Aarin-tan; possible site mascot?

[GenericWit]

The thing with a contest would be... we'd need aarin or another admin to point us in the right direction of "if this one won, it'd be the mascot" or "if this one won, it still couldn't be the mascot because it's not representative of the site" or something like that. That being said, I wouldn't mind actually hosting the contest. I've got the time now that summer's here.

[Ferus37]

I am all for having a mascot. It would be fun!

I am wondering about the contest though.
Would the artists participating in the contest get free reigns about what to make, or would they have to go after a theme or specifications?

I mean, if the forum members go together to decide what they would like to see in a mascot, it would be easier to do the art contest afterwards. It's easier to pick winners that are, for example; "grumpy bishie in bunny suit" than picking a winner from a host of very different mascots. Am I making sense to anyone but myself?

Maybe have a contest to decide what we should have as mascot first?
Just a suggestion.

Oh, and I saw a lot of people mention Heise, and kinda wondered why no one's mentioned Feimo. Feimo did do the art on the Dark Fantasy banner. I do adore Heise, but I adore Feimo too. They're both awesome artists!

[GenericWit]

Well, I'd say it's not so much as what the forum members want as what's best representative of the site, and imo, that decision should be left to admins and a group of people they select if they back the idea.

[tightgrip]

I just read all the posts and at the same time thought the mascot could be an animal, maybe..? Drawn in a somewhat realistic way, like Heise's.
So here's what I think might be OK:

1- wolf
2- rabbit
3- wolf and rabbit drawn in a yin-yang symbol, not too close
4- wolf and rabbit drawn back to back, again not too close

Sorry if it's stupid, my imagination always runs wild..!

[marukusanagi]

Uuuum... I don't know, really. A have a sort of fetish my neko guys... but a nice sd could do it? I don't know, I really don't think that hte site could need a mascot

[Ferus37]

Well, I'd say it's not so much as what the forum members want as what's best representative of the site, and imo, that decision should be left to admins and a group of people they select if they back the idea.

I'll admit it was a poorly worded post. I did an edit in the middle there that kinda warped what I was meaning to say. (I wasn't really paying attention to what I was doing...)

Any decision that regards the forum as a whole is indeed the choice of the admins, and I most certainly agree that it should be like that.
That said, I don't think it would be a bad thing to get some opinions or ideas from regular members, because regardless of what the forum is meant to be, it is ultimately what the members experience.
So, though the choice should be the admins' I do think some of the input could come from members.

The point I was really trying to make was that I think we should decide what the mascot should be before we call in any artists to make one. First decide what best represents the forum, and then decide which representation of that is the better one.

I suggested a contest simply because it is a potentially less messy way of getting suggestions. No arguing over which suggestion is better or worse (hopefully). Just entries that one or more judges evaluate. Kind of like they do with the cards. (You know, members post a heap of pictures and the admins choose which ones they want to use for new cards.)

[tightgrip]

@Ferus37: it might be better this way, indeed.

OK... I just had another idea popping and... aaahh, sorry, it just seems interesting to me and so... here goes:

Two intertwined hands.

Not a mascot though...

[kakashi0226]

Well, I doubt adding a mascot to the site would be harmful to it. But when all's been said and done, it's really up to the admin's to decide whether or not to have a mascot. But, still I'm all for it.
My suggestion is that we use a giant custom one of these guys ---->

They're popular, everyone seems to like them, and they really don't show a preference to any specific type of Yaoi/BL. Also, we don't necessarily need a mascot, it could be a symbol or even a saying/motto.

[Schiz]

Well, I doubt adding a mascot to the site would be harmful to it. But when all's been said and done, it's really up to the admin's to decide whether or not to have a mascot. But, still I'm all for it.
My suggestion is that we use a giant custom one of these guys ---->

They're popular, everyone seems to like them, and they really don't show a preference to any specific type of Yaoi/BL. Also, we don't necessarily need a mascot, it could be a symbol or even a saying/motto.

I personally think that those would make me go /puke every time I open the page, since I have a rather strong dislike for them
However, it should be possible to like... disable the mascot if you don't like it. Hence there won't be any issues, if someone doesn't like it, then just disable it :P

Considering that BL is such a huge genre in the end, full of different stuff and different kind of fans, I don't think a mascot would be all that great, because it might limit the forum to some fans only, and driving others away.
Not everyone is here for the "hot" bishies (who actually look like females for most part imo. Including Heise-art. To me, it yells "female".) We have bara-fans as well. And those who just like their men manly.
People also have a different definition of cute. If you choose something like Hibaris bird or JR's teddy, some might run away trying not to puke.
Shota is definitely no-no, since in the end, it has so many haters as well.

So the point was.. You get a mascot, and it will define what kind of forum is this, and for what kind of fans. It would be really hard, if not impossible, to find a mascot that would please all BL-fans.

On this I totally agree, and also I do think that the banners on top more or less function as our mascots already, sooo I think it would be a waste of mod/admin time.



Another suggestion is that there would be some un-official mascot, something that the members chose in some contest or poll, that would be in some sticky or something, or even in some sort of gallery, that way you'd have a mascot, and people who are against the idea wouldn't need to care about it :P

[icyburn]

hi guys^^
this discussion seems to be quite active... so i thought i would may be helpfull to summarize our thoughts and get an overview of user's opinion...
so referring to this i just started a poll for this topic...
if you want... you can vote here...

have a nice day