Missing: Finnish magazines

[Zaltys]

Not sure if I'm just using the search function incorrectly, but the site seems to completely lack Finnish magazines? Such as:

- Pelit (major one, been running since 1993 or so)
- Mikrobitti (first published since 1984, still running but has became much more mainstream -- and uninteresting -- after 2003)
- Printti (one of the oldest, and already archived over at https://www.flickr.com/photos/pelittaako/collections/72157650727960712/ )
- C=Lehti (archived fully on Internet Archive: https://archive.org/details/c-lehti )
- Enter (Mainstream, never bought this myself, but it ran from 2000 to 2006.)
- Kompuutteri Kaikille (Was renamed to Kotimikro in 2004, still running. Started as a hybrid gaming/software/hardware magazine, but has become focused mostly on hardware over the years.)
- Micropost (hobbyist magazine 1983-1985, very low print numbers. Never seen a copy of it myself.)
- MSX Uutiset (hobbyist MSX magazine; first issue is on Internet Archive - https://archive.org/details/MSXUutiset11987 )

There's also a couple of 'magazines' published by game stores:

- Com Club (little known monochrome publication by long-defunct Com 2001 game store, included the catalog of the store but also game reviews, news, etc. Here's one scan from Internet Archive: https://archive.org/details/comclub199303 )
- Trioposti (published by Triosoft game store, who are still active. Started as a small leaflet, became magazine-sized over the years, full of reviews, and ran for a couple of years during the golden age)

Not quite sure if the last two fit the scope of this site, but the rest do. Is there any particular reason why they're excluded, or is it just because of lack of contributors? I could upload some covers for the gallery at least, if the entries were added.

By the way, one modern Finnish magazine worth mentioning is Skrolli - https://skrolli.fi/en/. It covers wide range of topics, including retro gaming and computers. Too fresh to be included in this database, but I suspect that some folks here might be interested in it. It's made for (and by) hobbyists, most of whom have been gaming since 80s or earlier.

[Zaltys]

Oh, and there's a few others that I failed to list.

- Pelaaja (100% gaming focused, been running since 2002.)
- PC Pelaaja (separated from the former in 2005 and ran for a couple of years, focusing on PC gaming while the other focused on consoles.)
- Joyboy (Another game store magazine, ran from 1994-2001. Never seen this one myself.)
- Pelimestari (Finnish translation of Games Master, ran from 1998 to 2005).
- PC Gamer Suomi (Finnish translation of PC Gamer, ran from 1998 to at least 2000,. not sure for how long)
- Nintendo-lehti (Finnish translation of Nintendo Power, ran from 1990 to 1994.)

I don't see the last three as a high priority for archival, since the English versions have been scanne.

There were also some short-lived Finnish Playstation 1 & 2 magazines that I know next to nothing about.

[sCZther]

The focus here is mostly on english and to an extent japanese magazines... which just means you are the best person to take on the job of managing a finnish section! I am sure covers and database entries would be welcome. And if you are brave enough for scanning, that would be fantastic!

[Zaltys]

I am not the best editor, but I was already planning to upload some of them to the Internet Archive. So might as well upload the scans here, too.

The few that I can scan, anyway. Lets see, by the mag:

- Pelit: Not the top priority, this already has a tribute site over at http://www.jukkaeronen.com/web/fantasya/pelit.html. But I have already digitized some of the earlier issues for my own use. Like with some other magazines, I was thinking of uploading one of the oldest issues to the Internet Archive and seeing if somebody files a takedown for it. If it's still there after a few months, I'll think of uploading more.
- Mikrobitti: I own most of the older issues, but won't be scanning them. The magazine is still being published, and the publisher has digitized the oldest issues (1984-1989) and is selling them - https://www.mikrobitti.fi/retrobitti.
- C= Lehti: Already fully on Internet Archive, though could use some better scans. I'll probably rescan a few issues, and if I do then I might as well upload them here. 
- Com Club: Already scanned and uploaded what I have on hand to the Internet Archive. I might be able to find a couple more issues in storage.
- Trioposti: I should have some issues in storage, but haven't found them. Will scan whatever I find... eventually.
- Enter: Can't scan, never owned a single issue and I haven't seen any in flea markets for the past decade or so.
- Kompuutteri Kaikille: Same as above.
- Micropost: Never seen a single issue, the mag is probably completely lost to time by now.
- Joyboy: Same as above.
- MSX Uutiset: First issue is on the Internet Archive. I used to own a few more, but seem to have lost them over the years. Might still turn up somewhere, though.
- Pelaaja: Never owned many of these, was more of a fan of the competing Pelit-magazine.
- PC Gamer (Suomi): Same as above, and it's nearly identical to the UK version anyway. 
- PC Pelaaja: 2005 is not quite retro enough for my tastes, but I own most of the issues. The mag is no longer being published, and high on my to-scan list. It had relatively low print numbers, so might as well make sure that it gets archived.
- Pelimestari: Didn't even know that this existed before I checked wikipedia.
- Nintendo-lehti: Nintendo Power is already fully archived, and this is just a translation with very few additional articles (and those are mostly fan art and pen pal sections). Might still scan what I have some day, but not a high priority.

Come to think about it, there's also the Pelit vuosikirja (Games yearbook) which ran from 1987 to 1991. Large-sized publication that was full of game reviews. Would warrant a separate entry, since it's not strictly a part of the Pelit lehti (more of a precursor). Those yearbooks are legendary over here. I'll be able to scan one of them. I have a couple more, but those are in tatters (and full of scribbles). Not suited for scanning. And I likely won't find replacements, those go for $100+ on the Finnish ebay equivalent. (...like I said, those are legendary. Most midaged gamers remember them from their childhood.)

[sCZther]

I am sure any scans that adhere to the guidelines here would be very appreciated. And even just filling the database, so we know what's missing.

[E-Day]

Definitely entering any magazines you know of in the database would be most welcome. Several of us here can help you if you run into any issues.

[Zaltys]

If I've understood correctly, I can't do anything before the main database entries are added. And that it'll take a lot of work to add even a single entry. So... priorities.

Pelit, Pelaaja, Pelit vuosikirja, and PC Pelaaja are the ones that probably should be added first. Since those had gaming as the main focus. I'll dig up a list of issue numbers if needed, just lemme know.

Mikrobitti and C-Lehti are about 50% gaming content.

Printti was only about 20% gaming. No reviews, but occasional maps and solutions. Not sure if site-relevant.

Don't know enough about Joyboy (probably 100% gaming), Micropost, Enter, and Kompuutteri Kaikille: the last two are likely gaming-light.

As for the hobbyist / game store 'magazines': Trioposti and Com Club were mostly focused on games, MSX Uutiset was gaming/hardware.

And as I mentioned, Nintendo-lehti, Pelimestari, and PC Gamer (Suomi) are translations of English mags and therefore not high priority for archival. Not sure if those are even worth adding here.

[kitsunebi]

7 hours ago, Zaltys said:

If I've understood correctly, I can't do anything before the main database entries are added. And that it'll take a lot of work to add even a single entry. So... priorities.

Pelit, Pelaaja, Pelit vuosikirja, and PC Pelaaja are the ones that probably should be added first. Since those had gaming as the main focus. I'll dig up a list of issue numbers if needed, just lemme know.

You are possibly the only member of this site to know anything at all about those mags, since the only mags most members here have access to are from the USA.  So adding information about them would be entirely up to you.  Unfortunately, due to the way the site is structured, I'm not sure that you (being a regular member) would actually be allowed to add issues to a database.  So you would have to gather all information about a given magazine, arrange it in a spreadsheet, and email that to someone able to input it into the site (by whom I mean @Phillyman - I no longer have the ability to create databases, so don't ask me!) 

[Phillyman]

On 8/18/2019 at 6:20 PM, kitsunebi77 said:

(by whom I mean @Phillyman - I no longer have the ability to create databases, so don't ask me!) 

This has been fixed, also if you just give me a list of all the Official magazine titles, I can create the categories and then give you permission to fill in the records.

[Zaltys]

11 hours ago, Phillyman said:

This has been fixed, also if you just give me a list of all the Official magazine titles, I can create the categories and then give you permission to fill in the records.

