Helping out with site content

[Harrison]

We are very eager for all members to help out with the content of the main site. If you would like to offer some help please let us know. Either by sending a PM to myself, Harrison, or by posting a thread asking if you can help in the Suggestions and Feedback forum, listing what you would like to help with.

Areas of the main site members can help out with:

Game screenshots - a lot of the games entered into the site database still need screenshots made for them. This just requires playing the games and taking some screenshots as you go, then saving them as PNG images at a size of 640x480 or more and then uploading them to the site ftp server.
Game Manuals - If you have access to some original Amiga game manuals and have a scanner then we are very interested in your help. We need members to scan in their games manuals and make them into Adobe PDF files so they can be added to the game pages.
Game Box Art - If you have some original Amiga games in their boxes then we are very interested in scans or photographs of the boxes, and of the disks themselves (for the labels).
Other game files - We are also looking for Amiga game adverts, posters etc...
Demo scene entries - If you were into the Amiga demoscene and know a lot about the productions then Teho and PG need all the help they can get adding new productions to the demo scene section of the site. If you can offer some help with this please let us know.
Amiga magazines - If you have some original Amiga magazines in your collection then please let us know. We need all the help we can get from people who still own original Amiga magazines. An aim of the site is to try and make available as big a collection of PDF scanned version of all Amiga magazines we can find. If you can help please let us know.
Amiga magazine coverdisk scans and ADFs. - We need coverdisk scans or photos for the labels. We also need the magazine coverdisks converted to ADF files ready for download on the site to include with the PDFs of the actual magazines.
Promotional material - If you have any original Commodore, or just Amiga themed advertisments or promotional material please let us know as this would be great for the site. This could also include TV adverts, company magazine adverts, posters, flyers, etc.
Tutorials - If you have an idea for an Amiga themed Tutorial or FAQ then please let us know. Anything Amiga related would be of interest. For example a guide on how to emulate the Amiga on a specific platform. How to setup a piece of hardware on a real Amiga, How to install OS3.9, anything you can think of that you can make.
Reviews - If you have some favourite games or demos then please write some reviews for the site. You don't need anything special to write them. Just being a registered member of the main site is all that is needed. You can then go to any game or demo page and add a review.
Comments - Every member on the main site can leave comments for any game or demo. Please leave a few comments, giving your thoughts on some of the site entries if you have some moments spare.For members who wish to aid classicamiga with ongoing creation of content for the site, they will be considered for promotion to VIP or Staff Member level, depending on the type and quantity of content they provide. This will give them access to special Staff Member areas to aid discussion on site development and content making.

We hope some of you are interested in creating content for the site to help us make it the best resource of Amiga content on the internet.

[Sharingan]

Question: when I submit a user review to a game (taking care to fill in the security code and such), is the review supposed to show up right away, or does it get sent to a staff member first for approval?

I just submitted a small review for Another World, but after pressing submit, it just returned to the game's summary screen, and the review doesn't show up.

[Demon Cleaner]

It has to be approved, but I took a look now, and I can't find it, so I suppose that only the admin can approve a review.

[Demon Cleaner]

I've added a review for Battle Trucks now, an awful game, so I had to write a review to warn people, I thought that was my duty to do this. Add it to editor's rating.

The first time I wrote the review, I wanted to edit it and resubmit it again, but I got several errors, and the review was lost. So I entered it a second time, and copied the text, and I edited again, and the same errors appeared, and the review was gone again. So I did the same a third time, and copied the text again. Where are the previous ones?? What happens when editing?

Have a look at that crappy game here. (http://www.classicamiga.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=921&Itemid=96)

[AlexJ]

I've added a review for Battle Trucks now, an awful game, so I had to write a review to warn people, I thought that was my duty to do this. Add it to editor's rating.

The first time I wrote the review, I wanted to edit it and resubmit it again, but I got several errors, and the review was lost. So I entered it a second time, and copied the text, and I edited again, and the same errors appeared, and the review was gone again. So I did the same a third time, and copied the text again. Where are the previous ones?? What happens when editing?

Have a look at that crappy game here. (http://www.classicamiga.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=921&Itemid=96)

It's down to the AJAX I think - when you post your review the page updates automatically without reloading. This seems to create problems when you edit it straight away. I've found navigating away from the page, navigate back to it and refreshing avoids this, but I have taken to writing reviews in notepad and copying them over in case this it does happen to me.

[Demon Cleaner]

but I have taken to writing reviews in notepad and copying them over in case this it does happen to me.Yeah, I'll have to do that in the future.

[Harrison]

Yes this is due to AJAX. If you submit a new review and then try to edit it without fully refreshing the page it will confuse the code. It will still think the page is in the same state as before and try to submit the review again as a new one, breaking the review and losing it. Just refresh the whole page using your browser refresh button before trying to edit it again. Or naviate to another page and then back again.


Question: when I submit a user review to a game (taking care to fill in the security code and such), is the review supposed to show up right away, or does it get sent to a staff member first for approval?

I just submitted a small review for Another World, but after pressing submit, it just returned to the game's summary screen, and the review doesn't show up.

Normal site member reviews go into a validation review queue when they are submitted. I then check them and approve them from the backend. This is to prevent members registering with the site and then posting rubbish reviews or spam on the site.

If you submit any more reviews PM me and I will take a look and validate them for you. :thumbs:

BTW, nice review. I've promoted it to editor's review for Another World. Definitely the kind of reviews we are looking for. :)

[Sharingan]

Thanks :)

I'll try to improve my standard of writing in the future. As you might've guessed, English isn't my native language ... I used to write a lot more, but have become a little rusty of late.

