There are 2 problems I see.
1. BNs could use more time for newer mappers.
Right now the time is not used equally at all, and I think they should have the same chance of getting BN check as the popular mapper or other BNs.
Yes many rookie mappers are getting checks but not nearly as much as other "relevant" people. They will not learn if you "don't have time right now" and then go and check another easy to rank set from <insert popular name here>. If you applied to BNG for b4bs and with the mind to push your maps forward then you should reconsider.
2. Maps from popular mappers are not getting equal treatment modding wise.
There are many maps from rookies that get mods on things that popular maps don't, mostly emphasis, angles and jump spikes.
I have seen same stuff in popular maps but the mappers can get away with a lot by just saying "it's fine" and it gets resolved.
Newer mappers have to explain a lot, and their maps get overmodded too because there is the bias that their map is just not so good.
That leads to maps from popular mappers being undermodded, I have not seen missing hitsounds in rookie's ranked map yet I think, but I have seen a few popular mappers' maps ranked with missing hitsounds, why did that not come through? Meanwhile myself and some other people I knew have been checked for hitsounds countless times to ENSURE it's perfect which is GOOD, but you should put the same effort in popular mappers' maps. They also need modding, even if the set is very good, they should be modded more, treat people equally.
Generally while newer mapper are getting visibility, many of them don't or they do it few times A YEAR. Yeah that is true, it's not like you, they can't chat up a BN and expect them to check something, not even if they ask for a check in a MONTH IN ADVANCE, literally anytime in a month is fine, just take 10 minutes and look at the map and help me. But "full on requests" "no time". This is just simply not true and while I understand that BNs work a lot, I don't see how you can't spend those minutes to check someone's map.
Also let's face it, you check a map that is just a basic tv size anime and you will not get impressed and not care, but you could rank the same map if it was from a popular mapper.
UndeadCapulet -> trying to stop people from doing the only thing that makes their countless hours of volunteer work remotely worth the effort is rly, rly stupid
You volunteer for said work, if you expect something should be given to you in return then you are in the wrong mind, you literally have big power.
Use it to promote new mappers instead of spending time on "bns pumping out lots of maps", trust me, other people are also pumping out lots of maps, why do they not deserve the same chance to get a check from a BNG member, because they are more troublesome to rank? So what, it's the job you volunteered for, you did not volunteer to rank popular maps only and get your maps forward. There are lots of good maps not going forward because of lack of visibility.
But I do agree on the proposal being a bit nonsensic, since it will just stop good maps flowing out (although they should be checked more as I mentioned earlier). The incentive should be spending more time on rookies than just popular mappers, stopping people from nominating popular mappers or same people maps will not do any good.
Maridius said "This is the real reason why bn circlejerk or just friend nominating is a problem, they look past the quality of the map and simply nominate it. "
This is very true. I wish there was more clarity brought to this point, rookies maps get stuff in their maps modded that popular mappers don't because of the bias. Emphasis and Spacing issues are often also ignored in popular maps meanwhile rookie maps have tons of mods for that.
Think of a proposal of how to get BNG to check more of the rookie maps instead of clinging on to easy to rank mapsets.
Alo I have no idea who checks what maps etc so it's not personal against anyone.
I have no good solution for how to make this work, but I know my goal with joining BNG is to help rookies get out there. I've been in their place and I know the grim reality of their situation. Same guys you ask to check the map saying they have no time or full on schedules but they rank maps from same person 2-3 times a month, that does not imply you don't have the time, you just prefer to rank a map that is easy to rank.
How many times have we seen countless BNs in one mapset modding, it's enough with 2, you can go check other maps, that did not get a BN for months yet. Maybe it's not as interesting, maybe the mapper is not your friend, but is it not what you actually volunteered for. No one else has the power to help the people that have no exposure, only you as a BNG member. Please spend more time on rookie mappers, the popular mappers will find a BN ANYWAY in a matter of hours.
One solution could be giving BNG some kind of "reward" for actually spending time and quality modding. Ranking an easy set is nothing difficult, you go in and mod few things but they don't take you lots of time. Why not give the members that spend time and work to help the mappers that need it something back?
Also like someone else said, instead of blocking some way to act, encourage to do something else. That I hope will work, and I hope someone very smart will find a good solution soon. Make it worth for people to mod/nominate regardless of who the mapper is.
Or I don't know maybe make some kind of queue? A group of BN's could put maps they check in a queue instead of qualifying it or modding, they could just quickly check the map, and if the map passes some kind of quality check it could go to a queue in which BNG members are modding the maps in order, that's in addition to normal modding and qualifying, this could switch some of the work time to focusing on the queued maps, as all of them would be quickly checked first to ensure they meet some kind of quality.
1. You have a map and you get mods for it, you hitsound it and basically have a mapset "done". How good it is, you don't know yet.
2. You ask a BN to check for queue and if the BN deems it worthy he doesn't have to mod or bubble or anything, he can just put the map in some kind of "queue" that would have maps in some kind of order, so BNs can just go to the forum and see the maps, and let's say the first 5 maps have priority so they get modded before other stuff.
3. The maps already in there can be picked by any BN for check in the next few days and the map is then "taken" so to speak, to ensure BNs are checking more maps than just the ones they like everytime.
4. The map gets modded by the BN and you work together to make the map suitable for ranking quality wise.
That could be a core idea for a good form. BNs could get some kind of reward from participating in said queue and it would ensure more maps from different mappers are getting ranked, I don't think popular mappers that get mods and bns would bother having their maps put there, the queue system would also ensure everyone gets equal chance regardless of who they are.