In response to forum #141761 and similar concerns (as I've said in forum #141724)... It is pretty easy to provide an opt-out option for users who don't want to be credited.
I think users in this thread are too focused thinking about small hindrances. Again, I won't go over the smaller details, but I do think it is extremely naive to just come up with an alternate solution just so it continues to let us have our place in the uploading ecosystem.
If you want to think about solving a problem, think about the end result first. Don't go about trying to create some alternate patch-up solution that you think will work, because either it won't, or it'll only work temporarily at best.
The only way to make this site better, to leave this site a better place than you came in, is to take yourself out of the equation. That's what I've done for many of my contributions. What, by far, objectively will create a situation where more people want to contribute instead of less?
Think about where you want the site to be for which kind of user here. Think about different perspectives. If you aren't, stop thinking about yourselves so much. Literally none of my friends outside of this site remotely care about uploader names, yet the importance of uploader names is repeated ad nauseum only by other uploaders who feel like they need their special place on every single post on the site. Things continue like this, eventually you only go down to like three users who upload more than half of the content the majority of users come here to upvote and favorite. If you want things to continue this route, then there are more fitting places.
Just observing this discussion, it seems to me that albert isn't interested in having the site grow this way. Everyone who cares about art, outside of whoever wants to ignore it, notices these changes. That only a few users up the majority of the content, and compared to previous years there is less content being uploaded in general because of this blatant monopoly, despite the fact that there are numerous artists continuing to get better and share more high quality content every year.
And I realized this a bit late: I was part of the problem. For anyone who knows what I've done on the site even remotely, they'll know that earlier on I did create a small 'clique' of users I highly preferred over others, spoiling them and even helping them get promoted in the process, not realizing that this was counterproductive to my goal of making the site for everyone that wants to contribute. I value the feedback I get, but I came to realize that this isn't the way I wanted to continue doing things.
I'll try to respond to a few of the complaints I see.
- There is very little problem with the way the upload restrictions work right now because a handful of users still upload a LOT less than their limit allows them to. You get roughly 40-50 posts everyday if you're a reliable user that knows where to find content and knows which approvers to please. In fact, if you have difficulty reaching this limit, I recommend you join my discord server and I will give you all the content you might desire as long as you source it correctly and tag it well. But as I'm aware, practically none of the member-level users come that close to the theoretical 1500 uploads per month cap.
- This isn't a problem with the approver system. As far as I'm concerned, if you want to notice good users who curate good content, then letting this sort of "elite" system continue to run rampant is counterproductive to that. I've written about this in my writeup, but it basically boils down to this: Elites already know the best tips for seeing the best art the "fastest". To win against them, you have to use the same strategy; fight fire with fire. It always comes down to whoever's faster, luckier, or most importantly -- employs shittier strategies. You can't just make that your basis of approval, because then you don't recognize the users that are always losing that fight. That doesn't make them bad uploaders; that just means you're indirectly promoting a shit method of uploading (mintags, filler tags, and other bullshit to cover it up).
- User feedback isn't the single basis for a feel-good mechanic, nor is it even that integral of one. If that were so, you'd imagine a lot more people would be tossing them left and right, but they don't. Only a small subset of users do this, and it's largely because either they genuinely appreciate good contributions or just want to get on others' good side. I imagine there are some users right now who, instead of having a positive user feedback, would prefer their name on a number of their top-scoring favorited posts instead.
Just as an aside to the last point: While I value the feedback I get (and I have a lot of positive feedback, I'll admit), it is really just a side note to me. Because while I would be happy if you issued me a positive, I'd appreciate it even more if you continued to contribute to the site in a proper manner so as to let me continue to be lazy. I also submit positive feedback sparingly; if you see me give you a positive, then I want you to treasure it. And to me, being a good user is a lot more than just uploading and tagging fast.
"Overwhelming opposition" is kind of a moot point since looking at this conversation, again, only the users who are interested in keeping their names on things are against this change with a few exceptions. Even CodeKyuubi is for creating a nameless system in forum #141415 and he's one of the best uploaders on this site. Someone with his skill in uploading, if they ever had a change of heart, could basically be the new Schrobby -- they'd have their name on like half of everything in the first page of order:rank.
I don't know if I'll finish my write-up (as it's gone to the point of being a little overbearing), but I do sympathize with a lot of the former and retired uploaders here (including many that aren't in this thread). If I did finish, perhaps all these points would be considerably better fleshed out and users (especially new and upcoming ones) would agree with this change for the better.
I'll end it with this, and this is what I've learned from contributing to wiki communities and open-source projects: It is always easy to lose contributors, whether by forcing their motivation through the gutter or putting pressure on them to perform to better (and slightly unrealistic) standards. But it is terribly difficult to attract new ones. So for every contributor you get, value them. Create a system that values their time and contributions, rather than one that basically spits on them at every coming moment.
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