Quote by MostPreciousLittle
I think I requested this before, but is it possible to change the red background to black perhaps? It would be great to have a different color!!!
Which red background are you referring to?
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Liz
Over 90 days ago
Moderator
Lesbian Female, 32
0 miles · England
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Scarlet Seductress
Quote by sprite
didn't you just get finished saying gimp sucked? now i am suspect of your motives.
I think it falls short compared to some of the commercial alternatives, yeah, but I also said that it was okay for a freebie. Depends what you are going to use it for I suppose.
Sprite: *blank stare*
Okay, you got me. Wanted you to use Gimp so you'd struggle editing your photos, then you'd have to come to me for help and I could hustle you for sexual favours.
*hangs head in shame*
Scarlet Seductress
Quote by sprite
what about those of us with non-macs?
You could try some of these?
Free:
https://www.gimp.org
http://www.getpaint.net/index.html
https://krita.org/en/features/highlights/
Free Online:
https://pixlr.com/editor/
Subscription:
https://pixlr.com/desktop
Scarlet Seductress
Quote by seeker4
I know, but I've never found Gimp especially easy to use so I was wondering if this might be better in that regard.
Gimp doesn't come close. I found it unintuitive, very resource heavy, and lacking in several other areas. No CMYK support. It's not even optimised for retina displays.
Okay for a freebie but I'd avoid if you actually want to get into photo editing.
Scarlet Seductress
I get asked occasionally about affordable alternatives to Adobe Photoshop. Whilst there are a few which do a fair job, and even some free, open source options, there is only one I would consider a contender.
Affinity Photo is a fantastic photo editing app. I've been using it for a couple of weeks now and I'm very, very impressed. It incorporates all of the functionality you would expect from a high-end editing suite and even includes a few new features you won't find anywhere else.
The company also produce 'Affinity Designer' which is an alternative to Adobe Illustrator for vector art, and they are currently working on 'Affinity Publisher' which will be for professional publications.
Amazingly, the software only costs £39.99 with no subscription fees which I think is fantastic. The current version is 1.4, but 1.5 is coming this autumn with a load of new features and file support. A Windows version is also in the works - you can sign up for a notification if this interests you:
https://affinity.serif.com/en-gb/windows/
5 years in the making, Affinity Photo redefines the boundaries for professional photo editing software for the Mac. With a meticulous focus on workflow it offers sophisticated tools for enhancing, editing and retouching your images in an incredibly intuitive interface, with all the power and performance you need.
For my money, this is as close as you will get to Adobe Photoshop without splashing out £8.50 per month on a subscription.
Check it out here: https://affinity.serif.com/en-gb/photo/
Scarlet Seductress
Quote by Ping
Based on the discussion, and thank you everyone for your input, and even the push back, I would like to offer a few suggestions for competition improvements.
1 - This goes without saying. The story judges judge. It doesn't need to be explicit what criteria they use as each will have their own and it's a collaborative decision.
2 - I don't understand what you wrote here.
3 - What does the total number of views have to do with anything? It's not a deciding factor at all.
4 - The stories still need to go through the verification process. That may require the returning of it to the author and/or communication with the author about an element of it prior to approval. Therefore the moderating team need to know who wrote it.
Once the competition entry is published, many authors like to advertise their work with promotional profile page posts, forum signatures, PM's to friends, etc. With this in mind, what would be the point of trying to anonymise these stories?
I think you just need to accept that it is what it is, and that there is nothing wrong with the way the competitions are run. You're really sucking all of the fun out of things.
Scarlet Seductress
Quote by Ping
For you to say that the way winners and finalists are chosen, "... is more than fair... ", implies you know something more about the process than most people on this site...
What makes a good story?
Readability
- Is the story easy to follow?
- Are the characters engaging?
- Did the author capture your attention all the way to the end?
Eroticism
- Is is sexual or sensual enough?
- Did the author make the most of the plotline's potential?
- Did they push any boundaries beyond the vanilla?
Originality
- Was it full of clichés? Did she suck his cock like a lollipop?
- Did the story offer you something you haven't read before?
