User blog:SunXia/Image Policy and Understanding it!!

Hi there, this is SunXia, your friendly head of the Image Unit!! I'm here as part of our new series of blogs to help our users understand our Policies and why they are in place!! This one is dedicated to the Image Policy as we have a lot of users that Upload many images that violate these policies which leads to a lot of work for the team!!

What is the Image Policy??
This policy deals with the many images that are uploaded on the Wiki every week!! They need to be categorized and sorted so that we don't have many useless images just lying around, clogging the backlog!! It also ensures that Official Bleach Images are properly licensed and thus ensuring their use here is legal!! Bleach does not belong to us so we must recognize the owners of those images!!

Please Note: The Policies are not there to annoy or hinder users, in fact they help users find images that are already there instead of uploading countless copies!! They must also be legal as they are not owned by us!!

Uploading Images
How to do this:

Please use the Special:Upload page and save it to your Wikia toolbar that is along the bottom of the page!! Please ensure, as you are doing this, that the Name of the Image is correct and not spam!!

Fair Use Rationale
This is very important!! If the image is from the Anime, Manga, OVAs, Games or Movies those images are owned by somebody else!! We must always give ownership where it is due and this can easily be done by filling out he pre-loaded template that already exists on the Special:Upload page, the page that should be used when uploading images!!

Here is an example of what the Fair Use Rationale looks like for the Sample Image to the right:



Now, that isn't too difficult is it?? As I said, the pre-loaded template is on the Special:Upload page so when you're uploading an image, all you need to do is fill out the template, its that simple!!

NB: The Fair Use Rationale or FUR for official images is a must!! It is not negotiable!! You can read some more in the Image Policies!!

Licensing
This is another requirement for images!! Images must contain a license for whatever form of media they are from, eg - for Anime shots, it is the "Tv-screenshot" option and for Manga shots it's "Comic" or "Manga" option depending on whether or not you use the template or the drop-down options!!

Now this ALSO appears on the Special:Upload page as a drop-down menu just below the white text area!! Again, this is simple but mandatory!! Alternatively you can do what I do, which is faster, and enter it using a template under the FUR template!! So overall, the effect appears like this for an Anime shot:


 * ==Licensing==

or for a Manga shot:


 * ==Licensing==

This couldn't be easier!! All you need to remember is that Licensing is required and just select the option that applies!!

NB: Again this is mandatory, images without Licensing or FUR will be deleted!! You can read some more in the Image Policies!!

Image Galleries and Categories
Now that the basics of uploading images and using legal tagging have been discussed, let's move on to another important feature, the galleries!! This is important because it prevents duplicates of the same image being uploaded time and again!! When something isn't needed, it is spam and needs to be cleaned or fixed!!

We document all our images by placing them into our Image Galleries and as you can see we have a large list of them!! These are protected and can only be edited by certain members of the team!! Thus other users who are uploading images must place their images here!! This ensures a member of the team sees the image and places it into the relevant gallery or galleries!!

Another way we document a list of our images is by categorizing them so that they appear in the category for the screenshots of the episode that they were taken from!! For example, for our Sample Image, the relevant category would be thus:



The above can easily be added at the bottom of the page and it automatically links the image to the relevant category!! This ensure undesirable duplicates are not uploaded as people can easily find whether or not their image has already ready been upload by:
 * 1) Checking the relevant galleries for the characters within the image!!
 * 2) Checking the relevant Category for the Episode they are taking the image from!!

NB: Again, this is mandatory, it ensures everything is in it's right place and gives us less work to do when there is other work to be doing!! You can read some more in the Image Policies!!

Sample Image
So, in conclusion for all that we have discussed regarding the requirements for uploading images, this is what must be included in regards to our Sample Image!!


 * ==Summary==


 * ==Licensing==



If, like me, you intend to upload many images in a day or in a short amount of time, it is good to keep a basic Template saved in a document on your computer as copying and pasting it is a lot easier than typing everything out over and over again when a lot of the legal tagging is the same!!

Profile Images
Profile Images have several requirements that you can find here!! The characters must be facing the screen and as much as possible, their features should not be cut out or distorted!!

Note:Changes to profile Images must be discussed first here and ONLY then should changes be made if agreed upon!! In cases where an agreement can't be reached, the Lead of the Image Unit or an Administrator will decide the outcome!! You can read some more in the Image Policies!!

Conclusion
Happy uploading everyone!! Remember to stick to these tips as they are very important!! Please familiarize yourself with the Bleach Wiki:Image Policy before adding images as the policies are there to help guide users to understand the standards and rules we keep!!

Thanks for reading!!

-SunXia