Restrictions on Animated Avatars and Signatures

You guys are weird. :hehe:

bmwracer wrote:You guys are weird. :hehe:

it's all about the jokes, man. it's better than merely complaining about the animated gifs and avatars that abound. that'd be boring....

it's like the wonder gackt twins, you know.

even those of us with really good connections fall prey to the evilness of too many animated gifs on one page...i'm all in favor of a limit...

phpbb can probably be edited to include a pic size check even if the file is located on a different server. It might take some effort to slap that in, so it's possible.

btw.. there's something who posts frequently on jdorama that has abou 4MB total of pics in their Avatar + Signature. Now that's just plain ridiculous. Unfortunately, that person probably doesn't realize it, and is doing it unintetionally.

Buruburu wrote:phpbb can probably be edited to include a pic size check even if the file is located on a different server. It might take some effort to slap that in, so it's possible.

It's not that it isn't possible, but it's just not feasible. If the pics aren't served by jdorama, then they could be swapped out for larger pics at any time after some initial filesize check. So do you check them on every page that is served? That would basically mean that jdorama would be acting as a proxy for all those off-site images. Now THAT would really slow the site down.

well, we could always have the mods enforce the rules... (it's a lot of work but if the mods are willing...)

arnel98 wrote:well, we could always have the mods enforce the rules... (it's a lot of work but if the mods are willing...)

How would we enforce it?

Before we talk about enforcement, we need to set the rules:

1. image size?
2. image file size?
3. quantity?
4. content?

And what do we do if the rules are broken? Warnings? Deletions? :headscratch:

bmwracer wrote:And what do we do if the rules are broken? Warnings? Deletions? :headscratch:

Spankings! :hehe:

I think asking the mods to enforce rules like that kind of sucks.

If it's a huge problem, the entry form for sigs could be modified to not take any img urls. If it's only sort of a problem, then maybe have it only take one or two img urls. If it isn't that much of a problem, don't worry about it.

loris wrote:Spankings! :hehe:

Hmm, I think the enforcement rule would get abused pretty quickly. :hehe:

I think asking the mods to enforce rules like that kind of sucks.

It would only suck because some people would get torqued about it, even though the rules will be clearly stated.

yea.....it'd be pretty hard to enforce the rules if they'd be broken easily.
Maybe the quanitity should be two?? like one image pic and one gif?? or two small gifs like.....under 500KB in size?
Some people 3 gifs but are fairly big and adding those three gifs together it comes out well over 1MB.

In terms of content....i think as long as the kids at this forum can view it, its ok.

For some reason this thread is oddly compelling. :doh:

Do you think the main offenders are checking in too? :hehe: :hehe:

Eve wrote:For some reason this thread is oddly compelling. :doh:

Do you think the main offenders are checking in too? :hehe: :hehe:

I did. I was really interested in what the restrictions would be :mrgreen:

i'm afraid i might be one of those offenders to this animated gif on my siggy and avatar. i do try to make it as small as i can. if you do have restrictions to the filesize and image proportions, i would gladly comply. i'm still experimenting and learning, so any suggestions to make life better for all is much appreciated.

@arwenna: you shouldn't worry. you're gifs are a lot smaller then mine. you're in the safe :mrgreen:

Eve wrote:Do you think the main offenders are checking in too? :hehe: :hehe:

Visiting? Yes.

Commenting? No.

Hmm, no comments from der administrator.

Guess this is a non-issue. :sweat:

Looking at what everyone has to say before I get my weekend to think about it...

Technically, it is not possible to restrict the filesize or animated pic of any avatar or signature, as the user can always change the image file that resides on other servers. It'd be too much of an overload on jdorama.com to check for the size on every load instance.

Several options we have here..

1) Size restriction
Restrict total size of avatar, and total size of signature (200kb? 100kb? your views?). Mods to check on offenders. Warnings to be given for first timers to remove the large sized pics. On subsequent offences or if pics are still as big within the following week from warning, the pics will be removed (by me, or if by mods, I will have to code that module).

-- Minimal time to implement if removal of sigs is done by admin. Mods to report to admin for removal of pics violating the guidelines.


2) Option for users
Users to have option in their profile to view only textual links to external avatars and signature pics.

-- Coding to be done, and it means even good sized pics will not show as well if this feature is toggled.


3) Pic blocking per user
As above but for user to user level. (e.g. bmwracer wants to block genma's sigs)

-- Not too feasible due to overheads and size of database. Resulting size would be a cartesian product.





The rules will evolve as and when anyone tries to find a loophole out of it.

well, i'm very much in favor of option 1...size restriction for everyone is definitely the easiest way to get people to learn a little self moderation (even if its actually enforced moderation, at least they hafta think before they post their huge sigs)

but option 2 might be more feasible...its kinda the option i hafta do right now, only instead of links, i hafta turn off all images on my browser before i go to the thread...it doesn't impose on anyone but myself...people continue to do their own thing and i do my part to make my browsing easier...but its still a pain to not be able to see any pics that are posted...

tho option 2 is the least invasive of all the options...i'm still a huge supporter of option 1!! (my vote is for 100k per sig....)

My take on the three choices:

1. Size restriction - A nice, across the board fix, but resticting the file size won't prevent someone from having a huge image as long as it's under the 100K/200K/etc. limit. It will cut down, if not eradicate, most animated gifs, though. :sweat: And this would speed up page loads, I would think. :)

2. User display option - Also nice for those who don't wanna see or are sick of seing avatars and gifs. I like images, good or bad, so I wouldn't use this option.

3. Pic blocking - If it's not feasible due to overhead, then this choice shouldn't be even considered. :)

ok........so my gif i was planning on putting up next is about 909KB if I remember right....if I remove the added 7 frames from tweening, it'll be about 750+ KB, but its under 800KB.....still too big???? :sweat: