New Feature #6: Gallery
I'm really excited to announce that the Metal Academy Gallery is live!
You can now rate the album covers of any and every release on the site, by visiting release pages:
You can then go to the Gallery to check out all the highest rated release covers. As with all features of Metal Academy, you can filter by clan and/or Clan / Site ratings.
I'd love to hear anyone's feedback on this new feature, as well as any of the other stuff we've introduced in the past couple of weeks.
Well Ben, first off I'm always up for more shit to rate!
Secondly, I am a massive cover art nerd, as I believe you are too (I seem to remember we discussed it on RYM a while back). I love the idea of a chart purely based on the artwork - should present some interesting results.
I have already started cover rating but I've encountered a bit of a dilemma. I began intending to rate covers purely on aesthetic appeal (to me). Now I'm not sure if that's what you intended when you introduced the feature. For example, do you think a cover should be rated highly if it is particularly appropriate to the atmosphere or aesthetic of the music, despite not being a great piece of "art"? I'm thinking here of genres like black metal with some very simple b&w covers that aren't necessarily great artistically, but really convey the music's ethos well (early Darkthrone albums for example) and the more shocking death metal related covers that I don't appreciate at all artistically but, again, very successfully convey the music's brutality. By extension is it valid to rate the cover of an album you have never listened to?
I guess ultimately it comes down to whether you consider an album's cover a piece of art, or a piece of packaging. Speaking for myseIf, I don't know much about art (or music), but I do know what I like - and what I don't!
Anyway must go, I got me some covers to rate...
Oh you mad bastard, now I have to go and rate all 1580 releases again. Possibly more. On an entirely new element. I love it.
I have already started cover rating but I've encountered a bit of a dilemma. I began intending to rate covers purely on aesthetic appeal (to me). Now I'm not sure if that's what you intended when you introduced the feature. For example, do you think a cover should be rated highly if it is particularly appropriate to the atmosphere or aesthetic of the music, despite not being a great piece of "art"? I'm thinking here of genres like black metal with some very simple b&w covers that aren't necessarily great artistically, but really convey the music's ethos well (early Darkthrone albums for example) and the more shocking death metal related covers that I don't appreciate at all artistically but, again, very successfully convey the music's brutality. By extension is it valid to rate the cover of an album you have never listened to?
I guess ultimately it comes down to whether you consider an album's cover a piece of art, or a piece of packaging. Speaking for myseIf, I don't know much about art (or music), but I do know what I like - and what I don't!
Personally, I'm intending to apply the same sort of standard as I do when rating the music itself, which is basically just on how much it appeals to me. There might be pieces of music that are very well crafted on a technical level, but just don't do anything for me for whatever reason, and there might be pieces that aren't especially impressive or creative, but just work so well. I think the same applies to the art.
To answer your question Sonny, I don't really want to provide intentions or instructions for how to use the tools we provide. I personally rate album covers taking a few different things into account (general quality of art, personal appeal, symmetry / impact as an album cover, suitability for the genre of music are probably the main things), but I think everyone should just use whatever system they enjoy.
I'm certainly going to enjoy scrolling through the Gallery every day and giving my rating for everything in the top 100. It's just so easy compared to rating releases, for which you have to invest a lot of time for every rating.
Number of times already that I have mistakenly rated a release I have never heard whilst trying to rate just the artwork? 8.
Number of times already that I have mistakenly rated a release I have never heard whilst trying to rate just the artwork? 8.
Number of times already that I have mistakenly rated a release I have never heard whilst trying to rate just the artwork? 11 **Damn this is tricky**
I wouldn't be a fan of album cover reviews if honest, it seems a bit much and would risk further confusion or risk making a release page look cluttered.
Also, I don't think there's enough active members to warrant the 5 ratings rule you describe either.
**Ben - I tried to quote Andi for this post but each time I clicked "quote" it took me to the top of the screen?**
Going through and rating album covers is making me realise how much I dislike photos of the band as the cover. With rare exceptions it almost always looks either silly, boring or cringe-inducing (or some combination of them).
Going through and rating album covers is making me realise how much I dislike photos of the band as the cover. With rare exceptions it almost always looks either silly, boring or cringe-inducing (or some combination of them).
