Officially died? [Archive] - New Doom Forums

Phoebus

August 21st, 2006, 07:55 AM

as I don´t have the time to do the reviews.We'll see what happens, but it isn't officially dead yet.It should go without saying, but just so you know, one of you will need to do the honor of informing me and/or Doom_Dude of that via PM or email, when the time comes, as we generally don't let hosted sites remain idle indefinitely, which was explained in the hosting agreement.

FATAL

August 21st, 2006, 10:23 AM

Yes, naturally. Are you going to keep the reviews as they are, though? It would be a shame if they ceased to exist.

Danimetal

August 21st, 2006, 11:05 AM

In the very same moment that the reviews ceased exising they could be deleted as we could host them in some free site or something like that. We´d of course inform the owner of the site so he could do so but today we´re not exactly dead. It´s a matter of time to see what happens; be confident that, with time, you´ll know everything about it whether it keeps runnning or not.

jetflock

August 21st, 2006, 12:16 PM

heh, we need the reviews back. Doomworld hates legacy wads and refuses to review them properly. I'm so sick of my legacy maps being reviewed in GZDOOM, or flat out in Zdoom.

FATAL

August 21st, 2006, 01:33 PM

Heh, perhaps we're not as fanatic with doom 'round 'ere.

Don't worry. I'll keep my promise of writing a review of "Better Late than Never"!

I'll ask the team members tomorrow about the case, how do they feel. If nothing else, we'll come up with a grand final.

Phoebus

August 21st, 2006, 02:27 PM

Yes, naturally. Are you going to keep the reviews as they are, though? It would be a shame if they ceased to exist.Yes, of course. I never said we'd delete them, or stop hosting them. We don't do that. But as far as hosting an active, vibrant community site, we'd prefer it stay active, of course. If you don't want, or can't keep the site active, maybe you can find some folks who are dedicated. If not, then it would go into an archived/"informational-only" (still of great value to the community) status, same as other sites have, until such time as you guys wanted to resume with the same infectious vigor, so to speak, you started out with. I mean, we placed a lot of faith in the site by hosting it, and even gave it a forums section. I really hope you guys can figure things out, and it remains active. Needless to say, your site is safe. Hope this clears things up.

Danimetal

August 21st, 2006, 07:20 PM

Great news and great understanding :)... I really wish that Fatal can take the lead of this and grant some reviews each two weeks. I think that if the content is good, people should be happy and proud to participate in this little service.

I´ll do my best to try and review something here and there when everything is moving again.

General Greivous

August 22nd, 2006, 04:34 AM

If I had the interest in Doom that I used to I'd be more than willing to help do reviews and such; Unfortunately, I wouldn't want to add to an already ailing situation without giving it my best, which I'm afraid to say I cannot do. I realize this does nothing for you guys, but I just want you to know the thought is there, and I'd love to see some reviews because yes, Doomworld's /newstuff Chronicles is often lacking in the quality of reviews (but I think they're having alot of the same problem we are just on a different scale, hence why their reviews don't seem to be weekly anymore).

Ninja_of_DooM

August 27th, 2006, 12:32 AM

The forums have been dead for a while now anyway. That's why I stopped bothering with it. What with all the old stuff being dug up and posts being re-re-posted over time. There's no fun here anymore.

General Greivous

August 27th, 2006, 12:36 AM

The forums have been dead for a while now anyway. That's why I stopped bothering with it. What with all the old stuff being dug up and posts being re-re-posted over time. There's no fun here anymore.

Admittedly, the Doomsday HQ forums being here is about all that anchors me to this place.

Logan MTM

September 1st, 2006, 01:05 AM

Doomworld hates legacy wads and refuses to review them properly. I'm so sick of my legacy maps being reviewed in GZDOOM, or flat out in Zdoom.
Hohoho!!! Now, tell me something new.
I exactly know what you mean?
DumbWorld sucks! *snub*
Maybe i can help with something. It depends of FATAL...

Nuxius

October 14th, 2006, 02:31 PM

R.I.P. Newdoom reviews.

*breaks out violins*

Phoebus

October 15th, 2006, 09:21 AM

In a way, they were DOOMed from the start. Nobody can keep up the amount of dedication (except for myself and D_D for this site and forums, that is, but then we're not human ;)) that the guys who ran the Reviews site had. Plus, they weren't appreciated enough. I for one appreciated their work, but that desire seems to have left them. True, lasting dedication is hard to find, and we're only so few.

