Skip to main content

Read in Japanese (日本語はこちらから)
(Last Translation: August 25, 2017)
________________________________

Hi, all!

Before posting images or videos to the Clips area, please review the site's Terms of Use, as well as all of the following posting rules. They are designed to give your images more visibility on the site, to make sure artists are given proper credit for design inspiration and/or source artwork, and to avoid copyright violations. I'll start with the easy cataloging stuff first . . .

1. Be sure to edit the main photo title so it's descriptive of the cookie. Many people are uploading images straight from their cameras, so the image titles are appearing as strings of numbers. Strings of numbers will not allow your photo to be easily found in site searches. It's also best practice to include your name or business name in the main title; that way, if your photo is pinned to Pinterest, your name will be included in the title automatically generated by Pinterest.

2. Add clip sets (categories) to catalog all of your images. Clip sets are mandatory; you won't be allowed to upload a photo without selecting some. You can select multiple clip sets for any given image (i.e., if it's a Christmas cookie and also a bridal shower cookie, then by all means, catalog it as both). The worst practice is to place a photo in "X for Miscellany," because people will not be able to easily find it later in any of the clip categories on site. There are nearly 70 (!) clip sets from which to choose, so chances are good that one will fit your cookie. If not, then drop it in the Miscellany bucket. The best practice is to choose three or more clip sets: one or more that describe the cookie occasion (i.e., "Wedding Cookies") and some that describe the technique(s) used (i.e., "Stenciled Cookies" or "Handpainted Cookies"). PLEASE do not select clip sets that don't obviously apply and please read clip set definitions before selecting sets you are unsure about. (If you go to "Clips" and then "All Sets," you can click on any clip set title, and its definition will appear at the top of the page.)

Also, to note: From time to time, I'll be featuring the "hottest" photos in various clip sets in our Saturday Spotlight on the blog. So, if your photos never get classified, there's no chance of them ever getting featured. Not the best thing!

3. Add a few tags to each clip too. Tags are also mandatory. Tags help external search engines (like Google) find your content on the site and increase this site's ranking in searches. A good starting place is to think of the words people might search to find your content, or which describe your content in more detail, and use them. It's also very helpful to viewers to choose tags that describe how various parts of the cookie were made, i.e., "handpainted flowers", "stenciled background", and so forth. And, lastly, it's always a good idea to include your name and/or business name among the tags. (The tags automatically suggested by the site are not usually very descriptive, so I always generate my own.)

4. If you have uploaded more than one photo at once in a "mass upload", please be sure the clip sets and tags you selected apply to EACH cookie in that upload, as they will get applied to all photos the same way. I have noticed many photos miscategorized because of improper classifications made during these mass uploads. For this reason, it is best to avoid mass uploads, and to upload images one at a time, applying unique clip sets and tags to each image as you upload.

NOTE: If you misclassified or mistitled a photo, please correct your mistakes yourself. You can edit an already posted image (provided you posted it) by clicking the "Manage Clip" button in the blue box to the upper right of the photo and then clicking on "Edit Clip". You will see areas for editing the title, subtitle (or caption), clip sets, and tags. Just remember to hit "Update Clip" at the very bottom of the page to save your changes when you are done.

5. Please do not post more than five (5) images in rapid succession or at one time, as people have come to expect a variety of content on the site and rapid-cycle posting quickly starts coming across as spam-like. Generally, members post no more than a few photos per day, so this is an even better rule of thumb. 

6. Please do not post the same image to the "Clips" area more than once, and avoid posting more than one (1) or two (2) other view(s)/angle(s) of the same work. Please note: "Same image" includes duplicate photos, of course, but also postings of crops of the exact same photo or collages including the exact same photo(s). 

7. Please do not delete a photo and re-post the same one at a later date unless there is an error in the initial post, which can be corrected by selecting the "Manage Clip" button as described in point 4, above. Churning photos for the sake of making it appear like these photos are new content is prohibited.

