So here we decide what we want the guidelines of the next review thread will be, since the last one wasn't quite as organized as I would have liked.

The biggest issue is probably how to get less impossible to review comics (few pages, no significant amount of material to review, or just a comic that's hopelessly bad, or MS paint, or sprite or something) on the list. The only deterrent I had in place was the 20 comic limit, but that may have been to lenient, I think some comics quickly whipped up filler so they could get a spot on the list. Should the limit be higher? Should we have mods (and helpful users) briefly scope out each comic that signs up and make sure there's actually significant material so we can write full reviews? I'm looking for opinions here.

The guidelines. If you look over the guidelines I've written for the review thread (a well as the ones for the entire forum) do you think I missed anything or that anything was unreasonable or not clear enough? I'm not exactly brilliant at conveying my thoughts in a concise, organized manner, so I could have slipped up without noticing it.

Review format. Should we enforce a review format, or is the anything goes method we have now currently working fine?

And of course, any other ideas you might have.

I'm saying that we screen Sprite and MS Paint comics. These are comics which, although they CAN work, usually end up sucking and we all end up saying the same things about them (especially megaman and sonic sprite comics). Still, the screening process would have to be pretty lenient.

you could also have a rule that the comic has to have a place here on Drunk duck.
no smackjeeves hosting or anything else like that. what with the cheese and crackers comic being reviewed right now... it's not even a DD comic!

also, the screening thing sounds like a good idea. I think just going though a couple of pages and just taking a glance should easily tell people if the person was actually serious about wanting to improve or simply just summited thier comic which they didn't do much work on for the hell of it.

How about a entirely different thread for sprite comics and you could get somebody well known as a spriter and knows the ins and outs of sprite comic making to lead it.

I suggest:

* Comic must have 20 pages or more (fillers not included)

* No sprite comics (They are boring to read/review )

* The comic must be hosted on Drunk Duck. (of course)

Okay. This all sounds pretty good. I like the 20 pages excluding fillers thing which will be possible as long as people help me and the mods check the comics for fillers.

I think the no sprite comics rule is good as well. I might make an exception if the comic is done in a paticularly unique way. There will definetly not be a sprite comic only review thread. The only sprite comic expert I know around here is Titch, and I don't want to put that weight on his shoulders.

The reason there are non DD comics on the list now is that when the list was first created DD.com technically didn't exsist, being in post crash limbo. The forums were the only part of DD exsisting, and many ex DD comics were hosted on Smackjeeves, so I just let everyone in. I think the next list will be DD only.

Thanks for the suggestions guys. They're very helpful.

VegaX
* No sprite comics (They are boring to read/review )

I'm not sure about this one. Comments could still be made about storytelling, characterization, etc. I just don't think it's a good idea (from what little reasoning I've seen in this thread) to completely bar a format of comics. I've probably seen just as many terrible drawn comics as I have sprite ones, I'm not sure why using sprite graphics makes them worse than barely legible drawings or whatnot.

what about sprite comics with selfmade sprites? I mean those usually are good.

On sprite comics there are pretty much two distinct classes, crappy ones made in 10 minutes, by some idiot using ripped sprites and recolours that have shitty storyline and dialogue and aren't worth a second glance, and then there are the other ones which use custom graphics or are otherwise well produced, funny and/or interesting.

Perhaps there could be some sort of review approval board? IE a group of people (possibly 3 people?) whos job it is to decide wether or not a comic requested for review is approriate, this would apply to all comics, just to make sure that all of the comics of absoloutley horrific quality were weeded out before they were just flamed into the ground in the review thread.

Maybe you should have more reviews at a time? Like, instead of only one current review, maybe you should have three or something? Not to big and not too small. That would probably speed things up a bit.

Buzzcomix does that on their forum, but they have more members needing to be reviewed. Also we'd still need to have 3-4 substantial reviews for each comic written before we'd move on. But I agree that could speed things up.

I have reasoning against the multiple reviews at once thing. If we have multiple comics up for review at once, people will have the oppurtunity to choose one comic over the other, and comics that are long or bad will likely get passed over in favor of comics that are more fun to read. By having only one comic up for review we basically force reviewers to consider that comic and not on they'd rather review.

I guess I could do two at once, maybe. But not more than that.

On the sprite issue, I guess it's not fair to exclude them completely. But yes, I would like the mods and whoever else wants to help look at the comics before they come up for review to see if the comic has any merits and deserves review time.

skoolmunkee

VegaX
* No sprite comics (They are boring to read/review )

I'm not sure about this one. Comments could still be made about storytelling, characterization, etc. I just don't think it's a good idea (from what little reasoning I've seen in this thread) to completely bar a format of comics.

Storytelling? characterization? :shock:

I'm speaking from a personal viewpoint here, (but im sure many agree) being "forced" to read 20 pages of a sprite comic in order to make a good review is just too damn painfull.

Seriously, almost all sprite comic reviews would end up looking the same. Hell, I could just cut and paste the same review over and over again. It's pointless and a waste of time for everyone.

Eggbert
On the sprite issue, I guess it's not fair to exclude them completely. But yes, I would like the mods and whoever else wants to help look at the comics before they come up for review to see if the comic has any merits and deserves review time.

Might I make a suggestion? Tag the sprite threads in the title with so that reviews that don't want to review can avoid them.

.: SpANG! :.

I'm not sure about 30 or 40 pages. A lot of comics can get quite a lot done in that amount of time. Some may move slowly, but 20-25 is a pretty good base number of comics. I mean, that's an entire issue of a print comic. You can get a good impression from 25 pages, I'd think.

Plus if a comic is weekly, that's making them wait the better part of a year before they can get reviewed. I know that when I did my weekly comic, I'd have hated to wait that long to get some review feedback for it.

