Philosophy of Kasuto.net

My opinion on what a Zelda site should be, and how I have strived to do just that

    I know you're probably thinking, "A Zelda site with a philosophy? What's this guy been smoking?" Well, it's true, I do have a philosophy when it comes to this site. This site started out like any other, it was small and didn't have much to it. The one thing I wanted to emphasize with my site was the various works done by fans, like fan art and fan fiction. Because I am a fanfic writer myself, I understand the burdens that go along with that. One thing that bothered me about other sites was the lack of emphasis they had on fans' works. Sure, every site has all the content when it comes to Zelda games, like music, multimedia, and walkthroughs. But when it came to the stuff created by fans, that seemed to take second priority. However, I believe that the fans are the most important part of the Zelda universe. Without the fans, sites like mine wouldn't be here. That's why I decided to make this site, to create a place where the fans are the top priority.
    Drawing fan art or writing a fanfic takes a lot of dedication and hard work. I know this because I myself write fanfics. And since I know what it's like, I wanted to make a place that I thought would be friendly to the writers and artists. One problem I noticed about some other sites was the simple layout of the fanfic sections. Many sites don't go through much trouble trying to present the stories that people post there. If a page doesn't look good and it doesn't catch your eyes, then nobody will want to go there. I took the trouble to make sure that my fan fiction section looked enticing, to make it more interesting for the visitors. There's no point in writing and posting a story or picture if nobody looks at it. So I took extra measures to make sure that every piece of art and every story got the attention it deserved. First of all, I read every story that gets submitted. I look it over and fix various spelling and grammatical errors. A person can have a great idea, but if it is filled with minor errors, it might take away from the impact of the story. I make sure the things people write are as good as they can be. I don't go through and change any of the stories, I simply repair any errors in spelling or grammar, and that can make a huge difference. Another seemingly unimportant matter also takes a high priority with me: formatting. So many sites do not take the time to make sure that fanfic submissions are laid out properly. This lack of attention can many times make the story look sloppy and unpleasant to read. All I do is make little touch-ups to the formatting of each story, things like separating paragraphs, italicizing, and fixing quotation marks. A story that is one long paragraph is very unappealing to read. That can make a person not want to read an otherwise great story. I make sure that each story looks well organized and pleasing to the eye. Another annoyance that I found is the lack of summaries to stories. Many people don't like simply sifting through stories at random, trying to find a good one. I personally like to know a little bit about a story before I start reading it. That's why I always write a summary for each of the submissions I get. That way someone can enter the site looking for a specific kind of story, and then read the summaries to find something they like. A summary doesn't seem like a big deal, but it really does make a difference. I write the summaries for the fans. And what about fan art? Lots of sites have fan art, but once again, the webmasters make it very difficult and annoying to find what you want. I took simple steps to make it easier, I used thumbnails. A simple thing like having a thumbnail for a picture can make all the difference. A person can see what a picture looks like before taking the chance of downloading a huge file only to find out that it's not what they were looking for.
    And fan works aren't the only things I wanted to make better when it came to making a Zelda site. Another problem I had with other sites was the various types of multimedia they offered. Like most other Zelda sites, I have music, news, articles, and walkthroughs. But one type of multimedia that is left behind is the Zelda art. I don't know about you, but I happen to really like the official art pictures from the Zelda games. The only problem is that all the sites I've ever seen have pretty pathetic excuses for official art. They usually don't have many pictures, and the pictures they do have are small and of low quality. And the one thing thst I really hate is when sites stamp their names on the official art. Perhaps they do that so other sites don't "steal" the art. But in the real world, the sites that stamp their names on official art are the ones doing the stealing. The facts is that the official art belongs to Nintendo, and the fan sites have no right to put their names on it. And I also think that seeing a site's name on the picture is just plain annoying. To remedy this pervasive problem, I made sure that all my official art pictures were up to my own high standards. All the official art you see here is of the highest quality you can find. I go and buy Zelda manuals and walkthroughs, and I scan all of the pictures at high resolution. I tweak and tweak them until they are the best that they can be. And I always make sure that the pictures are nice and big, I hate those ones that are really small and pathetic. I carefully adjust compression to make sure that the picture is as big and high quality as possible, while still making the file size small enough to download with a slow modem. And I never, never stamp my name on the pictures. In my opinion, that is strictly taboo.
    Interactivity is also of major importance to me. For a while, I didn't have the things necessary to have a message board or chat room. But as time passed, I finally added both of those things, which I think are the most important. People can finally interact with each other, and I can interact with them. That was my goal in the fist place, to create a community for Zelda fans. And that's just what I want it to be: a community. My message board doesn't have a hierarchy, where some members are put above the rest. The number of posts you have doesn't make you more or less important than anyone else. There are no restricted message boards reserved only for a few. Everyone should be equal. It doesn't matter if it's your first time posting or chatting, or if you've been there since the beginning. Everyone has the right to be heard, and age, sex, race, national origin, religion, or number of posts has no bearing on your right to express yourself. I don't know everything and I don't claim to know everything, so my opinion is just as valid as the next man's.
    So what's the point of all this rambling? It's quite simple. I want this to be a haven for the fans of the Zelda series. This is a site made by a fan, for the fans. I don't see myself as some kind of all powerful god (although I do joke about that from time to time) who sits on a pedestal and looks down at all his lowly subjects. I started this site as a fan just like everyone else, and it will remain that way.
    But the most important thing to me is you, the visitor. I don't create this site to boost my own sense of self-worth, I create it to give the visitors what they want. Suggestions, comments, criticisms, and submissions are what keep this site alive. I am always open to suggestions about anything and everything to make your visit better. I may not use some suggestions, but you're welcome to make them and I will always give them full consideration. So if there's something you want to see here, please tell me about it. I'm always here to help.

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