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in the beginning...
why this? why now? - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
We're all civilized kids, right? It seems really obvious, but when you get your lookup rated, you should remember to use your manners. It really isn't that hard. Here are some tips: SAY PLEASE; People are taking time that they could be using to do something productive to look at and critique what is hopefully your own work, so some variation of "Rate my lookup, please," never hurts. And you look classier for it. Score! SAY THANKS; Again, since people are taking time to rate your lookup, you should say thanks after every rating. Even if it's the worst score in you've ever had, the kid who gave it to you could have been doing something more interesting. SIT TIGHT; Impatient kids are some of the most annoying kids ever. Refrain from nagging the rater about when they will get to you. Just wait and chat with other people on the board. If the rater hasn't posted on the board for more than 10 minutes, they're probably done. They might have lag. Or a life. CALM DOWN; There is a difference between complaining and inquiring. Don't throw a tantrum. If you complain about how you were skipped or about getting a bad rating, people will be more inclined to flame you than talk the situation out with you. READ RULES; No matter how long and ridiculous a rater's rules may be, you should try to follow them. If you want a rating, post whatever stupid word they're telling you to post without whining about it. If they tell you not to neomail them for a rating, don't. Nobody likes a rude kid crying about how they didn't get rated because they didn't post pineapple or something. NOBODY CARES; Don't try to earn pity points by saying you made your lookup in MS Paint. If your lookup is bad, it's bad. Some kids have done quite well using only Paint. NO CHANGES; Raters won't change their scores for you no matter how much whining and explaining you do. So if you don't like a rating, remember it's that person's opinion. DON'T SETTLE; If you receive a bad score that you don't think is justified, go ahead and talk to the rater about it calmly. If the critiques you receive are poor, tell the rater. You won't get your score changed, but it is important to stand up for yourself. SPEAK UP; Chatting is good. Chat with other kids to pass the time. It's more fun than sitting around waiting to be rated. If someone is being obnoxious, call them on it. Nobody likes annoying kids.
So you're rating lookups? This can be a painful business. But here are a few pointers to help all of you raters out there avoid any unwanted drama. DON'T JUDGE; If you're rating lookups, try to be as unbiased as possible. Try to rate based on the overall quality of the graphics and/or CSS. Be ready to support your decision. Have good critiques ready if someone asks for them. CONSTRUCTIVE CRIT; People want to know why they got the score they did. As stated above, it is important to give good critiques. Try to help people improve their lookup rather than only pointing out the flaws. BE CONCISE; Writing out a million rules for a rating board is pretty lame. Try to keep your rules or whatever in the first post to a minimum. It's more fun for everyone. PLAIN SIMPLE; A simple lookup is NOT the same as a plain lookup. Don't confuse these terms. Plain lookups are usually lacking, while simple ones look nice. APPRECIATE CSS; Raters these days seem to rate CSS-only lookups down for not having images. This is NOT an okay reason to deduct points. When rating CSS-only lookups, try to rate based on the quality of the CSS and the overall quality of the lookup. TIME LIMITS; Take as much time as you need to rate a lookup. Don't just zip through if there are a lot of people at your board. If you take your time, you're less likely to mess up a rate and have kids whining at you.
Rating board drama starts at the lookup. If the quality of lookups were to improve, the quality of lookup rating boards would probably improve as well. While making your next lookup, here are a few things to think about: LAYOUT; Did you make a div-styled layout or did you just edit your modules? The key to getting higher ratings is learning how to make real layouts rather than just changing your font to Century Gothic. PROGRAM; What program are you using? If you only have paint, don't go for an elaborate lookup. If you're using Photoshop CS3, mess around with filters and see what you can do! GRAPHICS; Not good at graphics? Try making a CSS-based lookup instead. CSS-based lookups are awesome and some even look better than graphic/CSS lookups. STATS; Are your stats showing? This may be a giant pain, but TNT requires that you have at least some stats showing. ROYALTIES; Did you use a guide to help you code your lookup or make your graphics? What about your brushes and textures? You ABSOLUTELY MUST credit any guides you used. Brush credit isn't necessarily required unless the maker says otherwise. PERMISSION; Are you using someone else's style or CSS? You NEED to ask the creator of the style and/or CSS before you even think of doing this. Then you must CREDIT them on your lookup after you're finished. Failing to do so basically makes you a thief.
