Post by dvandom on Jan 5, 2008 19:52:36 GMT -5
Welcome to Mark Crilley's message board! We're a small but growing community, and hopefully we can keep everything as friendly as it has been. The administrators here are Mark Crilley himself, and me, Dave Van Domelen. I'll be doing most of the day to day maintenance stuff, but Mark is obviously in overall charge.
We're trying to keep things light on the rules and regs, but people asked for some guidelines, so here they are.
1) Don't be a jerk.
2) Post to the correct forum.
3) Keep it kid-safe, please.
4) Don't link directly to image files you're not hosting.
5) No piracy, please.
Now to expand on these.
1) Doesn't need much explanation. Messing up because you didn't know better, or weren't thinking...this'll happen, it's not a big problem. Most of the moderation duties should be just tidying up after honest mistakes. But disruptive actions with malice aforethought are a Bad Thing.
2) Right now, we have seven forums in three categories, and for the most part it's pretty clear what goes where, but there may be some priority issues and a few boundary questions.
Random Chatter - This is for anything that doesn't already have a forum. So, if you want to ask art questions, discuss Mark's YouTube videos, or talk about Akiko or Miki Falls, those don't go here.
Note that if any particular topic starts to become really popular, it'll probably get its own board, at which point I'll move recent discussions over to the new board to "seed" it.
Showing Off! - This is for promotional stuff, or recruiting people for your projects, etc. It's different from Art Talk below, in that you're really not seeking criticism, you just want people to know about your work. By that token, if someone posts work in this forum, they probably don't want to be told how it could be improved, so don't tell them.
There will always be people who'd like to show off art but aren't really looking for pointers.
Art Talk - Want a critique of your work? Have questions about art supplies, technique or references? As long as you're not asking Mark to do a video about your question, ask it here. There's a lot of artists other than Mark hanging around this board, odds are you'll get answers faster this way than you would asking for a video. However, don't post your work here if you DON'T want criticism...post it to Showing Off! instead.
Mark's YouTube Videos - A lot of people come to this board because of Mark's how-to videos. This category trumps anything else...if you want to see something done as a YouTube video, or have comments on an existing video, talk about it here.
Miki Falls - A four-book series from Mark, it's just wrapping up now, but since it's of a format intended to stay on shelves longer term, expect there to be commentary about it for a while to come.
Akiko - Mark's first big break into comics, Akiko had over fifty issues and then spun off into a series of young adult novels. The comic is more or less over (sob) but the novels keep coming.
Other Worlds - Anything Mark's done that doesn't have a separate category yet (The Beast That Ate Morioka is unlikely to get one, mind you), or for posts that seek to compare across worlds (like comparing Akiko to Miki).
3) if you check the "Demographics" poll thread, you'll see we have a wide range of ages here, which means the adults should be responsible about things. So, no swearing, no nudity, no gore, no sexual innuendo (that includes "romance" with unclothed people whose details are omitted or covered up). Try to keep things appropriate for younger kids (if nothing else, we don't want any kids getting in trouble for coming here if their parents come checking!).
Now, if you have questions about art you've done that you think might be questionable, then don't use the IMG tag to link it in, use the URL tag so it pops up elsewhere. And be sure to label it so people know what they're getting into. When in doubt (i.e. is that female actually naked, or just not completed yet so there's only an outline?), err on the side of caution.
Do keep in mind that if you're coming from a more adult-oriented community, your standards for "clean" may be a bit skewed. Your "sweet and romantic" may well be "borderline porn" to most people and outright smut to some parents. This is especially true of the yaoi and furry communities. If you're not sure, message Dave for a judgement call.
4) This one's a bit fiddly, but it can be considered a special case of Rule Number 1. When you link directly to an image file or other content while bypassing the webpage it may be embedded in (and any ads there), it's called "hotlinking". This is rude, because you're getting the content without showing any ads that may be paying for the web server...or at the least you're preventing the original creator's context from being seen. Sometimes this can be awkward, especially if the thing you want to link to is partway down a long page, but it's just a matter of good manners.
Of course, if it's your own site, hotlink all you want.
5) Please don't use this board to ask where you can find pirated materials online, as Mark could be held legally liable for abetting in theft of IP. Not to mention, given that he's someone who makes a living on creative works, it's rather tacky to use his board as a vehicle for getting help in stealing the works of others.
If you know of material that's really and truly free (i.e. promotional materials, things the creator has released into public domain, etc), it's okay to post about that. Otherwise, please don't ask for or provide links to pirate wares.
