Engineer & mod discussion thread

Is there a minimum length for a video? I feel like 2 seconds is barely more than an image.

I kinda agree, though technically there's no minimum. I had to reject one for being a split second of audio, but it was a judgement call.

Anyway, I got as far as I could with them tonight; up to the ones that were posted "1 day ago". I have a long car ride tomorrow so I may get some others done, but I can't promise anything. Also dunno if I'll be able to do any of the video requests, at least not tomorrow. If I do it it'll be Sunday.

Edited by WarJay77 on Dec 15th 2023 at 2:01:16 PM

Video examples that were listed as "2 days ago" that I neither approved nor denied:

• Pistol-Whipping (Magnum, P.I. (2018)): Such a simple trope, yet there are so many quick cuts around the moment itself I'm not sure how much it helps.
• Vanity License Plate (Slow Horses): I'm not sure the description of the scene is accurate - I can't quite tell what the guy says at the start (dang thick British accents) but it's far from clear to me that it's referring to the license plate.
• Supernatural Phone (Dark Gathering): Only reason I didn't reject it is because it's listed in the example list, but... is the phone itself supernatural or is there just a spirit using it? Should it qualify as an example of the trope?
• Conversation Cut: Approved, but I just found out my phone is just barely not long enough to allow me to hit the "Submit" button on the settings screen, so can someone change the source to Screen Rant Pitch Meetings? And should I report to kory that the settings screen should be scrollable on mobile, at least if it doesn't fit on a single screen?

Whoops, stopped at page 3 and didn't look too closely at the timestamps. Not intentionally missed.

Eh, I figured "up to 1 day ago" wasn't inclusive of the ones posted at that time, and that the videos in question crossed the 2-day mark in the 12 hours between your post and mine.

• Not In The Books: Is this good enough at demonstrating the status quo change?
• SpongeBob Diner Dash: Nothing technically wrong with it, but am I the only one bothered by the sound effects? I don't think it makes for a great video if people don't want to hear it.

Other than that, the videos were pretty solid this time around. Stopped with just one page in the queue because I need to do something else at some point (aside from the two videos I need other thoughts on)

I will try to get videos done tomorrow, but I'm not feeling great right now and that may impact me tomorrow. I'd appreciate some help, even if it's just like half a page or so. These batches take a lot out of me.

Hello! Just got promoted and I just want to make sure I have my ducks in a row. I see a lot of the crowner and locked pages stuff is still handled primarily by mods, so I'll likewise keep my priority on videos first.

Here's my run of the first few I'm seeing on the page.

Edited by mightymewtron on Jan 8th 2024 at 8:29:00 AM

Always good to see some video notes that aren't by me

I'll run through the vids later and see if I agree with any concerns, but I will say I've approved vids with copypasted descriptions before, I don't think the rules have a stance.

Personally, I don't have an issue with video descriptions being copied from examples. I think the important thing is that they fit the video.

Alright! Just wanted to make sure.

What's the transparency policy on rejecting already approved examples? I noticed a video on Gravity Falls is very low-quality and doesn't illustrate Domino Revelation, or any of the listed subtropes, out of context. However, it is the only video listed on Domino Revelation.

EDIT: I was able to reject it without issue. Gave the above as the reasoning.

Edited by mightymewtron on Jan 8th 2024 at 8:40:50 AM

I've rejected/moved a handful, though I did ask at Quality Control first. In my case I was removed misused examples of Sarcasm Mode.

That makes sense! Next time I'll run them by there.

As for the unreleased examples, here's some others I'm not quite sure about.

• "Sudden Death" (Delayed Explosion): I already removed a Characters/ source, but other than that, I'm wondering if the delay is significant enough. Joker does notice when the trigger doesn't go off right away, but it's a short wait before it does. I think it counts regardless though.
• "Frenching with Freakazoid" (Bilingual Bonus): The secondary trope being Everything Sounds Sexier in French — the joke does seem to be that even Toilet Humor sounds more appealing in French, but I'm unsure if it's being played up as romantically alluring in any way, as it's presented as a pretty straightforward language lesson. Does this fit the broader definition?
• "A Kid! In Trouble!": The page for Hey, That's My Line! specifically says that Borrowed Catchphrase is for examples that other characters' don't notice; since Lizbeth points out every time others use her catchphrase, I'm going to move it to Hey, That's My Line! as the primary trope and remove Borrowed Catchphrase.
• "Kyou Introduces Herself" (Delayed Reaction): I'm unsure if Kyou's reaction is genuinely delayed or if she purposefully delays it to finish speaking before she attacks the guy. Does this still count?

Edited by mightymewtron on Jan 8th 2024 at 9:17:20 AM

I'd appreciate if someone else could handle the video moderation thread tonight or tomorrow; I'm not feeling well right now and I'd end up getting to it on, like, Wednesday if it was left to me.

I can go through some tomorrow.

Thanks. No sweat if you can't do it all.

I started a few videos then realized the task was a bit much to do right before bed, and I didn't wanna lose my place so I'll do more tomorrow evening.

Hahaha, I feel that. If you've noticed some video batches being done at odd hours it's because I'm too nocturnal for my own good and will often try to do entire batches before bed... and I feel weird about stopping in the middle so I just commit. Which isn't always the healthiest. I've been considering just trying to get one page of videos reviewed a day to cut down on how big the backlog gets.

"Kaori and Tanosuke see a comet" on Cue the Shooting Star has what seems to be Skype notifications go off in the audio twice. Is that too distracting?

I ended up approving that one, though if people agree the effects are too annoying we can re-assess.

Anyway, since another Sayaka sock was just caught, I want to note that they like to spam video entries. A large number of Ruff Ruffman and MST 3 K videos from the same user in one batch is usually them. You can also look up former socks to see the videos because many are re-uploaded each time.

Some tips:

• You can look up all videos for a trope, including denied and unprocessed ones^note if there are any, they appear below the rest, by going to its video examples tab and clicking 'edit videos'. This comes in handy for checking for ban evasion because you can see if a video was rejected repeatedly for the same trope in the past.
• You know how the video at the top of a Video Examples page — the one in the big player — doesn't list the uploader? You can see the uploader on the 'edit videos' page.

On using the page mover:

• After you move a page using the page mover tool, you need to edit it. (A null edit will do.) If a page hasn't been edited (null or otherwise) after being page-moved, "Page Created" and "Last Modified" (under Page Info in the sidebar) will list N/A for dates and you won't be able to submit a custom title for it.
• After moving a page, the old page is usually recreated as a redirect to the new page. The reasons for this are: 1) so any wicks that haven't been yet been changed to point to the new page will still take you to the intended page; 2) to fix ghost wicks.
  (Of course, if a redirect no longer has any purpose, anyone is free to submit it to the cut list)

I forget, can def-only pages have videos? There's one submitted for Plot Hole that I'm unsure about.

I’ve asked the others about my Shipping Goggles video and well… it’s still up there!

I don't think there's set policy on it, but I think it'd be worth discussing. I could see a case for allowing it on at least some of them (depending on why they are def-only), e.g. Camera Tricks.

I think the conversation could be had at the Video uploading thread.

Edited by Twiddler on Jan 16th 2024 at 5:50:56 AM