Disclaimer: EA has nothing to do with any of this. This is me as a helper of this forum providing a service to you.
Hi Guys,
I need everyone's feedback on the compiled list. I plan to do some cha...
Ideas
Hi Crin
In my first reading of this request for feedback, I felt resistant to you doing away with the pack pages but realize it is because it is the format that I have become used to using for years now. Resistance to change is human nature, lol. I also am not the one struggling to keep up with categorizing the many reports. You've obviously given this much thought to stay organized, but also in a manner you feel you can best keep up with. Saying this forum needs pagination is an understatement. I detest all the scrolling involved.
The short answer for you is that I am willing to try a new format that you think will work better and make it easier on you to update. I realize you do this on a volunteer basis and appreciate all the effort you put into it. The compilation of issues is something I reference often and has worked well for my purposes.
I do have a request for the Needs Info threads. In the OP, could you link to the post requesting a save? Having to scroll through a whole thread is terribly time consuming if such a post is buried among lots of comments. Simmers also don't necessarily equate a needs info designation to mean a save is requested and rightly so. I scrolled through a whole needs info thread the other day and never found a request for a save, which I thought odd. So, food for thought, should a needs info thread change to a needs saves designation for clarity?
Collection threads also defeat me most of the time for the purpose of upvoting something reported. For that boat tee from BYSP that was just fixed, I had looked, found it reported but all I could do was like the post. I didn't think upvoting an entire collections thread was what needed to be done. I know issues like that don't necessarily garner lots of votes, so I do get why there are now collection threads. I'm just indicating it's not easy to upvote any of those issues unless they link to a previously filed report but don't really have a suggestion to make it easier either.
There is the new awaiting further reports designation on threads but there isn't a category for them shown. It seems like they should have a category. How are you supposed to handle those items on a compilation of issues? Just ignore them until it is deemed they have enough votes? If that's the case, there should be a guideline for the number of votes necessary and a plan in place to change their status back to reviewed at least. It might also be helpful to include a by design category.
HI dolldrms1 thank you for taking the time to write all this out.
The needs info is something that's a huge issue but usually (like 99% of time) it's saves and sending those to a CM. There are sometimes requests for videos or other info though.
I will discuss with CM if they can add the info to the first post if it's NOT saves but something else they are looking for. My problem with this is that I'm not the one changing the status so having to add that info to my database would be tedious.
Collection threads are usually small things that don't really get the upvotes to be fixed in the first place. They are also often things that in my eyes could just be done in a swipe of going through. It's not necessary to upvote that. If it's something that gets reported a lot (in the collection or as new threads). I usually split them out to their own threads so they can get upvoted. There are also a few collections that I'm not happy with. I plan to split those again but just didn't have any time for them.
As for the new status: These are reports that I wouldn't have put on the list in the first place. Like even on AHQ, threads needed a certain engagement to stay on the list. There's a lot of issues that are only reported by one person and then just die. It's just not feasible to have them all on the list. Communication on it is up to EA.
To find them, you can use the filter and. This has all the statuses
Good grief, Crin, the amount of time to write my reply is nothing compared to the hours you put in with updating the compilation and helping simmers troubleshoot their games. LOL, I was afraid it was too long for the amount of time you have to devote to reading replies. :D
Thank you for pointing out the filter. I have never clicked on that before, assuming it was a repeat of already listed categories. Now I know better.
Please do ask a CM about pointing to a post specifically asking for what is wanted. I don't recall off the top of my head which needs info post it was that I went through but can tell you after all the obnoxious scrolling for it, I didn't find a request for anything specific, be that a save, picture, video, absolutely nothing. I felt like I had completely wasted my time and that's not conducive to engaging simmers to help the team with info they need.
BTW, what prompted my suggestion for a by design category was a report on the crows from the LD pack. The simmer just didn't understand there were two different crows that could be had. That report is now in the awaiting further reports but could be moved to a by design category which kills two birds with one stone. It gets it out of the limbo category and if another simmer runs into the same thing can have their question answered.
I regret the loss of access to archived bug reports for the loss of workaround solutions and by design information. Again, I thank you for the time you spend helping simmers and EA by maintaining a compilation of issues. CM's are quick to tell simmers to look at the compilation and EA really should put you on the payroll, although you may not want to be. :D
There are a few threads that I set on needs info as that was what it was in at AHQ. Like the thread was the same as a thread there and it had that status so I set the same.
If you can't find any info, just send your save and don't spend hours scrolling. I'm sure they'll tell you when you DM them if it's the wrong info.
