Okay, first off, that título is a lie.

Based on the way things are going with the new club update feature so far, I thought we could use some guidelines. These are not official, they are merely suggestions on how to decide on a new icono o banner as a team. Only large clubes have the new suggestion options, so there are thousands of people there whose opinions count! (Not that smaller spots aren't valuable, tu guys rock just as hard.) The suggested steps for changing a club's look are the same up until Step 3 for both large clubes with the new encuesta feature, and smaller ones with user-run encuestas for change.

It's important to remember that fanpop is a community, and should do things as a group. Randomly starting a encuesta for a new icon, banner o background is rude to other club members. Making iconos and banners takes time, and the first options (likely made por the person who started the poll) are dado the unfair advantage of being there the longest. Early voters aren't likely to check back in every día to see if new options have been added. Following these steps will help ensure that everyone has a fair chance to participate and that all options are dado the same amount of consideration. (It'll also keep tu from getting yelled at.) Now, let's get to it, eh?

Step 1: Ask the fans!
Make a encuesta to determine if the club even WANTS a new icon, banner o background.

I usually leave this encuesta up for a week, unless the results are overwhelmingly in favor of one option o another after a few days.

If the club votos no, try again in a few months. If the club votos yes, proceed to step 2.




Step 2: foros & Advertisements
Create a foros for suggestions from other users. link is a reciente example of a spot makeover that went smoothly, if you'd like to see how that goes.

I like to leave a suggestion foros open for a week o two. If it's a small spot with just a few participants, just a week will probably do. Users can always ask for más time on submission foros I start. You'll need to include the dimensions of the icono and banner in your foros post. iconos are square and 100x100 pixels o larger. Banners are 800x100 pixels, o a size that scales down to that. (1600x200, 2400x300, etc.) This is important, because imágenes that are not those dimensions will be stretched when uploaded to the spot, and that ain't pretty.





It's also a good idea to anunciarse the suggestions forum, in case someone missed the initial poll. The most effective ways to do that are enlaces and polls, but adding a muro post too wouldn't hurt. enlaces are probably the best way, because adding enlaces to a club bumps it to the front of the mosaics on user profiles. This lets users know that something is going on in a club even if they've overlooked it in their updates, especially for inactive spots.








Step 3: Voting & Change
Once everyone has publicado their creations, this is where it can get a little tricky...

If you're voting in sets, make a graphic with all the options paired together. Then tu can create your encuesta and link to the image in the comments, so users can see it all at once and pick the set they like most. I've found that this is the fastest and simplest way, as it only requires one encuesta and it's very unlikely that the club will end up with a mismatched set. (I'm not quite sure how to accomplish this with the new voting feature for large clubes yet.)

If users didn't enviar their graphics as sets (or if you're running the contest in a large spot with the special polls), I prefer to vote for the banner first. It's larger, it took más work, and it's easier for users modify their iconos to work with the new banner instead of vice versa. After the new banner is determined (a week should be enough time if it's a small club, fanpop sets its own deadline for encuestas in large clubs), it's time to pick an icon. What I like to do for these is to pair each icono contender with the winning banner in one graphic, so users can see what each icono will look like with the new banner. Link to it in the comentarios of the icono poll. This doesn't guarantee a matching set, but it helps reduce the Clash of the Graphics that often happens when the icono and banner votos run simultaneously.

Unless the spot in need of a change doesn't have an icono o banner at all, tu should include the current ones in the polls.

The special encuestas for large clubes are monitored por fanpop, so tu don't need to do anything once those are over. If you're overseeing a change in a smaller spot without that options, a moderator will help tu with the change if tu ask nicely and provide enlaces to the suggestion foros and the winning polls. (link is my go-to Mod.)

Told tu the título was a lie.
As tu can see, there's a lot más to changing a club's look than just clicking a link and uploading an image. It takes a responsible user willing to put in the time and effort of organizing, advertising, making sure everyone is included and following the guidelines, and in the case of smaller spots, reporting the results to a moderator. If tu can't handle that, please leave the job of overseeing a spot change to someone who can. There's no shame in letting someone más experienced take the reins!