You'd be welcome to post new feature requests for these things.
I'm happy to do that if the ideas are attractive enough to everyone.
Just trying to get a general feel for the direction we're going, so I can avoid spinning too many plates at once. :)
Speaking only for myself, I think the website team needs more people who are content oriented. Martin does most of the development, with help from a few others here and there; but has said he doesn't want to be a content editor (at least not in a huge or leadership way). (That's my understanding, but might not have paraphrased accurately.)
I'm not sure if it would be appropriate, or maybe not even needed. But I think it would be helpful to have sort of a team which discusses and creates conten. I think Mihaela has some ideas similar to yours too -- features which have as much marketing as a goal, than any other goal, but would serve as positive reinforcement of preferred content (as opposed to a lot of "don't" rules. (But I think she doesn't have time at present). Although that's going on a different tangent, for the moment.
Requiring svg-only limits it to mostly Inkscape stuff right away for example.
I'm not sure if I would agree with that. For example, AI, along with how many other programs can create SVG files? Not to mention people who write the XML/SVG directly, or like with a....what's it called, API? Inkscape may be one of a few, or maybe the only one of it's kind, focussing so strictly on the SVG standards. But I'm not sure if it makes up so much of a corner on the market, that allowing only SVG files would result in only images related to Inkscape.
I think we should
encourage the use of svg whenever possible.
We already do encourage SVG and/or public domain. I can't remember exactly how, but I think it's by having certain category shortcuts on the front page of the gallery. The website seems to be getting worked on, as I write this, and categories are missing at the moment. But I'm pretty sure that's how it's done.
This compartmentalisation would help
narrow down the areas that need policing. For example, the website could have galleries dedicated to:
.... You can see how each of these areas not only forms different kinds of
contributing communities around them, but also makes it easier for a visitor to get to the content they want to see quickly.
Well, the compartmentalizing would have to be something which users can't access. Because already we see spam is getting uploaded into any category. Spammers don't seem to care much where they put it. Interesting though - still mulling over the idea.
Regarding your idea of an award system for various categories, we already have Favorites. The images with the most Fav votes are shown on the front page of the gallery. But it's not organized by category. It's just overall.
Well, it is organized by category, in a way. It just depends on how visitors choose to display the gallery. If they want to look at extensions, then Fav votes determines which ones are shown first. At least that's how I think it works. I could be wrong.
Do you think favorites could help for this? It seems to me like it would need to be something more than that.
Thanks, brynn
-----Original Message----- From: C R Sent: Monday, April 24, 2017 3:58 PM To: brynn Cc: Victor Westmann ; Inkscape-Devel Subject: Re: [Inkscape-devel] website moderation policy
You'd be welcome to post new feature requests for these things. Because they would not only need to be written into the policy, but also the features need to be built. I know the website code moved over to gitlab, and I know new bugs are reported as Issues. But I don't know how a new feature request is made. Maybe it's a new Issue too?
I'm happy to do that if the ideas are attractive enough to everyone. Just trying to get a general feel for the direction we're going, so I can avoid spinning too many plates at once. :)
I would rather spend the time to do that, and have a great Inkscape-only gallery. Honestly, if the community were to decide that any random photo or other image is acceptable, I probably would not volunteer to moderate.
Well, it's like you said, probably a mix of both is best: post the guidelines, and make the content submission do some checking of the contents being submitted. Doesn't have to be one or the other really. :)
Requiring svg-only limits it to mostly Inkscape stuff right away for example.
There would be nothing special about it, and I would rather volunteer my time on some other part of the Inkscape project, where my time counts toward making something special, something nice, which promotes Inkscape.
Oh I definitely agree. I just worry it may not be worth the time to catch everything. I think generally, posting guidelines will be enough for most community members. Maybe it would not be as much work as I'm imagining, though I'd still like to suggest some things that may help auto-filter out undesirable content.
Reject any and all non-svg content and svgs that contains bitmap
graphics (embedded or linked), with max upload size 500KB, - then you don't have to manually police it. :)
Wow, that actually seems overly restrictive! How would it not need policing? Wouldn't you have to be opening every SVG file to find out if it has any raster graphics inside?
