howto:contribute
Lurker to Contributor Transformation Guide
Lurked long enough and want to start posting something? If you have just made an account, it will be a week before you can post or upload. In the meantime, it would be a good idea to make sure you know the rules and content guidelines before submitting anything. This is a list of essential readings you are expected to have reviewed before your first submission.
Everything You Submit is a Contribution
We want you to get into the thinking that everything you do on Danbooru is a contribution, from the smallest comment and tag edit to the grandest of uploads and translations. Everything you do here should be about the content of the site and making it better.
How to Danbooru
These rules apply to every part of our site:
It would be good to know how Danbooru works:
- The Lurker Guide, if you haven't done so.
- Search cheatsheet
- DText cheatsheet
- Also look at Positive and Negative User Feedback that has been issued in the past. What did other users do to get their record?
Comments
Do you have something to say about a post that you have seen? Before posting a comment on any post, make sure you know:
- The Almighty How to Comment Guide
- Anti-spoiler Policy
- Your option to remove your own comments after they have been posted.
- The No bump option when posting follow-up comments. Your use of non-bumping is very much appreciated.
Forum
Before posting on the forum, make sure you understand that:
- The Forums are only for issues concerning content (like posts, and tags), Danbooru bugs and suggestions. Nothing personal should be posted. We are known to be violently allergic to content requests (especially to the "pls upload pics of x" kind).
- You have read the stickies: Rules (topic #4782), Civility in the forum (topic #6690), Useful threads index (topic #8235).
Pools
Do you think some posts you have been browsing should be in a pool? Before creating any pools, or making any changes to existing pools, make sure you know:
- Our Pool Guidelines
- The Pointless Pools Forum (topic #8282), where pools are reported for deletion. Reading the posts in there will give you an idea of how not to create a pool.
- Examples of good use for pools: 4koma Manga Series (pool #678), Untaggable Theme (pool #1886)
You would also want to read up about:
- The Perfect Pools Purge (topic #9823), on the pitfalls of creating a pool based on a Post's quality.
- A discussion on Pools That Should Be Tags (topic #8956).
Tags
Want to help out with adding tags to posts? You are about to take part in one of Danbooru's most important efforts. Therefore you should know the tagging standards we expect from you.
- Study some examples of good tagging by looking at high-scoring posts (search: score:>50) and some not-so-good tagging (search: tagme).
- When browsing around, be observant to the tags!
- Read the Tagging Guidelines. Know the guidelines for creating new tags.
- Study the Tag Groups. Use existing tags as much as possible.
- Study the Tag Checklist, our measure of tagging quality on Danbooru.
- Learn how to use the Tag Search
Also know the process of creating new tags:
- Only create new tags when absolutely necessary, and after exhausting all sources for tags.
- Creating Copyright Tags
- Creating Character Tags
- Using Qualifiers (those things in the parentheses).
Rating
Please help out by making sure that all posts are properly rated. This is required for Safebooru to work properly.
- Read the Rating Guidelines for rating sexual content.
- Not all nudity is considered sexual. The Artistic Nude (pool #2709) and Casual Nudity (pool #1536) pools have many examples. Do you know how to filter images by rating within a pool? (see the Lurker Guide (section "Pools") or the Search Cheatsheet.
- Know the rating: metatag, see the Search Cheatsheet
- Do you know that all posts that are Rated Safe are viewable on Safebooru?
- Extreme violence or depictions of body mutilations where must be tagged with the guro tag?
Just to get into the right kind of thinking:
- Posts with a Safe Rating (rating:s) would be things you will be comfortable viewing in art class in high school.
- Safebooru only downloads Posts with a rating:s. Improper rating may cause Safebooru to show posts not wanted there.
Posts (Uploading)
Posts are the blood and bone of Danbooru. We pride ourselves for having the best picture collection on the internet, and we expect you to maintain the standard. Before you upload anything, we would like you to:
- Respect copyright and avoid uploading artwork from Banned Artists.
- Know the upload Moderation Process
- Review the Moderator Queue
- Review the list of Flagged Posts
Know what we want:
- High-quality Japanese anime-style art. For non-Japanese artists, make sure that the artwork is easily mistaken for that of a Japanese artist.
- Browse the Hot (order:rank) and Popular listings for posts often.
- Look at high-scoring posts (score:>25). What makes a post score?
And what we do not want:
- Art from Banned Artists. Danbooru will not host material from artists who have sent takedown notices or cease and desist orders.
- Self-made art. Even if you are an artist who can make high-quality anime-styled art that is worthy of our Hot and Popular listings, we strongly recommend that you leave the uploading to someone else. Danbooru is not DeviantArt or Pixiv.
- Non-Japanese Animation (anime) or Comic related or style art. This includes non-anime Furry Art.
- Most photography, including Cosplay photos. (see 3dbooru)
- Low quality art. Casually browse here for a good an antithesis to Danbooru content.
- Image samples. There are always better versions to upload. Make it a habit not to upload them.
Useful places you should know:
- Unapproved posts Wiki and the Deletion Appeal process.
- Deletion appeals thread (topic #8554).
- Flagging Posts (see the Flag option when viewing a post) and Deletion requests (topic #8984).
- Upload feedback thread (topic #7934).
When uploading a post originally from Pixiv, you should know how to:
- Tell pixiv samples from their full size image.
- Find out the name of an artist.
- Read the procedures for handling uploads and artists from Pixiv.
More Protips:
- Remember to tag what you upload. All new posts are expected to be tagged to at least Level 1 to the Tag Checklist.
- It is a good idea to learn how to Tag (see above) before uploading.
Notes
Here's what you need to know before placing notes on a post:
Translations
If you are contributing translations, we assume you know that:
- You are fluent in the language you are translating.
- Danbooru has a standard for Romanizing Japanese.
Artists
If you are maintaining the Artist database, you should know:
- The Danbooru Artist Guidelines
- Procedures for handling Pixiv artists.
- Proper usage of the drawfag tag.
- Looking up Banned artists with the banned_artist tag and the Banned Artist Listing.
Wiki
If you would like to contribute to the wiki, please make sure you:
- Have read the Wiki Quality Guidelines
- Know about the Pointless Wikis thread (topic #7690)
Thanks for Contributing!