6 replies to this topic

[ShadowLink64]

Downloads System Maintenance

Rather than wait until June to get the maintenance done on the downloads system, I figured.. why not do it now? Reorganization of our downloads system is a must if we are to offer a quality service to our members and to earn a better reputation for ourselves. In light of this, I've reorganized a few priorities and have put the downloads system maintenance as first priority as far as I'm concerned.

Over the next week or so, the nDownloads system will undergo periodic disruptions due to live programming going on behind-the-scenes. This means that if the nDownloads system goes down, so do our entire stock of programs including the CodexChex database (meaning you can't use programs in this time). I'll try and lessen the downtime as much as possible.

The updates will commence in three phases, and include:

• 1. Removal of Quality Assurance System (Finished)
  • Over the Programmer's meeting a while back, we have concluded that the Quality Assurance system does very little for regulating quality in our programs and wastes a lot of time.
  • Because of this, we're now scrapping it and replacing it with a live Bug Reporting System, where if the program receives too many bug reports, it will simply take the program offline until the program is reuploaded and approved. That means no more annoying QA reports to fill out.
• 2. Integration of the Bug Reporting System (In Progress..)
  • The Bug system will replace the QA system in that if the program receives too many bug reports that are classified as serious, the program will be rejected in that sense and will not be live until it is in a condition that is presentable.
  • We understand that this puts a bit more pressure on the program's author, but we feel it will only promote better programming practices here and will discourage the speedy construction of programs that sacrifice stability.
• 3. Scheduled Cleanup of Existing Programs
  • One of these days, the programs are just going to suddenly disappear. Only the few that work and have very little bugs reported in the program's topic will come back (after we've done our own tests). The Treasure Chest area will also suddenly disappear, because we saw really no point of having that area in our downloads (as probably 100% of the programs in there do not work, since they failed QA AND the layout changed).

Thank you for your patience while we work on the downloads system! We realize that you've all stuck it out for all this time and we're finally going to follow through with our plans.

[Sweeney]

Pfft, like most of the people who use the downloads read the news...

Sounds like a plan, SL... have fun

(1st)

[ShadowLink64]

Pfft, like most of the people who use the downloads read the news...

Sounds like a plan, SL... have fun

(1st)

People should read the news, its good to know what goes on.


Phase one of the updates is now complete (you will not be required to pass through Quality Assurance anymore). Now its time to work on the bug control system.

[Charmender]

Well im glad the QA system is gone, it took too long for programs to get reviewed imo

[Hawk]

Well, I was wrong. You actually do do something. (HAHA!!! I said do do)

[SupermanFTM]

Lol, wow...

Well, that sounds great, it'll really help the downloading portion of Codex I think...Nice work staff!

[ShadowLink64]

Well, I was wrong. You actually do do something. (HAHA!!! I said do do)

Yep.. you sure did say "do do". *rolls eyes*

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Update:

Almost done with the Bug Control System! Full Programmers and up will have access to the approval menu for all items rejected because of bug reports, so if your program gets rejected because of too many bugs, you can talk to anyone Full Programmer+ (when the system is activated).

The system for dealing with program cleanup is complete. Once we schedule a date to review all programs, this is what will happen:

• All Treasure Chest programs will be deleted from the system and no backups will exist of the program, so if you are an author of a Treasure Chest program, please be aware of this.
• For a little while, you will not be able to find any programs on Neocodex (ranging from a few hours to a day). That is because all of the programs will be moved to an approval queue and will be examined by Full Programmers+. It is important that people remain patient in this stage. Programs will slowly begin to reappear once they are approved. ANY program not meeting specifications will be removed from the system and a PM will be sent to the author.
• Once the programs are all back up, the Bug Control System will be activated. That makes all of YOU responsible for bringing up to our attention which programs need work. We will inform you on how you can submit bug reports later on, but after a certain # of bug reports, the program will automatically be deactivated and a PM will be sent to the author. Only when the author fixes the program, will the program be available once again. This is part of our initiative to maintain standards of quality in our programs over time.