Writers' Study Chat and Feedback - Ask all your questions here!

[Leonardo]

If images have been lost due to Photobucket, you can get a Chrome Plugin/App that allows you to view them anyway, download them, reupload them to a different site, and fix the links.

I once use the Bild.me site to upload images there, but I haven't use the site for ages and besides I have no idea how it's now though.

All I know though, is that Bild.me is fairly fast as far I can tell.

[NorseThing]

If images have been lost due to Photobucket, you can get a Chrome Plugin/App that allows you to view them anyway, download them, reupload them to a different site, and fix the links.

That only works for the author, I think. I was more concerned about the archival aspects of the site and the history of TWC for those of us who were not around when these AARs were first completed.

[Commissar Caligula_]

That only works for the author, I think. I was more concerned about the archival aspects of the site and the history of TWC for those of us who were not around when these AARs were first completed.

It works for me, I tested it on a few really old POTW things that weren't mine.

[NorseThing]

Well nothing like new tricks for the old dog. Thanks. I will see if I can figure this modern stuff out.

[Hitai de Bodemloze]

I agree wholeheartedly that older and abandoned stories should be preserved, but TWC staff simply don't have the right to take and redistribute stories as PDFs without the author's consent. There are all sorts of issues and ramifications involved with that, at least per my understanding of the rules and nature of the site. Many writers often return and delete their stories, either because they want to publish themselves or they're just not satisfied with what they wrote - if staff took a story and distributed it as a PDF without the author's consent, then said author returned and wanted his work deleted, it could be a big issue if suddenly there are loads of PDFs floating about; principally concerns regarding plagiarism if he wanted to publish. Though this has left us with a few curious cases where writers have deleted their work here, but some snippets of their stories remain in PDFs (that they did consent to at the time), which I find quite interesting; a little window into the past, if you will.

[NorseThing]

If the matter of deletion comes up, any reasonable contact staff procedure could be used to resolve the issues. Nothing need happen instantly -- even on the internet. In any case the rules here can be changed to suit the owner, so nothing here is ever set into concrete regarding rules of the site.

I understand that creative activities have not been owned by TWC -- heck this site is here for the modifications of the TW games. I would not want to ever endanger the tradition of modification that TWC has established. I just do not think that creating PDF's or whatever archival process is a danger to this tradition. Archival storage is not akin to changing code. It is simply a method of storage. Look at it as a school yearbook or a scrapbook of baby's first year memories. Preserve and protect.

[Dismounted Feudal Knight]

I never liked photobucket, and now I have great reasons to flip them off at every mention. :p Imgur, google drive, even discord are my primary hosting locations.

[General Brewster]

Discord is very useful in that regard!

[Caillagh de Bodemloze]

That only works for the author, I think. I was more concerned about the archival aspects of the site and the history of TWC for those of us who were not around when these AARs were first completed.

It works for me, I tested it on a few really old POTW things that weren't mine.

NorseThing's right, Caligula. You need to be able to edit the post, so it only works for the author or for someone with Local Moderator privileges. And if authors wish to re-upload missing images to their own AARs, nobody here is going to object.

If the matter of deletion comes up, any reasonable contact staff procedure could be used to resolve the issues. Nothing need happen instantly -- even on the internet. In any case the rules here can be changed to suit the owner, so nothing here is ever set into concrete regarding rules of the site.

I understand that creative activities have not been owned by TWC -- heck this site is here for the modifications of the TW games. I would not want to ever endanger the tradition of modification that TWC has established. I just do not think that creating PDF's or whatever archival process is a danger to this tradition. Archival storage is not akin to changing code. It is simply a method of storage. Look at it as a school yearbook or a scrapbook of baby's first year memories. Preserve and protect.

I think there may have been some confusion here, so let me be clear:

Hitai is right: producing pdfs of AARs or CW without the permission of the author is not appropriate. Any author who wishes to produce and make available pdfs of their own work is welcome to do so. The WS staff are not going to produce pdfs of AARs or CW. That is Alwyn's view as well as mine.

Caillagh de Bodemloze
Deputy Director of the Writers' Study

[Basileos Leandros I]

Question to all, how do you know when you've finally developed your writing skills, and when's the right moment to break the rules? Is showing and telling now becoming a cliche more than anything else?

