Sonic Retro Wiki Hack Policy: 2018 Edition

Discussion in 'Announcements' started by Black Squirrel, Jul 26, 2018.

  1. Black Squirrel

    Black Squirrel

    Fifty paces towards the sun, cooking beets. Wiki Sysop
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    Evening Retro.

    We're on the cusp of making some adjustments to the Sonic Retro wiki hack policy - we've been operating a system for years where only the very best and notable Sonic the Hedgehog modifications get representation on the Sonic Retro wiki. It's all down in writing - the wiki is not a personal file hosting service, it's not an alternative to the "Engineering & Reverse Engineering" board, and most crucially, it's not a means of getting your internet handle up in lights.

    Unfortunately the kids aren't reading the hack policy, which means myself, Hivebrain, GerbilSoft or whoever's in the area find ourselves removing ROM hacks two or three times a week. >95% of uploaded hacks fail the hack policy, so it's been decided that from now on, we will actively discourage people from uploading their own hacks to the Sonic Retro wiki. We're not going to assess your hack for quality, we're going to remove it. So don't bother.

    What will happen if you ignore this advice and waste our time anyway? I don't know, but it might not be nice!


    However, while we don't want people to upload their own hacks, this is not a blanket ban on hacks altogether - making a page for a hack that isn't yours, provided it meets the current hack policy, is still fair game for the most part. Likewise we may make exceptions for special people who have produced wonderful content - chances are if you have a green badge under your name, you're probably going to be alright. This is more of a deterrence for "Red Sonic in Blue Hill Zone" - things we've been seeing constantly for the last 15 years or more.

    Likewise, we are not imposing any restrictions on the E&RE forum, so you can always host it offsite and post the link there. Perhaps then people will help you shape it into something that's worth documenting. And there's always the annual hacking contests or whatever - plenty of places which don't involve me having to rename all your screenshots and categorise all your files.


    We've been quite good at enforcing the existing policy, so hacks already on the wiki are unlikely to be affected.


    (I've yet to update the official documentation but this will tide you over)
     
  2. MainMemory

    MainMemory

    Every day's the same old thing... Same place, diff Tech Member
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    That's nice and all, but I doubt the people who have been giving you problems recently are the type to read the announcements board.
     
  3. Black Squirrel

    Black Squirrel

    Fifty paces towards the sun, cooking beets. Wiki Sysop
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    This is true, but at least now I have somewhere to point them :)
     
  4. Clownacy

    Clownacy

    Tech Member
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    ...So, if uploading your own hack is discouraged, what does that mean for uploading someone else's? Going by the post's wording, making a page for someone else's hack is alright, but the current Hack Policy says every page needs a ROM mirror.
     
  5. Black Squirrel

    Black Squirrel

    Fifty paces towards the sun, cooking beets. Wiki Sysop
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    The soil knows all.
    People shouldn't be uploading physical ROM files if there's not a page to put them on, so by uploading someone else's hack (with permission of course) the user would be expected to at least start a page.

    (and not all good hacks originate from Sonic Retro - IIRC early versions of Metal Sonic Hyperdrive were released off-site, and that one deserves its page)


    The motivation behind this is the wiki is often treated as a workaround for those who couldn't survive on the forums, and I'm past the days of quality controlling every zip that arrives on-site. You will personally never need to worry because that green title qualifies you - it's for people we don't know who upload tat.


    I updated the actual hack policy (it hadn't been touched since 2010), but if there are still issues let me know. And likewise if there are any hacks which don't qualify that have slipped through, we need to know about those too.
     
  6. Novedicus

    Novedicus

    Pour your misery down on me Tech Member
    BRB, making a bunch of trash palette hacks and making pages for them. :v: :v: :v:
     
  7. AsuharaMoon

    AsuharaMoon

    kakyoin did you lay this egg Member
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    Sonic Rocket, & others
    I shouldn't be wasting a post for such a ridiculous thing like this, but... whatever.

    This little kid uploaded my old, primitive and unpresentable first version of my S1 hack Sonic the Hedgehog Rocket on the Wiki without my consent or approval:
    http://info.sonicretro.org/Sonic_the_Hedgehog_Rocket

    And even with reading the hack policy, it's obvious that it shouldn't be accepted for its archiving. So that, I ask you guys please delete ALL this content completely.
    Thank you.
     
  8. Black Squirrel

    Black Squirrel

    Fifty paces towards the sun, cooking beets. Wiki Sysop
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    The soil knows all.
    Sure thing bud.
     
  9. BSonirachi

    BSonirachi

    Opa-Opa takes flight! Member
    What's not helping is that offenders often don't get the message that uploading their hacks is discouraged and will continue to do so, since nobody reminds them of the new policy changes on their talk page or anything. Then again, even if told off on their talk page, they might not always listen.
     
  10. GT Koopa

    GT Koopa

    Member
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    Flicky Turncoat DX, T.L.W.S. Vs M.G.W.
    Wow, you guys DO have a problem. The original Flicky Turncoat hack got its own page.

    http://info.sonicretro.org/Flicky_Turncoat

    It doesn't need one. If anything, a link to the hack should be on Flicky Turncoat DX for archival purposes.
     
  11. Black Squirrel

    Black Squirrel

    Fifty paces towards the sun, cooking beets. Wiki Sysop
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    The soil knows all.
    Not "you guys", "us guys" - we're all in this together :)


    That's a February 2019 addition so it must have slipped by.
     
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