ReMixer & Composer Merged into "Artist", Change Near-Complete

[djpretzel]

Note: This thread will eventually be moved to the Site Feedback forum but for now I wanted more eyes on it.

I've been hellaciously busy with both school and work lately, and to make matters worse (in terms of posting new mixes), we've been working on reorganizing our database a bit. It was becoming very silly to store ReMixers and composers in separate tables, because:
There are some artists like Jeremy Soule (http://www.ocremix.org/artist/51/jeremy-soule) and George Sanger (http://www.ocremix.org/artist/68/george-alistair-sanger) who are both, and hopefully more ReMixers will become composers, and that's a lot of duplicate data entry.
Any supporting data (references, images, associations) resulted in another set of duplicate tables.
Consolidating the two saves a huge amount of money and passes the savings directly on to you, the consumer.Alright, everything but 3. There are probably more reasons, but the first two were enough. For the technical among you, this is called "normalization," and is almost always a good thing. For everyone, here's what this essentially means:
The artists list (and quick search) brings back both mixers and composers
ReMixers now have brand-new profile pages. Because we had to move a lot of data around, I went from being ReMixer ID #1 to being #4279 - ex.: http://www.ocremix.org/artist/4279/djpretzel
On both lists and detail pages, colorized (sue me, it needed to stand out) labels indicate roles (Composer, ReMixer) and counts for each
Soon, existing ReMixer pages will go away, and redirect to these new artist pages. Redirection should stay in place a very long time, but not necessarily indefinitely, so start updating your links.
This new structure allows us to add more profile links and multiple images.
We'll be sending out an email to ReMixers soliciting photos, updated contact info, birthdate/place info, and cash monies.
I'll be working on getting artist feeds reimplemented, forum profiles reintegrated, etc. as I can find the timeThanks for your patience & feedback!

-djp

[Dhsu]

Lookin' gooood.

Good luck with the cash monies!

[Liontamer]

4755, son.

[Rozovian]

The word pwnsome seems fitting.

[anosou]

THE SEX! More information to the people! When I can find Jeremy Soules XBL account here I'm satisfied.

(also, 70 remixes? I have a LONG way to go!)

EDIT: hmm.. Since I do have some official composer merit, will my profile go by my remixer alias or real name? For example The Fatman is listed at George Sanger with multiple aliases attached. If possible, I WOULD like to be listed by real name granted the aliases added are searchable.. Toughie, I know, sorry for making you think and work and shit. :*

[djpretzel]

THE SEX! More information to the people! When I can find Jeremy Soules XBL account here I'm satisfied.

(also, 70 remixes? I have a LONG way to go!)

EDIT: hmm.. Since I do have some official composer merit, will my profile go by my remixer alias or real name? For example The Fatman is listed at George Sanger with multiple aliases attached. If possible, I WOULD like to be listed by real name granted the aliases added are searchable.. Toughie, I know, sorry for making you think and work and shit. :*

Nah, good catch. I guess, for now, since we have no composer credits for you, we're good. Aliases ARE fully searchable, btw. As far as when/if this problem crops up and a composer/remixer wants to be credited one way for mixes and another way for games, we might have an issue. I'd vastly prefer to keep it simple... your real name will always be on your profile page. What we COULD do is consistently present real name as an additional field whenever it's different, even on ReMix detail pages. That's the easiest solution.

[anosou]

Nah, good catch. I guess, for now, since we have no composer credits for you, we're good. Aliases ARE fully searchable, btw. As far as when/if this problem crops up and a composer/remixer wants to be credited one way for mixes and another way for games, we might have an issue. I'd vastly prefer to keep it simple... your real name will always be on your profile page. What we COULD do is consistently present real name as an additional field whenever it's different, even on ReMix detail pages. That's the easiest solution.

Damn you ignoring my awesome AAA titles and whatnot :tomatoface:

What you said is probably a good idea, you tend to know that stuff best. I would still prefer to be credited with my real name for games (since that's what I go by in credits and whatnot) but as for OCRemix that might be too much. I think as long as the real name is visible enough (second biggest in case of remixers and biggest in case of composers only) it's cool. If you search for a composer and just get remixer names it might be confusing when we get used as a databse for game music in general and when remixers are making it big... IN HOLLYWOOD! Who would pay the bills then? That's right, HOLLYWOOD-KID!

~I kid.

[djpretzel]

I could code it so that, if an artist has ANY composer credits and their real name differs from their display name, it prefers the real name, but some folks might want it the opposite way. Yeah, I could then have some sort of boolean in the db that tracks who wants what, but then we'd be getting a little crazy.

