Fanart Rule Revamp

[Agnaa]

I think our Editing Rules relating to fanart could do with some touch-ups.

Deduplication​

Our rules on fanart have a lot of repetition.

See these three parts:

If fanart is used, insert a text into the image's description page (not the caption section) that gives credit to the artist, and if you can, also provide a link to their website or profile on DeviantArt, Tumblr, etcetera.

Always respect the intellectual property rights of artists and do not use their work without their permission or proper attribution. This includes not claiming their work as your own or using it for commercial purposes without their consent.

Be sure to properly attribute the artist and include their name or handle whenever possible. This is a basic courtesy and helps to support the work of creators.

And these four parts:

Official art should always be the first choice for representing characters or subjects, while Fan art can serve as a suitable alternative to official art in instances where the mentioned is of inferior quality or fails to capture the essence or details of the characters or subjects effectively; It should not be used for characters or subjects that lack any form of official artwork and whose appearance is solely based on speculations as to what they may look like.

In cases where fan art is used, it should be based on canonical descriptions and depictions of the characters or subjects depicted, unless there is no official art available and the fan art accurately describes the character.

The use of fan art should be limited to situations where it serves a specific purpose, such as filling a gap in official art or adding an element of creativity or personal expression to the profile.

The decision to use fan art in Vs Battle Wiki profiles should be made on a case-by-case basis, taking into account the purpose of the profile and the appropriateness of the art.

I think each of these could be merged into their own blobs, combining the unique elements from each instance.

For the credit one in particular, those points come from separate areas of our editing rules. So if we want multiple pointers to our rules on crediting artists, we can replace the instances we remove with something short like "Keep in mind our rules on crediting artists".

Rendering Fanart​

Our rules currently say the following:

Rendered official arts are permitted.

Which implies that rendered fanart is not permitted. However, we have still had cases in the past where users have rendered fanart, and have even removed artist signatures in doing so. I think we could allow rendered fanart as long as artist handles and signatures aren't removed, and that we should have this clause since our images are indexed on sites such as Google Images, which can remove the context of our credits from them. We ideally shouldn't be poisoning the internet with copies of art with credit removed.

Better Concern Direction​

Our rules currently say:

Any questions or concerns about the use of art in Vs Battle Wiki profiles should be directed to the Profile image additions or replacements requests thread.

While this works fine for members, I think it's very onerous for external artists who have concerns. Our signup process is fairly confusing, with it being something that a lot of users bounce off of, taking days to resolve. Plus, a Fandom account is needed, if a concerned user lacks one, they'd have to create one and wait four days before signing up to the forum.

I think that we should change it to something along the lines of:

Any questions or concerns among users about the use of art in Vs Battle Wiki profiles should be directed to the Profile image additions or replacements requests thread. Questions or concerns from non-users can be directed to any of our staff members. All of them can be contacted through their message walls and some, such as Mr. Bambu, have accounts on other social media websites linked.

I think this will reduce the urge to give up on claims, or to seek change simply by complaining about it on other websites.

 

[SomebodyData]

I think these updates to the editing rules make sense, agree.

 

[DarkDragonMedeus]

Looks reasonable to me.

 

[FinePoint]

"Adding an element of creativity or personal expression to the profile."

Why is this even here, exactly? What situation does this apply to?

 

[Agnaa]

Yeah I think I should leave that one out. Focus more on cases where official art is low quality or insufficient.

 

[Antvasima]

I also think that this seems reasonable.

 

[Qawsedf234]

I think combining and simplifying redundancy is a good idea. But what are the proposal for the before and after changes? Like what will it look like?

 

[Antvasima]

I think combining and simplifying redundancy is a good idea. But what are the proposal for the before and after changes? Like what will it look like?

@Agnaa