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Voigtkampf
02-29-2004, 11:50
Greetings to everyone

Some might have noticed that I have become the new assistant moderator, in devoted service to the Org, the most extraordinary and special place online I know of, as many of the respected members might agree with me. Now, this is not due to the poll for the new assistant moderator of the Mead Hall, a place that was emptied since our beloved princess frogbeastegg became a full time moderator (once again, congratulations for that assignment, my fair lady); in the said poll, our respected fellow member Monk deservingly won and became the new assistant moderator in charge of the Mead Hall (on that, also once again, congratulations Monk; don't stop writing and waste yourself on the administration work). During the time of the election process, I have been contacted and made an offer to take part in some process on the Org, and I have gladly accepted, not knowing that with the said job the rise in the honorable ranks of an assistant moderator was included. Enough to say, my surprise was great and genuine, and I was very happy indeed to be bestowed with such an honor.

Now, after being introduced with my tasks here on the Org, I will share my new appointment with you, so I would kindly ask for your attention.

I have no particular area of work in sense that I am confined to the borders of a certain forum; in that case one might consider me to be a sort of a ronin moderator. My job will be to aid to all the respected members with their issues with the custom avatar and sig pictures. This feature is not familiar to everyone around here, or it is not familiar enough so that many are unaware of it. Let me make a little rundown:

When a new member enters these halls, aside from his rise from the rank of a junior patron to the full fledged member, what comes usually very soon (a feature brought in to discourage various spammers etc.), the member will have a standard ikonboard picture. This one he can trade for one she/he likes more once the respected member has reached the total of 500 posts. The choice is made between a great number of various avatar pictures or can be obtained by creating a link to the webpage where the desired avatar picture is displayed, but there is also a possibility of creating custom avatar AND sig pictures and uploading them to the Org, where they can be easily accessed.

EDIT: The URLavatars are available to everyone but junior/senior patrons. The 500 post requirement is for the system avatars only.

How to upload custom avatar and sig pictures?

It is quite simple, yet certain limits are installed, for reasons easily understood. First of all, go to the picture uploader page (http://www.totalwar.org/Downloads/Uploaders/picupload.php), where you can also see the basic rules for the usage of the feature. I will state them here as well.

First of all, the picture cannot be bigger than 10 KB maximum, both the avatar and the signature pictures, for the sake of the modem users.
The prescribed max dimensions for the pictures are:
avatar - maximum 160 pixels width and 240 pixels height
sig - maximum 500 pixels width and 150 pixels height
The accepted formats are .gif, .jpg, PNG, BMP and flash.
No sound, under no circumstances.

Why? Well, due to the limitations of the board, page layout and tendencies of some people to exaggerate beyond any sense of proportion. Some forums have scared me away merely for the fact that the my entire 19" monitor is covered by a single post of a fellow that has a gigantic avatar picture, huge signature pics and flashing texts everywhere, along with few dozen of his "Fearless king Doom, ruler of the Underworld and UT 2005 champion" signatures while his entire post consists out three simple letters; "lol". No sound because hardly anyone wants to hear any barking, screaming or gun fire while listening to the Bach's 3rd Brandenburg Concert or the latest Limp Bizkit album.

My pictures meet the expected criteria, what now?

Simple enough; browse your documents and find the wanted pictures, and now rename them. For avatar pictures use the name A_username and for your signature picture use P_username. If you ignore this option I won't be able to tell to whom the picture belongs and will be compelled to delete it. Leave no empty spaces in your filename and avoid illegal characters (/, \, etc.) Done? Now you can upload them.

How many pictures can I have?

I thought one set (i.e. one avatar and one sig picture) should be enough, but I will allow two sets, if anyone desires to have them. In that case, the names of the said files must be A_username1 and A_username2 for avatar pics and P_username1 and P_username2. I don't see why anyone would need more, and we cannot allow that people simply make a tremendous mess out of this feature by uploading far too many unnecessary pictures. If you eventually decide in favor of some new avatar/sig pictures, the old can be erased and replaced with the new ones.


All right; I have done everything as instructed, what next?

