Guide section reform

From the thread in SL which is not getting any attention, figured maybe posting it here would get some more views hopefully.

LONG READ, PLEASE DO ME THE RESPECT OF NOT POSTING OPINIONS ON THIS UNLESS YOU READ IT IN ITS ENTIRETY. THANK YOU <3

To start, I would suggest new guide verifiers. The ones on the list currently have been there for ages and most do not even verify guides frequently. The guides section, although slightly improved from months past, is still a mess. I clean out maybe 15-20 threads a day in there. It needs some active care.


My suggestion is this; assign a market moderator or a global as the "head" of the guide verification team. At any given time, there should be a round 10 verifiers in place who can verify guides (the actual number could be changed, its just an example).

The process for becoming a guide verifier would be simple; hold nominations and try outs. A member can be nominated by any of the current guide verifiers, then accepted by a majority vote. Head guide verifier has the right to veto in the event of a close call if he has good reason behind it.

If there are no current nominations, and the guide verification team falls below their total strength, then the team will open up applications; this would most likely be done in community general, or even in rs general (after all, the people verifying guides should be knowledgeable in the topic). Applicants would fill out a form giving the basic information, and the guide verification team would review all applications, then vote on the most suitable for the job in the same fashion that nominations are handled, until the team is back up to full strength.

In the event that a verifier must leave, then a new one would be found through nomination/application. If a verifier becomes inactive, then he may be removed from the team at the head verifier's discretion in order to find someone who will contribute more to the team.

In this way, there would be a consistent and active approach taken in the guide sales section, which in my assessment, is currently the weakest area of the RS market and needs the most attention.


In addition to the way verifiers are acquired and maintained, new systems for verifying would be implemented. There would be a "checklist" for each guide verifier to fill out before a guide is considered verified. This would include:

-Knowing what guides are on the do not sell list to make sure the guide can be sold.
- If the guide is already being sold by another member and it has been verified, run a quick scan to ensure that the member is not ripping a guide and selling it as his own.
-If the guide is not being sold or passes the previous check, then a basic google/youtube search of the guide be done. This includes searching a few different variations of the title of the guide to ensure that it is not leaked on the web somewhere.
-Once this is all done, then the verifier is free to actually test the method to make sure it works.

If the guide passes these checks, then it would be moved into the verified section. This process would make the guides section much more clean, much more efficient, and much more standardized to reduce redundancy and ambiguity.

Positives of this system:

-ACTIVE verifiers, as a team, with a leader, and standards to follow.
-cleaning up the messiest section of the market.
-community involvement in applications


Looking for constructive feedback/criticisms.

 

I love that you have taken an active interest in this Nate as it has something that I also have been trying to get some attention paid to.

I only have a few things to add/suggest.

If there becomes an application process I suggest that some of the requirements must include having a high level runescape account with a fair amount of rsgp. This is because most guides rely on buying/selling expensive items or exploiting glitches from new quests that often require high stats.

Also I think that if there are at least 10 active verifiers then they should be actively seeking to verify/discredit guides. They should be able to request that a person submit their guide to them and allow a time frame to comply, if the time frame is not met then action should be taken against the person (I'm not sure what would be appropriate punishment)


This is all that comes to mind atm but I'm sure many other people will have much more to share on the topic

 

I disagree with this post, simply because you can be any level and have a great amount of cash Eg. on the markets i found a level 5 with 3.2billion.

Besides that, i agree with what Nate has posted.

 

The high level is for the requirements which most guides have. Quest glitches, making arcane shields etc. The cash is simply because most guides require start up cash so it would be needed to verify many guides

 

I honestly fucking love you Nate. The guide section is pretty much free gold for scammers, and trash guide sellers. I haven't wanted to post a single thing due to the amount of re-sellers, and all the issues. Fucking full support

 

I fully agree with OP, although, this would be a bit hard to get together. Also something to add would be to have different verifiers from different time zones, because here in Western Australia, I've been trying for ages to verify my guide and could never catch an OGV online, so if that could happen it'd be good.

