Fanart Central November Newsletter

[cstdenis]

Fanart Central November Newsletter
==================================

There have been a number of improvements to FAC recently, and for those of
you who have not visited in a long time, there are many improvements--too
many to list.

This is a long newsletter discussing many things. I hope everybody will
read it, or at least skim it.

Note, If you receive more than one copy of this it means you have more
than one account. Enter your email address in the search engine to see all
accounts associated with this address, and request deletion of the
inactive ones.

This newsletter discusses the following topics
----------------------------------------------
* New site layout
* Submission guidelines reminder
* BB Code not HTML
* Fanfiction improvements
* Fanart Central Awards!
* Artists of the month
* New server -- faster site
* Merchandise
* Forums
* Support Email
* Planned future improvements


===============
New site layout
---------------
Starting this month FAC has a new layout, which looks much better than the
old. This layout was designed by Layzcarter with a little input from some
others and built by me (Cstdenis).

Besides looking much better, this layout changes some things. The 10 most
recent pictures has been removed because it is not very useful with the
number of pictures that get submitted to the site. Instead, use the Recent
Pictures page to see recent submissions (last 3 days worth). Also note,
the link for that and the recent fanfiction have been moved to the left
bar.

Random pictures are back, 4 of them which change every hour on the hour.
This also helps to replace a function of the most recent pictures--a quick
way to look at a few pics.

For those of you who have not been to the site in months, the pop-ups are
gone, replaced with Google banners. I know everyone hated the pop-ups,
including me. As soon as it became practical I did remove them.


==============================
Submission Guidelines Reminder
------------------------------
The AP (Approval Panel) team wants to remind people of some of the
submission guidelines.

To improve the quality of site content in general, lined paper submissions
are not accepted. Your work will look so much better if you draw it on
plain paper. For those who do have lined paper drawings they want to
submit, remove the lines before submission. There is a tutorial available
on how to do that written by Stratadrake here
http://www.fanart-central.net/forums/index...?showtopic=1961
There is no point submitting work that people don't want to look at, so
submit your best work.

Also, a reminder that doll edits are not appropriate content to submit to
the site as they are not entirely your own work and that picture names
must be appropriate. No offensive titles and no excessive punctuation in
titles. Titles started with symbols to try to get better alphabetic order
will be rejected.

The size limit of 600px was removed a while ago. Picture displays are now
automatically resized. This feature will be improved in the future to make
is a preference that can be turned off for those who don't want it.

For those who want to submit content that is not permitted, you can
use the image boards. For example, you can post someone痴 art on the image
board (even though you can稚 on the main part of the site) so long as you
give the person credit (when possible give a link or name of the source).
That痴 why they are there--to show off cool pics you find, pet photos, and
other misc junk. Images posted there get pushed down as new ones are
submitted and eventually get deleted off the end. If you are posting
another person痴 work, give source and credit if possible.

I would also like to inform people of a new feature of the approval
system--auto approval. People who consistently submit content that does
not violate the rules have their pictures approved instantly. Over 100
artists are already like this, more added all the time. Additions to this
are automatic, so don't bother asking for it. If you follow the rules it
will happen on its own in time.

If you are unsure of the rules or quality guidelines, make sure you look
over them here: http://www.fanart-central.net/rules.php

================
BB Code not HTML
----------------
Submissions to the site of comments, profiles, descriptions, and other
such content no longer allow HTML. Instead BB code is used. For those who
do not know what it is, BB code is the set of formatting tags used in most
forum software, including FAC's forums. It is basically HTML with square
brackets instead of the usual tags (i.e. [b] instead of ).

For your quick reference, the following tags are supported by the site. b,
i, u, s, sub, sup, email, color, size, font, align, quote, code, img, url,
list, ulist, li.


======================
Fanfiction improvements
----------------------
Starting months ago, a major improvement was made to the fanfiction
section. Instead of just typing (or preferably pasting) into a text area
on the site, submissions now are done through the upload of a file in a
standard format such as doc, rtf, txt, or HTML. There is still a bug with
these, causing submissions to occasionally come up blank, which I am
working on. Overall, it is a much better system.

