(Controversial) Requests vs Multi-Requests

[AnjaBear]

IMPORTANT: NO WARRING HERE PLEASE. I am answering something that was buried in a couple of other posts and am trying to just give my take on this issue. There is no RIGHT or WRONG really.

The issue is: Multi-Requests with eventually over 20+ items and continually adding new to them, and unmoderated, and never actually closed, versus singular or maximally bundle + addons Request posts which get closed as everything is filled.

In one post Eeelgoo explains that my nitpicky updating of individual posts and tallying up the thousands of points offered for requests for specific items -- is a waste of time.

This may be true, if you want a ZoneGFX that looks like a mess and you have to really hope that the search field allows you to find anything filled or unfilled.

Essentially it's between ORDER and CHAOS. And both exist, and can co-exist in harmony, but with the site being revamped and organized, we really need to care about our site and how people find things to share and encourage them to share things they want very much. Not spend hours hoping to find something buried deep in a very long multipaged Multi-Request post which is never ending.

So here is my take on this:

THERE IS NO RIGHT OR WRONG -- BUT IT IS HOW I AS ONE MODERATOR DEAL WITH IT:

So, lets put it this way, there is the REQUEST FORUM way and there is the MULTI-REQUEST EELGOO way.

I have made an agreement with Monk/Hunter and Eelgoo, that I as the Requests moderator will NOT TOUCH his multi-requests. There is a REASON for this.

For those who know me, as Dynasty has said, I go through the Requests thread EVERY DAY (and sometimes nights) and try to tally up the offered points, and list who offered what in the first posts for whoever fills out the requests. This takes a lot of time, and as I have my own Request Posts out there to tally up, you will notice lately that I write (LOTS OF POINTS) on top instead of constantly tallying up the thousands of points offered. When the person FILLING the post fills it, they can PM everyone and total the tallies one time and it's done with.

I have ACUTE OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder) which makes me very careful and I notice everything - but if something isn't clear, and in the case of Eelgoo's Multi-Requests, the INITIAL request may have been (according to the Site Rules) maximum of 10 related items (same vendor or same type of character), those who follow the RULES, keep the initial items, and cross off what has been filled and when the last item is filled, the Request can be closed.

HOWEVER, an EELGOO Multi-Request isn't like that. His posts, allow anyone to suggest some other thing that comes along, and they sort of Hijack the thread by adding new characters which did not initially come from Eelgoo's initial posting. After a time, there will be 90 new products in an Eelgoo Multi-Request, and maybe the first 5-10 maximum items were from him. The rest just gets tacked on, so you have to DIG and SEARCH to see if someone offered points on some item that is NOWHERE to be found on the TOPIC lines.

As I said: I have ACUTE OCD, and this makes me angry and enraged internally as I cannot find an end to these types of Multi-Threads. And essentially Eelgoo and those who emulate him doing this, don't monitor or do much about these once they are posted. I've been doing this for over 2 years so I see how this actually progresses.

So to outline our individual responsibilities to ZoneGFX moderation, I discussed this with Eelgoo, Hunter, and Monk - and stated flat out, I will patrol, monitor, and try to keep the regular Requests in order, time permitting. But I will NOT touch his Multi-Requests.

I have my way of moderating, and I can tell you I personally stay away from the Multi-Threads where stuff just goes all over the place. As a result, sometimes I miss out on items, and those items don't even get posted to the Blog, because NO ONE monitors those Multi-Request threads as they are too darned MESSY to follow.

That is just how I see it. I do what I do, and many are happy with me, and others have told me they don't give a damn, which really reflects on how much they really care about the maintenance of this site and the flow of products into the Blog etc.

If you notice, many of the items in the huge flow of Multi-Request threads NEVER make it to the Blog.

We must also review another thing -- many MEMBERS who share a Request Post as Fillers, demand from us that we do not post to the blog (which is their right), but then, in the end, THEY never post it to the Blog either, and I am guilty of that myself, AS I AM OFTEN OVERWHELMED managing the site forums. Monk and I do the gruntwork, Hunter controls the higher functions, and that is pretty much it...

So if it says MULTI-REQUEST, I treat it as a HANDS-OFF item in the Forums, and will not bother with it, as it will almost always trigger me.

But requests with 1 item or a bundle & addons related are manageable and we can cross off and identify who filled the items until the last item has been filled and we can close the request. And anyone who wants to offer points for an item already filled can contact the person who filled it, and they can continue to gain points for a while. Until the entire thread is filled and we can close it.

Multi-Requests stay up forever and if you honestly look at them, you cannot tell me that there aren't in the MAJORITY of them over 20+ items or many more, rolling thru them, that they NEVER get closed as "FILLED" completely.

That is FACT, not my opinion.

But as long as @eelgoo is the Moderator for his OWN Multi-Request posts (and others who emulate his way) we are GOOD.

I hope everyone understands this (as English isn't my native language).

Have a great weekend,
AnjaBear

@hunter

@monkseye

[Dynasty]

Agreed with all Anja said. I think it's a big problem, because some high quality vendors that have a few dozen models will be put together in a thread and buried in there for the most part. It's very hard for anyone to keep track and even less common is for something to get filled because of a request in there when nobody knows how many points are offered for X product. It's just not going to happen, unless someone happens to already own the product and just happen to see the thread and know the vendor's name. (very rare case indeed).

