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On the whole, the Model Related Images Only rule is, I agree, a good one and I DO agree that images not related should be removed, however I would like to suggest a "Pre Removal Notice" be used, and here's why :

Yesterday, in response to a request from another Dakka member (one of your DCM's no less) I added two images to my gallery of a photoshopped Turtle. On the face of it, I can understand why this may be questioned, however it was exclusively designed for use in his ongoing Turtle Pie Guard MODELLING PROJECT, a thread for which exists on this site.

As I said, I can understand why, at first glance, the images could seem unrelated to modelling, but surely, given the existance of sonofruss's project, the MOD who deleted the files could have taken a moment to PM me for clarification of purpose prior to deletion, if only as a matter of courtesy !

Given the "security concerns" related to sharing email addresses with people you only know through site such as this (reliable as most members are), surely image sharing via the site, even if subject to a confirming note in the images "comments" section, should be deemed acceptable. In fact, I DID make such a comment on BOTH of the images that were deleted.

My own solution, for the moment, would be to place such images in a sub-gallery on my gallery page titled "Image Share for Model Projects", if that's accpetable to you MODS,of course.

Any suggestions for other solutions ?

www.photobucket.com

Already a member, and was thinking the same thing, thanks anyway tho.

Really just curious what the MODs have to say on the subject, particularly as the images were to help a fellow member's modelling project.

They have to keep it clear of clutter and don't have time to stop and ask each individual who may log in tomorrow or might not log in for 4 years.

The policy is miniatures pics, your reference materials were vague in regards that. You have access to other methods of transferring the information.

So...there isn't really a problem here is there? You can use photobucket as stated or any of a variety of picture hosting sites that don't get habitually swept clean and don't have a topic policy.

So just to be clear the process is this:

We look through every single image that is uploaded to the gallery to make sure someone isn't uploading something crazy like porn or using the gallery as their own personal pic hosting for non-gaming related pics.

If we come across a pic that doesn't appear to be related to wargaming in any tangible way, we're going to delete it. That's just the fact of the matter as there are simply too many pics being uploaded to really do it any other way (although an automated PM to the user who uploaded the image is a nice idea, however it might be technically difficult to implement, we shall see).

In short, if you ever wanted to upload pics to the gallery that you aren't sure whether or not are acceptable, the best thing to do would be to contact a moderator (especially one who is currently online) and if they give you the okay, they can immediately see your uploaded images and then 'approve' them to make sure another moderator doesn't come along and flag them for deletion.


With all that said, it does sound like the images you're referring to are not directly related to miniature wargaming and so would not be appropriate to be in the gallery. As others have pointed out, there are many picture hosting sites on the net that you can use for your non-gaming pic needs, some of which are even free for certain levels of service.

As always, yakface, thanks for your response, nice to see the personal touch continues .

Whilst I understand fully the reasons for the removal of the images on face value, as I said in my opening post, and agree that non gaming/modelling images have no real place in the gallery, I am saddened at the removal of the two images I uploaded for the following reason.

As I said in my original post, the sole and entire purpose of the two images was to assist sunofruss with his ongoing "Turtle Pie Guard" project, at his request. The images (and I don't know if you saw them) were mirrored duplicates for sunofruss to use as custom decals for Valk nose art. As such, they DO represent images of a Modelling purpose, having been custom made for that use.
*(Should you wish to verify the purpose, and I assume you are able, I'm more than happy for you to look in my PMs. See subjects : The Turtle and Arcane Arts to the Rescue.)

To avoid further confusions, at least whilst you look into the possibility of a PM template, how do you feel about the specifically titled sub-gallery suggestion I made in my opening post ? Would this be acceptable in the short term as long as the images carried an explaining comment as to why they have been uploaded ? This would allow the sharing of such images without the hassle that cross-linking sometimes produces, as well as letting anyone else viewing know the purpose behind what could appear to be randomly produced and uploaded images. (of course, this also relies on you advising the mods to read comments BEFORE deleting.) Should a user NOT place such a comment, then it would be their own fault if the images vanished.

As always, yakface, I look forward to your response, and thank you and your staff for your time.

I'm sending you a PM to discuss this privately.

Rules are rules really.

Model related - dakka
Off topic pic - photobucket, image shack, etc etc.

Situation resolved more than satisfactorily by Yakface.

Many thanks

Just to clarify publicly - I deleted the images. I'm sure yakface has already explained in detail but my rational was that the two images were not something that could stand alone in the gallery out of the context of a thread. When the thread was gone and buried, there would be 2 images of turtles with a pie on their back confusing people browsing random images in the gallery and as has been mentioned, we are keen to avoid this sort of situation from cluttering the gallery in the long term.

As mentioned as well, the biggest problem is the lack of notifications. An automated notification system is coming in the future but it is still a ways off. Every action taken by a mod in the gallery is logged, so if you have any links to your (deleted) gallery image you can see why it was removed. I'm sorry I didnt PM you, but there are quite a few images deleted each day and it would become a real time sink to PM everyone (hence the plans for an automated system to inform people of image removal).

Most of the above is just for general clarification, not targeted at you specifically reaper6. You have plenty of nice things in the gallery and we are glad you have shared what you have.

Thanks for that, legoburner.

Yakface didn't divulge, and I didn't ask, who deleted the images. The fact that you willingly entered into this discussion, claimed ownership of your actions and provided fair explanation of your reasoning is yet another example of why I'm always happy to promote Dakka.

Your reasons were pretty much what I expected, as I mentioned in the opening post, and I am quite sympathetic to the workload issue, which was why I suggested the use of the comments box as a short term method to avoid a repeat. I must confess, I hadn't considered the "orphaned link" issue, but then the images weren't linked to a thread, just uploaded to the gallery for sonofruss to use once I PM'd him.

Fortunately, Yakface suggested an alternative in his PM, so all is well with me. I hope I don't sound condascending when I say that your apology for the lack of PM is received in the spirit it was offered, and wasn't really expected "post event", so additional thanks are tendered for that.

In response to your last paragraph, I didn't take it personally in any way. Every contact I've had with the Dakka Admin Team has been positive, productive, polite, often informative and sometimes entertaining. A pretty good mix if I may say so.

So again, to both you, legoburner, and the boss,

Thanks

Glad to hear an automated system is planned. I think it's just good manners and will help cut down on accidental offenders.