The "Spam" Rule
Normally, posts like "I like it" on SoSZ would be considered spam. However, here in the art forum, even such brief appreciation is encouraged from members. While we certainly encourage you to post more -- the flaws you see, the strong points, etc. -- a simple "I like it, it's beautiful" is encouraged. Why? Because artists tend to suffer from the 'I suck' syndrome; they tend not to ever be satisfied with their skills. Every little encouragement an artist gets can boost their self esteem, and thus, we ask members to please share their thoughts and feelings about other's artwork, good or bad.
So what is spam in this forum? Simple:
or one word (nice) only posts may be considered spam; going off topic is also spam (stop talking about the work and start chatting about something else entirely). This however happens just about never, so do not stress over this rule.
The Criticism Rule
That said, while you should post criticisms of people's work when you can find them, they should be constructive criticisms. They should point out what you don't like about the work, and preferrably, what you did. They should not be harmful, hurtful posts such as 'You suck'. Such baseless, cruel comments will be judged as flames and dealt with accordingly.
Content (What goes in this forum?)
Any artistic content produced by members comes into this forum. That means prose, poetry, photos, music, drawings, videos, etc. If you made it, you may post it here. Please note there are two rules you need to follow when posting work.
1. Be serious. Don't post some stick figures you did in Paint for the hell of it.
2. Do not post excessively vulgar, obscene, or other inappropriate pieces in this forum. That means no sex, no excessive swearing (no defeating the automod for this either), no blood-guts-gore (unless mild). Think PG-13.
Image/File Size
If your image is over 600 pixels wide or tall, you should link to it via a URL rather than the img command. Similarly, if your file is over 300 kb, or (in the case of a document) over 5 pages, please provide a link. If you do not, a moderator will likely come in and edit your work into a link, so don't be surprised.
The exception, in particular, to this, is wallpaper. Single images will often be allowed to go as-is. However, if you post a long series of extremely large pictures, you can expect to find the URL's editted. My recommendation? Resize and/or save an optimized JPG or GIF, instead of loading the full quality image. Be nice to modem users (I'm one!)
Misc. Rules
If you have one poetry piece to post, post it in the Poetry sticky thread. If you have a collection, please feel free to make a seperate thread of your works. The same goes for digital photos. Fan Fics should be posted in the fan fiction thread.
We encourage artists to make a 'gallery' thread for most of their works, and seperate threads for pieces of work they want extra feedback on. This is not a rule, just a guideline.
