Custom avatars

[TosaInu]

Hello,

We'll continue sorting this out.

- I believe that custom avatars should follow an appropriate theme (exact criteria to be decided later) and that these thematic criteria should be mandatory.

- I believe that it should be encouraged that custom avatars should follow an appropriate theme, but that these criteria should be guidelines and custom avatars that would be otherwise acceptable should be allowed.

- I believe that there should be no theme requirements or guidance for custom avatars.

NB: this is not about the file or dimension size. Whether there will be a mandatory theme or not, inappropriate 18+, offensive etc avatars will never be allowed.

[Quietus]

Voted. :Bump: so others can see.

[Quid]

Strong tendency towards the first one. I think it would be more than inappropriate to have a Bart Simpson avatar because it just woudn't feel right.

Just my two-pence.

Quid

[Drisos]

I cannot see the results so far, is that normal?

[Mouzafphaerre]

I cannot see the results so far, is that normal?

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Yes.
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[LittleGrizzly]

Im for a guideline theme, the total war games being the guideline

[IliaDN]

Guideline as far as I Understood.

[King Edward]

Im all for Theamed Avatars, this is Totalwar.org after all

[Navaros]

i say no theme. having a theme defeats the entire purpose of Custom avatars. it's not very custom if you have to limit it to just one exact theme. it almost makes more sense to just stick with the current system of having no custom avatars rather than to do that

that said, i certainly don't wanna see this site have a whole bunch of avatars of a Bart Simpson cartoon displaying his bare butt in every one's face, as is the case on other forums where custom avatars are allowed

i think an acceptable medium is to have no theme, but make sure all the custom avatars have a mature connotation to them

[King Henry V]

Im for a guideline theme, the total war games being the guideline

I second that. How do you get custom avatars anyway?

[TosaInu]

The poll ended and we have a draw. Do we enter a new round of voting about this, will we extract a conclusion out of these results, will we throw a dice or is staff going to cut a decision?

[ichi]

I suggest that you make the decision, including your best advisors if you wish

ichi

[Shambles]

Well i didnt vote but would ahve been mandatory theme.

[The Wizard]

The poll ended and we have a draw. Do we enter a new round of voting about this, will we extract a conclusion out of these results, will we throw a dice or is staff going to cut a decision?

I'd say our most distinguished staff, which has proven itself to be capable of choosing the right thing before.



~Wiz

[Uesugi Kenshin]

I would say the mods get to choose and if there is still no decision they could pm a few long-members to try break the tie.

[Epistolary Richard]

Having mandatory criteria requires a staff member to take time out to vet each avatar (either before or shortly after they're uploaded) and communicate with the user so I think it should be a staff decision as to whether they have someone who is prepared to take this task on.

[Pindar]

How many patrons were actually aware of this poll? I wasn't.

Polls suggest wanting opinions. I suggest, another poll: with an announcement in other forums to generate more awareness/participation. When casting a net, a larger cast has the more promise.

[Uesugi Kenshin]

Well people should also check the watchtower for rule changes or if say the signature rules are going to be enforced more strictly. So it is really their fault if they cannot take a few seconds to check.

[Epistolary Richard]

I think generally speaking polls on significant policy decisions should be more widely advertised, presumably through an announcement. In this particular case, the initial question about custom avatars did receive cross-forum advertising (which is why I ended up visiting the Watchtower in the first place) and - as there are several more decisions to be made on the topic and the majority of people want them as quickly as possible - I'd prefer the staff just to make a quick decision on this and then we can move forwards.

[SpencerH]

Well people should also check the watchtower for rule changes or if say the signature rules are going to be enforced more strictly. So it is really their fault if they cannot take a few seconds to check.

LOL You posted that while a Hitchhikers remake is at the movie theatres!

[SpencerH]

I understand the desire to maintain a certain style at this forum. That said, the current crop of avatars are boring. Custom avatars will change the feel of the forums, but that will happen anyway when Spartan is released. Allow custom avatars of any type (non-moving) but set up some suggested guidelines as to content and reserve the right to restrict avatars (which you already plan to do).

In fact, you could set up a forum to decide the fate of avatars that were borderline.

NB: my avatar is my family coat of arms so I assume it'll pass muster

[Uesugi Kenshin]

Yeah, but it is true if people want to have a say in the Org's policies they need to check in at the Watchtower, otherwise they miss things and it is nobody's fault but theirs.

[Navaros]

Well people should also check the watchtower for rule changes or if say the signature rules are going to be enforced more strictly. So it is really their fault if they cannot take a few seconds to check.

yes, you are correct in that it is their fault

however, despite the fact that it is their fault for not checking Watchtower, the simple fact of that matter is that most people will not check the Watchtower

therefore, if threads such as this are not advertised on all forums, the participation will indeed be very low

it reminds me back in the old days when i used to post on the boards for my favorite RTS game. i would post everything on the main "General Discussion" board. mainly the threads that i would make would be discussing in-depth strategy and tactics. the mods would often move those threads to the "Strategy Boards" - and i hated that vehemently because most people, especially the really good players, only ever read and posted on the main board. so by taking my thread off the main board, the intended audience that i wrote the thread for, never saw it. when i talked to the mods about cursing my threads by moving them to the "Abyss that no one ever sees" aka "Strategy Boards", they told me: "it's not our fault if the members here don't go to the strategy boards". well sure...true, it's not their fault. however, knowing that people will not go there, does it not make more sense to accomodate the original poster by leaving his strategy thread on the main board where the people he wants to talk with will be able to see and discuss his ideas?

my point of that example, is that sometimes human nature makes people not conduct themselves in an ideal way.

by the same token as the example above; here on the Org since people will not participate in Watchtower in large numbers, is it not better to forgive them and accomodate their laziness/ignorance/indifference/whatnot by bringing major policy discussions like custom avatars to them?

then on the other hand, there is an argument to be made that it is the highest quality members who already post in Watchtower. therefore perhaps it is better to limit decisions to feedback based exclusively on their opinions.

