Submission & General Commentary Thread

[TheDarkKnight]

I'm gonna leave the UESW to Finlander as there are a couple of submissions I don't think I should make a call on, so I'll let him handle it tomorrow.

[Diocle]

I just hope the issue is not about my screen.

It was taken in game by myself, it's NOT EDITED, and it's part of a serie I'll continue to post on UESW competition, the new one is online just now, and others will follow, if you play and win a campaign with Rome in Rome 2, you'll understand from where it comes. The good part of this story is that evidently here NOBODY has ever won a campaign in Rome 2 , this clearly shows that I'm right when I say that the game is overrated and actually very few guys here have ever completed a campaign on that infamous engine, and this, after having spent months writing everywhere that Rome 2 is a total crap, it makes me so happy ..



Side note 1: I don't think my screen will win the competition, but in case it will be falsely considered edited, I'll bring the issue to the Curia, it's the first time in my life on TWC I'll make use of that institution, but I can not accept that my integrity as a man and as a member of this forum, may be questioned, so, if I say my screen is unedited I mean that it is actually not edited in any way, so, who says the opposite, he is a liar, i.e., who says I've edited the screen intentionally infringing the rules of the competition, he is a liar; all in all, who says I'm intentionally a cheater, he is, intentionally or unintentionally, a liar; of course, I can easily prove this self-evident truth with the help of the game itself. So, before lying, moving false accusations against another forum member, somebody should take a look at this ingame clip from Rome 2, and then perhaps saying "sorry", or just shutting up his mouth once for all:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Side note 2: I've seen many times pics directly coming from the Victory cinematics of Shogun 2, winning the UESW competition.

[Araval]

Screenshots must originate from either the campaign map or the battle map.

If I understand this correctly, screenshots from cinematics are not valid.

[Finlander]

I have been very busy lately and Gen. Chris has kindly agreed to take over the competition for this week, all praise to him.

It seems to be that a part of the rules have been overlooked, and that part of the rules I would like to quote here:

General Competition Rules & Regulations

1. Submissions must be screenshots originating from any of the Total War series games or modifications designed for them.
2. Screenshots must originate from either the campaign map or the battle map. All other entries such as loading screens will not be accepted as valid submissions.
3. Each user is allowed two (2) votes per contest at the discretion of the Competition Manager. Users may not vote for their own submission. Any use of alternate accounts is strictly prohibited and will result in action taken against those who break these terms.
   
4. Advertising for the PotW and UESW competitions is allowed. Asking for votes in any way however is strictly prohibited and will result in action taken against those who violate these terms.
5. A submission can only be entered in either the PotW or the UESW competition, not both in the same week. Whether or not the image has been manipulated or not is of no consequence. Also each submission can only be entered in once to either the PotW or the UESW. You can't enter into the UESW again with a submission already used before in the UESW for example.
6. The PotW & UESW Manager will take whatever steps necessary to ensure the integrity of both the PotW and UESW contests at their discretion.
7. Have fun and be creative. It's a community competition. It's all for enjoyment.

That particular line includes the spy videos, cutscenes, intros, victory and all similar videos/pictures from Total War titles. I'd appreciate it that any screenshots which are not in line with the rules would be reported to me - or any host/director of said competition - as I might not be able to recognise all in-game footage in time. Thank you. I wouldn't want to get the snowball effect gaining speed where our rules are not followed because someone else have done so. Let me know and the case can be looked at.

[TheDarkKnight]

Whoa whoa whoa, Diocle. My concern (wasn't just yours, by the way) was not whether it had been edited with colors or anything. I just honestly did not know about the cinematic borders or anything because I know just about nothing about Rome 2.

So please don't be insulted. I wanted to consult with Finlander before I made a decision on it because I figured that if there was a problem we would decide on it together. I never thought that if there had been an issue that you would have done it out of malice, if that makes sense, because genuine mistakes have happened in the past.

[Diocle]

I love you Batman but let me point out that I was just referring to anybody accusing me of editing pics on a competition for unedited pics.

About the cinematics, well, actually I've seen pics coming directly from the Victory cinematics of Shogun, winning the competition so .. actually I do not know what to think, and this is why there are the moderators, so, do what you want, any decision by Chris & Fin is always welcomed.

[TheDarkKnight]

Sorry about the lateness of the UESW poll. After the above issue I became distracted by my new duties so I forgot.

Henceforth though, I can pass blame for my failures onto Finlander...so...Everyone take this pitchfork and torch and storm Finlander's house to exact sweet revenge.