For now that should keep us going smoothly. We don't want to get too rule-bound here, and as long as everyone follows Rule Number 1, we shouldn't need any more rules.
---Dave
We're trying to keep things light on the rules and regs, but people asked for some guidelines, so here they are.
1) Don't be a jerk.
2) Post to the correct forum.
3) Keep it kid-safe, please.
4) Don't link directly to image files you're not hosting.
5) No piracy, please.
Now to expand on these.
1) Doesn't need much explanation. Messing up because you didn't know better, or weren't thinking...this'll happen, it's not a big problem. Most of the moderation duties should be just tidying up after honest mistakes. But disruptive actions with malice aforethought are a Bad Thing.
2) Right now, we have seven forums in three categories, and for the most part it's pretty clear what goes where, but there may be some priority issues and a few boundary questions.
Random Chatter - This is for anything that doesn't already have a forum. So, if you want to ask art questions, discuss Mark's YouTube videos, or talk about Akiko or Miki Falls, those don't go here.
Note that if any particular topic starts to become really popular, it'll probably get its own board, at which point I'll move recent discussions over to the new board to "seed" it.
Showing Off! - This is for promotional stuff, or recruiting people for your projects, etc. It's different from Art Talk below, in that you're really not seeking criticism, you just want people to know about your work. By that token, if someone posts work in this forum, they probably don't want to be told how it could be improved, so don't tell them.
There will always be people who'd like to show off art but aren't really looking for pointers.Art Talk - Want a critique of your work? Have questions about art supplies, technique or references? As long as you're not asking Mark to do a video about your question, ask it here. There's a lot of artists other than Mark hanging around this board, odds are you'll get answers faster this way than you would asking for a video. However, don't post your work here if you DON'T want criticism...post it to Showing Off! instead.
Mark's YouTube Videos - A lot of people come to this board because of Mark's how-to videos. This category trumps anything else...if you want to see something done as a YouTube video, or have comments on an existing video, talk about it here.
Miki Falls - A four-book series from Mark, it's just wrapping up now, but since it's of a format intended to stay on shelves longer term, expect there to be commentary about it for a while to come.
Akiko - Mark's first big break into comics, Akiko had over fifty issues and then spun off into a series of young adult novels. The comic is more or less over (sob) but the novels keep coming.
Other Worlds - Anything Mark's done that doesn't have a separate category yet (The Beast That Ate Morioka is unlikely to get one, mind you), or for posts that seek to compare across worlds (like comparing Akiko to Miki).
3) if you check the "Demographics" poll thread, you'll see we have a wide range of ages here, which means the adults should be responsible about things. So, no swearing, no nudity, no gore, no sexual innuendo (that includes "romance" with unclothed people whose details are omitted or covered up). Try to keep things appropriate for younger kids (if nothing else, we don't want any kids getting in trouble for coming here if their parents come checking!).
Now, if you have questions about art you've done that you think might be questionable, then don't use the IMG tag to link it in, use the URL tag so it pops up elsewhere. And be sure to label it so people know what they're getting into. When in doubt (i.e. is that female actually naked, or just not completed yet so there's only an outline?), err on the side of caution.
Do keep in mind that if you're coming from a more adult-oriented community, your standards for "clean" may be a bit skewed. Your "sweet and romantic" may well be "borderline porn" to most people and outright smut to some parents. This is especially true of the yaoi and furry communities. If you're not sure, message Dave for a judgement call.
4) This one's a bit fiddly, but it can be considered a special case of Rule Number 1. When you link directly to an image file or other content while bypassing the webpage it may be embedded in (and any ads there), it's called "hotlinking". This is rude, because you're getting the content without showing any ads that may be paying for the web server...or at the least you're preventing the original creator's context from being seen. Sometimes this can be awkward, especially if the thing you want to link to is partway down a long page, but it's just a matter of good manners.
Of course, if it's your own site, hotlink all you want.
5) Please don't use this board to ask where you can find pirated materials online, as Mark could be held legally liable for abetting in theft of IP. Not to mention, given that he's someone who makes a living on creative works, it's rather tacky to use his board as a vehicle for getting help in stealing the works of others.
If you know of material that's really and truly free (i.e. promotional materials, things the creator has released into public domain, etc), it's okay to post about that. Otherwise, please don't ask for or provide links to pirate wares.
For now that should keep us going smoothly. We don't want to get too rule-bound here, and as long as everyone follows Rule Number 1, we shouldn't need any more rules.
---Dave