Wait. Once the pictures are uploaded I will transfer them to patron pictures section (http://www.totalwar.org/patrons/pics/) where you can use them accordingly. Sometimes, a little patience will be necessary, because I am, as a great number of people here at the Org, working and sometimes have to go for shorter business trips of some two-three days, so be patient if it happens while you try to upload your pictures, I will definitely get around to it.

Any questions?

Feel free to PM me, anytime. If you are trying to upload your picture, you may freely give me a notice and I will get back to you, for sure.

What about inappropriate pictures, wrong names etc.?

Well, if I cannot figure out from whom they are, I will delete them and waste no thought about it. If you have sent me a picture that doesn't quite meet the criteria and I can tell from whom it is, I will, if possible, get in touch and notify the respected member and point out the problem with the picture and ask him to correct it. I will not, under any circumstances, alter the pictures myself, because of all negative implications bound to it.

So, that would be it, for the beginning, at least. I hope you will take advantage of this feature since it as a very useful one. 'nuff said, as they say, let's get to work

...

This is the direct copy of my post as made in Entrance hall: New, read this first and in the Tavern; I will use this opportunity to thank TosaInu for giving me the chance to become a part of the greatest and the most profound online community I know and express my great joy to be able to contribute to this great place.

Therefore I step forward to pledge my allegiance and express my hope that we all may successfully work together for many years to come, and hopefully become friends

Respectfully,

voigtkampf

frogbeastegg
02-29-2004, 12:26
Congratulations voigtkampf, I thought it would be something like this. Excellent. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/ht_bow.gif

I wouldn't worry about the Mead hall; it always goes through cycles of busy and quiet. Monk was fortunate (gives him time to adjust to his new job, the weeks right up to the day I left were like the proverbial duck - looking calm but really very busy) enough to inherit the forum as it was moving out of a busy spell. Things will pick up once people decide on their new stories, take some good screenshots, and feel the urge to quaff mead.


Princess, hehe http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/gc-blush.gif

Voigtkampf
02-29-2004, 12:50
Quote[/b] (frogbeastegg @ Feb. 29 2004,05:26)]Congratulations voigtkampf, I thought it would be something like this. Excellent. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/ht_bow.gif
Thank you, my fair lady Your kind words warm my heart and lift my spirit, oh precious one


Quote[/b] ]Princess, hehe http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/gc-blush.gif

Indeed, and a perfect one to be the subject to my courtly love

I pledge my allegiance, my fair lady

RZST
03-02-2004, 05:36
question..

cant i just upload my own sig somewhere and put the [img] tag on it? of course ill follow the rules for sig sizes.

also this is kind of a favor but :p uh... is it possible for me to have a custom avatar? though i dont have 500 posts...but ive registered like 2 years ago >_

Voigtkampf
03-02-2004, 08:53
Oh, boy, this is what I was afraid of… Someone has questions

Ky Kiske, you should have noticed by now that the Org has a rather peculiar system when it comes to custom avatars and different sets of board skins. I have myself gone through quite some forum chasing, commenting, arguing and mostly agreeing with respected Aymar de Bois Mauri until I got 500 posts count so I could upload my own custom avatar. Then I also had some trouble because I failed to understand the different types of board skins, but at the end, kind help from TosaInu solved my problem.

So, to make it simple; yes, you can upload your sig somewhere on the Net and link to it anytime, there is a fair number of members that do the same, and the tag works just fine. But instead of uploading it just anywhere, do it here at the Org and we will host your sig, which you can link to later without any problem.

As for custom avatar, yes, you can have one before the 500th post, because this feature relates only to the system avatars. Just switch to "custom avatar" setting and you can view your posts with your custom avatar; a good example for that is respected member Judean Prince who posted on this thread (http://www.totalwar.org/cgi-bin/forum/ikonboard.cgi?act=ST;f=13;t=10749) ; when you view the board on standard system avatars, you see his regular avatar, but when you switch to custom avatar, you will notice his costume picture, very much different from the system avatars.