On a different note, I did forget to mention that we've also added a buttload of references for both artists AND games. ReMixers who have one should have their VGMDB profile linked, and many games now have links to gamespot, gamefaqs, IMDB, etc.

Word.

[anosou]

I could code it so that, if an artist has ANY composer credits and their real name differs from their display name, it prefers the real name, but some folks might want it the opposite way. Yeah, I could then have some sort of boolean in the db that tracks who wants what, but then we'd be getting a little crazy.

On a different note, I did forget to mention that we've also added a buttload of references for both artists AND games. ReMixers who have one should have their VGMDB profile linked, and many games now have links to gamespot, gamefaqs, IMDB, etc.

Word.

Just noticed VGMdb, excellent addition!

You could put up a poll about remixer/composer real-name preferences? Or a way to set that from your forum profile or something? *cough*.. Okay, I'll stop now... :)

[Ramaniscence]

http://www.ocremix.org/artist/171/joe-mcdermott

Kind of took me awhile to figure out which songs he composed, and which songs he was a remixer for....

Also:

http://www.ocremix.org/artist/171/joe-mcdermott/remixes/

404'd

Edit: Specifically...

[18:08:50] <+Bahamut> it's not hard to tell
[18:08:58] <+Bahamut> 1 credit for game music composition, and 1 remix
[18:10:21] <@Ramaniscenc> Yea
[18:10:24] <@Ramaniscenc> but I couldn't tell that
[18:10:31] <@Ramaniscenc> Until i scanned over all the games about 4 times
[18:10:39] <@Ramaniscenc> And found his name on the list of remixers
[18:10:47] <@Ramaniscenc> How am I supposed to know if he composed that or mixed it?
[18:10:55] <@Ramaniscenc> It was hard for me to figure out
[18:10:59] <@Ramaniscenc> And I doubt I'll be the only one
[18:11:47] <+Bahamut> the only confusion I really had was the ReMixes tab


We'll be sending out an email to ReMixers soliciting photos, updated contact info, birthdate/place info, and cash monies.

Do you think this guy (http://www.ocremix.org/artist/4442/sgtrama) has cash moneys left with bling like THIS:

http://www.ocremix.org/thumbs/180/files/images/artists/sgtrama-651.jpg

Sheeeeeit.

[Abadoss]

Will there be a way to edit the information on a remixer page? For example, my remixer page currently lists the wrong website address for my official page.

[djpretzel]

Will there be a way to edit the information on a remixer page? For example, my remixer page currently lists the wrong website address for my official page.

Fixed. And, at least for a good while, no. Links/references on artist pages are designed to be more like encyclopedic, authoritative, controlled sources, and we intend to manage them as such. HOWEVER, once I get forum profiles reintegrated, all the links on your forum profile would show up under that tab, and those you obviously have full control of. Every once in awhile we may run a script to reconcile the two, but for now that's not a huge priority.

We've pretty much decided to do blogs in some form, and along with the forum profile integration, I'd try to get the latest blog posts, maybe even a blog tab, on artist profile pages as well.

[anosou]

We've pretty much decided to do blogs in some form, and along with the forum profile integration, I'd try to get the latest blog posts, maybe even a blog tab, on artist profile pages as well.

I love you. I really do.

[Abadoss]

Fixed. And, at least for a good while, no. Links/references on artist pages are designed to be more like encyclopedic, authoritative, controlled sources, and we intend to manage them as such. HOWEVER, once I get forum profiles reintegrated, all the links on your forum profile would show up under that tab, and those you obviously have full control of. Every once in awhile we may run a script to reconcile the two, but for now that's not a huge priority.

We've pretty much decided to do blogs in some form, and along with the forum profile integration, I'd try to get the latest blog posts, maybe even a blog tab, on artist profile pages as well.

Blogs, huh? Hmm. Will we be able to port blog entries from another site - i.e. LiveJournal, MySpace, Facebook, etc. - or do the entries need to be made on this site only?

[Dyne]

Very nicely done Boss Pretzel. Looks like things are shaping up. Also, that picture of you and Larry together with the thought bubbles, that's awesome.

Also...you're going to be 30 this year! Congrats!

[Platonist]

Will there be a way to edit the information on a remixer page? For example, my remixer page currently lists the wrong website address for my official page.

this is the exact same problem i have :)

[SoulinEther]

http://www.ocremix.org/artist/171/joe-mcdermott

Kind of took me awhile to figure out which songs he composed, and which songs he was a remixer for....


