Weekly Poll: Wallpaper Moderation

Stirring the pot

Published on February 25, 2008 By Zoomba In WinCustomize News

One of the most controversial galleries on WinCustomize is, without a doubt, our wallpaper section. In the past 90% of all work submitted was rejected out-right. Now, more is let through, but still the vast majority is placed on a user's personal page instead of the main gallery. This has met with mixed reactions from wallpaper artists and users alike. Some do not like the relaxed requirements, claiming that it has ruined the quality of the gallery. Others contend that we're being too restrictive and driving away wallpaper artists to other sites such as DeviantArt, Interfacelift etc.

So I thought this week we'd put it to an actual vote. Let everyone voice their opinion on how they would like wallpaper moderation to be handled.

At the moment, moderators look at a wallpaper submission, and decide whether it's personal-page-only, or main gallery material. The general metric we use is if something would be rated a 5/10 or higher (or 2.5 stars), it's good enough for the main gallery, 4/10 and lower goes to the personal page. We only reject broken submissions, submissions with bad preview images, or rips.

So, is our new policy to send some items to the personal page, and others to the main gallery a good one? Is the 5/10 threshold an acceptable limit, or should it be raised or lowered? Vote on the poll, and share your opinion in the comments below.

Comments (Page 5)

Lantec

on Feb 26, 2008

why are we choosing to let others decide what we like. ???

I'm not "choosing" to let others decide what I like......I "choose" to let others decide what's appropriate for the Wincustomize library. If they do a bad job, I can go elsewhere. If I so "choose", I can go to DA and wade thru heaps and heaps of garbage to find something I like. I "choose" not to have WC turn into the same kinda site. Even with moderation there are maybe 1 out of 10 walls posted here that "I" like.

but I feel like voicing my opinion here

exactly what the thread is for.........

edit: guess I was busy typing while Zoomba posted

Philly0381

on Feb 26, 2008

It's interesting that in every post there will be at least one reply that is able to get to what is commonly called "the point". We don't all have to agree but I think Lantec got to the bottom line.

Matchbook

on Feb 26, 2008

USED to go on???? Do you think it still doesn't go on? I can assure you it does.

Yea. I don't know. hehe.. I'm not quite as active anymore - so I can vouch only for times when I was really active.

kenwas

on Feb 26, 2008

"So I thought this week we'd put it to an actual vote. Let everyone voice their opinion on how they would like wallpaper moderation to be handled. " If memory serves me well, (and often it does not

), it was the WC/SD desire to expand the acceptance level to make the site more friendly and encourage new participation. We were given many reasons for this and it was the desire to make it easier for people to participate in the community. At the time, there were many voicing negative reactions to this relaxed approval procedure. Is SD/WC second questioning itself concerning this decision ? Is this a real "vote"? or just getting a feel for the sense of the community ending with the joke line of "When I want your opinion, I'll tell you what it is".

Zoomba

on Feb 26, 2008

We're constantly evaluating our moderation policies and what can be done to make the site more welcoming to new artists, and more useful to users. Periodically I like to get a sense for where the community stands on any given issue. Wallpapers happen to be a current topic of debate behind the scenes in the Mod forums, and I thought it'd be a good time to toss the question out there to everyone else.

Am I going to do a 180 on policy based purely on the poll results? Of course not. What I am going to do is take the results into consideration as I continue to refine site policy, and work to attract more artists to WinCustomize in the future.

ZubaZ

on Feb 26, 2008

Is SD/WC second questioning itself concerning this decision ? Is this a real "vote"? or just getting a feel for the sense of the community ending with the joke line of "When I want your opinion, I'll tell you what it is".

My impression of most of the polls here are more liek what I have with my kids when I ask a question like "Where would you like to go for dinner?" They have an opinion, but not a vote.

I think the discussion around the polls are more useful in situations like this than the poll number themselves. I mean . .look at the numbers: 180 votes. As a percentage of the community (even if we refine down to active community) is tiny. Same with the members posting in this thread. I recognize all but one user on this page so far, one on page 2, and three on the first page.

So you are showing your opinion in the poll and detailing it here . . . but Zoomba will do what he thinks will get him a Stardock sponsored private island at the end of the day.

