pouët.net

Good evening. Questions about Demozoo seemed to pop up a lot in the Pouet - New Platforms thread, so in the interest of answering some of them, and opening a proper place for discussion, here goes - ask away. :)

We have a placeholder homepage and an irc channel - #demozoo on ircnet - for further information. Contributing beta testers welcome :)

We are currently working our way down a list of features and information we want to have in place before going all public. Feel free to stop by the channel for info on how you can help.

I have only one question: ETA! ;)

I think it's similar to demo making: you would be better release a half baked version rather than not releasing a perfect version. ETA should be top priority.

Yo, Protte! :) As you know perfectly well, ETA is now for you, since you have beta access. ;)

TLM: Sure, but releasing something that just doesn't work doesn't make much sense either. We're not working on an estimated TIME of arrival, but rather on a fixed list of things that need to be in there before we go live. Feel free to pitch in to make that happen quicker :)

menace: what kind of help do you need?

Menace: perhaps publishing this list here would attract more people to help out. And the more hands helping the faster a go for going live..

Progress so far:

15021 productions
8271 graphics
13918 music tracks
5947 groups
17425 sceners

Onward

D.Fox: On the info side (which is my domain), we want to get every result file currently on scene.org in there - all of them. Which is a "bit" of work - so we could definitely use some help with that. We could also use an additional developer or two for bugfixing and help - so anyone prolificent on the platform we use (Django) and interested in the project - talk to us! :)

Mmh. Python isn't my strong suit :(

Why don't you all outsource the entering of the result files to the community? It might bea great way to get people involved.

D.Fox: This is exactly what I am doing with this thread - inviting people to come help. We are in pretty open beta, so most people who ask for beta access will be granted and can get right in and start adding results. :)

I actually think I have asked this before, but I can't recall if I got an answer, and if I got one, I have forgot what it was. Anyway:

Does Demozoo handle the scener/credits thing like CSDB does? That is, I can go to a specific scener and find which prods he has been involved in?
It would be really nice to for example say "Hmm, I like Britelite's stuff, I want to check out all products he has coded"

Also, do you have support for mapping different handles to a specific scener? I know sometimes people change handle, and it would be nice to be able to track which prods that person has been involved in even if it has been under different handles.

Ah, the first question is actually answered on the placeholder homepage - nice!

That just leaves the second one.

Sdw: You absolutely can track sceners in this way, yes. And yes, we have support for aliases.

So... everybody will know which crappy stuff I've made? Even when I've released them under a fake alias? :)

Serious side-question that you probably don't want to hear:

If there's a connection between Sceners and their fake-aliases - couldn't that be a problem e.g. for registered musicians which submit with fake-handles to avoid institutions like GEMA or BIEM who try to get money from the organizers who play their stuff? I know it might sound paranoid but it MIGHT be an issue if the information is out in the public...

D.Fox: We are very conscious about privacy, and try to make informed, smart decisions on these things. If someone wants to keep their alias secret, we respect that. We are not out to get anyone in trouble, or spoil their fun. :)

I didn't imply that you did :) It's good that you've already thought about such things. The "legal" aspect of the demoscene will be more important in the future as the respective authorities also learn to work with the internet :)

I for one want to keep my aliases separate, thank you.

Gloom: Why is it always the people with actual accounts, that can perfectly well go CHECK, that complain? :) But seriously, your profile page includes the one you sort of out-grew (let's just call it Chicago in case it was super-sekrit) but none of the others where you substitute one letter and which totally aren't you. :)

also,



Give us the benefit of the doubt, don't ASSUME we fucked it up :)

menace: I was just making an observation. :) Also: there is a difference between "former handles" and "known aliases". The former is just the same individual going from one state to another, while the latter is more tied into specific activities. Or, to put it differently: changing your handle is something public, while operating under an alias is not.

Gloom: I fully agree. I was just trolling, as I'm sure you gathered. :)

Menace: i am currently updating releases from nah-kolor on demozoo..
How can I change a name of a prod. or delete a track which isnt composed by one of our (ex-) members?

When you're on the prod page, press Edit on the right, then click the pencil icon next to the title of the prod.

Uncoupling alias-links has some very odd behavior. If I want to remove an alias, I'm told that if I do, all prods from that alias will be assigned to my main handle.

Wat?

gloom: That does make sense, honest. :-) Deleting an alias is intended for the sort of cases where there are a bunch of releases under the name 'KB', and another bunch under the name 'Kebby', and you want to get rid of one name because there's no meaningful distinction between them. What you're doing here is not really deletion - you want to create a new, separate scener and move the prods in question across to them. (At the moment there's no way to do that in bulk - I'll keep that in mind as a new feature request...)