Question about submitted entries.

[dave3825]

I made a submission today and received the following message,
"
Please be patient regarding the posting of your submission!

We have 234 submissions waiting to be processed. You can check the status of your submission here: My Submissions.

If you need to contact the admin staff regarding your submission, please reference ticket #.

Thank you!
"

234 submissions? Is that number for the whole database or just the area I submitted the info to? ie; New York City?

Just curious.

 

[ecps92]

from my past experience, that is 234 Pending Open submissions to be processed system wide

I made a submission today and received the following message,
"
Please be patient regarding the posting of your submission!

We have 234 submissions waiting to be processed. You can check the status of your submission here: My Submissions.

If you need to contact the admin staff regarding your submission, please reference ticket #.

Thank you!
"

234 submissions? Is that number for the whole database or just the area I submitted the info to? ie; New York City?

Just curious.

 

[Hit_Factor]

Seems like I received a similar message after each of my submissions.

The queue must move fast because they are usually completed in a day.

 

[GTR8000]

That number reflects the sum of 'Open' + 'Owned' submissions for the entire database.

Open = no admins have picked the submission up yet
Owned = an admin has picked up the submission, but has not yet worked/completed it

Note that while the queue applies to the entire database, not all admins see all incoming submissions. Most admins are assigned to specific states/regions, and thus will only see submissions that fall within the area they are assigned to. In that regard, I may only see 5 open submissions while there may be 30 open submissions across the entire database. Which leads me to my next point...

Frankly, the number it shows you after you submit is fairly meaningless, and it's mostly there to remind you to be patient. There are plenty of admins covering the entire database, and in most cases submissions are worked very quickly. Certainly within a couple of days if no additional information or clarification is required, and if it's a good quality submission.

If we have to chase after you to provide more details (often times those details should've been provided with the original submission), or the submission is of poor quality due to bad spelling/grammar/a solid wall of text...then it's going to take us longer to get to it. Speaking only for myself, I always prioritize higher quality submissions over poorer ones, as it's simply easier to get through the good ones while leaving the poor ones for when I have more time/patience to deal with it.

 

[PrivatelyJeff]

How do you guys trust that the info we submit is correct? Do you wait for a few similar submissions to come in or is it just blind trust on us users?

 

[GTR8000]

Most admins are familiar with the areas they are assigned to, so if something looks fishy or not quite right, the info has a low probability of blindly making it into the database. It does happen from time to time, but not often.

The people who submit the most tend to be members who also participate in the forums, and thus have earned a positive or negative reputation that most admins are keenly aware of. We deal with the same submitters often, and so it's quickly apparent when you're dealing with someone whose submissions require further vetting.

That can be accomplished by asking the submitter for details that can only be obtained by actually monitoring the resource, or we might make a post about the submission in the forums to gather additional info/input. Many of us also have contacts all over the areas we are assigned to, including contacts in public safety/radio shops, who we may reach out to privately to assist with verification of submitted info. Some admins will even go verify the info themselves if practical and necessary.

And of course if bad data does happen to make it into the database, there will be no shortage of members letting you know about it, believe me. My favorite are the guys who only pipe up when something is wrong, but didn't bother to submit the accurate info they had been sitting on previously.

There...a little peek behind the curtain...

 

[slicerwizard]

I've been asked a few times to verify submitted data. Easy peasy.

 

[blantonl]

GTR8000 did an excellent job explaining things. I could not have done it better myself.

 

[fxdscon]

There...a little peek behind the curtain...

And very much appreciated... Both the work that goes into the database and an insight as to how it's managed.

.

 

[nd5y]

Most admins are familiar with the areas they are assigned to, so if something looks fishy or not quite right, the info has a low probability of blindly making it into the database. It does happen from time to time, but not often.

Yeah, right. I don't believe that for one second.
Here is but one example. This was submitted recently on this page:

Missouri Department of Public Safety (Missouri) Scanner Frequencies and Radio Frequency Reference

Scanner Frequencies and Radio Frequency Reference for Missouri Department of Public Safety (Missouri)

www.radioreference.com

154.68000 M 156.7 PL MHP Trp D Speed Speed Enforcement: Helo-to-Car FMN Law Dispatch
154.68 PL 156.7 is supposed to be a state interop channel. It's the first one listed at:

Common/Shared (Missouri) Scanner Frequencies and Radio Frequency Reference

Scanner Frequencies and Radio Frequency Reference for Common/Shared (Missouri)

www.radioreference.com

154.68000 KA5824 BM 156.7 PL M-TAC Missouri Common Channel (Multi-Discipline, Multi-Agency) FMN Interop
I haven't been to Missouri recently so I can't confirm actual use but I know it's wrong just by looking at it. Should I submit a correction in that case?

Who is dumber, the submitter or the admin that should at least be familiar with his area?

The database is full of bad data that was blindly entered by admins. It looks to me like there are different standards and rules that different admins have for different areas.

 

[slicerwizard]

I haven't been to Missouri recently so I can't confirm actual use but I know it's wrong just by looking at it. Should I submit a correction in that case?

Sounds like a reasonable course of action. Or you could just publically call the admins dummies...

 

[GTR8000]

Yeah, right. I don't believe that for one second.

I didn't say that it never happens. Of course it does, no one here is perfect. As with all things in life, some people do a better job than others.

As for the Missouri example you cited, it's not as if it's something totally out of left field and wildly incorrect. Someone heard a helo doing speed enforcement on that channel and submitted it as such. Chalk it up to both the submitter and admin not realizing the overall usage of the channel in that moment. Do you remember every detail of every thing in your life, much less stuff on the periphery that you don't deal with on a regular basis?

I appreciate you trying to find an example of how we're careless dummies constantly filling the database with , but that was a pretty weak example.

 

[Hit_Factor]

Are DB Admins volunteers or employees?

This is a hobby for me, I'm guessing it's the same for DB Admins and Moderators.

Can you imagine how hard it would be to program a scanner without RR?