How can we make this community more welcoming to new scripters?

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18

Ah true but I prefer a thumbs up =P

(Keep up the awesome work!)

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19

I also like the thumbs up more than the heart, because i can see who gave it

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20

@HeelsLover69 Click on the dots and you’ll see who liked it too :stuck_out_tongue:

image

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21

Ah ok, great! thanks!

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22

I’m hoping to start working on some scripts once my Handy comes in, but right now I’m just trying to find the best place to start. I emailed myself some links but not sure what all applies. But any tips on a good starting point, workflow, etc. would be helpful. Also I don’t really know where in the forums this info would really be. I’ve done a search or two, probably just missing it.

Also unsure if I will need a windows vm to script since I run linux.

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23

@Aguy1724 Install JoyFunScripter (requires Microsoft .NET and Windows) and have a look at my getting started guide.

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24

There are some guides and threads already on this site with some tips that really helped me when starting out. I also got good feedback on my first bits of work that I shared that really helped out. More than anything scripting is time consuming. If people want to get into scripting they should be aware that a substantial amount of time is required to make even small scripts (my first script had 6-7 minutes of action and took around 2 hours).
Perhaps we could add a “New Scripters” category on the site as a place for people to post tips, ask questions, and get feedback on works in progress.

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25

I think the ‘getting feedback’ idea is pretty interesting. I know some people have partially completed some scripts and posted them asking for feedback. But I also know some new scripters have posted completed scripts and also asked for feedback. So I’m not sure the best way to handle this from an organization standpoint

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26

If they are ones beyond the two mentioned above:

Can you link them to me please?

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27

Here are some more links to forum posts related to scripting:

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28

@hugecat where is there a link to the requirements for levels in the community? Thank you

this link does not seem to work for me, sorry and thank you

30

Wel Sentinel,

I finaly managed to install it.

My biggest hickup was that i couldnt get it started. I was like how do i get it started!
The checklist was checked, all the requirements where met.
If you could add the instruction that a .rar file should be unpacked. :flushed:

I also tried blender… :expressionless:
Because the option of motion tracking.

Greetings

Bob

31

I found talking to ‘pro’ scripters has been very helpful, got me away from the painful blender add-on and a small discussion pointed me in the right direction to fix a broken script that took me ages to make, I haven’t been here that long so I haven’t seen any toxicity, everyone I’ve communicated with has been nice \ informative. It may be off putting being new and talking to someone with lots of experience, sentinal linked me a starting guide which helped me get past the “oh shit how do I get it to work” stage so more in tutorials and some in video format may help people feel less offput, a better template for uploads keeping in mind that amateur scripters like me can’t read code so a simple but informative template would be good, I’m fearful that I’ll make a free script that someone has made as a paid script, my job is an essential service so I don’t need the money, I don’t want my little hobbie to cut into someone’s livelihood so an easy way to search paid scripts would be cool.

My experiences as a amateur scripter have been as followed
Finding this place - stumbled upon RTS on reddit which then led me here.
Starting scripting - absolute bitch finding info and software, community members here help with that a lot.
Posting scripts - confusing, I take screen shots and use ms paint to get the heat map, I’m not sure how to add my data to the template so I delete all and post from scratch with data I think is revelant.
Community vibe - people seem to be happy to take the time and answer questions, seems like a nice place.

Finding RTS and eroscripts and getting software working was the hardest thing for me, I would of been making scripts 3 years ago if I could get anything to work

32

As someone who found this site on Handy subreddit here are my thoughts on how to make this community more welcoming to new scripters/ members:

  1. Make the site open - it’s really confusing when you expect to see site about scripting but instead what you are looking at is create account page. Not a deal breaker, but I don’t see a reason why I couldn’t see what I can expect from the site before making an account.

  2. Stop with “perfectly matching script” phrase in paid scripts category. There is no such thing as perfectly matching script. Different people are using different methods for their scripts even among paid scripters. People who are starting with scripting might feel overwhelmed with the pressure that their script will be worse or not enjoyable because they don’t have support of SLR or Realsync. I tried some of the paid scripts from SLR and free scripts from here and I didn’t notice difference. Maybe they do feel better because you are actually paying money for it - I dunno, that wasn’t my case.

  3. Unpin advertisements from the site and stop favorizing paid content. I’m talking specifically about these topics:

The reason why I think they shouldn’t be pinned is because every time a new paid script is posted here all of those informations except WiP list are posted anyway. It’s also really affecting mobile version of the site because pinned advertisments take a lot of screen space:

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Either make it one topic that collects all of the above informations or add a banner on the site like it’s normally done for advertisements.

Good example of well pinned posts is #software category.

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33

Definitely some good points here.

  1. It shouldn’t be too long until the site will become public. There was ongoing discussion about it in this post. It kind of stopped a few days, so not sure when exactly there will be decisions, but it’s something that’s coming soon I guess.

  2. I agree and disagree. Yes, there is no such thing as perfect script - I learned scripting from scripts of others, some paid ones too and there are definitely differences between people who scripted. I can see how people, especially one who are starting with scripting can feel worse than commercial scripters, but on the other side it’s still about marketing their products so I would leave it for their decision.

