Okay, first off, that titre is a lie.

Based on the way things are going with the new club update feature so far, I thought we could use some guidelines. These are not official, they are merely suggestions on how to decide on a new icone ou banner as a team. Only large clubs have the new suggestion options, so there are thousands of people there whose opinions count! (Not that smaller spots aren't valuable, toi guys rock just as hard.) The suggested steps for changing a club's look are the same up until Step 3 for both large clubs with the new vote feature, and smaller ones with user-run votes for change.

It's important to remember that fanpop is a community, and should do things as a group. Randomly starting a vote for a new icon, banner ou background is rude to other club members. Making icones and banners takes time, and the first options (likely made par the person who started the poll) are donné the unfair advantage of being there the longest. Early voters aren't likely to check back in every jour to see if new options have been added. Following these steps will help ensure that everyone has a fair chance to participate and that all options are donné the same amount of consideration. (It'll also keep toi from getting yelled at.) Now, let's get to it, eh?

Step 1: Ask the fans!
Make a vote to determine if the club even WANTS a new icon, banner ou background.

I usually leave this vote up for a week, unless the results are overwhelmingly in favor of one option ou another after a few days.

If the club votes no, try again in a few months. If the club votes yes, proceed to step 2.




Step 2: forums & Advertisements
Create a forum for suggestions from other users. link is a récent example of a spot makeover that went smoothly, if you'd like to see how that goes.

I like to leave a suggestion forum open for a week ou two. If it's a small spot with just a few participants, just a week will probably do. Users can always ask for plus time on submission forums I start. You'll need to include the dimensions of the icone and banner in your forum post. icones are square and 100x100 pixels ou larger. Banners are 800x100 pixels, ou a size that scales down to that. (1600x200, 2400x300, etc.) This is important, because images that are not those dimensions will be stretched when uploaded to the spot, and that ain't pretty.





It's also a good idea to annoncer the suggestions forum, in case someone missed the initial poll. The most effective ways to do that are liens and polls, but adding a mur post too wouldn't hurt. liens are probably the best way, because adding liens to a club bumps it to the front of the mosaics on user profiles. This lets users know that something is going on in a club even if they've overlooked it in their updates, especially for inactive spots.








Step 3: Voting & Change
Once everyone has soumis their creations, this is where it can get a little tricky...

If you're voting in sets, make a graphic with all the options paired together. Then toi can create your vote and link to the image in the comments, so users can see it all at once and pick the set they like most. I've found that this is the fastest and simplest way, as it only requires one vote and it's very unlikely that the club will end up with a mismatched set. (I'm not quite sure how to accomplish this with the new voting feature for large clubs yet.)

If users didn't soumettre their graphics as sets (or if you're running the contest in a large spot with the special polls), I prefer to vote for the banner first. It's larger, it took plus work, and it's easier for users modify their icones to work with the new banner instead of vice versa. After the new banner is determined (a week should be enough time if it's a small club, fanpop sets its own deadline for votes in large clubs), it's time to pick an icon. What I like to do for these is to pair each icone contender with the winning banner in one graphic, so users can see what each icone will look like with the new banner. Link to it in the commentaires of the icone poll. This doesn't guarantee a matching set, but it helps reduce the Clash of the Graphics that often happens when the icone and banner votes run simultaneously.

Unless the spot in need of a change doesn't have an icone ou banner at all, toi should include the current ones in the polls.

The special votes for large clubs are monitored par fanpop, so toi don't need to do anything once those are over. If you're overseeing a change in a smaller spot without that options, a moderator will help toi with the change if toi ask nicely and provide liens to the suggestion forum and the winning polls. (link is my go-to Mod.)

Told toi the titre was a lie.
As toi can see, there's a lot plus to changing a club's look than just clicking a link and uploading an image. It takes a responsible user willing to put in the time and effort of organizing, advertising, making sure everyone is included and following the guidelines, and in the case of smaller spots, reporting the results to a moderator. If toi can't handle that, please leave the job of overseeing a spot change to someone who can. There's no shame in letting someone plus experienced take the reins!