Warning: Contains controversial content.
Attempting to get support for this suggestion is going to be near impossible. Not only would this require support from pier 14 syndicate members but Steve as well. The suggestion will no doubt make me less popular than someone who passed wind in a lift/elevator full of people. Mission Impossible? So I'm having to resort to a bit of frivolity and psychology.
A discussion over the phone yesterday with Steve on this topic went the the usual way.
I'm informed that what most of us are doing is causing many of the problems,. That was followed by a long spiel on what we need to be doing. Admittedly much of it does make very good sense, but then the usual boast came. "I could get twice the amount of imaging done" he said. Remember that.
If you've read the RGB vs LRGB post you'll have seen that Steve mentioned he would be posting a crib sheet to assist us when planning a job. This has been done before and yet here we still are?
We all signed up on the basis that this is our pier and we can, within reason, put in what we like. Steve's point is that we don't always get that right. You have every right to do so and put in jobs exactly how you want them. Simply vote against this.
Suggestion: (pier 14 only)
After the test jobs have been completed the job queue will be inspected by The Man himself and those deemed unsuitable will either be adjusted or removed. Its unlikely that any job would be removed, with the possible exception of his pet hate, mosaics with more than 2 panes. More on that later. You would need to look at the job queue to see if the hours match what you submitted to see if he reduced the integration time.
If in future you think you might be submitting a job that on the face of it requires an excessive amount of imaging time, then as many people already do, put an explanation in the notes at the bottom of the submission form.
What we need to do to keep Steve happy is by submitting jobs ahead of the time they rise.
One other thing for now is that despite Steve's best efforts there will arise situations where after your job gets to say an arbitrary 70% completion, you see no further progress after a few weeks. I'd suggest sending in a help desk request to have what's been collected downloaded. On RGB jobs the moon phase needs to taken into account before doing so as this might be part of the cause. Inspect the data asap and as a minimum submit retakes for bad and missing subs. You would need to request just enough subs by filter to approximately make the numbers equal to allow the creation of an image. If you put in the notes that these are retakes, and these should only be just enough as previously mentioned, then I hope that when good old Steve sees that these are retakes, he will find it in his heart to override things and get these done.
Remember guys, he reckons he can double the amount of imaging time we get compared to now. So if by some miracle the members accept this but Steve doesn't, then I think we will all know that he can talk the talk, but not walk the walk!
Tip:
if you desperately want Steve to approve an exceptionally long job or a larger mosaic, you might want to consider sending a bottle of fine whisky to 802, Kingsbury Road, for the attention of Mr S. Asbury, with you name clearly marked as the sender. That ought to help oil the wheels and you may get a surprise when you later look at the job queue. Works for me! :)
Now I should set up a poll, but not yet having done so I'm in fear that if I try I'll lose this entire post!!! I'll have a go later on a separate one.
Cheers and CS,
Mr. Unpopular :(
[Note to Michael regarding the post just ahead of this one. Whilst I was typing this rival to War and Peace, your post appeared. I wasn't risking looking at it in case I lost what I'd written so far. I'll have a look in a short while. Again thanks for your keen interest. Regards, Ray ]