Do to a rash of people posting poser freebies without checking the links/thumbnails to make sure there working properly, Any freebie posted that has a Invalid Thumbnail will be Denied as of today, I had to edit 7 freebies today because of invalid thumbnail links to them, And I will no longer be doing this. The Freebie Preview is there for a reason when uploading freebies, so that you can verify that the freebie is working properly. So use it, make sure the file link and the thumbnail you supply are Valid before submitting.

About time, caleb. I hate no preview. mac

does that count free hosting that blocks linking? eg: 'this image hosted by such and such'? if so, we're gonna loose a lot of freebies cos of the hosts, not the artists, policy.....

if the host blocks linking... then the freebie is going to be toast eventually anyway, because its being linked too. sometimes they don't get people are doing this, but if its against their rules, they will eventually find it out, and cancel the downloads. Sometimes even if you put them on a webpage instead of linking directly, to get around their rules. They just don't like that kind of thing usually. basically, repeat after me... free servers suck.

what's an 'invalid' thumbnail? Missing? or not 'well formed', or what? Not trying to be difficult, just want to make sure that the linking is all that's being referred to. If I ever find a way to post freebies without paying money, I'll make every effort to do it right..;)

Invalid means that when we go to check it, the images won't show up - the link is incorrect. If you don't specify a thumbnail at all, that is a different matter. I'll double check on caleb with this, but I'm assuming he is not saying you can't put up a freebie without a thumb, just that he's tired of having to go surf web site to find where the thumbnail (or actual download file) actually is. (I don't blame him. I help out on the approvals and it's a PITA trying to track that info down.) Cheers!

no this does not incude Freebies which the user has no thumbnail for, this is for those where people put in invalid urls to thumbnails that there hosting company does not allow direct linking to or those who have done errors in entering the thumbnail info. It becomes rather tiring day after day of trying to fix people thumbnails because they did not take the time to verify they were working in the first place with the 'preview' upload that freebies gives them. Freebies without thumbnails are just fine, its the ones with invalid thumbnail (bad links) links that are going to be denied automatically.

Examples:

This is a Bad Thumbnail and is what will be auto denied.

this is a good thumbnail and would pass.

Those who leave out thumbnails and you see the 'no thumbnail avaible' are ones that would also pass.

'this is for those where people put in invalid urls to thumbnails that there hosting company does not allow direct linking to ' could you rephrase that? sorry.. thats a bit hard to understand.. if I read it right, Geocities, Angelfire etc which block linking to graphics but allow files, (replacing the graphic with 'Hosted by Angelfire' for example), will now be denied tho the file is there and ok?

Nope. Sites like Angelfire will show a graphic that says, "Hosted by Angelfire" in place of the desired thumbnail. (As far as we're concerned, you have a valid thumbnail - it shows something, even if it's not what the poster wants.) You can also opt to not use a thumbnail - just leave the thumbnail link area blank. That's perfectly fine, too. If you put in a link for the thumbnail and you make a typo so the thumbnail link is a broken link, then the upload will be rejected. It takes a lot of time for us to guess what the correct link is supposed to be and it delays us getting all the Free Stuff tested and approved. It's easy to tell when there's an incorrect thumbnail link - you get that empty box with a small red X in the upper left corner. (Like the first graphic caleb68 shows.) Hope this clarifies it, Cres

H:)

Mine is PC + IE. Just embarrased in case anyone thinks I actually use a mac. LOL. We're just distant relations. mac (on a PC)

Oh no, not ANOTHER Mac Vs PC war? :D I'll just point you towards some details of the new Mac G5 and leave it at that. ;) (Yes 8GB RAM on a 64 bit machine, not 32!!) Dual 2GHz PowerPC G5 1GHz frontside bus 8GB DDR400 SDRAM (PC3200) - 8x1GB 2x250GB Serial ATA - 7200rpm ATI Radeon 9800 Pro AGP 8x Pro Graphics SuperDrive (DVD-R/CD-RW) 64MB DDR video memory

anyhow you guys get the point, the 'hosted by' replacement thumbs aren't bad, dont mind those cause i dont have to edit them out, its when there is no valid link to it.

