Userpics Credit Line

[deslea]

Title

Userpics Credit Line

Short, concise description of the idea

Allow users to enter a credit for each userpic, if desired, separately to the keywords. This line would appear beneath the keywords on allpics.bml only.

Full description of the idea

LiveJournal userpics have become a great source of drama. It is now customary to "credit" a maker of an icon you did not make yourself. There are icon wars where people seek out people who do not credit in an effort to coerce them into submission.

As a result, many users will now include a credit in their keywords - for instance, "angry, pissed off, there's no time, ftf, (by Mary)." This means that many users are "using up" one of their keywords to please and appease other people, as well as creating unnecessary userpic selection options for updating and commenting purposes. This makes day-to-day navigation of the list of available userpics unnecessarily awkward.

I am not defending the so-called icon wars. However, the situation exists, and if the ongoing flamewars are anything to go by, I imagine it makes up a certain amount of the Abuse team's workload, as well.

I think that a credit line, entered separately to the keyword line and appearing beneath the keywords on allpics.bml only, would go a long way to alleviating this problem. This credit line would make it easier for users to credit, and credit fully where multiple people were involved in an icon's creation, without adding unnecessary lines and line length to their keyword lists (and probably reducing resistance to crediting). It may also subtly introduce the custom of crediting to newer users, thus reducing icon drama, without appearing to endorse the practice.

An ordered list of benefits

Less drama (fewer icon wars)

Easier navigation of available userpics when commenting or posting

Easy on the database (the line is only loaded when allpics.bml is viewed)

More complete crediting (may be helpful for copyright-related Abuse requests)

An ordered list of problems/issues involved

I'm not thinking of much in the way of drawbacks. I suppose it could be argued that we're catering to or endorsing one of the more cantakerous LiveJournal customs (ie, "lj wants u 2 credit, dat's why dere's a pl@ce for it!!!!1111one!").

An organized list, or a few short paragraphs detailing suggestions for implementation

Add either a new table, probably only needing the userpic id and the credit line, or else a new column for the credit line to the table that already handles the userpics.

Edit editpics.bml allowing people to show/add/edit the credit line to userpics, and have it translated.

Edit editpics_do.bml to add the credit line to the database.

Edit allpics.bml to show the credit line, where one exists, beneath the keywords for each picture.

FAQ/maybe announce it (optional).