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CheetahSmith · Rookie Joined: 24 Feb 2004 Posts: 38

Mind if I drop a line? Okay then... First off, I'm not too craz about the new changes that are taking place. Mainly because I'm comfortable with how FAC is currently organized, and a sudden change may catch several members off guard and upset them because they may not be able to put a picture in the right place.

However, that doesn't mean that I'm not willing to adapt. I'll move my artwork when I'm notified. And I'll also ask some questions and add some input for consideration.

I feel that the "Artist Character" category is a potentially good place to put "ID" pics, avatars, and realistic and anime/cartoon-styled self portraits. Will that particular category remain? Or will the contents be moved as well? I'm guessing that any original character that appears in that category would be moved and anything artist/author-related would stay.

What about the fan-made characters under "Original" sub-categories in sections such as "Jak 2" and "Harry Potter"? Will they be moved or will they stay? They would make a lot more sense if they remained in the "right" category, sense they are technically characters, even though they're made up characters, of that fandom. At least, in my view, they are.

The "Original Manga" category (and its sub-categories) under "Anime/Manga". I'm assuming that this will be moved to "Original" as well... Am I right? It wouldn't be that much of a change if it was announced before hand... The reason I'm asking is that I have Anime/Manga series and characters of my own creation.

I'm also worried about the "Fantasy" category. Would that be moved as well? Or remain the same?

That's all I really have to say. I'll add more input and ask more questions some other time. *need...sleep...*

fallenangel · Posted: Wed Jun 30, 2004 8:30 pm Post subject:

[quote]Mind if I drop a line? Okay then... First off, I'm not too craz about the new changes that are taking place. Mainly because I'm comfortable with how FAC is currently organized, and a sudden change may catch several members off guard and upset them because they may not be able to put a picture in the right place.[/quote]

FAC's organization currently works ok, but it won't for long. The growing number of users requires a more strict, organized system to make the site as viewer-friendly as possible when it comes to finding pictures. Same with approval panel. It wasn't needed in the beginning, but with so many users it is now.

[quote]I feel that the "Artist Character" category is a potentially good place to put "ID" pics, avatars, and realistic and anime/cartoon-styled self portraits. Will that particular category remain? Or will the contents be moved as well? I'm guessing that any original character that appears in that category would be moved and anything artist/author-related would stay. [/quote]

There's a section under original>characters for avatars (though whether or not it shows up on the main page yet I don't know because last I checked no one had put anything in it). Further subcategories can be made to cater to IDs and "self characters". Any true self portraits, regardless of style, should go in real people>self portraits. We aim to completely remove the "artist character" category because it's just too confusing. Some (most) people interpret it as a place for any original character. And the approval panel, unless it's clearly stated in the description, can't tell whether it's a self-representing character or not. So to cut down on confusion for both parties, we'd still prefer all original characters of any kind to be in an original>characters subcategory.

[quote]What about the fan-made characters under "Original" sub-categories in sections such as "Jak 2" and "Harry Potter"? Will they be moved or will they stay? They would make a lot more sense if they remained in the "right" category, sense they are technically characters, even though they're made up characters, of that fandom. At least, in my view, they are.[/quote]

The way those categories were originally supposed to work isn't exactly how they've been used. When they were first made, it was decided upon that any images of a specific character would go into that character's sub. Any pictures of real characters with one or more original characters would go in "original" because they feature original characters [i]and[/i] official ones. All pictures of original characters on their own would go in original>characters. That's not exactly how it's happened, especially in cases like Sonic and Harry Potter. And that's fine. If people want to keep their original characters with that genre, I really have no problem with that. Lasher may disagree, since it's her category system anyway, but it's easier on the panel and users. So the short answer, for now everything in the Subject Specific original categories will stay.

[quote]The "Original Manga" category (and its sub-categories) under "Anime/Manga". I'm assuming that this will be moved to "Original" as well... Am I right? It wouldn't be that much of a change if it was announced before hand... The reason I'm asking is that I have Anime/Manga series and characters of my own creation[/quote]

As far as I'm aware, that will stay. Separating anime/manga from everything else is fine. I believe Lasher wanted all original characters anime style to be submitted to anime/manga>original, but that's just too much to ask of the approval panel, I think, because there are so many different styles of anime, and people draw them so differently. So if people draw in an anime style or have drawn an original manga, they will stay in the anime/manga>original subcategory.

[quote]I'm also worried about the "Fantasy" category. Would that be moved as well? Or remain the same?[/quote]

It's staying, since creatures are not always characters, exactly. There will probably be some slight restructuring to eliminate duplicate categories elsewhere (same goes for furries and just about every category).

We're really just trying to get everything that's an original creation/character into original. Things like fantasy, sci-fi, etc. aren't fanart, but they're separate genres that can remain in their own categories. But the characters are the biggest issue, as thousands of pictures have been almost randomly spread throughout the site.
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Stratadrake · Posted: Wed Jun 30, 2004 8:37 pm Post subject:

[quote] Mind if I drop a line? Okay then... First off, I'm not too craz about the new changes that are taking place. Mainly because I'm comfortable with how FAC is currently organized, and a sudden change may catch several members off guard and upset them because they may not be able to put a picture in the right place.[/quote]

There's already one member threatening to leave because of repeated category mishaps (on the same image, no less), she's even counting down the uploads until she plans to leave. Said risk is inherent to the process of reorganization....

[quote]I feel that the "Artist Character" category is a potentially good place to put "ID" pics, avatars, and realistic and anime/cartoon-styled self portraits.[/quote]

I agree. I don't have any AC pics, personally I think that category should stay, so long as it's not used for RP, story, or merely conceived characters -- only for representations of the artist themself.

[quote]What about the fan-made characters under "Original" sub-categories in sections such as "Jak 2" and "Harry Potter"? Will they be moved or will they stay? They would make a lot more sense if they remained in the "right" category, sense they are technically characters, even though they're made up characters, of that fandom. At least, in my view, they are.[/quote]

To me, I guess that depends on the inspiration. If it's an original character first and a fandom character second, put it in original characters. Or if it's a fandom creation first, and an original character second, it goes in the fandom category.

The above are just my $.02 on the matter though, nothing more Wink

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fallenangel · Posted: Wed Jun 30, 2004 9:09 pm Post subject:

[quote="Stratadrake (Strata)"] I agree. I don't have any AC pics, personally I think that category should stay, so long as it's not used for RP, story, or merely conceived characters -- only for representations of the artist themself. [/quote]
Too much confusion. There's an "Avatar" subcat in original>characters, if more are needed they can be made. A representation of an artist is still a character created by that person, thus an original character. Smile

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Stratadrake · Posted: Wed Jun 30, 2004 11:11 pm Post subject:

Yeah. I took so long typing up my prior post, that you got yours in ahead of me and I didn't notice :lol:

PS:

[quote]Fantasy/Catpeople
Furries/Cats
Original/Nekos

Three categories that describe almost the same thing as each other.[/quote]

I found another one to add to this list: [i]Furries - Furry/Anthropomorphic - Nekos[/i]. Can you believe it, four categories for (essentially) the same kind of subject matter?

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