 

Honestly, it wouldn't take over a week to figure out the whole thing. The application would have time zones, average availability , what you have experience with, knowledge of runescape etc, it would be easy to find applicants, and easy to find mods for the section etc. It's a area that needs improvement, it's literally 3rd world sythe atm.
It's currently a bigger risk to buy something in that section, and hope it works, then buying a pin off a new member for 3m.

 

Read your whole post Nate, and support.

100% support.

Expanding on Pkkid I think that Guide verifiers should also be based on where they're availability. For example if there are 10 verifiers all only able to verify in a 16hour period out of 24hours in the day, then I think it would get neglected during this period. Having guide verifiers covering each 'time zone period' would be greatly beneficial.

 

I fully support your idea. Giving people the possibility to sell guides is very important for this community. Even more it&#8217;s important to push this section of the forum and to "keep the ball rolling".

One more thing I might want to add:

At this time people have to send a PM to a guide verifier to get there guides verified. The biggest problem currently is to contact a verifier, since people don&#8217;t know if this person actually has time to verify it or not. Why not make a distribution list, where people can submit their guides and verifiers who are online can take care of them?

Or let the people share a Verify-Sythe-Account or E-mail where all people can send their request to and verifier have access to that Sythe-Account/E-Mail/Report section?

In addition there should be a official value from where on guides have to be verified without exceptions (over 10 USD for instance).

 

thank you!

 

I would give preference to someone active and knowledgeable in RS to someone who had accounts and the like.

Setting up OGV schedules and timezones would be almost counter productive and inevitably fail.

See above. In this case, it would just require the member to PM an OGV who can then verify the guide for them. OGV does not HAVE to be online for the guides to get verified in an efficient manner.

 

Perfect idea, although I don't check-out the Guide section too much now, whenever I do venture into it, it is absolute chaos. Ripped guides, leaked guides are all negatively impacting on what could be an awesome section. Love the OP.

SUPPORT.

 

Thinking this will finally get upper-staff attention if it was posted outside the staff lounge, eh?

I've ALWAYS supported this. Nobody just wants to put forward the work to get the ball rolling. >_<

 

Theres no reason not to really. And yes, I was hoping that if enough support is garnered an admin will look into it

 

110% support,something has got to be done with that section, UE got it and guides sales should be next

 

I highly agree with this. I have offered suggestions similar to this, and have heard others similar to it to come and go, so I hope now something will be done.

Everything you wrote I agree with, and wanted to propose a few ideas to your suggestion.

• Verifier Rank. Doesn't have to be visible, but something so the verifier can move the guide from "Unverified" to "Verified" and can do their own sweep of the section without the aid of a moderator. Now I don't know how ranks really work so not too sure if this could happen, but it takes some of the pressure off of market mods so they can deal with other, more important issues.
  
• An "upload pod" for users to put screenshots of their guides into. Only Moderator+ And Guide Verifiers (IF the rank works) Can see them. Screenshots so the verifiers don't have to download risky files, or try to read the guide without pictures in a pastie. This will also fix any problems of guides overlapping, because you can check to see what guides are already verified, so you don't have two overlapping guides, weather it be for training or luring methods.

I would love to see the idea implemented, and a complete revamp of the section. Only a few verifiers now are actually active, and one can see this by taking a look at the guides in the verified section. Only one or two people have verified all of the guides....

 

I'm going to say again: Either let the section be a cesspit and let people trade at their own risk or do away with guide sales again. Or, just let anyone verify the guide. I don't see what the problem with that is.

 

Verifier rank wouldnt happen, and the ability to moderate threads in that section for non staff is unlikely as well. However feel free to expand on that pod thing.

Because anyone can snag a buddy then claim its "verified" to produce more customers.

 

Eh. Same thing as knowing who to trust really. But if there must be a system it needs to encourage verifiers to actually verify and to a high level of quality. If you allow people to cecum to a group mentality nothing will get done. The more people in the group the more likely someone is to say "someone else will do it". Find a way around that while allowing flexibility and it might work.

 

Ya it would be thoroughly regulated like you said; if someone is slacking and doesnt actually verify any guides, then the head could easily boot and replace with a more willing and active person. And it wouldnt have to be 10 people on the team, that number could be adjusted accordingly. Lastly there would be a check list that each guide has to go through to get verified, so it would be high quality ideally.