WELCOME TO THE
MASTERS OF OBSCURITY   

Masters of Obscurity--Who are they?

Picking characters-Who's fair game?

Templates-Where do I find the forms to fill out?

Profile Guidelines-How do I do the profile?

Images-How do I choose and do them?

Submissions protocol-What and How do I send?

Joining the Masters-How can I be part of this illustrious group?

Choosing characters

This list of needed characters is here: Master List.

In addition, there is a Dibs List for characters on which certain Masters have already staked their claims. This is woefully out-of-date, so best check with me.

And, of course, there are close to 300 requests waiting to be filled under Upcoming Profiles.
If you can do ANY of these below the second horizontal line, PLEASE do!

Additionally, here's who we're looking for:
Who's Appendix-worthy?

I see our site as a companion to the Official Handbook, focusing on the more minor characters. I have NO problem posting profiles already covered (on the net or in the OHotMU handbooks), if it's one you really want to do (especially if you feel that you can do it better, or just really want to add your two cents worth), but I'd put them as lower on the list of priority. I'd rather cover all the left out characters before overlapping so much. If a character's not on the applist (Master List) page, check with me, and I'll tell you why.
As much as possible, avoid characters that will need frequent updates, as I or other writers typically get stuck doing the updates.

Profile templates

The current templates are:

Character

Dimension

Event

Group

Item

Planets

Place/Country/Location

Race

--Download them and save them to your hard drive for future reference. Saving them as HTML keeps all of the links and formating intact and saves myself and the editors a world of headache.

How to save/use the Templates

1) Download the profile template to your computer.

• Under File, choose "Save As" and remember the destination Folder on your computer

2) Open the profile template from that folder, in whatever program you can use, such as Frontpage or Word.

3) "Save As" whatever filename you will use. See instruction#9 under profile guidelines.

4) Fill out the info per the guidelines below

5) "Save" and send the profile to Snood/Jeff Christiansen

PROFILE GUIDELINES

***In the interest of time, I'm going to be concise, but that also means being blunt...please take no offense...there's none intended****

--Please review the profile format description

(1) Spellcheck your work!

(2) Don't forget to add the month and date of the first appearance

(3) Don't forget to put in the creators (writer(s), penciler(s), and inker(s))  - list names only in the Comments section, list their credits in the Appearances list at the bottom

(4) Pick your images!!!! As you do your profile, please select some nice representative images.
These should include (if possible/applicable):

• --(a) Full body shot
• --(b) a face shot (masked and unmasked (if possible/applicable)
• --(c) action or something characteristic if it adds to the profile.
  
• --If you CAN scan your own images (Good for you!), please follow these instructions.
  --If you CANNOT scan the images yourself, then list the issue, page, and panel in your request.
  

(5) The profile must be done in HTML format (as seen on the site. Don't send me code, because I can't use it).

(6) Check your character bibliography BEFORE sending the profile. The Marvel Chronology Project is a good baseline. If you're not certain if you've got them all, e-mail the group--chances are pretty damn good that one of the Masters can fill in any holes. If you miss any, someone will catch it after its posted, but it's just more work for me.

(7) Clarifications:
**see any profile by Snood to see the format for doing these**
I'm not going to accept profiles where no effort has been made, and I have to do the busy work.
Here's a list of resources:

• My own Master List: http://www.marvunapp.com/master/mastguid.htm
  for now, it only covers from A to early D, but I add a few more pages each week, so keep checking back Once this list is done (say, 2004), it should be the number one resources, period.
• The Appendix! http://www.marvunapp.com/Appendix/appchar.htm
  Use the alphabetical links from the characters page to find characters with similar names, and see who's been done, and what clarifications were done for them. You can usually cut and paste the info, with a few minor formatting updates.
• Kim/Beetle's Marvel Guide: http://www.comicboards.com/marvelguide/
• The Marvel Chronology Project: http://www.chronologyproject.com/
• The Unofficial Handbook of the Marvel Universe: http://marvelbook.topcities.com/

So, don't be a slack-@$$, and please do your own Clarifications

(8) Check with the other Masters on any info you're not clear on. For example, William Uchtman and Greg O are clearly very knowledgeable about mythology. Prime Eternal, is infinitely wise in all matters involving the Eternals, as well as Cowboy characters, Monsters, etc.

(9) The goal is too have fun with it, and we all want things to be as complete as possible. Make sure you fill everything out in as much detail as possible (you can be as succinct or verbose as you want). If you want to include additional material under comments, please feel free, but please cover the material completely (so it would be good enough for the original OHotMU). If you're not sure how to do it, just check the new profiles list for a similar type.

(10) NAMING YOUR PROFILE:

A Filename of at least 8 characters in length is desired in order to minimize the likelihood of overwriting profiles and images.

