Higher Expectations in the Graphics Section Options

[technicolour]

well, no one else has come up with one so let's start back at square one and bitch some more.

No. This is where you're wrong. All you people ever do is bitch bitch bitch and NEVER come up with a damn solution. Oh, and it's our jobs? I don't think so. You bitch about it then take the time to actually come up with a SOLUTION! You don't have the right to bitch.

[*mona lisa*]

I think Spencer(jumpropeforheart) was being sarcastic but don't take my word for it.

I have an idea. How about having a more clear and distinctive organization of the graphics? That way, those simple striped backgrounds would go under say, Backgrounds >> Minimal? It's a bit broad right now and I don't think the striped backgrounds are useless. Do you not see many people using striped/simple repeating backgrounds? I don't have a problem with having them count for half a graphic either. A set of rules would then have to be written stating which graphic categories count for one graphic and which count for half.

[marzipan]

That way, those simple striped backgrounds would go under say, Backgrounds >> Minimal? It's a bit broad right now and I don't think the striped backgrounds are useless. Do you not see many people using striped/simple repeating backgrounds?

That's exactly what I was thinking. Because isn't that what the minimal section is for? Those backgrounds are really popular. I think we should accept them, as long as they look nice and are of good quality.

[*salcha4u*]

well, no one else has come up with one so let's start back at square one and bitch some more.

Or you can do us all a favor and stfu.

Agreed about quality at least. There are minimal backgrounds that are uploaded as jpeg files....and it's aggravatig. Minimal should count for half a graphics though.

[*mona lisa*]

They should be saved as gif/png files. >_> The guidelines need to be re-written.

[HakunaMatata]

I like the idea of the routine House Cleaning, since we do have excellent graphics in the Graphics section, somehow stuff gets through that noone think is up to par. I like those striped backgrounds; I agree that they're simple and easy to make, but they're extremely useful. The pink dress one is very laughable; I mean; wtf is that?

[jumpropeforheart]

it was sarcasm, except in kristina's case.

[*salcha4u*]

Well, also if you want stripes don't make them overly simple. Like this..


http://www.createblog.com/graphics/download.php?id=17520

[gelionie]

^ I totally agree with that.

Besides, I also agree that minimal backgrounds should only count for 1/2 a graphic. Many people do find them useful, yes, but they take far less effort than other complicated backgrounds, so it would be appropriate.

[*I Shot JFK*]

Tell them to suck it up.

Or, YOU could suck it up, and stop whining about the fact that you dont like some of the graphics.

see how constructive that was?

This whole thing is stupid... there will always be some graphics which some people do not like, and it will NEVER be possible to create a set of guidelines which makes it possible to easily qualify a submission as either acceptable or unacceptable; the scope for graphic design is to broad.

I also object to the idea that things should be rejected just because they are too simple. Yes, createblog wants to deliver a high quality product, but it also wants to deliver things that people actually WANT. if people WANT a wide selection of striped graphics (which, can i just point out, have a wider range of potential for use, and are therefore perhaps the least 'useless') then cb ought to be providing them.

The current system is fine. The occasional blips lie with the mods occasionally being too lenient when approving the graphics. The majority of the time, it works well. If we introudcued a more complicated approval system, the bitching would be about how slow the system was. If the guidelines were made more stringent, the bitching woud come from members who had too many of their submissions rejected.

There is no one, single, clear pervading FLAW with the current system. As such, it does not need ammending. Yes, perhps a new housecleaning would be helpful. But last time, several layouts which were actually on my favourites list were removed. Clearly they werent 'useless', and i was actually really annoyed by one which was rejected. So i would just like to question the criteria which would be used, because i see two possible scenarios.

1) The housecleaning is carried out with much tighter guidleines, as a result of which we lose several graphics which may not be pure genius, but which people like.

2) The housecleaning is carried out under the existing guidelines, which means that the vast majority of existing graphics would be acceptable anyway, only a few would be rejected which genuinely need to be, but the mods would reject some which perhaps meet the criteria in and of themselves, bu which they dislike, and thus feel more inclined to reject as part of said housecleaning. Again, we lose graphics which people like, and based soelly on subjectivity.

