• Unlike western genres, so-called “stylistic choices” are respected and preserved in band names. Always use the “most official” name, as written in the band's logo. This means respecting any capitalization or symbols, even if you personally find it unnecessary.

Incorrect “Dir En Grey”, “Cali Gari”, “Cure Blast”

Correct DIR EN GREY, cali≠gari, CμЯЁ-βLAST

• Our romanization guidelines guidelines apply to band names. Be sure to preserve all symbols exactly as they're written.

name サリィ。 romaji SALLY。

• Romanization should never be truncated, even if it is hard to read. For example, 大日本鬼端児組 悪童会に占拠され ゴシップ should be romanized as Dainippon Onitanjigumi Akudoukai ni Senkyosare GOSSIP.
• If an official romanization is provided by the band (in their logo, on flyers, etc.), use that. For example, we would usually romanize 愛狂います。 as “Aikuruimasu。”, but the band's official romanization is specified in their logo: aicle。
• However, you may use a shortened/easier name in the friendly field (available when editing an artist). “gossip” is an appropriate friendly name for the above artist.

• All bands must have a unique friendly name. This is the name used in URLs, searches, and /slash/ notation.

These names can only contain numbers, lowercase letters, and hyphens.

• Friendly names are automatically generated when adding an artist, but can be manually edited via an 'edit artist' page.

Auto-generated friendly names are based on romaji when possible, and the normal name otherwise. Apostrophes are removed, and all other symbols and spaces are converted to hyphens. Multiple hyphens are condensed to one hyphen.

• In some cases, it makes sense to manually edit a friendly name to make it more clear.

For example, the auto-generated friendly name for CμЯЁ-βLAST is c-last, because μ, Я, and Ё are treated as symbols. So, it was manually changed to cure-blast.

For the band *, whose auto-generated friendly is simply -, it was changed to... anus, since that's how their name is supposed to be pronounced (...).

• Friendly names can also contain additional details like year of formation, area of activity, or most famous member (see Bands with the same name).

• Two bands may have the same name, but each band must have a unique friendly name (see “Friendly” names).
• You can differentiate two bands by attaching identifying information, such as year formed, area of activity, or famous member, to their friendly name.

e.g. Dali vs DALI (ダリ) dali-fukuoka / Angelique vs Angelique angelique-90s / GARDEN vs garden garden-kisaki

• Typically, the most-recognizable band should keep its normal friendly name, while the lesser-known band should use the modified friendly name.

For example, Dali's friendly name is simply dali, while DALI (ダリ)'s is dali-fukuoka (the latter band being much less known than the former).

• When attaching identifying information to friendly names, use whichever information makes the difference most obvious.

For example, xyz-tokyo and xyz-osaka might be more clear than xyz-2010 and xyz-2011.

• When adding a new artist, the friendly name is automatically generated; it can't be changed until after the artist is added (via its 'edit artist' page).

So, if you're trying to add a new artist with the same name as an old one, and the system stops you, you can get around it like this:

Choose the identifying information you'll use for the friendly name add it to both the name and romaji of the new artist after the artist is added, go to its 'edit artist' page and remove the identifying information from the name and romaji, but leave it in the friendly.

• When an artist is added, the system will auto-link any musicians whose band history mentions that artist.

Auto-linking is based on exact spelling, so it may miss some musicians or incorrectly link others. It's always good to double-check the artist page or to use the musician search function.

• description is used to very briefly identify/differentiate the band, e.g. “Last band of KISAKI, a trouble-prone goth-rock trio.”
• official links accepts plain URLs (official website, Twitter profiles, blogs, etc.), separated with line breaks.

• Artists can be tagged and untagged by any user, but only editors can remove certain tags.
• exclusive is for artists whose profiles feature information that can't be found on other websites. Only use this tag if you did research and discovered new information.
• foreign is for any artists that are outside of Japan. See Adding artists for criteria for foreign artists.
• non-visual should be used for any non-visual bands. See Adding artists for criteria for non-vk artists.
• needs review can be used any time you're unsure about some of the information, or think there may be a mistake (please leave a comment explaning, if necessary).

• Similar to a musician's band history, each line represents an era. If you want to link a label, type its ID (found on the label's page) enclosed in parentheses. For labels not in the database, just type the plain text name.

(51) Matina

• If a band belongs to multiple labels at once, comma separate them. Notes can be used to differentiate them.

For sublabels, link the parent label, then >, then link the sublabel.

(51) > (52)
ABC Label, DEF Label (distribution)

• A blank line indicates that the band was completely independent at that time. If the band manages themselves but formed a company to do so, treat that as a normal label.

• The artist biography is completely text-based. There's a learning curve, but it's been optimized for non-Japanese speakers, has several features to increase efficiency, and automagically sets certain artist details.
• Each entry in the biography needs a date and some content (present-tense, active voice, full sentences, use Markdown to link artists or format text).

1999-06-18 /Dali/ forms.

• Separate entries with a blank line. Multi-line entries are allowed, but each entry should basically be a single “thought”—if two distinct things happened on the same date, they should be two separate entries (albeit with the same date).

