There have been several threads lately discussing the deletion of photos. I thought it was time that we again open a discussion about photo posting in the hopes of answering some questions and going over the rules.

I would like to make it clear that I do not want this to become a Kathy bashing thread. Previous threads of this nature have ended and been deleted because they have turned into an attack on me. I would like us to have an adult discussion to clarify the rules. I would also like to be able to send members to this thread if they have questions. If you have questions, this is a good place to post them. If you want to argue about why certain things are not allowed in the galleries then I suggest you check out the many other threads on that topic.

Deleted Photos Clarification
First, if you have a problem with your photos or think your photo was unjustly removed then please PM me. I am more than willing to help. Posting your personal photo issues in a thread is not the way to resolve the problem. It often leads to unnecessary drama and the spread of misinformation.

I am the first to admit that I have deleted photos that should not have been removed but problems like this are usually easily remedied. Being a decorator myself I do understand your frustrations with lost saves or comments, but sometimes that is unavoidable given the number of photos I must sort through weekly and the number of photo violations that must be removed. I want everyone to be happy with their CC experience and there have even been times when I have allowed a member to reload a second photo--even if it goes against the rules--just to keep the peace. I am not the bad guy here.

It hurts my heart to hear some of the things said in threads by members who don't understand the rules, don't want to understand them or possibly have never even read them. It hurts me so much to hear unkind things said about me or this site in light of the fact that Jackie and Heath have gone to such enormous lengths to create and maintain this website that has no equal, worldwide...none. They are both so kind and peace-loving. This is not the kind of thing they want to see and neither do I. I hope that we can work through photo posting issues peacefully and in a way that makes everyone happy.

Common Questions:
1. Why can everyone else post extra photos, but not me?
This is the number one response I receive to photo deletion. The rules are the same for every member. Please try to understand that with all rules, there will be gray areas and it is up to us moderators to make decisions. Please respect our decisions, knowing that we are doing our best to be fair and do what is best for the whole CC community.

You may see multiple photos of cakes on the new uploads pages. There are 200 to 800 photos uploaded each and every day here on CC and it does take time to get through that many images, so within a day or so you will find that those photos have disappeared.

I delete hundreds of photos a week, not only in the new uploads, but also reported photos and ones I find in the process of cleaning and organizing the galleries. If everyone would just follow the rules it would make my job a little easier. Most of our members do follow the rules and photograph and display their cake with only one photo. Yet, almost every cake or figure can be photographed from 2 different angles. Can you imagine if everyone uploaded two or three or even six angles of their cake or figure? The one photo rule keeps the Cake Central galleries very neat, organized and easy to browse.

You will see exceptions to the rules. For example: Chocolate covered fruit is not allowed in the galleries but one old photo of some chocolate covered strawberries has hundreds of favorites so I did not delete it. This does not mean that it is okay to post photos of chocolate covered fruit.

2. How many photos can I load of my cake?
The posting rules are simple...one photo per cake or figure is allowed. The rules state that occasionally a second photo is okay if it shows a completely different view. "Occasionally" means that a second photo is a rare thing, not something that is needed for every cake or figure. The only reason you might need a second photo is if you have a two-sided cake. Close-ups are NOT a completely different view.

Try to keep the rules in mind when photographing your cakes. Just because you CAN take two photos of your cake and stay within the guidelines does not mean that you should. Remember, your photos appear not only in your own gallery, but in the new uploads and the category in which you place them.

3. What is allowed in the galleries?
Only decorated cakes and cookies.

Here is a list of what is NOT allowed: no candy, lollipops, chocolate covered fruit, fruit bouquets, pies, cinnamon rolls, pudding or Jello, bread, undecorated cheesecakes, undecorated cookies and undecorated cakes.

4. Why can't I upload two or more photos of this cookie, each one is different?
There are an infinite number of ways you can decorate a cookie. For example, I can cut out 24 dress cookies and decorate each one differently. I do not believe we need to see 24 separate photos in the gallery of those cookies when a group photo will do.

I would also like to encourage members to upload ONE photo of themed cookies and cupcakes. In other words, it seems to defeat the purpose of the one photo limit to upload 10 photos of each individual valentine cookie you make that day when you could have put them all in a plate and taken one photo.

5. Why can't I load a photo of my cookie bouquet?
You can, but if you have already loaded a photo of your cookies, then it is redundant to upload a photo of the bouquet. Choose either the bouquet or the cookies but you cannot upload both.