I'm going to start with ones that focus fully on gaming:

- Pelit - started in 1992, with eight issues per year. One of the oldest gaming mags worldwide that's still being published, nearly at the 300 issue milestone.
- Peliasema - 1998 to October 2001, 29 issues, console-gaming focused.
- Pelaaja - 2002, monthly. Still published, passed the 200 issue milestone a few months back.
- Pelit vuosikirja - 1987 to 1991, one per year, two in 1990 and 1991. 
- PC Pelaaja - December 2005 to March(?) 2007, 22 issues. 

So that'd be a whole lot of database entries.

Other than those, rest have various problems. Such as Joyboy: no point in adding the mag, when I haven't managed to track down a single issue and have no idea how many there are in total. And early years of Mikrobitti were about 80% gaming and gaming hardware, but like I mentioned, those have been digitalized by the publisher and are being sold.

Then there's the mags that were only partially about gaming. Not sure if these fit the scope of the site.

- C=Lehti (1987 to 1992, 29 issues, Commodore-focused. Sample issue here:  https://archive.org/details/C-Lehti-1987-3/ :: about 40% gaming-related content. Already fully scanned on IA.)
- Com Club (1992 to 1993? I doubt it passed the 20 issue mark. Published by a game shop, mostly text reviews plus the store catalog taking up third of the 'mag'. Sample issue - https://archive.org/details/comclub199206 )
- Trioposti (1988 to 19??. Another game store magazine. It started as 40-page B&W mag with reviews and articles, but by end of 1992 it had turned into a simple leaflet with nothing but store catalog in it. Not sure how many issues there were that could be counted as a magazine. Sample issue, not that you'll get much out of it without being fluent in Finnish - https://archive.org/details/trioposti198801 )

[sCZther]

I feel like anything you add to the database is valuable. At worst the info will be somewhere

[kitsunebi]

1 minute ago, sCZther said:

I feel like anything you add to the database is valuable. At worst the info will be somewhere

Yeah, I know there are already sites out there covering gaming mags in Brazil, France, Italy and Germany.  Dunno about Finland, though.  Can't say I've ever looked.  But if there isn't already such a place...well then why not here?

[PixelBoy]

 I don't think this attempt to cover Finnish magazines has gone anywhere, as about five years have passed since the first post by Zaltys, and there isn't even a "Finland" entry in the database.

In any case, I strongly support the suggestion. I am biased here, as some of the magazines mentioned were important reading to me during my "formative years as a gamer", but I think adding those would make a number of people happy. At least two, Zaltys (whoever he is) and me, and two is a nice number too!

But even objectively speaking, those magazines have a big part of gaming history in them. One unique feature in the Finnish magazine scene is that unlike US/UK/some other country magazines which come and go and are very short-lived, Finnish magazines tend to be very long-lived and often remain in print even after changing publisher.

Just the two "big ones" Pelit (=Games) and Pelaaja (=Gamer) are among the longest running game magazines in the world.

• Pelit started in 1992 (or 1987 if you count the yearly books as the starting point) and it is still going on, with the latest issue being #335.
• Pelaaja started in 2002 and it is still going on too, with the latest issue being #253. (As a bit unrelated comment, Pelaajacast is the longest running active Finnish-language podcast, starting from 2008 and the latest episode being #329, and there are a few special episodes without a number).

And both magazines have had some spin-off magazines, which add at least 100 additional magazines to the overall count. So just those two magazines have over 50 years and about 600 issues combined. That alone makes them worth adding to any magazine database, if anyone asks me.

The other magazines that Zaltys mentioned (and few that he didn't mention) are more debatable.

 

On 8/19/2019 at 1:20 AM, kitsunebi said:

You are possibly the only member of this site to know anything at all about those mags, since the only mags most members here have access to are from the USA.  So adding information about them would be entirely up to you.  Unfortunately, due to the way the site is structured, I'm not sure that you (being a regular member) would actually be allowed to add issues to a database.  So you would have to gather all information about a given magazine, arrange it in a spreadsheet, and email that to someone able to input it into the site (by whom I mean @Phillyman - I no longer have the ability to create databases, so don't ask me!) 

