Hi! I'll be spamming you today.

[_jems_]

So I was checking out this new LJ community called takenote_icons. It's a community for excellent icons and icon makers. I see some of the people on my friends list have already been accepted. But I just don't get their criteria for "good icons". They seem to be constantly complaining about hard to read text (I'd never get in based on that alone!), and then I

Comments

[infected_slinky]

I find it interesting. :)

The invite-only type of icon communities scare me. There's usually just one mod who is the judge of who gets to join, but is that necessarily better? Oh well. Some of them are great, so I shouldn't complain. :D

I understand the sprucing up of icons (not saying that about you, just about iconing in general for me.) thing. That's why it takes me so long to just finish one. I'm afraid it looks so much like the other one. o_o;

I've ended each section with faces. This is unhealthy.

[_jems_]

I think in theory those communities are a great idea. One place to find all the good icons you want? Fabulous! The only problem is that taste is such a subjective thing and what I like might not be what everyone else likes. And who am I to say that someone else has bad taste.

Plus, some people have excellent icon ideas, just not the skill to make a really shiny icon. But that icon could still be a lot better than the dime-a-dozen ones I churn out.

[evemac]

Uh...hrmmm. That's kind of weird, and elitist...and weird. I hate 'A-lister' communities even more than I hate being spammed by bad icons. Gah.

[_jems_]

Hee, I can't look at your icon without laughing.

I'd never try to join one of those communities, I wouldn't want to belong to a club that would have me as a member. ; )

[_jems_]

Well, when it comes to that community I think the theory is great, but the execution? Not so much. I just got the feeling that the mods weren't really that experienced in icon making and that sort of defeats the purpose. How can they be the judge of what's good when they lack the understanding of how much work has gone into an icon?

[shannigansx]

Incorrect aspect ratio makes me cringe. I saw that community before, but after looking at some of the icons, I was like "The good icons I can find other places". I didn't think that all the people who were posting icons were making "good icons" not that I should really be the judge of that or anything. I just didn't get it. You're not spamming. I'm kind of glad someone else feels that way about that communtiy too. And I definitely think swedishmistress deserves to be in. That icon rocks!

[_jems_]

Well, if there was a way to get only good icons in a community I'd be all for it. I probably wouldn't apply, but it would be a good resource for inspiration.

But this community just doesn't seem kosher to me. Something is just a tad off.

I didn't even know who swedishmistress was, but when I saw the post asking for more samples my jaw dropped. How can they not see the brilliance from that icon alone? And the others were excellent too.

[shannigansx]

The community didn't seem right when I visited it. I just got a bad vibe from it, so I decided to stay away.

I had never heard of swedishmistress until you posted about her. That icon was awesome. I just don't get it.

[_jems_]

I don't get it either. Especially not since in the end they actually turned her down. I'm speechless.

[dtissagirl]

Well, I have a problem with panfandom icon communities, 'cause I mostly like my fandoms neatly organized into filters, so if I were to join something like this (which is not likely at all), it would screw up my LJ reading. ;-)

But yeah, that is not a 'good icons community'. It's a 'good icons community according to the mods', which is a completely different issue.

Also? With the subjectiviness of the matter (what is a good icon indeed?), I prefer to think of btvs_awards and alias_awards and such as the 'good icons communities' (and according to a bunch of people, which, hey, much fairer!), 'cause the best of the best gets nominated by whoever wants to. :)

[_jems_]

As you can probably tell from my icon posts I have no problem with mixing fandoms. ; )

But you're so right, the awards communities are a much better indicator of what's good than a closed community ever could be. Some not-so-good icons do get nominated, but very few people (if any) vote for them, so it doesn't matter so much. I've yet to see a bad icon win at btvs_awards.