Introducing the Competitions Calendar

[DarkeSword]

Now that we've switched over to Invision for our forum software, we're going to start making more use of the tools it provides.

One thing that I've always wanted to have for competitions was a calendar on the site where we can list relevant competition dates. Invision has a pretty great calendar application, so I've set one up.

http://ocremix.org/community/calendar/2-competitions/

If you're a competition runner, you can now add your event dates (such as start and stop date/times for mixing and voting stages, due dates, etc.) to the calendar. Right now I have it set up so that any event submitted to the competitions calendar requires a moderator approval. I'll be checking my moderator control panel regularly for stuff to approve, but if you don't see your event pop up after about a day, contact me and I'll see what I can do.

We might eventually put together a user group of the regular competition runners that can bypass moderation, but since this is new I want to keep an eye on things so that it doesn't get crazy.

If you have any questions, let me know.

[Esperado]

Perhaps wishful thinking but is there a way to subscribe to the calendar using a mail client?

[DarkeSword]

There's a webcal link at the bottom that you should be able to use to subscribe to the calendar. Consult mail client documentation for information on how to get webcal feeds working.

[shadow24]

Cool stuff! Thanks

[FenixDown]

Awesome idea. This will definitely come in handy. 

[Doulifée]

that's a damn nice addition. also the visibility on the right of the forum page.

[Bundeslang]

This is a great addition to the forum. I'll try it out now.

 

The user group for competition runners is a good idea, since it might be necessary to edit things fast sometimes (when the contest has an extension). But of course for all contests the information in the thread is leading.

 

Adding times probably makes the calendar a mess, but for PRC, the deadlines (both remixing and voting) are always at 10:59 AM ThaSauce Time, which is 17:59 UTC and 18:59 GMT (19:59 in the Netherlands).

[DarkeSword]

I would suggest keeping the contents of the event posting to just the relevant information along with a link to the thread..

[Eino Keskitalo]

Excellent addition, I'll be using the calendar for sure!

[Anorax]

Now, will the calendar be used to mark deadlines only, or will there be an entry every day that a competition is active?  While I don't mind the latter, I think that it could look cleaner with two simple "round begins" and "deadline" markers for compos.

[MindWanderer]

So far we've been using the start date+ end date feature. We should all agree to something for consistency. Any other comments on how we've been handling it so far are welcome (speaking for myself).

[DarkeSword]

I prefer to have one long event with a start date and end date set. Doing two events for start and end is extra and not really the way a calendar application should be used.

[MindWanderer]

One downside to this, though, is the forum homepage banner:
 

Upcoming Calendar Events
COMPETITIONS RWS 3-4: The Greatest Rivals
Occurs on 04/28/2015
COMPETITIONS MnP 34 - LoZ Majora's Mask: Milk Bar
Occurs on 04/28/2015
COMPETITIONS PRC295: Extension
Occurs on 04/28/2015
COMMUNITY Mario Kart 8 Tournament
Occurs on 04/30/2015

"Occurs on" today or tomorrow isn't really the most helpful thing here. For competitions, there out to be a way of showing only "starts on" or "ends on," whichever is coming up next.

[MindWanderer]

Looks like when I edit an event, it disappears entirely.  Presumably it will come back when a mod approves it, but this is definitely undesirable.

[DarkeSword]

Yeah it's because of moderator approval. Will talk to djpretzel about making a "schedulers" group for approved members that we trust enough to bypass mod approval for event creation/editing. Regular compo runners (MW, Bund, hoboka) will be added to it.

[DarkeSword]

Hey everyone, djpretzel and I have finally gotten around to working on calendar and event permissions.

We've created a new usergroup on the forums for Event Schedulers. These folks are able to post to calendars and approve their own events. I've added the folks who regularly run competitions to this group: MindWanderer, SuperiorX, HoboKa, and Bundeslang. Anyone else needs to have their events approved by a moderator (like me). If you are planning on running a recurring compo or a tournament, I can approve your events for you and if things work out, I can eventually add you to the ES group.