The New JediDefender - Have Any Suggestions?

[Angry Ewok]

[I Am Sith]

You never know what'll happen though.  I think if folks aren't causing a problem by their inactivity, then leave them be.  I remember when this idea floated through 'Scum and it started becoming a status thing about who had x number of posts in such and such a period of time.  I know that's not your intent Michael, but I think it can end up being perceived as such.

Another problem that would create is it would make catching trolls and spammers more difficult. When someone signs up we are able to see if they have the same IP address as anyone who has posted here before.  A lot of times we'll delete spammers posts, or move them to our super secret section where they are looked after by top men, so they may only have 0 or 1 posts. If we were to delete these accounts it makes it much easier for them to register again under with a sock account and slip under the radar.

Good explanations guys, thanks.

[JediMoses]

Any chance the checklists can be updated this year?

[CHEWIE]

One suggestion I would like to make is that you guys link to other fan sites more often on the main page with news updates.  I know that quite a bit of other sites have no problem doing so for each other and for JD - I was sort of expecting to see this happen with the new ownership, but so far I haven't seen it.  Hopefully that's in the works though.

Bump.

[Jesse James]

A suggestion for you CHEWIE, is that you may want to actually read the story and see, those aren't all the same images the other sites have posted.   Especially when you linked the thumbs from our own front page, and at least ome is even different from any other sites right there if you look close.    Not to mention they're larger, more detailed, extra variety of a couple, and so on.  These weren't from the other sites (though I see a couple sites lifted the images directly for their forums I guess).

[Chris]

Chewie. Accuracy. Fact.

Which one doesn't belong?

 

[CHEWIE]

This is not the first time something like this has happened.  And for whatever reason, I'm personally receiving questions and outraged comments from certain individuals who wish to remain anonymous regarding this who were rather put off by it.  The argument is that it's easy to enlarge images and other fan sites were already giving Coreplanets their due with this latest new bit prior to the front page announcement here.  If your unnamed "friend" gave you the images including some new ones, great.  But a lot of people who saw Coreplanets receiving their due credit for breaking this news is going to see this as petty, whether it's justified or not.

Do as you please though, it's your reputation that can come into question with this sort of thing, but ultimately it's your decision.  All I'm doing is having the guts to be the one to raise my hand and say "That looks petty" and taking the opportunity in your public suggestions area to make you aware that some people are put off by it. 

[Chris]

No, it isn't easy to enlarge images and maintain the quality of the image.

Really, this website is questioning that JediDefender stole some of their images? Is this a joke? Are we supposed to care what some new, regional fansite who is WRONG thinks? Whoever is complaining needs to do just a little bit of research about JD and how SW news collecting sites works. That, and perhaps direct communication via e-mail to us instead of posting fanboy slander in their own forum.

I can assure you, our reputation is most certainly not on the line with this one.

[CHEWIE]

No, it isn't easy to enlarge images and maintain the quality of the image.

Really, this website is questioning that JediDefender stole some of their images? Is this a joke? Are we supposed to care what some new, regional fansite who is WRONG thinks? Whoever is complaining needs to do just a little bit of research about JD and how SW news collecting sites works. That, and perhaps direct communication via e-mail to us instead of posting fanboy slander in their own forum.

I can assure you, our reputation is most certainly not on the line with this one.

That's actually rather easy with these ones Chris...  I just did it from one of the Coreplanets pics, which was simple. 

Regardless though, if you don't care what other collectors think, that's fine and some may perceive that as to how you feel about the Star Wars community outside of JD.  CP isn't new though, they've been around for quite a while.  They had a server change a little while back which required new registrations, but they're anything but new.  It's a great community over there.

And when you were running things Chris, some JD members used to slander other sites publicly here quite a bit and you were one of the loudest ones for a time.  So your comment is a bit odd.  I don't see that sort of thing going on anymore though, so obviously that's better for everyone.  In regards to the originator of those pics, he hasn't said anything bad about JD to my knowledge.  He was just appreciative to the sites that did credit the original posting.  If JD had done something of the sort, nobody would have felt slighted.  Mistakes happen of course, but those are corrected when they are indeed mistakes.

Really though in the case of all these prototype images, I hope you realize that to some people it looks negligible.  Whether that was the intent or not is only known to you guys, so I'll take your word and if anyone else asks me about it, I'll simply direct them to this thread and they can make their own decision.

My point has been made.   