[Kaiser of Arabia]

No custom avatars please, unless they're made by a mod staff or somthing (like Duke John's avatar). I coudlnt vote but hey, thats my 2 cents

[Epistolary Richard]

by the same token as the example above; here on the Org since people will not participate in Watchtower in large numbers, is it not better to forgive them and accomodate their laziness/ignorance/indifference/whatnot by bringing major policy discussions like custom avatars to them?

I agree that where a forum's administration is completely detached from the desires of its community, that forum will inevitably wither. However, in this case the potential of custom avatars did receive cross-forum advertising. This specific poll didn't because it is just a small step towards advising on policy - it's a relatively technical, albeit significant in its way, question.

I would expect that the priority for the majority of users is to have custom avatars introduced as soon as possible and are happy to leave the technicalities of specific policy consultation with those few of us who take an interest in the minutiae.

Kaiser of Arabia
As far as I'm aware Tosa has already settled the decision to work towards allowing custom avatars - as viewing them or not would be the individual decision of each poster. These polls are intended to work towards what policy should be in place around them.

It's a matter of choice now Epistolary Richard. I've been experimenting a bit, and one simply gets another toggle in view options (where the toggles for displaying avatars, signatures and pictures are). Toggle URL avatars and normal avatars on, and you'll see both images (there's a size limitation now to prevent huge pictures, but we'll have to find out which limits we'll use). Turn one or both off if you like that.

[TosaInu]

Hello,

As suggested by a few, the staff voted to break the tie: it will be mandatory.

The previous public polls ask for one fixed dimension, allowing both photo's and drawings and pictures of 10 kb or less. We yet have to decide about more details for the theme. Suggestions?

[Shambles]

Historical themes from the total war seriese,
few choices of back ground colour,
And a lil border around them

[Epistolary Richard]

Collated comments from members from other Watchtower threads on the topic:

I think that it would be good if custom avatars followed a similar style to the portraits already used...

I dunno, I just think its good that way, give the boards a unique feel.

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I agree with having a Theme, a Theme is important it symbolizes that which represents the community and its Role or Goal, in this Case, a Community about Total War series of Games, and the big package that comes with it (History, Friendship, Modding etc).

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I think photos should be fine. I would just prefer to avoid random pcitures of stuff. Such as random pictures of flowers, guns, shirts or other inanimate objects.

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I agree. It's great to see personalised avatars, but it's even greater if they all can remain in the same TW 'spirit' as before. I refer to Barocca's, Myrddraal's, ichi's and Uesugi Kenshin's new avatars as very good examples of how it should be.


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I claim a rommel avatar

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Hmm, if we're going with the TW thing, I'd like to know if I'd be able to use an avatar depicting something from the times of Napoleon? It even looks like RTW, since the character depicted is a member of one of Napoleon's Guard regiments and is wearing a Phrygian-style helmet. And besides, there is NTW to consider...

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I think it would be nice if avatars represented figures with at least some relation to the theme of the board. Not necessarily a strict one, so things like Rommel or Napoleonic era figures would be fine, but perhaps not a bunch of flowers!

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At first, I was thinking uniformity is antipathetic to custom, but I do like that TW 'theme'. Not necessarily limited to STW, MTW or RTW, but extended to other theaters as well (i.e. Kaiser's 'Rommel' etc.). So I second TL and others on this.


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Also the TW Theme of the avitars Although keeping within the feeling of the web page, Will inevitably restrict the Design options Available to avit makers,
But, The tw theme is Good

and Some leway in design options of avitars,
(i.e Must have a frame "as posted above")


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I supposed I'd like avatars to be, well, avatars – representative of the poster in some fashion, and at least to some extent relevant to the board, i.e. something at least loosely to do with history and/or warfare. It's a pretty wide topic.

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Talking theme, I'd prefer protraits - not necessarily connected with war (look at the MTW princesses for example)

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If everyone agrees to the TW 'theme' then IMO it doesn't have to be historical or military in nature, rather cultural. Statues, shields, headdress, cartouche, vases, bookcover, buildings, tanks, paintings, it can be anything.


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Personally, I'd like to see the avatars retain some amount of 'Orgness', relating in history to some way, a pretty wide swath, methinks. And avoiding cartoonishness would be nice too.

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Furthermore, a certain theme should be kept, i. e. TW theme.

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think custom avatars would be good but with a TW theme (maybe people could put their username under the portrait, that sorta stuff) or with a portrait theme, and again patrons could attach their username or other suitable info.


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Human or fantastic humanlike characters (Tolkien, StarTrek etc.) should they be. Ie, "not a tank but a guy in front of a tank".

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No animated gifs.

That's my personal opinion, but I think that they make things seem to flashy, too sugar-coated. Even if the gif is clever, or entertaining, you can only stand that "stick-figure-attacking-the-wall" gif so many times.

I guess what it boils down to is that animated gifs could allow for a lot of abuse and cheapen the forum. If they are allowed and widely used, I might turn off the avatars. But then I lose out on the other good avatars some people may have.


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I agree completely - animated gifs are extremely annoying.

[The Wizard]

I'd agree with the border thing -- once I find out how to add that in Photoshop.



~Wiz

[Kaiser of Arabia]

adding borders isn't very fun, and my GIMPshop's not working right