Hello from all of us on the Flipnote Hatena team. This is Aaron at Hatena's offices in Kyoto, Japan with another edition of our weekly news blog.
Flipnote Hatena is approaching the one year anniversary of its international release, and there is now a large online community of Flipnote creators around the world. In any community there are problems, and we try our best to manage Flipnote Hatena so it is a safe and fun place for everyone.
Recently many users have contacted us with complaints about our reporting system and we'd like to clear up some issues about how it works.
The content reporting system was designed to protect younger users from viewing content that is not appropriate. Every item that is reported to us is checked by an international team of content moderators, and items that have been reported to us are always returned to view if they don't violate any of our rules. Nothing that is reported to us is checked automatically, or by robots -- everything is checked by real people.
If your Flipnotes or comments are reported to us and they do not violate any of the rules they will be returned to view. Also, if we discover that a user is reporting Flipnotes or comments that are not inappropriate, we take away their ability to report content in the future, and may even ban them if they have been abusing the reporting system.
The reporting system was not designed as a place for you to take revenge against other users, or to try to remove Flipnotes that you personally dislike. As a general rule, people have the right to post whatever they like as long as it does not violate any of the rules.
Before you report any inappropriate content to us, please make sure that the Flipnotes or comments really do violate our rules. If you report content that does not violate our rules you take away valuable time from our content moderators that could be used to actually find content that should be removed.
You can review what kind of content is inappropriate on Flipnote Hatena by reviewing our community guidelines and community and content rules at the links below:
http://flipnote.hatena.com/guideline http://hatena.com/rule/rule#terms5
If you encounter something that you personally don't like on Flipnote Hatena, you are not being forced to watch it. We recommend that you give stars and comments to Flipnotes that deserve it, and ignore those that you don't like. We find that these kinds of positive actions are far better for the community overall rather than trying to enforce any find of censorship on people about what is "good" and "bad".
Lastly, if you do report content to us that is confirmed to be inappropriate and is removed you may rewarded with a green star. However, if you report content to us that is not against our rules you are more than likely to lose your ability to report content again in the future. This situation is similar to the fable by Aesop about The Boy Who Cried Wolf which has the moral "Liars are not believed even when they speak the truth."
Please only use the reporting system when absolutely necessary so that our content moderators can efficiently do their job to keep Flipnote Hatena a safe place for everyone.
I hope that this clears up some of your questions about the reporting system, and you may be able to find answers to other questions in our FAQ. We're looking forward to your continued enjoyment of Flipnote Hatena, and seeing more of your Flipnotes!
This week's new themes
The Flipnote team has created two new Creator's Room themes that are available in the Color Star Exchange this week. Below are some screenshots and details of the new themes.
- Sweeten up your Creator's Room with this theme featuring melon, strawberries, banana and kiwi fruit. (10 color stars)
- This is a Creator's Room theme for baseball fans, with a batter about to take a swing. (20 color stars)
The best of last week's topic: "Dancing"
We've selected some of the best Flipnotes posted from around the world that we hope you'll enjoy.
You can see all of the Flipnotes posted about last week's topic at the URL below (be sure to set your content preference to Worldwide to see Flipnotes from all regions):
You can also see the Flipnotes for last week's topic posted from your own region by entering the command 
via "Command Search" on Flipnote Hatena for Nintendo DSi.
Hatena's favorite "Dancing" Flipnotes from the Americas region
★ ★SWIM★ (id:randomness-world) created this cool Flipnote of a robot with some funky dance moves.
★ This Flipnote by Çàptor (id:starshine-101) features a stick figure that knows how to follow the beat.
★ We enjoyed the dancing housepets in this Flipnote by Kenster (id:Kenster), and we don't care much for talk radio either.
★ This short Fipnote by iownu (id:iownu) has nice fluid animation that has already inspired several spin-offs. We're looking forward to seeing more Flipnotes by this creator.
★ Bang your head in this Flipnote by matt (id:matt-tidwell). If it's too loud, then you're too old!
★ This Flipnote by magichobos (id:frogheadguy) is very short and simple, but has a unique and funny style that caught our attention.
Hatena's favorite "Dancing" Flipnotes from the Europe & Oceania region
★ We liked the various dances in this Flipnote by Dragongirl (id:mar9ia-uii90huebsch9) and the catchy soundtrack too.
★ We were surprised to see some real dancing in this great Flipnote by Jasmine (id:Jasmine99). It sounds like Jasmine is wearing tap dancing shoes.
★ This fantastic Flipnote by Mary (id:Mary_Innerlight) has caught the attention of many users in Europe and Oceania this past week. Mary is a member of the Hatena Ultimate French Team (HUFT), a group of French Hatena creators and fans. If you're on Facebook you should check out HUFT's official group page.
★ You won't be able to get the "Dum-dum-da-da-ding-ding-ding-ding" song out of your head after watching this Flipnote by sfm (id:superfanmario).
★ Kevin (id:K_D_L) created this Flipnote with a character straight out of the 1970's, complete with a mirror ball, an Afro, and a crazy suit.
★ ～☆Kittty☆～ (id:Kittty-Kitten) created this cute Flipnote of a couple dancing on their wedding day in formal clothing. Nice work!
Hatena's favorite "Dancing" Flipnotes from Japan
★ A lot of effort went into this cute and rhythmical Flipnote by Hitoken (id:ken0919) that is sure to make you smile.
★ Two kittens dance in this Flipnote by Kana that has a cute, original soundtrack.
★ Oniyon (id:hutyukkta) created this funny Flipnote about a little dancing stick figure that you can play with in the palm of your hand.
★ This Flipnote by Pan about a character dancing to hand clapped rhythm is amazing on so many levels. Be sure to check out the other Flipnotes posted by this great creator.
★ We really liked the fluid motion of the characters in this Flipnote by Mafuripa (id:kensukesan) that has already inspired many spin-offs in Japan.
★ This impressive Flipnote by Yuuki (id:sachi-1914) features a woman dancing in traditional Japanese kimono, and is beautifully drawn.
This week's topic: "Toys" (5/28/2010 - 6/4/2010)
This week we'd like you to create Flipnotes about the topic of toys. Bring your favorite toys to life in your Flipnotes, and post the Flipnotes you create to channel 8 from Flipnote Hatena on your Nintendo DSi. We're looking forward to seeing your stuff, and will feature some of the best ones next week here in the Flipnote Hatena Weekly News blog.
Also, please do not use copyrighted music in your Flipnotes if you want them to be featured here. Check out some of the sites below for Creative Commons licensable and other royalty free music:
You can see all of the Flipnotes currently posted about this week's topic at the URL below (be sure to set your content preference to Worldwide to see Flipnotes from all regions):
Weekly Frog Sighting
If you are interested in having your frog photo or illustration featured in the "Weekly Frog Sighting" section of the blog please post them on Hatena Haiku and we might feature it here.
Please submit only original photos/illustrations that you have created yourself.
★ Here are some frog-shaped hats I found in a store in Kyoto. I thought about buying one for each member of the Flipnote team, but only child sizes were available.
Please let us know what you think about the Flipnote Hatena Weekly News blog by posting any comments you might have in the box below. Thanks!
