Dear Moderators

[swfrooster]

I have a few questions that have been nagging at me for sometime now, so I figured I'd ask the experts. If I find a fake and lets say it is a little blurry and I sharpen it up, is that considered an "upgrade"? I also recieved some advice about not cropping another fakers work, yet I have found fakes that had things cropped out to allow it to be posted. If I for example crop out a penis to make a fake postable and give credit by saying I modified a fake originally done by "xyz", is that wrong. I know the principle of not altering another artists work, however in my "meaningless" opinion, the faker altered two artists works to create the fake in the first place. Lastly, on duplicate posts. I make every effort to try and not post a duplicate fake, however I must admit that it gets very frustrating trying to remember what has been posted over say 14 or more pages. I freely accept and deserve the "scolding" you hand out when it happens, I just ask that you try to remember that the majority of us are making an effort to double check our additions. If you think back, most of you have probably messed up once or twice. You Moderators do a Magnificant job at running this site, and I take my hat of to each and every one of you. I just am trying to learn the ins and outs of collecting, even though I have been since 1990. Thank you all for your hard work and for taking the time to read this and set me straight.

[echoes]

#1. don't sharpen fakes or modify images that way. most fakes are saved in JPEG format. JPEG format is an ancient lossy format. the more it is edited &amp saved the worse quality it gets, even with the best possible settings. its like recording an audio cassette or VHS tape over &amp over. quality is lost over each consecutive generation. (see here for a description of lossy vs lossless:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lossy_c...ersus_lossless
http://www.maximumcompression.com/lossless_vs_lossy.php)

#2. as far as cropping, do not crop others work and post it. fakers are free to crop their own work to post here to comply with the no hardcore rule. (rules have changed from time-to-time, so keep the date in mind when pointing to old examples).

#3. yes we all have messed up before. however, assuming that the "majority of members" check for duplicates is kind of a blanket statement. i would say most medium to long term members fulfill their responsibility to check for dupes. however, most members other than us mods don't have any idea how many new members do not check for dupes. the percentage boggles the mind.

[Turtle]

Not having spent much time in the fakes section, I think one of the mods who frequent that section would be best placed to answer this question.
As for us mods making mistakes, I usually mess up most days. But my fellow mods are pretty good at pulling me up on them.
We tend not to give out a warning for posting a duplicate picture. We just remove it and try and let the poster know.
Of course, repeated reposting by the same person, just shows that they're not making much effort to check the thread. And this may incur the wrath of many a mod.
None of your opinions are "meaningless", we welcome them all.

[echoes]

We tend not to give out a warning for posting a duplicate picture. We just remove it and try and let the poster know.

if i can tell that a member doesn't speak english or was having problems, i will let a dupe first post fly. however, i find a lot of the time that i am able to determine the situation that members are just plain lazy in not checking for dupes before posting. it is not only lazy for that reason, it is lazy because the member did not read the rules. in these cases, i do issue warnings.

[butler bill]

We appreciate the effort of some members when it comes to posting and cut them some slack when they make an error.
Believe it or not, we make errors too.
The only people who don't are those who don't post.
That said, it is good to make the effort to check the lines before you post.

[spike70]

Believe it or not, we make errors too.

I posted a dupe once

[echoes]

The only people who don't are those who don't post.

thats golden.

[Gazo]

The thing to remember is...the more you post the more likely you are to make a mistake.........I have many a time.

As for the fakes themselves.....fakes from cfake are banned for the same reason you enquired about.Those bastards crop fakirs work....add logo's that destroy the fake in general....resize the images.......and even in some cases they have members who deliberately cover the fakirs work with their own logo...trying to claim credit for others work.

all fakes must be posted in the original format.

As for fakirs themselves they do have the option to crop their OWN work.....to edit out the hardcore.....nobody else can do it for them

[swfrooster]

Thanks for taking the time to answer my questions. I feel a little more confident now that at least I have a better grasp of "fakers ettiquette"; for lack of a better word. You guys do a great job, and don't get the credit you deserve, so at least from me "Thank You" =D>