Phasing out the reviews and walk-arounds board

[stemturtle]

@animaltoyforum I have an idea about migrating over walkarounds that have good images but little text. Could we create an author category for 'Joint Reviews' (analogous to Guest Reviews) where walkarounds that are low on text can be incoporated into the Blog with supplemental text. For example, take walkarounds by @postsaurischian - we can use your photos but Adam or I can supplement them with minor text (basic info on the animal and figure).

The introductory sentence would say something like this: Images by postsaurician; text by bmathison1972

@postsaurischian @stemturtle would you (and others) be opposed to this idea?

@bmathison1972, I like the idea.  Feel free to use my photos.

[AnimalToyForum]

@animaltoyforum I have an idea about migrating over walkarounds that have good images but little text. Could we create an author category for 'Joint Reviews' (analogous to Guest Reviews) where walkarounds that are low on text can be incoporated into the Blog with supplemental text. For example, take walkarounds by @postsaurischian - we can use your photos but Adam or I can supplement them with minor text (basic info on the animal and figure).

The introductory sentence would say something like this: Images by postsaurician; text by bmathison1972

@postsaurischian @stemturtle would you (and others) be opposed to this idea?

@bmathison1972, I like the idea.  Feel free to use my photos.

I think that's a great idea! If the photographers are willing, as they seem to be.

[postsaurischian]

@animaltoyforum I have an idea about migrating over walkarounds that have good images but little text. Could we create an author category for 'Joint Reviews' (analogous to Guest Reviews) where walkarounds that are low on text can be incoporated into the Blog with supplemental text. For example, take walkarounds by @postsaurischian - we can use your photos but Adam or I can supplement them with minor text (basic info on the animal and figure).

The introductory sentence would say something like this: Images by postsaurician; text by bmathison1972

@postsaurischian @stemturtle would you (and others) be opposed to this idea?

I also like the idea. It takes me some time to make these pictures and I definitely do not have the time to also write reviews (in English!).
So I would love to see the pics with texts by other members . In case someone wants to use photos that are still under PB's control I could re-upload those. Just send me a PM.

[AnimalToyForum]

@animaltoyforum I have an idea about migrating over walkarounds that have good images but little text. Could we create an author category for 'Joint Reviews' (analogous to Guest Reviews) where walkarounds that are low on text can be incoporated into the Blog with supplemental text. For example, take walkarounds by @postsaurischian - we can use your photos but Adam or I can supplement them with minor text (basic info on the animal and figure).

The introductory sentence would say something like this: Images by postsaurician; text by bmathison1972

@postsaurischian @stemturtle would you (and others) be opposed to this idea?

I also like the idea. It takes me some time to make these pictures and I definitely do not have the time to also write reviews (in English!).
So I would love to see the pics with texts by other members . In case someone wants to use photos that are still under PB's control I could re-upload those. Just send me a PM.

Thanks for your generosity @postsaurischian!

[bmathison1972]

yes, thanks @postsaurischian your images are among my favorite contributions to the forum

Remember, this will take some time. With a steady flow of reviews on the Blog as of late, I doubt Adam or I will migrate over more than 1 a week, or so.

[sbell]

This reminds me that I need to move all of my Yujin fish posts over... I really need to find some time between everything else.

But I know I won't be able to just copy and paste, I'll have to rewrite/reformat everything too!

[bmathison1972]

There is also the issue with things that are already on the Blog but also have walkarounds and from two different authors. For example, @postsaurischian has a walkaround of the Papo gharial while @sirenia did it on the Blog. In this case, I would suggest migrating postaurischian's walkaround to the Papo section of the forum under Animal Toy Lines pages, or a taxonomic section for crocodilians under Animal Groups, so it is maintained on the forum but not as a 'walkaround'

[Isidro]

There is also the issue with things that are already on the Blog but also have walkarounds and from two different authors. For example, @postsaurischian has a walkaround of the Papo gharial while @sirenia did it on the Blog. In this case, I would suggest migrating postaurischian's walkaround to the Papo section of the forum under Animal Toy Lines pages, or a taxonomic section for crocodilians under Animal Groups, so it is maintained on the forum but not as a 'walkaround'

Thats a GREAT way of saving the older posts!!  Well tought!

[AnimalToyForum]

Agreed. We can move posts like that to a different part of the forum. We certainly shouldn't delete any forum content outright!


