Mapping criteria

[Evan_]

Hello

As part of the mapping team I have created a tentative set of guidelines for map hiding, and will dedicate some time to going through maps that were hidden in the spreadsheet. Such maps that were hidden from other reasons than the following will be unhidden. The purpose of map hiding by this standard is to clean up the map vault

1: if a new version is released by the same author. new versions released by other author's don't count and will not be hidden for this reason, unless there little to no difference. (edit: I mean the new map would get hidden)

2: if a version of the map contains major bugs/imbalance and a balanced version already exists. (only large imbalances, such as broken mexes and hydros. In the case of less blatant imbalance, such as one side having slightly more mass or being slightly closer to expansions, we'd get the opinion of certain map makers and players)

3: if we have the expressed permission of the map creator to hide the map.

this post is mainly to ask and gather feedback on this topic.

[Gorton]

While hard to make a rule, we need to heavily encourage the act of proper versioning. This will auto-hide old versions.

I think authors should be able to request that their own maps be hidden in the client if possible. I know this requires coding, but it'd be useful.
Alternatively you could have an author give a message to the entire map team using the mass pm function of the forum, or a google form.

On the subject of more general rules for the vault itself...
People shouldn't use other people's maps without their permission. Original authors should be able to request unwanted duplicates/alterations be removed.
Also, broken maps should be hidden.

In both situations hopefully contacting the relevant author(s) will clear it up.

[Evan_]

On the subject of more general rules for the vault itself...
People shouldn't use other people's maps without their permission. Original authors should be able to request unwanted duplicates/alterations be removed.

I agree with this, mappers shouldn't have to worry about plagiarism. I'd like to add an additional rule, which is that new versions of a map must credit the original author, even if given permission. We have people such as Bread uploading maps with minor differences (well minor as in how little effort it takes to adjust water height) and claiming it as their own

[biass]

I'm going to keep it 100 with you my guy, this looks like something you wrote up in five minutes. I was hoping this would be an end all document that covers every base and im going to attempt to give you what needs to be clarified before this truly goes ahead. I'm not going to support this if in every niche instance i have to run a 10 page long argument with a "representative" who doesn't know what professional representation is, either.

Here is what i think you need to properly address, mostly uncondensed. I might add some more stuff later on in edits, ill make sure to denote them.
Feel free to discuss below, do be aware that a lot of these notes can be trimmed down (like appeal process doesn't need 4 or so different topics) and also organised, but hey, im not the mnms team.

Also, yes i know where to report abuse, but this document isn't just for me, of course.

1. upload rules
1a. what is a cheat map and what is not (asymmetrical, etc)
1b. naming conventions, what isn't allowed in a map name
1c. description conventions, what is required and what isn't allowed in a map description
1d Can i appeal these
1da. Who runs the appeal process
1db. Can i appeal their choice (on subjective matters)

2. map quality
2a. basic map requirements
2b. what makes a map of low quality (objective)
2c. what makes a map of low quality (subjective)
2d. what makes a map of so low quality it becomes unrated
2e. what makes a map of so low quality it becomes hidden
2f. what makes a map of high quality
2ga. who audits map quality, and their credentials
2gb. can i appeal this process (and a second opinion audit)
2gc. who do i contact if i feel my style/map/methods are being targeted
2gd. where can i see a list of audited maps
2ge. where will an author be contacted if a map is needing a fix
2gf. where/who do i contact if i have not been contacted prior to content removal
2fa. can i report a map to the team/how

3. intellectual property
3a. what is map theft
3ab. content removal after map theft
3ac. collaborative works
EDIT: 3aca. removing/replacing collaborative content
3b. alternative versions of other peoples content
3ba. content removal after alternative versions of other peoples content
3c. adding adaptive map scripts to other peoples content
3ca. content removal after adding adaptive map scripts to other peoples content
3d. uploading fixes of other peoples content
3da. content removal after uploading fixes to other peoples content
3e. who audits versioned content, and their credentials
3ea. who do i contact if i feel my intellectual property has been mishandled
3eb. can i appeal the intellectual property mishandle audit
3f. content licensing, and what counts as content licensing
3fa. abuse of content licensing, and how to report it

4. the mapping(and modding?) team
4a. a team members level of authority, and who is a credible source of information within the team
4b. can i report a team member, and to whom
4ba. can i report the team as a whole, and to whom
4c. can i become a team member
4ca. can i become a higher up in the team's structure, and how
EDIT: 4d. conflicts of interest

Imho i wouldn't be removing or unrating any content until this is established, if this was established first, you wouldn't have to deal with maybe one of the fastest moving threads in the forum's history. I would also make sure your team knows that their actions reflect upon the team, before members drive it into the ground.
Good luck.

Oh, and yes, council approval

[Evan_]

Thanks for taking the time to post all that. I won't be able to focus on everything you said just yet (I want to make sure our upload rules don't conflict with FAF upload rules, for example) but see the need for bringing up stuff like appeal process, intellectual property, and so on.

Imho i wouldn't be removing or unrating any content until this is established, if this was established first, you wouldn't have to deal with maybe one of the fastest moving threads in the forum's history. I would also make sure your team knows that their actions reflect upon the team, before members drive it into the ground.
Good luck.

Oh, and yes, council approval

We won't be hiding any maps until we have the guidelines down, as well as an official log.