As it happens, there are at least two of us who know something about them!

I would be more than happy to edit some information about them, but it seems a bit complicated if it's done like that. Is that still the case? Adding one magazine would require two people to edit the information?

Anyway, I would be willing to help with that, if I can. If I can't enter anything directly (which would be understandable), I would need at least some templates/instructions on how to do it. I'm not sure how fast and how much I am able to participate, but probably more than what has been done until now. So at least one magazine issue entry guaranteed!

I am also able to arrange some actual magazines to be scanned at some point. I have been able to save some magazines from being trashed, and I can probably find some cheap issues from local shops/auctions. But that's a topic for later discussion, I think.

 

On 8/29/2019 at 1:01 PM, kitsunebi said:

Yeah, I know there are already sites out there covering gaming mags in Brazil, France, Italy and Germany.  Dunno about Finland, though.  Can't say I've ever looked.  But if there isn't already such a place...well then why not here?

If there are such sites, I have missed them. There are some sites that have some content available, but nothing that is properly organised, and some sites don't pay any attention to actual scanning quality. I suppose having something over nothing makes sense, but something better would be nice to have.

And indeed, I think it's a good idea to have a site like this to cover more content. If everyone is re-inventing the same wheel over and over again, with a different language or whatever, it seems like waste of time and resources.

 

[MigJmz]

We would need more info about these magazines like starting date / end of them , how the monthly format were published, and the years to add db entries to them for starters. 

[kitsunebi]

6 hours ago, PixelBoy said:

I would be more than happy to edit some information about them, but it seems a bit complicated if it's done like that. Is that still the case? Adding one magazine would require two people to edit the information?

You definitely can't create the Finland category or a category for a magazine not already in the database, but as for whether or not you have the ability to add individual issues, you can test that easily enough.  Here's a random, completely empty database:

https://www.retromags.com/magazines/fra/joystick/

If you see the blue "add new issue" button on the right, then you would be able to add entries to the database once created.

If you can't see that button, then yeah, it would be up to someone else to add the entries, though I believe you would be able to edit them and add missing information.  Hopefully you're able to add the issues yourself - most things that get done around here get done by the people who have an interest in doing them, since it's not like it's anyone's job, or anything.

And if you've got cover images, once a gallery is created you can upload those as well.

[PixelBoy]

15 hours ago, MigJmz said:

We would need more info about these magazines like starting date / end of them , how the monthly format were published, and the years to add db entries to them for starters. 

I can find at least some of the information by using different sources, if I have some idea about how to do it. That's what I meant by templates and instructions earlier.

An earlier post describes that in theory: "So you would have to gather all information about a given magazine, arrange it in a spreadsheet, and email that to someone able to input it into the site."

But that doesn't tell what information exactly, how to place it and organise it in a spreadsheet, and then I would also need to know the email address where to send it.

And when it comes to information about individual issues, it makes a big difference if they can be sent one by one, or maybe divided into calendar years, or by having over 300 issues all in one.

 

11 hours ago, kitsunebi said:

If you see the blue "add new issue" button on the right, then you would be able to add entries to the database once created.

If you can't see that button, then yeah, it would be up to someone else to add the entries, though I believe you would be able to edit them and add missing information.  Hopefully you're able to add the issues yourself - most things that get done around here get done by the people who have an interest in doing them, since it's not like it's anyone's job, or anything.

And if you've got cover images, once a gallery is created you can upload those as well.

I don't see that button unfortunately. That's understandable though, as I just created my account and unlurked.

How is that supposed to work? Is it something that gets activated after a number of posts (like some forums have 25-50 posts), or after some period of time (like some forums have 1-6 months), or does it need to be activated by moderators only in selected cases?

I was able to see that Edit button on already existing issues, and it even opened a page where I could edit information. Obviously I didn't try to save anything, so I don't know if it works all the way or not.

I can find some cover images for sure. But once again, I need instructions on how to do it.

Is it OK to use covers from official digital editions, is it OK to rip covers from places like Archive.org as temporary placeholders, or if I scan something myself what kind of scan settings should I be using, what is the right pixel and file size, and so on.

At least some magazine issues which are listed but don't have actual magazine scans have a disclaimer that they are temporary cover images, so I guess that there are at least two kinds of images: temporary and final. Final images are probably taken from the scanned magazines, which makes sense, but what should the temporary images be like?

 

And even though I am getting ahead of things here, is there a guide on how to edit those individual issue descriptions? I have checked some, and I can't really find a pattern there.

For instance, some magazines have reviews listed, some magazines have reviews and scores from those reviews listed, and one magazine had simply the index page scanned as an image. So is there the right way vs. many wrong ways to do it, or if it's properly describing the magazine content, more or less anything goes?

[kitsunebi]

In order for the database to be created, you need, at the very least, knowledge of how many issues there are and when they were published.  For a magazine that was monthly without interruptions or extra issues (i.e. 12 issues per year), as long as you know when the first issue was published, the dates on subsequent issues are easy to figure out even without having access to all of the issues for reference.  For anything published irregularly or more often than monthly, gathering correct publication information becomes much more difficult unless you can reference all of the issues.

Filling out every single field, especially the contents, is not necessary, though appreciated.  That information can always be filled out at a later time, as well.  Step one is getting the database created in the first place.

As for gallery covers, they can come from anywhere, but try to use a high resolution image.  Anything you see marked as temporary is likely a low res image since nothing better could be found.  When covers found online or elsewhere are in rough condition, it's preferable to clean them up in Photoshop or other editing software before adding them to the gallery.  Gallery covers should be treated as if they were our own magazine scans - quality is a priority, so we don't need someone's camera snapshots of a mag from an eBay listing showing up in the gallery.  Only when there is no better option available should a subpar image be used, and those should be replaced at a later time if a better scan becomes available.

[PixelBoy]

10 hours ago, kitsunebi said:

In order for the database to be created, you need, at the very least, knowledge of how many issues there are and when they were published.  For a magazine that was monthly without interruptions or extra issues (i.e. 12 issues per year), as long as you know when the first issue was published, the dates on subsequent issues are easy to figure out even without having access to all of the issues for reference.  For anything published irregularly or more often than monthly, gathering correct publication information becomes much more difficult unless you can reference all of the issues.

Unfortunately it will be harder rather than easy.

For instance, Pelit has had years when it had seven issues per year, eight issues per year, ten issues per year, until it became a monthly publication. And that's when an interesting feature of the Finnish magazine scene comes to play: magazines which have "12 issues per year" very often have only 11 issues.

January issue is 1/[year] and December issue is 12/[year], but during the summer months there is an issue called 6-7/[year], meaning that there's only one actual issue covering two months and two numbers. And no, that issue is never twice as big compared to the normal issues...

But be that as it may, I have started collecting what information I can easily find and I am organising it in a spreadsheet. In some cases I must do some educated guessing about some things, but I hope possible mistakes can be corrected later.

[PixelBoy]

Here's an update about the Finnish magazines.

My plan was to do only some background research and maybe forward some magazines to people with scanners, but there have been some unexpected developments, so the short version of the story is that I will be scanning magazines myself.

I have received some magazines for free, for instance, someone was moving and was about to throw magazines away, unless someone wanted them, and I took them.

I have found some magazines in auctions relatively cheap, and the best part is that many times the sellers have given some free bonus magazines, in one case the free bonus magazines were actually rarer than the magazines I was actually paying for!

There have been strange happenings, like when I was bidding for a pile of magazines, but the price got a bit too high for me. A while later I unexpectedly happened to cross paths with the guy who actually won the pile, and he only wanted a couple of magazines from what he had bought, and he sold me most of them cheaper than the auction price was.

And as I wrote earlier, I was not going to do any scanning, as I didn't have a good enough scanner. I happened to find a professional A3 size scanner that was on sale much cheaper than the actual price is. I thought it was a pricing error, but I decided to order it anyway. Soon after I made the purchase, the price was raised, not once, but twice, and you can't currently buy the scanner at all, which is a strong indication that it was a pricing error of some kind. Whatever the case there may be, I actually did get my scanner for a cheap price, and it's a very good scanner! 