  3. I agree, the pinned posts are the first thing that new members of the community see and they are always visible on top of their categories. It definitely feels odd seeing most of the pinned topics being about buying scripts / becoming commercial scripters, especially that it gets repeated in the most of paid script posts. We should aim to make the site as clear and friendly to new scripters as possible, not make it a guide to become commercial scripter. When you are making good progress at scripting @Realcumber will contact you anyway, multiple times if you are not decided.

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34

I’ll address these points later if I have time, but I need to point out some things that aren’t true or fair to say at all:

In hindsight, I do regret discussing with you options to join SLR/RS, but past is the past and to date and ever since ES began, all users have been positively reaching out to me in regards to commercial scripting, not vice versa.

@Husky - Would have been great to have you a part of SLR/RS, especially with your feelings about community not being supportive enough of your work and hence deleting your account, but
you did say you were undecided and I was merely trying to follow up.
I wish you gave me a clear no at first, but again, past is the past - all good - just making things clear I wont reach out to any users not interested in commercial scripting and doesnt make sense too because there are those sticky posts that are there if you choose to decide to do so yourself to help with that

If any @moderators disagree with any stickies or these comments, please feel to chime in - this is the first comments I’m hearing about any of them being offensive, as that was never the intent, and I’ve only heard many positives about having them to date

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I’m pretty sure I wrote that if I will ever change my mind about becoming paid scripter I will contact you. In the end I was asked about it by you about 4-5 times in total. This is my point of view, I’m pretty sure you converted this way a lot of scripters and I don’t judge - it’s impossible to verify it anyway. Just sharing my opinion about points made by @Astramax. I don’t find it offensive in any way as this topic was made for discussion in the first place.

However I find that the amount of sticky posts regarding paid scripts is a little ridiculous, but maybe I’m being paranoid. I think we should stick to only “about the X category” sticky posts to not favorize one side of the scripting over another.

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36

My opinion is to reduce pinned posts in general, not specifically targeted at pinned posts about paid content.

Discourse’s default pinned behavior is such that once a user looks at a pinned post, it becomes unpinned for them. That way you keep fresh content at the top once someone’s already seen your ‘important’ posts.

We had a mod discussion to move away from this behavior, which is fine, but it makes me dislike pinned posts even more.

I think maybe part of the problem is that we may not be putting posts related to paid stuff in the right place. So it may seem like they’re out of place or that there’s a conflict of interest.

37

I think we had bit different unique communication @Husky, but I just wanted to mention and clarify it is not the norm to reach out, that was all. All good, didnt mean to infer anything otherwise as well, but yes you’re right, this is just topic is here for discussion in the first place.

Thanks for joining the community and welcome on your first post @Astramax -
Although I do think it would be more beneficial to figure ways to focus on supporting free scripted content rather than worrying about paid content posts, Ill address your issues:

When you’ve been scripting as long as I have, and have seen every method and know what works better and what doesnt, and whats best in a script for any particular toy - then yes, you will be able to see that there is such thing as a ‘perfectly matching script,’ which I’ve helped many fellow users also to try to attain.
There’s a reason why I have live recordings of my scripts in action (am I the only one?) - for me and many customers that prefer max immersion, its worth the extra time and effort to get it there and I’m sure most guys definitely notice - but ultimately noone is or should be expecting that level especially from free or new scripters

I do think it is still important to highlight quality and is to be expected if paying for scripts to give proper value for the customer though

I also do think blaming paid script word phrasing is bit scape-goating the fact that lurkers could maybe show some more vocal support for their favorite free content to encourage more ongoing creation of it instead?

Not sure about the comment about scripts not getting support of SLR or Realsync - I’m a bit confused at that statement and Im not sure what that means

We have many fellow paid scripters that regularly comment and give props to new and existing nonpaid work, so not sure what further support you are expecting or hoping for?

If less users positively comment or give feedback or support on free users posts, are we really to blame paid script posts for that?

There was a reason why certain topics have been pinned - They are the most commonly asked questions and pinning them have prevented ongoing threads about the same questions, and rather than constant new threads being brought up, about the same questions, its easy to find info - if you dont want to read or see it, you dont have to click on it - but I think there can be improvement on where pinned posts can go for sorting and organization sake - maybe we can consider going back to that ‘unpinned after clicking’ behaviour?

I agree with @husky - I think its fair to avoid prioritizing any category, including free over paid posts, and vice versa
Overall, it doesn’t matter to me what you guys prefer - I’d rather avoid unnecessary drama, so please do what you guys feel is best

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38

It’s not working for me then. I cannot see more than one script at a time because of pinned topics, but every time I visit the site I can see sticky sexlikereal advertisements.

It’s hard to ignore it on mobile because I can every time I visit the site I can see how to become paid scripter even if I am not interested. If these are frequently asked questions then just make one post that covers all of it. Maybe I am the only one reading the posts here but here is the description of howto category:

Collection of tutorials, frequently asked questions, and other knowledge. Topics in this category may only be created by trust level 2 and up.

So I don’t really see a reason why pinned posts with FAQ have to be spread across every part of this site, especially that they contian affiliate links, which of course you don’t mention. Good money, huh?