Our COLOURlovers Community Agreement

i think all of us ,as colourlovers ,had like a "collective conscience" about this issues,but is very nice and a good idea to have this like established specifically . thats why i love this place in my core :I love u guys

I think it's perfect. :)

Unfortunately, not all of us were conscious of these basic courtesies. Quite a few problems came to light that required Darius to create this.

I would also like to propose that you add a line or two to the constructive criticism section concerning the way we should conduct ourselves whenever we learn of new changes to the site. Not calling anyone out or trying to hurt feelings but the past few site updates seem to have brought out some not so nice qualities in a few members of this community and it's quite upsetting, not to mention not good for the community.

Everything else is perfect. You are an excellent writer, D!

twoheadedbear wrote:

i think all of us ,as colourlovers ,had like a "collective conscience" about this issues,but is very nice and a good idea to have this like established specifically . thats why i love this place in my core :I love u guys

Very happy and appreciative to apart of community with such strong leadership. Well said, Darius. :)

hello. most enjoyable community rulings. i especially like the concept of framing a community to grow on its own. and thanks for clearing up the "spamming" definition. i regularly write themes which may or may not be short prose, and never intend to personally insult, attack, nor advertise onto individuals. my "unique perspective of the world" is still slowly grasping the colour interactions and how to manipulate them with this tool. my joy coming here now is anticipating either algorithms or 3D templates into new depth pixels. the future is still amazing. meanwhile, being the first draft, and my critical feedback proofing may help- somewhere it is written "by and admin"; methinks the typo is 'by an admin';; also "shouldn't be showed here" (:) shown here. love this.

Awesome. I will sign it!

This is a very well-written and thoughtful agreement. I will do my best to honor it : )

SaintDarius,
This agreement is well-written, articulate, and as far as i can tell doesn't need any revision aside from the couple of typos. It is an honor to be a part of this wonderful loving, creative, colour-full community. I thank you for all you do from the bottom of my heart.
PeachBelle
P.S. I love you too.

I, too, caught a couple of typos, but I like it. :)

I didn't catch any typos. But I'm more interested in the content!

Thanks Bubs. Whoop! I will patiently wait for the block feature.

But can you elaborate on the multiple accounts and usage of gaming the site, cos it's pretty vague. Also, if content rights are violated in site, can we report that too? What happens if content rights are violated and reported? What would constitute as a positive report? Does this only apply out of site? Content plagiarism can come subtly, so how much does changing our rights protect us? Are there any more measures to protect our content?

It's good.
k : )

I recently ...just last night had my first run in with a new member. It was a poorly crafted attempt to be coy in which the person picked a random palette and created a new one using one of my colors where i would get the notice. The F bomb was used in it. However, it was a new user, only one creation, and rather blatant it was intended 4 me. I simply handled it by creating another palette using the same color and drew what I intended to be a hand waving....labeled it Take it else where. I looked at it later and wondered if it could have been construed as me giving them the finger. But it really does not matter....they signed off and yet have not appeared again.
In a situation as that ...how should we handle it?

Darius, the content is fantastic.

Minor corrections which may cause well-deserved eye-rolling in my direction ;-) and which in no way affect content:
- "If you can't get more information to help mediate a problem or somebody is being flagrantly rude to other members. Please contact one of the COLOURlovers team members. " (this should be one sentence, I think.)
- Under "Rights Violations", in the last sentence, the "it's" should be "its".

I recently found a spammer creating patterns and palettes to "hide" their spam. There was no ! available to click to report his/her creations. You may want to mention that if a ! isn't available to click, members can also use the Contact Us page to report spammers. BTW, keep up the awesome spam canning work. I can't believe how quickly the CL team gets on top of spam.

I feel like something's missing from the "what we're not about" list. I'm not sure how to define it in a single word, but it's something to do with forcing attention when it's unwanted -- sometimes in a creepy manner. Badgering? Bothering? Stalking? I can't think of the right word right now. Maybe someone else can -- or, maybe it's not needed, since you touch on it later and provide guidelines for how to handle it.

This Community Agreement should go a long way to help eliminate misunderstandings and potentially unwelcome activities on the site. Good work!

