Sigs....

[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.

[Mouzafphaerre]

-

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..

[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.

[TosaInu]

Hello Mouzafphaerre,

The rule applies to everyone. To be honest: I'm thinking about adding a 10,241 bytes in my own, demote and free myself from this kindergarten.

[The Wizard]

Hello,

I have not recieved a single email from the Guild regarding this issue, but I can no longer edit and I do not see anything regarding the editing of signature in my profile in my account, nor do I see my signature anymore. Therefore, I shall assume my account has been reduced to a minimum of privileges. Therefore I wonder how in any way I should have known that I should have changed my signature to less lines of text (because when I added the sig itself, I checked the forum regulations to see if it was ok and it was), other than reading this thread.

I, for one, almost never come to the Watchtower. Why should I? Discussions over usually minor issues or issues that have nothing to do with me are no attraction to this place. So I didn't know of this deadline for the changing of sigs, although I was aware of the existence of this thread.

Therefore, I find the system used for notifying users they have a too large sig quite abominable and unfriendly, something I am not used to in this place. Perhaps a more widespread notification would have pointed out my 'violation', so I could have been spared this useless waste of time that is showing once again that I have knowledge of sig regulations. I was not aware, however, that a smaller sig than allowed still means only 2 lines of text.

Personally I find sigs a great thing, expressing one's character and interests. Egocentrism in no way comes to mind when I think of sigs. But rules are rules and breaking them on a place like this shall get you trouble and that is a waste of time and effort, and therefore I try to follow them. But if there is no knowledge of a supposed violation, than how can I follow them? If I did not know something in a store costs something and must be bought, how would I refrain from stealing?

Of course, going to this forum more often could be a solution. But, as I said, there really isn't anything interesting in here 95% of the time. So there is no reason to visit often. Perhaps a better system of notification to things decided in here would limit unpleasant experiences such as mine.

Thanks,



~Wiz

[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.