Source
r/cosplay•
rowr

[Meta] Testing a new rule for [Found] posts

Meta

We are giving a new rule a test drive for [Found] posts. Some of these posts have shown some fantastic cosplay, but many of them seem to be repetitive and unrepresentative of cosplay as a whole.

During the duration of this test run all [Found] posts must be submitted as text posts, and links to the image(s) must be contained inside the text post. As per usual with reddiquette; Please do: Look for the original source of content, and submit that.

It is our hope that this will improve the quantity of member-generated content by removing the karma incentive of posting an attractive costume someone randomly found on The Internet.

We would love to get feedback on this rule in the comments on this post or in modmail.

Thank you from the r/cosplay mod team!

Posted Nov 23, 2015, 10:09 PM UTC · edited

4219
FuzzyRocket•

I think this is a great idea to help keep the repost and karma farming down and actually promote the cosplays. At the same time this still allows people to post a cosplay they found or has a question about.

14
cutestkebab•

I like how this is looking so far! It is nice to see more found submissions linking to a source. I also enjoy the opportunity to immediately read more about the backstory of found images.

7
Nicstradamus•

Does the image still show up on the thumbnail when the link is submitted in the text body? If not, [Found] image links will not trend unless weighted differently, as this is a very visual sub.

2
rowrOPMOD•

It will not show up with the way reddit does thumbnails. Some apps or browser extensions may pick them up, or show images when the text post is viewed (RES does the latter).

The [Found] links not dominating over reddit user-created content is exactly the effect we're trying to encourage, as mentioned in the third paragraph of the post.

4
ion_citat•

I'm not happy about this. But it's a good rule. That being said, it seems since you made this rule that the [self] and [photographer] tag use has gone up a lot. Maybe some people aren't being honest with the tags???

Text posting [found] photos seems to have killed submissions of other people's photos, that's for sure. But the only ones I've ever submitted here were those found at Comic Cons. I think those belonged here, and I sure wasn't submitting them for karma. I got enough of that already. I was sharing what I thought was good content.

Some other things to think about. You could just allow [found] photos on weekends only? There is also a way to set up automod so they are automatically removed or the use is sent a message to to tell them to submit only on weekends.

Anyway, I'm not happy about the rule, but it's the right thing to do for your sub. Without it, this sub can sometimes be nothing more than r/pics.

2
rowrOPMOD•

Thank you for your feedback.

It is definitely possible that people are cheating the system by claiming work that isn't theirs, and something we discussed even before putting the rule in place. It's something we (community members and moderators) need to keep an eye on. It could also be that what we're seeing is those posts standing out a lot more because they're not flooded out by [Found] pictures. The real answer is probably somewhere in-between.

You've expressed that you're unhappy about the rule, and that you understand why it's a good move in the direction we'd like to see the sub go.

What is it that makes you unhappy about the rule change?

I agree that photos from Comic Cons can belong here. Why would you stop posting them if they are text submissions and not link submissions? It would still be you sharing what you think is good content.

2
stormelemental13•

There is less interest in posts that don't have an image associated with them.

So, you find something that you think is really cool and want to share, but if you can only submit it through text then people have to go to extra effort to see it, click post then click link, which discourages interest, also you have to rely on your eye-catching tagline rather than the photo itself.

For myself, it would make me less happy because less people are going to see the cool thing I want to share, when I want the opposite. I want more people to see it.

1
rowrOP•

Thank you for your input. I am still interested in u/ion_citat's perspective on my questions.

I agree that there is a little more work involved to post and view work that is not created by cosplayers with reddit accounts.

So I take it that you think cosplayers will not be willing to expend a few extra clicks worth of effort to see a costume that you think is cool enough to contribute to the conversation? Have you noticed the detail in the costumes by redditors? I think they will not feel too burdened by an extra click or two.

For casual browsers, I agree - but there's other subreddits for that.

5
stormelemental13•

Certainly, I didn't mean to preempt him, just tossing cents in as someone who posts a fair amount.

I think it affects cosplayers too, but more than the extra effort is not seeing an image. Unless you are familiar with the name of a cosplay, seeing it in a text post probably won't get your attention or interest you. An image on the other hand, I may not know anything about the source material or the cosplayer, but I have an image that indicates whether it's something I would find interesting or not. That's my guess. What I am certain of is that link posts with good thumbnails generate more traffic than poor thumbnails or texts posts.

As an example, http://imgur.com/gallery/Vivp5 is really something that I would think better fits r/cosplay than r/cosplaygirls, but it's gotten more attention there than here Now part of that is that it hasn't been up as long, but most views usually come within the first 6 hours or so.

Contrast that with https://www.reddit.com/r/cosplay/duplicates/3cvyes/found_dragon_age_cassandra_pentaghast_by_kseniya/ or https://www.reddit.com/r/cosplay/duplicates/3ldj0k/found_diablo_3_crusader_by_katharina_k/ where the numbers between the subs are pretty close. All three are intricate cosplays with lots of work and without any real 'sexy' elements.

Interestingly, I've also noticed that I just generally get more engagement in other subs even for the same materials. Definitely isn't what I had expected.

2
ion_citat•

So I take it that you think cosplayers will not be willing to expend a few extra clicks worth of effort to see a costume that you think is cool enough to contribute to the conversation?