You might want to consider photographing your cookies in a plate rather than a bouquet because I find that you often cannot see the decorating work when the cookies are in bouquets, especially if they are wrapped in plastic. Try to remember that we are sharing decorating techniques and ideas. A picture of plastic covered cookies that you can hardly see doesn't help us much. I've also noticed that bouquets don't get as many views or saves as the cookies posted in a clear photo.

6. Why did you delete my better photograph?
Normally I look closely at each photo before deleting it and take into consideration which photo has the most favorites or comments, or is the better view, and keep that one (to the best of my ability). However, if a member's gallery is full of multiple photos of their cakes, then I load all the photos in thumbnail view and delete the multiples all at once. This can lead to more mistakes but it would take just too much time to examine each photo in a gallery full of duplicates.

7. Why don't you PM me before you delete my photo, I'd like to be able to choose which photo to keep?
With the number of photos that have to be removed, it would be virtually impossible to PM each member about their photo and then wait for a response before deleting it. Here again, if the rules were followed to begin with this would not be an issue. We have also mentioned before that it would be a good idea for members to clean their own galleries.

8. Why did you delete my contest photo?
Too many people are uploading a second photo for the contest instead of moving their original photo. If your contest cake is already in your gallery, you must move it to the contest, NOT upload a second photo. You can move it back to its original gallery after the contest is over if you wish. Jackie has included instructions on the contest rules page. A watermarked photo will be removed, as well as a photo that identifies who you are in the photo or description(since we like contestants to be anonymous until after the contest is over) or solicits votes. Read the contest rules before uploading a contest photo...please.

9. Why can't I just upload as many as I want and if you don't like it, remove it?
This seems to be a new trend in the photo uploads. Members are uploading multiple photos of one cake and just assuming they will be deleted if they are breaking the rules, even mentioning in their comments that the photo is possibly a rules violation. I realize this pertains to only a few members but these few are uploading multiple photos of every cake no matter how many times I delete their multiples or PM them. If this pertains to you, I would ask that you please do not add to the workload of the moderators by doing this.

10. Who are you?
My name is Kathy. I am a stay-at-home mom of 4 and I've been decorating for about 15 years. I make cakes for friends and family so cake decorating is just a hobby for me, but like all of you, I love it and I love Cake Central. I am part of a team that includes all of you, the members, whose goal should be to make this website fun, informative, easy to use and fair for everyone...a pleasant escape for those of us who love decorated cakes. I love looking at cakes and it makes me so happy that the vast majority of our members are behind the owners and moderators in all we do, they are fun-loving and kind, patient and supportive. We don't all have to agree 100% on everything. That is not possible and we should all understand this by now, but we should try to be kind to one another.

In closing, I would like to encourage all members to please read the CakeCentral.com Terms . There is a link on the left side of your screen. They are not very long and will definitely clear up many of the questions you may have as well as help avoid misunderstandings in the future.

Thanks for your time and for reading through this whole post. Please post to this thread any questions you may have that will help the whole community. Again, if you have any personal photo posting problems, please PM me. I am here to help.

Kathy
Photo Gallery Moderator

I would also like to add that if someone has a problem with the gallery rules they should PM me,not Kathy. Kathy does not make the rules, Jackie and I do, she just helps to enforce those rules.

Complaining about a gallery rule to Kathy will not lead to any resolution as she is not responsible for the rule in question.

I just wanted to put that out there so that people knew who to properly contact.

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Also, as an aside, Jackie is working on a new version of the gallery that will allow you to upload multiple photos of a cake and have them all grouped together as one item. This feature will be great and will address a lot of the frustrations pertaining to duplicate photo submissions.

Excellent information, Kathy! Thanks so much for posting it!

Kathy, wow thanks for taking the time to put that information out! It's very helpful.

Thanks Kathy!
I know I was one of the members that had a duplicate photo... but I understand your plight. Thanks for keeping an eye on the website... I know it is very time consuming to go through all photos. At first I did feel bad that my other photo was deleted...but I have no regrets anymore.

Thank you again. CC has done a lot of things to newbies like me.

Mari

Very clear and concise Kathy. Thank you!

Hello....I don't have a problem with any of my photos being deleted. All I have ever wondered about is why my photos are scattered all over the page? When I first put them in, they would be lined up, four in a row, all the way dow. Now there are gaps and there, and all over between them.
No really big deal, but it would be nice if I would line them all up. Sorry if I haven't gone to the right person, and if this seems like a silly concern. Just wondering.....

Thank you Kathy and Heath, you guys are great!!