8. Always give proper credit for your work where credit is due, and don't post copies of others' work without first getting permission. If you have copied someone else's work in any medium (illustration, photo, painting, character or cartoon, another cookie, etc.) in any way (tracing or freehand drawing or painting), or have drawn on it heavily as source inspiration, you should not be posting your version of it to this site unless you have secured necessary permissions to copy it first (which, in some cases, can involve paying a licensing fee to the artist). Copying others' work may very well be a copyright infringement, which is why we have this rule - it is to ensure that you do not get into legal trouble. It is also the right thing to do. Think about how you would feel if someone copied your work without asking or crediting.

If you have secured necessary permissions, you should credit the original artist ("with permission from creator . . .") in both your caption (photo subtitle) and tags, and provide a link to the source art in the first comment under your photo. For an example of a post that has been properly attributed to its source artist, click herePlease note: Disney characters and many other cartoon characters are copyrighted, so what I said above applies to them as well - you shouldn't be copying them and posting them here without permission from Disney or the creator to do so! 

If you have only drawn inspiration from someone else (i.e., borrowed a technique or a minor design feature), but the design is largely your own, then it is sufficient to say "inspired by . . ." But please do not use the words "inspired by" if your cookie is a close facsimile of any other person's artwork, of any kind. Please review this forum, which includes comments from several lawyers about the legalities of copying others' work. The general consensus is: When in doubt about how you are using someone else's work, it is ALWAYS best to get permission from that person first.

Of course, if you are copying an image that is officially in the public domain and not copyrighted, then you are in the clear. To learn more about finding images for use in the public domain, check out this article

Please read the site's Terms of Use and this blog post for more details about copyright law and proper attribution. Also, please note that this rule is not an arbitrary or extreme rule of the site; it is US copyright law.

9. Cookie Connection reserves the right for its designated moderators to clean up posts/images that do not abide by the above rules. This clean-up may amount to adding/deleting tags or clips sets, or even deleting photos that violate site guidelines (i.e., sexually explicit images, images of people, content not belonging to you, foul language, etc.). However, we would rather not do this for you (our moderators' time is valuable too), so please do your very best to follow rules 1 through 8, above.

On a personal note: Ensuring 100-percent compliance with these rules is not humanly possible for me or any volunteer moderator to do, especially given the size of this site. So rather than patrolling the site 24-7 and checking every single photo, I choose to operate on the basis of trust - meaning that I assume you all will act on the honor system and follow these rules to the best of your ability, for the benefit of the entire community. Please also trust that I will do my best to apply these rules as fairly as I can. If you think I have missed something (which is quite possible; again, I do not look at every photo on this site), then please report the issue to me via private message. I act on every report that I receive. Many thanks! 

Any other questions? You can always contact me at the email below.

P.S. Again, please review our Site FAQ and other important Terms of Use before you post. This post does not comprise the entirety of the site's rules and regs.

Revision: December 10, 2017

Last edited by Julia M. Usher
Original Post

Replies sorted oldest to newest

Thanks for these tips.  The site is fairly intuitive and I was able to figure out most of this by myself.  I've often struggled with the right things to use as "tags".  I'm skipping tags for now...but if you have any advice in that arena, I'd love to read about it.

Originally Posted by Debbi Hook - The SPI Flip Flop Foodie:

Thanks for these tips.  The site is fairly intuitive and I was able to figure out most of this by myself.  I've often struggled with the right things to use as "tags".  I'm skipping tags for now...but if you have any advice in that arena, I'd love to read about it.

Yeah, it's pretty straightforward. Just trying to catch people on some of the photo posting things before they post too many - and then feel like they should re-categorize. As for tags, I think going with the recommended ones, or merging recommended ones is a good bet. Or using what you think would be common search terms related to your post. These tags are used to pull up content in web-based searches.

Thank you so much Julia.  It took me a while to figure out how to get my photos from face book to Cookie Connection. I was surprised I was able to get them on. I will try to get them corrected. I am a lost ball in high weeds when it comes to technology but I will press on and get this corrected.  

No prob! I just want to make sure that as many people as possible (and search engines too) can find your images in the future! Have fun!

Hey, new members, just a reminder to read all photo posting tips BEFORE you post. I'm seeing a lot of unclassified and untagged images, which for reasons noted above, will not give your images maximum visibility on the site. Thanks!

