Chocolate

Hello everyone!

I wanted to let you know about a change that is coming to Wallpaper Abyss. Wallpaper Abyss is over a decade old, and in that time a lot has changed in terms of screen sizes.

Some of the original image sizes we allowed on Wallpaper Abyss simply aren't relevant as wallpaper today. Sizes like 800x600 and 1024x768. Resolutions like these are used by a very VERY small percentage of our users.

Soon we are going to mass convert 1024x768 and smaller images from Wallpaper Abyss to Image Abyss.

This will be something that happens occasionally as technology continues to move forward🙂

Please let me know if you have any concerns or questions.

David West
Alpha Coders

I've reduced the required number of captions by half🙂This should make it easier to get on the board and see where others are!

Our moderator team works hard to keep Alpha Coders running. Eventually, you might disagree with a moderator decision. Below are some rules and guidelines to keep in mind. Please also read the FAQ at the end.

1. Moderators are vetted for their knowledge of categorization, tagging, and other rules. They are good at what they do.
2. One of the primary goals of Alpha Coders is to be a well organized and curated collection of content. Moderators are working with that in mind.
3. If a moderator moves your content, or changes something about it, it is always for the purpose of improving the organization and curation at Alpha Coders. It's not personal - we are all working together!
4. You can always ask for clarification about why something was changed or moved! You can ask the moderator, ask our community manager, or email us at admin@alphacoders.com.
5. Please do not subvert moderator decisions. Doing this will get your account banned, since it wastes moderator time, and is an indication that you may not care about the organization and curation of Alpha Coders. An example of this is deleting content when it is moved or changed, and then uploading it again.
6. Please do not waste moderator time. We consider deleting all moved content to be wasting moderator time. We know it sounds a bit harsh, but it does end up being a problem where some users will delete all things that are moved by the moderator team. This ends up being discouraging for the moderator team as well - knowing their effort won't even end up in a live piece of content on the site.

FAQ

Q: My content was moved from Wallpaper Abyss to Image Abyss. I think it should have remained at Wallpaper Abyss.

A: You can ask the moderator why. If you want to escalate the issue, you can contact our community manager (linked above) or even email admin@alphacoders.com. Please do not delete the content, and upload it to where it was moved from, as that is a violation of rule 5 above.

Q: I just don't get how Alpha Coders categorizes and tags. Do I have any options?

A: You can submit content to Image Abyss with no categorization! As you learn how we organize content, you can add categorization to content on Image Abyss, and request a review to see if the content can be moved to another site.

Q: Moderators will fix any mistakes I make anyways - what's the point of trying to categorize well, or place things at the correct site?

A: We don't have an infinite amount of moderator time. In a perfect world, we would be able to sort through any number of submissions. But we just don't have that amount of manpower. Users that have trouble grasping our categorization, or what constitues showcase quality for sites like Wallpaper Abyss will usually be instructed to submit to only Image Abyss, locked out, and eventually banned if we can't come to some equilibrium.

I may have underestimated how much time it takes to generate good captions.

When the contest ends I will automatically change the top tier prize to the person with the most captions - so please don't feel discouraged!

For example, if the top user makes it to 300 captions, I'll reset the tiers to something like 300, 100, 50, 30, 5

In the next couple of days I will cut the scoring requirements down a bit preemptively as well😃

One Headlight by The Wallflowers

Spotify: spotify:track:0z1b34WikhOH9ZxU8QDWcv
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zzyfcys1aLM

An oldie but a goodie

Below are some of the general guidelines that we use when it comes to winning raffles and contests

• We prefer to have digital prizes redeemed through Paypal or Amazon.

• Physical prizes typically can only ship to the 48 contiguous states in the United States.

• There are some cases where we can ship an item worldwide. We will let you know this when redeeming your prize
• If you win a physical item and live outside of our shipping area, we can replace it with a digital prize. The base price of the item is used as the digital prize. We don't add shipping ( this makes getting the physical prize a better value ).
• We really want everyone, no matter their location, to be able to participate in our raffles and contests. However, any payment method other than Paypal or Amazon is not guarenteed to be supported, and if we send funds and they are irredeemable by you for some reason, we can't try a different route. Digital prize Redemptions not through Paypal or Amazon are at your own risk.

