Well, it seems that some of the biggest trouble people get on MA is related to splits and split albums. It's clear that some revision is going to have to be made to the system to make it less buggy and awkward overall. So, here's some issues for discussion:
1. Cover art. There's the obvious trouble of only veterans being able to add art to splits (this is an issue with lyrics, as well). However, I think that another useful ability would be based on allowing each listing of the split to have different artwork. Since split 7" releases frequently come with a band on each side providing its own artwork, I think it would make sense to allow each page to have its own 'side'. For instance:
These are the two sides for the Embalming Theatre/XXX Maniak split 'Wrong Choice/Gay For Christopher Reeve'. The idea is that the Embalming Theatre listing for the split would possess their artwork, and likewise for XXX Maniak. True, you can do this by putting the pictures together in a photo editing utility, but I think a functionality like this would speed up such a process considerably.
2. Non-sequential band listings on split. If you'll look at a listing like this:
http://www.metal-archives.com/release.php?id=143107
You'll see that the number of bands falls within the appropriate number for the Archives, but the tracks are not collected under each band. However, all the bands are in the Archives; the problem is that their names aren't linked like on normal splits, and it has to be entered as a split album. Portraying it in a way such as this is the best I've seen so far:
http://www.metal-archives.com/release.php?id=104428
But still seems rather clumsy overall. A possible solution: add a check box when entering a split for nonsequential track order. When checked, one would be able to add each band and song manually, to preserve the order as it actually is. Granted, this is still a little clumsy; does anyone else have an idea?
3. Split albums versus splits. I think that this could be rather easy to solve by combining the formats. For instance, if one leaves the band ID box blank, it would prompt the user to enter the name of the artist, where it would be displayed as a normal split, but merely bolded, not linked to anything. I think something like that could make the system much more consistent overall.
Any other thoughts or suggestions?