This guide is meant for new mappers who are trying to reach the community.
It is primarily based off my own experience.
I am a standard mapper and have been mapping since April 2022, and have had community connections since April 2023.

Find a mapping Discord server
This is likely the biggest piece of advice and should be the main takeaway from this guide.
If you don't want to ask around, fair enough. Look in this forum thread. If you do, PM me and I can send some I'm in.
The best way to learn mapping is to know people who can help you. Discord servers are very effective at achieving this.

Avoid modding random Pending maps
Despite what the osu! client and the "How you can help" wiki article say, modding random Pending maps is not recommended as it will likely not get you a response - often, the mapper simply doesn't want mods!
If you're looking for maps to mod, go to the Modding Queue forum and either:

1. Make a modding queue of your own. This can be as lenient or as restrictive as you like, so you are guaranteed to find songs you like and/or want to mod (if people don't ignore your rules).
2. Alternatively, you can look in other people's modding queues to find maps to mod. This is... an unorthodox approach, however, and most people don't expect it, so be sure to make clear to the mapper this is what you're doing.

If you really want to mod random Pending maps, you should check whether the mapper takes mods, by either reading the discussion pages for recent mod posts or DMing the mapper.

Don't try to actively involve yourself in the ranking process
As a new mapper, your goals should be to have fun first, learn mapping second. You don't need to involve yourself with beatmap ranking as most people will not respect your authority.

1. It isn't often that people actively play Qualified maps with the intention of finding issues, and often, other mappers will have sharper eyes and better tools. Play Qualified maps because you want to - but by all means, report problems when you see them!
   (If you're worried or not sure the problem is actually significant, open a suggestion instead. It will still be seen.)
2. Using a Hype as a form of recommendation to BNs is ineffective. Much like modders should not look for random maps to mod, Beatmap Nominators (BNs) only very rarely proactively search for maps to nominate. They usually take requests and process some of those. BNs rarely care if another user recommends a beatmap for nomination unless the mapper already requested it; and even then, BNs will usually only care if the recommendation came from an experienced mapper with several ranked maps.
   Most mappers often do not check a map at all before Hyping it.
   Fun fact: "Proto-bubbles" (the word for nominations back then) did exist, but they were discontinued for not serving their purpose effectively.

If you use modding queues, have patience
Mod queues often have a very low accept rate (~10-15%). However, if you keep finding queues that match your map, the chance of your map being accepted increases and increases.
Making 4-7 valid requests every couple days will almost certainly get you results within a couple weeks.

The only thing i could say is that the How you can help wiki article is taken directly from a really really old peppy post. I wish it was complete and up-to-date with every way to contribute but oh well.

i think the discord server tip is decent (that's how i got my start some years ago), but two things i notice:
- you can mod random pending maps*, the main problem with some people's approaches is that it's done out of the blue. the best way to approach it would be asking the mapper if they mind and go from there, that's personally what i'd like to see more people do at least.
* (granted the target audience of this post, it is likely better to just start off with queues/something more organized anyway. not all modders fit in the same hole however, it's good for them to experiment with what works best in their eyes)
- bns can scroll pending for sets to mod, that's personally how i got my second ranked. even if their criteria might be stricter, focused on a specific song/genre, whatever. you of course should not count on something like that happening but do not rule it out entirely

My input on this:

niat0004 wrote:

Find a mapping Discord server

Joining public mapping servers to learn is good to get the basics via getting feedback from other members in said servers. However, I will say that while it is nice they shouldn't get much into it (if possible).

Worst case scenario is joining a mapping circles where they influence you with a close minded opinion about mapping, leading to them mappers getting used to their opinion and adapting their whole point of view/style onto that. This happens all the time though, most mappers can't avoid this but it's better to stay more open minded especially if they don't know yet what might be right or wrong yet.

niat0004 wrote:

Don't mod random Pending maps

No offense to anyone but I don't really agree with newer mappers starting to mod yet, because modding works mostly with their own mapping experience so if they're lacking that most of the time the mod that come out won't be productive to the mapper being modded. Personal advice is to focus into getting better by getting feedback/mods rather than making the mods themselves.

niat0004 wrote:

Don't try to actively involve yourself in the ranking process

This is the thing that I agree the most. I understand the urge and ecstasy of getting your first ranked map, I went through that myself for years and I (kinda) regret it due to falling into the rabbit hole of trying for ranked what I would now consider low quality maps.

