Add QAT Gazette blog August 2017 entry

Author: JBHyperion

news/2017-08-30-qat-gazette-august-2017.md

@@ -0,0 +1,41 @@
+# QAT Gazette - August 2017
+
+Hello!
+
+To those of you who have been following this blog at its’ [previous home](http://osuqat.tumblr.com/), welcome back! We’ve shuffled through a bit of a lean period on account of the summer holidays (or in my case, even more work than usual), but I am happy to bring you **the return of The QAT Gazette!** Feel free to skip down a little if you’re already familiar with our humble blog and want to get straight into the news, but if this is your first time and you’re wondering what all the fuss is about, read on!
+
+![](/wiki/shared/news/banners/qat-blog-logo.png)
+
+**A little over a year ago**, the Quality Assurance Team formed a blog to give people an idea of the work that goes on behind the scenes, the internal topics that come up for discussion, and our visions for shaping the future of the osu! mapping and modding community. There were highlights of upcoming projects and events, reviews of past occurrences such as Beatmap Nominator tests and the Best of 2016 awards, and sometimes opinion pieces simply giving our thoughts on various aspects of the community, the mapping meta, and so on. With the growth of the mapping and modding community over the past year, as well as the significant changes to the role of the QAT, more and more people rightfully ask, **“What the heck do you guys actually do now!?”** Hence the birth of regular updates, and now, a move into the mainstream for all to see!
+
+## Updates to the Beatmap Nomination Group
+
+Firstly, **please welcome two new Beatmap Nominators to the Advanced Tier for osu!standard - Battle and Naxess!** As you may be aware, Advanced Tier Nominators are responsible for beatmap qualification, and with the recent departure of a number of existing members, it’s important that receiving a heart icon doesn’t become a bottleneck for mappers. Please treat them well as they settle into their new role! On the other side of the coin, **a number of existing members of the Beatmap Nomination Group will be departing** to pursue other opportunities. Many thanks to Dellvangel, -Kamikaze-, Kuo Kyoka, newyams99, Nivrad00 and Sonnyc for your contributions to our community over the months and years!
+
+Fear not however, as **we are currently reviewing applications for a new batch of fresh-faced modders to replenish their ranks!** The latest application process for the osu!taiko, osu!catch and osu!mania! game modes has recently closed, with successful applicants expected to promoted in the coming weeks. With the discontinuation of Beatmap Nominator tests, new BN applications will consist of an activity check, as well as submission of the applicant’s “best” modding work - either as a standard mod post, or series of suggestions in the moddingv2 panel. For those that meet the activity requirements, the QAT will then supplement this with additional random, anonymised examples of the applicant’s modding work from the past three months and evaluate these examples on a number of criteria, such as structure, helpfulness, knowledge of the ranking criteria, and so on. These modding examples will be voted on by the remaining members of the QAT who were not involved in selecting examples of applicant modding, to avoid bias. **Those with a majority of positive votes will be promoted into one of the available** [Nominator Subdivisions](https://osu.ppy.sh/forum/p/6201585) and closely surveyed on their general attitude (forum posts, in-game chat, modding and icon activity, etc.) to ensure they receive the assistance needed to fulfill their roles as gatekeepers of content in the mapping and modding community.
+
+## Updates to the Quality Assurance Team
+
+With Beatmap Nominator tests no longer a factor, **there have been further reshuffles to role distribution within the QAT.** In addition to having more time available to lead and monitor their respective BN subdivisions, additional roles undertaken by some members are listed below:
+
+- **BN promotions:** Deif, Mao, Nardoxyribonucleic
+- **QAT blog:** JBHyperion, Feerum
+- **Metadata:** IamKwaN, Doyak
+- **Ranking Criteria:** Okorin, pishifat
+- **Beatmap Spotlights:** OnosakiHito, Kurokami
+
+Additionally, please offer a warm farewell to **alacat**, who will be departing from his role in metadata checking for newly qualified beatmaps. Many thanks for your hard work over the years, and we wish you the best of luck in your future endeavours!
+
+## The future of the BNG / QAT
+
+As some of you may be aware, a series of proposals have recently been put forward detailing some **radical changes to the way the Beatmap Nominators and Quality Assurance Team will operate** which we might be seeing in the near future. These include the removal of the osu!standard BN Tier system, introductions of greater rewards and recognition for long-serving and highly-active members, and changes to the workflow and leadership of the QAT. If you want to check out these proposals and share your opinions, please do so in the [Development forum](https://osu.ppy.sh/forum/t/635507), but remember nothing is confirmed for certain yet, so anything can happen - you have the power to influence our final decisions!
+
+## Summary
+
+If you’re still reading and the above has interested you in any way, thanks a lot! Together with my colleague Feerum, **we’ll be bringing new issues out monthly** from here on, covering the summaries of QAT meetings, insights into our work, and much more! If there’s an aspect of the Quality Assurance Team you’d like to know more about, a burning question you’d like us to answer, or simply an aspect of osu! mapping and modding for us to dissect and discuss, feel free to put it to us in the comments below!
+
+With that being said, I’ll call time on this issue, with a promise of more to come next month of course! More information on both past and upcoming articles, as well as my partners in crime who may also be contributing from time to time can be found in the [QAT Blog Compendium](https://osu.ppy.sh/forum/t/578437).
+
+Thanks for reading!
+
+—JBHyperion