You're never ready, you're never "perfect", even the most seasoned writers take dozens of drafts to get things right.

The thing with "ready set go" never happens because even Usain Bolt had to train once in a while to get to 9.7 seconds.

[NorseThing]

NorseThing's right, Caligula. You need to be able to edit the post, so it only works for the author or for someone with Local Moderator privileges. And if authors wish to re-upload missing images to their own AARs, nobody here is going to object.



I think there may have been some confusion here, so let me be clear:

Hitai is right: producing pdfs of AARs or CW without the permission of the author is not appropriate. Any author who wishes to produce and make available pdfs of their own work is welcome to do so. The WS staff are not going to produce pdfs of AARs or CW. That is Alwyn's view as well as mine.

Caillagh de Bodemloze
Deputy Director of the Writers' Study

No confusion, just a difference of opinion. The new guy on the block bows to experience of those with whom I a disagree.

[Alwyn]

This is a final call for votes for the MCWC XVII, thank you to everyone who has voted already.

Also, you are invited to vote in the Writers' Study Yearly Awards and also to enter the MAARC LXXIV and Tale of the Week 271 (thanks to people who have done this).

[Owlparrot3]

Can we make our stories distributable -In that case ,all of my stories are open and free domain .You can edit ,convert to PDF or do whatever you want .

[Tigellinus]

Removed.

[Admiral Van Tromp]

Tigellinus summed up my thoughts.

Having a systematic conversion to PDF would be a headache for the staff and it could turn out to be quite problematic for the writer.

[Owlparrot3]

After a writing absence ,i am back .

[Alwyn]

Welcome back, mad orc.

Meanwhile, thanks to everyone who has voted in the MCWC XVII tie-breaker and the Writers' Study Yearly Awards. If you haven't voted, please vote now!

It's good to see five entries for the MAARC LXXIV. If we have six (or more) entries then we can run a full competition, with more winners and more Writers' Study competition points available - so it would be great to have even more entries.

[Welsh Dragon]

Welcome back, mad orc.

Meanwhile, thanks to everyone who has voted in the MCWC XVII tie-breaker and the Writers' Study Yearly Awards. If you haven't voted, please vote now!

It's good to see five entries for the MAARC LXXIV. If we have six (or more) entries then we can run a full competition, with more winners and more Writers' Study competition points available - so it would be great to have even more entries.

Well that's a nice bit of impetus to get the next chapter of Toutatis Favours The Brave finished this weekend. Still trying to decide who to go with for image hosting.

Any suggestions people? Looking for something simple to use and cheap/free.

All the Best,

Welsh Dragon.

[Alwyn]

Well that's a nice bit of impetus to get the next chapter of Toutatis Favours The Brave finished this weekend. Still trying to decide who to go with for image hosting.

Any suggestions people? Looking for something simple to use and cheap/free.

All the Best,

Welsh Dragon.

I look forward to seeing the next chapter and hope that you'll enter.

You asked for suggestions for image hosting sites. I use tinypic. It's free and fairly straightforward to use (I haven't joined tinypic so I don't sign in, I simply upload pictures and copy and paste the relevant code into my chapters.)

[Commissar Caligula_]

Still trying to decide who to go with for image hosting.

I'd say Imgur if the image is 10mb or less. If it's bigger, use Flickr.
Imgur is basically a community image hosting site. There's a whole community sharing their pictures. Some of them are cringy, some funny, some gross. Basically to upload an image you just drag the file onto the main page.
Then it'll upload it, and you'll be taken to a page like this. Right click on the image, click open image in new tab, copy that page's url and put it in [img][/img] tags eg [img]https://i.imgur.com/Weh9sjc.jpg[/img]

No account is required for Imgur and no-one on Imgur can see your images unless you make them public. I use Imgur for 99% of my image hosting.

Flickr is what I use to host my game screenshots because they're quite large in file size, and it lets me organise them into albums. It's a pain in the arse to get the urls though. Eg click the Witcher 3 album, click the first picture, click the symbol below the image and to the right that looks like an arrow pointing towards an underscore and click view all sizes, click the required size eg Original (2560 x 1080), right click on the image and do open in new tab and THEN you can put it in [img][/img] tags
[img]https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4254/34276713193_bc41a5e97c_o.jpg[/img]