This is for all the users who were wondering about all of those HP images uploaded here.
An administrator here contacted me about a donation to e621. In response, I told them that I could personally handle monetary donations, but anything technical would be on behalf of my employing company: you guessed it, HP. The said Administrator agreed, and I mentioned it at one of our meetings. As some of you may have read, HP doesn't have anything against material on ANY site, so the request was approved and an evaluation began.
As part of evaluation, I had to upload images branded with the HP logo. Why ponies though? A joint partnership between HP, Hasbro, and Discovery Broadcasting. Watermarked images were approved, branded images were (are) in consideration. All of these are planned to go on a Children's educational laptop designed for girls.
Yes, a majority of the images come from independent artists, some of of our own design. I don't personally think it's right, but IF we can find the artist and their information, we ask permission, thank them, and in most cases even send them a monetary thank you donation. If you'll pay close attention to detail, you'll notice that the images were somewhat sharper and had darker blacks and whiter whites.
The images were uploaded to test user's reactions to HP material appearing on the site, let alone being run by its products. Was it the best method of evaluation? No, but there really wasn't another way unless people preferred to see ads for printers and computers at every turn. Basically, if people replied with "Oh HP sucks, I'll never buy one of their products." or "Go die and burn evaluator (me)" It earned e621 a negative mark and a failing grade. Since it was my idea, it was part of my JOB. I couldn't just turn around and stop evaluation (uploading), otherwise I could've been demoted or LOST MY JOB.
Anyway, I'm really sorry for ALL the inconveniences it cost anyone and everyone on here. Thank you all.
Updated by asdfzxc