That said, we can hope for some new blood to step in, with a similar or greater degree of enthusiasm and ability they had. Where there's a need, there's a will; and where there's a will, there's a way, says the optimist.

Aliotroph?

October 15th, 2006, 09:53 AM

I feel bad about that. :( Sadly, my life exploded just after this started and I ended up not working on anything, including school. Ended up getting a full-time job for the moment for a discipline and cash injection.

I found it was easier to write a review than it was easier to play enough DooM to do it though. It's tricky to play through a lot of DooM in a hurry unless you have all kinds of time or you don't play much else. I suspect other members ran into a similar issue. There were some damn good reviews here though. :)

Doom_Dude

October 15th, 2006, 10:11 AM

I certainly appreciated the work the review team did to make the whole thing possible. Takes a lot of work to just put together a 'level of the day (http://megawad.newdoom.com/level_of_day.shtml)' entry, let alone a full review so I can certainly understand why nobody is doing it now. Then again, there's distractions like Oblivion and all that real-life junk that gets in the way... Hopefully the Newdoom reviews will pick up again sometime down the road.

Aliotroph?

October 15th, 2006, 10:23 AM

Maybe it would work a bit better with a different format. Instead of trying to organize mass reviews of content, we could just have some guidelines and interested people could submit reviews of things they happened to play, according to said guidelines. The guidelines Fatal and danimetal made when this forum started are pretty good, really.

There would be two tricks to this though: one is having ad-hoc submissions would probably need a different scheme for updating the site; and the other is that people's writing is vastly variable, which is a big part of why they made that test for the team in the first place.

That' s just my little idea. It may or may not be workable and it would still require one or two guys at the centre of the whole thing to keep tabs on it and do updates and give guidence.

Dutch Devil

October 15th, 2006, 10:26 AM

Maybe make very simple reviews one or two lines of text, just an short description of what the level is about and grades for gameplay detail etc, a few screens two or three would be enough.I hope to see newdoom reviews back someday.

Danimetal

October 15th, 2006, 11:23 AM

I´d say that this is not dead, just... Dormant, so to say. I don´t think that we shed enough light about the situation but here I am to do it:

I was the one in charge of updating the whole site. Due to my zero knowledge regarding website programming I had to manually update each of the issues: that includes insane amount of copy+paste, formatting (thus an special emphasis on "Please, stick to the template when reviewing!!!!"), revising, documenting... It could easily take a few hours. Not long ago I got a job and many, many things to do so I felt that I couldn´t carry on with the updating so I passed it on to Fatal. We have been out of touch lately but I´m sure that if he finds the time he could take it and upload the reviews himself.

Sure, that´s not the only problem: the reviews team can´t be fully dedicated to this!. I have no problem making one or two reviews per week as I still have time to play some Doom but that´s something that not everybody can do!. Sure, we can wait until we have like 10 reviews and then putting them in but, where´s the fun if little people do reviews?... Also, the reviewers can´t wait forever until the "uploading" problem is solved so there´s no one to blame there :).

As always, everybody is invited to try joining, moving in or out and put their little contribution into this community thing that we started. All we ask is to be fair, true and respectful with the maps we review: something that is harder done than spoke, as you can imagine.

Anyway, I think that we have a quality thing here and I wouldn´t like to see it shut off so I´ll wait for Fatal news. Also, I wouldn´t like to see the quality level going down even a little bit so the standards will be there for anyone trying to help... If you´re trying to, just think a bit about it: it´s a commitment with something and it gets little recognition.

FATAL

October 15th, 2006, 02:45 PM

Thanks for the kind words, people. It really means a lot. I'm very glad our effort didn't go to waste.

Danimetal is good in explaining stuff, and he mostly said the thing. When we started this project, we were truly enthusiastic about it. For many months it stayed that way. We got new members, and everyone wrote reviews now and then. Then it just sort of fell apart. I for one got rather tired of the routine, after writing 20 reviews I noticed how systematical the job was, and the fact that I stumbled across to only one truly great map were mainly the things that suffocated my reviewing eagerness.

This week I have off, and I will compile the remaining reviews (PumpkinSmasher, your map is included ;)) and upload them. Then I'm more or less finished with this project.

I sincerely thank our readers and the people who contributed reviews, especially AlysiumX!

Danimetal

October 15th, 2006, 04:37 PM

And so spoke Fatal. Thanks for your words dude, and don´t forget to mail me once in a while to know about how you´re doing friend...

As for the reviews thing, I, for instance, am willing to go on with the project, writing reviews and stuff like that when I feel that I have the time and the will to take the effort.