People obviously can and will rate however they want. Most of you probably know this, but here it is for all of the newbies out there: If you're getting a lookup rated, watch out for biased raters: THEME RATERS; These kids will give you a low score if they don't like the theme, or even the color of your lookup. The easiest way to figure out if someone is a theme rater is by the critiques they give. For example if someone says "Too orange. 2/10," or "EW, I hate Voxtrot! 10%," then it's pretty obvious that they're a theme rater. REVENGE RATERS; If you're at a board and give someone a low score on their lookup for whatever reason, and they give you a low score in return, chances are they're a revenge rater. STRANGE RATERS; For lack of a better name, haha. Sometimes, you'll run into weird raters who give plain or premade lookups better scores than lookups that have had a lot of time put into them. These kids aren't exactly theme raters, but they usually have a messed up scale and give bs critiques or none at all. HARSH RATERS; Uppity kids who give people low scores for stupid reasons. These raters usually aren't good with graphics or css themselves and are "harsh" because they like ego tripping. The first post in their board will usually say something along the lines of "I'm really harsh. I give people a 3/10 on average." When they rate your lookup, they won't give you any real critiques. They usually either give you bs or nothing at all. The easiest way to deal with biased raters is to thank them for their time and leave. Trying to talk to them is usually a waste of time. These are stubborn kids. Let them be. If you recieve a low score and don't know if it is biased or not, ask the rater for critiques. You be the judge.
Everyone is bound to end up in an argument or two. There are some ridiculous kids on neopets.com, so it's important to know how to deal with all of them. I'm very experienced at arguing with these people, so hopefully I can pass some of my sage knowledge on to you kids! WHINING; If someone is complaining about a low rating, tell them why their lookup isn't good. Usually other people will chime in. If they don't shut up after like five minutes, ignore them and move on. Eventually they'll get tired and leave. Be careful, though. If the person complaining has a good lookup, you'll be the one in trouble. ACCUSATIONS; Sometimes, a kid will accuse you of stealing graphics, style and/or CSS. (Yes, you CAN steal a style. See above, under "Permission.") If this ever happens, ask for actual proof that you're a thief. If they don't have any (hopefully they won't) ignore them. If they do, though, you'll be in trouble. Thieves are usually branded as outcasts in the lookup making community and are sometimes suspended or frozen. Just don't steal, k? BAD/BIASED RATERS; If you're really serious about getting into it with these kids, the key is to stay calm and look smart. Ask why you got your rating. Be polite. Thank the rater for their time when you're finished at their board. You end up looking classy, they end up getting clowned. Other oppertunities to argue will present themselves if you hang around the AC long enough. Use your better judgement!
Basically this is just a place to release your anger and share your biggest pet peeves about lookups and raters and that kind of stuff. Send me your best rant and I may just add it to the page. SNOBUNNY86/ME; Kids who have the word "graphics" in their username and advertise their premade lookup sites should actually be able to make DECENT graphics. 7LUCKYCLOVERS/CHLOE; I hate it when raters rate your lookup low because of the theme and or because they just don't like it. 0BSIDIANBUTTERFLY/LAUREN; Lookup raters who are 'harsh' and have crappy lookups! Geeez I can't take them seriously... REASSEMBLE/PASCAL; Ahahaha I love raters that make boards and then say "but don't rate mine because it's under construction/premade/custom/my friend made it"!! Like srsly if you're gonna rate lookups, or really anything, at least show that you can do it. Or else it totally discredits you because "well, you can't do any better D:!!" And then it goes to arguments which cause stress. Boo stress. Stress = lame. So ya don't do it! CHRISTAGIRL10M/KITTY; Once I had a rater rate a past look-up of mine a 0% because they thought the actress on it was ugly and she scared them. I cannot stand raters who rate on theme rather than the actual work put into it, or the great coding. It's insane! - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
so long, farewell... Thanks for visiting. I hope you found this page helpful. If you want to help spread the word about etiquette, go ahead and take a button to link back here. Together we can make rating less stressful!   |
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