I've some suggestions about using alternate accounts. I agree this should be fine, since some people do lose their passwords from time to time. But it's problematic in itself.

Alternate accounts can love each other's work. This should not happen. And there should be a time out of at least 3 days as to when people can log in and out of multiple accounts so they can't keep using accounts to do RPGesque interactions, and talk to oneself, or defend each other etc.. Using multiple accounts for harassment/self loving .. is frankly very childish.

And there should be a limit as to how many accounts can be created. Max 2, unless they delete their first account. And accounts can't be closed on a whim, until 6 months later. or something. Ugh. These measures have to put into place to prevent account abuse.

Also, it would be appreciated if people can choose to make their works private, for allowed people to see only, or the reverse, to block certain people from seeing one's works. AND, editing of palettes should have an additional time stamp. Creating of palettes should have a more specific time stamp.

As an added thing for the future - users should be able to tag similar palettes together. so similar palettes are displayed on the side or bottom, near the latest palettes. Some people like a particular style of palettes, and usually it's only chance encounter to find another one like that. I suggest allowing members to tag palettes to one another in terms of similarity. This can also help lower content copyright.

Can I ask a question on the spam thing. When you say spammer creating patterns to hide their spam....what do you mean? I def think all of your suggestions are very well warranted. I do not know if anyone else has noticed the amount of newbies lately. the thing that concerns me on that is how well they understand the system....which tells me that they are around in some manner. i have been here a little less than a year and i am just now learning how to really get around and short cuts. However, I still cannot post a side by side palette or change the size ...no matter how hard i try.
I wished that was an option readily available ....at least that would keep the coding out of the equation. Not to mention make it easier on the less savy CL'ers.
starfishian wrote:

Darius, the content is fantastic.

Minor corrections which may cause well-deserved eye-rolling in my direction ;-) and which in no way affect content:
- "If you can't get more information to help mediate a problem or somebody is being flagrantly rude to other members. Please contact one of the COLOURlovers team members. " (this should be one sentence, I think.)
- Under "Rights Violations", in the last sentence, the "it's" should be "its".

I recently found a spammer creating patterns and palettes to "hide" their spam. There was no ! available to click to report his/her creations. You may want to mention that if a ! isn't available to click, members can also use the Contact Us page to report spammers. BTW, keep up the awesome spam canning work. I can't believe how quickly the CL team gets on top of spam.

I feel like something's missing from the "what we're not about" list. I'm not sure how to define it in a single word, but it's something to do with forcing attention when it's unwanted -- sometimes in a creepy manner. Badgering? Bothering? Stalking? I can't think of the right word right now. Maybe someone else can -- or, maybe it's not needed, since you touch on it later and provide guidelines for how to handle it.

This Community Agreement should go a long way to help eliminate misunderstandings and potentially unwelcome activities on the site. Good work!

these are all good suggestions...Especially at the rate CL is growing. It's amazing at how far in one year CL has come in both users and technology. But, once it reaches a certain size ...unfortunately and fortunately both .....a lot of the freedoms will change or at least go through a couple growing pains. But as with anything change is necessary...and part of life.

Faeleia wrote:

I've some suggestions about using alternate accounts. I agree this should be fine, since some people do lose their passwords from time to time. But it's problematic in itself.

Alternate accounts can love each other's work. This should not happen. And there should be a time out of at least 3 days as to when people can log in and out of multiple accounts so they can't keep using accounts to do RPGesque interactions, and talk to oneself, or defend each other etc.. Using multiple accounts for harassment/self loving .. is frankly very childish.

And there should be a limit as to how many accounts can be created. Max 2, unless they delete their first account. And accounts can't be closed on a whim, until 6 months later. or something. Ugh. These measures have to put into place to prevent account abuse.

Also, it would be appreciated if people can choose to make their works private, for allowed people to see only, or the reverse, to block certain people from seeing one's works. AND, editing of palettes should have an additional time stamp. Creating of palettes should have a more specific time stamp.

