Meshers want their banner displayed!

Bonkolina · Joined: 23 Apr 2007 Posts: 1035 Location: USA

Supposedly it was a manual process to add them, and the person responsible for that at IMVU got too busy with other things.

Again as I see it, I'm not after taking anything away from anyone. Had the banners gone from being free to being something you have to pay for, that would be fine with me.

But that's not the case. This is a commodity that is 100% exclusive and cannot be purchased by those who want it. It is also a commodity that causes indirect harm to other creators who cannot have it by giving their competitors an unfair advantage.

If IMVU wants to start selling advertising - they should start there. Open it up to all creators to pay for a banner on their product pages. Controversy over and the ones who got them for nothing continue to get them for nothing.
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ZaraKaine · Joined: 26 Jun 2011 Posts: 6126 Location:

Bonkolina · Joined: 23 Apr 2007 Posts: 1035 Location: USA

I'm not suggesting that anyone else's advertising is carried on your product pages other than the way is now. You derive from a mesh, that mesher's ad appears on your product page. That's it. No other ads. The only difference between what is happening now and what I'm proposing is that those meshers who do not have the benefit of a mesher banner will have one for a nominal fee. Perhaps an annual fee.

Maybe even tied to VIP for existing meshers - get VIP get a banner.

If texture artists want to pay for their banner to be displayed on their own product pages, they can pay for that to show above the mesher's banner. Only it will automatically appear on every one of their own product pages and the mesher's banner only appears for the derivable of that product.

All IMVU needs to do is write an app to let people update their banners themselves. (I'm not suggesting this is a tiny thing, I'm sure it's not.) But it could be a nice little revenue stream and actually help creators rather than hinder them.
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ZaraKaine · Joined: 26 Jun 2011 Posts: 6126 Location:

I think you missed my point but yeah, still a good idea Smile

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CherryNoire · Joined: 23 Oct 2007 Posts: 426 Location: USA - CA

WickedAngelNB · Joined: 31 May 2009 Posts: 7182 Location: Australia

The mesher banners were manually added by a former staff member who left about 2 years ago. At the time they announced that for the time being there would be no more added until they made it an automated thing. While lots of meshers want one and at the moment can't get it, there are also meshers who have one who wish to update theirs but they can't.
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Bonkolina · Joined: 23 Apr 2007 Posts: 1035 Location: USA

Well, the idea Cherry is that it would be optional of course. But if you wanted it, you could and it would be a nice VIP perk.

I'm aware that you can put HTML in your code - I'm not new to this. In fact, I do that myself, lol. It would be more of a convenience than anything else to offer it. But of course, the real value of banners is to meshers because those would appear on any product derived from them.
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Delure · Joined: 07 Jan 2011 Posts: 861 Location: USA - OR

Celyng · Joined: 05 Feb 2008 Posts: 3934 Location: USA - CA

I wonder if they could modify the badge coding to allow for this.

Only issue would be whether the banner is suitable for GA audience or not.

They could always put in a flagging option though like for badges. (Yes I am trying not to laugh at that last part)

At any rate, they have the coding for it, it just needs to be fixed up and usable for banners with some safety precautions added.

I have seen some meshers added after the cut off date. Not sure how they get them in, but it isn't as exclusive as IMVU lets on. Maybe that has stopped since. I don't know.

There are a few ways they could incorporate it (tiers, vip, purchased, everyone).

There are a few ways it could be accessed. Dev dashboard, in client, account settings on web.

It just needs to get done.
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WickedAngelNB · Joined: 31 May 2009 Posts: 7182 Location: Australia

I know Caleb and I were a couple of the last ones to get their banners added. I also remember that Caleb had a misspelling in his original banner and they changed it out I believe. So if anyone has been added after Caleb's and mine, then someone has done it on the downlow and QT and against what was posted by staff about the banners being stopped being added until they got them automated.
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Bonkolina · Joined: 23 Apr 2007 Posts: 1035 Location: USA

I know for a fact some were added after the cutoff. Just sayin'.
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DLovinT · Joined: 12 Sep 2006 Posts: 1242 Location: Canada

Take them down, there are obvious accounts on here that are being advertised as meshers that are not in any definition of the word!
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InamorataSylaraia · Joined: 21 Nov 2008 Posts: 2107 Location: USA - WY

DLovinT · Joined: 12 Sep 2006 Posts: 1242 Location: Canada

Whimsee · Joined: 29 Mar 2007 Posts: 1496 Location: USA - AZ

I'm all for equality, make no mistake.

But, as some have said - I think we wander down a slippery slope when we start taking away from what some have, and others don't, due to timing.

Of course I think every mesher should have their mesher banner on their derive product pages - as a developer, I wish that were so, believe you me! But removing the ones that DO have banners up because other's do not have that advantage is dangerously similar to removing the "grandfathering" of the VIP requirement...

what's to stop the new dev from saying "I have to pay to develop, they don't, that's not fair! Remove their right to develop for free, because I have to pay!"

Food for thought. And yes, I am one of the "lucky" ones who squeaked in and got her mesh banner up....but even if I didn't, I'd feel the very same.
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