Image Pickin' Backlog Discussion

I am with War Jay. We have a policy that images can be added without IP and users should be encouraged to use it more, especially for non-trope page images, instead of clogging up the board.

Secondly, I'd like to know how often the most favored image in a thread gets overturned in a crowner. If the rate is close to 0, we should consider concluding threads more often without crowners.

Edited by eroock on Jan 4th 2024 at 12:28:05 PM

Then how about just adding this: "Remember, this thread is completely optional. If you're sufficiently confident that your proposed image meets the guidelines in How to Pick a Good Image, feel free to add it to the page yourself instead of asking permission from us."

Something else that I've been thinking about...normally there's a 5-day window of inactivity before a thread is clocked, crownered, or closed after a pic pull. Would decreasing that to 3 days help, or is the current window okay?

Edited by Willbyr on Jan 5th 2024 at 1:00:38 PM

I'd rather motivate people to come up with replacements while the discussion is ongoing. Very rarely anything else happens after a thread pulls a pic, so waiting that long is weird. They can also use the Suggestion thread later anyway.

Probably the only time I can think of a Drinking Game image that can legit go on the IP crowner instead of being directly added would be a pic where characters aren't drinking but instead shows the aftermath of drinking.

Like for example: DrinkingGame.South Park

I've voiced objections to some Referenced by... images before (e.g. if the reference is too niche, or it illustrates a Stock Shout-Out that has its own page) but to me it's not a super 'important' part of the wiki and those objections are generally not worth the overall tedium brought in by all the RB pics. I care about Drinking Game even less, and the occasional 'uhh, I have no idea what they're doing in this pic' thread is much more preferable than them repeatedly popping up as suggestions.

(If it's not obvious yet, I'm finding all these 'trends' very tedious modwise.)

Just based completely on vibes from the last few years of modding, it seems like it's 60/40 on a thread resulting in productive post-pull discussion in the subsequent days vs. not. Likelihood decreases significantly if it's a niche subpage most thread regulars aren't familiar with (e.g. I don't see anything coming out of this thread for GameBreaker.Slay The Spire, but a main trope image is more likely to bring in ideas.)

Edited by Synchronicity on Jan 6th 2024 at 11:13:56 AM

Yeah, I genuinely believe that the occasional disagreement over an image isn't worth the crowners being flooded each week. It's a lot more efficient to just have those images go to the pages immediately and make threads if they require it.

As for threads, I agree that sometimes the calls for a crowner seem unhelpful, especially if there's a clear favorite. And leaving a thread open doesn't seem very productive. I remember once discussing whether all caption talk should be punted to the caption thread.

Edited by WarJay77 on Jan 6th 2024 at 2:58:39 PM

I'm wondering if there is or should be a thread to propose possible images (it seems overkill to need a dedicated thread for each image). Anything on that?

And it sounds like for now we'd prefer to just add images only addressing them case by case if issues crop up, correct?

Uh, that's exactly what The Image Suggestion Thread is. It's the one we're discussing here because of all of the flooding.

Technically, the backlog's no longer flooded now. It's been cleared for a while

Edited by Paperfly on Jan 16th 2024 at 7:11:39 PM

By "flooded" I was talking less about quantity and more about general overusage when it's not necessary. It's been better lately, but a lot of images that pass through don't need a vote at all.

Would like a definite answer / conclusion if backlog still matters and if there needs to be additional measures to Suggestions thread. While keeping everything organized would be nice, I'm not comfortable telling tropers to do something that isn't in a pinned post or mod post.

Yeah, I'm not comfortable with the repeated requests to use the sandbox or stop posting images. We can't enforce rules that don't exist. The sandbox is not a requirement, and expecting people to simply stop using the thread is a little unfair. That's why I'm more interested in coming to some sort of community agreement on which images should bypass the thread entirely, which would cut down on the thread's usage in general. Or, at least, come to some agreement on whether or not there's a way to reserve crowners only for controversial images.

As I've mentioned before, how about if a suggestion is for a work's subpage, if it gets one-two verbal approvals it skips the crowner.

Work subpages especially are the sort of thing that I feel rarely requires discussion at all. I mean you certainly can get it, but they're very difficult to discuss if you don't know the work well beyond the very basic things like quality. I feel like that's why so many work-based threads tend to languish; people just aren't interested in discussing them very much.

Lately it feels like there's always a zillion Referenced by... threads. I am not that interested in the namespace so handling them is burning me out a little. What's spurring this wave?

Likely the fact that people keep giving counter suggestions on the image suggestion thread, forcing a new thread to be made.

Again I don’t think these images require the first step to begin with, so...

Suggestions thread is optional already, but as I've mentioned I'd rather not crowner work subpages and unless they violate How to Pick a Good Image to be pushed right away.

The Referenced by... threads often come off to me as a desperate attempt to avoid a backlog on the suggestion thread... which of course just serves to clog up the forum as a whole. Some of the counter-suggestions are legitimately better, but it nonetheless does frequently come off as such.

Edited by jandn2014 on Feb 5th 2024 at 2:22:51 PM

I've been feeling the same. I know there are concerns over having too much each week. But the measures taken on that thread have felt excessive.

So... Now there's been a wave of people using IP for TLP draft images. And while there's nothing wrong with that — it's been done often enough in the past — it feels very unnecessary to do so unless the TLP itself struggles with it. Most images I've put on my drafts came from simple suggestions, and disputes almost always got hashed out on the draft itself. I guess it just feels like another thing that IP feels somewhat "extra" for.