Animesuki Banner Contest - General Discussion Thread

[Klashikari]

I'm not exactly convinced by the seasonal banners idea for the following reasons:

First, it would be quite a job to keep the system on, especially considering the scale of the usual forum banners contests we got so far.
This would require something far more drastic than SOTM, and it would really need lots of manpower and checks (many people WILL mess up the rules apposed. This is something that always happened).
This would be far worse on a monthly basis, and I honestly can't see sailing it right. Should it have any slight delay, it will generate a snowball effect.

Second: Exhaustion of themes or lots of complain in terms of themes. Allowing a rotation of themes would make things difficult, especially if there are some factions and so forth.
Seeing the huge list of themes already, I already fear tons of debates for X or Y, since it would be decided democratically (well, i assume it will... right?). Hence, I'm really not expecting something that would work well if we had to spread the focus of the choice like that.

Well, either way, the banners can be changed or can stay, but I'm quite skeptical right now.

[Marina]

Due to all the discussion, I'm no longer really thrilled with the idea of seasons. I would prefer more of what we have now, one set of banners that just rotate every time you refresh the page. Doing a banner contest 3 times a year sounds fine in theory, and I'm sure we would be able to pull it off...for a while. But say someone doesn't have the time to monitor it, then someone else has to be found to do it. Constantly changing people could really affect the process since everyone handles things differently, and the forum as a whole might not like the outcome.

The idea of seasonal banner contests sortof sounds like the old banner contests for winter and halloween...and those don't even happen anymore. Why is that? If those older contests stopped happening, do we even want to start more contests that will happen maybe a couple of times that just fade out as well? I'm sorry to be a little negative >.< but I'm just raising some questions.

On a happier note, I'm interested in themes that are more enduring for use during the duration of a whole year: 7 deadly sins, magical, elements, friendship, "hope" (whatever that means ), etc. on the list compiled earlier.

[markesellus]

I'm still for that night/space theme.

[Daniel E.]

Originally Posted by markesellus

I'm still for that night/space theme.

Yeah, I haven't forgotten about it either.

I also remember someone else mentioning "Moon" as a theme and that of course, could also blend well with a night theme.

Heck, since night is a "Background theme" you could easily blend a lot of the already mentioned themes with it. (i.e: hope, zodiac, love, adventure, etc.)

[Deathkillz]

Originally Posted by Marina

Due to all the discussion, I'm no longer really thrilled with the idea of seasons. I would prefer more of what we have now, one set of banners that just rotate every time you refresh the page. Doing a banner contest 3 times a year sounds fine in theory, and I'm sure we would be able to pull it off...for a while. But say someone doesn't have the time to monitor it, then someone else has to be found to do it. Constantly changing people could really affect the process since everyone handles things differently, and the forum as a whole might not like the outcome.

Which is what I have already stressed waaaaaaay back

I think a general theme is common for us all, the problem is deciding what theme to use. This calls for a poll or some sort to narrow down the choices.

[Marina]

Originally Posted by Deathkillz

Which is what I have already stressed waaaaaaay back

I think a general theme is common for us all, the problem is deciding what theme to use. This calls for a poll or some sort to narrow down the choices.

*cough cough* well, exCUSE me! *slaps deathie with a wet noodle*

Would it be too problematic to include banner theme voting with the november sotm voting? People would vote for their sig choices as well as for the banner theme they prefer most and from that we'd have a clear idea of what choices are more popular... (I can already see some people getting ready to poke holes in this idea >.< ) We'd also possibly get more people voting for sotm and more people showing interest in the banner competition.

But then of course it'll probably just be easier to open a new thread solely for banner theme voting. I just thought it'd be nice to link the two since this competition is supposed to be a grand finale for all of this year's sotm competitions.

[felix]

Originally Posted by Marina

Would it be too problematic to include banner theme voting with the november sotm voting? People would vote for their sig choices as well as for the banner theme they prefer most and from that we'd have a clear idea of what choices are more popular... (I can already see some people getting ready to poke holes in this idea >.< ) We'd also possibly get more people voting for sotm and more people showing interest in the banner competition.