• No capitals and no spaces!
• It is even best to choose a letter (or letters) to add at the end that might help to clarify the profile/character.
  i.e. Tattoo
  --for Tattoo of the Ultraverse, you might choose tattoouv.htm
  --for Tattoo of the New Universe, you might choose tattoonu.htm
  --for Tattoo of the Pacific Overlords--tattoopo.htm
  --for Tatoo who opposed Iron Man--tattooim.htm
• It is much better to spell out names, than to abbreviate them.
  It is also best to put last name or character name first, for ease of locating the file within a folder
  --examples: thordargoktor.htm (for the Dargo Ktor Thor), spiderman2099.htm, criticsmanthing.htm, jarvisedwin.htm, etc.
  
• Get it? Good!

(11) Thanks and enjoy! Keep up the kickass work!  

Submissions Protocol

For your first profile, you must:

1. Check with me (Snood/Jeff Christiansen, get my address from this page link) to make sure the character is ok to do.

2. Use the Templates and the Guidelines.

• Grossly incomplete profiles may be refused and sent back.

3. Send the profile to me for evaluation.

4. I'll redirect it to wherever it needs to go, or perhaps instruct you on how it needs to be revised.

Images

Choose images based on the image guidelines under #4 of profile guidelines.

If you can do images (You rule!), then please do so, following these instructions.

Anyone lacking images (or the ability to make) them should send their requests to the group.
mastersofobscurity@yahoogroups.com

• You should send your image requests only if you are 100% certain you are doing the profile.
  Please don't waste anyone's time otherwise.
• You should send your requests AS or BEFORE you start the profile (NOT AFTER!), so that they are ready when you send them to me.
• If that all falls through, as it often does, then send your requests to me (Snood). I'll scan the images when I get the profiles. There are very few Marvel comics I don't own (but there are a few--Prime gets me every now and then).

Scanning your own images

If possible, capture the digital image from Marvel.com
If not available digitally, scanning images for your own profiles (or helping with others) is VERY MUCH APPRECIATED.
You can be even more helpful if you follow these guidelines, so we have to do less editing.

• Scan at 300-400 DPI resolution (if possible, capture the digital image from Marvel.com).
  JPG or PNG formats are ideal.
• Please try to rotate the image so it's straight.
• Cropping
  Please try to remove the white panel borders, etc. and anything else that is not essential
• Use the smallest possible image that shows the character(s) clearly
  Big images show everything quite well, but they also use up a lot of memory and generate a lot of traffic/bandwidth. This site sees so much traffic, that we've already gone over our required limit, and it is very $$$ to increase our limit.
  --If you want to use the whole panel to show something, that's ok, just be aware that the actual image of the main character will be considerably smaller to do so.
  
  --I often use something about the size of the height of the screen, or slightly smaller, for the primary full body shot.
  
  Going taller than the screen is not a big deal in terms of visibility, but the bigger the image, the more traffic it generates.
  
  Width is the primary consideration (just like with women!). If you use an image any wider than 2/3 of the screen width, the text on the side will be difficult to read. Anything bigger than that will need to have to be placed between paragraphs. I'd reserve this for the few occasions when this is definitely needed. In general I try to keep the images less than half of the screen width.
  
  Remember: Make the image big enough that you can see the character in full detail, but no bigger. Bigger images take longer to download and upload, they're harder to send and receive via e-mail, and they're also harder on the printer (some people like to print them out). After you pick what a good size is, try decreasing it by 10-25% and see if you can see everything clearly. If so, go with the smaller version.
• NAMING AN IMAGE
  --The image name should have the same filename as the profile itself, plus a descriptor
  For example, spider-man-parker-full.jpg; spider-man-parker-face.jpg; spider-man-parker-webs.jpg; spider-man-parker-wallcrawling.jpg; etc.
  --This keeps the images with the profiles in the Folders, which makes them easy to locate, upload, etc.
• Thanks a bunch!!!

Inserting Images into Profiles

Here is exactly what you need to do, in three easy steps.

1) Have one folder in which you store both your images, and your profiles.

2) After you’ve done your profile and scanned the images (and they’re all saved in that same folder, under the filenames we’re using),
from your top menu, choose InsertàImage (or picture),
Browse to the folder in which it is stored,
and then choose/insert the images.

3) That way, the path will be intact. When you send them to me, you still have to send the profile AND all of the images (they don’t come automatically). When I save them in the same folder on my computer, if you’ve done it right, they’ll still be associated with the profile.

Let me know if you're having troubles.

Google mail list

• Join the list for the Masters of Obscurity by going to: obscuremasters@googlegroups.com
• After joining, please introduce yourself to the rest of the group.
• Submit a brief bio for yourself to go on the Masters of Obscurity page.
  Send this to Snood.

Welcome aboard!

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