The filtering process of sprite is not a bad idea, but my only problem with it is that you are ridding the chance for those who have been filtered to grow to better their comics. They may be inspired to create their own sprites at some point.

PhatScurl
The filtering process of sprite is not a bad idea, but my only problem with it is that you are ridding the chance for those who have been filtered to grow to better their comics. They may be inspired to create their own sprites at some point.

I disagree, if anything it would give incentive to better themselves.

Personally, the only thing I have to comment on, regarding the review process, and perhaps making it quite an easier task on those involved, is if someone may something that, like a form. Perhaps someone here can create it, and host it somewhere, but, it's a basic guideline of what the review should look like. Then, when you click one of the buttons, it copies everything you filled out on the form in a paste-able formated review you can easily post on the website msg board.

Example: you go to a website, and there is a form you, the said reviewer would fill out.

Such as-

Comic Title:
Review: 1 out 5 stars option
A Review by (Name of Reviewer)

Amount of pages read in comic: fill in a number.
How Many Pages Available In Comic: fill in a number here.

Storytelling:
This is a comments box, and you discuss nothing but storytelling stuff.



Suggested Pages/Strips: You have up to 3 options of posting links to examples you might discuss in the art section or the overall section.

Art:
A comments box which you type out all the art-releated stuff.


Overall:
A comments box where you summarize a broad review of the comic you reviewed.


Again, this is a suggestion. I know nothing of coding, but... it might make everything seem formatted the same as well..

I suggest that you should offer a "buy out" for comics that feel they have been filtered unfairly. Like by giving say, 5 FULL reviews (like, 3 paragraphs), you can make the list of comics to be reviewed regardless of if your a sprite/ms paint comic, or whatever.

Bad comics are normaly due to lack of effort. If they aren't bothered to put that effort into thier comic, they sure as hell aren't going to be bothered to do the reviews either. So everyone wins.

Oh, yeah, definitely, it has to be on The D. I hate these jackasses that just post on here for publicity.

Gosh Tater, I wonder why some people take offense at the way you say things?

Let me just state the obvious and say that the one doesn't automatically follow the other. I guess there could be people posting here for the notoriety. I've gotten fewer than 5 referrals from my DD posts, but okay.

For my part, I'm here because I respect some of the opinions I've been reading. Good feedback is remarkably hard to come by, and fans are often not the people to get it from, so I'm glad my comic's on the current list.

What about, instead you have to review after to be on the list, but you have to review a few in order to be on the list.

What about, instead you have to review after to be on the list, but you have to review a few in order to be on the list.

Seconded. If you wanna play, you gotta pay. For me, that's just basic etiquette, but there are probably a lot of people that need to be reminded that participation is appreciated.

victor_von

What about, instead you have to review after to be on the list, but you have to review a few in order to be on the list.

Seconded. If you wanna play, you gotta pay. For me, that's just basic etiquette, but there are probably a lot of people that need to be reminded that participation is appreciated.

yes, that would certainly speed things along. :)

You should ask whoever's running the buzzcomix reviews; they keep track of it somehow. I think it might be on the honor system...


Anyway, I think the "multiple comics" and "filtered comics" idea should be combined. Like, if a comic that would hurt the reviewer's eyes comes up, then it should be posted as secondary to another comic, and not be held to the "must receieve so many decent reviews before we move on" rule.

Cocoa
But how would we keep track? It seems an awful waste of time to go through a persons posts to find out how many comics said person reviewed!

AQua_ng, in the near future, probably in another dimension
Review my comic please!

(Link: Naive)


Here's what I've reviewed so far!

(Link: Review of The Graveyard Shift)

(Link: Review of Assassin Assassin!)

I hope that is enough! ^-^

We should be able to keep track of what we post you know.

Wouldn't it be advisable to weed out comics from the list that clearly don't meet the requirements being set in this topic? I mean, the current review list needs to be checked through again once we have established new rules, either that or we need to start a new signup thread, because at least 70% of the comics in the signups havent reviewed other comics or are BS sprite comics.

Plus like just about everyone with any sense agreed if it isnt at least mirrored on DD then why should be be obligated to review it? community participation should be a requirement.

Just adding my 2 cents (most of which has already been said), requirements I see for review would include:
- Member of drunkduck. This should be a community based thing.

- At least 20 strips/pages.

- Some signal from the person making the request that they are still active and reading the reviews when their review comes up.

- At least some attempt by the person wanting a review to give back to the community. The simplest example of this is that the reviewee has reviewed and commented on other people's work (with more than a "this comic is great!"). Although if someone has been active in other aspects of the community then they could be some leeway. And the person requesting the review should be responsible for demonstrating this (keeping links to their reviews and such).

For the most part, it should be the reviewee's responsibility to show why they are entitled to a review. And it shouldn't be a judgement call on any one person's part, if they don't fit the requirements they don't get a review (to try to keep the appearance of it not being biased or that newcomers are being excluded). And we'll be able to point out what they must do in order to be included in the review list.

a good idea to check that others are reviewing is when they sign up their comic they could list comics they've reviewed recently and we could check and make sure (Quality reviews not crappy ones)

Mimarin
Wouldn't it be advisable to weed out comics from the list that clearly don't meet the requirements being set in this topic?

I removed 2 comics just now that didn't have 20 pages. I'll look more later.

The comic MUST be on DD to be reviewd as far as im concerned.

There ARE some lousy sprite comics on the review list right now and i should probably remove those from the list aswell. Might do that later. (unless people start to cry with rage about it.)

The comic MUST be on DD to be reviewd as far as im concerned.

As long as I don't get bumped from the current list, I guess I shouldn't care.

And yet, I do.

In the end, this is a decision for the admins. I do think it is short-sighted to exclude people with decent comics who genuinely want to find out how they can make better comics.