Could you please clarify what you mean by that? I don’t know about other games, but in Ingress, in Description field, @ sign does nothing - not shown as a link, can’t tap on it. Is @ sign in other games treated as link that opens something in browser?
The screenshot is talking about mentioning or tagging other accounts (and not artists, which I believe we are talking about here). But that still doesn’t explain what you meant by “you know that the @ links to their work”. Because I understood it as if someone puts “@ArtistName” in description, somehow it will become a link you can tap on. Did I misunderstand you?
If an artist signs their work with https://www.MrSpraypaint.com, that should be acceptable?
Yes, you misunderstood me. I did not mean that they could be taken to a link by tapping the description. I meant that @Mr.Spraypaint is a link to an Instagram account and is not allowed in the description.
There are a significant number of explorers who feel strongly that the Instagram tag is the artist’s signature, and that should be allowed.
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I am not a social-media-type.
As such, I would not know which letter-number-punctuation-special-character combos might have significance on some other platform.
Can’t I just copy down however the artist signs their work? I’m pretty sure the at-sign predates social media… …but we cannot use it anymore? It’s been co-opted by a tech-bro?
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Didn’t need to read past there. If it’s how they sign their work, then it’s how it should be attributed to them.
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It’s not really a link to Instagram or Twitter or anything else. It would be their handle on one of many social networks, most likely on Instagram but not limited to it, yes, but it’s not a link. It might make it easier to search for a particular artist if someone decides to do so, but it’s not a link. We are encouraged to add artists’ name - isn’t ii so that someone can search for them if they like their work?
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The clarification that Instagram tags are not allowed, specifically that MrSpraypaint is acceptable but @MrSpraypaint is not, is not from me. I will not reply to any tags about this, unless from Niantic. I follow Niantic guidelines whenever we have them.
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I am not talking about Niantic’s guidelines related to tags. I am saying that, contrary to what you said, @ sign doesn’t make something a link. It’s no more a link than artist’s full name or artist’s handle without @ sign. So when you said it was a link, you were wrong. Now, however Niantic wants to handle @ sign is up to Niantic, and we must follow the guidelines. But it would be great to know if @ sign (and also # sign - I have several utility boxes with #ProjectORSponsorshipName) is allowed.
I dont think we should shame someone for following a clarification.
Sometimes I feel like the guideline to “use your best judgment” was lost when the old forum pages were deleted. Should we ask if it’s still a directive or just follow it as if no instructions are given?
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Thats why it was posted here, to ask if it should still be followed or get an updated stance.
-200 aura points for that stance.
“Aura points” are a playful way to measure someone’s “coolness” or social confidence . Each action you take can either increase or decrease your aura points, based on how others perceive it.
#ouch
Do you not regard some of the clarifications as sucker’s bets?
Most reviewers never see them. If they simply reinforce concepts that are easily read from the core criteria they’re fine (albeit sort of superfluous).
When they contain a bombshell like this, that’s something that really needs to be stated clearly in the core so it can be followed.
What if they used the blue bird Twitter logo? Or the LinkedIn logo? Why should Instagram’s logo, which is camera that happens to look kind of/sort of like an “@” sign, get special treatment?
Whatever your personal stance is, be it… but to shame someone that decides to follow the stance… is not it.
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Sorry, but @ sign predates Instagram by CENTURIES. Just because Instagram logo looks “kind of/sort of like” @ sign, doesn’t mean that @ sign is Instagram logo.
btw, letter “a” looks “kind of/sort of like” Amazon logo. I hope we are still allowed to use it in Niantic games. I’ll be in SO much trouble if it gets banned.
Oh, and “M” looks like McDonald’s logo.
Should I do the rest of the alphabet?
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I think as @cyndiepooh already explained, when she said link, she wasn’t meaning an embedded URL. She meant that it was a reference to another account in a different app.
As you argue, a few posts later, words and symbols had meaning long before the Internet. The word link does not always mean that if you click on it, it will automatically take you to a webpage or application. It can mean just to create some sort of connection.
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