The Question Collective: Uploading Tips and Tricks to Get You on Your Way @ the Coffeetank

The Question Collective: Uploading Tips and Tricks to Get You on Your Way

By now you may have come across our Question Collective and thought to yourself, “Hey, I have a great idea that I would like to share, but what’s the deal with uploading images and how do I get in on that action?” Well, fear not as I am here to guide you through this process and have you contributing your insights in no time.

Let’s start with the basics. Once you have created your account (which you will need to start contributing), glance at the top of the page where you will see your name. As long as you are logged in this toolbar will follow you wherever you go. On the right hand side you will see a button that says UPLOAD NOW, so don’t be scared, go ahead and click it. Now you can start getting creative. Note that there are several other places around Soul Pancake that will take you to the upload page as well.

The Questions Collective is all about getting creative with your submissions. The idea is for you to take a photo or an image, and creatively put together a question for the Soul Pancake community to answer. Once you upload your image for all to share, the community will start discussing and contributing as well.

On the upload page you’ll see a big blue button that states “Select an Image.” But wait, “Where do I get an image, and what the heck is a JPG, GIF, or PNG?” To put it simply, these are three common image file format types for graphics on the internet. Basically they are the letters that directly follow the name of your image on your computer that differentiate which file type it is. So where should you go about getting images? Well, for starters, if you own or have access to a digital camera, you can shoot pictures to your hearts content and let your creativity be your guide. There are also several stock image resources, both free and for a fee. You can choose from vast libraries of images that may help explain your question or submission. A few popular pay stock images sites include, iStockPhoto and Corbis, while StockVault remains free but be sure to read their terms of use. With a simple search on any major search engine, you will be able to find several other resources of images.

So, now that you have your amazing image that so perfectly describes the question that you are dying to ask, what do you do with it? Does size matter? How do I edit it or add stuff to it? Well, an optimal size for an image would have a width between 1000 and 1600 pixels. What you would want to avoid is uploading an image with small dimensions as it will get stretched and become pixelated, thus leaving you an unhappy camper as your masterpiece won’t be seen to its true potential. If you do not have access to, or are unfamiliar with photo editing software, there are several free online photo editing website that can help. Here is a simple list of a few that you can use, and once again with a simple search you will be able to find several others.

• FotoFlexer
• Picnick
• Pixenate
• Splashup

With editors such as these, you can crop and arrange your images to your liking to really express your thoughts. Once you have your image ready to go, head back to the Soul Pancake upload page and click the big blue “Select an Image” button. You will then be prompted to choose the image that you intend to use. Once an image is chosen you geo-tag it (which is a fancy word for “enter a location”). Once this is complete simply click the Submit button to move on! Next, ask your question or give your image a title, and enter a brief description or story behind your image… Click “submit” and you’re all done! Processing your image may take a few seconds, so don’t be scared to dive in and answer some from around the community.

Posted on March 8th, 2009 Dave 37 comments

Community
37 responses to “The Question Collective: Uploading Tips and Tricks to Get You on Your Way”
1. Is there a way for users to delete photos they’ve uploaded to the Question Collective?
  
  Sarah March 10th, 2009 at 21:52
2. Sarah, yes you can email support@soulpancake.com with “Please Delete my Photo” in the subject line, and the link to your submission Easy as pie.
  
  Aviv March 11th, 2009 at 20:42
3. I need a picture removed and I followed your instructions but the mail fails to deliver due to bulk mailing blah blah blah. Help please? Thanks!
  
  Misty March 12th, 2009 at 00:44
4. I cant seem to find the question i have posted.. :S
  
  Anidha March 12th, 2009 at 11:50
5. Hey guys, first of all, this website is sweet! I definately share you guys’ desire to help people start thinking more about things and this is a great way to do it. Second, I’m having trouble uploading to the question collective. I tried last night, and again today but I’m not seeing it up there. I hope it doesn’t come up like three times after a while. How long does it usually take for a post to register? I know this is painfully vague but what might my problem be (it’s a png file I got off a google image search.)
  
  Jon Hartman March 12th, 2009 at 15:46
6. I can’t find my question. Does it take a while before it is published? Also, will you email me when people post an answer to my question?
  
  India March 12th, 2009 at 20:22
7. I comment rarely on blogs but just wanted to stop and say Great Content.
  
  Jimmy Smith March 13th, 2009 at 18:29
8. I see several people have had the same problem~I can’t find the question I posted or the responses!
  
  Angela March 16th, 2009 at 17:28
9. I’m having the same problem. The question that I posted yesterday is still not published. Any suggestions?
  
  Sabz March 18th, 2009 at 22:49
10. Superb blog, thank you for sharing your opinions
  
  Earnest R March 20th, 2009 at 00:50
11. Hi. I tried to upload a photo to the question collective several times, and it always says that it can’t be uploaded. I’m pretty sure it’s a jpg file, and it’s definitely not too big. Help?
  
