A short guide to the Swatch forum

[lara]

A short guide to the Swatch forum
The Swatch Request forum is one of the most-viewed, most-searched sections of Specktra.net. In this subforum you can request specific swatches, post swatches from past, current and upcoming collections, or post a swatch that you've made that doesn't fit into either of the above types of thread. It's an amazing resource that's entirely driven by Specktra members, and it couldn't be as fantastic as it is without your posts and pictures.

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Please note:
The Swatch forum uses a set image size guideline of 640 pixels wide by 800 pixels high. This is clearly stated in the opening guide post to each major swatch collection thread. If your images exceed this, they will be turned into text links.

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How do I know which thread to post in?
Please read the descriptions below and chose which one you feel is the most appropriate. When in doubt, please feel free to PM a moderator and we'll help you.

• Swatch request thread: in this massive thread you can request a particular swatch ("Can someone please post a swatch of Politely Pink lipstick on unlined lips, please? Thank you!") or you can fill a swatch request that someone else has posted. This is the only thread to post in if you have a swatch request or can fill a swatch request. There are more details about the swatch request thread within the thread itself.
  
• Colour story threads: these incredibly helpful threads contain swatches specific to individual colour stories. These threads contain swatches and product images that you have photographed yourself. For the sake of clarity, we ask that official product images and swatches (those that you would find on a mailer postcard or posted on the official MAC website) are not posted in these threads. As before, these threads are sensitively moderated to ensure that they remain easily searched and indexed, so I ask that posts consisting of "wow, I love them all!" or "thank you for the pictures of X and Y!" are not made.
  
• Individual swatch threads: if you've decided to make a swatch of all your red lipsticks and want to share them with the rest of Specktra, you can post an individual thread to showcase your swatch picture. In the interest of keeping the Swatch Request forum as lean and mean as possible, please search the swatch request thread first to see if it matches any available requests. Again, these threads are sensitively moderated to ensure that they remain easily searched and indexed, so I ask that posts consisting of "wow, I love them all!" or "thank you for the pictures of X and Y!" are not made.

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The four most commonly-asked questions about the Swatch Request subforum:

• What is a swatch? A swatch is a picture of product applied to a neutral base in a controlled manner in order to show colour, finish and texture. In other words, make-up products applied cleanly to paper, or the back of the hand or wrist (or in the case of lipstick and glosses, on unlined lips) and photographed clearly so you get a true idea of what the product really looks like. An EOTD (eye of the day) or FOTD (face of the day) picture is not a swatch.
  
• What is a product image? Different yet equal to official product images (the ones that MAC releases to promote a collection, usually consisting of products artfully displayed and shot in a studio environment), these are shots of the make-up item itself as photographed by you. This can be a close-up on an eyeshadow pan, the packaging of a lipstick or a pigment jar, or anything along these lines.
  
• I wrote a post telling someone how much I liked their swatches and it later vanished, why?
  In order to make the swatches posted here relevant and easy to find when searching, it's important to keep the text used in this forum as precise as possible. By keeping the chatter and pictureless posts to a minimum, it increases the likelihood of someone getting the exact results they want when doing a search. For example, if someone searches for Russian Red lipstick, I want the results to be a captioned picture of Russian Red lipstick and not someone saying 'hey, thanks for the picture of Russian Red!'. Chatter posts will be removed by a moderator.
  
• I posted a picture and it was edited into a text link by a moderator, why?
  If your image has been turned into a text link, then it exceeded the image size guidelines used to the Swatch Request forum. In order to make the swatches here broadly accessible to everyone, we work to a reasonable limit of 640 pixels wide and 800 pixels high. This is big enough to give plenty of detail but still be viewable by everyone regardless of browser, monitor resolution or internet connection. If your post has been in any way altered by a member of the moderating or administration team, a reason will always be listed below your signature at very bottom of your post.
  
• I made several swatch posts one after the other and they were merged by a moderator, why?
  If several posts have been made in quick succession in the same thread by the same user, generally these posts will be merged together and marked as 'merged relevant posts'. For the purpose of moderating, quick succession is considered within the same five hours. If your post has been in any way altered by a member of the moderating or administration team, a reason will always be listed below your signature at very bottom of your post.

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If you have any questions about the swatch request forum, please contact a member of the moderation team and we'll be more than happy to help you. Thank you for reading the Specktra swatch request forum guidelines!

[lara]

Update 25/03/08: please don't include EOTD/FOTD pictures in your swatch posts. The concept of swatches is colour displayed in a clear, isolated or independent fashion in order to determine colour and texture, and you don't get that clarity and separation from an EOTD/FOTD picture.
Please post your EOTD/FOTD pictures in the FOTD Subforum instead.

[lara]

Update 06/07/08: please do not post links out to your blogs or personal websites in lieu of posting 'live' pictures, or offer links out to your blogs or personal websites with the promise of more images. This is a forum for swatch picture posts only, not a platform to promote your websites.

Please keep your website links within your signature, or post in the Shameless Promotions forum instead.

Thank you.