As an added thing for the future - users should be able to tag similar palettes together. so similar palettes are displayed on the side or bottom, near the latest palettes. Some people like a particular style of palettes, and usually it's only chance encounter to find another one like that. I suggest allowing members to tag palettes to one another in terms of similarity. This can also help lower content copyright.

Faeleia wrote:

I've some suggestions about using alternate accounts. I agree this should be fine, since some people do lose their passwords from time to time. But it's problematic in itself.

Alternate accounts can love each other's work. This should not happen. And there should be a time out of at least 3 days as to when people can log in and out of multiple accounts so they can't keep using accounts to do RPGesque interactions, and talk to oneself, or defend each other etc.. Using multiple accounts for harassment/self loving .. is frankly very childish.

And there should be a limit as to how many accounts can be created. Max 2, unless they delete their first account. And accounts can't be closed on a whim, until 6 months later. or something. Ugh. These measures have to put into place to prevent account abuse.

Also, it would be appreciated if people can choose to make their works private, for allowed people to see only, or the reverse, to block certain people from seeing one's works. AND, editing of palettes should have an additional time stamp. Creating of palettes should have a more specific time stamp.

As an added thing for the future - users should be able to tag similar palettes together. so similar palettes are displayed on the side or bottom, near the latest palettes. Some people like a particular style of palettes, and usually it's only chance encounter to find another one like that. I suggest allowing members to tag palettes to one another in terms of similarity. This can also help lower content copyright.

hello. in no way do i speak for administration. i think i understand what you described. in a personal vein, you react as you did, creatively, and be prepared to answer to the consequences. i tend to ignore most instances, but i have no financial consequences, and is my vanity, pride, or perceived reputation which takes the hit. i do not care. i do not want to be so serious about what i am doing here that it gives me sleep loss, yet i have a sense of possession which may be unwarranted. i focus on my pleasure here, and try to remain constant in not harming anyone else, while i am able to continue enjoying myself. in this regard you may have more at stake, and simply ignoring what WORKS others create may not be good advice. just do not bottle it up inside yourself. create more. take it out in new creations. i love your work.
glindathegoodwitch wrote:

I recently ...just last night had my first run in with a new member. It was a poorly crafted attempt to be coy in which the person picked a random palette and created a new one using one of my colors where i would get the notice. The F bomb was used in it. However, it was a new user, only one creation, and rather blatant it was intended 4 me. I simply handled it by creating another palette using the same color and drew what I intended to be a hand waving....labeled it Take it else where. I looked at it later and wondered if it could have been construed as me giving them the finger. But it really does not matter....they signed off and yet have not appeared again.
In a situation as that ...how should we handle it?

(obviously i'm not darius :P) but i actually had the same exact incident happen to me! the person put f whateverwhatever using a palette with a few of my colors... i don't remember who it was since it happened a long time ago, but of course, still just a little offended XP

glindathegoodwitch wrote:

I recently ...just last night had my first run in with a new member. It was a poorly crafted attempt to be coy in which the person picked a random palette and created a new one using one of my colors where i would get the notice. The F bomb was used in it. However, it was a new user, only one creation, and rather blatant it was intended 4 me. I simply handled it by creating another palette using the same color and drew what I intended to be a hand waving....labeled it Take it else where. I looked at it later and wondered if it could have been construed as me giving them the finger. But it really does not matter....they signed off and yet have not appeared again.
In a situation as that ...how should we handle it?

just asking. is belindakirkman's comment counted as spam? there is a link to another unrelated website but the text seems(?) to contribute to the discussion. so what's the ruling on this matter?

Hi glinda -
This clever spammer had created colours and given them spam names. I can't recall them now, but they were along the lines of "virus removal" and "weight loss". And the colours had links to the spam in their descriptions. There is no way to flag a colour or palette (no "!") so I ended up posting in the forums about it. I only stumbled over it because he used one of my templates to make the pattern. You can see that the CL team changed the title and re-named the spammer's colours to their HEX codes.

To alter the size of a palette or pattern badge so you can post two side by side, it's pretty straightforward. In your badge code, change this section of the badge code text:
style="width: 240px; height: 120px; border: 0 none
to this:
style="width: 220px; height: 110px; border: 0 none

Or make them even smaller or larger. Members like wordofmouse and faeleia are pretty awesome at making all types of different palette previews, and I bet if you asked them, they'd be pleased to help you.