Also, please remember to avoid multi-photo uploads of more than 4 or 5 photos at once, so that your images do not dominate the home page photo feeds. (Our members have gotten used to variety! ) Many thanks!

REMINDER: PLEASE CLASSIFY AND TAG ALL PHOTOS AND READ THIS DOCUMENT BEFORE YOU POST. I am only pointing out these rules/guidelines so your photos can later be found. If photos are left unclassified they will never get into any cataloguing system on the site, so they will be extremely hard for others to find and they will never qualify for a Saturday Spotlight

 

So, again, please jump to the top of this post and read all of the information there. The same information is in your confirmation email when you join the site and also in the About section. THANKS!

You claim to be very concerned about giving our cookies the best visibility, but considering that by posting photos of our cookies on your site we are providing you with free content for you to monetize, harsly scolding and correcting posting errors may not be the warmest welcome to newcomers. For example, I haven't posted again since I was pounced  on within hours of my first upload, because my photos weren't properly titled and tagged. 

 

One wonders if your true concern has more to do with your own interests rather than the visibility of any given single cookie, or cookier. I can just as easily post photos of my cookies on Facebook or Flikr where I get plenty of positive feedback already, and skip the "Mother May I"

 

You ought to consider how you are coming across. It may be less pleasant than you realize. 

Thanks for the feedback, Greenpalm. I am truly sorry if I came off as harsh and scolding. Please trust me that was not my intention. 

 

My interests are genuinely yours. I make no money off of this site, just so you know. While there are advertisers, their contributions do not cover the monthly costs of Hoop.la site hosting/maintenance, the giveaways that are often funded by me, any of the time that contributors spend writing content for the site, or any of the time that moderators spend cataloging content on the site (at least 3 to 4 hours a day). I truly want this site to be useful to people, but if content is not classified, it will not be. 

 

I encourage you to post again. This really is a very friendly and welcoming community! 

Last edited by Julia M. Usher

Hola Julia!

Creía que lo estaba haciendo bien, sin embargo, en una de mis primeas publicaciones me enviaste este texto, y no encuentro el fallo, será porque soy novata en la página, pero te ruego me disculpes si cometo algún error, pues no lo hago conscientemente. Gracias y un saludo,

Inma

Originally Posted by Inma Pérez Barranco:

Hola Julia!

Creía que lo estaba haciendo bien, sin embargo, en una de mis primeas publicaciones me enviaste este texto, y no encuentro el fallo, será porque soy novata en la página, pero te ruego me disculpes si cometo algún error, pues no lo hago conscientemente. Gracias y un saludo,

Inma

Thanks, Inma. I can't remember now why I sent you this link, but it was likely because you did not add tags to your images, which allow your photos to be searched later. Please do not take my comments personally. I send several standardized reminders each day to people, to remind them to do these things. I just want people to know the steps to take to ensure that their images can be found. Anyway, I trust that you and everyone are doing your best!  Thanks so much.

 

Gracias, Inma. No recuerdo ahora por qué os envié este enlace, pero era probable porque no agregar etiquetas a las imágenes, que permiten a sus fotos para ser buscados después. Por favor, no tome mis comentarios personalmente. Envío de varios recordatorios estandarizadas cada día a las personas, a fin de recordarles a hacer estas cosas. Yo sólo quiero que la gente sepa los pasos a seguir para asegurarse de que sus imágenes se pueden encontrar. De todos modos, confío en que usted y todos están haciendo lo mejor posible! Muchas gracias.

De Hola Julia como esta usted?

Gracias por darme este espacial, yo me equivoque en colgar algunas fotos y recibi un correo donde me ayuda a hacerlo mejor, lo que ocurre es que esta en inglés y yo no lo entiendo. Y no tengo la opción detraduccion. Lo siento.

Un saludo espero hacerlo bien.

karina 

 

Originally Posted by Dulces galletas:

De Hola Julia como esta usted?

Gracias por darme este espacial, yo me equivoque en colgar algunas fotos y recibi un correo donde me ayuda a hacerlo mejor, lo que ocurre es que esta en inglés y yo no lo entiendo. Y no tengo la opción detraduccion. Lo siento.

