PLEASE READ BEFORE POSTING: A Helpful Guide for Making Requests.

[Tomato]

So I've been here a long time, and I've noticed some of the same problems crop up over and over, many of which result in requests not getting filled, people getting frustrated, and in extreme cases full-blown meltdowns involving some of the senior members. As such, here's a list of tips and tricks that will help you newer members navigate the forum better, and make other members more inclined to fulfill requests.

Be Polite- Seriously, you would not believe how important this can be. There are a ton of really nice, helpful people on this board, and treating those people with respect can be instrumental in seeing your requests filled. To clarify though, I'm not saying treat them as gods ascending from the heavens either (I've seen that happen too, sadly)... All I'm saying is that if someone is taking time out of their day to help you, they should have your respect. Plus, a thank you every so often wouldn't hurt.

Don't Flood the Boards- It doesn't matter if you've got a million requests or even one request that you're afraid no one saw: Don't make more threads than are necessary. Every random thread you make means someone else's thread gets bumped down to page 2. If you've got a whole bunch of requests, place them all in a single thread... make a checklist too, with the requests people have filled crossed out so other people know what you're still missing.

Do a Quick Search First- Chances are, if you're looking for something like Wolverine's classic costume, someone's done it already. And while I don't expect anyone to search every thread on here, doing a quick search before posting might help you fill a request faster than waiting for someone to see the thread. Also, if a thread says something like "release of Power Rangers meshes," read the thread before you ask for a link. Even if the original link is dead, chances are someone probably posted a new one in the thread later on.

If Someone Fills a Request, Don't Whine- Let's face it, not every character you want is going to be made by artists like Courtnal6 and Afghanant. A majority of characters, especially obscure ones, may have been made by guys who aren't as well known, but wanted to see the character in the game. And while it's ok to ask if there are multiple versions of a character, don't disrespect the hard work of someone else unless you're willing to make a version yourself.

If You See a Request You Can Help With, Give Back- For example, say 2 months ago you asked for a Blue-cowl-Batsignal-logo Batman skin, and someone pointed you out to one. If someone else comes along today and requests the same thing, you can now help him out. Most of the people helping out now only know what they know because they were in the same boat you're in.

Filling Requests Takes Time- We all have outside lives which take priority over FF, so don't panic if a request doesn't get noticed right away. Don't turn around and spam the board or people's inbox's for help, that won't make people help you.

Provide Your Own Images- As stated above, we do have lives. No one is going to take the time to google a specific outfit of an obscure character, even if he is your favorite character ever. Additionally, providing images might make people who have no attachment to the character more likely to skin them. I've seen people create skins for characters that don't even exist because they saw a cool costume on DeviantArt.

or  -- Specify which game your request is for, some skinners and meshers work exclusively in FFvt3R unless otherwise requested.

Don't Air Dirty Laundry- Just because someone isn't willing to help you, don't badmouth them to the people who are. Again, we all have real lives, and we may not be able to help you in every single instance. Hell, many members flat out do not take on requests because they've been burned by it so much in the past.

[spydermann93]

Thanks for adding this, Tomato! This was desperately (ok, maybe not "desperately" ) needed

Now, here's to hoping that people read this

[crimsonquill]

Thanks for making this post, Tomato! 

Now we can only hope that new folks will actually read this and make it their guidelines.

- CQ

[stumpy]

Very nice post, Tomato. Stickied. :-)

[Tomato]

Added in a few suggestions Cyber made via PM.

I won't be locking this thread anytime soon, so if anyone has any suggestions, please either PM more or post them in the thread. I should add that these are NOT forum rules... you won't be banned if, say, you made a request thread 3 months ago and you have a new request you want to fill now, for instance. That said, I know many senior members won't even respond to requests if they don't follow common courtesy, so it would be in everyone's best interest to keep to these guidelines as much as possible.

[Cyber Burn]

I'm going to come off as a jerk here, so I'm going to apologize in advance. There are two issues, when reading Requests, that have really come to bug me.

The first, is partial pictures of whatever Character you are Requesting. If I can't see what you want, then I can't fill your Request unless I waste however much time searching for a decent picture.

For example:

Bad Picture:    Good Picture:

The second, is a lack of information about the Character. Many times, we may be unfamiliar with the Characters you are Requesting, so the more information you provide, the more accurate the Skope or Skin that can be created. I mention this because, there have been more than a few times that I have created Skopes and/or Skins to fill Requests based off of a Picture of a Character, only to have the person who made the Request get upset because the Animations did not match the Character. If you want a certain Power Set for the Character that you are Requesting, please specify that in your initial Request.

Again, I apologize for coming across as a jerk, but after having been burned multiple times when trying to fill Requests, I find myself a bit more hesitant when interacting with people who are making Requests now.

