Feature Request: Module Consolidation

Hello there,

Big fan of the site. I am noticing that when there are modules with alternate panel colors—say a Mimetic Digitalis that comes in silver and in black panels—there are sometimes different ratings, ie:

Black: 5.0 with 4 reviews
https://www.modulargrid.net/e/noise-engineering-mimetic-digitalis-black-

Silver: 4.18 with 11 reviews
https://www.modulargrid.net/e/noise-engineering-mimetic-digitalis

Make Noise STO:
Black & Gold: 3.44 with 9 reviews
https://www.modulargrid.net/e/make-noise-sto-black-and-gold

White Knobs: 4.0 with 1 review
https://www.modulargrid.net/e/make-noise-sto-white-knobs

Silver: 4.41 with 118 reviews
https://www.modulargrid.net/e/make-noise-sto

AFAIK these are generally the same models/specs, just different panel color. It makes it more challenging to get aggregate rating for users. Does it also hinder a company's efforts to rise in the ranks on the top/popular modules list? Those need 30 ratings to appear on the list, so if there is a module that is popular in silver and black (or similar), it is possible that the ratings get split across both module entries, keeping it from making it on the list for awhile. This may (potentially) hurt a manufacturer's sales that otherwise has a popular module.

I am sometimes seeing that there are duplicate modules where there isn't a rating field—is this intentional? I am wondering if this is just difficult territory because modules are being submitted all the time by different folks and it is cumbersome to organize them in one unified way.

Is there the possibility of adding a class to the taxonomy of modules, where one module becomes the 'parent' module, and alternate/variant versions are contained as 'child' entries, otherwise sharing the same stats/specs, info etc?

Discogs' model of having one master release works well, with all of the variants contained within. Like Nirvana's Nevermind has one parent entry, with each add'l version having a sub entry.

Thanks for your consideration, and keep up the great work.
Cheers,
Aaron

Following up, Nerdseq is another example. Each faceplate color has a different entry. If they were consolidated, then the module would appear quite high on the evaluation list.

Currently they don’t meet the 30 reviews threshold, so despite over 30 ratings that would put it somewhere in the 4.75+ range, the module doesn’t benefit from it’s deserved cumulative rating.

Thanks for any insights!

Here's another instance:

Maths (which I own + love) is currently taking up 5 spots:

Top Modules rated by users:
1. Make Noise MATHS (black panel) Ø 4.87 (30)
3. Make Noise Maths Ø 4.77 (486)
7. Make Noise MATHS Ø 4.65 (95)
10. Make Noise Maths (white knobs) Ø 4.61 (61)
17. Make Noise Maths Ø 4.56 (81)

Yo I am no official speaker, but the feature of having multiple frontpanels consolidated into 1 module is already included on modulargrid funnily enough.
check it out by adding https://www.modulargrid.net/e/neutron-sound-uo-c to your rack and pressing the blue arrow buttons on the bottom of the module once it's in your rack.
The different panels are nowhere to be seen on the actual module page though so I do agree that something like that should be more prevalent on the main module page so people can actually realize it's a feature and stop creating multiple entries for the same module.

Yo I am no official speaker, but the feature of having multiple frontpanels consolidated into 1 module is already
included on modulargrid funnily enough.

Yes, we have that Panel Selector. It steps through all uploaded panel versions of a module.
Maybe it should be more prominent.

When you upload a new photo it will replace the old one, but the old one still is not lost.
For every upload a new version is added.
Other people who have set their module image to HEAD version (default) will see your newly uploaded image.
HEAD means: always show the newest image.
If they switch to an older version it will stick there, newly uploaded images will not affect their racks.

Is there the possibility of adding a class to the taxonomy of modules, where one module becomes the 'parent' module
-- aarontw

We also have a consolidation feature for modules for moderators, which adds up all ratings, collections, marketplace offers...
But the problem is the image versions of the module that gets consolidated will be lost so consolidation must happen early. It's difficult ...