[Scummvm-devel] Improved reporting of unknown MD5s / new game variants

[Max Horn]

Hi Pierre-Yves,

thanks for your feedback, much appreciated!

Am 30.10.2010 um 00:14 schrieb Pierre-Yves Gérardy:

> Some things to keep in mind:
> 
> The "difficulty" of the current reporting solution ensures that only people
> who have a clue can contact the team. You should expect more abandownare
> submissions, or incomplete ones, especially with options 2 and 3 that are
> easier.

We do have code in place now so that we can add abandonware MD5s marked as such -- these would then simply show a "this is an illegal copy and not supported by scummvm" dialogs.

You are right about incomplete games, though; but I think the best way to deal with those is to augment the text, and the detection code: First off, it should be possible to extend the advanced detector in such a way that it can distinguish between "MD5 mismatch" and "near match, only some files missing". In the latter case, we could show a different text than in the form.

In either case, we should indeed adjust the dialog's text to hint that the user should first check whether the files are complete and undamaged. And point out that fan modifications etc. are unsupported.


> 
> The clipboard is usually filled with content that the user has selected
> himself. Option 1 breaks this implicit contract, even if you ask the user to
> click a button to fill it in. It would feel slightly awkward to paste
> something I didn't put in it by myself (I know it's silly). The only apps
> I've ever seen using this pattern were shady keygens (which probably also
> explains my reticence).
> 
> The current system allows to reach the submitter to ask for details.
> Solution 3 would not.

Well, we could still insist on the user inserting a sender email address. But of course it wold be trivial for them to insert a fake one. In fact, this would make abuse a bit more likely, too.

> 
> For solution 3, having the php code to automatically send emails is begging
> for spam.

Spam that would only be sent to a moderated mailing list. I don't think it would be an issue (plus we'd put in some protection means to prevent people from generating thousands of emails in short time).


> 
> On the desktop, the fourth option is the less magical, and the most sensical
> IMO.

I am totally fine with that one, too :). Let's hear if others have something to add, though.


Bye,
Max