You are at netAirspace : Forum : NOTAMs - Site Related Forums : About netAirspace

Dear Members,

Please find hereafter some information about individual features of our forum, based on questions we are frequently asked.


Photo FAQ

Uploading photos

Screening

Viewing Photos, Statistics

Sharing Photos

Photo Albums


Forum FAQ

Embedding photos in a post

Embedding videos in a post

Embedding Google Maps in a post

Political Discussions

Ignoring other members - the "Foes" list


General FAQ

Paid Memberships

netAirspace Miles

Achievements

How to get an Avatar

Certified Experts


Our site rules can be found here: http://www.netairspace.cc/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=570

If you are missing any information, or have further questions, please do not hesitate to post them in the "About netAirspace.com" forum, or contact our Customer Support Team.

Photo FAQ - Uploading Photos


You can upload photos to our photo database here: http://www.netairspace.cc/photos/upload.php

(You have to be logged in with a valid membership account to access the photo upload. If you don't have an account yet, you can sign up for free here.)


Q: How many photos can I upload, and what resolutions are acceptable?

A: The minimum resolution is 600 px on the smaller side. The maximum resolution is 2048 px on the wider side.

How many photos you can upload, depends on your membership status:

• Economy Class (free) membership: 10 photo uploads per week
• Business Class membership: 25 photo uploads per week
• First Class membership: unlimited uploads

The database will let you know immediately if your photo does not meet any of the technical requirements.


Q: Do I have to observe a specific aspect ratio?

A: No, all aspect ratios are welcome. From square to panorama - we don't restrict your creativity in any way.


Q: What motives are acceptable?

A: We have only two requirements regarding motives:

• It has to be aviation-related.
• No inappropriate or offensive elements.

That is all.


Q: What are your quality requirements?

A: There are none. As long as it is aviation-themed, it is welcome here. That goes for 'standard' spotting photos, as well as for artistic photos or creative edits.

You will find more details on our approach to quality in the "Screening" chapter below.


Q: What information do I have to provide upon uploading?

A: Most of it should be self-explanatory. If you are missing any information, you can leave fields empty, but please do try to provide at least registration and location info.


Q: What location info should I provide?

A: The Location field will recognize airport name, IATA code or ICAO code. ICAO stands the best chance of being identified properly.


Q: Your database did not recognize the location / registration. Why?

A: Our database is growing steadily, but we do not have records of all airfields or registrations yet. Please try to provide as many information as possible.

The info will be reviewed by our database editors after you uploaded your photo, and the missing items will be added to the database. Next time, we will know that airfield, or registration. You just helped our database to grow. Thank you!

If you plan to upload a batch of photos from a location that is not in our database yet, please contact a staff member or post a request in the photo forum before the upload. We will then add the location, so that you do not have to provide the location information every time.


Q: How does your database know when my photo was taken?

A: We determine the photo date from the EXIF data embedded in your shot. You can still change it, in case it is incorrect.


Q: Why am I asked to provide a 'photographer name'?

A: The photographer name will appear in the copyright bar at the bottom of the photo. You can use your user name, or a different name, e.g. your real name. We kindly ask you to refrain from using an e-mail address, a URL or a brand name (e.g. an airline name) as photographer name, though.


Q: How does watermarking work?

A: We offer the option to add a watermark to your photo, for protection against unlicensed use. Our watermark feature is very versatile. You can try different settings, until you find the one you like best. You can also change, add or remove the watermark for any of your photos in the database, any time.

The default settings for watermark and photographer name can be changed in your Photo Options page.


Q: Can I upload a photo with my own watermark or signature already in it?

A: We do not restrict it, but we will not select your photo for the homepage then. This will result in your photo getting less views. The same goes for frames or borders around your photo.

If you use our watermarking option, there is no way for members to bypass it. All members, including those with a First Class membership, will see only the watermarked version. It's safe.

If you still insist on using an own watermark, we kindly ask you to refrain from using URLs, e-mail addresses or advertising as watermarks.


Your upload is complete now. What happens next is covered in the next FAQ section: Screening.

Photo FAQ - Screening


Q: I uploaded a photo. What happens now?

