Webmaster news :

If you send fanarts and fan images, please read the entire news : this is very important.

It took me a while, but I finally finished it. There is a new fanart and fanimages send system, which aims at making everything easier, organized and at the same time more "strict".

In particular, you will now be able to see if the drawings you sent were validated; and if they are deactivated by the mods, you will see the reason why it was deactivated, and you'll be able to contact the mod for more information, make changes, resubmit or delete them.
Also, the interface is now very dynamic: you can do many things without having to reload the page, and this saves a lot of time. This was possible because I have used a lot of Ajax programmation (which is a nightmare for web developers like me...due to popular-but-rubbish Internet Explorer and its non-support for the standards! Seriously, you don't have any good reason not to try a REAL browser like Firefox - By the way, the site is optimized for it!). Warning though : you won't be able to use the new interface if you don't have javascript enabled on your browser!(hopefully, more than 99% of you already have it enabled) If that's the case, you will get a warning message on the main page of the site, with a little help on how to enable it.

One of the particular things I like is the new character selection window (to select the characters featured in your drawings). Just try using it, you'll understand!
Oh, by the way : protected characters can now be managed. This means that if you wish to make a drawing of a protected character, you're able to request it (either on the character selection window, or on the fan characters section) A private message is automatically sent to the owner of the character, and if he/she accepts, you'll then be able to use the character. It's that simple.

Of course you can't see it, but there's also a new fanart and fanimages admin for mods. Same thing, it should be very practical for them.

Talking about that, you will notice that there are categories you must choose when sending fanarts : digital/traditional and the coloring type. That's to organize fanarts in a better way.

Important : I will soon ask the fanart mods to go through ALL the drawings and images sent on the site since the very start, and to update them. Two things : they will check that they still follow the rules, and they will choose the (Balto) characters in your drawings and the categories where they fit. If you wish to help the mods, you can do that second thing yourself in the "manage my drawings" part!

We will be stricter from now on, so don't be surprised if some of your creations get deactivated : the goal is to "clean" the fan sections from the bad creations that shouldn't have been accepted. Especially, there should be at least ONE Balto drawing in each gallery before you can send other types of drawings. The system will force you to respect that rule, and I will soon increase the minimum amount of Balto characters drawings required in each gallery to 1/3 (33%) of the total. I am warning you! If you've already sent a lot of drawings, and have very few Balto drawings in your gallery, be ready to make some Balto drawings, or you'll be stuck in not being able to send more drawings. Remember the site you're on!

All this, of course, has a goal : I will soon "destroy" the current fanart section and make a new one.(don't worry, all your drawings and gallery information will be kept well, the ones that respect the rules...) The new categories, fan characters and other things will be part of it. Just be patient, it will probably take at least one month to make it and get it working...

As for fan images, there's a new option you can choose : coloured-over linearts. Yes, linearts that you didn't drew, but that you've colored over, are now accepted in the fan images section (but NOT the fanarts! so if you have some there, please send them in the fan images, then delete them from the fanarts) It will be one category, so, if you don't like them, you'll be able to hide them in the soon-to-be new fan images section.

Another thing I have added : BMP support. You can now send your favorite ugly fanarts made on Microsoft Paint (just kidding!...or maybe not.) directly on the site. The ones among you who have problems with converting their pictures should appreciate it. Warning though : very big files are still not allowed, and BMP makes very large files, so you will get a very long sending time if you choose to send BMP files - especially if you have a slow internet connection.

Oh, and finally : considering the huge amount of changes I have done on the site code, there are surely big bugs here and there. I have already caught some of them (in particular, one that I won't correct because I will make a new fanart section : the "last drawings sent" bug) But if you catch a bug, please report it to me either by PM or email. Thanks. And give me the EXACT error messages, for god's sake!!! Ban the "it won't let me" from your language!





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