Okay, first off, that عنوان 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 شبیہ یا banner as a team. Only large کلب have the new suggestion options, so there are thousands of people there whose opinions count! (Not that smaller spots aren't valuable, آپ guys rock just as hard.) The suggested steps for changing a club's look are the same up until Step 3 for both large کلب with the new سروے feature, and smaller ones with user-run پولز for change.

It's important to remember that fanpop is a community, and should do things as a group. Randomly starting a سروے for a new icon, banner یا background is rude to other club members. Making شبیہیں and banners takes time, and the first options (likely made سے طرف کی the person who started the poll) are دیا the unfair advantage of being there the longest. Early voters aren't likely to check back in every دن 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 دیا the same amount of consideration. (It'll also keep آپ from getting yelled at.) Now, let's get to it, eh?

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

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

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




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

I like to leave a suggestion فورم open for a week یا two. If it's a small spot with just a few participants, just a week will probably do. Users can always ask for مزید time on submission فورم I start. You'll need to include the dimensions of the شبیہ and banner in your فورم post. شبیہیں are square and 100x100 pixels یا larger. Banners are 800x100 pixels, یا a size that scales down to that. (1600x200, 2400x300, etc.) This is important, because تصاویر 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 تشہیر the suggestions forum, in case someone missed the initial poll. The most effective ways to do that are لنکس and polls, but adding a دیوار post too wouldn't hurt. لنکس are probably the best way, because adding لنکس 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 کیا پیش 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 آپ can create your سروے 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 سروے 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 کلب yet.)

If users didn't کرائیں جمع 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 مزید work, and it's easier for users modify their شبیہیں 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 پولز in large clubs), it's time to pick an icon. What I like to do for these is to pair each شبیہ contender with the winning banner in one graphic, so users can see what each شبیہ will look like with the new banner. Link to it in the تبصرے of the شبیہ poll. This doesn't guarantee a matching set, but it helps reduce the Clash of the Graphics that often happens when the شبیہ and banner ووٹ run simultaneously.

Unless the spot in need of a change doesn't have an شبیہ یا banner at all, آپ should include the current ones in the polls.

The special پولز for large کلب are monitored سے طرف کی fanpop, so آپ 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 آپ with the change if آپ ask nicely and provide لنکس to the suggestion فورم and the winning polls. (link is my go-to Mod.)

Told آپ the عنوان was a lie.
As آپ can see, there's a lot مزید 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 آپ can't handle that, please leave the job of overseeing a spot change to someone who can. There's no shame in letting someone مزید experienced take the reins!