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Re: New scripts

New scripts
September 12, 2016 05:48AM
Hello,

Since the beginning of this year the challenge caches are accepted again, but there are some more
restrictions to them as we all know.
On of them is the have a challenge checker available on the listing when you submit your cache for review.
Since Groundspeak made this mandatory for us and Project GC is the only correct "supplier" for these checkers, why
is there no or very little response on requested checker that needs a new script. I requested on myself 3 months ago, and I know from others cachers I know thy requested one also around that same period, but we don't get any response. Status of the request is "new script required" and that's it.
I know this is all done by volunteers that maybe also work next to is and all, but it would be nice to sometimes
let us know the status or follow up on our requests and no radio silence when the new script required status is added.

Thanks to you all.

RaMaRoMa
Re: New scripts
September 12, 2016 08:42AM
The fundamental issue is we are all volunteers and tend to pick up challenge checkers which are either easy (ie the script already exist and just need a tag adding), we have a vested interest in (they are local to us), or are technically interesting (present a fun challenge to try and implement a solution for), we've got limited time so there is no way anybody can pick up everything. The second issue is there is no coordination, if I decide not to pick up a request then I wouldn't make a post stating that fact (it would be a waste of time and create a lot of noise if everybody did that), unfortunately that does mean that if everybody decides to skip it you just end up with no response.

My advice to people is (after a reasonable amount of time - a week or two) of posting a request, if it hasn't been responded to then write a (polite!) response to the request asking if the requirements are clear and if people think it is feasible to implement or if there are any adjustments to the requirements which would make it easier to get completed.
Re: New scripts
September 12, 2016 09:35AM
Hello,

Thanks for the quick response. I understand that you are all volunteers and that time is limited to do everything.
Problem that I see with my request is that since it is put on "new script required" there is no response anymore. Same is with a request from a other cacher I know. His request also has status "new script required". We both wrote a response if there where any updates on the status or that there where any questions or thing we had to do, but we don't here anything anymore.
If nobody is willing to pick up our request, is it also possible that thy let this know so that we can cancel our caches.

I know that my request requires a rewriting from on of Target's scripts, but if he does not want to do this, can anybody else do it or is that not possible to add the script of someone else? I already contacted Target and he told me that is was not that hard to adept his script to my requirements and that he would try to fix it, but that was 2 months ago.
Re: New scripts
September 12, 2016 11:04AM
I think Mole125's answer covers the whole thing quite well. It will be done if it's either interesting enough, or easy enough.

As he said, it's quite hard to say "no-one will fix this script" since it's a few script developers who doesn't have any real contact besides this forum. They do not have any communication about your script in between them.

That said, the idea has been to open up script development for more users and therefore have more who could help out. This has been postponed, with time being the factor of that. We always fight vs time for all tasks.

The fact that it's Target's script doesn't stop anyone else. All scripts are open source and the source code may be re-used by others. It could be seen as good ethics to let the original author have a chance to do it himself if he is interested, if not, just clone the script and change it into your needs.

You could maybe get a chance to get some more pointers and an estimate of how hard it is, and what you could change to make it easier if you linked the threads you are talking about. I am aware that there are many many "new script required" threads though. But they all are there for different reasons, though time probably is the most common one.

I could imagine myself being less interested in spending hours on creating a script for someone else's challenge if I did not like or approve of the challenge for example. In some cases it could be a very small rule change to make it work with current scripts, though I think that the script writers tries to point that out then. From the posts I have read, it seems like they really try there best to help out, but it's a lot of people to satisfy.

Currently there seems to be 77 unhandled requests (waiting for feedback, new script and so on), 409 completed requests and 106 which has been denied because they are technically impossible or just not allowed.

I am honestly unsure how many who is actively helping out, but I would assume that it's around 10 people. So those 10 has handled about 500 of 600 requests in one way or another. In my mind they have helped the community a lot.

But I agree, it would be better if more could be helped, and if we at Project-GC could make that happen. Especially since it's probably the new-thinking innovative challenges that actually won't get published.

I had a new idea myself. I didn't manage to write a challenge checker that was fast enough myself, so I asked Target for help (since I know him personally). He liked the idea, spent quite a lot of time on it and proved that he actually has the technical potential to solve it. However, his time is also limited and that was two months ago. Nothing has happened since then and I really don't blame him. But that one was really complex and it would probably be a few days to actually solve it, which is quite a lot to ask for. In most cases I think checkers can be written in 1-6 hours.
Re: New scripts
September 12, 2016 12:39PM
Hello ganja1447,

Thanks for the answer, as I understand from it, it is not allowed for new script writers to join the team at Project GC.
I am a little familiar with script writing myself, mostly VBA for Excel. But I can always try to adapt Target's script to get the correct outcome for my checker.
Only problem for me is how can I check the outcome of the script/checker code, is there some kind of software I can use for it? If there is some program you are working with, I can to pickup script writing myself a little, because I find it fun to do, and maybe help you guys out sometimes, without actually joining the team here at Project GC.

What is strange in my opinion is that Groundspreak makes those checkers mandatory to be in the listing before a new challenge is published, but you guys have to make them in your own time. So since the challenges are accepted again you have to do much more work I think, although you are all still volunteers.

For your info, the tread I'm talking about is http://project-gc.com/forum/read?8,1522

RaMaRoMa



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 09/12/2016 12:49PM by RaMaRoMa. (view changes)
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