m1thr0s
01-26-2007, 09:17 PM
Post Date: 01-26-2007
Abrahadabra Forums is starting to grow and as we do so we are running into a few things that will need to be implemented to insure smooth operations into the future. As these changes go into effect we will announce them here and also post them to FAQs and Rules as needed.
With few exceptions, pictures are intended to embellish Discussion - not replace it. We are fast becoming a compendium of all images on the internet and this is simply getting a little out of hand. We all love pics I think, but oversized pics and pic-stacking are in many cases unnecessary and unproductive and just transform these boards into some sort of grafitti outlet.
Pics are expensive as a rule and take up a lot of bandwidth. One large pic can take up more space than a very long thread with none so we need people to be more aware of that and only post pics that actually have some immediate bearing on related topics. Links to other sites saves bandwidth but sites go down all the time so it's actually better not to do this in most cases, but rather transfer those pics to your own computer or to some picture storage service. A clear advantage of downloading to your own computer first is that you can resize the images and also optimize them. Then you just need to have some stable place to house them and you're good to go.
Effective immediately, we are recommending that images do no exceed a 480 x 480 pixel size when posted directly to the forums. If you have an image larger than this that simply cannot be reduced for some reason, use our thumbnail feature which will allow it to expand to a larger size when clicked but will not throw templates out of whack. 480 x 480 px is a pretty decent size and this rule will apply to most threads that do not have a specific visual theme (I will come to those in a minute):
http://abrahadabra.com/images/480x480.gif
Some topics are especially visually-oriented so we are going to allow a little more lattitude with these. Gallery topics or topics such as The Tavern Outside Time or the Book of Mirrors topics etc may need to exceed the 480 x480 guidelines occasionally. We are going to allow a 600 x 600 pixel limit for such threads. Again, there is no reason not to use the thumbnail feature if an image needs to be bigger than this to be displayed properly in your honest opinion. I have relaxed the size quota on thumbnails to be able to accommodate a very generous size, so take advantage of that if you need to.
http://abrahadabra.com/images/600x600.gif
We have not decided yet whether this will be retroactively implemented since it entails a lot of work and some of you have been posting images just as fast as you could dig them out. This needs to slow down a bit. Pics are important and you just ruin it for everybody if you slam images recklessly. Try to keep the bandwidth issue in mind and do what you can to keep your pic-posting activity within these parameters (or better) and if you have a question or any doubt...just ask somebody in charge and we will let you know what your options are. For the mostpart, I do not foresee that these new guidelines (which are still very rich by most standards) should cause anyone any kind of problems that cannot easily be managed.
m1thr0s
Abrahadabra Forums is starting to grow and as we do so we are running into a few things that will need to be implemented to insure smooth operations into the future. As these changes go into effect we will announce them here and also post them to FAQs and Rules as needed.
With few exceptions, pictures are intended to embellish Discussion - not replace it. We are fast becoming a compendium of all images on the internet and this is simply getting a little out of hand. We all love pics I think, but oversized pics and pic-stacking are in many cases unnecessary and unproductive and just transform these boards into some sort of grafitti outlet.
Pics are expensive as a rule and take up a lot of bandwidth. One large pic can take up more space than a very long thread with none so we need people to be more aware of that and only post pics that actually have some immediate bearing on related topics. Links to other sites saves bandwidth but sites go down all the time so it's actually better not to do this in most cases, but rather transfer those pics to your own computer or to some picture storage service. A clear advantage of downloading to your own computer first is that you can resize the images and also optimize them. Then you just need to have some stable place to house them and you're good to go.
Effective immediately, we are recommending that images do no exceed a 480 x 480 pixel size when posted directly to the forums. If you have an image larger than this that simply cannot be reduced for some reason, use our thumbnail feature which will allow it to expand to a larger size when clicked but will not throw templates out of whack. 480 x 480 px is a pretty decent size and this rule will apply to most threads that do not have a specific visual theme (I will come to those in a minute):
http://abrahadabra.com/images/480x480.gif
Some topics are especially visually-oriented so we are going to allow a little more lattitude with these. Gallery topics or topics such as The Tavern Outside Time or the Book of Mirrors topics etc may need to exceed the 480 x480 guidelines occasionally. We are going to allow a 600 x 600 pixel limit for such threads. Again, there is no reason not to use the thumbnail feature if an image needs to be bigger than this to be displayed properly in your honest opinion. I have relaxed the size quota on thumbnails to be able to accommodate a very generous size, so take advantage of that if you need to.
http://abrahadabra.com/images/600x600.gif
We have not decided yet whether this will be retroactively implemented since it entails a lot of work and some of you have been posting images just as fast as you could dig them out. This needs to slow down a bit. Pics are important and you just ruin it for everybody if you slam images recklessly. Try to keep the bandwidth issue in mind and do what you can to keep your pic-posting activity within these parameters (or better) and if you have a question or any doubt...just ask somebody in charge and we will let you know what your options are. For the mostpart, I do not foresee that these new guidelines (which are still very rich by most standards) should cause anyone any kind of problems that cannot easily be managed.
m1thr0s