I've been having problems with my uploads. First I got one pulled back into the queue asking me for changes that were already on the upload and when I posted in both the moderation thread and 'creator issues' I got no response. Eventually they put it back up with no explanation or contact.

Now I've had two more flagged for stuff that I think I've done or for stuff that was acceptable in the past and I'm getting rather frustrated. I can't even ask for help with it if noone will respond to my posts.

Hey there!

I will be honest, it took me a second to find which moderation thread you replied too, but I found it in the end!  Now when you say 'flagged' I guess you mean 'changes required', since people can still download and see the 2 other threads that were 'CR'ed (as we call it).

But getting to your question, I do see that this is super frustrating! And that's merely because you're right, the information is already there and always has been.

What happened though, is that currently, the queue is incredibly busy (because of, well, the state of the world currently). People have more time to create things and the queue is therefore busier. So, we need to look at things quicker to make sure people's stuff doesn't stay in the queue for more than the time we promise it will be in the queue for. And I think, that speedy moderating is what caused me to miss the fact that you do have the links provided and such, since, indeed if you take the time to read it, it's in the description. 

So I'll go through all of them and double-check the moderation and remove any CR where needed. I'm not sure why your reply wasn't looked over when re-moderated (Since we do have a much better way of seeing replies) so I'll check in on that one with the moderators . (See edit!)

 Hope this helps! And thanks for reaching out to us! Sorry, you had to of course, since this should have been fine in the first place.

I'll PM you about the CR'ed threads and what I did with them (And what actually needs CR'ing or not )

EDIT: I asked about the lack of reply on the moderation queue thread, and that was actually because the moment you replied on the thread you mentioned (7th of feb) we had, for a good week, this bug that we initially didn't see, where our new system didn't pick up replies that you wrote to that thread (Which was the case to everyone). So it was only on the 12th of February we found out about this bug and fixed it directly. Which was a day later from when the thread was marked as 'okay'. So it was really just some wrong timing on our side too on when we found the bug and unfortunately, your thread wasn't recognised properly due to that.

Can I also draw attention to Mischief Managed, who is also very upset about queue decisions and has been posting, somewhat upset, in some of the Sims 2 threads. For myself I can't see what's wrong with her Professor Sprout (Harry Potter themed) when her similar Professor McGonagall was accepted a few weeks ago. I fear she may be too upset to raise the matter here herself.

I also wondered if it might be possible to ask some of the experienced retired moderators to temporarily come back to assist with the queue when it's so busy. Their experience might also help newer mods. I'm thinking especially of people like simsample, joandsarah77, and maybe even maxon (though I know she's running her own site now).

I suppose I'm a sort of a disinterested bystander here, in that I'm not at all likely to submit anything to the queue in the near future, but even downloaders lose out if good creations get rejected. Especially if the creators get so dejected that they delete their creations and don't upload them anywhere. From a downloader's point of view, it would be better if all Mischief Managed's Harry Potter's creations were here, rather than spread over different sites. As for Charity, she's one of my favourite creators.

Thanks heaps! They all seem to be fixed now.

I will ask one question. On a few downloads, both one current and a few past ones I have used swatches from the original creator instead of making my own. It was accepted in the past, but on my children's underwear it was labelled as not allowed. Is it allowed?

Thanks for telling me about Professor Sprout, because that was really just a misunderstanding among staff that this got CR'ed (because it should have been approved actually, and it is now ). 

I'll bring the idea of 'asking retired moderators to help us' with the rest of us, although I do have to say for those members since the moderation queue system changed a lot behind the scenes, they too would need retraining and that also takes a bit of time. So it's a bit of a tough position to be in, to be honest...

Of course, we're trying our utter best to come up with solutions for issues that some creators might have with the way a download was moderated, and 99% of the time we do! Because moderating a download isn't as easy as it sounds and thus mistakes happen, unfortunately. That's why there are of course senior moderators and admins re-assessing the download if anyone objects with a Changes required or even a reject. In fact, I'd say that any creator should always speak their minds in that regard. Because downloads are such a 'dynamic' thing to moderate. It's never the 'same' thing, so not all guidelines apply 100% to something (Like that professor Sprout sim, that was a gorgeous adaptation of the book version of professor Sprout rather than the movie version) and that's also how we tweak our guidelines and ways of moderating such downloads to work for those downloads 

You mean these? https://modthesims.info/d/652979/sk...r-children.html

Ah! I see where the question comes from! So, technically if you hadn't added your own images of the old-timey underwear, and just went with those thumbnails (And that was it) then we'd have to ask for in-game images that you took of course  But when it's an additional image like that that *isn't* a required image, then this is actually allowed! because if we didn't then what about 'before/after' images for, say, texture tweaks by a different creator  This is initially why this is okay as it is, image-wise. You're showing the swatches on your simmies and just happen to have that image as well and that's completely fine!

(Also off the record, I totally love these as someone who's super into victorian sewing and clothing! Great work on them! :D)

Hope this answers your question btw! Do let me know if you have any more or just need some more elaboration done 

@AndrewGloria and @Lyralei I wanted to thank you for what you did for me, I really am touched I literally cried and blushed. Among my other conditions I suffer from a slight processing disorder and I understand better by visual rather than written/verbal. which is where my frustration came through as I also sometimes I can't verbalize my thoughts and I get frustrated when I try and it doesn't work on top of the pressure of getting these done before I have to sell my PC by the end of summer.

I would rather see my uploads here safely at MTS so they can be enjoyed instead of lost permanently when I no longer have compatible PC

So thank you thank you

There's a reason for me being a retired mod, Tashiketh kicked me out because I ate all of the moderators' stash of chocolate biscuits from the staffroom cupboard.

(But to add to what Lyralei said, it is a job for which there is a lot of training, and the uploads system and requirements have changed a lot in the last few years. Also, some retired moderators might not want to moderate again... probably what would be a better idea if more staff are needed is to recruit some new trainee moderators. )

simsample, I've just downloaded alex010's Pan di Stelle so my Sims have something to give you if you come round to Veronaville. They're the only chocolate biscuits I could find on MTS.

A quick question. Is there any way to select multiple age groups when choosing which category an upload will go under? At the moment I can only select one age, even if I have an outfit for several age groups.

Not at the moment, no.  It's a limitation of the underlying software, unfortunately.  I do have plans on fixing that at some point in the future though, probably this year.