Anyone willing to collaborate could contact me via PM and we could talk about it: if this thing can continue (even in a monthly basis with little reviews) I´m in for it as I´m enthusiastic about quality reviews. Many things are sure to change in this hipotetical rebirth but I´m willing to discuss and always open for changes :).

Also, I forgot to thank everyone that contributed and I would like to leave a door open for any of them to, anytime they want, submit some reviews to my personal mail adress or PM box: I am willing to upload them and do the dirty work so Newdoom can have reviews it can be proud of.

That said, I´d like to carry on with this, even on my own (little time=little reviews) or with fine guests. Only time will tell.

Thanks again to all people who, read, commented and worked on this: my very favourite reviews site for Doom maps.

General Greivous

October 15th, 2006, 04:56 PM

Looking forward to whatever may came. I like the reviews here instead of the ones elsewhere that turn into massive flamewars every other issue.

FATAL

October 25th, 2006, 08:26 AM

A bit late news: last week I got the website stuff figured out, but the final issue would've been way too small to be of any good use, so I'm now building up a few more reviews and then you can read the last reviews of this era.

Danimetal

October 25th, 2006, 12:09 PM

"The end of Fatal´s era"... Reviewing a couple of maps again has reminded me how fun it was to write reviews and how boring to upload them. Makes me wonder and think about how the process could be faster.

FATAL

October 26th, 2006, 12:54 PM

Oh yes, the processing is indeed so annoying that I can't really imagine how you didn't come insane during the 14 issues we made.

CONFIRMED: Doing the feat is indeed impossible without losing one's mind. However, your sanity didn't change a single bit. Leads to a single conclusion.

Danimetal

October 26th, 2006, 01:16 PM

Errr... Yeah, yeah, I would have never been able to do it without your help. Whatever. Oh, die already.

FATAL

October 27th, 2006, 02:54 AM

Wrong conclusion, I meant the website editing.

You get one more chance to answer correctly.

Danimetal

October 27th, 2006, 06:07 AM

Die already (secondy try).

FATAL

October 27th, 2006, 07:15 AM

Wro... oh that wasn't a serious answer.

How RUDE!

Danimetal

October 27th, 2006, 12:10 PM

Die al... Oh, yes, please, would you die already?.

Phoebus

October 27th, 2006, 01:02 PM

blah blah, neener neener...
Whatever. Could one of you please fix the broken image on the site?
Probably involves either uploading a certain separator2.png, or renaming the separator.png to it, that's in the /Siteimages subdir.
Thanks.
Don't carry on ;)

FATAL

October 27th, 2006, 01:21 PM

Dani, could you?

Danimetal

October 27th, 2006, 05:24 PM

As far as I remember you should have the images and the mirror site in your computer, as I sent them. Send the image to me and I´ll do the rest.

Edit: Already fixed... This damn red separator thing never looked completely right for me but I guess that it was much easier than having a summary in the forums. For a possible continuation of the NewDoom Wad Reviews service I would consider a change of look and maybe a little rearrangement on the content, so everything is more tidy.

I´ve thought about supressing the "summary" paragraph as a stand-alone thing, putting it as the very first part of the review (just after the author, score, port and such)... It would involve a certain pattern or template for review authors but well, in that paragraph the reviewer should give an overview of the map so the reader knows if he´s interested or not. Also, to make the uploading easier I´ve thought about some Excel or OpenOffices templates that reviewers fill and send to they only have to be copied and pasted (instead of formatted and corrected).

Let´s see how this last Fatal´s issue comes out and if the idea of continuing spawns some interest into someone else.

psyren

October 28th, 2006, 12:43 PM

I tried downloading that test wad, required to review, to join the team, and failed several times so I gave up.

I'd like to help out as I ain't working on anything at all presently and always thought these reviews were a good idea.

I play Legacy, JDoom, GZDoom, and can write pretty well to give a decent review for anything thrown my direction.

The review I gave to my own latest release was written to show how well I feel I can be critical and un-biased when reviewing wads. Unfortunately, I can't find what I wrote anymore, but feel free to send me something for a "test review" and see for yourself.

Seriously.

General Greivous

October 28th, 2006, 12:44 PM

It's like the three stooges, except the third was hit in the face with a shovel and it knocked some sense into him so he ran away.

Danimetal

October 28th, 2006, 02:50 PM

Psyren, I´m think that the wad that was uploaded is no longer available (oh, long time no see BTW :)) but well, I think I could arrange something or some wad for you to review. Just contact me by PM or mail.

