Why are verifications checked manually?

[Egen]

I'm just curious. I apologize if the staff is getting tired of hearing about how many verifications have been lying around since <insert year here> and blah blah and this isn't meant to be one of those topics, I just wonder why the staff essentially force a gigantic burden upon themselves, ultimately generating the large backlog there is now. Wouldn't it make more sense to have a form a user can submit to that has all the fields you need to fill out for your dump? And then the system just checks all the entered data against the existing data. That way you guys don't have to go through 3847398335 of them manually one-by-one. If there is a data discrepancy, then the submission can be flagged.

It just seems like this would really help all parties involved, but maybe I'm dumb and don't understand a reason, which is only why I ask in my curiosity

[F1ReB4LL]

The important part for verifications isn't the data submitted by the dumper, but the provided logs, so the mod could see, if the game was dumped properly to avoid the case when the first dump was taken incorrectly and the "confirmation" was done the similar way.

[Egen]

What logs are these? For specific systems only? I don't remember ever being told to supply log information anywhere for verifications on this site.

And what goes into evaluating these logs? Is there a consistent way to spot errors across the logs? Certain tracker sites have a system in place to automatically evaluate EAC logs, because the output is the same all the time, and so certain things should look a certain way. I can't imagine any logs you guys read are any more arbitrary and require specific human attention; couldn't you write something similar to evaluate any of these logs for you?

[MigaMan]

DIC logs are not really needed for certain types of discs like console DVD5 or unprotected single-track CDs.

The way things work may not make complete sense but that's because the submission system wasnt designed for the current dumping/ver. rules and it's not gonna change.

Forum posts are better anyway cause you get more scrutiny and can attach more data/notes (and logs) than a form would allow. Theoretically it produces better quality ringcodes and other metadata too. The downside is you may have to wait a few months/years for a mod to get around to processing them. Or they won't touch it for some reason and it stays there forever and you don't know why... oh well.

[MigaMan]

[double post]

[F1ReB4LL]

What logs are these? For specific systems only? I don't remember ever being told to supply log information anywhere for verifications on this site.

For anything with CDDA and/or protections, otherwise, such "verifications" shouldn't have the green status.

Forum posts are better anyway cause you get more scrutiny and can attach more data/notes (and logs) than a form would allow. Theoretically it produces better quality ringcodes and other metadata too. The downside is you may have to wait a few months/years for a mod to get around to processing them. Or they won't touch it for some reason and it stays there forever and you don't know why... oh well.

Well, adding matching verifications is a rather boring task, if no new info is given (like, missing ringcodes for PSX discs or cuesheet corrections).

[Egen]

Okay, so anything that requires a log, check manually. Everything else... just create a submission form for it man, dang, seriously. Everyone around here is frustrated with verifications that literally go back years—the users and the mods/admins. We're frustrated that we spent time contributing to the website and the work never got processed, meaning we essentially wasted our time, and mods/admins are frustrated that they have to hear about it. Well then change something, seriously, and this can't be that hard. It honestly can't be. It would look a heck of a lot like the new disc submission form for any given platform, and you enter the data in there and the system does all the comparing for you. If there's a discrepancy in any data, the submission is flagged and a mod/admin can then check it himself. In fact, this could also work for anything requiring a log: you just add a section for the log to be submitted/uploaded!

Redump is only as stagnant as it is for poor reasons, honestly. This can be remedied, and you wouldn't have to put nearly as much time into implementing the remedy as you would doing the verifications one-by-one throughout all the rest of time, which, obviously, is the point—to save time. I have something like 300+ verifications to add and I haven't done jack because I honestly think it will be a waste of time and that's sad, because then why are we here? Just to contribute new discs and not have any of the data verified because "it's boring"?

Come on guys, this problem has a solution.

[MigaMan]

^^^  You think a few years is bad? (Well it kinda is but) SPS literally has unprocessed dumps from over a decade. now THAT'S a stagnant project!

So please don't let the frustration get to you, redump deserves some constructive criticism but we still have to accept that the methods are not likely to change and they will never add new mods (nitpicker's corner: outside of an established pool of people that come and go) so the bottlenecks and backlogs are just something we have to live with.

redump ain't perfect but they're still 10,000x more productive than SPS and infinitely more transparent than wrongrip.

I think it's o.k. to nudge them a little bit from time to time like we're doing right now as long as you can keep from getting frustrated if nothing changes.

*

RE: Your 300+ verifications, try making them EXCITING so they'll get processed fast! For dvds I think the best you can do to make them less boring is post pics/scans especially closeups of the ringcodez. For ps2 cd games submitting subdump logs will get the cuesheet marked green... excitement factor 1000!

*

Forum posts are better anyway cause you get more scrutiny and can attach more data/notes (and logs) than a form would allow. Theoretically it produces better quality ringcodes and other metadata too. The downside is you may have to wait a few months/years for a mod to get around to processing them. Or they won't touch it for some reason and it stays there forever and you don't know why... oh well.

Well, adding matching verifications is a rather boring task, if no new info is given (like, missing ringcodes for PSX discs or cuesheet corrections).

I agree on this, I dumped many games but I never bothered posting verifications unless I had something important to add like ringcodes or different versions.

But when I wrote that last bit, I wasn't actually thinking about verifications but rather those 2 year old "new" dumps with 0 replies on the last few pages like

/viewtopic.php?t=10224 … australia/
/viewtopic.php?t=10171 … rd-france/
/viewtopic.php?t=9661 … on-v11425/
/viewtopic.php?t=9660 … -new-disc/
/viewtopic.php?t=9575 … bmissions/

Those are just a sample of the ones with 0 replies. They may be crap dumps but without an explanation who is to know? My biggest personal gripe isn't with the database software or slowness but the lack of feedback / education / training. I think that's what this old friend was getting at. I guess it doesn't matter any more now with new acct creation ended.

nitpicker's corner: Some of those dumps may not be "new" any more now that 2 years have passed. It's been so long a few have turned into verifications

*

ps egen wanna know how many active "mods" SPS has? 1.25

[Egen]

If my data isn't going to get processed, I'm not submitting it, it's as simple as that. And if I'm not going to submit any data other than new discs that will never get verified by anyone else, then I wonder why I'm even here to a certain point. So I don't know what you mean by I have to "live with" it. Does that mean just kind of "exist" on the site and check it from time to time and nothing gets done? I don't know why I'd do that over suggest changes that can actually be implemented with not even that much difficulty and make this entire site move into the future. Why would I not do that and instead just go "oh waaah never gonna change oh well." That's what everyone else is doing and so we stay here. At least I'm trying to get something improved. If they don't improve it, whatever, but I also don't have to "live with" it or accept it, I can just not contribute, because right now not contributing is about the same thing as contributing.

*shrug* I don't know why the mods/admins reject ideas that can literally change their website for an entire positive. It's like they don't want to make any progress. I understand that verifications are boring and that people have lives, that why I'm trying to get something in place that will help remedy that a million times over. When there's little to no response about it, it looks like the mods/admins plain don't care about their own project, so then why should I?

[ssjkakaroto]

I agree that there should be a verification form just like there is a new disc form.
I think the problem is that there's no one to code that among the mods/admins or, if there is, they just don't have the time.