Achieving a better spell section:

[Duragon]

The problem with GUI is much less efficiency, readability, etc (those are more personal flaws, and especially in the first case rarely come up) and much more portability. Spells in GUI are a great resource for other GUIers to learn, but they are so much more difficult to implement into a map than their JASS equivalents that they're generally useless; it's often just as fast or faster to implement the spell yourself than to use one. On the other hand, however, submitted spells are rarely used regardless of code, so the question becomes whether the spells section is really a spells section or just a samples section after all.

I fully agree with what's being said here. Is it supposed to be a spells section or a samples section? The funny thing, now that you mention it, is that WC3C has made the distinction a long time ago. I knew I saw a Samples section somewhere, and apparently even they have GUI approved in their samples section, just not in their spells section.

And I absolutely agree that portability is the issue here. I would've made the same case had it come to that. The rest of the differences are minor at best in the grand scheme of things.

Allowing only JASS makes sense from a resource point of view (regardless of those who think it's unfair; you're rooting for the losing team, get over it), but allowing GUI makes sense from a samples point of view. I think the issue is thus that the Hive needs to decide what its spell section is.

That's true. I really do agree with what you're saying. That's something the spell section staff has to decide upon, really.

 

[Ralle]

I wanted to get rid of GUI because of the overflow of spells but I now realize that there is no overflow. 3-4 spells are submitted per day which shouldn't be too hard to keep up with. We just need to get through the pile of ~190 spells first.
Restricting to JASS wouldn't be the solution to this but it would be a nice thing to do in the future.
We may need more spell mods, that's all.

 

[Anachron]

^ Agreed to above.

 

[f0rsAk3n]

Thanks Ralle.

 

[Duragon]

I wanted to get rid of GUI because of the overflow of spells

If you are ever going to get rid of it from the spells section, please do so for the right reasons. Spell overflow is something that can always be handled by active and more moderators, as needed for the times. To get rid of GUI would be a statement that you actually want spells in the spells section and not samples, as PurplePoot so eloquently suggested.

It may actually be worth it to rename the Spells section the Samples section. It'd encompass better the type of stuff approved there, since it's way more than just spells. (GUI/JASS systems, spells, snippets, the works)

 

[Deuterium]

@Ralle:
I don't think any actions are needed for now... things seem to be going on well for the spells section.
The 190 could disappear easily if the mods would review one of the old spells every day.

You say 3-4 spells/day = 1-2spells/mod every day... so just make it 3 spells/mod every day, and problem solved. The 190 would be disappearing slowlyyy...

Again I might be wrong since I have been inactive, but I do pass every once in a while, and things seem fine to me =)

 

[The Reborn Devil]

We could maybe separate the GUI spells from the JASS/vJASS spells and hire some people to take care of the GUI ones while the ones we already have (including me) will review the JASS/vJASS spells?

 

[TriggerHappy]

It's fine how it is. Give it time. I am back now, I wasn't reviewing spells for about a month because of school but now everything is back to normal. Two days ago there were over 200 pending spells. Today there are 180.

Please just give us time.

 

[Duragon]

Renaming it would neither change your job description nor your capacity to clean it up over time, it would just better describe what the section is. It isn't just spells, it's all sorts of code in the form of samples.

 

[real138]

i think if the reviewing keeps going at this rate it will be fine slowly but surely. so lets wait a while before we change anything the mods are doing a good job now.

 

[Pyritie]

Renaming it would neither change your job description nor your capacity to clean it up over time, it would just better describe what the section is. It isn't just spells, it's all sorts of code in the form of samples.

"Samples" can mean all sorts of things though

 

[Anachron]

Py: Congratulation.

About the spell section: I would mostly like to see Spells from Systems differented. Then Systems and Spells do have categories like GUI, vJass etc.

 

[Duragon]

"Samples" can mean all sorts of things though

It can, but context defines it perfectly. It has become convention since WC3Campaigns has used it for a long time. It most certainly isn't a spells section right now of all things either way, it's a samples section.

About the spell section: I would mostly like to see Spells from Systems differented. Then Systems and Spells do have categories like GUI, vJass etc.

By virtue of accepting GUI resources, it is more than just systems and spells. If anything, it's not even spells, it's just samples of how to create certain types of spells. Splitting them up would require you split all GUI resources from JASS resources, make the GUI ones samples, and then divide the JASS ones accordingly. I think just renaming the section is more apt.

 

[PurplePoot]

There is a systems category: it's called JASS Resources.

 

[Duragon]

Then why are there so many systems (JASS and GUI) approved in the Spells category?

 

[PurplePoot]

GUI: I have no idea. GUI systems shouldn't even exist.

JASS: A lot of them were posted before the JASS Resources system existed, and I don't know about the rest.

A lot of the problem most likely is due to the fact that the separation has not been very strictly enforced.

 

[TriggerHappy]

JASS systems should only be approved if they require a demo map.

If you're system is a straight script, then you should post in the Jass Submission.

 

[Duragon]

JASS systems should only be approved if they require a demo map.

Technically, all submissions should require a demo map to verify that they actually work. Furthermore, many things in the JASS section either have or do not have a demo map, which means they don't belong there according to your logic (since your post is a bit ambiguous).

A lot of the problem most likely is due to the fact that the separation has not been very strictly enforced.

It seems that your idea of the Spells and JASS sections is not how it is actually run, but instead perhaps a pipedream. Many of the systems in the "Spells" section are just scripts with test maps, and many scripts in the "JASS" section are actually systems and even include testmaps, yet are approved in the JASS section.

A distinction must be made and a line drawn somewhere. Letting the section of the site fester in a "don't ask, don't tell" ideology is just going to give it time to spiral further downward until someone else complains later on and this discussion repeats itself. I say make the distinction, enforce the rules, and the users can deal with it.

GUI: I have no idea. GUI systems shouldn't even exist.

JASS: A lot of them were posted before the JASS Resources system existed, and I don't know about the rest.

This is why renaming it the Samples section makes so much sense. (And fixes all ambiguity)