Un saludo espero hacerlo bien.

karina 

 

Thank you, Karina! The site can be translated using the Google Translate button at the bottom of every page and at the top left of the home page. Perhaps it will work better than the translator you are using, though no guarantees! 

Sugardipity posted:

Hi Julia, I forgot to put a description for my title. How do I go about editing?

 

Just click on "Manage Clip" in the upper right of the page with your photo; then click on "Edit Clip". From there, you can edit your title (which I also saw you need to do), plus your tags, clip sets, etc. Just be sure to hit save or update (whatever it is) at the bottom of the page when you are done. Thanks for fixing your title.

Note: Please be sure to review the guidelines from time to time, as they can change depending on the needs of members and the site. Thank you!

Hello all, I apologize a lot, I am ashamed to ask this question, because it's been sooo described many times, and I've also read, but I just can not ... The German translation, unfortunately, does not help me a lot here , I tried to take a picture of my wall public before yesterday the day. I groped to the point: "Clip"> "All Set"! What exactly did you do in "All sets" ??? I have selected and clicked the sentence in question, then I copied the name (Christmas cookies) at the top of the line and added in "Subject" on my picture and "Title". The image also shows the name (no number - series).Also, I filled all day and I assure you that I updated !!! It does not work. Copy the URL instead of the name Do I have? The translation is here twice as hard for me. I apologize for my stupidity 1000 times ...
I'm grateful for every answer !!
"Icingsugarkeks"

Icingsugarkeks posted:

Hello all, I apologize a lot, I am ashamed to ask this question, because it's been sooo described many times, and I've also read, but I just can not ... The German translation, unfortunately, does not help me a lot here , I tried to take a picture of my wall public before yesterday the day. I groped to the point: "Clip"> "All Set"! What exactly did you do in "All sets" ??? I have selected and clicked the sentence in question, then I copied the name (Christmas cookies) at the top of the line and added in "Subject" on my picture and "Title". The image also shows the name (no number - series).Also, I filled all day and I assure you that I updated !!! It does not work. Copy the URL instead of the name Do I have? The translation is here twice as hard for me. I apologize for my stupidity 1000 times ...
I'm grateful for every answer !!
"Icingsugarkeks"

I am not sure what you're trying to do based on your description. But if you are trying to post a photo into our home page photo feeds/"Clips" section, they get posted from any page of the site using the big "Post" button in the upper right (on standard laptop views; see screenshot). Just hit "Post"; select "Clip" in the dropdown menu, and then follow the prompts (and our "Site Posting Guidelines"; link at the top of the "Clips" page under "Please Read Before Posting") when posting photos.

On mobile devices, the "Post" feature can be found in the upper left of the site under the "hamburger" icon (three stacked lines). This is typically where menus are located on most sites when viewed on mobile devices.

In all cases, you must be logged into the site to see the "Post" feature.

Hope this helps.

Standard laptop view of "Post" feature on home page:

Screen Shot 2019-01-07 at 9.32.21 AM

Attachments

Images (1)
  • Standard Laptop View of "Post" Feature: Screenshot from Cookie Connection

My problem was to make public a cookie picture from my wall. At the point "All Sets" I did not get any further. I had searched for selection fields. I found it on a screenshot and could now implement it. Thank you so much!!!

Icingsugarkeks posted:

My problem was to make public a cookie picture from my wall. At the point "All Sets" I did not get any further. I had searched for selection fields. I found it on a screenshot and could now implement it. Thank you so much!!!

I don't think you were actually posting to your member profile wall at that time, as there is no "All Sets" option when posting to a wall that I can see. See screen shot. Also, I don't advise posting photos to your wall; they will not enter home page photo feeds and people are unlikely to see them if you post there.

Screen that Appears When Posting to Wall:

Screen Shot 2019-01-07 at 2.06.17 PM

Attachments

Images (1)
  • Screen that Appears When Posting to Wall: Screen Shot from Cookie Connection

Hello Julia, yes, I have a lot of start-up problems ... I saved pictures on my wall and wanted to publish them from there. That somehow did not work. I've been doing very stupid. I hope it gets better with the next pictures ??!
Many Thanks for help me!!!