In the meantime, I will lock the walk-arounds board to new posts and update the description to explain the situation, and include a link to the Animal Toy Blog. I will also remove the walk-arounds header.

[AnimalToyForum]

Another question is what happens to replies to walk-around posts?

For example, I migrated the Furuta frogfish to the blog (http://animaltoyforum.com/blog/2019/08/21/frogfish-chocoegg-series-6-by-furuta/), where it had no comments. But the walk-around on the forum had a few comments: http://animaltoyforum.com/index.php?topic=456.0

I suppose we could copy-paste the replies to the blog one by one and manually attribute each comment with the correct forum username. I just did this for the Furuta Frogfish, so you can see what it looks like. I could even set the comment date so it matches the forum post, but maybe that's overkill, and it looks weird that the comments are dated before the review!

But this will be an onerous task. Maybe we just need to cut our losses?

[bmathison1972]

Another question is what happens to replies to walk-around posts?

For example, I migrated the Furuta frogfish to the blog (http://animaltoyforum.com/blog/2019/08/21/frogfish-chocoegg-series-6-by-furuta/), where it had no comments. But the walk-around on the forum had a few comments: http://animaltoyforum.com/index.php?topic=456.0

I suppose we could copy-paste the replies to the blog one by one and manually attribute each comment with the correct forum username. I just did this for the Furuta Frogfish, so you can see what it looks like. I could even set the comment date so it matches the forum post, but maybe that's overkill, and it looks weird that the comments are dated before the review!

But this will be an onerous task. Maybe we just need to cut our losses?

Honestly I saw we cut our losses when it comes to comments

[AnimalToyForum]

Another question is what happens to replies to walk-around posts?

For example, I migrated the Furuta frogfish to the blog (http://animaltoyforum.com/blog/2019/08/21/frogfish-chocoegg-series-6-by-furuta/), where it had no comments. But the walk-around on the forum had a few comments: http://animaltoyforum.com/index.php?topic=456.0

I suppose we could copy-paste the replies to the blog one by one and manually attribute each comment with the correct forum username. I just did this for the Furuta Frogfish, so you can see what it looks like. I could even set the comment date so it matches the forum post, but maybe that's overkill, and it looks weird that the comments are dated before the review!

But this will be an onerous task. Maybe we just need to cut our losses?

Honestly I saw we cut our losses when it comes to comments

How about we assess each thread on a case by case basis. A lot of the time the comments aren't so important ("Nice figure!") but if there is some useful discussion, then we can aim to migrate that. As in the case of the frogfish.

By the way, now that I've moved over the frogfish comments, I'm going to delete the thread! I think it will be the first walk-around thread to be deleted but it is good to get the ball rolling!

[bmathison1972]

ok-dokee!

[bmathison1972]

I have migrated over comments from some of my walkarounds that are now on the Blog, as well as some of those by brontodocus I have migrated over.

[sirenia]

Just a thought, but would it be helpful to list walkarounds that have no photos on at all? Might help expedite the process a bit.

[AnimalToyForum]

Just a thought, but would it be helpful to list walkarounds that have no photos on at all? Might help expedite the process a bit.

Good idea! That would be very helpful indeed.

[bmathison1972]

Those can probably just be deleted outright, correct?

[AnimalToyForum]

Those can probably just be deleted outright, correct?

Yeah, unless there is some juicy discussion that should be preserved...

[bmathison1972]

There is also what to do when the blogpost is not the same as the walkaround. For example, @postsaurischian did a walkaround of the Kaiyodo Sobubi giant Japanese salamander, but @Lanthanotus did the Blog review. The best option is to move the walkaround into the taxa-specific pages, so we don't lose the images altogether. In this case, I merged postsaurischian's walkaround of the salamander to the 'Lovely Salamanders' thread under 'Animal Groups'.

[AnimalToyForum]

There is also what to do when the blogpost is not the same as the walkaround. For example, @postsaurischian did a walkaround of the Kaiyodo Sobubi giant Japanese salamander, but @Lanthanotus did the Blog review. The best option is to move the walkaround into the taxa-specific pages, so we don't lose the images altogether. In this case, I merged postsaurischian's walkaround of the salamander to the 'Lovely Salamanders' thread under 'Animal Groups'.

I think that's a good call. We'll just have to take each one on a case by case basis.