[warman222]

Okay, I don't mean to come off as a jerk or whatever, but the novelty of this has officially worn off. At least for me. I know no one is perfect and I know RL stuff gets in the way of us all at times, but this is getting very frustrating. Between you, Finlander, and LuckyLewis(?), someone needs to do this stuff in a timely fashion. I can understand if this happened once or twice but it's happening frequently now to the point where having the blasted stuff done in a timely manner is becoming more and more rare. If you guys are too busy to do this because of RL stuff I understand, but you need to find someone who is able to do it. It's not even like it's that hard here, you're just copy pasting the pictures and/or videos, numbering them, reposting the rules and saying a remark or two about the winners. Those tasks don't take much longer than 10-15 minutes tops, so it's not like it's that difficult or time-consuming. Like I said I mean no disrespect to you guys and I don't mean to come off bad here, but jokes over. You need to get your acts together with this.

[Conclamatus]

I can see your point. It's true. But the thing is, as far as I know, they are not paid to do any of this, all the moderating work here are entirely voluntary. And not many people would volunteer to dedicate a part of their daily routine to this. Anyway, for me, it is still better late than never.

[warman222]

I see that but this isn't complicated work here, you can get it done in 10-15 minutes tops. I also don't agree that it's better late than never since it's almost all the competition stuff is weekly. What's the point of a weekly contest like this if the polling and results are needlessly dragged out. If it's really that difficult to get this stuff done, maybe you should make it monthly or bi-weekly so there's more time to get the work done. There's gotta be a better way to do this guys!

Also you still need to post the tiebreaker poll for UESW 322 still needs to be posted. It ended two days ago and Gen said when he announced the winner of POTW 419 that he would post it "shortly" and again that was two days ago. (If he hadn't said that I wouldn't of pointed that out.)

[spiderknight]

I see that but this isn't complicated work here, you can get it done in 10-15 minutes tops. I also don't agree that it's better late than never since it's almost all the competition stuff is weekly. What's the point of a weekly contest like this if the polling and results are needlessly dragged out. If it's really that difficult to get this stuff done, maybe you should make it monthly or bi-weekly so there's more time to get the work done. There's gotta be a better way to do this guys!

Also you still need to post the tiebreaker poll for UESW 322 still needs to be posted. It ended two days ago and Gen said when he announced the winner of POTW 419 that he would post it "shortly" and again that was two days ago. (If he hadn't said that I wouldn't of pointed that out.)

Well perhaps you could volenteer your time to run the contest? I dunno about the rest of you but im fine with the contest being a day or two late. I get up and leave my apartment at a little after 7am most days and dont get home until around 9-10 pm, so i can simpathise with not having time. I think Finlander and Gen chris do a fine job and seem to be really great guys.

[TheDarkKnight]

Okay, I don't mean to come off as a jerk or whatever, but the novelty of this has officially worn off. At least for me. I know no one is perfect and I know RL stuff gets in the way of us all at times, but this is getting very frustrating. Between you, Finlander, and LuckyLewis(?), someone needs to do this stuff in a timely fashion. I can understand if this happened once or twice but it's happening frequently now to the point where having the blasted stuff done in a timely manner is becoming more and more rare. If you guys are too busy to do this because of RL stuff I understand, but you need to find someone who is able to do it. It's not even like it's that hard here, you're just copy pasting the pictures and/or videos, numbering them, reposting the rules and saying a remark or two about the winners. Those tasks don't take much longer than 10-15 minutes tops, so it's not like it's that difficult or time-consuming. Like I said I mean no disrespect to you guys and I don't mean to come off bad here, but jokes over. You need to get your acts together with this.

I find this incredibly amusing as I have actually timed myself in the past when I managed it on a weekly basis, and the fastest time that I recall achieving was about sixteen minutes, while other times it can take up to forty five minutes. Let me explain what this competition entails.

It is true, copying and pasting threads are a large part of the job. However you need to understand that throughout the process I am interacting with up to ten threads at a time. I am opening and reading the four old submission and vote threads, copying the relevant information, opening four new threads to paste and change the information. Then I need to individually paste the submissions into the new vote threads, making sure not to accidentally double post or skip one (the latter happens a lot). The polls can take a while as well, as I often try to double or triple check that I indeed have the right number of voting slots, etc. Then after all of that is done, I need to create the winner's thread, which can take a while as we (or at least I do) try to create a different message every week to make it look like we are not just following the motions when announcing winners. Then I gotta move all the old threads to the archives, and unsticky them. Usually after that I try to do a final check to make sure everything is alright.