So now, unexpectedly, I have a few piles of magazines and a scanner, it's almost like some kind of destiny was putting all these pieces together.

I am probably able to upload something soon, but first someone would need to create those database entries for new magazines and a new country. So, who's the person to send information and details about these magazines to?

[kitsunebi]

One of the annoying things about having different "ranks" of members is that it's impossible for one rank to easily know what another rank can or cannot do.  I realize you're just a "newcomer," but it MIGHT be possible for you to create database entries.  Granted, you would only be able to do so for a magazine category that already exists, but if that's the case, all you need is for the category to be created and then you could create the entries yourself, which would be best since you're the only one with the info on the mags in the first place.

If you CAN'T currently add issues to an already existing database, then possibly that's an ability that only becomes available to people with "team member" status.  If so, no problem.  Once you scan/edit a single mag approved for uploading, you'll get bumped up to team member, at which point you'll definitely be able to create database entries (though again, either a database moderator or a...whatever the heck those guys with the red names are called... will have to create the magazine category first, so you'll have to ask one of them to do that, along with a download category for your completed scan.  Luckily, all they'll need to do that is the magazine's country and title.  The rest you would be able to do yourself once you're a team member.  (Or possibly you could get someone to do it for you, but you'd need to give them all the info you have on the various fields on the database entry form, and then sit back and hope they find the time to actually do it.  I always figure, if I've got to type out all that info to send to someone anyway, I may as well just input it myself. )

Congrats on the "lucky steal" A3 scanner, btw.  I personally think it's FAR better to have an additional person out there scanning their own mags than to have them donate their mags to someone who likely already has an enormous pile of mags waiting to be scanned (I know I do).  Although maybe someday people will have to start sending YOU donations of oversized British mags that can't be scanned with a regular A4 scanner.

[PixelBoy]

I guess by now we can assume that mods don't read this thread, or are too shy to announce themselves...

I really wouldn't want to randomly contact people who are listed as moderators, but if none of them is going to respond, maybe that's what I have to do anyway?

  

On 4/9/2024 at 12:08 PM, kitsunebi said:

One of the annoying things about having different "ranks" of members is that it's impossible for one rank to easily know what another rank can or cannot do.  I realize you're just a "newcomer," but it MIGHT be possible for you to create database entries.  Granted, you would only be able to do so for a magazine category that already exists, but if that's the case, all you need is for the category to be created and then you could create the entries yourself, which would be best since you're the only one with the info on the mags in the first place.

I don't think I can create anything, at least I haven't been able to find such buttons in the interface.

What makes the whole thing even more confusing is that there's conflicting information about this. The FAQ page says this:

Quote

"We have recently deployed four databases that all of our members can add information into."

But the scanning guide says this:

Quote

"Click the "Submit a file" button and select the magazine from the dropdown. If you do not see it there, you will have to ask an admin to create a category for you."

So am I to believe the FAQ page or scanning guide about whether I can add information or not?

 And what does "member" on the FAQ page mean? Anyone who has an account (a "member"), or someone who has reached the forum status "Member" with a capital M?

 

On 4/9/2024 at 12:08 PM, kitsunebi said:

Luckily, all they'll need to do that is the magazine's country and title.  The rest you would be able to do yourself once you're a team member.  (Or possibly you could get someone to do it for you, but you'd need to give them all the info you have on the various fields on the database entry form, and then sit back and hope they find the time to actually do it.  I always figure, if I've got to type out all that info to send to someone anyway, I may as well just input it myself. )

I don't mind entering the data myself, after all, like you imply, I probably know the details about the magazines, but it's very likely that (not counting this thread) the mods have never even heard about those magazines.

 

On 4/9/2024 at 12:08 PM, kitsunebi said:

I personally think it's FAR better to have an additional person out there scanning their own mags than to have them donate their mags to someone who likely already has an enormous pile of mags waiting to be scanned (I know I do).  Although maybe someday people will have to start sending YOU donations of oversized British mags that can't be scanned with a regular A4 scanner.

Helping with some magazine scans at some point is not out of the question. But for the time being the Finnish magazines should be the priority, especially to be fair to all who have contributed to get this thing rolling at all.