Have you considered the "What is SoTM?" problem and also the posible confusion that is going to come even among the people who are familiar with both contests by placing them in the same thread. You visit the Fan Creation area regularly, other people do not (ever). Many people very frequently will just stick to one or two sections for which they share common interests.

Originally Posted by Marina

I just thought it'd be nice to link the two since this competition is supposed to be a grand finale for all of this year's sotm competitions.

The SoTM contest is pretty much only for people with signature threads.

[Lilith]

Fine, fine. Scratch seasons idea.

Then lets go for the moon. Add to it clouds, sun, stars and whatever's up there. It'll be like an "elaboration" to the current theme: The sky and beyond.

[felix]

Originally Posted by Lilith

Fine, fine. Scratch seasons idea.

Then lets go for the moon. Add to it clouds, sun, stars and whatever's up there. It'll be like an "elaboration" to the current theme: The sky and beyond.

The moon is a romantic idea in poetry and prose but as far as images of it there is little variation and it is honestly somewhat boring (ironically the phrase: "if you seen one you've seen them all" applies to it all too well because of the mathematic weirdness regarding its rotation and position).

How about a eclipse? it would include moon and night sky. It is also a rare yet easy to approach topic, so people can be creative with it.

[Solace]

Man, the things that happen when you're away. *puts on manager hat*

Ok, we need to clear some things up. So:

1. THIS IS NOT THE SOTM. Please stop comparing them. I've already said that this contest will be run differently. This is not "SOTM on a bigger scale", or anything like that. It's the AnimeSuki Banner Contest, which we haven't run since Summer 2007.

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2. In regards to the "status" of the SOTM. The contest is open to every single member of this forum. I've never made special rules saying "you must be a FC person to join", and indeed every month there are a few people who are either entirely new to the forums (and most of the time they stick around) or people from other sections who try their hand.

We don't have a contest forum, so it's in FC because there is no better place to put it. I have no idea on its overall awareness or popularity, but I'm not going to spam advertisements for it either. We do have other contests, such as the banner contest, the karaoke contest, the ISML, and the Artists Alike, but they're all over the place for the same reasons. It's why I linked our previous banner contests in the opening post, so people could see what we've hosted in the past.

We aren't getting a Contest section anytime soon, so we make do with what we can.

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3. The theme and gradient for this contest are going to be decided by site staff. We may settle on a few approved themes and let the community pick one of those via poll, but it doesn't matter how popular an idea is - if we don't like it, it's not going to be a theme. Simple as that.

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4. The reason I chose a banner contest for December instead of something else in place of next month's SOTM is because people kept asking me about it. It's been something that has come up quite a bit over the last year.

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5. The staff has limited free time. It's why you don't see these contests more frequently - there are way more people on the forums than there are staff to run it. The SOTM is partially meant to help address that, by giving people a chance to participate in a contest on a regular basis without burning people out. People wanted that contest to be run *weekly*, I'm sure many will agree now that running it monthly was the better choice.

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6. In the end this is all volunteer work. We aren't paid for this, we do it because we like this site and its community and want to help it be a better place.

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7. All that said, I'm going to be compiling a list of all themes from this thread and will be discussing them with the rest of the staff later this week. We'll have a decision made early next week. And no, I'm not giving specific dates. I feel like being vague.

[Cierra]

well,still had some new ideas on my mind. Sorry if they got mentioned again
First is the 4 nature elements(fire,water,wind,earth)
The other one which i'm not pretty sure is...hmm.
Well,i love havin some rare stones placed in my house. talkin about topaz,amethyst,ruby,etc
I've read that each one of them has as a special ability(amethyst makes u more friendly,etc...)
couldn't explain it better. it's more connected with calm feelings! Ok,should stop blabbin around! Hope u got it! fufu ^_^

[bigdave]

gahahaha new banner contest? im all up for it :P

i just hope mine are good enough im totally rusty and haven't done anything in a couple months now. =/

I also like space theme. ^^

[gelato_]

dont mind me noob comments and suggestions. I think the theme of space/night is pretty close to the current theme in concept, so i dont think thats "fresh".

