Don't get me wrong, I love the Archives, it's probably the most important part of Cemetech after the Forum. Here are my list of things I'd like to see happen to the Archives:

  • Be able to edit your reviews
    This is a feature I can't believe hasn't been implemented yet! I made a topic about this nearly a year ago but I never saw anything happen. There are so many programs out there that have improved through updates that have made peoples reviews outdated. Such as my review on CalcMeisters Time Waster program. I said that there were only a few different designs while actually there were way more than that! However people looking through the reviews will see my incorrect information.
    This was implemented! Thank you PT_! Very Happy (Added 2/6/2018)

  • Edit rating
    Similar to above, if a program get updated, I'd like to be able to edit my rating. Like the Donkey Kong program, at first it wasn't working at all and I almost rated it 1/10, but after it was fixed, it was an obvious 10/10. If I had rated it 1/10, my rating would have effected the program forever!

  • See how many people have rated the file from the file page. I've never understood how you could only see how many people had rated a file unless you review it. Allowing people (or at least authors) to see how many people have review their file would be useful. If a program is rated low, how do I know that's just not 1 person giving it a low rating? The same would go for a high rating. (added 11/22/17)This was also implemented by PT_ around 2/26/18! Very Happy

  • Follow program for updates (I got this idea from mets11rap here)
    Yes, most people are just guests looking for a game and will doubtfully come back to check for updates, and people with accounts could set up an RSS notifier. However I still think that this would be beneficial for programs like ICE or Cesium. ICE is constantly changing, fixing bugs and adding new features. People who program in ICE would probably like to get notified about an update without worrying about missing a post in the ICE thread or anything related to RSS.

  • File author gets PMed with new review
    I thought this was already a thing untill I just happened to look at my JPL program and saw that _iPhoenix_ had reviewed my file and included some bugs I needed to fix and some good suggestions. I never would have known to fix some of the issues if I hadn't accidentally clicked on my JPL link.
    Another thanks to PT_ for this! Very Happy (Added 2/6/2018)

  • Rate reviews as helpful/ unhelpful
    We all know that some reviews are better than others, if we encounter a review that is helpful, why can't we rate it as helpful/ unhelpful and have it move toward the top/ bottom of the reviews (respectively)? This would help people get useful information about the program quicker.

  • Sort programs by Alphabetical/ rating/ time uploaded/ last update/ file author/ has screenshots
    This would just be easier for people to find the latest, high-quality programs. People probably don't want programs rated really low so they should be able to sort through all the poor ones. Or instead of having all these sort options, why don't we have an 'advance search' option like TI-Planet has?

  • Allow file authors to publicly reply to reviews
    This would be extremely beneficial to games like Oiram where people constantly put their questions in the reviews. It's a terrible place to put their question because it's not likely the author will even notice their issue, and even if they do, the only way to reply to them is to PM them. This is not a good solution because many people had the same issue bug cant see the solution. Also, I can't blame newbies for posting their questions there, that's where many sites put the review system there for.

  • Add a 'share' button which will copy a short link to the program to your clipboard. The short links are already a thing, but there's no easy way to get them without doing it yourself. (and I can never remember how to make the shortened links). This would be better suited for sharing files on SAX, other forums, and places with limited character counts. And having an easy way to get these links would be useful.
    So instead of having a long link like
    https://www.cemetech.net/programs/index.php?mode=file&path=/84pce/asm/graphics/AdvancedBrightnessUtility.zip
    It would just be something like (Not correct syntax since I can't remember how to do it)
    https://cemete.ch/DL/AdvancedBrightnessUtility
    (Added 4/8/18 )
    Thanks to (most likely) PT_ again! Very Happy Added around (2/22/18 )

  • Allow formatting for descriptions.
    Currently, the descriptions for programs has absolutely no formatting options at all. This makes them look very cluttered and not fun to read. It'd be nice if the descriptions could at least allow newlines so the following description:
    Quote:
    This program gives you near full control over the Wait State time! *You can now speed up or slow down the calculator over the limits of the OS. (Up to 30% faster and down to speeds that make the calculator unusable.) *You can quickly get the current Wait State value simply by starting the program! *You can quickly set a custom speed for your calculator! *Tons of safety features so you are less likely to freeze or mess up your calculator! *A video spotlighting all of its features: https://youtu.be/kd5NcrFVXNk

    becomes:
    Quote:
    This program gives you near full control over the Wait State time!
    *You can now speed up or slow down the calculator over the limits of the OS. (Up to 30% faster and down to speeds that make the calculator unusable.)
    *You can quickly get the current Wait State value simply by starting the program!
    *You can quickly set a custom speed for your calculator!
    *Tons of safety features so you are less likely to freeze or mess up your calculator!
    *A video spotlighting all of its features: https://youtu.be/kd5NcrFVXNk
    the ladder of course is much friendlier to read. (Added 2/6/19)

