Things I'm pondering...

[hatman]

1. I made a couple of icons for a comm. Comm icons aren't really useful. You can't attach them to individual posts (unless you have that icon as a personal userpic). But neither one is really my best work. Now, I can post them here or to iconic. Get more use out of them. Or I could leave them as unique to the comm. Which kind of makes them special. I dunno. And now I've got a variant of one of them, and I'm not sure what to do with that at all.

2. This old Far Side cartoon popped back to mind last night when we were discussing mood themes on IRC. I'm kinda tempted to do it. But I don't know if anyone would be interested. Also, I have no idea how to handle the copyright issues. And I don't use mood themes. So... I dunno.

3. Anyone remember the Semisonic song "Closing Time"? I woke up today thinking that I could reverse the lyrics and turn it into a DW icon. "Opening time. You don't have to leave home, but please stay here..." Or something like that. I'm not sure if it's worth the trouble. The more I think about it, the less it seems so.

4. Open Beta looms. YAY!!

Thoughts on any of the above are appreciated. None of the first 3 are really important, but... well, I guess I've just got too much time on my hands.

Comments

[alittlebirdy]

I haven't checked here, but over on LJ the maintainer of a community can set a default community icon to displayed on every post. I've never really seen the point of it though, unless people were posting with totally innapropriate icons, but even then I'd just ask them to stop (and remove them if they didn't). I guess the idea of a community icon is great, but people like to post with their own community related icons. I'd feel mean setting it to a default! lol

[hatman]

If that's an option on DW, I'm not finding it. But no, I wouldn't want to do that anyway.

[stellar_dust]

Ok, I must totally disagree. I LOVE community icons - the community icon is what shows up on my flist, instead of the poster's, and that helps me notice that "Oh! This is a community post!" or even "OH this is a post in THAT community!"

Setting a community icon only overrides the poster's icon on the friends/reading list of subscribers who have set that option in their personal viewing controls. (At least that's how it works on LJ.) And it drives me CRAZY when communities don't have a default icon set - because then posts appear iconless on my reading list.

[hatman]

Wait... I posted to the comm. It had a default icon, but DW wouldn't let me use it. But you're saying the post shows up with the comm icon for you? Or... you have to choose that option somehow? Where's that, then?

In any case, what about the comm's second (non-default) icon? I sort of like the idea of leaving it there as an easter egg of sorts, but I'm also wondering if maybe I should make it more widely available. But if I don't, is there any use to it?

[stellar_dust]

Yeah, you can't choose to use community icons - they appear on the comm's profile, on the comm's main page if included in the style, and on flists as I described. But they don't get attached to individual posts in the same way that user's icons do.

On LJ it's part of the style customization, at the bottom here: "Use community userpics instead of poster's userpic." (It took me forever to find that, btw. I have a feeling it was in a much clearer location and better worded when I originally set it years ago.) Since it's part of the style options in LJ, it's possible DW hasn't implemented it yet? I hope they do though. Might be worth me asking in the news post.

Non-default icons don't have any particular use other than being shiny, and being available if and when the mod decides to pick a new default!

[hatman]

Ah, gotcha. Thanks.

I guess we'll see. Styles team has a lot to do. But if you want it, yeah, can't hurt to leave a comment.

[trouble]

I'm pretty excited about open beta, too. :) I wish I was having a party, but no one loves me in Halifax! :)

[hatman]

Aww. But at least you're in a beautiful town. :)

[trouble]

It is beautiful. I should do a picspam. :)

[elshadye]

Copyright! Copyright!

(Sorry, I get excited about nerdy stuff...)

Anyway, more on topic...I'm studying for my copyright exam right now and your question sounds like it would be a very fun practice problem! (Yes, I am a nerd...I already said that, right?)

So...what are you planning to do (or maybe, more accurately, "considering possibly doing")? And I'll tell you if it's okay or not! :) (Predictive guess: Probably fair use. Maybe.) (And with the caveat: IANAL(y) - I Am Not A Lawyer (yet) and IANYL - I Am Not Your Lawyer. Gotta get all those CYA provisions out there... {inniocent})

[hatman]

Hey, I love nerds. Especially female nerds. No need to apologize. ;)

What I'd like to do is use the dog's head as a mood theme image. So I'd be taking the art and using it for my own purposes. It'd be publicly available, but no one would be making money off of it. And I'd probably use the words "Far Side" in the mood theme's name (unless that did more harm than good).

Alternatively, I suppose I could try to copy the art. Make something myself that's evocative of the dog's head, which is a fairly simple design, after all. And then I'd still have the question of whether or not to include the name "Far Side" in the title.

What is your semi-professional but completely unofficial and in no way legally binding opinion?

[dame_grise]

I'm checking out people with some of the same interests. I'll add you to my reading list. I wouldn't mind a shout out, but don't worry too much about allowing me access to locked things or adding back. I may or may not get a regular journal here (other than my OpenID). It depends on my friends.

Have fun!

-Sam

[hatman]

Hi. Welcome. :) I've added you back. If you've registered an email address with this OpenID, you should be getting an account code shortly. Doesn't hurt to set something up and see what happens. But meantime I've added you here. :)

Not sure what you mean about a shout out, tho, if not adding...

[dame_grise]

I meant replying to my comment. Not everyone does, even if they add. Thanks. I'm still a bit torn about what to do in the end.

[hatman]

Ah, no. I can't be kind of annoying about that, really. I try to respond to pretty much every comment. Least I can do, if you took the time to say something, you know?

As for DW... good luck figuring it out. Personally, I say, "Try it on, see how it fits." It's free. Can't hurt to see how it goes, no? But if it's not your thing, then... *shrug* You're still welcome via OpenID. :)