[Jesse James]

First, I figured you knew me long enough CHEWIE that you considered me honest.  This is my story, so since you seem to be the one questioning things, you're questioning myself and my integrity publicly, as I see it.  I don't care for that, and if you wish to talk petty, I feel that makes you look at least equally petty to be honest.  I never really question you publicly on anything...  I considered you someone I'd respect publicly if you posted something and I wouldn't question it, but I see I don't get equal treatment.  I'm disappointed to say the least.

Next, these images are NOT easy to enlarge without noticeable loss of detail...  I see clear differences between your image of BGJ38 and my original picture, which I assume you have some experience and see the differneces...  And I'm not even adept at Photoshop.  Maybe you respect Rob and Brad's opinions enough to believe them though?  If you do, feel free to ask ROb and Brad how completely inept I am at Photoshop and how I've asked questions from them just on how to watermark stuff.   If you think I know how to steal an enlarge images, well you're way off the mark, trust me, haha.    It also doesn't make sense that anyone's even arguing that point though, considering I have a few images in there not posted elsewhere (IE: The open cockpit on the Snowspeeder which was a personal request).

I'm disappointed I'm having to defend myself to you CHEWIE.  I guess I really expected different, I don't know.  I find that just disappointing is all I can say I guess.  I don't jump on your ass when I have posted things you've picked up on and posted at a later time or date on Yakface, have I?  Likewise I just gave credit to Jayson for his scoop on the new CW packaging the other day.  That was a great story I thought.

Lastly though I'd like to address the site that originally posted the images of the protos...  I don't know them as I don't know many collectors out in that area, but I hold no anymosity towards them either.  I'm sure they're all nice guys.  I didn't steal their images as you've made sure to imply (Probably one of the most disappointing things I had the joy of reading on an otherwise decent day), I was given these by a source is all, like I noted.  One I have known in the past for images like the Target TIE Fighter and more.  I don't know anyone at Coreplanets and meant no disrespect to them, but the fact is I had some of the same images (only larger) and a couple that weren't posted anywhere as well, so I ran our own story on the matter.  

If someone there feels wronged by me though, my apologies to them, but lots of sites wind up using images others have access to as well...  I think simply looking at the story in any capacity would've proven that I hadn't done that, but again my apologies to anyone who was offended, that wasn't the intent.  It also wasn't exactly posted at a news site either though, so I also felt no real need to credit someone for images I had myself, and which are different, and which I figured would be interesting separately due to their size and the additional pictures.

Like I said, a lot of this issue really disappointed me because I get along with pretty much everyone on staff at other sites that I can think of.  I've had some snide things said about me by others I used to consider friends here and there, but largely it's never been an issue with me.  I don't have enemies, or at least I didn't think I did, and so now I'm a little wiser I guess.

EDIT:  I'll also add that anyone who's fuming to you in private over Jedi Defender is free to email Paul or other site administration on the matter.  Currently Paul's kicking up his feet on vacation I believe, but I'm sure he's interested in what people have to say rather than them remaining silently angry.  Maybe everyone considers me a heartless bastard, but at least Paul's a nice guy and this is his site.

My apologies for spelling mistakes above, I'm typing from a less than comfortable terminal right now as I'm not home at the moment.  I think I'm missing more mistakes than I'm seeing too.

[Ryan]

That's actually rather easy with these ones Chris...  I just did it from one of the Coreplanets pics, which was simple.  

Really Justin? C'mon man don't use that as an example. Our version and their version were close to the same size so of course it is easy. Even with your edit you can still see some pixelation. You picked the smallest picture where the difference is hardly noticeable. Try using a better picture. (and let's even pretend for a second that we don't have any of those extra photos.) Take the A-Wing for example.

Here is CP's version:

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b59/bear78/IMG_0446a.jpg

Here is our high-res version (which is close to three times the size of the CP version):

http://www.jedidefender.com/news/images/1-08/10Hasbro_AWingProto1Loose_Full.jpg

And lastly here is the enlarged CP version:

http://www.jedidefender.com/yabbse/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=19222.0;attach=4641;image

Notice how it looks like utter **** and nothing like our image? I can vouch for Jesse's rudimentary Photoshop skills. I mean no offense to Jesse here, but he definitely isn't capable of doing something like that. And more importantly he is not the kind of guy who would do something dishonest like that. Aside from Jesse, there is no way that one of us who know Photoshop here would have the time (especially not on a Friday night) or the desire to attempt to drastically resize and sharpen that many pictures. And even IF we did, there's no way we could get them to be that clear. We aren't out to steal credit or people's images or anything malicious like that. Jesse just happened to get his pictures right after they found theirs. That kind of thing happens all the time, both in this hobby and in the real world.