  Amanda March 21st, 2009 at 08:50
12. Hello everyone,
  
  It appears that many of you are experiencing a similar problem with being able to track your submissions. We are hard at work on some great new features that should be available in the near future that will take care of many of your concerns.
  
  Additionally, if you have a specific inquiry please email our support team at support@soulpancake.com.
  
  Dave March 24th, 2009 at 13:22
13. wow, good point.
  
  Maria April 2nd, 2009 at 01:59
14. Thanks for keeping everyone enlightened.
  
  Edna April 2nd, 2009 at 02:03
15. Intriguing. You made a superb point.
  
  Doris April 2nd, 2009 at 02:10
16. ok its not just me, i posted a submission a week or so back, can’t find it now lol
  
  how cool is soul pancake?? love it!
  
  ~lily
  
  @lilyofoz April 4th, 2009 at 23:22
17. I’m looking for themes on my blog I am just starting. Do you think this type of theme would work for my photography blog?
  
  Daniel Ivey April 11th, 2009 at 04:49
18. don’t get it!!!
  i’ve been to an image site, and i’ve picked an image, now how do I put that image on a question?
  
  ben April 12th, 2009 at 10:27
19. how do i find the question i have posted?
  
  ben April 12th, 2009 at 11:17
20. the search just takes me back to the home page!
  
  ben April 12th, 2009 at 11:18
21. how do i get my picture to look good?
  it always comes out pixeled
  
  ben April 12th, 2009 at 11:29
22. @ben,
  
  After uploading your image/question it may take a few minutes to process, so you may not be able to see it immediately. Also be sure that you are uploading a supported file type eg. .JPG, .PNG, .GIF. If you are experiencing pixelation issues it may be that the image you are uploading has a low resolution or aspect ratio, so if possible try and find an image that has a width between 1000 and 1600 pixels. Hope this helps
  
  Additionally, for specific inquiries please contact our support team at support@soulpancake.com.
  
  Dave April 12th, 2009 at 23:48
23. I read your posts for quite a long time and should tell you that your articles are always valuable to readers.
  
  Samuel L. April 24th, 2009 at 06:09
24. Were does your question appear when published and how long does it usually take?
  
  Katie April 29th, 2009 at 18:35
25. My friend sent me a link to a comment he posted in soulpancake. I can use the link to get to his posting in the thread, but I can’t find that thread anywhere in any of your menus. It was not from collective gallery but from a discussion/photo. Where is that? Thank you.
  
  Kim June 3rd, 2009 at 14:27
26. Hello, first off congrats on a kick@$$ site! I am having a problem with my settings. My interweb name is Clerknerd, and when I uploaded and joined SP it shows up as Clerkenrd. How do I fix it? It shows up right on my home page, but when I blog it’s wrong. Any help would be great! Thanks!
  
  Clerkenrd- (for now)
  
  Nick June 15th, 2009 at 10:26
27. Hi,
  
  How do you delete entire questions that one has uploaded? Or at least edit? I need to revise a few things, but have not found a way..
  
  Stacy
  
  Stacy June 29th, 2009 at 21:30
28. Im confused i upload questions but they never seem to appear. I know the question are suitable for this website but i hope that whoever it is that decides what questions to put in the collective are not judging the criteria based on how cool looking ur picture are rather than the question and matter its self. I love the website but i want to be able to post some stuff so just wandering what might be going on.
  
  James July 3rd, 2009 at 02:03
29. Hello everyone,
  
  It seems that a few of you have a similar inquiry about how long it takes to upload a question. Once a question is uploaded, please allow a few minutes for the image to process.
  
  Additionally, if you have any specific questions such as deleting a submission or problems with your settings/profile, please contact our support team directly at support@soulpancake.com and we would be happy to help you out
  
  Thanks again everyone!
  
  Dave July 31st, 2009 at 10:36
30. After reading this blog makes me want to start my own
  
  Wash X. August 30th, 2009 at 13:22
31. You have made some fair points there and according to my research, most people would like your blog.
  
  internetcompanyaffiliateaholic August 31st, 2009 at 07:47
32. botaztwwawod
  
  clgqillwijxd October 5th, 2009 at 15:38
33. After reading this usefull article how to use twitter. I even see some sens in twittering. Thx a lot.
  
  farbige kontaktlinsen October 20th, 2009 at 10:05
34. i have been reading your blog for a bit now, just wanted to say thanks for this. and i have am subscribed to your RSS feed. look forward to reading more from you
  
  Otc Stocks October 22nd, 2009 at 00:56
35. The question that I posted yesterday is published. But I doesn’t see my question on the question collective map. Why?
  
  Eugenia October 31st, 2009 at 00:11
36. I have posted two separate questions, and both gave me a “successful” but neither have shown up. One from yesterday and one from today. Neither are on my homepage or searchable. Please help!
  
  Christina November 13th, 2009 at 13:27
37. Hi Christina,
  
  Sorry for the inconvenience, but this was due to a temporary lapse with one of our infrastructure partners. We are making every stride possible to ensure that this will not happen again. Thank you for your understanding and continued support.
  
  Dave November 13th, 2009 at 14:58
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