[quote name='FriskyTanuki']I like this part of that entry: "Genre: andrew"
I guess it's safe to say that
those that added it to their collection and are offering it on the marketplace should be checked out.
Is there any update on opening up moderation to more people so the doubles, bad entries, and all that can be fixed more quickly? Are we waiting for the new forums first or is there something else holding it up since this thread is a year old and not much has been done since then that we can see?[/QUOTE]
So, the upcoming changed don't just affect the forum, it's a complete rewrite of pretty much everything on the site. That includes the moderation system, and there are a lot of significant changes that'll change the way the game database is maintained.
As you probably know, the current system is pretty basic. Anyone can add a game record, and while we have checks in place to prevent duplicates/invalid submissions, it's far from perfect. User submitted edits are placed in a moderation queue with very few moderators, and the tools for managing the data are a real pain to use. There was a huge backlog of edits for a long time (which has since been processed), with descriptions often being copied and pasted directly from sites like IGN - meaning every single edit took a long time to check over. It wasn't a practical system.
The new system is a complete rewrite that makes improvements in a lot of key areas.
1. Crowd moderation
Any user can submit an edit - when they do, it goes into a "moderation pool". Instead of sitting there until a moderator (that is, Cheapy or me) approves or denies the edit, any user can see all the submissions in the pool and vote them up or down. When an edit gets enough up votes it goes live, and users that have contributed (correctly) are assigned points. As moderation continues, users with more points will have weighted votes - eventually, users with high point scores will be able to approve/deny by themselves. When moderating submissions, users will also be able to post comments to discuss the status of edits - if justification is required, for example.
2. Better moderation tools
Users will now have access to the same editing tools that we do, and thankfully those have been rewritten. Anyone can easily nominate games to be merged, deleted or renamed, all through a simple AJAX based interface. (It's a super-fast tool for making light work of the most obvious problems.)
3. Automated data scanning
We do a lot of data feed scanning for the price tracker, and most of those feeds contain a lot of useful data. Things like release dates, box art, UPC codes, and so on. With the new system, we leverage those data feeds as a source for inserting new game records. For example, if several retailers start listing "Assassin's Creed 3" but no such game exists in our database, it'll add the game and submit it to the moderation pool with a higher priority. Lower level changes (for example, release date changes) will be made directly, bypassing the moderation pool.
There's a lot more to it, but those are the three main changes that should help keep the game database up to date with higher quality data. While I've not replied to many posts in this thread, I've read all the feedback and most of the changes were made in response to the problems people have been having. I'm happy to answer any questions anyone has regarding the new system, feedback is always welcome.