F.A.Q

Q: I won something! What do I do?
A: Please email admin@alphacoders.com and we will work with you to redeem your prize

Q: I won, but none of the options listed above will work for me.
A: We can't guarantee that we will be able to find a solution for you to redeem your prize. However, we will work with you, and prizes do not expire. Please let us know the top 2 ways you could receive the prize, and we will see if they will work on our end.

Q: I won, how long will it take for you to send me my prize?
A: It takes up to two weeks for us to process your prize redemption once we have all the information from you. Please do not email us asking about when it will be sent unless it's been over two weeks since we confirmed we had enough information to send you your prize. Most prizes go out much sooner than this, but if we are having an especially busy week or two prize redemptions can be put on the back burner for a tiny bit.

Hello everyone!

We recently implemented captions across most of Alpha Coders. So for the month of January we are doing a special raffle for captions!

Captions are a lot like names, but you have more room to go outside of the box. You can think of a clever name for the image, or describe it. We have two voting options for captions - accurate or funny - so you can submit captions that either accurately describe the image, or even make a clever joke about the image!

Let me know if you have any questions!

David West
Alpha Coders

Hey everyone!

Today we have put in a new consent framework for users of the EU. It's our largest attempt to-date to be GDPR compliant. It's a little annoying. Sorry.

If you aren't in the EU, you shouldn't see anything!

Google is requiring we step up our GDPR compliance game, and just disabling personalized for EU users isn't enough.

Quite a few years later - I don't use the Keurig machine nearly as much. I buy coffee beans, grind them right before use, and generally will use an Aeropress😃

But Keurigs are still amazing for being so fast.

I have started to delve into cold brew a little. I have a cold brew filter that fits in a standard masonry jar, and that's pretty neat for the summer days.

This thread should provide some clarity on duplicate rules at Alpha Coders. Duplicate rules vary.

So, lets start with the easy one:

Duplicates on Image Abyss:

• Please do not submit exact copies of the same image multiple times

Easy enough! Now, with the rest of Alpha Coders, it's a bit more complicated. Why? So much of the value of Alpha Coders is the curation that comes along with all of our community's effort. When someone wants a desktop background on their computer - it's really important that they get an image that looks good at the image's full size. When someone wants art, or an avatar, they don't want to see the same option multiple times.

Duplicates on Alpha Coders:

• We want to always present the user with the best version of an image available. Other versions are moved or removed.
• A blurrier, or lower quality image will always be considered an inferior version, even if it is larger.
• If two images are of the same, or a very similar image quality and size, the image that has been on Alpha Coders longer will be kept.
• In most cases, if your image is chosen as the inferior version, it will be moved to Image Abyss. In the case that you submitted BOTH of the images being compared, the inferior version will be deleted.
• We try to be lenient when it comes to multiple versions of an image. However, excessive versions that are merely color shifts or hue shifts will mean that some get moved as duplicates. We are more lenient if it is author content.
• Mirrored images are considered duplicates.
• Website watermarks, and other marks that detract from the original image can make an image the inferior version
  • Please note that this is only for watermarks not associated with the author. If the original author put their own watermark on the piece, that is considered the original and best version.
  • Additionally, if the watermark is from another wallpaper/image hosting type of site, this version of an image could never be considered the best version of the image, and is not allowed on Wallpaper Abyss.

David West
Alpha Coders

Alpha Coders wants to keep artistic expression alive and free. To this end, we have a place for content that isn't family friendly, but serves an artistic purpose.

This place is Image Abyss!

If you are submitting content that does not meet the criteria of being family friendly, please submit it to Image Abyss.

The key thing to remember, is that this feature is for artistic expression.

There are still some rules for nudity on Image Abyss:

• Images cannot be porn
• Images cannot be based on, or derived from porn
• For photography: No nude photography, exposed genitalia, completely uncovered breasts/butts, or visible female nipples.
• Images should have artistic merit, and the artistic merit should outweigh the explicit merit
• If the image intent is clearly explicit, it may not be OK even if there is no outright nudity
• Never submit anything that remotely sexualizes underage people/characters/etc.

When considering whether a submission would be OK under our artistic nudity rules, determine if the image has artistic merit, and if that artistic merit is clear and/or exceeds the explicit merit.

• The more graphic an image is, the more artistic merit it would need. This general stipulation helps us keep away from porn.