I proposed something that might make this easier for fillers and make the topic's name more enticing for readers. For example, Blopblopfish is a vendor who makes high quality models from different games, such as Resident Evil, Mortal Kombat, Call of Duty, Cyberpunk 2077 etc. etc. I think making a topic such as "(Multi-Request) Blop's Mortal Kombat characters" will be a lot better than having all of his models thrown in the same thread when he produces new one on a weekly basis. It will give people a general idea just from the topic's name and it won't have more than 4-5 models in there which is a lot easier to keep track of than 10-15+.

It will be also great if OP included the points from all posters in the OP, but I understand that is a lot of work and not many people want to do it.

Mod: thanks for your suggestions!

[eelgoo]

OK this is my take, (and I have rampant OCD too 😉 )

I post my vendor request threads as a rolling item, in an attempt to minimise the number of threads in the request forum pertaining to a certain vendor.

Sure, it can get garbled quite quickly, so what I have taken to doing every so often with them is to post a revised update in the thread itemising what is still outstanding & what I have offered.
I would encourage other contributors to those threads to do likewise, that should reduce the amount of scrolling back to take stock.

[WonderTweek]

i tend to avoid multi-request threads when filling things. if i see a request post with the name in the title and i know i have it then i fill it. but i dont ever go into multi threads looking for specific items to fill even if i see a familiar vendor's name. i like the single post tally method. its more organized and clear.

Mod: thanks for commenting!

[John Lund]

I don't think that multi-requests with new items added on page 7 is at all effective. I may check a multi-request once but will miss all added items and from what I can see that's the case for many others - multi-requests are filled very slowly.

I think however that they can be allowed, but then other members should have the right to post single requests for an item that is included in a multi-request. By that both worlds could co-exists and everyone is happy 🙂 !

Mod: Thanks for your comments!

[eelgoo]

Editing the original post will not bump the thread to the front page, indicating thread activity.
That is why I was advocating updating with a 'revised request' posting within the thread by each requester.
That way you only need to scroll back to the most recent posting of each thread contributor.

[Dynasty]

@legolas18 I see you make some fair points on the matter. But look at the thread you linked. It's been up for almost 2 months and it has over 20 characters requested in it. It hasn't gotten nearly any activity in it and I am sure that KrashWerks' models are fantastic and probably deserve a lot more attention. But I personally, and I would believe many others, would be off-put by the amount of characters and 0 screenshots. I definitely do not want to open over 20 links/tabs to check if a model is something I would like to put in points for. I hope you understand my point here. You definitely can't put 20+ screenshots, I agree. It will clutter the whole page and make it even worse. In cases like this I would personally use photoshop or something and make a collab of the model's pictures into one and showcasing at least their face or something, so that people have a general idea of the models. I still think you did a good job considering how many models are requested in that thread though.

[eelgoo]

Not so much specifics, more concept approach.
I think it is important to minimise the amount of effort required for everyone concerned.
It needs to be kept as quick, simple & easy as possible.
It is not a case of being lazy, it is more, if you make it so it requires less effort, people are more likely to comply, and the system should work better.

[eelgoo]

I think we are making progress here. 🙂

Perhaps a link in the OP to the vendor store page is a good compromise?

[AnjaBear]

I like that we're talking about this in a nice way. Intelligent thought and suggestions and back and forth ideas is great.

Thanks to everyone for being so amicable.

AnjaBear

[eelgoo]

@legolas18

Yep. That works. 🙂

Ditto for Anja's post too.

[Hunter]

Just wait for sometime guys ... working on request system ... automated ... if work .. no need to post request in forum 🙂

[eelgoo]

Colour me intrigued! 😉

[Weebz]

Problems I see with multi-threads:

• Hard to skim through what the request is asking for.</i>
• More difficult to calculate the value of points PER REQUEST, especially when not everyone wants
• Harder to search
• Makes me want to cry.

Good things about multi-threads:

• Author doesn't have to make multiple threads.
• Usually post contains stuff from the same artist.

Because it makes me want to cry. Let's stop. 🙂

[Redflag]

WOULD AUTOMATING REQUEST/FULFILLMENT Help solve the problem?

Would it be possible to develop a script/program so that when you join a request, you enter your points distribution name and the amount of points that you are offering. The number of total points on offer could then automatically be display by the script in the posts title.

When somebody fulfills the Request, all the person supplying the request would have to do would be put the asset location link into a field and click "send". All participants would get the asset link AND the points on offer would automatically be deducted from those participating account (regardless of whether they were online or not).

As suggested in another thread. Participant would have the option of opting out and removing their points offer... as long as it happens before the request is attempted to be filled.

This would remove a lot of tediousness involved in fulfilling requests and all the "thanks, points sent" e-mails we have to do. Also, the system could track the amount of points somebody has, so if they don't have enough points to meet their obligation, they would get a "XYZ assets has been fulfilled, amount of points offered exceeds users balance" and they wouldn't get the link until their balance could support it.

ALSO, the site would automatically be included into the distribution thread, sot that 7-10 days, the asset link would be able to be put on the blog and made available to everybody. This may require the site to add moderator/helper positions that solely place assets into the blog.

REGARDING SINGLE Vs MULTI REQUEST threads
I'd bet that "individual asset posts" get filled more quickly than Assets in "Multi-posts". While it is easier for someone to make one posts that covers 5-25 items, if the point is to get a request filled, the multi-post, though easier to make, isn't the most effective way to meet the goal.

Also, there can be a bit of post shaming, if somebody starts a new thread for A specific item, and then, the person who 3 months ago posted that same item in a long buried multi-thread, gets upset as they view it a re-post.

As an addendum to the above conversation, I think that anyone should be able to make a "new post" with a singe asset/bundle, even if it is already posted as another person multi-request thread, without shame, and it should be "on the multi-poster" or someone participating in that thread, to "tie" the two posts together.

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