- Was there an interesting plot twist or unexpected element?
Technical Precision
- Sentence structure
- Punctuation
- Grammar
- Paragraphing
- Tense
- Word choice
- Artistic adverb usage
Other considerations
- Adherence to the competition theme
- The intro 'shopping list' e.g. My name is Britney. I'm twenty-four years old, blonde, and have 36DD boobs...
- etc.
I'm not a competition judge - this is just common sense.
L x
Scarlet Seductress
Quote by overmykneenow
A good start and a decent indicator of what does and doesn't work
1. Don Draper and Charlie's Angel - bit dull (not necessarily a bad thing) but logo behind seems lost and unnecessary. Looks a bit like a re-brand for Islamic State
2. I don't like the watermark - the imagery is ok. I like the colour coding
3. Too busy, pointless branding, colour coding doesn't work any more.
4. Best of the lot. The female is better as it's representative of eroticism - the male is just a male though
We're going to see these a lot so simpler works better. Don't bother branding them - they're not going to be pinched and seeing the url 20 times on a page just looks weird.
On the broader scope - two avatars is certainly enough, unless of course you have plans to expand the options available for gender. Though I would suggest making a non-selectable gender neutral avatar used only for deleted accounts on the forum.
Thanks for your input, OMKN. In retrospect, I agree with most of what you are saying. Anyone who does any design work knows that it often takes several revisions of the same design to come up with something that works. Preliminary conceptions can vary from 'almost there' to 'what the fuck was I thinking?'. You very rarely hit it out of the park on the first try.
I think a more simplistic design would work best. I also love the idea of a neutral avatar to be used for the 'guest' account which posts of deleted members are assigned to. Good thinkin'.
What area of the male anatomy would you choose for design number four?
Scarlet Seductress
Unbelievable. She kills a Lush member and still makes mod of the month!
We all know that blunt force trauma was the result of a frying pan. You could see the 'Cast Iron - Made in U.S.A.' imprint in his head!
Admittedly she is just about the most awesome ball of bubbly fun ever and can rock the story queue like Ashleigh can rock a fitness instructor's world, but you've gotta draw a line somewhere. Right?
*sighs*
Congratulations, Sprite. xx
We all know that blunt force trauma was the result of a frying pan. You could see the 'Cast Iron - Made in U.S.A.' imprint in his head!
Admittedly she is just about the most awesome ball of bubbly fun ever and can rock the story queue like Ashleigh can rock a fitness instructor's world, but you've gotta draw a line somewhere. Right?
*sighs*
Congratulations, Sprite. xx
Scarlet Seductress
Gene Wilder, whose wild curls and startling blue eyes brought a frantic air to roles in the movies "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory," "Young Frankenstein" and "Blazing Saddles," has died at the age of 83, his family announced.
Wilder, whose best work came in collaborations with director-writer Mel Brooks and actor Richard Pryor, died at his home in Stamford, Connecticut, from complications of Alzheimer's disease, the family said in a statement.
The Telegraph
Scarlet Seductress
Quote by Regnadkcin
I had a TS9 but it died not long after I got it. Let me know how the Alibaba version works out.
It sounds okay. It has a bit of an unusual hiss that might just be something loose inside. I need to take the back off and take a look at the soldering to check. I'd say the old adage that you get what you pay for is true in this instance.
It doesn't sound as good as an Ibanez that I tried, but then it's about a tenth of the cost.
Scarlet Seductress
Quote by MrDarkMeat
And just because you have a private room does not exclude you from following the rules on topics that are forbidden to discuss.DWIXEdw7Iu8ZPo6z.....had to throw that in....(rofl)
That's true. Otherwise Sprite will fuck you up.
Seen her do it. Not pretty.
*shudders*
Scarlet Seductress
Quote by noll
It is only different if they explicitly state that it's theirs, not if they just copy the story without naming the author, as is the case with almost all pics here and elsewhere. If there's a difference then it's that in the case of images people probably assume it's not theirs because it's so common.
They copy the stories for site content in order to drive up traffic from search engines and earn ad revenue. It is theft with the specific intent of commercial gain. That's the difference.