Someone has asked the question, Why so many rules? in regards to the TOTM contest. I do not think there are so many rules . Allow me to explain why we need rules in the contest and how we came to have as many rules as we do for the contest.
Please only use your own creations or those found within the Public Domain. Do not copy images you find online, in search engine results, or image repositories as most of these images are copyrighted.
Using other people's material online. So you found a great image, icon or cursor and you want to share it with the world. Do you have the right to do that?
What is the purpose of uploading others works? The uploader may feel that their own works are inadequate and in an effort to fit into the community they publish other peoples creations. It may be that the uploader merely wants to share with the public. Why not share a link in your blog or the forum instead?
The most common way to earn buttons is through reviewing and rating other people's work. You have to work at it a little but you can earn up to 6 buttons a day this way. http://www.rw-designer.com/feedback
How are prizes awarded in the Theme of the Month (TOTM) contest? Sirea is generous enough to send every entrant a Mysterious Prize! Cdl gives additional prizes according to how well a set is created.
The Theme Of The Month (TOTM) contest is open to all registered users. Any registered user that wishes to participate will need to create a quality set of icons (5) or cursors (15) that relate to a posted monthly theme. All participants that create a set that meets the requirements will receive a Mysterious Present courtesy of Sirea with a chance to win other prizes from cdl.
You can rate users sets in the icon assembler and users' portfolios. It is important to rate cursor and icon sets to give the artists feedback on how well they are doing and encourage improvement. As a registered user you are allowed the privilege of rating a set, guests cannot rate sets.
Icons are associated readily with features on a computer. Icons are small files that contain multiple sizes of the same image. Shortcuts contain an icon, folders are listed with folder icons, programs and applications are associated with their brand icons. Some icons can be easily changed to suit your personal taste while others, system icons, are a bit more complicated to change. If you are interested in changing your folder icons or shortcut icons the task is easily performed and outlined in this tutorial page:
You may add up to 25 custom icons to your quick-code bar. Your quick-code bar appears under your comment window when you click on the comment window space.