Agree!
**Ben - I tried to quote Andi for this post but each time I clicked "quote" it took me to the top of the screen?**
Not sure what was going on there. I've tested a couple and it seems to be working fine. Glitch in the Matrix!
Great feature, Ben! I have a couple suggestions about it; 1. Please add the ability to review album covers so any member can unleash the "positive/negative art critic" within. 2. This one's in the long run but after we get more members to do album cover ratings, please add the limit of minimum 5 ratings per album, so I wouldn't look like a rating hog. Yeah the whole drama we had with MadManx2084 and AlteredManx02 got me worried about my excessive rating and I don't wanna end up banned like them. OK thanks!
Firstly, I don't think I want to introduce the ability to review album covers. I agree with MacabreEternal that it would likely make things even more confusing than they already are for newcomers, and I don't actually think many Academy attendees would use it. I think I need to work on making the site more newcomer friendly in the short term (which I plan to do), before bringing in anything else to rate / review.
Secondly, I will add a minimum rating eventually, but let's build some momentum first. You never have to worry about being a rating hog. As long as you're following the rules (which you clearly are), then you never have to worry about being banned. I say rate away! The system will correct itself over time.
Alright guys, I think The Gallery is cool, and a differentiating factor that could draw in more people. I need to sign off on my developers work this week, so let's put our heads together and figure out how the feature could be even better. This is what I'm thinking...
- You can't currently see whether you've rated an album cover or not. I'm a little reluctant to make that visible from everywhere on the site, as that might get confusing, but it makes sense that when you're on The Gallery page you can see a Your Cover Rating section (similar to the charts).
- I agree with others that it's really easy to accidentally rate an release when trying to rate a cover. The only solution I can think of is to separate them on the Release Page, maybe putting the Rate Release Cover section below the artwork itself?
- We could add a Cover Ratings section to the Profile page, so you can easily see what releases you've rated the cover for. Maybe even show a Cover Ratings distribution chart, like the one we built for releases.
Does anyone have any other ideas for improvements? If you have any feedback on any of the other recent changes / additions, please reply to the relevant threads. I don't want to let my developer go until everything we can do is done.
My suggestions are basically what you have there: I'd like to be able to see, at a glance, whether I've rated a cover, and also to be able to see a list/collection of album cover ratings (e.g. if I want to see which ones I've rated 5 or 0.5, for example).
Regarding accidentally rating the wrong thing, maybe the cover rating box could have some variant design, to make it visually stand out more? Or be placed elsewhere on the page?
I still can't quote so going to try and clear some cookies etc this side but I agree with all your points Ben.
I agree with all of Ben's suggestions, definitely place the rating box somewhere else on the page, since it's more of a secondary rating to begin with. As long as there's search functionality and the ability to sort/organize the ratings like the normal ratings I'll be happy.
Good news! All of my suggestions have now been implemented. Check it out, let me know what you think.
Cheers Ben, I'm liking it! One thing I've noticed: for some reason my cover rating for "Motörhead - The World is Yours" isn't showing up in my cover ratings, even though it is rated. Everything else is there, just that one.
Phew, finished rating all the album's I have rated. Now just a few more favourite covers (where I haven't actually listened to the album) to go. Will likely lead to more "bands to add" requests, sorry Ben :p
I've also noticed in my rating patterns that I'm significantly harsher in my cover ratings. I guess because I seek out albums I think I'll enjoy, so those ratings lean towards the positive, whereas covers I just take as I find them.
And another taste trend of mine I've noticed: I feel bands need to stop putting babies/children on their album covers. It never ends well.
I've also noticed in my rating patterns that I'm significantly harsher in my cover ratings. I guess because I seek out albums I think I'll enjoy, so those ratings lean towards the positive, whereas covers I just take as I find them.
Likewise. I've also noticed that a lot of bands I really respect have got fucking awful covers - Apostle of Solitude I'm looking at you (amongst others)!
Ben, I have an album cover I've just rated but changed my mind and wanted to delete my rating. Can you please implement the ability to delete cover ratings? Thanks.
You're correct that you can't delete your rating, but I didn't think it would be necessary since you can easily change it to be what you think it deserves. After all, you can judge an cover by it's...um...cover!