My suggestion is animals, with the banners each focusing on one main type of animal. (Just suggesting this because it will look kinda interesting each time hte banner rotates), and i guess its fine if its some character cosplaying as the type of animal. lol

[OceanBlue]

I don't like the space idea only because I don't think a dark background, which is what I feel will inevitability happen if we choose space [Yes, I'm unimaginative.], will suit either the blue or the brown skin, as both of them use light colors. I think the banner will suit the forum best if the background of the banner is light like the color scheme of the forum skin. Unless we were to change the forum skin to a dark background with light gray/white text, I don't see it working out.

I also don't like the idea of animals. I'm assuming that most people are going to use anime for the banner. Using animals as the theme [or even restricting the subject instead of the background, maybe] would make it really difficult to find a good subject. Either that or go with furries, but even then....

I don't have an idea though, so I'm probably just complaining without having alternatives.

[escimo]

A few random thoughts after skimming through the topic.
I got the impression that most of the discussion about the themes revolved around what would be interesting for the designer. However that's a bit besides the point. The primary function of the banner on this kind of forums is first impression. I'm quite willing to bet that most of the regulars don't really spend a lot of time gazing at the banners. The secondary function is to server as a mood setter.

Taking these things into account the theme should be very general. Especially considering the first impression that the banners give, as interesting as for example Horoscopes would be as a theme, if someone gets an impression that this is a some kind of Anime/Astrology forum the banners have failed miserably. The same goes to many other rather specific themes. Say Sci-Fi, Mecha, Fantasy etc. They IMO just give a bit of a wrong impression about the content of the forums, since the purpose at least to me, seems to be to serve the anime watching community as a whole.

Seasons would be otherwise OK. However changing the banners every 3 months could be a bit of a hassle and what needs to be remembered that there will always be some kind of portion of users that seasonal banners are ½ an year off. (Northern/Southern hemisphere issue)

Cultural themes are again rather too specific to serve their purpose well. Only I'd count as viable would be Japanese culture as a theme since within the community Anime and Manga tend to go at least to some extent hand in hand with general interest in Japanese culture.

I wouldn't mind giving the current Sky theme a rerun. Other alike would be for example forest, ocean or basically anything that's general enough not to be affiliated to a certain genre, culture or part of the user base.

So if you TLDRd the post here's a summary.
Banners should represent the forums and the community as a whole and be general enough not to give an impression of any secondary bias besides the obvious anime theme.

[Cierra]

I've seen that there are lots of ideas around and i am also out of ideas. I think that something good will end up from this cause some of the suggestions are really catchy!

[Solace]

Indeed, there are a mountain of suggestions to go through and whittle down to a handful. We'll be moving ahead with the contest soon, with the holiday looming time hasn't exactly been free to spend much time on the forums. ^^

[markesellus]

Another idea popped into my head. Since people were saying Night was too dark, how about an in between time like Dusk (I think sunset would be too orangey/red).

[NightWish]

Originally Posted by The Small One

Why is there only a contest for banners? How about a whole Theme-Contest, including banners, buttons and the whole coloring of the forum?

In simple terms because it is, as Cats can testify, a significantly harder challenge. It is an awful lot more work/effort either for each contestant (which could be seen as wasted for all of the rejected entries) or for us (if we actually accepted one of the winners and created it ourselves). The latter is unlikely to happen and the former is a heavy time investment, which I can't see (many) people willingly offering.

[felix]

Originally Posted by The Small One

Actually I don't really care much about the banners, but I just wonder:
Why is there only a contest for banners? How about a whole Theme-Contest, including banners, buttons and the whole coloring of the forum? (I think the forum uses the term "style" instead of theme... at least the box at the bottom is called "QuickStyleChooser").

I have tried to make a site style some time ago using just Vb style system. In all honesty Vb system is a pain in the ass. You can improve the current style quite a bit but it is really hard to take it beyond that, since Vb does not really offer a CMS; and at most you'll find a 3rd party CMPS for it. It's very rigid template system makes it very hard or simply tricky to meet maintenance requirements set up by NightWish (among other requirements).

Currently, the next version, vBulletin 4 is in alpha and it promises to get rid of the table system (as far as I know) and also improve the style system. Just for reference vB considers a version in alpha even with 0 lines of code written for it.