The true dedicated cosplayers might but redditors for the most part will not. Also, the text posts will never be at the top of the Hot Page or on the Top Posts list, so the posts probably won't get seen by many dedicated cosplayers anyway. Your hot page already shows clear evidence of that. The few [found] text posts that have been submitted since the rule barely have 10 points each. It's not worth the time involved in putting an album together to submit here if only 10 people are going to view them. I haven't clicked on one of the text posts since the rule change either. No thumbnail usually means no clickie for most people. Look at this one I submitted here that got some 2k points. It was a good fun post, but it was the thumbnail that took it to the Front. If it was packaged up in a text post, it wouldn't have gotten more than 10 points. If you want to test this,someone can resubmit it as a text post with the same title.

Here's the thing, I post here maybe 3x per month. I'm really not that important. The mods run the sub and they should do what they think is best for it. I've seen the flagrant karma posts that caused the rule change. If you want the sub to be just for true dedicated cosplayers, you need to keep this rule. If you want to keep building your typical reddit subscriber base--redditors come and go so they need replacing--then I would figure something else out, because the rule takes a lot of fun out of the sub. Worth noting, 11 of your top 25 posts in this sub have the [Found] tag. There's not one text post in your top 100.

1
DevelopmentArrested1•

Huh, I forgot about this test run. I'll be honest it seems like a large amount of content went away with the rule. I understand why you wanted to promote original/higher quality content, and prevent people posting just for up votes but if feels like the sub has lost subscribers. Or maybe there's just less content? I don't know. I prefer it the old way but that's just my two cents. Cheers on trying to improve everything!

2
Box_Of_Props_Mario•

what if the original post is from facebook?

2
fuzzy_oneProp Maker•

Is it your facebook account?

2
Box_Of_Props_Mario•

No.

2
fuzzy_oneProp Maker•

Then it is a [found] post.

2
Box_Of_Props_Mario•

I thought we couldn't use facebook?

1
DevelopmentArrested1•

How long is the test run lasting? Have you decided to keep the rule?

2
scswift•

I just had my post deleted by a bot and there's no point in even submitting found content if I have to submit it as a text post because nobody is going to click on a text post with no thumbnail.

What you seem to fail to realize is that I don't care about karma. But karma and the number of people who see what I want to share are inextricably linked. So by "removing the karma incentive" you removed any reason to share the post because the only reason there's no karma incentive any more is because nobody's going to look at the post.

2
rowrOP•

Yeah. We're favoring original content. I think it's working better than I'd even dared to hope. We're not suppressing your ability to post found content, but we're definitely striking against what the subreddit looked like six months ago. Go check it out.

Also, post your found stuff in other cosplay subreddits. They don't have this restriction. There's links to some of them in the sidebar.

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[deleted]•

[deleted]

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[deleted]•

[deleted]

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[deleted]•

[deleted]

1
ZhangBranProp Maker•

Is there any way to make the pic appear as a thumbnail with CSS wizardry?

Otherwise, I'm 80% for it.

1
mlpiceking•

There is downvoting of amazing found posts, i feel like this whole rule is still a shame. guess its not up to me though.

1
SGFTI•

After 3 months is it still a test run?

Also a lot of people just lie and claim the picture is of themselves, it isn't like there's fact checking going on.

1
rowrOP•

Of course people will lie. It would be great if you and community members would like to fact check and report.

1
CucumberGod•

Am I allowed to post stuff under a [friend] tag?

1
Brintyboo•

I personally feel like there is a massive lack of diversity in the kinds of posts this sub gets and I feel like this rule only acts to further homogenise this sub as a place to plug your own work rather than a place to share and discuss all things cosplay related.

0
[deleted]•

[deleted]

0
mlpiceking•

I honestly think its unfair, especially to those of us not posting explicit cosplay but just love cosplay and like sharing what we've found.

-2
rowrOP•

What do you feel is unfair about it?

4
mlpiceking•

People are just going to lie and say it's their picture or that they took it, while the truthful ones won't get to share cosplay photos they like to just as much people, because not as many people will look at the photo if there is no thumbnail.

-1
rowrOP•

I agree that it's totally unfair that some people will lie. Lying is a pretty unfair thing. As I mentioned in other comments, both the community and the moderation team will need to keep an eye on that.

The sharing of a cosplay photo that someone found and likes can still be shared. I agree that not as many people will look at these [found] text posts, because people prefer thumbnails rather than an extra click or two.

I think our notions of what is fair are different.

I think it is unfair that redditors that do cosplay work have been mostly drowned out by photographs that people have found online. And I think that it is more fair to favor cosplaying redditors on reddit in r/cosplay than to favor found pictures by persons who are not involved in cosplay. We are here because of cosplay and reddit, so it makes sense to me to favor redditors that participate in the cosplay scene.

Please remember that reddit membership is not a right that everyone is entitled to. Subreddit membership is not a right, either. By extension, nobody has a right to reddit karma.

The majority of the other cosplay subreddits available are totally in-line with what you consider fair, and you are also able to make your own if you would like - and if you do, I hope that you are very successful!

6
mlpiceking•

Dude, how do you know people who post founds are not involved/ participate in cosplay.

passive aggressively threatening to kick me out just because I made a comment is too much.

-1