  • Allow descriptions of programs to be edited without needing to reupload the whole project.
    It would be very convenient if I could just fix something like a simple typo in my description without needing to reupload everything and then wait for it to get approved by an admin. (Added 2/6/19)



These have been my top 7, 8, 9 11 changes I'd like to see happen to the Archives. If you agree or disagree with any of my statements or have a suggestion yourself, please post below! Smile
TheLastMillennial wrote:

  • Be able to edit your reviews
    This is a feature I can't believe hasn't been implemented yet! I made a topic about this nearly a year ago but I never saw anything happen. There are so many programs out there that have improved through updates that have made peoples reviews outdated. Such as my review on CalcMeisters Time Waster program. I said that there were only a few different designs while actually there were way more than that! However people looking through the reviews will see my incorrect information.


This is a good idea, and I've replied to it before - editing would be nice, but if no editing gets implemented, at least have an automatic message above the review saying:
"Warning! This review was written for a previous version of the file!"
TheLastMillennial wrote:
Be able to edit your reviews
This is a feature I can't believe hasn't been implemented yet! I made a topic about this nearly a year ago but I never saw anything happen. There are so many programs out there that have improved through updates that have made peoples reviews outdated. Such as my review on CalcMeisters Time Waster program. I said that there were only a few different designs while actually there were way more than that! However people looking through the reviews will see my incorrect information.
I want this. Admins can already edit people's reviews; it makes sense you should be able to edit your own. However, for this we need to implement the long-missing ability to moderate reviews, because if you can post a review and then edit it to say whatever, that has the potential for epic abuse. I'll add this to my hilariously long todo list.

TheLastMillennial wrote:
Edit rating
Similar to above, if a program get updated, I'd like to be able to edit my rating. Like the Donkey Kong program, at first it wasn't working at all and I almost rated it 1/10, but after it was fixed, it was an obvious 10/10. If I had rated it 1/10, my rating would have effected the program forever!
This is doable too, but not with our current system. It's lower-priority in my humble opinion than editing reviews.

TheLastMillennial wrote:
Follow program for updates (I got this idea from mets11rap here)
Yes, most people are just guests looking for a game and will doubtfully come back to check for updates, and people with accounts could set up an RSS notifier. However I still think that this would be beneficial for programs like ICE or Cesium. ICE is constantly changing, fixing bugs and adding new features. People who program in ICE would probably like to get notified about an update without worrying about missing a post in the ICE thread or anything related to RSS.
This one seems especially low priority; I bet the power users who would actually use something like this already watch the forum for the inevitable Your Projects topic post about the update (and you can already follow topics).

TheLastMillennial wrote:
File author gets PMed with new review
I thought this was already a thing untill I just happened to look at my JPL program and saw that _iPhoenix_ had reviewed my file and included some bugs I needed to fix and some good suggestions. I never would have known to fix some of the issues if I hadn't accidentally clicked on my JPL link.
Good idea. First we need to figure out why we're not interacting with the phpBB PM system properly with accepting/rejecting files so we don't have the same problem with these PMs.

TheLastMillennial wrote:
Rate reviews as helpful/ unhelpful
We all know that some reviews are better than others, if we encounter a review that is helpful, why can't we rate it as helpful/ unhelpful and have it move toward the top/ bottom of the reviews (respectively)? This would help people get useful information about the program quicker.
If we the administrators can approve/reject reviews, that would presumably make this feature redundant. On the other hand, if we /don't/ add review moderation, this could be a good crowdsourced way to save us from having to look for abusive reviews, because low-ranked reviews could be hidden. On the other other hand, downboating could be used to suppress a valid but minority opinion. This is a tough one.

TheLastMillennial wrote:
programs by Alphabetical/ rating/ time uploaded/ last update/ file author/ has screenshots
This would just be easier for people to find the latest, high-quality programs. People probably don't want programs rated really low so they should be able to sort through all the poor ones. Or instead of having all these sort options, why don't we have an 'advance search' option like TI-Planet has?
Good ideas all around. But time-consuming to implement.

TheLastMillennial wrote:
Allow file authors to publicly reply to reviews
This would be extremely beneficial to games like Oiram where people constantly put their questions in the reviews. It's a terrible place to put their question because it's not likely the author will even notice their issue, and even if they do, the only way to reply to them is to PM them. This is not a good solution because many people had the same issue bug cant see the solution. Also, I can't blame newbies for posting their questions there, that's where many sites put the review system there for.
I love this idea. Again, time-consuming to implement.

Here's a suggestion of my own, based on listening to tev's musings on #cemetech and what Mateo wants to do to our topics: ditch folders, and have tags instead. Tag a file [TI-84 Plus CE], [Game], [ASM], and voila. Also would help when people can't find (for example) games when they're divided between ASM and BASIC.
Michael2_3B wrote:
TheLastMillennial wrote:
[list]
[*]Be able to edit your reviews


This is a good idea, and I've replied to it before - editing would be nice, but if no editing gets implemented, at least have an automatic message above the review saying:
"Warning! This review was written for a previous version of the file!"


