News

Posted on: Fri Oct 13, 2017 4:14pm

Infinipede (#46863) Belawy (#6513)
As far as I'm aware there unfortunately isn't a way to make a crystal checker anonymous without redoing a lot of the coding in the CC system, which isn't something that is a priority right now since it doesn't really impact whether or not the site functions. Since we haven't gotten any applications as far as I'm aware, we also wouldn't want to potentially waste manpower making this anonymous crystal checking system and then....still not have anyone apply.

In working on Crystal Check for over a year now and doing (literally) thousands of crystal checks I can only remember one time feeling harrassed/spoken rudely to and it was dealt with immediately (literally within the hour) and things were put in place to avoid a situation like that in the future. There really isn't much interaction with people, 99% of the time I give them the percent and never hear back again unless it's a small "thank you!" Sometimes a user asks how to bring the % down to where they want it to be or asking for a recheck after they've done a small change. 99.9% of the time though I have no interaction with people past giving them a percentage, lol.

Posted on: Fri Oct 13, 2017 10:48pm

ah, that's good to hear your experiences. I hope more people will volunteer soon! I, myself, am a noob and also terrible at responsibilities like that, unfortunately ^^;

Posted on: Sat Oct 14, 2017 2:04pm

Is there a reason a crystal check isn't required to submit a custom? I feel maybe more people would be willing to do crystal checking than custom queue as the whole use of the term 'rejected' and having the item returned (and especially if it's a custom making item that may break but didn't break before being rejected), that would lessen the blow of being disappointed/upset if the bad news was just the percentage being wrong.

And while the fact is that humans in general are kinda jerk-y a lot (no offense, but let's be real. it's like drama first, questions later 95% of the time. and everything is publicized and that's just not right. unless it's scamming or bigotry I don't see why people don't just blow off steam to a friend or family member. why the entire internet?), maybe they won't be as jerky with a crystal check disappoint than a custom queue one.

And this would make it so that people whom are too scared to be judged can work the custom queues as everything would have a CC so they'd just be accepting (though not without making sure people aren't try to sneak pets thru without one - in which they'd deserve the rejection, heck, i'd say they wouldn't deserve the item back if it weren't for the fact people sometimes make mistakes and are forgetful so i think most of the time it wouldn't be someone blatantly being sneaky, but i digress... this wouldn't make things much faster if people wouldn't join in helping crystal check, but it has a chance of working if people do and they might (?)

I know I'd be willing to join the crystal check team, though I'd need some help with how to do it w/o the program thing that the one user made.. i don't know how to do it 'by hand' (i'm not sure how to word it) And I'd definitely have issues with images w/o a psd... so I'd need training, but I'd be willing to help if that weren't an issue. I'm stalling at custom queue work though... like many others...

also maybe there could be an account (or multiple) made for crystal checkers, so they could be anonymous. and everyone on any account would be assigned a number. this would be to track the crystal checking in regards to new crystal checkers to see if they are doing it right or just to make things easier for people to find/remember which crystal check(s) they were working on.

this could maybe also be applied to the custom queue, perhaps? make an anonymous account (or multiple) for custom queue people. (if anyone leaves the team, just a pass word change would do, I'd gather.)

also, if this gets a lot of people to do it. then maybe there could be opening up of the ability to attach a psd in custom queue so people don't have to do it manually (though if the psd file is too large, then i wouldn't say reject it as much as the anonymous account shoudl send a pm letting the user know). but this last thing is probably just a dream as things would have to work a lot more efficiently before doing this, as currently it would waste too much time to do such a thing...

idk. just trying to help. I'm very saddened that people are being treated poorly just because people are butthurt their custom was rejected. as if it was a personal slight on them, when it's really just a person doing their job.

Maybe also there should be some forgiveness in percentage and to not be a stickler, especially when the difference between edit level prices are extreme.

like for example, i had a finn design from a design ticket that was a few percentages over 50%, and while my artist said they'd fix it, they've been gone for like a year or so... so I'm kinda stuck with this design I can't use and I really like it... but as it's only a little over 50%, even if a gold finn maker came out, i'd want a more gold design for it.... same with lunaris or vion or violinn designs that might differ slightly... otherwise, maybe make it a .99% round down rule.. like if a custom is 50.99% edit , then that can be rounded down to 50%... for the rarer things, idk what, maybe a 5% leeway?

I just don't see what the site has to gain from being very strict. And when it's super close, it kinda sucks for the artist to have to change things to fit the custom making item needed, and in the case of artist's just selling psd uses, it's typically take it or leave it, and if you want to make it good for the less expensive/lower edit level custom making item, you'd have to edit it yourself... so in the end, idk, it troubles me.. Some people may not care, but I dunno... not everyone has tons of GP to burn so saving some GP when they can makes a lot of difference.. and in USD commissions I'd find the edit amount made very important when people have different prices for each tier (or even if they don't).. and some artists will likely protest or hold it against someone for asking to edit the design (again, let's be honest, this is true).

Thus me thinking, a little less strict policy would also help against people being targeted and smooth out the custom acceptance thing and make things work faster...the faster things work, the less frustrated people, and the more lenience, the more happy people, thus the more people who stick around the site, even when it has downfalls like perhaps long breeding waits and stuff or if a popular artist decides to leave, they will stick it out. otherwise, with all these issues, it's basically baseball and people are just counting strikes til they walk out. maybe they'll return maybe they won't.

i mean, i could also say other reasons for the lack of user-ship but I'll just stick to what is relevant for everyone's sanity including my own. I know I write a lot. But again, just trying to help.

Posted on: Sat Oct 14, 2017 2:33pm

actually, I think lenience should be even more lenient - here's an idea that came to me

splitting the custom makers into 3 tierss - cheap/average/expensive

bronze/blue (cheap) - 2% leeway ; gold (cheap) - 1% leeway ; bronze/blue (average) - 5% leeway ; gold (average) - 3% leeway ; bronze/blue (expensive) - 10% leeway ; gold (expensive) - 5% leeway

cheap = 1 BP - 10 GP

average - 11 GP - 40 GP

expensive - 41 GP +

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a third time, just repeating, I'm trying to help. I'm not trying to dictate or demand anything or act like I know the answer to everything (which i sometimes may seem to do, but i don't know much in reality, i think, though speaking of thinking.. I do think a lot - hence all these ideas). take it all with a grain of salt ^^

Posted on: Sat Oct 14, 2017 6:00pm

TequilaGives🍬∞ (#64472) - The only difference between putting a new design into CC first or submitting it to the queues directly is that if you CC it first you are absolutely sure what custom item you need, otherwise you take on a gamble as to it being the wrong item.

I will be frank - I am not interested in recoding anything, or making secondary accounts for anonymity. I need to know how a person works to know if I trust them to advance them to working on queues - if I can't tell who is who then it's useless to me. I also don't trust people who won't put their name to their work, it's just something instilled in me.

i should also note that we don't permit the programs to be used by official crystal checkers - it must be done manually with an approved histogram.

Finally, changing how the percentages work is non-negotiable. I have explained this many times in the past, as did my predecessor. Neither of us have been listened to before, so I mean no offence by this but I won't bother getting into it again. it is a hard no, and will continue to be.

Posted on: Sat Oct 14, 2017 7:26pm

When I was working in CC, I also never felt harassed by users, I'm not sure if people have gone after admins more then they have helpers but it saddens me to see that's a complaint nowdays for CC helpers.

I miss helping but, things arn't falling in a way I can re-take the test at this time, I'm hoping now that training is done at my new job, maybe i can find a night to re-do it.