Don't make it long then. You are focusing too much on the method I present rather then the problem I point out. You are obviously aware of a problem since your community is voicing it already. I believe the 'confusing' part is to blame, and a simple " consider adding something that shows common tags." won't cut it.
This needs a proper solution designed by the community for the community, I am merely proposing ideas, if they do not work so be it, the problem remains there.
Another suggestion, what about an 'autofill' function that when typing in tags it trys to suggest what you are typing. Then take that one step further, once you add a tag, it can suggest you tagged it with 'sprite' did you want to tag it with 'sprite sheet' as well? then peolpe can just easy click and autifill their tags.
Tons of systems can be proposed, and im willing to help implement the pictures into a new system. But if you want to quick fix this, it won't work, let's find the best solution, not the easiest.
I see what you are saying Sebbu. I think maybe if we took time and spoke about this we could come up with some really good tags to use as standards. So I do agree it would be a good system.
Additionally, I don't know if this is possible, but I don't see why the user can't be prompted with comments like "Can you tag this image futher? Is it standard dimensions? Does it animate?" Etc. I really think allot of the 'getting people to label correctly' is about proper user informing. If the interface explains stuff, in a quick and concise manner, then there should be little room for error.
Maybe have a 3 step system that show options and you can pick from all or none or some;
1. suggests 'primary tags' so it would say things like:
-Sprite Sheet, Charset
-Drawn
-Computer Rendered
-Charcoal
-etc.
2. Then it would say pick from 'secondary tags' so things like:
-32x32, custom tile size
-Animated
-male, female, alien
-etc.
3. Then finally 'tertiary(third) tags' things like:
-Custom work, Fan Art
-Sci-Fi, Fantasy, Western, Steampunk, etc.
Then when you are prompting the tags, you would show minimum 1 picture example of what a picture belonging to that tag.
If you quickly walk users through an efficient process while giving them lots of options, you can receive better results then allowing them free reign.
Tags are fine, and great actually, but custom ones should be reviewed, and otherwise have accepted ones available, and custom as an option so they can have it reviewed by a mod.
I would definitely help set that system up, and am more than willing to hear alterations to it etc.
Some things don't fit neatly into a particular category, and were shoehorned into places they didn't fit very well, and
People constantly misunderstood what the tags referred to and miscategorized their art.
Well I think for the first problem a 'misc' category would be ideal.
For the second problem, a verbal description of what the pre-made sub category was intended for combined with an onscreen display of say three pictures would go a really long way to helping people understand what material to put in which sub category
[quote]
It kind of made a mess of the archive, and a lot of things weren't where they should be.
It would be nice to have someone go in and manually set up tag synonyms and such, but unfortunately that would require a very large amount of time that I just don't have. If someone would like to volunteer for this task, I would really appreciate it, but given the sheer number of tags we have, I doubt anyone will want to do it. Most likely some people will start, do a few hours of work, and give up. It's a long, unpleasant, and utterly thankless task, and we lack the funding to pay someone to do it.
[/quote]
I could see that causing problems, and without a moderator in charge of fixing mislabeled media it can get out of hand pretty quick. But the alternative (current method) allows for material to get and stay buried and still as equally mislabeled as the other method, leaving people to choose their own, and even maybe add a typo too.
If you were to setup a 'most common tags' or 'suggested tags' section for both when users submit work and when users look for it, then I will definitely volunteer my time to this.
I am pretty obsessive compulsive and I would gladly come by here once a day to work on this. I totally agree most would start and stop, but I am not most. This site is unique, and if properly organized could easily by the one place for independent video game developers to game for art for their free games, and in turn for artists to come to get their work out there.
Niche site like this work really well because it serves one purpose, opengameart, like your name says.
Well, if you are able to implement a more efficient system, I would gladly become a moderator here to help maintain it and initially setup the system.
I did noticed there were tags that served a similar function.
Might I suggest somehow displaying say the top 20 most common tags when searching? This would help but not solve the problem.
The issue with tags is you give to much freedom to people who may not know how to best classify their work, or even bother to do so. If you were to have a sub category system it could have example pictures beside each category to better help users categorize their uploads.
