The following is my old userpage. It's EXTREMELY outdated, so some things won't work or don't make any sense now, but I'm too lazy to update it. It might still have some useful information.
Are you worried that your map might be disqualified due to wrong metadata? Do you want to ask for confirmation? Great! It's time to join our metadata server in Discord! https://discord.gg/w77srX2 (renewed the link, should work now)
Some things I want to ask for:
It's always best to look for a proper metadata before getting it qualified! You can ask on the metadata server!
If you found one, please provide it on the map description, so that I and helpers don't need to search through all over again!
The ultimate goal of mapping: Following the music.
Performance Points has nothing to do with the map's quality. This means that it doesn't matter if a map gives pp or not. However, if pursuing pp makes the map go against the goal of mapping, better not to.
There are no good / bad flows by themselves. There are only flows that express the music better / worse.
"Plays good" doesn't mean "follows the music nicely." Jumping practice maps play good!
Hitsounds should show what the map is following. Hitsounds exist not only for adding fitting sounds to the music, but also for better playing experience.
Consistency means that the map uses similar rhythm/pattern/structures for similar sounds/parts. It also means that the map uses different things for different things.
A map's quality is about how much the mapper can reasonably explain about the map to others, and make them understand their intention.
The difficulty for the beginners is Easy, not Normal
Sliders are harder than circles in Easy diffs. You only need a simple action for the circles: clicking. You need much more complicated action for sliders: reading slider length - clicking - holding and following the slider path - releasing the button. Not like the beginners don't know how to move cursor in 1/1 time anyway.
Scale is relative. A map is not overdone just because it has screen-crossing jumps. There only needs to be noticeable difference in scale between strong / calm sounds.
If you can achieve major improvement by sacrificing minor things, better to do it.
Every suggestions must aim for improving the map's quality or helping the mapper in the ranking process. 1. Unrankable issues. Unrankable issues mean they're against the Ranking Criteria and must be fixed in order to be ranked. If the mapper wants to rank their map, they have to follow the Ranking Criteria! 2. Things the mapper might have mistaken. Every mappers can make mistakes. It's always good for the mapper to fix what they have mistaken! 3. Things that lack meaning. Every notes are supposed to have some meaning. This includes following the music, small pattern creations, structuring, consistency etc. If a map has no meaning, it's nothing but just some random notes spread over the screen at random times. They may need to be improved before getting into the ranked section! 4. Things that have some intention, but still cause other issues. The mapper may want to achieve something with what they did with those notes. But it doesn't mean it's always the best choice and might cause other problems. If you think the issue is major enough so that the mapper has to fix it even with breaking the intention, suggest it to the mapper so that they can consider your suggestion and possibly improve their map!