Sigs....

[TosaInu]

I am a 56ker... The forum is great, the page loads up and THEN the pictures and sigs appear,I can read the page before the pictures all load up...its not the size or kb, its the number of pixils.

Hello Medieval Assassin,

More pixels result in a larger size of the image which results in more kb.
Normally, because there's also pixeldepth. 2 bit color consumes less kb/pixel than 32 bit color. What determines the size is number of pixels and the colordepth. A 20*10 pixel 2 bit jpeg of a white background is 336 byte, the same jpeg at 32 bit is 635 byte.

Pictures are limited to 500 pixels wide to prevent scrolling and posts becoming wider than the topic. 150 pixels high to minimize the need to scroll. 10 kb to allow fair speed to 56k users, no sound because some people use the PC to play music while browsing.

[Medieval Assassin]

What I'm saying is I have no problem with high KB images, just when these images take up the whole screen.

[TosaInu]

Thanks to therother for the link, there was something useful on page 2 of the second.
These are the settings now:

Signature box is 500*200 pixels max and provides room for one or more pic at max 500*150 pixels, 10 kb, no sound + 2 lines of text or 11 lines of 700 chars.

Please note that sigs may look cut off. Please users, update all signatures to comply to the new rules.

[Mouzafphaerre]

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Shall obey.
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[Mouzafphaerre]

please delete this...

[Mouzafphaerre]

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test (please delete...)
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[Uesugi Kenshin]

I love listening to my music and surfing the org....

Your wish is my command........thingy........sometimes......

[TosaInu]

Thanks for updating it.

I see now that I explained it a bit confusing, sorry. There's room for a picture up to 150 pixels high and 2 lines of text or 11 lines of text. But any other configuration in between those is fine too.

[TosaInu]

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I've just tested Simple Machines at their forum. Table code without closing tag is disregarded and processed as text. There should be something identical in VB, which is a pretty expensive piece of software as opposed to the freeware SM.
_

I found something that hacks the textparser, that one may do it. Will check later. Just tried a straightforward BB code one today. It messed the forum very badly when used wrong.

[Mouzafphaerre]

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I think that the regulations about signature pictures are both clear and fair. Yet, we already see pictures not matching those rules, not by a small margin but 10's or even 100's k bigger.

It seems I'm the only fool to give up his signature images, work on designing new ones for precious hours to cope with the rules. Private or public hintings, even open discussions in certain boards do not trigger people to decrease their signatures' image sizes. Hitting the bad post button for each and every instance and having to explain to the moderator that the sig image is too big in size isn't convenient either, and makes me feel like a police informer.

Apparently, showcasing their artwork is more important to most peple than conforming to the rules of this community, which I thought were applicable to everyone, not just me.


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[Gregoshi]

Mouzafphaerre, I don't think that being considerate of other patrons and following forum rules is the mark of a fool. Those with large sig images either aren't aware of the rules or think they are above them (and other patrons). The former is excusable, the latter is just plain rude. Unfortunately, to my knowledge, there is no easy way to police sig images and spot those in violation. I have to admit, right-clicking on every sig image I see is not the first thing I think to do when I'm reading threads. However, you should not feel the need to be the sig police. Having said that, should you see an illegal sig picture, your best course of action is to PM a staff member you feel comfortable with and let them handle it. Beyond that, don't worry about it and feel good that you at least are doing the right thing.

[Hosakawa Tito]

What Greg said. Being considerate of others by following the rules is not the sign of a fool, quite the contrary. Your hours of work reconfiguring your sig pics might have been tedious and frustrating, but the reward is that you also gained knowledge you didn't have before.

[TosaInu]

Hello,

As far as my memory serves me, there were no sigs pics allowed in the forum used prior to Ikonboard, because it was a known annoyance for users when abused. Sadly enough, annoying others is a favourite 'sport' and exercised anywhere and anytime with any tool available.

I know the concerns of some people with pictures in signatures, mainly that they are too large. The dimensions can be an annoyance, but also the filesize when using a slow connection. Some people would like to see them go completely, others want a small one, others again have much to show.