With the current system of tags I am likely forced to try 2-3 words every time I look for one things, and also I am forced to troubleshoot in an effor to guess what others may have categorized their work as. Better to simply standardize it based on your sites parameters. I have been searching far and wide for independent related sites, and this is by far in the running for most useful. However, as a creative artist and video game developer/publisher I assure you your current category system is holding you back, and I wish for this site to gain more success.
Don't make it long then. You are focusing too much on the method I present rather then the problem I point out. You are obviously aware of a problem since your community is voicing it already. I believe the 'confusing' part is to blame, and a simple " consider adding something that shows common tags." won't cut it.
This needs a proper solution designed by the community for the community, I am merely proposing ideas, if they do not work so be it, the problem remains there.
Another suggestion, what about an 'autofill' function that when typing in tags it trys to suggest what you are typing. Then take that one step further, once you add a tag, it can suggest you tagged it with 'sprite' did you want to tag it with 'sprite sheet' as well? then peolpe can just easy click and autifill their tags.
Tons of systems can be proposed, and im willing to help implement the pictures into a new system. But if you want to quick fix this, it won't work, let's find the best solution, not the easiest.
I see what you are saying Sebbu. I think maybe if we took time and spoke about this we could come up with some really good tags to use as standards. So I do agree it would be a good system.
Additionally, I don't know if this is possible, but I don't see why the user can't be prompted with comments like "Can you tag this image futher? Is it standard dimensions? Does it animate?" Etc.
I really think allot of the 'getting people to label correctly' is about proper user informing. If the interface explains stuff, in a quick and concise manner, then there should be little room for error.
Maybe have a 3 step system that show options and you can pick from all or none or some;
1. suggests 'primary tags' so it would say things like:
2. Then it would say pick from 'secondary tags' so things like:
3. Then finally 'tertiary(third) tags' things like:
Then when you are prompting the tags, you would show minimum 1 picture example of what a picture belonging to that tag.
If you quickly walk users through an efficient process while giving them lots of options, you can receive better results then allowing them free reign.
Tags are fine, and great actually, but custom ones should be reviewed, and otherwise have accepted ones available, and custom as an option so they can have it reviewed by a mod.
I would definitely help set that system up, and am more than willing to hear alterations to it etc.
Well I think for the first problem a 'misc' category would be ideal.
For the second problem, a verbal description of what the pre-made sub category was intended for combined with an onscreen display of say three pictures would go a really long way to helping people understand what material to put in which sub category
[quote]
It kind of made a mess of the archive, and a lot of things weren't where they should be.
It would be nice to have someone go in and manually set up tag synonyms and such, but unfortunately that would require a very large amount of time that I just don't have. If someone would like to volunteer for this task, I would really appreciate it, but given the sheer number of tags we have, I doubt anyone will want to do it. Most likely some people will start, do a few hours of work, and give up. It's a long, unpleasant, and utterly thankless task, and we lack the funding to pay someone to do it.
[/quote]
I could see that causing problems, and without a moderator in charge of fixing mislabeled media it can get out of hand pretty quick. But the alternative (current method) allows for material to get and stay buried and still as equally mislabeled as the other method, leaving people to choose their own, and even maybe add a typo too.
If you were to setup a 'most common tags' or 'suggested tags' section for both when users submit work and when users look for it, then I will definitely volunteer my time to this.
I am pretty obsessive compulsive and I would gladly come by here once a day to work on this. I totally agree most would start and stop, but I am not most. This site is unique, and if properly organized could easily by the one place for independent video game developers to game for art for their free games, and in turn for artists to come to get their work out there.
Niche site like this work really well because it serves one purpose, opengameart, like your name says.
Well, if you are able to implement a more efficient system, I would gladly become a moderator here to help maintain it and initially setup the system.
-Jon Bon
I did noticed there were tags that served a similar function.
Might I suggest somehow displaying say the top 20 most common tags when searching? This would help but not solve the problem.
The issue with tags is you give to much freedom to people who may not know how to best classify their work, or even bother to do so. If you were to have a sub category system it could have example pictures beside each category to better help users categorize their uploads.
With the current system of tags I am likely forced to try 2-3 words every time I look for one things, and also I am forced to troubleshoot in an effor to guess what others may have categorized their work as. Better to simply standardize it based on your sites parameters. I have been searching far and wide for independent related sites, and this is by far in the running for most useful. However, as a creative artist and video game developer/publisher I assure you your current category system is holding you back, and I wish for this site to gain more success.
Thanks for the reply.