Um, I suppose you guys were all tired of FFN now, but I just noticed this update

[saitoki.livejournal.com]

Today when I log on FFN, I found a new feature called "Image Manager". There are currently 2 tabs:

Infor/guide:

Images serve as book covers for your stories and identity logos for your forums and communities. Using images will give your content a special visual identity and act as an agent to attract more readers/members.

You can use the Image Manager to Upload, Edit, and Replace your collection of images.

You can re-use an Image for multple items. No need to upload the same image muliple times for different items.

The limit on the number of images you can have is: 10 + Number of Stories Published.

Image Guidelines:

All the Site Guidelines apply.

Posting adult/provactive images are not allowed will result in the immediate removal of your account

Posting purposefully distracting, "blinding" images are not allowed, i.e. images with solid neon colors.

You must have the required permission and rights to use the image that you upload.

Manage(upload)
Warning: Posting adult/provactive images are not allowed and will result in the immediate removal of your account.

Please see the Image Guide for more info and guidelines.

Privacy Note: In this age of limited online privacy, we highly recommend our members not to submit personal photographs.

Supported image file formats: .jpeg, .jpg, .gif, .png, .bmp, .tiff.

Important: For maximum image clarity we recommend images with a 6/9 width to height ratio with dimensions of 300x450 or larger. 

There is a maximum limit of images allowed equal to 10 + Number of Stories Published.

Changes can take up to 24 hours but often shorter to be relected on the public facing site.

I did post some picture in there and it worked, but those pictures still sat there because they haven't updated the feature to stick the pictures to stories yet.

This message appeared a while later:

Public Announcement

---

Image Manager feature is now rolling out for the entire site and is currently pre-activated for Forums. Communities and Stories will be activated next once we confirm the feature is stable with the Forums.

In the meantime, you can get ready by uploading your existing story covers and community logos.

I suppose after messing up unnecessary things like forum outline and review button, they made something good for once, but it's still half done. :/ I really wanna try this though.

Oh, and I guess we would have to be very careful to use this because something like picture copyright is quite a tender subject.

Comments

[gamma-x-orionis.livejournal.com]

I'm quite interested in this new feature too. I think it's going to be fun and interesting, and I'd much rather have them take their time in activating it and work out the bugs than just shove it at us.

[saitoki.livejournal.com]

Right, But I'm still very curious if the picture could be as big as the maximum size FFN allow, which they auto resize after uploading. If anything, i'm sure it would be a tiny picture half our avatar size sticking with the fic on the front page. I don't know if they would allow a larger picture inside the story though. Not likely, but I'm hoping :)

[vickyblueeyez.livejournal.com]

I wonder about the copyright thing. I would like to use images like of my lj icon to promote things.

[saitoki.livejournal.com]

"You must have the required permission and rights to use the image that you upload."

According to this, I think if it is fanarts, the artist has to be either you or someone who granted the right to you. If it is photos, the photo also has to be taken by you or someone who granted access to you.

Offical pictures like poster or screencaps is a big no I think, if you don't want to risk getting banned.

E.g: Avenger screencap is a no, but your cosplay photo is ok. I don't know about picture of actor taken by fan on the street though.

[(Anonymous)]

Is it cynical of me to assume we can look forward to the next round of purging because of a) users uploading copyrighted material and b) unclear guidelines about what does or doesn't constitute a "provocative" image?

On the other hand, it seems like there's finally an easy way to get rid of an unwanted account (which wasn't possible until now) - now all you have to do is upload an X-rated image...

[dannylionthe1st.livejournal.com]

Is it wrong that my first thoughts were. "Wow... they really will not address the whole purging thing." And finally, "This is a great way for people to get their accounts removed if they no longer want an account in FFN."

[purple-dolphin9.livejournal.com]

Oh I thought this addressed the whole purging thing really well.... they needed the space for images. As for the guidelines, they are as vegue as thier rating system. I do think it's time I moved on though I hate to, or maybe I'll stay until I'm banned.

[dannylionthe1st.livejournal.com]

Oh, sadly, I'm staying. More because it's still pretty popular and it's easier to find stories for very tiny fandoms. My thoughts was that there were some people who wanted to delete their account, but they can't. Now just put up a XXX picture and see if the moderators are quick as lightning to delete the account. Which, honestly, if FFN needs more space then they should enable account deletion. Why have all that space (or however much space) be taken up by people who don't use/want their accounts anymore.

I have a feeling that I after this it won't take long before people will be complaining about the abuse of the pictures and how some seem to be up forever despite their questionable content.

[kagenoneko-maat.livejournal.com]

This sounds interesting even though I have no way of looking at it since the login is down for fanfiction.net.

[saitoki.livejournal.com]

Really? then maybe they are working on it. I haven't logged out of my account so I don't know.

[kagenoneko-maat.livejournal.com]

It wasn't a hugely long outage at least.

[aviv-b.livejournal.com]

Gee, looks to me like they are creating new ways to say you don't follow the guidelines. Unless its your own original artwork, I wouldn't post any pictures.

[(Anonymous)]

I found that too a while ago when I logged in, into my account and I tried it immediately. And now, it's just there and I don't know how upload it into my story. :/

[hazliya.livejournal.com]

So, what's this supposed to look like, in the end? Preview images next to story titles when they show up on profiles or search results? Full-size images in the first chapter of stories? I have no idea what to expect xD

[bluefirebird.livejournal.com]

Allowing images within (or covers for) stories is a pretty cool concept for the authors.

As a reader having the images show up next to the story titles and summaries in the indices sucks.

Even as a very visual person, I disagree with their statement "Using images will give your content a special visual identity and act as an agent to attract more readers/members".

I want to find stories I'm interested to read and have the pages load in a reasonable time, not all the fancy bells and whistles they are implementing to replace all the stories they've deleted that I want to read/re-read.