A: After your upload is complete, your photo is available in the database immediately, just like on a photo hosting website.


Q: Don't you guys screen my photo?

A: Yes, we do. But you don't have to wait for it.

We screen your photos after they are already in the database. In our screening process, we select the best shots and mark them as "eligible for the homepage".

'Best shots' can refer to technical quality, rare motives, or artistic impression.

Most photos with the 'Homepage' mark will eventually show up in the Featured Photo section on our homepage. When your photo made an appearance there, you will receive a PM notification about it the next morning (unless you disabled those notifications in your Photo Options).


Q: And what happens if my photo does not get your 'Homepage' mark?

A: Nothing. We will not put it on the homepage, but that's all.

The photo is not being removed from our database. You can still post it in the forums, share it on Facebook or e-mail a link to your friends. So the photo can still become popular. And if it does, we may even re-screen it and revert our earlier decision.

There is no penalty for photos that don't pass our screening. You can upload what you like, and our members and visitors will view whatever they like. Hassle-free uploading - we think that's just how it should be.

Photo FAQ - Viewing Photos; Statistics

Clicking on a thumbnail anywhere on the site will lead you to the photo view page.

On the photo view page, clicking on the photo will toggle between 'regular view' (downsized to 800 px) and 'full view' (original photo resolution, which can be up to 2,048 px).

Every time a photo is viewed, the view count is increased by 1. Multiple clicks from the same computer are not being counted.

Every photo view will earn the photographer 1 netAirspace Mile (see the "Miles" section for more info on our bonus program).


Interacting with photos

netAirspace offers you several ways to interact with photos.

Add a comment - Near the bottom of the page, you have the option to comment on a photo. Photographers can disable comments on their photos. But most will appreciate feedback on their work. So if the comment field is open, please do leave a message.

Love - There is a heart-shaped icon in the info box below the photo. Clicking it increases the photo's Love count by 1. A higher Love count will increase the photo's visibility. So please express your love whenever you feel it. You can even toggle your love for a photo any time. (But please don't try that with your partner!)

Share the photo- In the box below the info box, you are being offered several options to share the photo. That's so important, we dedicated a separate section to it: "Photo Sharing", you will find it below.

Add to album - The "Album" icon in the box below the photo allows you to add the photo to one of your personal photo albums. See "Photo Albums" for more info on how to create and edit albums.

Finally, for your own photos, you will also see a recycling bin icon in the info box. That allows you to easily delete your photo from our database. We prefer if you would leave it here, but it is your photo, and we think you should be in control over it.


Photo stats & info

Underneath the photo, you can see how often it has been viewed and loved, as well as it's AvB score.

AvB is our innovative photo rating tool. It's right on the homepage. It shows you 2 photos, and you chose which one you like better. That allows us to create a reliable photo ranking, that cannot easily be manipulated. Please use it frequently - there are special Miles bonuses in it for you.

In the info box below the photo, you will find an "Info" icon, that will lead you to additional statistics, like detailed views per day, and incoming links to the photo.

Below the Share box, you will find a quick-search box that allows you to easily find "More photos like this one".

If the photo has been added to user albums, you will see links to these albums below the quick-search box.


Photographer stats

For your own photos, you will also find an extensive selection of (sortable) statistics in your user profile.

Photo FAQ - Sharing Photos


Sharing photos is easy.

Both in the netAirspace forums, in social networks, and on other websites and forums.

Underneath each photo, you will find 4 different code snippets that you can easily copy & paste.

Short link - e.g.: http://www.netairspace.cc/pic/6093/

This short link can be used to share a photo by e-mail, or on social networks like Facebook, Google+ and Twitter. If you put this link e.g. on Facebook, a thumbnail should show up in your Facebook post as well.

netAirspace BBcode - you can use this one to embed a photo in our forums. Nb: this code will work only in the netAirspace forum.

To embed a photo in a forum post, just copy the code into your post:

[photo]8919[/photo]

In your post, it will look like this:



Clicking the thumbnail will lead to the photo display page.

