Galleries & MiniShop Subforum: Rules! (( MUST READ! Open! ))

[Charcoal Wraith]

Kenton Alkemi

Hello! This is the place for artists, writers, and merchants alike to gather and socialize. Each person is entitled to a thread of their own, to show off whatever creative works you have or to open up a shop of any kind. All the while, please remember to stick to the Gaia ToS when it comes to posting and displaying!

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| - Welcome - | - General Rules - | - Shop Keeper Rules - | - Buyer Rules - | - Gallery Rules - | - F.A.Q. - |

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Welcome to the Galleries & MiniShop Subforum Rules thread!

While we're all crazy awesome people here who probably would never break the rules, it's still good to post them for reference. Sometimes things happen and if there's a smidgen of a chance that this thread could help, then it needs to be here.

Just above this blurb and below the thread title banner, is the list -o- contents. After all the places for needed posts (( and a few reserved because you never know if they'll be needed )), the thread will be free for everyone to post in.

Suggestions, comments, questions, etc, are welcomed, but do NOT PM me or the other moderators of the guild! Post in this thread and someone will get to it as soon as they can!

IF AND ONLY IF your idea or question or whatever it may be that requires a response, has not been answered within two weeks, should you PM anyone, and preferably, it should be me (( michie-in-a-box )).


Thanks and hope this thread is helpful! ^.^  

[Charcoal Wraith]

| - Welcome - | - General Rules - | - Shop Keeper Rules - | - Buyer Rules - | - Gallery Rules - | - F.A.Q. - |

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1.| Follow Gaia TOS.
They can be found by clicking here.

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2.| Follow the MiniShop Rules and Regulations.
They can be found by clicking here.

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3.| Check out the Gaia Rules & Guidelines for whats appropriate and inappropriate for posting.
They can be found by clicking here.

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4.| Generally, just be respectful of everyone.
While this is an RP guild and you might be warring with someone from another clan (or whatever the case may be), don't start a fight or be a jerk in these threads to that person.
If a shop owner says otherwise, then by all means, have fun with it.
Otherwise, assume its non-rp and just chill. ^_^

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5.| Do NOT quote shop/gallery post with giant amounts of information!
Its annoying to scroll through all that and unnecessary with it already being on the first page.

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6.| More to come...  

[Charcoal Wraith]

| - Welcome - | - General Rules - | - Shop Keeper Rules - | - Buyer Rules - | - Gallery Rules - | - F.A.Q. - |

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Some of these may be repeats from Gaia TOS, Rules & Guidelines or the MiniShops Forum. If they are repeats that means they're not to be taken lightly.

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1.| Put "Shop" or "Store" or some form of so that people know its a place to go place orders and buy!
I know it may sound silly, but if a forum is doubling as two things that typically involve art, putting "Meh Avie Artz" for the subject title isn't exactly clear as to what the thread will contain.
Is it avie art the person draws and sells?
Or maybe a gallery of avie art auctions that had sold?
Perhaps just random doodles of their own avatar?

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2.| Before putting the tag of 25k or ANY price, stop and think:

_____"How much would I pay for this if someone else was selling it?"

If you honestly would pay 25k for it, then go for it. If you would only pay 500g, then price it for 500g.

_____I went to a minishop yesterday and the item I had been looking at was grossly overpriced.
_____I was sad because it was so cute, but in my head wasn't worth 7k for a little bitty picture.

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3.| Be sure your products, whatever they may be are YOURS and NOT someone else's!!
I know to some of you, it must sound silly to even have this posted.
Well its happened in the MiniShops forum before and if it's covered here, then the moderators can more easily deal with it.
IF AND ONLY IF you have permission from the original artist/creator/author - whoever - can you sell the product if its not originally yours.

_____Ex. The naked running avie gifs all over the MiniShops forum. The original creator posted openly that certain people had her permission to re-create and sell her design.

If you do obtain permission to use something not of your own creation, you must post somewhere in the first page of your thread (( and it MUST be easily readable )) that the product is not your creation, but the idea belongs to whoever.
You should also have an email or screen shot that you can easily provide to a moderator (( should they ask )), that is from the creator stating you can reproduce their work.

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4.| Put images and samples in your shop! While staring at the normal thread is nice with all its coloured text and whiteness, images really drawn people in!
Put a nice little banner at the top of each section that has the title of the section!
Doesn't even to be fancy.
Have a black box outline with some pretty script text!

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5.| Now, I know that the rule above tells you to have images, but here's a rules for colour schemes...
Make sure your images and text are readable!
Do not make all the text of your shop white.
People don't want to sit and highlight to see what you're charging for wishlist graphic.
Its annoying!
Don't make it some other impossible to read colour either.
Usually darker text colours are better for white.

