to later be removed on after a certain time would add a level of complexity and require extra time. The very minor impact it would seem to have on the experience of forum users does not seem warranted.

But thanks for your concern about my ease of updating the information. Many people do not seem to consider all the work and time I put into this website.
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