Now, that doesn't sound so hard, but imagine doing that with crappy internet. Threads opening slowly, needing to have multiple tabs open, pictures loading at the same speed as a tortoise walking. Hell I've even had my browser crash while doing it with all WIP threads open at the same time, forcing me to start all over. The minutes add up, considerably. Often I am also doing other things; you'd be amazed how many PM's happen to come in during this stretch of time (especially now for me), which often halt work. By and large though, I do try to set aside time where I know I won't be interrupted so that I don't end up with half the threads created and then hours or whatever between those being done and getting the rest out, which happened with the tiebreaker poll that is now up because you brought it to my attention. Finding that stretch of uninterrupted time can often be difficult to find, which is why the weekly process was sometimes late or later than I would want when I was running it.

Other aspects of time should be considered, as like Conclamatus said, this is all unpaid work, and often times other things on the site can get in the way. This competition is easily the most time-heavy branch of content on a consistent basis. Therefore it is easy to make mistakes or have other issues that come up with it at times. When I was managing it on a weekly basis I was also often moderating frequently, and moderation can take up hours of days, leaving little to no time or energy for other staff work. It's not as crazy now but when Rome 2 came out only weeks into me taking the reins it was absolutely crazy moderation wise, and the constant moderation (aka, dealing with a lot of problem members on a regular basis) left me with little time for other things. Finlander is a moderator as well now, and there is still much to be done on a daily/weekly basis. And now that I am Hex, I am responsible for a lot more than just this competition, while Finlander also has other work he does in Content as well. All that time adds up, which often goes unappreciated by much of the site.

So while you are right in some regards, you need to understand that there is a lot of crap that happens on a daily and weekly basis which can often hinder timing of the competition. Things come up that we were not expecting, and it would be hard of you all to ask us to ignore those things for this. There were some times that I was managing the competition that I literally forgot about it for several days because of everything going on, and that is on me. We are human, we have other things we need to do, and we make mistakes along the way. I made a lot of mistakes along the way, but I'd argue that Finny has managed this competition much better than I ever did.

In the future though, I would appreciate that reminder PM's or VM's be used instead of this. The only reason I saw this is because it was the newest post in this section of the site; it's much more difficult to ignore/miss a PM or VM.

[warman222]

Okay noted about the PM thing. Regarding what I said earlier, I'd like to say I'm sorry for what I said earlier. I was a bit out of line with a lot of what I said and didn't mean to question your work on the site at large. I've been very easy to irritate lately due to some RL stuff going on right now. I'm not trying to excuse it but I figured I mention that anyways. I'll try to PM you or Finlander if there's delays in the polls and stuff, just to bring it to your attention to minimize the span of time delayed if possible.

[TheDarkKnight]

Don't even worry about it dude, crap happens. Nothing to concern yourself over.

Though as a point of reference, it took me an hour just to get it done today because of internet and computer issues. Oh the sacrifices I make

Now go vote and submit, everyone!

[Finlander]

Dear peeps of POTW section,

My virus alarm seems to be having serious issues with an ad provider TWC uses, and I have been unable to solve the problem so far. I keep getting around 10 notifications for every page I load on this site, which is driving me nuts. Since there are only 3 submissions in the threads and I'm being bombarded by my careing program, I think we can postpone the POTW a bit.

[Spear Dog]

Adblock. works for me.

[Finlander]

Unfortunately doesn't work for me: tested it on and off with other browsers as well. Meh.

[Diocle]

It happened also to me it's almost like a virus, I removed it with a complete scan of my system using Avira. Sadly the malicious softwere is almost invisible for manual removal, look at your files and delete all the new files you haven't directly installed and with "strange" names, anyway it's a damn bad story, to me it took a week to solve the issue.

[Noif de Bodemloze]

Hello all, my art fellows!

I am recently promoted as Deputy host here on POTW, UEWS and VOTM section. I am also been busy past weeks with my university stuff, but luckily I will have solid days that not keep me so busy, but I will gonna start my Deputy duty after next week. I will get my moving finished to my new house and get my PC and stuffs from other side country so I can finally spend some time here in this section if Finlander IRL is too busy. I haven't got any virus going on my PC. I believe we will get fast updates soon as possible for POTW, UESW and VOTM when I am here now and no need except see "I will post results soon... no results in two days".

[spiderknight]

Any word on the state of things here?