Board Thread:News and Announcements/@comment-14908162-20160910162842

Hello everyone,

We do not have clear guidelines on which covers can be added and which can't, so after thinking about it for a long time I thought it might be a good idea to construct a guideline on it. Since I don't want to decide on the rules alone, I'd like this to be a community decision (which is why this thread is highlighted). I'll try to add polls for each decision to make sure that people can vote even if they don't want to leave a comment, but please do not shy away from commenting your own ideas and criticizing mine. Also, keep in mind that the parts below this short introduction are largely my opinion on the matter, so please don't see them as facts.

The Guideline Itself
The first decision I'd like to discuss is if we should make a guideline at all. After all, we could also decide that people will be able to add any cover. My personal opinion on this is that this wiki's main focus should be on adding and promoting original songs, and adding covers might take that focus away. This actually has been the main priority of the wiki since it was created, even before I was around (the first line of the "About VLW" section on the front page was "Vocaloid Lyrics Wiki is a collaborative website for the purpose of presenting Vocaloid Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Spanish, and English original songs." before I made any changes to it). Should we make a guideline concerning which covers can be added? Yes No

The Rules
This section will contain my personal opinion on which covers can be added on here. It will contain five sections. I think a cover should meet at least one of these criteria to be allowed on here. Please leave any suggestion for more rules in the comments.

Amount of views
I personally think that a cover song with 1000k views should be okay to add. 1000k views is a lot, and songs often have a hard time getting to this number. Having this amount of views also often means that the song has had a considerable impact on the fandom, and while this wiki is not meant to create a fandom, it might be handy to create pages for them. For example, 般若心経ポップ (Hannya Shingyou Pop) has 2000k views, and it has spawned multiple arrangements and is even considered a meme. This is also the case for Ievan Polkka, which also spawned multiple covers and is often one of the songs that people who don't know about VOCALOID recognize Hatsune Miku by. Should this rule be added if we make a guideline? Yes No Yes, but the required viewcount should be lowered (please make a suggestion in the comments if you choose this option) Yes, but the required viewcount should be higher (please make a suggestion in the comments if you choose this option)

Self-covers
Producers sometimes make self-covers of their own songs. I personally think that if a producer covers one of their own songs using a VOCALOID, it should be counted as a self-cover or an "official" cover and a page should be allowed. Examples of this are Rose + Thorn and Anonymous, both songs by Empath-P. Should this rule be added if we make a guideline? Yes No

Official Games
As many of you know, there are some games made by VOCALOID companies or with permission of VOCALOID companies featuring VOCALOIDS (the most notable probably being PROJECT DIVA). I personally think that non-VOCALOID covers featured in this game should also be allowed to get a page. The only example I can think of right now is AFTER BURNER. However, I do think we should limit it to the covers of non-VOCALOID songs in this case, and not covers/remixes of VOCALOID songs. Not only would including those probably get really confusing (as you can also just add a song files to certain clips I believe, so there is no way to assert if the cover was made by the company or not), but would also allow users to add the medleys that are featured in the game, which are (as the name suggests) just medleys of other VOCALOID songs. Should this rule be added if we make a guideline? Yes No

Demo Songs
Not every VOCALOID gets original songs as demo songs. Sometimes the company uses other non-VOCALOID songs to demonstrate their VOCALOIDS. Since the company which made the VOCALOID worked on this song themselves, I would personally call covers that are also demos "official covers" as to say, or at least covers that are approved by the company who made the VOCALOID. I therefore believe they should be allowed. Examples of this are Summertime and Rose + Thorn. Should this rule be added if we make a guideline? Yes No

Remixes of Soundtracks
Sometimes producers make a remix of a non-VOCALOID song, where they add lyrics to soundtracks of for example movies or video games. Since these songs are not *just* a cover and add new lyrics to it, I would argue that these types of covers should also be allowed. Examples of these types of covers are Lavender Town, Lavender Town Syndrome and AFTER BURNER. Should this rule be added if we make a guideline? Yes No

Other pages
In the scenario that we implement all of these rules without very big changes, some of the covers which are present on the wiki now would have to be removed. Here's a list: I personally think that if we install all these rules, these pages should be removed as well since they don't follow the rules. But I'd like to let the community decide since most of them are finished pages. I'll also leave the option to only remove "No Brand Girls", as the page is still a WIP and it doesn't seem it's going to be finished anytime soon, as the person who made the page hasn't edited it for some time. Should we remove these pages if they don't follow the guidelines anymore? Yes No Only No Brand Girls
 * No Brand Girls (cover of the Love Live! song)
 * Death Letter (cover of the Son House song)
 * September (cover of the song by The Living Tombstone)
 * 全裸で書いたラブレター (Zenra de Kaita Love Letter) (cover of the Roman Porsche song)
 * 피리부는소녀 (Piribuneunsonyeo) (cover of the song by The Witch Next Door)

Thank you all very much for reading. Please comment suggestions and any criticism that you might have below. Have a wonderful day =). 