My husband works for Apple and we both have PCs at home - go figure that one out!! :-)

For people who speak standard English, here is a translation of the new rule:

"Due to a rash of people posting Poser freebies without checking the links/thumbnails to make sure that the [associated thumbnail images are] working properly, any freebie posted that has a invalid thumbnail will be denied as of today."

Mods should be held to the highest standards of written Enlish, especially when it comes to explaining rules and procedures. I don't expect college-level grammar and sentence structure, but a simple check for synonyms should be in order. If you don't know the difference between "due"/ "do" and "they're"/ "their"/ "there" and "two"/ "too"/ "to" and "you're"/ "your", then learn it- there are plenty of online sites to brush up on high-shool level vocabulary. To be frank, rules that are full of misspellings, grammar errors, and wrong words look like a joke and make the site look extremely unprofessional.

An excuse of "You know I type that way, you know what I meant" is an open invitation for people to interpret the message however they please. You claim you meant one thing, the person claims that they didn't understand your garbled rule.

As a side note: if this mod doesn't bother (or is too lazy) to check the quality of a "new rule" message that he posts, how can we be sure that he's doing a good job checking the quality of the free stuff?

Before pointing out the errors of others, you might want to check your own spelling first. Shool isn't a word according to my dictionaries.

typo's happen.

So just because you gotta work harder you gotta piss off and makes thing hader for everyone just becuase you wqant to run a perfect freestuff area, so what if the image link dont work, what's the big deal, they can always upload it again, But you gotta be a perfectionist right? this really low of you to make everyone pay for a few peoples mistakes just because your such a damn perfectionist that you cant stand it when someone makes a mistake that you feel you gotta go edit it when you really don't.

1. there not checking there link and making sure its working in the PREVIEW, if they did they would see that its showing as the black box, and they can fix it PRIOR to Uploading. 2) No I'm not a perfectionist, far from it, my computer room shows that just from looking at it. 3) IF the thumbnail isn't showing I have two options - A) deny it B) try to fix the thumbnail image. Quite frankly im sick of fixing other peoples thumbnails because there to lazy to make sure it works properly. You guys can slam me all you want for you not checking your freebie links to make sure there valid in the first place, not my fault your too lazy to do it. It is not the moderators place to hold your hand and make sure your doing things right, if 5 minutes are spent to take a look at what your doing or Send a Simple IM if you think you may be misunderstanding something to find out how to do it This Discision would of never taken place. and as far making everyone suffer as a few peoples mistakes? hella lot more then just a few people, and only those who are posting invalid thumbnail links are the ones who suffer, not 'Everyone', just love how people take and blow things outta perportion. people need to accually pay attention to the 'Freebie Preview' before clicking submit and see there thumbnail url isn't working Thats what its there for, not just to look pretty. We wouldn't need a Freebie Moderator if people accually took the time to test there links before posting.

Mesh, I gotta back Caleb on this one. We're not talking brain surgery here. You upload an item, it takes you RIGHT TO the preview so you can make sure everything works. Take 10 seconds to make sure it does. And if it takes too long to load for your connection, then you need to make the thumbnail file size smaller 'cause you won't be the only one. Some sites have this all automated and they'll automatically kick out anything that's broken. I'm surprised Caleb hasn't done this before. It takes the creator 10 seconds to make sure it's right, and the moderator 10 minutes to try to guess how to fix it. It's just common courtesy. That, and I don't see what you're getting so worked up about. You're right, they can upload it again. The new "rule" is just that they'll have to; no one else is going to clean up their mistakes. Standard procedure at some places. John, any time you write a message correcting someone's spelling or grammar, make ABSOLUTELY CERTAIN you haven't made any typos yourself. :) Tyop demons LOVE to pick right then to attack, and... Well, to an observer, it's just plain funny. ^_~ *Yes, I know I spelled it Tyop demons. That's how Tyop demons spell it.