If you do suffer from this bug, try again using another format. Any word
processor should be able to save in more than one of these formats. At the
least, txt should always work though will be lacking in formatting.

Also, to help me track down the bug, if it happens to you, email me the
file to cstdenis@fanart-central.net and I'll use it for testing.


======================
Fanart Central Awards!
----------------------
This year fanart central will put the spotlight on worthy Fanart
Central members who you will nominate and vote for! For more details
on the awards you can check out the site discussion forum here:
http://www.fanart-central.net/forums/index...?showtopic=3432

Now is your chance to nominate those who you think deserve their name
in the Fanart Central spotlight. In order to nominate those most talented,
follow this link:
http://www.fanart-central.net/forums/index...?showtopic=3640
then log into the forums and start nominating. Try to nominate for as many
categories as you can. The cut off date for nominations is December
15th. If you want to show your appreciation for your favorite artists,
then go to the forums and nominate!!!!!


====================
Artists of the Month
--------------------
For the last several months, FAC has chosen two deserving artists every
month and featured them as artist of the month. If you want to nominate
somebody for this, you can do so here:
http://www.fanart-central.net/forums/index...?showtopic=1599
Please provide a link to the artist痴 gallery to make it easier for the
staff to process, and please check that the artist has not already been
nominated.

For your reference, here is a list of past artists of the month:
November 2004 - Jessie & Poonyo
October 2004 - kobayashi & Adanhen
September 2004 - animark & Kate
August 2004 - beastofoblivion & Jack
July 2004 - Selphius & Chibi-Robin.
June 2004 - fallenangel & ryosen
May 2004 - belliebuik & Noot_das_Schaf


=========================
New server -- Faster site
-------------------------
For the last few weeks, FAC has been running split up between two servers.
This allows it to handle many more people at the same time without slowing
down to a crawl. This will also allow FAC to continue expanding
indefinitely. More servers will be added as needed.


===========
Merchandise
-----------
FAC Merchandise is finally available. This has been a very long time
coming but it痴 finally available.
Here is where you can get it:
http://www.99dogs.com/portal/associate.htm...-MD2&page=store


======
Forums
------
FAC has had Forums almost since it started. Unfortunately the discussions
on these forums are somewhat degrading due to lack of new ideas to discuss
and lack of some new people following the rules.

I want to encourage people to start visiting the forums more often.
Most new features to the site get proposed and discussed in there before
they are implemented. Things such as artist of the month, merchandise, FAC
awards, site rules/policies/submission guidelines were all opened up for
public discussion on the forums before being implemented, and I plan to
continue doing the same for new features. If you want input into the way
the site is run, keep an eye on the forums.

If you are new to the forums, and epically if you are new to forums in
general it is important for you to read the rules first to prevent getting
suspended or banned. Most of them are just basic netiquette, but it seems
too few people know of that or at least follow it.


=============
Support Email
-------------
For a long time, FAC's support email has been sent to
cstdenis@ctgameinfo.com. This should no longer be used for tech support or
most other things since I don稚 have time to answer all the questions
myself. FAC email should be sent to support@fanart-central.net instead
where other site helpers can deal with it.

However, those looking for tech support or having questions about the site
are much better off asking in the help forum. There are many more people
there who can help you, lessening the load on the main site helpers
responsible for that address and getting you a faster response. You should
of course use the support email for anything of a private or sensitive
nature.

I also want to remind people that site helper profiles are not the place
to ask such questions.


==========================
Planned future improvements
--------------------------
FAC has been constantly improving over the years, and there are still more
improvements planned for the site.

Here is a list of some of the major features planned for addition to FAC
in the future (possibly distant future)
-Paint chat
-Better manga/doujin/comic support
-Oekaki/paint BBS
-You池e Favorite Artists highlighted in recent pic/story lists
-Further improvements to the fanfiction system.
-Instant messaging
-Other misc user interface improvements.