General BBcode - this code can be used to embed the photo in other forums. It will work, as long as the forum understands BBcode (most forums do). Just copy & paste the code to your post.

The result should look like this:


PH-HZD at Innsbruck - Kranebitten
by Danijel Jovanovic - AirTeamImages on netAirspace.com

If you don't see a thumbnail, but only the code, it means that the forum you posted in did not understand BBcode. In that case, please use the Short Link to share a photo.

HTML code - for forums that allow HTML, or for your own homepage or blog, you can use this code to embed a photo from our database.

The result will look the same as with the BBcode option above:


9V-SKE at Los Angeles - International
by Speedbirdhd on netAirspace.cc

Sharing photos is safe.

As long as you use the codes provided by netAirspace, the photo will always remain on our website.

Technically, you are not sharing the photo file, but only a link to the file on our website.

This is important, as it makes sure the photographer's copyright is being respected.

So don't worry - you can safely use the codes to share your own photos, but also those of other photographers.


Sharing photos is important.

Sharing photos will increase the photo's view count.

If you share your photos on Facebook or Twitter, you should always share the netAirspace link.
Because only on netAirspace, you will earn Miles with photo views.

(It also increases netAirspace's popularity. So everybody wins. )

Please share photos frequently. Your own photos, but also others'.

Share them on Facebook, Twitter, and on other aviation-themed websites and forums. You will see that sharing has a big impact on photo views. And thus, on your Miles account.

Photo FAQ - Albums

You can create personal photo albums, and add photos from our database to them.

There are two kinds of album - Basic, and Premium.


Basic albums

Available to members with Business Class membership and above, this is very much like the photo albums you might have seen on other sites: Just add the photo to the album and you're done. Photos are shown as thumbnails, just like search results:



Here is an example.

You can have as many Basic albums as you like, and each can contain an unlimited number of photos. You can add photos from any photographer to your albums.


Premium albums

Available to members with First Class membership and above, this is much more like a traditional photo album - the real book kind, with real pages that you put real photos in:



Click here for an example album.

You can have as many Premium albums as you like, and each can contain an unlimited number of pages and photos.

You can re-arrange photos on the page, change the colour of the page, and add and remove pages. You can also resize the photos, up to a maximum of 600 pixels on the longer side - roughly the height of the album page, or about two thirds of its width.

We are really looking forward to seeing what you guys will do with these!


Starting a new album

Simply go to a photo that you want in your album, and add it (see below). You will be able to create a new album along the way.


Adding a photo to an album

Click the "Add to album" icon near the top right of the photo info box:



Now you see this screen:



All your albums are being displayed here (except those already containing the photo or those you no longer have high enough access to use).

Simply click the relevant "Add to this album" button, or fill in the form underneath to create a new one.

Adding to Basic albums

That's it. You will now see the album, with the photo in it:



Adding to Premium albums

For Premium albums, there is still a little more work to do. But it will be worth it.

Firstly, decide what page you want the new photo to appear on.



(If you have just created the album, you will not see this step. There is only one page.)

Then you will see the page you chose, with the new photo right in the middle of it. This is how it looks when you decide to create a new page:



You probably want the photo somewhere else, though, so see below for a quick guide to editing.


Editing Premium albums

If you are viewing one of your Premium album pages and want to make changes, click the pencil icon in the top right-hand corner to enter Edit mode. If you just added a photo, you are in Edit mode already.

Move your mouse over a photo, and you will see something like this:



It should be fairly self-explanatory, but a few things are worth noting:

Up/down/top/bottom affect the stacking order, so they will not appear to have any effect unless your photo overlaps another. If none of your photos overlap, you can ignore this setting altogether.

Remove from album does just that. If you just want to put the photo on a different page, better chose Remove from page. That puts the photo in a "loose photos" box underneath the page. You can add any photos in that box to the page you're editing with a single click. (Remember, loose photos don't appear when others view your album; photos only show up when they are on a page.)

The maximum photo size is 600 pixels on the longer side.

Note that all changes are saved as you make them, so you don't need to press a Save button.

When you have finished editing, click "Done" and you will see the page the way everyone else does.


