Forum:Comic speech bubbles

Forums: Index → Community Proposal → Comic speech bubbles

As we all know, it's an unwritten "rule" to blank out speech bubbles in comic panels whenever those are uploaded. However, I'd prefer we got rid of this practice, at least in most cases. Why? Because it robs the image of much of its original context and information value, not to mention the huge blank spaces being rather distracting and irritating to viewers (case in point: here, and here). Also, Wookieepedia doesn't do it (at least anymore) and I generally tend to agree with their standards.

With this in mind, I'm suggesting that we only blank out speech bubbles if:

• The speech bubbles/their contents distract from, or are unrelated to, the focus of the image (arguably the case with this image)
• The bubbles cannot be reasonably cropped out of the image (as has been done in here and here)
• If the contents of the speech bubble are cut off.

I'm not sure if the practice originated due to copyright concerns or simply because Wookieepedia used to do it (I believe), but I don't think we'll be in trouble as long as we keep the amount of comic scans within reasonable limits ie. only uploading images that are deemed necessary. --Jugus (Talk | Contribs) 03:35, 1 December 2014 (EST)

Yeah, Wookieepedia stopped blanking speech bubbles in 2007. Wikipedia doesn't do it either. And I agree, we should stop blanking the bubbles as well. It generally takes away from the image and can be distracting. Especially when the bubble is an unattractive colour like here. However, I have no issue with blanking the speech bubble if it is completely unrelated to the image. If we do stop blanking speech bubbles, should we re-upload images from comics with the speech bubble intact? - NightHammer (talk) 16:18, 1 December 2014 (EST)

I agree with this. Removing the text for most scans deprives readers of context and verbal action. Not all images need that though as they're purely action-oriented or the text is unimportant to the feel of a given scene. I'd say that every comic scan upload in the future should contain the original text and we can remove it or add it in for whatever need we have. Helianthus — All right. Shoot!

You know, I'm glad this is being addressed, not really a fan of that blanking policy either. It is a bit distracting and doesn't really do much for anything.262VigilantGuardian (talk) 03:46, 2 December 2014 (EST)

Yeah, most of our existing scans can also be reuploaded with the text intact from now on. Sans the very few and specific cases that fit the above criteria (mainly the second and third points—the first is hardly ever relevant as most comic dialog tends to be very contextual. Mainly I can imagine it applying if there's a small bit of say, rather abstract narration that might leave the viewer confused as to how this relates to what goes on in the image, but otherwise I don't see it applying to the majority of panels). --Jugus (Talk | Contribs) 01:59, 3 December 2014 (EST)

I can replace some of the images I uploaded maybe this weekend. At the time I was under the impression that there would be some copyright issue brought to our attention of we uploaded the images with text. But then that would be no different from the numerous youtube videos that show the whole pages w/ text without a problem. It was also a mess trying to cover all that text. It took twice as long to upload the images. So I agree 100% with just uploading the images as they are w/ the few exceptions mentioned.--Killamin7 [Comm|Files] 12:43, 4 December 2014 (EST)

I think the practice may have stemmed from potential copyright issues but other prominent wikis also leave the text in so I don't think we'll be in trouble. Just as long as we don't get too many of the scans to the point someone could almost patch the comic together out of them. --Jugus (Talk | Contribs) 13:11, 4 December 2014 (EST)

True that. I try to avoid posting too many of the panels from the comics.--Killamin7 [Comm|Files] 13:28, 6 December 2014 (EST)

In order to fix any unnecessary blankings, should we create a category marking pictures with blanked bubbles, as an alert for them to be replaced with new scans of unblanked ones? Tuckerscreator^(stalk) 00:52, 9 February 2015 (EST)

I'm not sure. On one hand it would speed up the process of finding the images but then it also adds a layer of extra work for both the user who'd tag the images and the uploader, who would have to remove the category after uploading the new version. I believe browsing through Category:Comic images makes finding the blanked scans easy enough. --Jugus (Talk | Contribs) 01:35, 9 February 2015 (EST)

I think it would make fixing the problem a little more urgent. Currently adding a non-blanked version is done on a case-by-case basis; having this category around would make it more clear that something needs to be done about it. Removing the category afterward should be simple from either a few new uploads once in a while or giving the category page a regular inspection. Tuckerscreator^(stalk) 01:45, 9 February 2015 (EST)