There is certain irony in the fact that I actually happen to have some British magazines which are even listed in the database but not yet scanned, so I could upload those anytime I want, I guess. But uploading the "real stuff" seems to be impossible.

[kitsunebi]

I'm pretty sure your post has been seen by mods, but (I don't think I'm saying anything out of line here), I wouldn't say any of them are exactly chatty cathys when it comes to the forums.  In the past, Areala was always reliably on hand to interact with forum posters, but she's been MIA for a while now.

You should absolutely PM someone if you want something done.  I'd suggest it be a database moderator rather than a curator.  Phillyman used to single-handedly take care of database creation, but the the reason the database moderator position was created in the first place was to free up some of his time for other things.

ONCE the databases have been created, you should be able to edit them.  Which is what is meant by "all of our members can add information into."  Many of the databases in the past were created with the bare minimum of information entered in the various fields, and those fields were editable by all members. Whether you have to be a Member with a capital M or not I couldn't tell you.  No one but curators and database mods can create a new database category, and I don't believe anyone less than team member can create new issue entries in already-existing categories.

Edited May 24 by kitsunebi

[PixelBoy]

On 5/25/2024 at 1:50 AM, kitsunebi said:

I'm pretty sure your post has been seen by mods, but (I don't think I'm saying anything out of line here), I wouldn't say any of them are exactly chatty cathys when it comes to the forums.

You should absolutely PM someone if you want something done. 

Other things have kept me busy during last few months, but now that I come back, I notice that there is a category "Finland" in the magazine database. Whoever did that, thank you for that.   I didn't contact mods in the spring, so either someone else did, or they read this thread and did that.

Now, I still don't know what to do next. I don't seem to be able to edit or add any information in those categories, I probably can't upload any images or magazines either, even though Finland is listed as a category on the webpage, it doesn't show as a menu option with the "Create" button.

So apparently there's still something missing, maybe my account can't edit anything (still newbie rank, it seems)?

[kitsunebi]

On 10/23/2024 at 10:54 PM, PixelBoy said:

Now, I still don't know what to do next. I don't seem to be able to edit or add any information in those categories, I probably can't upload any images or magazines either, even though Finland is listed as a category on the webpage, it doesn't show as a menu option with the "Create" button.

So apparently there's still something missing, maybe my account can't edit anything (still newbie rank, it seems)?

Please contact @MigJmz and tell him which Finland mags you have covers to upload for.  He can create cover gallery folders for you, and you should be able to upload covers, even as a newb (they'll need to be approved first, so make sure they're properly edited and titled.)

You may be right that a newbie can't add issues to the database, but once you've got some covers uploaded you'll lose your newbie status pretty quick, I'd think.  At that point, once you click on the title of one of the Finnish mags already in the database, there will be an "add new issue" button on the top right of the page.  Starting with issue 1, you fill out as many of the data fields as you can, and there is also a place where you enter the number of that issue's image in the cover gallery (seen in the image's URL).  If we don't have a cover for that issue, you can of course leave it blank.  But anytime a cover is uploaded to the gallery, the uploader also needs to update that issue's database entry with the cover number so that it will be displayed in the database.

[PixelBoy]

On 10/25/2024 at 11:31 AM, kitsunebi said:

Please contact @MigJmz and tell him which Finland mags you have covers to upload for.  He can create cover gallery folders for you, and you should be able to upload covers, even as a newb (they'll need to be approved first, so make sure they're properly edited and titled.)

Yes, I will do that, thanks for the advice.

After doing everything else but this magazine project for the past few months, I was a bit unsure if there was something happening, with some (but not all) Finnish magazines being listed, and apparently one new member here whose screen name might suggest that person doing some work on Finnish magazines. Presumably that isn't the case though, so I guess I should be the active party here.

And in case someone wants to have a status report: the first magazine, which is more or less a test project, is about 99.5% complete. All that is needed is some fin(n)ishing touches and a place to upload it to. It looks far better than some previous scans which have been done with inferior scanners, heavy auto-cropping and no editing by some other folks in the past (kudos to them for doing that anyway).