As for what Greivous said... I don´t think I got it.

Again with the reviews: I keep on thinking on new things for this review thing and I feel like we could come with interesting things... I´ve been lately thinking on a system for guest reviews and I think that I have something that could work.

Finally, I´m also thinking about how much time it could take to release an issue. Maybe the most convenient thing is to wait until 10 or 8 are ready before publishinga anything. It´s not easy or fast but it could work given a team of reviewers.

FATAL

October 29th, 2006, 01:20 AM

Ok, Dani, I trust you with psyren's recruitment.

If there was some form based thingy, the reviewing stuff would be much more enjoyable.

psyren

October 29th, 2006, 07:51 AM

I agree with you completely, FATAL, about looking at 10 crappy old maps and getting down about it.

Where are all those old '95 maps coming from? Why does DoomWorld choose them to review? (Along with a few "friends and known names" from the DoomWorld community?)

No. Scratch that. Why does NEWDOOM choose these old wads to review instead of NEW maps from our own "friends and known names" we have right here?

Ok, so we are using idgames archives. Easy to find newly submitted wads to check out there. No one I know has email capacity to handle saying, "Send me all your new wad creations for review!"

There should be a sticky thread here listing free hosting places that people can upload wads to. (Filefront, and maybe others that don't require a sign-up and installation of spyware and tracking cookies to join or access?) Then send a link.

More people would soon be looking to NewDoom for the newest reviews of the newest wads instead of trying to sift through all the crap uploaded to DoomWorld.

(My opinion.)

Doom_Dude

October 30th, 2006, 10:58 AM

Again with the reviews: I keep on thinking on new things for this review thing and I feel like we could come with interesting things... I´ve been lately thinking on a system for guest reviews and I think that I have something that could work. I wouldn't mind doing a guest review once in awhile but I would have to get pshyched to work on anything. I certainly would like to know what you have in mind when you mention 'thinking of new things'.. I'm currently trying to get back into doing reviews for games. The thing is, it's easy to burn out doing this stuff.....

Danimetal

October 30th, 2006, 12:02 PM

I have some ideas in mind to both enhance and inject life in the reviews thing... We´d have the basics (the reviews), then the specials (guest reviews... Maybe more than one, maybe as much as submitted by the community), then a kind of enhanced version of the submission thing (with auto-review included), maybe contests in the future...

The whole guest review thing (if you´re interested) would be done in two different ways:

a) A map is proposed for guest reviewing. Every member of the community has the right to submit a review (according to a certain template) and speak his mind.

b) A certain person wants to speak his mind about certain map he has played (sort of your "Map of the day" feature): he has the right to submit the review... Of course this could be a "biased" opinion so it would get a different handle.

With these features things could go complicated but maybe it would attract more people to the joy of reviewing and the whole thing would be less dependant on the core of reviewers.

Nuxius

December 29th, 2006, 06:41 PM

R.I.P. Newdoom reviews.

*breaks out violins*

Alright my entourage, let's start her again!

*breaks out violins and starts to play again*

*sounds of people weeping in the background*

Danimetal

December 30th, 2006, 12:39 PM

How dare anyone post here again!!!. Shall I use my almighty powers on this forum to close the thread ;)?.

Serious people, when the NDWR officially dies you´ll get an official announcement. It´s not dead yet, just waiting for another system... We could get some reviews per month, sure, we could it each month but, can we do it better?. I guess we can.

If we can´t find a better system than the current one we´ll stick to it.

And yes, in the meantime I keep on thinking about the NDWR :).

PumpkinSmasher

December 30th, 2006, 05:44 PM

I just wish yall would put out another issue, because I know my last wad OMGpump2 was reviewed, and the review was never posted.

General Greivous

December 30th, 2006, 07:53 PM

I also believe I submitted an early one-map demo of The Exiled a long time ago :P

Danimetal

December 30th, 2006, 08:43 PM

I also believe I submitted an early one-map demo of The Exiled a long time ago :P
Sorry my friend, but I think that demos were not allowed to be reviewed (reviewn?) until they were full. Keep on it, by the looks of it I´m sure it will make to this little corner of the web with good ratings :).

I just wish yall would put out another issue, because I know my last wad OMGpump2 was reviewed, and the review was never posted.
I don´t even remember even seeing your wad XD!. No, serious, we´ll see what can be done but we´ll need help from our friends. Come on people, you know you want to review wads!.