Questions

Q: What happens if my First / Business Class membership expires?

A: Your albums are unaffected; you and everyone else can still view them. You can delete any of your albums at any time, regardless of your membership level.

However, you can only edit your albums when you have the appropriate membership level - Business for Basic albums, First for Premium albums.

In addition, Business Class members can convert any of their Premium albums to a Basic album, and are then free to add photos. All the layout information is preserved, so you can convert it back to a Premium album when you have a First Class membership again. Any photos added since you converted it to Basic will then be "loose" in the album, and they will not show up when viewing the album until you add them to a page.


Q: I am editing my Premium album; why can't I make this photo fill the page?

A: The code we use to re-size the photos adds a copyright bar if either dimension exceeds 600 pixels. That looks horrible on an album page, and it wreaks havoc on the calculations (they depend on the ratio of width to height, which changes when the bar is added), so we decided that the best thing to do was to limit the size of photos in albums.


Q: Can I add the same photo to an album more than once?

A: No. When you are adding a photo to an album, you will not be offered albums that already contain this photo.


Q: Why can't I use pinch-to-zoom and other fancy gestures when editing a Premium album on my iToy?

A: This is very much a first release, and we expect to add full support for editing Premium albums on touch devices later. For now, you will probably need to use a proper computer with a mouse.

You should be able to view both Basic and Premium albums on a touch device without any problems, though. Even on an iToy.


Q: Do my photos get views when someone views an album containing them?

A: Basic albums, no. The person viewing the album needs to click your photo before it will get a view.

Premium albums, yes. Every photo on the page gets a view when that page is viewed. Multiple views from the same computer will be filtered, just like for regular views.


Q: Will netAirspace give me anything for creating an album?

A: Yes. You will get a bronze Album Achievement when you create your first Basic album, and a silver Premium album Achievement for your first Premium album. And Achievements give you Miles.

Forum FAQ - Embedding photos from our database in a post

You can easily embed photos from our database in your forum posts. When doing so, you can chose between two sizes - thumbnail, or large view.

The code for embedding a thumbnail can be found underneath every photo, on the photo view page. Just copy & paste it to your post.

To do it manually, insert either the [photo] or the [photo_large] BB tag to your post by clicking the respective buttons in the posting screen.

Then, insert the photo ID of the photo you want to embed in between the bb tags. The photo ID can be found in the URL, or in the info underneath a photo.

For example: the photo ID for the link below is: 112

http://www.netairspace.cc/pic/112

Press the photo button and copy the photo ID between the [photo] or [photo_large] tags. The result should look like this:

[photo]112[/photo]

or

[photo_large]112[/photo_large]


After posting, the photo will appear in your post.

[photo]112[/photo] does this:


[photo_large]112[/photo_large] will get you this:


Clicking the photo will lead you to the photo display page.

Forum FAQ - Embedding videos in a post

In the netAirspace forum, you can embed videos from YouTube.com and Vimeo.com in your forum posts.

Please note that the "embed" code offered by YouTube (it usually begins with <object width="480" … ) does not work in our forum. The reason is that this code is HTML, and embedding HTML code was disabled for security reasons.

If you want to embed a YouTube or Vimeo video to your post, you can do it as follows:


For YouTube:

Add the [youtube] bb tag by clicking the respective button in the posting screen. Between the tag, insert the YouTube video ID. You can find it in the video URL, after the '='

For Example: The Video ID in the YouTube Video link below is: ksmDuXO_k6E

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ksmDuXO_k6E

Press the YouTube button and copy the video ID between the [youtube] tags. The result should look like this:

[youtube]ksmDuXO_k6E[/youtube]

After posting, the video will appear in your post:



Please note that YouTube members can disable the embedding for their videos. If a respective message appears in the video box in your post, then it is because of a setting the videographer made at YouTube.

Also, please note that not all videos can be accessed from all countries, and videos may not work on mobile devices that don't support Flash.


For Vimeo:

Embedding works the same way as with YouTube videos: place the Vimeo video ID between the [vimeo] tags.