Explicitness guidelines:

• Boobs are moderately explicit. Any genitalia is very explicit
• We consider actual photographs of real people to be more explicit than equivalent content that is drawn/generated, and at this time aren't allowing nude photography
• Image intent can make content more explicit

Artistic Merit guidelines

• Theme adds artistic merit ( fantasy, sci fi, etc )
• Image intent can add artistic merit
• Having an author/artist adds artistic merit

FAQ:

What does 'Images cannot be based on, or derived from porn' mean?:

This means that an image cannot be from a porn site, or part of a pornographic photoshoot or video. Even if the image is a headshot, any association with a pornographic site or photo/video set would be considered derived from porn. For Alpha Coders, we consider a site to be in the 'porn site' category if the main focus of the site is nudity or explicit imagery.

What if a butt/breast is covered by a hand or leg?

Generally, this would also not be OK. It would be considered nude photography, since it wasn't clothing covering anything.

Some examples:

A nude photograph:
Not OK.

A photo of a naked woman laying on the ground, with the butt cropped off
Not OK. While with an image like this, there may be no fully exposed breast/butt, it would still be considered nude photography.

A see through shirt on a woman
Not OK. No visible female nipples

Nude statues, artwork with historical value - things like these are always ok.

Nude drawing of a woman/man:
Generally OK as long as the image intent isn't obviously explicit

A bunch of naked anime women/men in a bed together:
Generally, the image intent would be considered explicit in cases like these, and the content would not be OK.

This is a newer feature at Alpha Coders, so please check back once in a while to see if we have added any rules about artistic nudity.

David West
Alpha Coders

In this post I want to be more clear about the family friendly rules at Alpha Coders, and what kinds of things make content not family friendly.

Please be aware that in this post there will be NOT FAMILY FRIENDLY examples for the purpose of being instructional

Family friendly content means nothing that could be considered provocative. This includes things like posing, or anything that is suggestive. This also means that an image can not be from, or associated with an adult source. Even if an image itself is not provocative, if it comes from an adult visual novel, or other adult source, it is not allowed.

Image intent matters. If an image presents as trying to be provocative, it's much more likely to violate our family friendly rules than an image that is not intenting to be provocative. 

I want to also explain why our family friendly rules are the way they are. Most people won't agree with our exact definition of family friendly; and that's ok! But it's important that we all understand what 'Alpha Coders family friendly' means.

Alpha Coders can stay alive because we have advertising on most of the content submitted here. People generally don't want to pay to download a wallpaper, so we need ads. However, we want good ads. Ads that don't give users malware. So that means a high quality ad network. That means that we have to be very careful to only show advertising on family friendly content.

Below are some examples:

Things that are never considered family friendly:

1. Panties
2. Nudity
3. Lingerie
4. Butts
5. Bras

Examples of things that are not family friendly that may confuse some users:

Any female presenting nipple, exposed or not. Example:

Breasts that are mostly largely exposed. Example:

Upskirt shots, even if the panties aren't visible. Example:

FAQ:

Q: I want to submit content that is not family friendly. What options do I have?

A: We allow artistic non-family friendly content on Image Abyss. We still have rules for this though. The basic idea is that an image still can not be from/associated with an adult source, and the image needs clear artistic merit. Read the full rules here.

Q: I don't agree that my content was marked not family friendly

A: This is pretty common. The moderator that made the decision will be happy to further explain if you PM them. In all likelyhood, the moderator probably shares your opinion, but understands the site rules, and works with them.

Please respond to this thread if you have additional questions.

David West
Alpha Coders

There were some nice indie updates/releases this month for me, and I'm catching up on one of the original titles released on the Nintendo Switch.

• Stardew Valley
• Kingom Two Crowns
• Fast RMX

What's everyone else playing this December? Has anything been surprising, either in how much you liked it, or how much you don't?

Kingdom Two Crowns was recently released, and it continues to be one of my favorite indie game series. The basic gameplay loop is really simple. Get coins, build up defenses, and hope they survive the night. The whole game is built up around that, and the simplicity is part of the beauty.

When I first saw the Greed ( The bad guys ), there was an immediate Spirited Away influence that could be seen. Spirited Away is one of my favorite movies, so the association doesn't hurt.

Looking at the roadmap for the game, it looks like it's going to be a solid indie purchase.