BN and QAT Restructure

Changes to the ranking process are nigh! With recent discussions about changes to the Quality Assurance Team and Beatmap Nominators, we are proud to present to you the following changes.

• The QAT is gone and has been replaced by the new Nomination Assessment Team (NAT). This will be a smaller, highly focused group whose name should be more representative of their responsibilities.
• The Beatmap Nominators (BN) are responsible for disqualifying beatmaps and mediating vetoes from now on, in addition to their task of pushing beatmaps towards the ranked category.
• Beatmaps that have been vetoed will be mediated by a random jury made up of members of the BN and NAT. This change should make quality assurance decisions more accessible to the general community.
• The Global Moderation Team (GMT) will now handle beatmap moderation, and as such will also have access to the disqualify button. The GMT will only disqualify beatmaps in cases where they contain inappropriate content.
• A new usergroup has been added for probationary Beatmap Nominators.

The Nomination Assessment Team are the moderators of the Beatmap Nominators. They are responsible for handling
BN Applications, creating tests for the applicants, and evaluating the current BN members. They will still have their moderation privileges although it is not their primary focus. They may continue to do the same work as the BNs, however their opinions will not be considered above a regular BN's. They will also be the overseers of beatmap veto mediation if they are not part of the mediating jury.

The primary focus of probationary BNs will be to nominate beatmaps, and so will not have the ability to disqualify beatmaps or take part in mediating vetoes. Moreover, they will be unable to nominate beatmaps with more than one game mode, and a beatmap cannot be qualified by two probationary BNs. New members of the BNs will be placed in probation for approximately one month before their performance is reviewed by the NAT. They will then be promoted to a regular BN, remain in probation, or be removed from the group completely. Members of the regular BNs may also be demoted to probation if their work is found to not meet standards.

Placing vetoes will continue to work the same, and we encourage regular members of the community who would like to place vetoes to contact a BN that agrees with them. More information on how vetoes work can be found on the wiki page here.

The Beatmap Nominator rules have been updated accordingly for their new tasks, where a full list of changes can found at the bottom of the page. Moreover, work on a score system as a guideline to evaluate Beatmap Nominators starts now and you can expect a new proposal detailing our plans for that soon!

Additionally to this, BN applications will be open indefinitely as of this news post! We have a new website to deal with BN affairs and mapping related reports. Here, you will be able to submit BN applications, as well as reports against beatmaps and members of the BN and NAT.

BN applications will still work roughly the same as last time, where you are required to pass an activity check and to complete a test on the Ranking Criteria to complete your application. Additionally, there will be a 90 day cooldown for submitting applications once you submit. The results of your application should be sent out as soon as they are processed, however, we expect a larger influx of applications during the initial weeks. Check out the website to submit an application to join the BN!

As osu! is a community driven game, these changes were made to give members of the community more control over what reaches the ranked section. We expect to see improvements in the way beatmap quality is managed, particularly with controversial maps, where the outcome will be more in line with the desires of the community.

With these changes, the following members of the QAT will not be joining the NAT: Fycho, Gabe, Hobbes2, Kuron-kun, Lanturn, p3n, Regraz, Raiden, JBHyperion, Protastic101, -Kazu-, and Noffy. Nonetheless, we greatly appreciate their time in the QAT and thank them all for their hard work up until now. Most of them will still be active as BNs or GMT.

On the other hand, please welcome Ascendance to the NAT, who will be focusing their efforts on the affairs of the osu!catch nominators!

For more information on what Beatmap Nominators do and how to join them, have a look at their wiki page!

Feel free to ask us any questions in the comments below.

—Mao, -Mo-, Ephemeral