I'm with you caleb68. I post freebies my self, it's easy, natural, and just plain common sence to check that the links are working. I have no time for people who don't, and I can't imagin that a freebie could be any good, if the author can't even get a thumb right!

Hey, you want to pick apart my messages for typos, go right ahead. That's fine. I don't mind it at all... it'll make me more careful in the future. I'm complaining because this is a mod who is making these "mistakes"... and since he is a representative of the site in these matters, he is making the site look very unprofessional. And I use the word "mistake" in quotes because it's not like this guy is a newbie to the world of message boards. How can a guy get to be a mod and not know how to phrase message postings correctly, especially when those postings have to do with new rules and regulations? If I were a mod, I wouldn't post a second message with as many "typos" (read: wrong synonyms) a second time. The message was probably run through a spell-checker to remove typos, but spell-checkers don't know the difference between "there" and "their" and "your" and "you're". I'm sorry, but I just can't take someone seriously when "there" message is consistently full of wrong words. To translate: "1) They're not checking their link and making sure it's working in the PREVIEW, if they did they would see that it's showing as the black box, and they can fix it PRIOR to Uploading ... 3) If the thumbnail isn't showing I have two options - A) deny it B) try to fix the thumbnail image. Quite frankly I'm sick of fixing other people's thumbnails because they're too lazy to make sure it works properly. You guys can slam me all you want for you not checking your freebie links to make sure they're valid in the first place, not my fault you're too lazy to do it. We wouldn't need a Freebie Moderator if people actually took the time to test their links before posting. " As I read and correct these postings, though, I do agree with the idea. Blank thumbnails and dead links are a huge pain, so it's better to catch them as they're uploaded. I don't want to "slam" the idea, just the fact that the message postings should be grammtically correct!

Hey, you want to pick apart my messages for typos, go right ahead. That's fine. I don't mind it at all... it'll make me more careful in the future.

I'm complaining because this is a mod who is making these "mistakes"... and since he is a representative of the site in these matters, he is making the site look very unprofessional. And I use the word "mistake" in quotes because it's not like this guy is a newbie to the world of message boards. How can a guy get to be a mod and not know how to phrase message postings correctly, especially when those postings have to do with new rules and regulations?

If I were a mod, I wouldn't post a second message with as many "typos" (read: wrong synonyms) a second time. The message was probably run through a spell-checker to remove typos, but spell-checkers don't know the difference between "there" and "their" and "your" and "you're".

I'm sorry, but I just can't take someone seriously when "there" message is consistently full of wrong words.

To translate:
"1) They're not checking their link and making sure it's working in the PREVIEW, if they did they would see that it's showing as the black box, and they can fix it PRIOR to Uploading
...

1. If the thumbnail isn't showing I have two options - A) deny it B) try to fix the thumbnail image. Quite frankly I'm sick of fixing other people's thumbnails because they're too lazy to make sure it works properly.
   You guys can slam me all you want for you not checking your freebie links to make sure they're valid in the first place, not my fault you're too lazy to do it.
   We wouldn't need a Freebie Moderator if people actually took the time to test their links before posting. "

As I read and correct these postings, though, I do agree with the idea. Blank thumbnails and dead links are a huge pain, so it's better to catch them as they're uploaded. I don't want to "slam" the idea, just the fact that the message postings should be grammtically correct!

And a P.S.: I will be without Internet access for much of next week. So, as much as I would like to continue debating this topic, I won't be able to answer anyone back for about a week or so. Please save up your juicy comebacks until then.

....simple comeback.. if you can do better.. volunteer. put your money where your mouth is.

JohnRanter, You'll be gone for a week? Maybe you'll have a chance to work on something nice to say.

{JohnRanter,
You'll be gone for a week? Maybe you'll have a chance to work on something nice to say.}

Sorry, I didn't realize that was my homework.

I do like the "JohnRanter" nickname though... oh, wait, I'm complimenting you on your choice of nicknames... which means I said something nice! LOL