Kathy, I appreciate all you do to make the website more streamlined. As a gallery supporter, I fully understand the reason for the rules. It is so disheartening when there are 12 pages of photos and as many as 7 or 8 cookie pictures from the same person and they are expecting a comment on all of them.
I just have one question or comment. There are a few pics in my Photos that I'd like to get rid of but they have 1 or 2 favorites and it won't let me delete those. Is there a way to do it?

KathysCC - I wanted to personally say thanks for doing what you do!

Given what you've had to go through with member backlash, it shows how big a person you are that you still continue on in your role as Photo Gallery Moderator with such passion.

It's mostly a thankless job and I'm sure not many others would be able to give of their own time to do what you do, much less take the time to explain & clarify the issues.

I can understand that a member may be upset when a photo has been deleted but I'd rather be in those shoes than yours. In fact I did have a photo deleted that was a different cake altogether from another one in my gallery but because they were both golf ball cakes (and we know the vast majority look the same), it did not bother me for more than 1 sec.

All I had to do was step back for a sec to realize that as a thumbnail it probably looked the same and it was uploaded on 2 consecutive days so it made sense that it was deleted.

Unfortunately you will mostly hear from those that are unhappy or upset or want to challenge a deletion but rarely will anyone thank you for doing what you do. So kudos to you for keeping it up.

There are those of us out here that appreciate what you do.

Thanks again

Thanks Kathy! I know that what you do is a tremendous amount of work...I appreciate it!

Obviously silly

So much good information, Kathy. Thank you for that, and for all the time and effort you put into doing your job!

Thanks to Heath and Jackie too, for backing you up and making it clear that you are only doing your job and applying their rules.

It really bothers me when people jump on you, when the problem is their own fault for not bothering to read and/or not following the rules in the first place.

Maybe your information post should be shown in great big, bright colored letters so maybe more members would read them and be informed.

Thanks to all of you who work so hard to keep the site a beautiful, informative and fun place to spend our time.

Hi KathysCC,
What should we do if when browsing the pictures in the galleries we find very similar picures posted by the same person? Should we click on "Report Photo"? I found a few instances of this just today. Or should we mind our own business and leave that up to the Gallery Supporters?

OMG, what vlin28 said! I was going to write a message of support and thanks but really, I can't add anything to that.

Thanks for all that you do. It's people like you who make it so great for us to be able to continue enjoying CC!!!!

Sorry you had to write that long drawn out explanation (shaking head). Parts of it reminded me of "Heeeeeere's Your Sign". Yikes. I don't understand what was so confusing in the first place. Thanks a lot for keeping a good tab on all the pics, the galleries look great!

So are we supposed to report photos that are doubles? I came across several today that were photos of the same cake, just a different angle.

Thanks for doing what you do and doing it so well, Kathy! Simply the fact that you have written your explanation with grace and eloquence shows you are the right person for the job, and I hate that you have had to endure scathing remarks in the past.

Agreed. I think your message was concise and to the point. When the one photo rule was implemented, I took the time to go back over my photo's and delete multiple photos. Thanks again for the reminder of why we need maintenance on this site.

I just wanted to thank you, Kathy, for taking the time to clean up all the extra pictures. I can't imagine how tedious that must get... but I know I personally appreciate the only-one-picture-per-cake rule. Your hard work makes it much easier for me to browse the galleries! Thanks!

Thank you everyone for your kind words of support.

vlin28 - Thank you so much for your well-worded response. If I make a boo-boo and delete a picture that I shouldn't, then please just reload it. I realize you won't get your comments and favorites back but you are sure to get new ones and that is always fun.

Puffcake and Niliquely - yeah, what ceshell said. I couldn't have said it better myself. I clean up the new uploads almost daily, so I'll catch those, but if you find some older ones, feel free to use the report button.

LOL! I saw this in someone's signature line the other day.

"I have *CDO*, you know it's *OCD* except the letters are in alphabetical order like they should be."

I thought that was the funniest thing and so describes ME!


Thanks Kathy for all your hard work in keeping the galleries organized, we really appreciate you!

Deb

Wow great clarification Kathy, thanks for taking the time to explain this in such detail...when I first joined a few years ago I use to upload bookoos of pics of one cake thinking it was just going into my galley and was ok, cause I scanned over the rules not really reading them instead.

I did learn from reading on another forum how to make a photo collogue..but was glad to hear Jackie is working on a process for us to be able to do it here..Oh Goody, How cool is that?!!!!

Thanks for all you do, Mary

PS..I LOVE CC!!!

Kathy...great post and thanks for doing such a good, often thankless, job! Your task wouldn't be necessary if folks just read and followed the very simple rules.

Keep up the good work!

Jodie