Tutorial Approval: Necessary?

[Des]

I don't feel that it is necessary for moderators to need to approve new threads posted in the tutorial section.

I used to even be in favor of this rule; but now that the forum has evolved I think that it is time to re-evaluate the way that new tutorials are processed.

I've recently posted a new article. A number of admins and global moderators have been online all day, yet it still hasn't been approved. There is currently no dedicated moderator for those forums (the member who has a stickied thread in the tutorial forum doesn't seem to have mod powers anymore, if he's even active here at all). I feel that every time I post a new article or tutorial, I have to wait for someone to show up in the irc channel so I can ask that they approve it.

But I'm not just whining because of that. I am going to lay out a clear argument in favor of dropping the "mod approval" rule of the tutorial forums.

• It is inconsistent with other forums: project threads, for example, do not need to be approved. If the thread does not meet the expectations for a thread, then it is handled by a moderator. I see no reason the tutorials can not be the same. (edit: apparently project threads to need approval but the mods are just very fast. why can't tutorials have the same treatment?)
  
• It shows a distrust for members. Sure—there are a lot of people who would post really bad tutorials. It makes sense. But I would personally rather encourage members to post new content; even if there is a learning curve to creating said content.
  
• It creates unwarranted confusion to the members who post content. Will my thread be approved at all? If so, when? Even when there are moderators online and available, they might not be aware that a new thread is awaiting approval.
  
• On the same idea, it is less work for the moderators. I've found that the moderating team here has a good response time when dealing with reports; it's likely much easier for a moderator to answer to a "bad tutorial" report than it is for a mod to constantly check the forum for new topics.
  
• If the staff are worried that the tutorial forum—which by all means should serve as a "content page" for new members to browse—might get clogged with lackluster tutorial, I would propose that good tutorials be highlighted more often on the blog and facebook pages. This has worked well in the past.
  

I'm sure that there are more reasons that can arise from discussion of the subject. Here's to it!

 

[Lunarea]

It is inconsistent with other forums: project threads, for example, do not need to be approved.

Yes, they do. Same for completed scripts.

The moderator who used to head the tutorial section has retired, so we don't have a dedicated person vigilantly looking through them right now (we're working on it). So, we may take longer than 5 minutes, but it's still not an unreasonable amount of time. You can also poke an admin about it if a tutorial takes too long to be posted or if there's some kind of rush - such as needing the tutorial to help someone in Support.

 

[Touchfuzzy]

I think the problem is that when Emmych left, we forgot that someone needs to be approving these things aha.

I know I try to keep from stepping in too much on other people's turf unless its something that needs immediate attention, and I think we all forgot that is no one's turf at the moment.

We are looking into some options for this.

Sorry for the troubles.

 

[Robin]

Ultimately, with a review process, 100% of tutorial threads get read by a moderator, and thus of problems 100% can, and generally will be, dealt with. So there's a standard for quality that is guaranteed.

Though, I don't deny that an unknown waiting period can be frustrating. If it was feasible, you could allow Quality Tutorialists™ to bypass the review process.

 

[Touchfuzzy]

Though, I don't deny that an unknown waiting period can be frustrating. If it was feasible, you could allow Quality Tutorialists™ to bypass the review process.

I've been thinking about making a secondary user group that can bypass moderation queues for a while now. There are several people who consistently make awesome cool stuff for us that I don't see a reason to check their stuff before approving.

It would be good for the regular scripters, too.

 

[crimcrim]

ill do it. ill mod

i have no life and spend every moment in the irc so you know ill always be there

and ill only warn despain

touchy pls

 

[Kaiser]

Oh boy...then better make me mod then. But I guess some tutorials should not have to be approved really unless it's like something really cool, or has to do with mapping skills. (Which I love those tutorials.)

 

[Espon]

I never really understood the approval requirement either. Just feels like it would be easier to remove unworthy tutorials after they've been posted since you'll get more people reading it right away, and it won't be putting the entire load on a couple moderators.