Do we favor full names (like Andrew [something] Brock, as opposed to Andy Brock) on vgmrips?
It seems places like MobyGames, iMDB (my bad) and SegaRetro have some verification problems. (For instance, MobyGames doesn't always list al the games a composer worked on, and iMDB can overlook Video Game categories for known video game composers.) I think this can be addressed a bit by advising people to check multiple sources, but also wonder if a verification project is possible. It's not something the forum members here would have to do with no outside help.
There's some other questions I have that I don't remember and are buried in my notes. In the meantime, I thought a thread to gather this input from all users easily would be good. The Wiki has discussion pages, but those could be confusing to the uninitiated.
(There is an Installed Wiki thread in News and Updates, but I thought this was more appropriate for this manner of feedback.)
I'm trying to add information found on the forums easier to find on the wiki. If I forget to credit you, please let me know (or edit the article if you don't want to wait).
The question about full names is an interesting one for archival purposes. We already use regular names instead of nicknames. But replacing Chris Huelsbeck with Christopher Hülsbeck or Tim Follin with Timothy Follin is another can of worms.
Regarding names- we should go with whichever the person themselves use. Sticking to the full name when most people use the short form is an exercise in futility. If you search "Timothy John Follin", you're going to get results for "Tim Follin" anyway. With more obscure artists you might not even find the person if you use their full name, which is the case when trying to look up Silvio Depieri under his full name, "Silvio Mario B. Depieri".
And when it comes to verifying sources, people have to train themselves to be able to discern reliable ones. Database websites like Mobygames and whatnot are ultimately crowdsourced, and are as reliable as the people providing the information. The ability to track down the source of said information and figure out whether it's trustworthy is something gained over experience. There's too many corners of VGM and too many varying factors from case to case for this to be something that can be looked into by just a small group of people who know what they're doing.
Thank you both for the feedback. You're right; if websites are filled by users anyway, too, it just moves the issue from one spot to another, without really resolving it. Discerning research is an important skill anyway.
Regarding the Sega Mega Drive and Genesis games categories, these are poorly curated in the game pages. I too am guilty. Right now I'm just making a note of it to remember. Unlike the new tagging guidelines, it seems that marking each game with one or both categories depending on release is the goal. Which makes sense.
For confirmation, I think that sound test names are preferred to level names for tagging? VGMRips does do many things different from P2612, though. Like the full game names (English) for files instead of short names.
Puyo Puyo Tsuu is romanized as Puyo Puyo 2 in the English VC release of the Mega Drive version. Should it then be put as such in the tags and site?
Also the VGMPF lists somewhat different credits (more per track, to be precise).
Lastly for now, I want to unite the GD3 tag related pages into a single category. I've already partially done so with the "GD3 Tags" category.. but I had forgotten I also sorted many under "VGM Taggers". Both categories have red pages still, so it's easy to just drop one for the other, or even both in favor of "GD3 Tagging". That last one is my instinct, but I thought I'd ask second opinions.
Actually, one more thing: simply because IRC discussion gets buried quickly, don't forget this thread is here if you have wiki-related thoughts, ideas, and questions. I too am guilty of forgetting.
I'm trying to add information found on the forums easier to find on the wiki. If I forget to credit you, please let me know (or edit the article if you don't want to wait).
Can there be a section in the wiki pages for each sound chip for all the internal aspects and exactly how they work? For example, the page on X1-010 is vague on the limitations and features, and the MAME source code is confusing to look through. Whatever nukeykt covered with the low-level emulators and FPGAs is easy to do, if you're able to understand them.
More recently, can there be a page or series of pages on what to do in making your own fantasy sound chip set in a certain time period? It could be called something like "So you want to make a sound chip?"
The first suggestion is a good idea, I think. I personally can't do it alone because I don't know very much about the workings of the chips myself. It's something I'd have to find time to investigate, or work with someone else to add the information. But in light of the other technical documents on the wiki, I think it both makes sense and would help hacking efforts to add that info eventually.
The second is a very interesting idea, but I think it's beyond the scope of VGMRips. The focus here is on preservation of older hardware music, so a new theoretical chip would not fall under that scope.
I'm trying to add information found on the forums easier to find on the wiki. If I forget to credit you, please let me know (or edit the article if you don't want to wait).