We could even go one step further? Assign version numbers to updates. Unless it's specified in the initial upload, all uploads start out as 1.0. Each update increments it by 0.1, or just by 1.0. When reviews are written, the version number gets appended to the review. So that way users know just how many versions ago that review was written. We could even include a version history thing where users can see when updates happened,

If they edit their review, the original version number should still be included.
Alex wrote:
Michael2_3B wrote:
TheLastMillennial wrote:
[list]
[*]Be able to edit your reviews


This is a good idea, and I've replied to it before - editing would be nice, but if no editing gets implemented, at least have an automatic message above the review saying:
"Warning! This review was written for a previous version of the file!"


We could even go one step further? Assign version numbers to updates. Unless it's specified in the initial upload, all uploads start out as 1.0. Each update increments it by 0.1, or just by 1.0. When reviews are written, the version number gets appended to the review. So that way users know just how many versions ago that review was written. We could even include a version history thing where users can see when updates happened,

If they edit their review, the original version number should still be included.
Genius! Require the file uploader to include separate version information apart from the file title (Alpha, Beta, 1.0+). This number will then be appended to each following review. For this to work efficiently, the version->review appender will need also to query at which version this user downloaded the file. This will prevent a user from downloading a buggy program, it being updated immediately following, and then the downloader submitting a critical review of the buggy program, thus appended with the version number of the non-faulty program. Logging file downloads can also reduce spamming. Require files to be downloaded once before they can be reviewed.
And we could have a link that you can report bugs on a program, and the author will get a PM when someone reports a bug, because I don't like seeing bug reports on reviews, especially if the reviews can't be edited.
john35588 wrote:
And we could have a link that you can report bugs on a program, and the author will get a PM when someone reports a bug, because I don't like seeing bug reports on reviews, especially if the reviews can't be edited.

Or even better: being able to link the program to it's topic? Smile
CalcMeister wrote:
For this to work efficiently, the version->review appender will need also to query at which version this user downloaded the file. This will prevent a user from downloading a buggy program, it being updated immediately following, and then the downloader submitting a critical review of the buggy program, thus appended with the version number of the non-faulty program. Logging file downloads can also reduce spamming. Require files to be downloaded once before they can be reviewed.


There's an issue we need to figure out before we proceed. What about signed out visitors who download a program then sign in to review it? How do were determine what version of the app they have? We can't force them to download it again in order to review it, cause that'll inflate downloads. And if that is a newer version, they're probably not going to install again before reviewing it.

PT_ wrote:
Or even better: being able to link the program to it's topic? Smile


I'm in favor of that idea.
Added the "See how many people have rated the file from the file page." suggestion.
*Poke* I know it hasn't been very long, but I've already run into a problem one of my suggestions would have helped with. I accidentally reviewed the wrong file. If I could have deleted the review myself, I wouldn't have to worry about PMing an admin and hoping they see it or have the time to delete it.
Added share button to list. The short links are already a thing, it's just hard to get them and remember how their syntax works.
Thank you to PT_ who has been (slowly but surely) making these recommendations come to life when he has the chance!
TheLastMillennial wrote:
remember how their syntax works.


cemete.ch/p##### for posts
cemete.ch/t##### for topics
cemete.ch/n##### for news.

To the best of my knowledge we don't have a shortlink for programs but it'd be pretty easy to implement since it's just an .htaccess rewrite.


Code:
RewriteRule      ^/d([0-9]+)?$    /programs/index.php?mode=file&id=$1 [NC]


I suggest /d for Downloads, since /p is used for posts.
I DID NOT KNOW that Cemetech has it's own URL shortener!! Thanks, that'll help me so much Razz

Side note: does this result in fewer characters that shortening with TinyURL, with the custom name part omitted, so it's just tiny.cc*** vs. cemete.ch/*### ?

EDIT: maybe /r for programs?
SM84CE wrote:
EDIT: maybe /r for programs?

'r' like 'R-chives' Laughing
umm... yeah, sure, although I was going for the r in pRograms Razz since the p was for Posts...

RRgh matey! me is off to the Rchives Razz

***SM84CE hides

can there be/ is there a shortened version for user profile pages?
cemete.ch/DL1337
Already said that a few times but meh.
Yes, that brings me to my point. You've said it several times but I never remembered it to get the link. Therefore a share button would be ideal for solving this issue. Smile
Then is there one for profiles? I don't remember the DL for archives/ programs thing...
SM84CE wrote:
Then is there one for profiles? I don't remember the DL for archives/ programs thing...

Sure: http://cemete.ch/u10064 Wink
Added a two more suggestions to my first post. I know it's a necro-edit, but I didn't feel like making a completely new topic.
  
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