Good luck!
S.

glindathegoodwitch wrote:

Can I ask a question on the spam thing. When you say spammer creating patterns to hide their spam....what do you mean? I def think all of your suggestions are very well warranted. I do not know if anyone else has noticed the amount of newbies lately. the thing that concerns me on that is how well they understand the system....which tells me that they are around in some manner. i have been here a little less than a year and i am just now learning how to really get around and short cuts. However, I still cannot post a side by side palette or change the size ...no matter how hard i try.
I wished that was an option readily available ....at least that would keep the coding out of the equation. Not to mention make it easier on the less savy CL'ers.

I flagged it as spam. It's pretty sketchy-looking.
3moDuDe wrote:

just asking. is belindakirkman's comment counted as spam? there is a link to another unrelated website but the text seems(?) to contribute to the discussion. so what's the ruling on this matter?

well, sometimes I tend to think I was absent on the day that they handed out patience.
Although, am sure I know where my message came from. i have already changed my id once ( and I wish I could somehow waited it out as I had a lot under the other name as well). But I have had issues with a same set or group of people in the past. Changing my id worked and really it's my fault as I posted some more personal information recently. I did try and get my message across and do it where it did not provoke an all out attack and hope the message was received. I would have hated to have anyone else pulled into it., I have learned to read between the lines or catch messages passed around hidden in text, pictures, words, and so on....just like any person would being on line or in message rooms or networks. I have come by this because at one time I was naive and believed all things I read. Why not, i used my real info...at least until a more experienced buddy pulled me to the side and said ...it's not wise... I understand that now, unfortunately I can hold my own pretty good...On the other hand, this site is different and I love how EVERY ONE gets along. Even during disagreements....I love how everyone respects everyone else even their differences.
rollzone wrote:

hello. in no way do i speak for administration. i think i understand what you described. in a personal vein, you react as you did, creatively, and be prepared to answer to the consequences. i tend to ignore most instances, but i have no financial consequences, and is my vanity, pride, or perceived reputation which takes the hit. i do not care. i do not want to be so serious about what i am doing here that it gives me sleep loss, yet i have a sense of possession which may be unwarranted. i focus on my pleasure here, and try to remain constant in not harming anyone else, while i am able to continue enjoying myself. in this regard you may have more at stake, and simply ignoring what WORKS others create may not be good advice. just do not bottle it up inside yourself. create more. take it out in new creations. i love your work.
glindathegoodwitch wrote:

I recently ...just last night had my first run in with a new member. It was a poorly crafted attempt to be coy in which the person picked a random palette and created a new one using one of my colors where i would get the notice. The F bomb was used in it. However, it was a new user, only one creation, and rather blatant it was intended 4 me. I simply handled it by creating another palette using the same color and drew what I intended to be a hand waving....labeled it Take it else where. I looked at it later and wondered if it could have been construed as me giving them the finger. But it really does not matter....they signed off and yet have not appeared again.
In a situation as that ...how should we handle it?

hello again. i was really hoping you had just ignored me. i just wanted you to feel better. thanks to "Starsfishian", you seem to be getting good guidance. happy loving.
glindathegoodwitch wrote:

well, sometimes I tend to think I was absent on the day that they handed out patience.
Although, am sure I know where my message came from. i have already changed my id once ( and I wish I could somehow waited it out as I had a lot under the other name as well). But I have had issues with a same set or group of people in the past. Changing my id worked and really it's my fault as I posted some more personal information recently. I did try and get my message across and do it where it did not provoke an all out attack and hope the message was received. I would have hated to have anyone else pulled into it., I have learned to read between the lines or catch messages passed around hidden in text, pictures, words, and so on....just like any person would being on line or in message rooms or networks. I have come by this because at one time I was naive and believed all things I read. Why not, i used my real info...at least until a more experienced buddy pulled me to the side and said ...it's not wise... I understand that now, unfortunately I can hold my own pretty good...On the other hand, this site is different and I love how EVERY ONE gets along. Even during disagreements....I love how everyone respects everyone else even their differences.
rollzone wrote:

hello. in no way do i speak for administration. i think i understand what you described. in a personal vein, you react as you did, creatively, and be prepared to answer to the consequences. i tend to ignore most instances, but i have no financial consequences, and is my vanity, pride, or perceived reputation which takes the hit. i do not care. i do not want to be so serious about what i am doing here that it gives me sleep loss, yet i have a sense of possession which may be unwarranted. i focus on my pleasure here, and try to remain constant in not harming anyone else, while i am able to continue enjoying myself. in this regard you may have more at stake, and simply ignoring what WORKS others create may not be good advice. just do not bottle it up inside yourself. create more. take it out in new creations. i love your work.
glindathegoodwitch wrote:

I recently ...just last night had my first run in with a new member. It was a poorly crafted attempt to be coy in which the person picked a random palette and created a new one using one of my colors where i would get the notice. The F bomb was used in it. However, it was a new user, only one creation, and rather blatant it was intended 4 me. I simply handled it by creating another palette using the same color and drew what I intended to be a hand waving....labeled it Take it else where. I looked at it later and wondered if it could have been construed as me giving them the finger. But it really does not matter....they signed off and yet have not appeared again.
In a situation as that ...how should we handle it?

@glindathegoodwitch - the best treatment you can give someone bothering you, otherwise known as, trying to achieve a reaction from you, is yes, to ignore it.... or at least not to directly respond.

Everyone:
If anyone is having an issue with anyone else and there is no way for you to use COLOURlovers tools such as the "!" to flag the problem area, then please do use the contact us or contact any team member with your issue. We all try to resolve issues as immediately as possible and we might even be able to suggest a quick solution if you just need a listening ear.

Depending on the scenario, but in most cases, posting beef about someone else in the forums is not exactly the best move - and to the pleasure of someone else trying to create a reaction from you, they've won. They've also wasted a lot of your time because you've gotten pulled in to it.

I realize this is so much easier said than done. But honestly, try it out (ignoring it) and it should go away. If the issue seems to be becoming inflamed like someone is literally bugging you so much when you're visiting COLOURlovers you feel that you cannot create, just pop a note over to us.... it will get resolved much faster than the forums for sure.

Wonderful comments everyone! Thank you for all your superb input and discussion.

- Molly
Community Curator / Blog Editor

This is an excellent community agreement, Darius! The way you and your team have always handled situations professionally and with patience is greatly appreciated. You guys rock! I would totally sign it. I didn't notice typos but, then I'm not especially observant. :P

I didn't notice any either! But I'm not always aware of little details like that plus my brain isn't fully-functional! :P

gibbygirl wrote:

This is an excellent community agreement, Darius! The way you and your team have always handled situations professionally and with patience is greatly appreciated. You guys rock! I would totally sign it. I didn't notice typos but, then I'm not especially observant. :P

oh, rules. Okay, Bub. Thanks. Creative types need rules - like yours. Happy new year, du... (Godt nyttår!) -AA

Hello! I really like the text! I find it very important that everyone is in agreement within the site! I myself have received in the past, inappropriate messages, I'm happy to know that command of the site are ready to help us!! >:D

I just wanted to share something with you all: I am happy and proud to announce that I have NEVER had an issue with anyone on this site at any time during the two years I've been a member. I've never had my feelings hurt by anyone and I don't think I've even come across a single nasty comment by anyone to anyone else. This is truly the best community online, and everyone respects everyone else here. The only time I ever came across a difference in opinion was when I created an IFRC color for the group Interpretation Fun on Easter Sunday and the color was:

It is now in my top 4 most loved colors and that day I received numerous "thank yous" for posting it as color of the day. I also received a couple love notes that said they wouldn't be participating that day because they didn't believe Christ was risen, but they were so respectful and so kind about it that it just made my day. People here are so incredibly wonderful!!! I remain friends with those colorlovers who didn't agree with me on Easter and they are some of the best friends I have here.

"Spread the love" that was the sentence I always read on the main page years ago.
Share your creativity, be cool. And I will add: common sense.