Personally I think sigs are great, but I understand the concerns of other users. Thus a arbitrary rule has been set by me in fall 2002 when we switched to Ikonboard. Sig pictures are max 10,240, bytes large, signatures are not allowed to contain sounds as that's yet another annoyance (yes I know that the host uses some banners with sounds, I can't help that, but very sorry), and have width and height restrictions to ensure acceptable formatting on even 15" screens. The number of characters was restricted to 500 iirc.

People who like sigs to be removed completely can go to the UserCP and strip all sigs from all posts. The more people forced to do so, the less effective 'advertising' in sigs is (URLS, pictures).

This arbritrary rule set by me in fall 2002, yet not for my own pleasure in whatever form, never ever changed since.

I say never changed, it did a bit recently though, because of a load of oversized sigs and the request to add more text. Not visible, but each post has a signature box now -see post #33 and #38- and any dimension above that is simply cut off. The allowed dimensions of the picture/combined pictures are still the same as 2 years ago though and the number of allowed characters is increased to 700.

Any user who fails to update his/her signature before Monday 17-1-2005 12.00 AM GMT, will have his/her account updated to minimal privileges. Due to the amount of administration involved, this is an account of one size fits all dummies and many things will be gone for you.

Post any comment or question here please.

[Kaiser of Arabia]

um I have no clue if my sig follows the regulations...
Does it?
If not, I will remove it.

[Duke John]

It is 20 kB while it should 10 kB plus the size is too big.


... we really need to have the guidelines at a more prominent face. Perhaps a popup every time you visit the forum?

Oh and nice deadline, Tosa, no more Mister Tolerate, right? Hopefully it works well.

[Mouzafphaerre]

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Thanks, and sorry for showing my frustration that directly. Since September 2002, when I stepped into the Sea Dogs forum to ask for some help, I have been quite active in half a dozen community forums. In most of them people -including myself- use signature pictures and animations for expressive purposes. Personally, I don't have a problem with them, I didn't have when I used to be on dialup either.

The point here is the rules/guidelines/you name it set for the community so that everybody should obey. You may disagree, you may not like, but you have to obey or go. My signature image was violating the rules, albeit with a comparatively small margin, which doesn't matter at all. After the announcements made by Tosa and moderators in this very thread, I changed it in accordance with the limits. I added the "Europa Barbarorum" lines in the same fashion. As it is, my signature hosts my flag, our brotherhood logo, our brotherhood motto, EB logos; and it is only 4.39 KB (4492 bytes), which shows that you can express something, show out some art and still keep within the regulations.

What blew up my bomb was a recent discussion in a hidden subboard. I posted in a related thread:

...these signatures are too big in file size. The allowed upper limit is 10K...

and then:

...it's the file size that has to be 10 KB maximum.

but people insisted on showing up with 60+ KB images. Althugh I believe that it's not their intention, that manner is equivalent to shouting loud "you fool!" at my face.

I'm going to post a link to this thread there...
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[Uesugi Kenshin]

Maybe this will make the pages load faster for me.... Good job taking a stand Tosa, hopefully this will work and the giant files will be gone.

[Herakleitos]

My 'sigpic' is 10504 bytes... I have uploaded a smaller version of the image to the .org but don't know how to make that appear in my signature; now I just have a link to the original url...

[therother]

My 'sigpic' is 10504 bytes... I have uploaded a smaller version of the image to the .org but don't know how to make that appear in my signature; now I just have a link to the original url...

I would suggest removing the picture in the meantime, and wait for your new one to become available at the Org. Alternatively, you could arrange to have it hosted elsewhere on the Web. KukriKhan has been very generously helping people comply with the signature picture regulations. Try dropping him a PM.

[TosaInu]

Hello Herakleitos,

I could only find this one http://www.totalwar.org/patrons/pics/A_Herakleitos.gif
perhaps you uploaded another? Could you tell what which uploader you used and/or the name of the file?

Thanks.

[Mouzafphaerre]

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Any user who fails to update his/her signature before Monday 17-1-2005 12.00 AM GMT, will have his/her account updated to minimal privileges. Due to the amount of administration involved, this is an account of one size fits all dummies and many things will be gone for you.

