|
The "Reviewer Panel" idea I think is a good one, and people should know that it's mutually beneficial to both the author(s) and the user(s).
For the Users, it can offer an "At-a-glance" overview of the AddOns strong points & weak points (much like the average game review does) giving users an idea if it fits the bill for what they're looking for. Some users look for performance over ease of configuration, and vice versa. Much like the difference between, say, LynStats and SLDT...a user that prefers extremely lightweight data representation and doesn't mind tinkering with LUA will take LynStats, and those that like ease of configuration at the cost of a little bit of performance will take SLDT. At-a-glance info can pass information like this along, say with a badge system that awards things like "Easy to configure" or "Some LUA knowledge required". Or even categorizes ratings associated to key points of the AddOn.
For the author's, it can provide another developer/author insight into their AddOn. This can help them not only better their AddOn(s), but help them understand something they might not have known about in their initial design. There are all levels of authors from those doing the Copy/Paste/Modify thing to those creating absolute, 100% original & technically complex AddOns that break a barrier not yet passed. We can all learn something from someone else, and there's almost always something we didn't know about before. Opening the lines of communication through thorough AddOn review for author's could be extremely beneficial to the general quality of AddOns site-wide.
As far as concept goes, it could be something as simple as the review panel thoroughly takes a look at the source, functionality, configuration, and more to provide something like a "3-point inspection" that awards ratings such as:
Configuration: A base to descibe to the user(s) how easy it is to setup. Ratings like "Some LUA knowledge required" or "Minimal configuration" could describe quickly what a user can expect on first load.
Performance: A base to describe some general idea of how performance-friendly the AddOn is. Ratings like "< 100kb 'Efficient'" or "> 2mb 'Heavy'" could give in-game usage as well as load-performance ideas.
Functionality: A base to give the user an idea of how well the AddOn does "what it does", while giving feedback to the author as to how well they've built the AddOn "to" do "what it does".
Overall Grade: I'm thinking a grade scale like "A" through "F". With + and - of course. :P
The more I think about it, the more ideal a system "similar" to this sounds to be. Mutually beneficial, effective, offers at-a-glance ratings as well as some general comments that can be done by an "editorial" perspective from within the review panel based on individual reviewer feedback. Is there a way to pitch something like this to the Mod's for consideration (you guys still reading?)
|