1999-06-18 Bassist JUN joins.

Later that day, he suddenly secedes.

1999-06-18 The band's wigs are stolen after a live.

• Each entry gets a -tag at the end. These are generated automatically—check the preview section while typing—and you'll see them in the text next time you go to edit the artist.

You can also manually set the tags for each entry (see Biography tags) by typing, at the end of the line, a hyphen followed by comma-separated tag(s).

1999-06-18 /Dali/ forms. -start

1999-06-17 Guitarist JUN joins, but sprains his ankle. -member,trouble 1999-06-18 Dali forms. -start

1999-06-17 Guitarist JUN joins, but sprains his ankle. -member,trouble

• Entries do not have to be in a certain order; the system will auto-organize them based on -tag and date.
• Dates must be in the yyyy-mm-dd format, but you can use zeroes when you're unsure of the exact date.

1999-11-31 Something happened.

1999-12-00 Guitarist JUN secedes around this time.

• For quicker entry, you can type partial dates. If you only type the month and day, the system will assume that the event occurred in the same year as the event immediately before it. If you type only the day, it will assume the same year and month.

1999-05-31 Guitarist JUN secedes.

06-15 Bassist Junno secedes.

16 Vocalist Jennu secedes.

07-30 Roadie Juza secedes. 1999-05-31 Guitarist JUN secedes.

1999-06-15 Bassist Junno secedes.

1999-06-16 Vocalist Jennu secedes.

1999-07-30 Roadie Juza secedes.

• If the band formed very recently, or an upcoming member change has been added to the bio, a news post may be automatically generated. In that case, you'll be notified about the blog post and will be able to edit it, if you want.

• The area of activity is set via specific language in the artist's bio. It can be set in bio entries tagged either -start or -activity.
• For Japanese artists, see the format below. If you've formatted the line correctly, the system will automatically insert the full Japanese name.

/dali/ forms in tokyo. -start Dali forms in Tokyo (東京).

/dali/ moves to osaka. -start Dali moves to Osaka (大阪).

• The format is slightly different for non-Japanese artists. In this case, the system will automatically transform “overseas” into a link but will not do anything with the specific country (so make sure your spelling is correct).

/bataar/ forms oversease in Sweden. -start BatAAr forms overseas (海外) in Sweden.

/bataar/ moves overseas to France. -activity BatAAr moves overseas (海外) to France.

Normal tags

• -label The band joins, leaves, or starts a label.
• -media Magazine or radio appearances, fanclub publications, etc.
• -member A member joins, leaves, begins support, ends support, etc.
• -name A member or the artist itself changes its name.

For band name changes, pronunciation will be pulled from entries with this tag. Like with -start, type the pronunciation in katakana/hiragana in parentheses after the band link.

2018-01-06 Guitarist JUN changes his name to JUNNA. -name

2018-02-13 /Dali/ changes its name to /LAREINE/ (ラレーヌ). -name

• -trouble Bad events such as death, injury, arrest, etc.
• -live Generic information about live events. Unlike -schedule (see Editing live schedule), these entries are not added to the band's live history section.

2018-06-06 Twoman vs /Gackt/ is held. -live

• -other Anything that doesn't fit any other tags.

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Special tags

• -start When the band forms, revives, or resumes activity. Will be highlighted on the artist page.

The artist's pronunciation will be automatically pulled from entries with this tag. Pronunciation should be katakana/hiragana in parentheses after the band's link.

Activity area is also pulled from these entries. Simply type “in XXX” at the end of the sentence, with XXX being the area (romaji or Japanese ok).

Activity period is also based on these entries, but is calculated automatically.

1999-06-18 /Dali/ (ダリ) forms in Nagoya. -start

• -end The artist disbands or otherwise stops activity. Will be highlighted on the artist page.

This one should be concise; further details about the disbandment should be added in a separate entry.

If the band used a different term than “disbandment” (e.g. “shutdown” or “sealed”), use that instead.

Activity period is based on these entries, and is calculated automatically.

2000-01-06 /Dali/ disbands -end

2000-01-06 Live is held, and due to all members seceding at once, the band breaks up.

• -activity Change in activity, but not formation/disbandment. i.e. the band moves from Tokyo to Nagoya, or officially starts activity after having played secret lives.

Should also be used for one-day revivals.

• -lineup Use when listing the new lineup after formation or member change. (Only the lineup should go here; other information about the member change can go in a separate entry.)

It should be formatted with the initial of the position, followed by the musician's name. Musicians should be comma-or-slash-separated.

If the lineup changed multiple times within one timeframe, you can use line breaks and arrows. If you don't know a position, just use a ?. If you're unsure about the lineup, just slap (?) on there.

1999-06-00 Guitarist JUN secedes. Later that month (date unknown), bassist Jan secedes. -member

1999-06-00 V. Abel / G. Kain / B. Jan / ?. Ken

↓

V. Abel / G. Kain / ?. Ken -lineup

1999-07-12 Ken may have seceded at this point (unconfirmed).