I echo this sentiment. I think the new change is pretty neat, is logical (I've oft chosen "remixer" instead of "remix" and vice-versa) but that perhaps there should be some better way to tell composer work apart from remix work in the "Latest Remixes" thing, especially now that searching in "Artist" results in both composers and remixers. Perhaps by listing the Composer beneath the "date by remixer" thing? (or whatever. i imagine just listing composer would help with the whole not-having-to-write-a-ton-of-new-code problem..)

Edit: not sure if you want bug reporting here, but I found a few issues, not sure if you've noted them and are planning on addressing em already or not but:

It seems the redirection for remixers whose names in the old address format contained hyphens results in 404s
http://www.ocremix.org/remixer/mike-mcgann/
http://www.ocremix.org/remixer/the-megas/

And the 404 page sidebar is not yet up-to-date.

[Dafydd]

This is all well and good, I'm sure, but how does this save money, exactly? A smaller database costs less or is it the traffic it generates and the lower amount of traffic that saves money, or...? I'm just curious. It's an improvement even if it doesn't save money.

[Kanthos]

This is all well and good, I'm sure, but how does this save money, exactly? A smaller database costs less or is it the traffic it generates and the lower amount of traffic that saves money, or...? I'm just curious. It's an improvement even if it doesn't save money.

Right after saying it saved money, he said, "Ok, well it doesn't save money, but..."

Normalization is always a good thing :)

[Platonist]

Normalization is always a good thing :)

...but not always enough! ;)

[Dafydd]

Right after saying it saved money, he said, "Ok, well it doesn't save money, but..."
Who else would miss that detail but me?

[The Pezman]

::shrug:: It doesn't seem to make a lot of sense to me. At least as I understand, remixers and composers are two different entities. I, personally, would want to be able to effectively identify both the remixer and composer and have them in separate categories. I don't know if anyone else feels the same.

[anosou]

::shrug:: It doesn't seem to make a lot of sense to me. At least as I understand, remixers and composers are two different entities. I, personally, would want to be able to effectively identify both the remixer and composer and have them in separate categories. I don't know if anyone else feels the same.

Compoers that are also remixers then? As long as it's clear what they did when you're on the persons collected profile it's all good. Maybe a sorting options for remixers would make sense so you can see just that?

Also as a video game music database it's generally a good idea to keep all artists in one roster and then credit them for what they did. I hope to see a bunch of remixers being featured on soundtracks and all that and this system makes that easier.

[Dafydd]

I think it works fine now, remixers in green and composers in blue.

[Sole Signal]

Great change! Really appreciate all the work you put into this, djp.

[djpretzel]

Compoers that are also remixers then? As long as it's clear what they did when you're on the persons collected profile it's all good. Maybe a sorting options for remixers would make sense so you can see just that?

I DEFINITELY intend to add an option to filter and list ONLY ReMixers or ONLY composers in the future, which hopefully would address this concern.

[anosou]

I DEFINITELY intend to add an option to filter and list ONLY ReMixers or ONLY composers in the future, which hopefully would address this concern.

That's pretty much what I was getting at, much love. BUT HOW MUCH LOVE? Pretty much as it turns out.

[DCT]

Looks real cool...but it's linking to my old web address again...

[Moguta]

Good stuff.

Also, I notice recently you've been trying to make the game pictures more consistent, aiming toward grabbing the title screen it appears. I appreciate that. :)

[DarkeSword]

I like it!

What is the purpose of the id number in the URL though?

Any chance URLs will eventually be something like ocremix.org/artist/darkesword?

[The_Mighty_KELP]

I like it! The change looks good.

P.S. For the first time, I'm able to see a picture of good ol' djp on his remixer page. Seriously, I never knew what he looked like before... anyway, you're really handsome!! I'm serious! :nicework:

[djpretzel]

I like it!

What is the purpose of the id number in the URL though?

Any chance URLs will eventually be something like ocremix.org/artist/darkesword?

I'm considering removing the www, but the number sticks - it ensures links still work on artist renames/typos, etc.

[anosou]

Just noticed: clicking for example Theory of Nonexistance on the frontpage (Previously on OCR) leads to the old link and 404's.

[Platonist]

woho! i has a picture @ artistpage now
i love the new system already!

though, my website is still wrong

platonistmusic.com ffs!!!

[Liontamer]

Just noticed: clicking for example Theory of Nonexistance on the frontpage (Previously on OCR) leads to the old link and 404's.

And the Russian Remix Roulette...

[SoulinEther]

And the Russian Remix Roulette...

It's like nobody read my post about spaces in names/hyphens in old html links... meh.

[Liontamer]

It's like nobody read my post about spaces in names/hyphens in old html links... meh.