It's 19-1-2005 3.00 PM GMT right now and there is a 89.06 KB standing right before my eye.

When a rule is not executed for every member of a community, and that rule implies a restriction, there is clear unjust behaviour against those few members who do comply with the rules.

Sorry to do this but I will not be visiting the Guild from now on, until either a way of applying the image size restriction to every member is found and executed, or the restriction is abandoned altogether.

It was great time I had here. Goodbye.

Regards.
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[Togakure]

You are right about the injustice. But I think you are being just a bit silly in your reaction. Also, I think you could consider cutting the staff here some slack. They work very hard--voluntarily--to make the Org what it is (which is one of the better boards I have encountered, and I have encountered many ...).

It seems that you get a lot from this place, based on the level of participation your signature suggests. Is it really so offensive that you would give up everything else you get from here just because some dorks have big signatures?? To be honest, I'll bet some of them don't even know how to check how big their signature is! So for a few at least, it is not defiance, but simple ignorance.

It is not a man's place to tell another man what to do, but as I have enjoyed your posts and creative expressions here, I thought I'd express my opinion about this. I think context is the thing here--I understand how you feel about the sigs; I feel the same way about how many choose to behave here. But, I still get a lot out of the place, and I've learned to just ignore those that remind me of fecal matter. I mean come on--they're everywhere these days anyway--where ya gonna go that's feces free?

Your decision m8. Enjoy your beer, wherever you go.

[Uesugi Kenshin]

I agree with Toga, it is not helping you to leave... People will still have big signatures and the mods will still try to stop them, not much will change, except the org will lose you as a member... You should stay on and just turn off sigs until the issue is resolved..

[TosaInu]

Hello Mouzafphaerre,

It's not a matter of condoning it from some, it's a manual proces and it took me several hours last monday to check signatures. Any account not complying, whether it was 10's of kb or just a few bytes more than 10,240, was reset. I'm sure a couple of accounts aren't checked yet.

The check for filesize by software isn't working here afaik, if it did it would not bring much happiness, for it will most likely allow only 1 signature image.

[Uesugi Kenshin]

I agree with Toga, it is not helping you to leave... People will still have big signatures and the mods will still try to stop them, I doubt anybody that has a sig over the restriction is going to fix it because of your departure. I bet a lot of people don't even keep an eye on the watchtower or the announcements that have appeared all over the forum. You should stay on and just turn off sigs until the issue is resolved..

[Mouzafphaerre]

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Even the slightest quarrel or conflict should be out of consideration in the holidays.

Thanks for your kind and encouraging words, and sorry for dumping unto you dear Tosa.

One thing should be cleared though:

just turn off sigs until the issue is resolved

I have nothing personal against the sig pics. Even when E-mule is working hard on the background, the pages load as fast as possible thanks to DSL. My point is that if there is a rule, it must be for everyone, not just me.
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[Uesugi Kenshin]

Oh you have DSL? Good for you, I am stuck with dial up, fast for dial up at 52 kbps but still dial up..... And with AIM open..... Well thank god I have music to keep me from dying...

[Togakure]

My average transfer rate is 28.8 kbps. As far as slow connections go, I figure I prolly have among the slowest. I actually "feel the pain" when images are large. Honestly, only a few animated gifs here have ever slowed down my experience to the point that it was really annoying. Fortunately, the staff quickly dealt with the situation before I had to request it. The picture-laden threads are very slow, but I figure it's a good opportunity to fix a mug of tea while I wait for them to load. Having been spoiled by T1 lines and DSL connections in the past, it's a test of patience for me.

[Duke John]

Just keep on posting violators in this thread, it will at least save Tosa the time to search for them.

I have abandoned signatures already some time ago as it mostly shows how egocentric people can be and I see that enough already in real life.

[Togakure]

Sigs are really the only thing besides what a person writes that give any insight into the indivudual and their tastes. I enjoy seeing both the preferred art and the little sayings that people use to distinguish themselves here. I see them as little expressions of creative individuality, which I, for one, enjoy.

Egocentrism is everywhere. It's a big part of human nature. Those who revile against it are often the most guilty ... just more subtle about it than others.

If you see a buddha on the road ... .