I think Jesse said it nicely already, but I'm hurt too that you'd accuse him of this Justin. You do enough work in Photoshop with all of your photo novel work that you should absolutely know how hard it is to make images bigger and retain the same clarity. And I frankly think it is borderline dishonest on your part to suggest that we did just that. Especially considering that Jesse has some images that Core Planets doesn't. It seems like you didn't even look at our story Justin, rather you just saw thumbnails and for whatever reason you assumed we stole them.

[Nicklab]

I'd like to chime in from a reporting standpoint.  I've reported for 2 collecting sites over the past 8+ years so I've got some background where I feel comfortable chiming in here.  The major point of consideration in this instance appears to be SOURCING.  A reporter's work is only as good as the sources they're able to tap.  And in this case it seems that there is the possibility that both Jesse and Bear78 (?) may have had a similar source, if not the exact same source.  That source may have been able to provide images of different sizes to both outlets.  All parties involved should keep that in mind.  Was there any agreement of exclusivity with this source and any news outlet?

However, given the sensitive nature of these sources it may not be possible to publicly source these images.  This is a compromise that has to be made by a reporter when it comes to weighing the value of the content (images in this case) against the risk of compromising a source.  This is also where integrity comes into play, because the agreement to respect that source's need for anonymity may be to protect the source for any of a number of reasons.  Including the need to protect someone's job.

In my opinion, the only questions that should probably be asked about this JD article compared with the Coreplanets should be from the person who reported this for CP and their source.  Or this could have been dealt with in a polite fashion by an email exchange between the Coreplanets person and Jesse.  

[Rob]

Next, these images are NOT easy to enlarge without noticeable loss of detail...  I see clear differences between your image of BGJ38 and my original picture, which I assume you have some experience and see the differneces...  And I'm not even adept at Photoshop.  Maybe you respect Rob and Brad's opinions enough to believe them though?  If you do, feel free to ask ROb and Brad how completely inept I am at Photoshop and how I've asked questions from them just on how to watermark stuff.  

I could paint Justin's head onto Mini-me's body and you'd never be able to tell the difference.  What I can't do, is significantly enlarge a raster image without losing detail in proportion to the degree of enlargement - that's just how it works.

[JediJman]

I'm always shocked at the amount of discussion that goes on from time to time about who is sourcing from where and making sure the right people get credit.  I guess if I was working my tail off to provide pics and someone used them as their own, maybe I'd feel differently, but I don't think I'm alone in throwing a gigantic Who Cares!? 

Jayson puts in countless hours of photography and postings over at Yakface.  His pics are always getting ripped off, but I can't recal a single time where he's ever complained about it.  If anything, he gets crap from other people when they've both acquired pictures from the same source. If YOU photograph it and someone else uses it, then go ahead and gripe and I'll back you up.  But if you copied a pic from Ebay or wherever and another site does the same, don't gripe how someone didn't give YOU credit.  That's ridiculous.

And in this particular case, I'd either just ignore complaints and be done with it, or if it really means that much to you then list your source.  If you care about those who care about stuff like this, then why not just put "Source: _________" on the photos and be done with it?

Now back to the actual topic of the thread - my suggestion for the "New" JediDefender is for Jesse to get a ******* new avatar.  That bug eyed dude creeps me out every time I come here.

[CHEWIE]

Jesse, since you knew that CP had posted these first, I think a simple nod somewhere to CP for sharing this information with the community well before JD did would have been appropriate and easily avoided any and all confusion.  Moving forward, my suggestion is that in the future if a situation like this arises again, just give the other site their due credit for breaking the news first.  Ignore that if you want to, I guess.  I was pleasantly surprised to see even RS do that today, even though these images are all over their forums now, Curto still linked to CP.

But this here is a suggestions thread for your forum members to post things out in the open.  So let me be crystal clear here - I don't think that there was so much of a feeling that anyone stole images from CP so much as dismissing them by not giving them due credit to be the first source to reveal them.   I would not have shown any sort of image comparison if not for Chris saying it's not possible.  In certain cases it is, which is all that image was.  And like I said, I'm taking your word for this Jesse so please don't feel offended.  I was responding to Chris on that one.  And other than rooting for the Steelers, I don't consider you a bastard.  

I don't think I'm alone in throwing a gigantic Who Cares!?  

Maybe that's the best approach to take.  I would guess that most collectors don't care, or even know about this discussion.