If you have any suggestions on how to improve Fanart Central, you can
suggest them here:
http://www.fanart-central.net/forums/index...?showtopic=1948


=========================

Finally, I would like to thank the site helpers who (mostly) work hard to
keep the site running and help the people who need it. Special
acknowledgment to those site helpers who are on special groups.
Layzcarter - New site design, support email, abuse cleanup, category
requests, FAC awards, AP, category cleanup, and other misc stuff.
Lasher - Artists of the month, forum moderation, some training and
managment of newer site helpers, AP, category cleanup, and other
misc work.
Fallen - One of the first site helpers has worked on chatroom heavily in
the earlier days of it and forum moderation and abuse reports.
Also setup the merchandise stuff on the site.
iamem0tionless (Kate) - Now mostly inactive, was one of the first site
helpers has worked on chatroom heavily in the earlier days of
it and forum moderation and abuse reports.
Raymei - Now retired from her work as a site helper, while she was one
she contributed much to the approval panel and abuse team.
Stratadrake - Site helper for his extensive work helping newbies in the
forums, tracking down bugs on the site, and suggesting improvments.

There are many other site helpers who work only on the approval panel. The
AP system couldn't function without their work. Some are currnetly more
active than others, but all have helped out over time.
DG-sama, Powtaz, LiYang, ChrisFox, EN1X (formerly shadow_of_darkness),
BAMFManiac, RoseDagger, Jenniberry, Baby-Bunny, jhonenfreak,
ragingflea002, Sorceress_Ultimecia, DaBear.

==========================

This is a very low volume newsletter sent out for major announcements. If
you do not want to receive these anymore, login to your account, edit your
profile, uncheck the newsletter box, and click submit.

If you would like your account removed, send an email to
support@fanart-central.net requesting so, with your username and password.

_________________
You will obey or molten silver will be poured into your ears.

[Lexar]

I didn't recieve it, but I pretty much know everything already, so it's not that big a deal. Good idea though, a newsletter.

EDIT: Wait! i did receive it after all, so it's all good

[cstdenis]

Its still sending. Estimated to take about 13 hours from when it started (when I posted it here)
_________________
You will obey or molten silver will be poured into your ears.

[Stratadrake]

Thirteen hours? That's a lot of mail to send...

Me, I had to sort the newsletter out of my spambox, but it arrived earlier this morning. VERY professional looking, and I like the general open invitation to join in on the forums ^_^

[quote]Stratadrake - Site helper for his extensive work helping newbies in the
forums, tracking down bugs on the site, and suggesting improvments.[/quote]

Ah. I have been wondering about that for the past week or so....
_________________
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[size=9]Disclaimer: Posts may contain URLs. Click [url=http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TVTropesWillRuinYourLife]at your own risk.[/url][/size]

[cstdenis]

Sending mail to about 10,000 people takes quite some time.
_________________
You will obey or molten silver will be poured into your ears.

[DaBear]

Denis, this is an excellent idea of the newsletter! this site has really come of age. I like the whole layout, merchandizing, and professionalism here now. I checked out the 99dogs site. page two of the merch does not come up. Im hoping that the Angels Inc stuff might be on that page. you might want to check it out.

Bruce
_________________
'It has been said that politics is the second oldest profession. I have learned that it bears a striking resemblance to the first.' - Ronald Reagan

[Powtaz]

wants to help

[cstdenis]

[quote="Powtaz (Powtaz)"] wants to help [/quote]
I gave plenty of opportunity for site helpers to contribute to it in the site helper forum. Few seemed to want to.
_________________
You will obey or molten silver will be poured into your ears.

[Powtaz]

[quote="cstdenis (Webmaster)"] [quote="Powtaz (Powtaz)"] wants to help  [/quote]
I gave plenty of opportunity for site helpers to contribute to it in the site helper forum. Few seemed to want to. [/quote]
I just got pwned by god