Hello everyone, Monstrata here better known as Minecraft tool #33, with some exciting new news!
So, we all know what a QAT does, it checks a map's metadata for correctness, and disqualifies maps that have been reported to the Disqualification thread.
What has really bothered me is that nowadays, the majority of "QAT-work" is not actually checking map quality, but metadata accuracy. Is the romanization correct? The artist? The source accurate? etc... It's of course, tedious work, requiring a lot of attention to detail, especially to spot out stuff like capitalization errors. However, every competent BN already checks and confirms metadata before nominating, or qualifying a mapset. It's just one of many things we check routinely. I understand that not everyone is good at metadata, and knowledge of some asian languages really benefit you in that regard; however the vast majority of ranked maps currently pass qualification without metadata issues. We get the occasional disqualification, but it's very rare. (And we've also had more than a few instances recently where metadata errors have slipped past even the keenest of eyes).
Here's my proposal:
Metadata source must be supplied on an icon post by one of the BN's either nominating (preferably) or qualifying the mapset.
Post the source when you post the bubble/heart, so it's easier to locate. Most BN's already check metadata or confirm the source with the mapper. By implementing this rule, all we are doing is posting our source/findings/reasonings in a convenient location for others to see. What this allows is for QAT's to not have to independently find the metadata for every single map, but simply to confirm that your sources are credible, official, and correct.
Anyways, that's my proposal. There are of course, edge cases where metadata is "ambiguous" (ie, multiple official sources are conflicting, multiple translations, certain symbols, or no official sources) and we should also consider how to approach these cases.
So, we all know what a QAT does, it checks a map's metadata for correctness, and disqualifies maps that have been reported to the Disqualification thread.
What has really bothered me is that nowadays, the majority of "QAT-work" is not actually checking map quality, but metadata accuracy. Is the romanization correct? The artist? The source accurate? etc... It's of course, tedious work, requiring a lot of attention to detail, especially to spot out stuff like capitalization errors. However, every competent BN already checks and confirms metadata before nominating, or qualifying a mapset. It's just one of many things we check routinely. I understand that not everyone is good at metadata, and knowledge of some asian languages really benefit you in that regard; however the vast majority of ranked maps currently pass qualification without metadata issues. We get the occasional disqualification, but it's very rare. (And we've also had more than a few instances recently where metadata errors have slipped past even the keenest of eyes).
Here's my proposal:
Metadata source must be supplied on an icon post by one of the BN's either nominating (preferably) or qualifying the mapset.
Post the source when you post the bubble/heart, so it's easier to locate. Most BN's already check metadata or confirm the source with the mapper. By implementing this rule, all we are doing is posting our source/findings/reasonings in a convenient location for others to see. What this allows is for QAT's to not have to independently find the metadata for every single map, but simply to confirm that your sources are credible, official, and correct.
Anyways, that's my proposal. There are of course, edge cases where metadata is "ambiguous" (ie, multiple official sources are conflicting, multiple translations, certain symbols, or no official sources) and we should also consider how to approach these cases.