I'm not fond of new mappers learning something just to stay with "barely rankable" map quality for the sake of ranking, I appreciate if they take their time to throughfully learn and set themselves with a cool mapping style (And having fun of course).

Now as BN I personally have taken a liking into lurking Pending/Graveyard maps to nominate, we have thousands of mappers in this game so you never know when you find a hidden gem laying around. I am speaking for myself though I don't think many BNs would do this proactively since they're already being spammed with requests probably.

momoyo wrote:

My input on this:

niat0004 wrote:

Find a mapping Discord server

Joining public mapping servers to learn is good to get the basics via getting feedback from other members in said servers. However, I will say that while it is nice they shouldn't get much into it (if possible).

Worst case scenario is joining a mapping circles where they influence you with a close minded opinion about mapping, leading to them mappers getting used to their opinion and adapting their whole point of view/style onto that. This happens all the time though, most mappers can't avoid this but it's better to stay more open minded especially if they don't know yet what might be right or wrong yet.

This is based on my own experience. I found a mapping server which accelerated my progress. However, I also found a mentor, which drastically accelerated my mapping improvement. Maybe "Find a mentor" should be a point on this list?

momoyo wrote:

niat0004 wrote:

Don't mod random Pending maps

No offense to anyone but I don't really agree with newer mappers starting to mod yet, because modding works mostly with their own mapping experience so if they're lacking that most of the time the mod that come out won't be productive to the mapper being modded. Personal advice is to focus into getting better by getting feedback/mods rather than making the mods themselves.

Modding could help improve mapping experience; and if the mod quality is poor, the worst thing that can happen is (for a new mapper) taking bad advice or (for an experienced mapper) getting mods rejected.
I will recommend focusing on objective issues as a new modder first, however, to avoid potentially screwing new mappers over.

Yeah I've never said I was against joining servers and it actually does accelerate your mapping learning. Just that people especially newer mappers adapt their thought process to those who they hang around with in such servers which can sometimes lead to a closed minded point of view about certain type of maps.

It's very rare getting mapping experience from modding maps yourself, it's mostly the other way around from the years I've been active in the mapping scene my old mods from back I was a new mapper were so bad precisely because I didn't understand a single about mapping in general as was still learning.

generally, the solution to close-mindedness tends to be to broaden your worldview, so I don't really get the point of advocating for a cautious approach(?) to joining/talking in Discord servers; you might avoid an echo chamber but it sounds like you'd just get stuck in your own head instead

I'd recommend the opposite: if you seek out a variety of perspectives and learn what you can from each of them, over time, you'll develop your own set of values. seeing where people disagree and forming your own takes on those topics through experience is especially helpful


modding is chill if you do it with your peers; making friends and casually modding each other's maps is a great way to get a lot of enjoyment out of the hobby. if you find someone more experienced than yourself who's willing to actually explain their thought processes, you can learn a lot from trying to mod their maps as well, although you do definitely need a bit of mapping experience to really start effectively verbalising your thoughts

- Marco - wrote:

The only thing i could say is that the How you can help wiki article is taken directly from a really really old peppy post. I wish it was complete and up-to-date with every way to contribute but oh well.

not to be that guy but... you should write something new there if you feel strongly about it :^) the only reason those pages remain outdated or just oddly written is that nobody is particularly motivated to change them.

momoyo wrote:

Now as BN I personally have taken a liking into lurking Pending/Graveyard maps to nominate, we have thousands of mappers in this game so you never know when you find a hidden gem laying around. I am speaking for myself though I don't think many BNs would do this proactively since they're already being spammed with requests probably.

agree, its like gacha, 1%SSR rate, its nice ti help someone get their 1st map

As a new mapper, I highly appreciate the guide!