Now, you probably didn't refer to the explanation I've put above, but had in mind something else; to grant you that wish and give you a custom avatar from the standard system ones is beyond my power and abilities, so I cannot fulfill that wish to you, though you have been here for a long time indeed. In this case I might suggest addressing some of the lords on the higher levels of the tower, and they may reconsider it - no guarantee for that, though.

PS I will be off for a shorter trip and will have no access to the Org for some two days, feel free to upload your pictures if you desire as specified above and I will make it available as soon as I return from my trip. Thank you for your understanding and please feel free to PM me if you need anything I can help with or to simply notify me that you have uploaded your pictures.

RZST
03-05-2004, 23:24
oh well, thx anyways. i wanted the system avatars :p my little avatar right now looks ugly as hell o.o

im only 18 damnit and i look like im bloody 60 >_

Voigtkampf
03-06-2004, 07:17
Oh, well, that's life; somewhat surprising that you didn't max your post count to at least some 1000 by now, guess you are more of a lurker I spend at least some 30-45 min per day on the Org and now I make some 1-2 posts, at that tempo I would have made my avatar in… Oh, dear…

Fortunately, there was lord Aymar and his never-ending will to discuss anything and everything, he gave me the excuse to build up to 500+ posts. And, khm, you always have the "1 word story" thread…

The_Emperor
03-08-2004, 16:30
Fear not Ky Kiske You will quickly hit the 500 mark.

You could just do what I did and participate in as many topics as possible to get to the 500 Mark... When you see an interesting topic, just post a comment in it.

Trust me you'll be there before you know it.

Congratulations Voigtkampf on your promotion to ronin assitant moderator type geezer... (I have no idea what your new position entails but it sounds impressive)

Whatever it is, Keep it going mate http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/cheers.gif http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/wave.gif

Voigtkampf
03-08-2004, 19:11
Quote[/b] (The_Emperor @ Mar. 08 2004,09:30)]Congratulations Voigtkampf on your promotion to ronin assitant moderator type geezer... (I have no idea what your new position entails but it sounds impressive)

Whatever it is, Keep it going mate http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/cheers.gif http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/wave.gif
Thank you, oh mighty Emperor I'll try to keep up the good work or at least keep looking busy

Scipio
03-09-2004, 01:41
Hey I have a question tosa told me once that the size restrictions arent for space on the site rather then slowing down the loading of pages on older comps so does that mean if I upload my sig pic somewhere else and it is bigger then 10 kb (mine is 13kb) than can I not use it here? Or will I just be forwned upon by the less fortunate? http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/tongue.gif

Voigtkampf
03-09-2004, 07:45
Quote[/b] (Scipio @ Mar. 08 2004,18:41)]Hey I have a question tosa told me once that the size restrictions arent for space on the site rather then slowing down the loading of pages on older comps so does that mean if I upload my sig pic somewhere else and it is bigger then 10 kb (mine is 13kb) than can I not use it here? Or will I just be forwned upon by the less fortunate? http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/tongue.gif
If I understood you correctly, and if I got it all right myself, it is more because of the modem users rather than the actual space usage of the Org; I've seen many people having sigs far above allowed limits, "imported" from the outside and circumventing the Org regulations. I don't know if anything can be done about this except addressing the said member and appealing to him to keep his sig pictures in reasonable limits.

Honestly, I find nothing more ridiculous than seeing someone with far too oversized sigs and too many off them; the whole topics are reduced to watching a slideshow rather than reading the posts and comments.

Besides, don't know what you meant with 13 KB, the sig picture you have is currently 4,6 KB large, check it out and see for yourself; you are well within allowed limits, and we can host that baby for you anytime

Scipio
03-09-2004, 16:14
No I am making three generic sigs for my clan LORE but don't worry bout it I brought down the size of the sigs to 9 so Im good http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

Voigtkampf
03-09-2004, 19:51
Quote[/b] (Scipio @ Mar. 09 2004,09:14)]No I am making three generic sigs for my clan LORE but don't worry bout it I brought down the size of the sigs to 9 so Im good http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif
Oh, good… Now I can sleep peacefully