500KB is pretty restrictive - for raster graphics (part of the idea). I was thinking a simple script can see if there are raster graphics inside an svg. That's one "filter", but also limiting the svg size to something small will encourage people to use vector graphics only. At the least it limits the amount of server space required to house people's massive embedded graphics. :)
I think that would dramatically reduce new uploads. Not everyone likes to share their SVG files, and prefer to export PNGs (or other raster, or save in other format).
That sounds more like artist gallery material. I think we should encourage the use of svg whenever possible. There are plenty of other websites for posting raster graphics. Anyway, just a thought. Maybe way off base. It would be hard to show things that don't display properly in browser anyway, so it may be a bad idea in the first place. It's possible that different sections of the website host different kinds of content. This compartmentalisation would help narrow down the areas that need policing. For example, the website could have galleries dedicated to:
1. Professional commercial projects: Restrictions - must have been done in inkscape, single png, with no svg required, photo of finished products okay. (1MB max upload size for all raster graphics) 2. Home projects: Restrictions - must be done in inkscape, photos of finished project okay, svg posting encouraged, but optional. 3. Inkscape public domain graphics resources - Must be made in Inkscape, CC0 public domain graphics only. SVG only. 4. etc.
You can see how each of these areas not only forms different kinds of contributing communities around them, but also makes it easier for a visitor to get to the content they want to see quickly.
External links to other websites should be sufficient for users to
post anything else.
You would want people to upload their Inkscape drawings somewhere else, just because they don't want to share the SVG file?
For public domain graphic resource section, I'd *like* all svg if possible (though a raster version of the svg along with it would be beneficial as well for preview of things like mesh gradients and flowed text). Like we've said, there are plenty of other sites that host public domain raster graphics. Just another thought. This may be overly restrictive for artists who just want to show off past projects without sharing the resources. It really depends on what content we decide to allow. Just tossing out ideas... feel free to further toss them out the window. :)
Care should be taken for our current users who have uploaded content
for years. We may want to contact them directly to explain the new policies. Some will disagree, but it's better than just removing all content before they have a chance to back it up.
That's a good point. Perhaps the policy should not be retroactive? Although I don't really see anyone having uploaded an image to any kind of gallery, that they didn't have saved on their hard drive or somewhere else. Isn't that just common sense?
It is to me, but then again I regularly get free computers and laptops in exchange for rescuing user data... so maybe not. :)
I've never even used a digital camera (yeah, I'm old). Is it possible to upload an image directly from your camera, and not have it saved somewhere?
My room mate complained that the camera I gave her 6 years ago is full. I re-compressed all the pictures on the card to make space. She knows how to get the pictures off and store them elsewhere, but she also likes to use the camera to look through them. I seriously doubt she'll take the time to back them up. Fortunately, I offer to do it for her every few years. I have no doubt other people do exactly the same thing. It's something techno-savvy people kinda take for granted: If I don't back up my stuff, I'll lose it! For most everyone else: "Rats! I lost my data!" Then they learn after the data is already gone.
Thanks for your comments, C R :-)
Always a pleasure, Brynn. :)
-C
brynn
-----Original Message----- From: C R Sent: Friday, April 21, 2017 4:33 AM To: Victor Westmann Cc: brynn ; Inkscape-Devel Subject: Re: [Inkscape-devel] website moderation policy
What might be generally better than a restrictive content policy is to ask what kind of content we want on the site, and set things up to encourage contributions in those areas.
For example, if we want more graphics that are usable as public domain vector-only resources, we could set up a prominent area just for that. We could also have an award system for most used/downloaded inkscape svg resource, with maybe a monthly draw for some Inkscape item.
I know, I know, but who has the time to do that? A better question is: who has the time and resources to remove all content that does not conform to guidelines?
The policing time would be better spent promoting inkscape, helping users learn inkscape, and setting up a fun way for users to contribute cc0 public domain content that can be used anywhere, with no attribution necessary. Add a donation link for the artist, and also an external link to their website, and there's plenty of reason for professionals to post great content that's not restricted, and usable for the whole community.
Reject any and all non-svg content and svgs that contains bitmap graphics (embedded or linked), with max upload size 500KB, - then you don't have to manually police it. :)
External links to other websites should be sufficient for users to post anything else.
That would be my solution.
Care should be taken for our current users who have uploaded content for years. We may want to contact them directly to explain the new policies. Some will disagree, but it's better than just removing all content before they have a chance to back it up.
Thoughts on this? -C