MONEY AND PICTURES -- PLEASE READ THIS
1. TakaWiki Maintenance Fund
Much as I dislike talking about money, I'd be remiss if I failed to thank, once again, everyone who has made a contribution, whether great or small, to the TakaWiki Maintenance Fund. Net donations so far (i.e. minus PayPal fees) total $152.96. This is where it has gone:
Registration of takarazuka-revue.info for 5 years, with privacy ~ $58
One year of web hosting (with bandwidth slightly more than sufficient to our requirements, just in case) ~ $71
We've also saved $24 towards next year's hosting fees, which are expected to be $71 again. This leaves us $48 short of the point at which I'll remove the donate page.
If you feel this site has enriched your life as a Takarazuka fan — please consider making a small donation. A few dollars each from only ten of TakaWiki's 500+ registered users would see us through till 2010! I don't know about you, but I certainly plan still to be here then, and with your help, TakaWiki can be too.
2. New Upload Policy
It will have occurred to the observant among you that as our bandwidth increased, so has our available disc space — and yet image uploads still have not been re-opened. The question here is not "What can we upload?" but "What should we upload?"
Although Japanese law and custom permits the posting on websites of images from personal collections, most Japanese fans don't do it, or do it a lot less than us. We have by far the most image-intensive, copyright-infringing Takarazuka website in existence. We didn't set out to make it that way — it just grew, and grew, and grew...
The feeling among many serious Western fans (which, these days, is synonymous with "many serious TakaWiki users"!) is that we should consider carefully what we make available on the internet, and how publicly. TakaWiki's position is particularly delicate, as it has become increasingly well-known (we have visitors from over twenty countries, and we get plenty of referrals from Google.co.jp), and even our "Members Only" pages can be accessed after a quick registration process.
We have said all along that if we hear any complaints from Hankyu's lawyers, we'll comply with whatever they request without a murmur. But, obviously, we'd prefer to reduce the chances of that happening.
To that end, the "Downloads", "Wallpapers", "Image Galleries", and certain other bits of the wiki were not restored with the rest of it. Our new policy regarding uploads is as follows:
If you have something you want to add to the wiki but you're not absolutely certain whether it is prohibited, please write to me and ask. The Contact Webmistress link at the top of the sidebar on the left is fully functional and waiting to be used.
As for the pictures already on the wiki which contravene these regulations (I've uploaded a few myself, from time to time!): we editors shall be removing and/or resizing them as and when we see them. The process will be ongoing, but I think we've all recently found the truth of the adage that many hands make light work. ;)
Thank you for your attention and your co-operation, everyone.
Much as I dislike talking about money, I'd be remiss if I failed to thank, once again, everyone who has made a contribution, whether great or small, to the TakaWiki Maintenance Fund. Net donations so far (i.e. minus PayPal fees) total $152.96. This is where it has gone:
Registration of takarazuka-revue.info for 5 years, with privacy ~ $58
One year of web hosting (with bandwidth slightly more than sufficient to our requirements, just in case) ~ $71
We've also saved $24 towards next year's hosting fees, which are expected to be $71 again. This leaves us $48 short of the point at which I'll remove the donate page.
If you feel this site has enriched your life as a Takarazuka fan — please consider making a small donation. A few dollars each from only ten of TakaWiki's 500+ registered users would see us through till 2010! I don't know about you, but I certainly plan still to be here then, and with your help, TakaWiki can be too.
2. New Upload Policy
It will have occurred to the observant among you that as our bandwidth increased, so has our available disc space — and yet image uploads still have not been re-opened. The question here is not "What can we upload?" but "What should we upload?"
Although Japanese law and custom permits the posting on websites of images from personal collections, most Japanese fans don't do it, or do it a lot less than us. We have by far the most image-intensive, copyright-infringing Takarazuka website in existence. We didn't set out to make it that way — it just grew, and grew, and grew...
The feeling among many serious Western fans (which, these days, is synonymous with "many serious TakaWiki users"!) is that we should consider carefully what we make available on the internet, and how publicly. TakaWiki's position is particularly delicate, as it has become increasingly well-known (we have visitors from over twenty countries, and we get plenty of referrals from Google.co.jp), and even our "Members Only" pages can be accessed after a quick registration process.
We have said all along that if we hear any complaints from Hankyu's lawyers, we'll comply with whatever they request without a murmur. But, obviously, we'd prefer to reduce the chances of that happening.
To that end, the "Downloads", "Wallpapers", "Image Galleries", and certain other bits of the wiki were not restored with the rest of it. Our new policy regarding uploads is as follows:
- No videos.
- No mp3s.
- No pictures larger than 450x450 pixels, and the vast majority smaller (see chart).
- No pictures, of whatever size, that are hosted on other sites may be embedded in wiki pages.
- All pictures — we cannot stress this enough — all pictures must be scans or photographs from your own personal Takarazuka collection.
If you have something you want to add to the wiki but you're not absolutely certain whether it is prohibited, please write to me and ask. The Contact Webmistress link at the top of the sidebar on the left is fully functional and waiting to be used.
As for the pictures already on the wiki which contravene these regulations (I've uploaded a few myself, from time to time!): we editors shall be removing and/or resizing them as and when we see them. The process will be ongoing, but I think we've all recently found the truth of the adage that many hands make light work. ;)
Thank you for your attention and your co-operation, everyone.