To start, I will say I'm worried about the usage of AI on this site. The pros and cons are immense and can easily be defended from both sides. Im trying to take a more neutral approach though i might have failed .

For the AI side:
- I think it would be near impossible to ensure artists cannot remove work from the site if it is volunteer based. Contracts and stuff may have to be signed, and I know people are more than willing now, but just legally I don't know.
- It saves time, energy, and recources.
- everything else mentioned above.
- to @Reyna Evergreen's point, AI is a tool. Excel was said to take over accounting jobs, etc. However, lets move into cons

Cons:
- while it is a tool, it is a tool that steals from other people. Excel doesn't use the code of Google Sheets, for example (At least I don't think so). AI uses artwork that takes hours to make.
- It could lead to more. I already, as a graphic designer who sells on this site (IC) myself, hate working with AI profile photos. I will do it, but ethically it makes me feel icky. Unless there is a complete irrevocable guarantee this will not lead to other parts of the site (Writing, core images for spells, etc) I think that it is not worth the risk of "Well it's okay this time, lets do it again." Zach, I know you addressed the writing portion, so less worried about that.
- Finally our site, like people said earlier, consists of artists. Period, no question. authors, artists , etc. Just thinking realistically, you will lose fanbase. AI profile photos are one thing, as there are only so many face claims and people out there who fit the required ages, look of your pc, and so on. Backrounds can be avoided, and from a mostly neutral source, I fear a lot of people I have met will leave. It will disrupt the community and the social network.

Now, that's a lot of rambling, but my main opinion is: is the time save and resources worth the loss of support? I am neutral, I think if there is a way around it we should do it, but either way I personally will stay. That will not be the case for everyone. My all time favorite thing about h.io and why I keep coming back to it is the sense of community, and I really don't want to have to risk that.

I also may be overexaggerating :>

Either way, thank you Zach for all the time and energy you put into this. there is no perfect answer sadly.

PS: this was written like four hours ago so it may not be up to date

What inevitably happens in these conversations is a transition from talking about a specific topic to a more generalized debate about a concept. So I am going to attempt to add my piece solely within the situation of the site.

I absolutely love the images. I tried a lot of other RP sites, both HP and not, and I landed on this one because it was easy to navigate, straightforward, and immersive. I love the wreaths at Christmas, the snow in winter.

I don't particularly mind AI, but nobody's mind is going to be changed from any argument I make, as much as I have thought about it. This isn't a thread about debating Ai, though, but about solutions. I would prefer AI images. I have been told there are a few AI generators out there that only use images that artists gave permission for? But then again, I am sure that I am going to get arguments about how it isn't actually permission based and I am not an artist so I will not pretend to have authority.

But more importantly, if we go with none I would like to plead for some. 400 is, I am told, unreasonable. But even just a few? Entrance Hall, main hall, forest, each "house" area (even the same through them all), Platform 9 3/4. The classrooms could all be the same, the informational ones can all be the same, the rest can be whatever. We have volunteers. Yes, yes, contracts and leaving and copyright, I dont know. That can all be figured i should hope. But then again, I have been told I am naively optimistic about people so...

Alternatively, we also can use color, while staying neutral. Dark blue for boathouse, green for grounds, grey for London (matching the sky). Just to have some variety, some level of immersion.

Honestly, I really just am excited for the new navigation and want to find a way to make it doable.

Making another post now that we've gotten to see the no background options. I try to avoid using the word hate, but honestly, I hate it. I feel like I'm in some sort of void. On other sites I don't mind that they don't have a background because there is stuff there, or because its a loading screen and its suppose to be blank. But there's just enough blank and just enough stuff to make it feel like the abyss is closing in. And yes I'm aware of how silly that sounds, but I honest to goodness find it scary [this is coming from somebody who gets nightmares from minecraft zombie noise though so- don't put much weight on it]. I'm not sure how much changing the color would help, as anything other than brown would probably give the same vibe and brown would muddle the already cool leather site aesthetics.

I personally don't think its hypocritical to use AI art on a human writing site. Plenty of people have used and are using AI images for their character profile pictures, encies, and banners. If anything it would be hypocritical to ban AI for the backgrounds when so many people already use it for other things on the site. The site is dedicated to human writing about students in magic schools, nothing else. To allow AI writing into a site dedicated to human writing defeats the purpose. As the site is dedicated to writing, not visual art, it is not at all hypocritical to allow for AI art, as using AI art doesn't defeat the purpose, nor 'taint' the writing itself.

The issue with using volunteers isn't about diversity or ignoring people's creative aspirations, its logistics and copyrights. With so many background pictures by so many artists, in a real time rp site, crap is bound to happen. Between every day drama and 'what do we do with the image if the user leaves the site, or worse is banned?' it will probably end up being a huge mess for the admins, and I think more mess for the admins should be avoided if at all possible

I think the toggle feature is the perfect compromise! Those that don't want to see AI art don't have to, but those that want the background images can! Why not let those that want background images bad enough have background images?