Does this bother anyone else?

Content Manager\Download station CDP: No Description Provided, No Preview Available. Why would anyone go to the trouble of making content and not try to explain what it is?

When I see something like that with no description or thumbnail I just skip over it. It might be a very nice asset but if I don't know what it is than I move on.

I do quite the opposite ... being inquisitive

Nux_Vomica said:

Content Manager\Download station CDP: No Description Provided, No Preview Available. Why would anyone go to the trouble of making content and not try to explain what it is?

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If the asset is part of another, a dependency, that the author has made, like a handrail for the side of a loco, then maybe it's just as well that you don't know what it is and dont download it. It will get included with the main asset.

I like it very much when an author describes the asset and shows a nice thumbnail, especially a route. Sometimes a good asset name like 'Stop Sign' and then a good thumbnail are all that's needed, no description necessary, I would download that if I needed one, but when I see routes with no description I usually void them.

I just ignore anything that doesn't have either an image or a description. If the asset creator can't be bothered to include at least one of the two it speaks to the attention the creator probably paid to the asset itself.

Nux_Vomica said:

Content Manager\Download station CDP: No Description Provided, No Preview Available.

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Annoys me too, as do these things;

usernames that are in non-English.
usernames so long that they don't fit in the Surveyor titles box.

I don't like the logo-only without any description and won't download that content.

If the asset shows nothing but the black ... box, I'll wait a day or check a bit later in the same day for CM to catch up to the DLS.

I usually ignore poorly or non-described assets.
No picture, no download, no thread in the forum for routes, no download. You should be proud of your route and tell the world about it.
I know it can be a faff to get this right as a route builder, but as they say, a picture is worth a thousand words.

Aircraft pilots universally communicate in English, so should content creators as far as content title is concerned.

English is not the leading used language in the world

Even Bendorsey used far away blurry preview shots that barely showed what the asset truly looked like

JeffMorris, and many others, used all one same generic image for all their assets

I person in Russia and other European countries used crylic language symbols, that could no be used on the DLS

I download them … and I can always easily delete them later on

At least use Google for translating to English in the title.

It annoys me, but it does not appear to be a requirement? Things obviously are allowed on the DLS which don't have a thumbnail or description, so why are they then faulty assets for not having a thumbnail? And yes, the logo instead of a thumbnail is very annoying, but I notice those folks are usually uploading a lot of content, sometimes stuff like overhead electric lines and associated equipment that would be hard to do justice to in a small thumbnail. At least a short description would be helpful.

Annoys me and has done for donkeys years. DLS content should be blocked from uploading if it's incomplete, no description or preview piccie.

Same with assets that require dependencies from outside the DLS.

I would have thought that Auran then N3V hosting a central repository. Would have made that a strict stipulation of uploading there.

I mentioned this years and years back. Now endless searching for off site assets is a real pain in the rear.

I never download anything, particularly routes. Without preview or description.

I always try to provide as full a description as possible, and often feel that I am being too verbose! I also try to give a meaningful name but there is also the need to be concise. I find that taking a screenshot and editing it down to the required size can take quite some time, and the result is not always (to my mind) satisfactory when compared with what was on the computer screen! This is probably another area when some artistic flair is needed.

Is it just my feeling or is the Download Station being used less than in times past? Looking through quite a few "pages" yesterday, I was struck by how few downloads there were of "genuine" (ie. named and illustrated) models - many less than a hundred, whereas years ago even simple buildings seemed to attract downloads numbered in the hundreds or even thousands. Is this perhaps due in some part to the names consisting of a series of question marks, the illustrations consisting of a blank or almost blank baseboard tilted on its side, or maybe to the fact that there is now so much content available anyway?

Ray

cascaderailroad said:

English is not the leading used language in the world

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You miss the point entirely. The "username" tag in config.txt is supposed to be reserved for English. Other languages should use one of the available "username-xx" tags where xx is a 2-letter code for the non-English language.

lovetrainzloathen3v said:

DLS content should be blocked from uploading if it's incomplete, no description or preview piccie.

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I think its a computer automatic unmanned unmonitored upload … I believe No human is reviewing the uploads

My very first DLS uploads often contained no thumbnail because I did not know how to create them, so I normally forgive first uploaders when they make the same mistake. But, in general, I will not download individual assets from more experienced uploaders (those with a dozen or more uploads) who do not include a thumbnail and a description. It may be my loss but as one other poster has commented in another thread on this issue, if they cannot be bothered to put the final "spit and polish" on their product then what does that say about the product itself?

cascaderailroad said:

I think its a computer automatic unmanned unmonitored upload … I believe No human is reviewing the uploads

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I doubt that there has to be any human involvement, to sort the wheat from the chaff.

We all great busy/lazy and take shortcuts. Especially when in a hurry to "publish" something that was a lot of time and effort. But you are correct. I do wish creators would clearly label and describe their work.

Same deal with sessions...

Nux_Vomica said:

Content Manager\Download station CDP: No Description Provided, No Preview Available. Why would anyone go to the trouble of making content and not try to explain what it is?

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I asked about this a couple of months ago, I see sessions with descriptions but then fail to tell you what route the session is made for. "Drive a train from Podunk to Wherearewe and follow the time table to deliver goods". Fine, now WHAT
route does this work with?

I agree about the lack of creator supplied information in session descriptions but if you download the session CM will automatically download the route it requires (if you do not already have it).

This whole issue is a matter of courtesy and common sense on the part of creators and not a technical requirement of the software. Apart from insisting that every uploaded asset have a name, a thumbnail and a description, I really do not see what an automated asset uploading system could do to enforce meaningful descriptions and accurate names and thumbnails.

Trainz users come from all over the world and English is often not their native language.

Even among native English speakers writing styles and methods of description will vary enormously.

Different types of assets will require totally different descriptions. For some assets the description tag would have to be an essay.

In short, there are so many considerations and variables that I doubt that any automated system (or AI) could cope.

Then we have the asset names, particularly for sets of complex objects such as catenaries where user invented code names that are impossible for anyone else to decipher seem to be very popular - but that could easily be another thread.

We can (and do) complain about this as much as we like but it is up to the individual asset creators, many of whom do a very good job of describing their creations.