[Harrison]

Your standard of writing, and your English are perfectly fine. You have nothing to worry about.

[Demon Cleaner]

I'll try to improve my standard of writing in the future. As you might've guessed, English isn't my native languageSame here, that's why I have problems writing reviews sometimes. It always looks very simple and I tend to make grammatical errors. But I've already been told, and it also has happened, that the other UK guys just correct it, and after that it's fine.

And imo your review is just perfect :thumbs:

Shall we promote my review as editor's rating, or leave it as comment?

[Harrison]

Your Battle Trucks review has now been promoted to Editor's Review/Warning. ;)

I did a few grammatical changes and rearranged the structure of a few sentences in the review so it sounded a little bit better. Hope you don't mind.

I definitely won't be trying this game out. The screenshots alone put me straight off. I cannot believe that this was a commercial game. Most PD games from 1986 look better!

[Submeg]

Wow, that is bad. Really bad

[AlexJ]

Bet the boxart for it was pretty good though. I hated that, games that looked good on the shelf that turned out to be crap once you'd bought them.

[Harrison]

I got stung many times with 8-bit Amstrad CPC software that way. The box art on some of the CPC games was really nice but you rushed home to play the games and were presented with something dire.

I didn't get caught out in this way much with the 16-bit era. I did a few times in the early days with the Atari ST, but by the time I had an Amiga I knew the games I wanted for it. Also with 16-bit software it was usually possible to try the games out first in the store before purchase which was good. Something that was not possible with the older tape based 8-bit games.

[Demon Cleaner]

I did a few grammatical changes and rearranged the structure of a few sentences in the review so it sounded a little bit better. Hope you don't mind.But that was exactly what I spoke of whilst replying to Sharingan, I don't mind at all, it's great if you do this, that way it looks better, and it doesn't make me look like a moron :lol:

Bet the boxart for it was pretty good though. I hated that, games that looked good on the shelf that turned out to be crap once you'd bought them.It is the same thing with music covers, sometimes the just have great cover artworks, but the music just sucks. I sometimes got trapped myself :(

[Harrison]

That is very true. I did too when buying LPs and EPs. Although equally you can also discover some great music that way. It's just luck of the draw and great fun finding out. :)

[Submeg]

Also with 16-bit software it was usually possible to try the games out first in the store before purchase which was good. Something that was not possible with the older tape based 8-bit games.

Man could you imagine how much time would have been wasted winding tapes? :p


That is very true. I did too when buying LPs and EPs. Although equally you can also discover some great music that way. It's just luck of the draw and great fun finding out.

Yea I have a similar experience...sometimes there is the 2 dollar bin at JB Hifi....I have found some awesome stuff in there...and also some really bad stuff

[Demon Cleaner]

As you might've guessed, English isn't my native languageSo what's your native language?

[Sharingan]

Dutch :blink:

Technically speaking, I used to be a British citizen, but I've never lived in the U.K..

[Harrison]

So your parents were British? Where were they from?

[Sharingan]

They're from a formerly British overseas colony, Hong Kong.

[Harrison]

That's quite cool. They ended up quite a long way from Hong Kong. What made them move to Europe? Are you therefore actually of Chinese decent?

I had some friends from Hong Kong when at university, but sadly lost touch with them when we all left university. They moved back to Hong Kong where I kept in touch via email, but then they decided to setup an internet design company within China itself and at that point I lost contact with them completely. Mostly I think this was due to China's closed border internet policies. But equally the recent activities with the Chinese government closing down all internet activity within the country isn't good. It would be good to hear from them again, just to know all is well.

[Sharingan]

I'm of Chinese descent, aye. Parents emigrated to Europe 35 years ago to seek a better (or different) future. Why they chose the land of the Dutch, I don't know ... I suppose it isn't all bad here, but I probably would've preferred the U.K. if I had a choice, if only for the snazzy accent you guys have ;)

That, and the footy league, which simply is much more exciting.

Shame to hear that you lost contact with your study mates. I've lost quite a few contacts over the years as well - most of the time, people seem to just disappear the face of the earth, but if your pals actually did start a business in mainland China, the reason you stated may have had something to do with it. Hong Kong is still relatively 'untouched' by the meddling Chinese government, in contrast.

[loopy]

Hey to you all,
Very interested to help with what little I have but am still unable to attach any files or add ons or what you call them.
I've taken photos of some 40 cd's I have here, some from the aminet collection (15) and some cover cd's from C.U. Amiga (21) and Amiga Format mags(4).Only too willing to scan the cd covers if thats a help also have about 48 cover disks from various mags, some original game disks, a manual from Action Replay 3 (whole thing still boxed, even have an original a500 box ( the carton the 500 came in, will send on a photo later ) although very tatty is still quite readable.
Also have a 12 disk set of complete amiga C on floppies.
Now I carn't say they all still work but if I can get a monitor to work on the 1200 or 600 then I,ll soon let you know.
Hope I can be a help.
All the best,
loopy.

P.S.
Also would like to maybe do a story on how the 1200 went into the tower. Even though its been 10 years since it was done, a few photo's and a trip down memory lane would be great. Do you think there would be an interest for such a story.
all the best,
loopy.

[Harrison]

Hi Loopy.

For site content such as scans and images you can email them directly to me at dave@classicamiga.com.

Registered members can only attach files to their posts in certain forums, which is why you can't currently.

Regarding the tower conversion, it would be of great interest to many. And the new Wiki we are setting up could be a good place to put the story of your tower conversion. I will let you know when the wiki is ready to add content.