User blog:WillTheArthurandBusterFan5050/Wikia Images. And Why I Add Them

This blog is dedicated to the subject "Images." This is based mainly on screengrabs.

Want to know why I add images, not just to this Wikia, but to other Wikias? For one thing, it's because I want to see the images and want to see them on the pages, including the episode pages.

To me, some pages don't have images or don't have enough of them, or don't have the ones I want to see, or to sound politer, I feel about using the term "I want": I would really like to see. So if I can, I add the images myself. And I've done it on pages like "The Contest" http://arthur.wikia.com/wiki/The_Contest, and "Meet Binky" http://arthur.wikia.com/wiki/Meet_Binky to name a couple episodes. And I am currently working on adding images to the episode "Whip Mix Blend" http://arthur.wikia.com/wiki/Whip._Mix._Blend. and would like to add images to "Opposites Distract" http://arthur.wikia.com/wiki/Opposites_Distract someday.

There's a saying "If you want something done, you have to do it yourself." Agreed, although you cannot always do that and neither can I, in fact we shouldn't always do that. So I go and fetch the images myself.

Where I get the images? I prefer to get images from these places because it's my personal preference and for my personal comfort:

-PBS Kids -Netflix -Amazon -And an app I just added to my computer yesterday "Arthur episodes"

Screenshots from D.V.D.s are okay too as are episodes from I-Tunes, or Vevo to name a couple more.

And I only add the screencaps from the episodes if the episodes are available, which sadly are not always available so I have to act quickly and get them while they still are, because after a time, the episodes I get the screengrabs from are removed and are no longer available, that is unless I purchase the episodes, and I purchased a few Maya and Miguel episodes so I could add images on a wikia dedicated to that cartoon http://mayaandmiguel.wikia.com/wiki/Maya_and_Miguel_Wiki.

I also post images because other people may want to see them, and I don't blame them. I mean even I don't always add images other people want to see or may want to see but I think of other people (not as much as I should I admit) and I possibly put myself in other people's shoes.

I usually like to add only the images I'm interested in, and not just images of the episodes but images of the characters (and sometimes objects or places) but sometimes I'll go the extra mile and add more than just the images I want but can even add images to the whole episode.

Though I don't mind much doing that, I admit it can be a drag and time consuming, adding images to an entire episode instead of just the images I want to see, or rather, would like to see. What's really a drag is having to do it if you only have a limited amount of time to do so (PBS Kids and Netflix have removed episodes or removed shows altogether and sometimes the episodes you want are not currently available and you either have to wait for them or if they were there and are not anymore you missed them.) And I admit I do add more screenshots than I want to instead of just adding the ones I would like to see, especially screenshots for episodes.

What's really a drag in getting screenshots is trying to get a good shot or the image. And it's more challenging when you have to capture the image while the video is still playing (sometimes when you pause a video you get something that you don't want or something that doesn't belong in the screengrab, like the play button. So when adding screenshots to playing videos (I mean "videos as they're playing") rather than pausing them, I have to time it right and if I don't get it right or get an image I don't want or doesn't seem right, I end up having to start all over and try again, and that can be time-consuming. But I don't want to add just any image, I want to add an image I like or an image that others may like to see and I want it to look good. Another obstacle I have to deal with when capturing images is waiting for the bar letting you know what part of the video you're at, and the time left and time elapsed to disappear from the screen so that the image looks more professional. And if you don't rewind the video far back enough and you want to get a certain shot of the episode, by the time you get to that part, the parts you're waiting for to disappear won't disappear in time and you don't want it to be part of the screengrab. But you also don't want to go too far back either because of time. If you can though, pause the video before getting the screengrab, but wait for certain things to disappear.

Another things I have to do when adding screenshots is when I paste them on Paint, I resize them so they're not too big, and I prefer to have them fit the bitmap, but I have to try to make the images be the right size or almost the right size, not too wide and not too narrow, and not messed up, so resizing can be a challenge in itself too and it too is time consuming, especially if you want to get it right instead of just doing it any old way.

When I add episode screenshots, or screenshots for episodes, I usually like to, but don't always do this, do the screenshots in (chronological) order rather than out of order and placing them randomly because it could confuse others (people) or something, possibly annoy others too. In doing this, sometimes I delay/postpone adding the screenshots I would really like to add. I call it "Eating my way through." if you know what I mean. Or "Eating my way through to get to where I want to go." It's hard to explain it exactly but I hope you get what I mean by that, at least some of you.

I mean nobody asks me or tells me to add the screenshots or whatever images, I do that out of my own decision and out of my interests and do it in case no one else does, and I guess so others don't have to. Well, on one Wikia, I've had one person ask me to add images.

Admittedly sometimes I do get carried away and tend to add more images than necessary and need to work on that and some images I've added have been removed and there's probably a reason for it, though I'm tempted to do so, I won't question why, I'll just assume it's because of redundancy.

But I add screenshots mostly because I want to see them, and instead of expecting others to add them, well I probably have, I go and add them myself, and it feels better that way. The screenshots and other images are not important, well at least not generally, but I put them in for my personal interest and just in case others want to see them too. I'll admit I won't always add images or add images to every part of an episode or whatever the page is about. I mean, I didn't add screenshots to the entire episode of "D.W. Swims with the Fishes, http://arthur.wikia.com/wiki/D.W._Swims_with_the_Fishes, just the images to the parts prior to the title card. Those came from PBS Kids. I also add images for reference, including for doing fanart and I need the right screenshot in order to draw the characters or whatever good and realistically, or the way I want.

I also like to add images to my profile page. And I add fanart too, but I try to be careful not to add fanart where it doesn't belong, like the character and title pages. I add fanart to the general Photo Gallery, or my profile page, or in some cases blogs, and sometimes in comments.

These are some screenshots I've added:

Thankfully some screenshots are already added by others so that I don't have to do it, unless there's a screenshot or are screenshots I'd like to see but aren't there, so I add them myself.

One note though, when I save a screenshot before adding it, I save some of the fine name as by WABF5050 (which is short for WillTheArthurandBusterFan5050 as some or many of you have already guessed or known) or try to do an alternate filename because I could be posting an image someone else already posted or I could try to post an image with a filename another image has, and when I add an identical or almost identical image or add an image with a similar filename, I get a notice of the image already existing and am left with the choice of using the existing photo, overwriting the image, or retracting "Hitting the Back button" I mean someone could have added an image already and I may not know it and with this wikia as big and active as it is, there are too many places to look for images. I don't add by WABF5050 for bragging purposes, I do it to make the filename unique or something and it's a filename less likely to be used.

So now you have some idea of why I add images to pages. I do it mostly for personal interest but also do it in case others want to see it. And I guess you can say I do it to save the trouble of others from having to do it, although it is nice not to be the only one adding images to pages and it's very hard for one person to do. But I do it out of my interest and also out of my time.