Mod Post!

[drake-anaya.livejournal.com]

Greetings, denizens of artists_beware :3

As you may or may not be aware, posting to this community is moderated, meaning all posts must be screened for approval before being posted publically -

I'm the one who has been approving most of the entries since we switched to this system (I spend a lot of time at the computer, I suppose), and I wanted to pose some questions to the community about the posts I've been approving...

I haven't seen any complaints so far, but I'm always hesitant to add the "help me find this person!" and the "I'm having an artistic dilemma!"-type posts, because I'm not really sure how well they fit the scope of the community. On the one hand, they're preventing people from ending up as artists deserving of warnings. On the other hand, a quick read at the community info reveals that this kind of posting isn't covered in the realm of acceptable topics.

Therefore, I am asking for input from the community members and my fellow moderators - should I take a more strict interpretation of the rules? Or should we draft some new ones? How does everyone feel about the kind of posts I mentioned above? Do you have any other comments or suggestions?

I'm personally okay with allowing those kinds of posts here, so I'd be in favor of writing some additional rules to include them.

(other mods, feel free to smack me with an oversized trout if you find this inappropriate...)

Comments

[thaily.livejournal.com]

I think it's great that we can warn eachother about bad artists/customers, but it's even better that we can help eachother be better artists/customers.

[tenna.livejournal.com]

It... depends.

If someone has been a contributing member of the community, I don't mind seeing an occasional off-topic post from them.

But I get annoyed when people join the community with the idea of posting something off-topic.

I don't mind the "help me not be a bad artist" posts as much as I mind the "I need help pimping my commissions." But as I said earlier, if it's an active and contributing member of the community, I don't have any qualms.

[rustydragonfly.livejournal.com]

I don't particuarly mind so much so long as it's not overwhelming, but I guess trying to draw the line between what is and isn't overwhelming is a tricky one.

Do you think there would be call for a "help for artists" community? Something where people could share tips and ask questions relating to selling art and the like? That way there could be a place for all the "how do I get commissions" and "what do I do in this situation" type questions without them having to come here.

Dunno how well it'd fly, but just a thought.

[uneide.livejournal.com]

I'm with Aeireono. Mostly, I don't mind the occassional off topic post, and I really haven't seen them overwhelming the commission warnings-- but its a tough one, since if its openly approved more might follow. I'm comfortable with the way things are right now, personally.

[chlorophyta.livejournal.com]

I haven't seen anything on here that seems too off-topic, in fact, this is probably one of the more useful communities I'm in. =)

[neongryphon.livejournal.com]

Agreed. I think its all fine as well. This has been one of the most immediately helpful and informative communities I’ve joined, and I’ve even found the slightly off-topic posts to still be very edifying.

[dinogrrl.livejournal.com]

I agree with the others--it's not bad now, they're not the majority of posts. But as they mentioned, if you make it allowable by the rules I'm afraid there'd be a TON of those types of posts, which in my mind is not what this community's for. The occassional one from 'older' members I don't mind, but those from newcomers kinda smack of 'the only reason I joined this community is to pimp myself.' I'm pretty sure there's already a community or two dedicated to that. I like aeireono's suggestion of a community dedicating to helping artists.

[skulldog.livejournal.com]

I know a few of my posts have been "Help me find this artist!", but I feel within reason those sort of post can help not only the person posting, but also other people. I know with some of the things I've posted I did find out some dark sides to commissioners that I would have enver known, has I not asked here.

I think it's more a person judgment call you your part, or that of any mod.

I'm really happy with how this place is run myself. I think so far, all posts that are let in are fit to be here.

[leahtaur.livejournal.com]

I'm brand new here, and, well, I'm one of THOSE people. One of the ones whose first post was to ask for help with my art and commissions in general rather than warn of a bad artist or buyer. :/ True, its against the written rules, but I did scroll down before I posted and saw a similar post made by someone else... which doesn't mean it's okay. I apologize.

Personally, I'm fine with other people posting the slightly off-topic posts about wanting to find an artist or asking for artistic help (I may be biased, heh), because from what I've seen from previous posts, the majority are still about this community's main purpose, warning about deadbeat buyers/artists. I've found everyone here really helpful and I just wanted to thank everyone for the help they've given me on my sadly off-topic post.

[lilenth.livejournal.com]

Perhaps allow a certain amount of OT posts but try to limit it to within reason.

I think "help me find so and so" posts should be allowed withing reason, to give people the chance to find artists rather than blacken their name for lack of alternate contact. Or perhaps a sister community set up for people to post in for contacting artists or getting reviews on other people who have worked with this artist, so people could post something like:

I have commissioned silverwolffox snowymagicpaws and lost contact with him, does anyone have an alternate contact method? I have his email for gmail and domain but he isn't responding, perhaps he has had a problem? Does anyone have any past experience with this guy as well?

and get responses.

[gothwings.livejournal.com]

Not really got much to add here on top of what's already been said. To reiterate others, I am happy to gain and offer advice on how to be a good artist/commissioner as much as I am happy to find out about those artists and customers we should avoid as a community.

[susandeer.livejournal.com]

I'm for allowing posts like that. Maybe with something in the topic to tag is as that type of post. If it helps prevent artists or commissioners from getting bad marks due to a lack of communication ability, I think that's a plus for the community.

[go--banana.livejournal.com]

It is nice to see a couple "help me with contacting/pricing/etc." posts here and there, but not an over abundance of it. I never stated it in the rules simply because I never thought of it then. The purpose of the community is to vent, offer assistance to artists and customers, and hopefully come to peaceful resolutions. It is nice to see something a little different; it can help the community expand and improve. (As long as it stays in the general basis of the community of course! If that makes any sense...)

As for pimping your artwork itself, well... you'll just have to seek another community. I think there are a few on LJ already. The only help we can offer viewers and posters now is to refer them to the advertisement community(-ies). :)

[banka-flavored.livejournal.com]

i dont mind some off topic stuff, its all in the realm of artwork and commissions so why not? i mean, if it gets out of hand to the point that this community is filled with nothing but, then id say its too much.

[tabenclearwater.livejournal.com]

I can understand the reasoning for questioning if you should regulate things and I appologize for seemingly coming in all of a sudden with an off topic post.

I've been watching this community for a while now and it has been ever increasingly helpful, especially with the post that I recently made. It's very nice to be able to find artists that are willing to help other artists despite the fact that they can very well be considered 'competition'.

I like to see the off topic posts along with the on topic posts. I think posts like the one I made are helpful to fellow artists and the like, but when it comes to someone trying to pimp out that they are taking commissios or their art, then it seems that it would be going a bit too off topic. But then, that could be me.

In short I think I agree with most of the above responses ad I am sorry if I have caused problems with my slightly off topic post *^^*

[acexcat.livejournal.com]

As long as it's art related, artist related or bare minimum artistic community type-ish questions, concerns or comments, it's cool. No problems so far. Keep the spammy trash to a minimum, keep the clearly off-topic stuff off the list and the no-problem-ness will continue. ^-^

Laying down more rules just makes it more easy for lawyers and other criminals to get around them and still be technically correct. As this community's reader/commenter list grows, keeping under five or six new-topic postings could be an issue but let's wait until then to address it, a'aight?

Thanks for setting up and keeping this community running to whoall's involved! ^-^

[ex-midnightf139.livejournal.com]

I've never been bothered by the "help me find soandso" posts, really. I think they're rather useful, from the looks of things.

[kerstin-orion.livejournal.com]

I have no problems with the posts saying 'help me do X to become a better artist' (X being find so-and-so, or how to pay/get paid, etc.). If it prevents 'So-and-so is a bad artist/commissioner' posts, I'm all for it. I feel it helps improve the art community as a whole.