Me . . I want WC to grow. I want to attract new skinners (and wallpaper artists) and new users. I want WC to be open and welcoming. But I don't want it filled with crap either. Thus . . I opine the following:

Personal pages stay and walls can be put there
Walls are removed from the newest gallery unless the mods think they are exceptional
Walls get their own section ("Newest Walls")
Walls with a algorithm based on rating and downloads and comments may migrate to personal pages

ZubaZ has spoken . . thus it should be made so.

ZubaZ

on Feb 26, 2008

I am too dang slow typing (getting all teh spelling correct) and Zoomba sweeps inand steals my thunder.

DAGNABIT!

zakai1369

on Feb 26, 2008

Should we remove wallpapers from the "Newest" and "Recently Updated" pages, and allow them through unmoderated?

I think unmoderated would be a bad idea. But I do think I saw where someone mentioned earlier a second wallpaper gallery. Why not combine the two ideas and make a second wallpaper gallery for those wallpapers that in the current system would only go to the personal pages and then make it so that gallery is not included in the "Newest" and "Recently Updated" pages.

This way the people who dont want to wade through pages of "junk" wont be affected by it at all and those who are interested in checking out everything that is out there and want to form an opinion about it on their own are more easily able to do so without having to go through millions of personal pages.

And this will still let people know that their work, although good enough for themselves and maybe some others, is not quite what Wincustomize is looking for. And also, by watching the number of downloads and ratings these wallpapers in the new gallery get, it would give the moderators a chance to compare their opinions and choices with those of the community.

kenwas

on Feb 26, 2008

Thanks Zoomba for the straight up answer. Appreciated. Zubaz, good ideas, but why have #2 if you have #3?

ZubaZ

on Feb 26, 2008

Zubaz, good ideas, but why have #2 if you have #3?

Because the Newest is a great place to go when you hit the site. And walls are integral to skinning your PC. Some of the best should be shown of more than the rest.

kenwas

on Feb 26, 2008

Because the Newest is a great place to go when you hit the site

Interesting. I never go there but rather just go section to section on the right side menu by category. That lets me see the newest things I am interested in by category without wading through things I don't care about. To each his own!

ZubaZ

on Feb 26, 2008

There are galleries I focua on but I hit the newest to see . . well . . . if there is somthing that I don't usually focus on that I should (or could).

It's all about growth for me.

Kinger

on Feb 26, 2008

Many interesting opinions here. When I first came to Wincustomize it took a long time to finaly get something posted. It actualy took a e-mail to moderation to find out what I needed to do. They were most helpful, and after many e-mails I finally made it. I am for whatever is best for the Site and the Community,but I do think there should be some sort of quality cut off point.

The__Goo

on Feb 26, 2008

I'm not going to make someone slog through 100 MS paint/clip art/bryce walls to find a single skin, cursor or icon package.
I guess that's another interesting question:
Should we remove wallpapers from the "Newest" and "Recently Updated" pages, and allow them through unmoderated?

My suggestion earlier was to allow the rating system decide what would stay... like anything less than a set score would be deleted or sent to the submitters private page after set amount of time to allow the users of the website a chance to rate the submission. I agree with what you say, I mean I have no idea what you guys go though trying to sort everything in the first place... I imagine its daunting task. But wallpapers are very different from any other the others because it shows the artist in his entirety. I would love to see more and the idea of the community deciding what should be presented is an idea that excites me.

The__Goo

on Feb 26, 2008

Zoomba in regards to your post about the crap thats submitted, I whole heartedly agree with you. I and everyone else who takes this seriously would no doubt not only agree with you but would insist a moderation at this level always be in place and encourage those papers be sent to the submitters personal site.(just so others can see by happenstance what someone did) But i have seen some walls that were rejected in which the person took sometime to create. I think less moderation on this, i think the WC user's should be allowed to rate and decide if it should stay. Have a main gallery and then a gallery inwhich the users rate the skin to decide if it stays or goes. Give each submission a week to get rated... then move it to the main gallery or off the site. Since creating Boot skins, wallpapers and Logons really do take much talent to create anyways, why not do the same for all these... I have seen lame in those galleries.. and would not be suprised of the junk you see on a daily basis. I guess what i am asking is just to let the community have a little more in the process of what should or shouln't be... IMHO

Welcome Guest! Please take the time to register with us.
There are many great features available to you once you register, including:

Richer content, access to many features that are disabled for guests like commenting on the forums.
Access to a great community, with a massive database of many, many areas of interest.
Access to contests & subscription offers like exclusive emails.
It's simple, and FREE!