Author Topic: Demo listings  (Read 791 times)

Demo listings
« on: December 21, 2017, 02:27:11 pm »
Hey there
I'm confused about PS1 demo listings for the database. I'm hoping someone can clear this up for me.
How is a PlayStation 1 demo disc meant to be listed on the database? If it gets listed Official UK PlayStation Magazine Demo Disc 3 then the order in which it is listed on the database is wrong as it appears as the following:
   Official UK PlayStation Magazine Demo Disc 29
   Official UK PlayStation Magazine Demo Disc 3
   Official UK PlayStation Magazine Demo Disc 30
   Official UK PlayStation Magazine Demo Disc 31
If it gets listed as Official UK PlayStation Magazine Demo Disc 03 then it appears as:
   Official UK PlayStation Magazine Demo Disc 02
   Official UK PlayStation Magazine Demo Disc 03
   Official UK PlayStation Magazine Demo Disc 04
Now I requested some changes to demo names from 1, 2 and 3 to 01, 02 and 03 which were approved but then when I tried to do the others, they were not approved so can one of the database managers please tell me the correct way to list demo discs and then please correct it on the database so it is listed correctly please?
Thank you in advance.
raiden58237
It doesn't matter how much money you put into it, what matters is how much time and effort you put into it. Always quality over quantity.

tripredacus

Re: Demo listings
« Reply #1 on: December 22, 2017, 10:41:58 am »
Item name should be as shown on the item itself. I rejected all the ones that I saw because the packaging does not put a zero before the number for the single digit versions.

See here, the US version of the first disc does have 01, so it is ok to have that in the title:
https://vgcollect.com/item/7194

And I have reverted those 01-03 entries back. With the UK version, it does not say Disc 03, It says Disc 3.
https://vgcollect.com/item/136127

And the actual sleeve does not say Demo Disc either, so the name on 136127 should actually be Official UK PlayStation Magazine CD Disc 3. I would like to see what the actual disc looks like, because if it has a different naming, it can have that in alt-name field. Because I know sometimes people can get discs like this without their sleeves and perhaps not know what the actual title is. If the disc has a different name, then if that is in alt-name field then it will help people to find it easier.

The site is not doing what is known as a "natural sort" of the data in order to be able to put 3 before 4 but not before 29. The site is using alphanumeric sorting and that is why it ends up displaying in that way. There is a technical example here, which reveals what is happening behind the scenes:
https://www.copterlabs.com/natural-sorting-in-mysql/
However, it is not an easy fix as in that example because the way the solution is presented does not apply exactly to the PlayStation Demo category... because there is not a fixed text length in the entries. Also, there is no additional column for "numbering" in which to sort just those specific entries by.

So we should strive to have accurate information in the database and we should not alter the given name of an item so that it looks nicer to some people when viewing the entire category. We put the actual name as printed in the name field, and put additional search terms into alt-name field. If you want to put Demo Disc 03 into alt-name, I think that is OK. But if we want the category to display these demos in the natural order, this should only be accomplished by our developers modifying how the site displays data in certain cases.

Re: Demo listings
« Reply #2 on: December 28, 2017, 02:58:48 pm »
Hey there
Thank you for clarifying all of this for me. If I need to list any more of these kind of demos into the database, I will take into consideration the naming conventions for doing so. Thank you again.
raiden58237
It doesn't matter how much money you put into it, what matters is how much time and effort you put into it. Always quality over quantity.