1999-07-12 V. Abel / G. Kain (?) -lineup

• -setlist A slash-separated list of songs that were played at a live. Will format the text differently.

1999-06-15 Metamorphose / Walk in the Rain / site of scaffold -lineup

• -release Almost never used manually; releases are automatically pulled from the database and given this tag. Anything tagged with this will appear in a different format.

Note that every release must be added to the database, even if information about it is unknown or it was cancelled. Theoretically, there should never be a released mention in the artist's biography that isn't in the database.

• -schedule or -s A special tag that allows you to edit the band's live schedule directly from the biography. See Editing live schedule.

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Deprecated tags

The following tags should not be used and are subject to removal.

• -formation Replaced with the more generic -start.
• -disbandment Replaced with the more generic -end.

• The live schedule is edited via the biography section, but appears in its own section and will eventually be searchable. Entries in the live schedule automatically contribute to the “popularity” section.

To add a live appearance, type the date, followed by the livehouse name. The city can be ommitted (or not), and you can type the name in either romaji or Japanese. In the preview you can see that the system will auto fill-in the city and official livehouse name.

2018-01-30 rockmaykan

2018-02-31 目黒鹿鳴館

• Live schedule entries get the -schedule tag, but you can usually ommit this and the system will fill it in instead. (You can also use -s as a shorter version of the tag, if you're tagging manually.)
• The system is set up to accept nicknames and misspellings for the most common livehouses. If the system doesn't recognize the livehouse you typed, it will warn you in the preview, and will change the tag to -live instead of -schedule.

2018-01-30 rokumeikan

2018-01-31 rockmaykan

• Here's a list of livehouses in the database. Leave a comment somewhere or hit up Discord if you need a livehouse or livehouse nickname added.

Note that non-livehouses (e.g. “in front of the H&M in Shibuya”) will not be added. For those you'll have to manually type the full name and slap a -live tag on it.

• Live schedule entries must have an exact date. To increase speed, you can ommit the year and/or month, and the system will assume it was the same year and/or month as the previous entry.

2018-01-30 rockmaykan

02-01 club holiday

05 muse

06 vintage 2018-01-30 rockmaykan

2018-02-01 club holiday

2018-02-05 muse

2018-02-06 vintage

• You can also list other artists that appeared at the live. To do this, follow the livehouse name with a hyphen and then type the artist names in a comma separated list, followed by the -schedule or -s tag. (You'll have to manually tag the entry in this case.)

If the system recognizes any of the band names you typed, it will automatically add this live to that band's live history. Any bands not in the database will still be linked to that live within the database, and this information will eventually be searchable.

2018-01-30 rockmaykan - Dali, Le vi-sage, Megaromania -s

Where do I upload logos?

Logos should be uploaded in the artist's image section, with the image content set to “logo” (or “cleaned logo” if you have permission).

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How do I make a logo appear on an artist's profile?

To ensure that all logos meet our quality guidelines (see below), only those tagged “cleaned logo” are eligible to appear on artist profiles.

Only moderators—or users who have proven that they can follow the guidelines—have permission to use the “cleaned logo” value. All other users may still upload logos but must tag them as simply “logo.”

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How do I get permission to use the “cleaned logo” tag?

Please post your logo edits in the #logo-submissions board at our official visual kei Discord. Once we feel you have a grasp on the guidelines, we may grant your vkgy account permission to choose the “cleaned logo” option.

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“Cleaned logo” quality guidelines

• Size: Choose the largest/cleanest version of the logo available. A width of at least 600 px is preferred, but even larger versions may be uploaded.
• Cropping: Crop as close as possible to the logo's content (there should be no extra margin around the logo).
• Noise: Reduce noise and artifacts to produce the cleanest logo possible. Consider using surface blurring or moire reduction, or trace over the logo with a pen tool.
• Vectorizing: Be careful when using automatic vectorizing plugins, as these often result in a great loss of detail. If you have the choice between a large vector with less detail, or a smaller raster with better detail, choose the raster version.
• Transparency: To simulate transparency, all logos displayed on artist profiles are put through a filter which assigns an opacity value to each pixel. Pure black is treated as transparent while pure white is treated as opaque, and all other colors receive an opacity based on their brightness. The logo's colors should be edited to account for this.
• Monochrome logos: The background should be pure black (or transparent), and the main content of the logo should be as close to pure white as possible.
• Color logos: For multi-color or gradient logos, the logo should be edited such that the background is pure black and the main content is as close to pure white as possible. Whites and blacks may be inverted from the original, but all other original colors should be preserved.
• Original version: If the logo requires heavy editing to meet the above guidelines, consider uploading the original version too. Tag it as “logo” so it will be preserved but will not appear on the artist profile.

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What if I don't know how to edit logos?

Please drop any raw logo images or scans in the #logo-submissions board on our official visual kei Discord. Other users with editing experience are happy to help.

If possible, upload the largest scan possible, preferably where the background behind the logo is a solid color.

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What if there are multiple logos?

By default, the system will display the most recently uploaded logo. However, if one or more logos is also tagged to a release, the system will choose whichever logo is tagged to the most recent release.