Example:

http://vimeo.com/55291921

[vimeo]55291921[/vimeo]

Result:

Forum FAQ - Embedding Google Maps in your post

Like YouTube video and photos, you can also embed Google Maps in your post, e.g. to illustrate spotting positions.

You can add the map to your post by using the [map] bb tag, which you can add to your post by clicking the respective button in the posting screen.

Then, add latitude, longitude and zoom between the tags, like this:

[map]latitude,longitude,zoom[/map]

Latitude: in decimal degrees - north is positive, south negative.
Longitude: in decimal degrees - east is positive, west negative.
Zoom: Whole number, 1 or greater. Bigger number is closer in.

Here's how to get the lat/long information you'll need.

In Google Maps, go to the place of interest. Right-click the map and select "Center map here".

Now click "Link" above the top-right corner of the map. Two links appear in a box.

Copy the link labelled "Paste link in email or IM". It will look something like this:

http: //maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=New+York,+NY,+United+States&sll=53.328802,-2.661798&sspn=0.007625,0.022724&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=New+York&ll=40.689148,-74.044569&spn=0.00242,0.005681&t=h&z=18

Extract the lat/long (two numbers after &ll=, separated by a comma, shown in red - make sure you get the ones after &ll= and not &sll=) and the zoom (after &z=, shown in blue), and put them in a [ map] tag, as shown (without spaces):

[map]40.689148,-74.044569,18[/map]

Result (you should see the Statue of Liberty here):



The map window here is probably a lot smaller than the one you'll have in Google Maps itself. If you find that you need to zoom out some, subtract 1 from the zoom value and see if that's better. We recommend that you preview your post before submitting.

Forum FAQ - Political discussions

Some of our members are interested in political discussions, others are not.

We have thus set up a separate "Politics" subforum, and the option to opt-in or opt-out from it.

If you want to join the Politics forum, all you have to do it to join the "Politics" user group.

To do so, please go to your User Control Panel and click the tab labelled "Usergroups". There, you will see the "Politics" user group.

If you are not a member of that group yet, but would like to follow or participate in political discussions, select the Politics group, and chose "Join Selected" from the dropdown. Confirm your selection, and you are a member of the Politics user group. You will now see the Politics subforum in the Off-Topics section of our forum.

In case you are not interested in following the political discussions anymore, go to your User Control Panel, click the "Usergroups" tab, select the Politics user group and then chose "Resign Selected" from the dropdown below. Click "Submit" and confirm your selection.

As long as you are not a member of the Politics user group, you cannot see the Politics forum anymore. Posts made in the Politics forum will not appear in your "View New Posts" list, either. In short, to you it will look like no Politics forum exists here.

The Politics group is free, meaning you can join and resign any time, with no moderator confirmation being needed. So you can try the feature without any risk.

Forum FAQ - Ignoring other members via the "Foes" list

As in every larger forum, you may occasionally find other members here whom you'll rarely agree with, and whose posts may annoy you.

Don't let that disturb your experience. Simply add the member in question to your "Foes" list, and their posts will be hidden by default.

The feature is completely private - no one can see whom you have on your "Foes" list. You can add and remove members from that list any time.

More information on the "Friends" and "Foes" feature can be found here: faq.php#f6r0

General FAQ - Paid Memberships

Registering an account with netAirspace.com is, and will remain to be, completely free of charge.

A free account - we call it 'Economy Class' - allows you to read all forums, post in some forums, and upload up to 10 photos per week.

We do offer paid accounts as well: Business Class and First Class. They give you full forum access, more photo uploads, and access to additional features. You can find the details here.

By getting a paid account, you support netAirspace.com and help us paying the monthly bills.

But regardless of whether you keep your free account, or upgrade to a paid one, there is one basic guarantee that you can count on:

No recurring or hidden charges. Ever.

Registering an account is free. And it will remain free, unless you actively upgrade to a premium account.

When you buy an upgrade to a premium account (for 1 month or 1 year), you buy just that - 1 month (or 1 year) of premium access. We do not offer subscriptions, and there will be no recurring charges. Ever.

We will remind you before your premium membership expires, but if you will not actively prolong it, your account will go back to "Economy" - and will thus be free of charge again.