[daglob]

Something else you might do is, if needed, supply an e-mail address to send it to. I believe there are some who don't want to give an e-mail address, but for that I have a suggestion: get another address. I have four, one for Da Glob, one for Lone Space Ranger, a personal "official" address with a boring username, and an address at Bellsouth.net that I have never set up. All except for the Bellsouth address are free, and while I don't know how easy it is to get a free e-mail address these days, I think there are still ways to get them.

Just as an example, I may post something like this:

I'm looking for Xal-Kor, The Human Cat (http://comicvine.gamespot.com/xal-kor/4005-73042/). Could someone please point me in his direction, or maybe send it to lonespaceranger@gmail.com? I would appreciate it.

If it is still posted on the net, someone will usually give me directions, but, in addition, I often (but not always) get one or two different version e-mailed to me. As I've said before, the people around here are very generous.

Added:

And remember, it doesn't hurt to thank the people who help you.

[Cyber Burn]

GMail is still Free. I recently helped a few of the Students I work with set up Accounts, because they need access to the various Apps.

[spydermann93]

I just use my yahoo mail account since I had to make one to get into those yahoo groups, anyways.

[Tomato]

So I noticed the additions about that and... while I sympathize Daglob, I'm uncomfortable adding a blurb about "always include your email" since it's too easy to misinterpret. It's poor internet security... You should never EVER post your primary email on a public forum, because there are plenty of bots that are designed to do routine searches of boards for email addresses. The only reason I do it is because I know well enough to have multiple emails for that exact reason... the Hotmail one I post here gets spammed all the time anyway, so who cares.

Like it or not, the point of this guide is primarily for people who are newbies, to the internet as much as to FR. And while guys like you and me know better, the ones this guide is intended for likely do not. If I add "include your email" people will do exactly that, without even looking at any stipulations (IE: Replace @ with AT and . with DOT, only use a secondary email, etc.) Remember, the generation coming around now likely grew up with all their personal information on Facebook, with no concern over privacy or internet security. They won't take the time to take additional measures, even though they really should. ESPECIALLY given how often this board has been hacked.

Plus, there are some other reasons too. If someone's just asking for a model that's in yahoo group Renegademeshes_1006, I'm just going to link them to that yahoo group, meaning you're risking the email for no reason. Plus, even if they gave you the email address right away, it's still good manners to say "I'm sending this thing" so other members know it's been taken care of. Yes, being able to send the file and make the response post concurrently is more efficient, I just don't think it's worth the risk when you can just ask them to PM it to you.

That said, I *did* add a blurb about thanking people. I overlooked it before because I thought it was implicit in the "be polite and respectful" but sadly I suppose that isn't always the case.

[daglob]

I agree with everything you say. This is why I suggested that they include a secondary e-mail (note that I did not give the boring address). It would probably be better to include it only if asked. I often ask for an e-mail address to be sent in a  personal message. Of course, I'm assuming that the bots can't get into the PMs...

[Tomato]

Some probably can, but those are at least protected by some level of security. At that point, they'd likely just skip the middleman and break into the user account data and get all our emails at once.

Again, my issue with the secondary email is not that I disagree, it's that even if I put that in there, most users won't bother with it. They'll see "post a secondary email" and just post their normal one, since they can't be bothered to register a secondary account. Remember, most of the members we're talking about are preteens/early teenagers, who are already prone to making stupid decisions and ignoring helpful advice. And sadly, we're at a point where everyone is being specifically encouraged to use a singular email for everything... my computer even uses my email account to log in now, even though I wish it didn't.

[Cyber Burn]

There were multiple reasons behind my decision, but this is a big part of why I stopped sending files out via email, especially to those who I don't really know.

It's sad, but you really can't trust most people. They either give out your email address with out asking, or abuse the hell out of it, or give out Links or Files that they have been asked not to.

Really kinda depressing, you know?

[stumpy]

Having a throw-away email address (some ISPs will give you a temporary one on request) is useful for such purposes. It is also possible to post the relevant file on a free temporary file hosting service and PM the requester the URL.

PMs are relatively safe. If our database is hacked, the hacker will have easier access to email addresses without hunting through PMs. There is no such thing as a hack-proof system. Always assume any information you store online will be hacked. The bigger the database, the bigger target it will be for hackers. The worst tend to be government databases, but large private servers are routinely hacked. It's a "when, not if" situation. I don't know if our actual FR database has ever been hacked (as opposed to the web page or config files). But, as is always the case, the safe assumption is that it will be.

Another potential issue is that people is that people often use online contact lists and add people who email them to those online services without asking. Those lists may employ decet security and promise not to sell the info, but those promises are only as long-lasting as the company is. As soon as they are popular enough to be bought by some other company, any guarantee about not selling the info (or that the new owners will follow the same rules) is up in the air.