We saw that problem before you posted. :-D But the point isn't that those old style links don't work because of the hyphens, because we're phasing those out anyway. The point is that the old style links are still there and need to be replaced by the new style.

[SoulinEther]

We saw that problem before you posted. :-D But the point isn't that those old style links don't work because of the hyphens, because we're phasing those out anyway. The point is that the old style links are still there and need to be replaced by the new style.

Yes, that's true. honestly not sure why I posted that either, because I really kinda knew/guessed that was why it wouldn't be addressed.

I'll just say... I'm posting just to run further tests on the vBulletin upgrade... yeah, that... (backs away inconspicuously).

[starla]

http://injury.thasauce.net/sekrit/ocrbroken.jpg

taken from http://www.ocremix.org/artist/4627/shnabubula of course

it scrolls sideways to white space, if i make the browser larger it seems to fix it, but the rounded edges are still funky. It seems to work alright for people that have profile pictures on their artist page, but without it, it seems to be broken. Perhaps a placeholder would fix that.

Yes, i know i'm using ie.

[Liontamer]

http://injury.thasauce.net/sekrit/ocrbroken.jpg

taken from http://www.ocremix.org/artist/4627/shnabubula of course

it scrolls sideways to white space, if i make the browser larger it seems to fix it, but the rounded edges are still funky. It seems to work alright for people that have profile pictures on their artist page, but without it, it seems to be broken. Perhaps a placeholder would fix that.

Yes, i know i'm using ie.

Cool find. Yeah, confirming this issue in IE as well. Firefox is cool.
http://www.ocremix.org/artist/4556/siamey

[Kattywampus]

So... since I'm not on here very often at all, I'm not sure what all these accounts and such do.
Are our forum accounts and our ReMixer profiles linked or whatnot, and I'm just not seeing it? Am I supposed to go through someone to add my dinky photo? Is Razzles a candy or a gum?

[Liontamer]

So... since I'm not on here very often at all, I'm not sure what all these accounts and such do.
Are our forum accounts and our ReMixer profiles linked or whatnot, and I'm just not seeing it? Am I supposed to go through someone to add my dinky photo? Is Razzles a candy or a gum?

Forum accounts and our ReMixer profiles are linked, yes. Just send the info you need added or the pic(s) you'd like added to admin@ocremix.org and we'll take care of it. :-)

[anosou]

Forum accounts and our ReMixer profiles are linked, yes. Just send the info you need added or the pic(s) you'd like added to admin@ocremix.org and we'll take care of it. :-)

I love Larry Oji.

In other, not related, news.. are you going to be able to acces remixer profile and such from the forum profile of a remixer? it works the other way around but I want both :tomatoface:

[Liontamer]

I love Larry Oji.

In other, not related, news.. are you going to be able to acces remixer profile and such from the forum profile of a remixer? it works the other way around but I want both :tomatoface:

Dave's gotta do that in his spare time. May be more difficult to do with vB 3.8, but I'm sure he's looking into when he has the time. He can elaborate how easy or difficult it'll be to bring that back.

[anosou]

Dave's gotta do that in his spare time. May be more difficult to do with vB 3.8, but I'm sure he's looking into when he has the time. He can elaborate how easy or difficult it'll be to bring that back.

Sounds good. No rush really, I just noticed many enjoyed this function before. It's definitely not a big issue though, we DO have the sidebar (lolsidebar:nicework:)

EDIT: just thought I'd mention that the wiki still has the old remixer links. I trust this is not top priority but it's worth having in this thread as a reminder.

[Dafydd]

The Review forum also has the old Remixer links.

[Rozovian]

Had an idea about the new artist pages and ocr albums. Why not have an albums tab for artists that have been involved in a project (or composed for the game remixed)? More work for djp, when he feels like it.

[Dafydd]

I like. But what about people who have been in official albums but don't have a song on the site? Do they get a page too?

[djpretzel]

Had an idea about the new artist pages and ocr albums. Why not have an albums tab for artists that have been involved in a project (or composed for the game remixed)? More work for djp, when he feels like it.

Yeah, man. Definitely doin' it.

I like. But what about people who have been in official albums but don't have a song on the site? Do they get a page too?

I'd like to add them, yes. That would mean they would get Artist profile pages, but wouldn't have ReMixer "status" until an individual ReMix was accepted on the site, creating a distinction but still giving credit where credit is due, which is a good thing.

Life has truly been kicking my ass lately or I'd have more of this shizz done :sleepdepriv:

[Dafydd]

No worries. When you're done you have the OCR mascot bio project to implement as well ;)

Anyway, I agree it would be cool to let album mixers get credit too. That's probably all I'll ever amount to (and I'm not even there yet).