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6.| In part with rule #5.
Do not have brightly coloured images with brightly coloured text AND do not have dark coloured images with dark coloured text!
Do a bright banner with dark text or put an outline so its easy to read!

_____I left a shop the other day because the banners were too bright and the text on them was too bright.
_____There were no text outlines to distinguish what any of the banners said so I couldn't tell what I was looking at.

Be smart in your colour schemes!
If you're not sure, PM me with whatever you have or your idea and I'll gladly drop some tips and help out!

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7.| Try and get your orders done and out in a timely fashion.
If you feel overloaded with orders, close your shop for a while and play catch-up. One good idea is make a waiting list.

_____Ex. I think I can handle about 5 orders at a time for coloured chibi drawings of people's avatars.

What does that example mean?
Well it means that once I have 5 different orders, my shop will be closed to new orders until I can complete and mail out those 5 orders.
Then I clear the waiting list and take on the next 5 orders to be posted.

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8.| More to come...
 

[Charcoal Wraith]

| - Welcome - | - General Rules - | - Shop Keeper Rules - | - Buyer Rules - | - Gallery Rules - | - F.A.Q. - |

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Some of these may be repeats from Gaia TOS, Rules & Guidelines or the MiniShops Forum. If they are repeats that means they're not to be taken lightly.

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1.| Follow the rules of whatever shop you may be in!
If you break a rule there and you get blacklisted or put on probation, then its your job to make amends!
The moderators cannot and will not help you because you choose not to read and/or follow the shop keepers rules!

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2.| While it might be boring at times, be sure to read most of the shop keeper's posts that have shop information.
Chances are they have a certain way to conduct how orders are done and its up to you to know how it should be done, if you're planning on making a purchase!

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3.| Be considerate of other people in the thread.
While maybe you might be warring with someone, its not something to be carried over into this subforum UNLESS THE SHOP KEEPER HAS SPECIFIED OTHERWISE.

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4.| More to come...
 

[Charcoal Wraith]

| - Welcome - | - General Rules - | - Shop Keeper Rules - | - Buyer Rules - | - Gallery Rules - | - F.A.Q. - |

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I suggest that people who just want a Gallery also read the rules for Shop Keepers, as there are some nice things to be aware of as a thread owner. More specifically, the rules concerning images and colour schemes.

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1.| Please post the word "Gallery" or "Showroom" or some variation of in the subject title so that people know its a place to look and not to buy!
If you're willing to do commissions, then post that in the subject title as well.

_____Ex. Michie's Gallery - Open to Commissions! (( 4/17/07 ))

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2.| When you update or post something new, its always a good idea to post a date in the subject title to let viewers know!

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3.| While you may just have a gallery type thing going on, it never hurts to have a rules section.
While some people may want to bump your gallery to the top, you may not like bumping or maybe want something a little more creative than the word "bump."
Requesting a graphic of some kind to replace the word "bump" would not be unreasonable.
If you don't have a bump graphic, why not choose of the Gaian emotes?

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4.| Important note (( and should probably have been the first thing I thought of >_< )), make sure you're only posting YOUR CREATIONS.
You cannot obtain permission to create a gallery for someone else's works.
They would have to do a gallery themselves.

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5.| Say your into doing works that may offend some people.
Make a thumbnail that focuses on a non-offense part of the image and LABEL it.
Whether its gory, or a passionate love scene, or whatever the case may be, just link or thumbnail it and label it as such.

_____My friends did a collaboration artwork together.
_____On their shop, they posted a thumbnail of a random part of the image.
_____On the thumbnail it said "Yaoi" so people would know what to expect if clicked on.

Also, go easy on what you choose to post and make sure it doesn't overstep any of the general rules.

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6.| More to come...
 

[Charcoal Wraith]

| - Welcome - | - General Rules - | - Shop Keeper Rules - | - Buyer Rules - | - Gallery Rules - | - F.A.Q. - |

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Good and/or popular questions, comments, concerns will be posted here. Names/usernames will be not be posted here. If you really want to see who asked the question, you can browse through the thread.

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Q1: I don't know how to make banners for my thread.

A1: There are plenty of tutorials all around on Gaia and online. Check into the Galleries & MiniShops: Helpful Links Guide for help and advice on where to go to learn.

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Q2: Could I have a minishop AND gallery?

A2: Of course! I honestly don't care if you have three minishops and a gallery, just make sure you can keep up with them all.

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Q3: No no, I want my gallery to be inside my minishop. Is that allowed.

A3: Again, I don't care how you set it up, just make sure you keep up with everything. Do NOT overload yourself.
 

[Charcoal Wraith]

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Feel free to being posting!

 

[Charcoal Wraith]

I understand there's still updating I need to do for this subforum, but christ!
POST IN HERE PEOPLE!!

Make shops and galleries and whatever! -_-;;

 

[Charcoal Wraith]

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