General FAQ - netAirspace Miles

netAirspace Miles is our loyalty program. Every member automatically participates in it.


Earn Miles

There two main ways to earn Miles:

By photo views: You get 1 mile for each view to one of your photos.

By achievements: You will get miles credited for every achievement you earn. You can find more infos on achievements in the respective FAQ section.

In addition, you can earn extra miles by uploading rare or requested photo motives. Please check this forum thread for more details.


Spend Miles

Over time, your Miles account will grow. Once you have collected enough Miles, you can spend them on:

Premium Memberships - use Miles for upgrading your account to a Business or First Class membership.

Shop Discounts - use Miles to get discounts in the Chicken Wings store, or netAirspace's own fan shop (coming soon).

Airline Miles - yes, you can even convert netAirspace Miles into airline miles!

More details are available here: http://www.netairspace.cc/miles/

General FAQ - Achievements

It's a simple concept: do stuff, get Achievements, earn Miles.

There are quite a few photo-related Achievements, but our main goal was to also reward your positive contributions in other areas. These include the forum, the social side (meets, etc.), and financial contributions.

The list of Achievements is frequently being updated. You can find it here: http://www.netairspace.cc/miles/achievements.php

We have 5 levels of Achievements, each with their own Miles value:

• Bronze (500 Miles) - mostly easy stuff like upload a photo, make a post.
• Silver (2,500 Miles) - somewhat harder to achieve.
• Gold (4,500 Miles) - these will generally take real effort.
• Black (10,000 Miles) - Reserved for exceptional achievements, or for cleaning up in a particular category.
• Purple (100,000 Miles) - there will only ever be one Achievement at this level. We will be amazed if anyone ever gets it - there is a reason we called it "Legend"! But don't let that stop you trying!

You can see the Achievements you already earned in your user profile.

Please note that some of the Achievements need to be claimed manually. So check the Achievements list every once in a while, and claim those Achievements that you qualified for. You earned them!

General FAQ - How to get an Avatar

Go to your User Control Panel, click the Profile tab, and click Edit avatar. Or just follow this link.

What you can do next depends on your membership level.


Economy Class

Economy Class members have a default avatar. This cannot be changed.




Business Class

Business Class members can choose from a number of preset avatar images, or use the default.



Click the one you want, and click the button labelled "Click here to set your avatar".

We will occasionally release a few more preset avatars as our membership grows.


First Class

Our First Class and Ultimate Class members can choose from the same preset images as Business Class members, but can also upload their own personal avatars.



Points to note about personal avatars:

• Avatars must be PNG format (not JPEG or GIF), and exactly 66x33 pixels. Anything else will not work.
• We make the image slightly transparent, so bright, contrasty images work best. If you start with a muddy mess, you will end up with an even muddier mess.
• We apply a fade to the right-hand edge, so you might want to have the content of your image a little to the left of centre.

There is no limit on how many avatars you can upload, but don't go too crazy - after all, you can only use one at a time

Once uploaded, your image will appear on the avatar page right away.


Questions

Q: Why didn't it work?

A: Good question. Please contact a crew member, and we will have a look.


Q: What if my Business / First Class membership expires?

A: When your paid membership expires, your avatar will be set to the default for your new membership level.

If you had a First Class membership, your personal avatars remain on the server. Just upgrade to First again and you can use them again. In fact, your most recently uploaded avatar will be set for you.

General FAQ - Certified Experts

You will note that some members have a special rank, "Certified Expert". This means that the member is a professional expert in his field, and provided netAirspace crew with some sort of proof of his experience (like copies of certificates, publications, or free jump seat rides ).

The status is supposed to give you an idea about who really is a professional - or, in other words, to help telling a real 747 captain from his flight sim counterpart.

However, please note that the absence of a Certified Expert rank does not mean that the respective member is not an expert or professional in their field - they may just have preferred to remain private.

If you are an aviation professional and would like to get the Certified Expert status, please contact on of the netAirspace admins - miamiair, ShanwickOceanic or Zak - and let us know about your profession. We guarantee that all information you send us will be kept strictly confidential.