I suggest we stick to the status quo, and sit donw and watch High School Musical a lot until we are all feeling more cheerful.

[*Libertie*]

rofl@ the High School Musical thing. >.<

There is no one, single, clear pervading FLAW with the current system. As such, it does not need ammending. Yes, perhps a new housecleaning would be helpful. But last time, several layouts which were actually on my favourites list were removed. Clearly they werent 'useless', and i was actually really annoyed by one which was rejected. So i would just like to question the criteria which would be used, because i see two possible scenarios.

1) The housecleaning is carried out with much tighter guidleines, as a result of which we lose several graphics which may not be pure genius, but which people like.

2) The housecleaning is carried out under the existing guidelines, which means that the vast majority of existing graphics would be acceptable anyway, only a few would be rejected which genuinely need to be, but the mods would reject some which perhaps meet the criteria in and of themselves, bu which they dislike, and thus feel more inclined to reject as part of said housecleaning. Again, we lose graphics which people like, and based soelly on subjectivity.

I agree with this. The rejecting guidelines when going back through were MUCH more harsh than the guidelines for accepting submissions. I had no idea it was going to get carried away like it did - people were going through, mass-rejecting without putting much thought into it at all. One bad thing is that we had the housecleaning right after hiring new staff members, so not everyone had gotten a chance to settle in and figure out exactly what the standard is. Bad idea. We should have waited. My bad.

If we do a new housecleaning, here are a few problems I have with the last one:

- People who are focused in one area (ex. Myspace staff) rejecting something OUT of their area of expertise. I had someone reject EVERY ONE of my livejournal layouts during the housecleaning. I admit that perhaps the image work isn't all that great, but honestly. My layouts against some terrible ones were rejected, and the ones that actually NEEDED to go stayed. I wouldn't have gone through rejecting Myspace layouts, because I don't actually have a Myspace of my own, so I don't know what types of layouts a lot of people are using.

- People just going through as quickly as possible and getting through their section. Remember, these people who put effort into submitting and getting something accepted are now going to be getting PMs essentially telling them, "Yeah, so we accepted your work way back when but now we think it sucks. Sorry." Actually THINK about that when you hit reject - "Is it actually worth smashing our credibility by rejecting something that was already previously accepted?"

Also remember that these things were accepted for a reason. Of course, in some cases it could have been a fluke - there WAS a time when non-design staffers were allowed access to the queue, and hitting accept by accident does happen. I really thought the mess during the last housecleaning would teach us to NOT want this to happen again. I don't think this housecleaning thing is something we should do regularly, or even multiple times. I thought once would be enough.

That being said, it obviously wasn't enough. I do think maybe the graphics need to be looked over. As far as everything else, under cb2 it was Design Staff's (as well as Head Staff and Admins) job to look over the queue and monitor things that are being accepted and rejected. When cb3 launched, this kind of died out since now all (sub) design staffers can review accepted layouts. So why not? We don't need a housecleaning session as an excuse to just look through and make sure things are being carried out correctly, yeah? We have an awesome set of four Design Staffers who are more than capable of handling the job.

[whomps]

^ Four ? I only count 3.

[*I Shot JFK*]

I would also like to agree with Dani's point that going back through the accepted graphics and rejecting those which were previoulsy accepted harms the sites credibilty, and undermines the authority of the original acceptor

[gelionie]

^ I see your point.

But I still think we need house cleaning every once a while.

[*mona lisa*]

^I don't think there would be a problem with having a house cleaning but only when it's needed. A regular and scheduled routine is a very bad idea for reasons stated above.

[*Zatanna*]

Ok, so a regularly scheduled house cleaning isn't such a good idea. I do think that a regularly scheduled/routine review of the submissions might be useful though. Nothing would be cleaned out, but the Design-y staff can sort of go over and review what/how everyone is doing.

[gelionie]

Okay I see what you guys mean.
:)
For instance, when people start to complain about the quality of submissions reasonably, maybe it's time for house cleaning.

[xXJenWearsPradaX...]

kind of harsh. but then i looked at the stuff. I may be a noob. but i would like to think i know what looks decent haha!

[superstitious]

Why did you bump this? O_O It's two years old.

Closed, moved to Resolved.