It has come to my attention that my gift for words has been failing me miserably these past few days. What I mean to impart is coming off as bitchiness rather than humerous or helpful.
For that, I want to apologize. Especially to Harold, who works hard for this site and didn't deserve to feel like he was under attack at all. I'm an idiot. I would offer to smooch and make up, but I'm too old to be getting beat up by anyone's wife...
Now, having said that, I am going to go over a few things that might be responsible for this mood lately. I simply feel like I am banging my head against the wall on a daily basis.
First off: Ratings.
YOU are not what is being rated (usually.) Yes, there are trolls here and there that will pop a 1 because they don't like you personally... I've gotten a few myself.
But in general, what is being rated is something you found on the Internet somewhere, not you. I mean look here... I have loaded up a bunch of videos to various spots. I did not create those videos. When you rate those videos, you should rate the video based on how much of an asset it is to that spot, and nothing else. Three is not a bad rating, and really should be the baseline. I have rated YouTube videos 3 and then linked them on Fanpop only to be amazed that they got a 5 here.
Strange, that.
Second: Images. And this really is my main beef. Folks, Fanpop is a business. The space is not free. The time and effort to run it is not free. It is here to make money.
I have said this before and will likely say it another 100 times: If the image is not searchable then it is pretty much useless. You cannot load 50 images at once and label them 'Generic Book Cover' with no Key Words specific to that image, and with no image credit.
In order for this website to continue and move forward, it has to have everything (or at least most things) searchable places like Google. When someone is searching for a particular video or image, Fanpop needs to come up on that first page.
That is not going to happen with things the way they are. I know that you are trying to help. I know you are trying to fill spots with cool stuff. But you have to remember that one image that is well marked is more valuable than 200 generic images with no specific tags.
I'm not trying to make it be like work. OK? I have fun here, and I think everyone should have fun here. But you can have fun while doing things that are to the benefit of Fanpop.
Look... I don't work here. I should not let this bother me to the point that it does... but I love this website, and I believe in it. I hate the thought of it eventually going down the tubes because of things like not taking the time to make sure the majority of our images are not in violation of Copyright laws, and that they are useful from a search perspective.
I am not trying to be mean. I am on my knees (shut up John) and begging you to think about it next time you find a cool image. Take the time to find a reasonable semblance of ownership and cite the credit. Take the time to label the image as specific as you can.
Please.
I had more, but my fingers hurt. Sucks to get old some times... heh.
Lori
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Couldnt help but laugh at the 'shut up john' comment, lol :D
Also, this has made me feel better about giving low ratings. I worry that people are offended when they find that something they took the time to upload has been rated low by "unappreciative users". But as long as they read this article... ;) they should realize that they're not being rated, the objects themselves are.
That's fast, and that's good for Fanpop.
That said, now for the rest of your article: I have to say, again, how much I appreciate you stumping for both proper tagging and proper image credits. It's allowed me to slack off a bit, since I used to be the only one doing that. But maybe I shouldn't have - even though many people have complained about my pomposity/talking down to them like I'm some authority - now it seems like you are the only person who's explaining what proper image credits are.
What really gets me is that many people will say "yes, yes, you're right!" but then continue posting dozens of images with no meaningful tags, no image credits, and - this really gets me - no explanation of what the image is or when/where it was taken. I've stopped trying to 'fix' other people's behavior, though: in the end, I can't change anyone other than myself (and even that is hard work). I'm not too big on posting images, myself (I'm perhaps too conscious of copyright, as well as lazy), but I can see how, if an image - like any other content! - isn't properly tagged, it would be well and truly justified to post a second instance that was. If you can't find the image/content with a Fanpop search, then it either doesn't exist or it's so badly tagged that it might as well not exist.
As I've said elsewhere, I don't bother stressing about duplicates in any instance except where the same user has posted the same content more than once. That, I figure everyone can admit is a boo-boo. Everything else, the users can decide which is more deserving, both by their views and their ratings. So far, it hasn't become endemic enough that Fanpop feels repetitious - when that happens, I'm sure there will be business reasons to control duplication. But until then, it doesn't offend me too much, either...even when people duplicate content others have posted that does have proper tags and shows up easily in search results.
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