Controlling Signature Bloat

yeah I noticed it too... we all make mistakes... he's a nice guy, wouldn't have done it on purpose...

yup, a nice email explaining the situation, and if they get upset with ya complain to the mods... I hate rules... if they cap the pic size I'll never get a good shot of the 1/2 B-26 Marauder I am building in my yard with empty toilet paper rolls!

Tom, when you get the B-26 done, post some pix. Just hope it doesn't rain before you finish it .

Regards, Rick

Wow. I don't know where to begin on this one. I only work an 8 hour day here.

Seriously, no one likes to be the "Enforcer". Enforcing rules is a thankless and tiring responsibility.

Here's my personal observation. I haven't been keeping up with the forums lately (still have been on the site), but checking out some of the forums, I have to say some of the signatures are out of hand. [:0]

Personally, I would like to see tighter rules/restrictions/guidelines (whatever you want to call it) placed on signatures. It has gotten a bit out of hand in some instances. While that's my personal view, I'm not about to be the one responsible for making a policy that will most likely make some unhappy and even leave. I've been involved in many forums, not just for what I do here, but in my own private time. I know how important individual expression and signatures are for people.

The problem is that many people don't understand how to crop and resize images, nor do they understand file sizes and how it impacts other people. So while rules are great, I think educating people would be a better solution. Granted, we don't have the time nor resources to do a one on one with each new member. Hopefully in the next version of the forums, we'll have some tools built-in that will make it easier for members to include smaller images in their signatures.

In the meantime, if you see someone with a super-sized image and you're pretty handy with images, consider offering to crop the image for that person. With all the digital cameras out there, it's easy to take the picture and upload the image to the web. Very few people realize these pictures should be cropped/resized before posting.

For anyone asking about guidelines for images, here are two images you can use for reference.

500 x 200
This first one is 500px wide x 200px high. The space taken up by this image is really the most a signature should take up. This is actually quite generous compared to other forums I go to.

500 x 100
This second one is 500px wide x 100px high. The space taken up by this image is ideal for a signature (or smaller is fine too).



What do you think? Would this be acceptable?

I think 500x100 is perfect this allows us to post 5 100x100 Thumbnails in a panaroma style image. Irfanview can do that.

FYI, Irfanview is a FREE program and I can send the few needed steps to create such an image to interested peope. Honestly takes less than 90 seconds to set up such an image

Well, it's about time that you drop by, Dave. Actually I prefer your picture in a 500x500 dimensions. LOL. Just kidding.

500x200 is fine anyway the site automatically resizes the pic into a sort of a thumbnail with a maximum width of 350 pixels, right?

How about the size in kB?

I normally leave the sigs off, but how about a compromise....

I've noticed that if a member responds multiple times to the same post/thread, his signature also gets reposted every time.

Is there a way so that it is only displayed once (i.e. at the bottom of an author's first response or the bottom of the author's most recent response)... is there really a need to show an author's sig multiple times within the same thread?

QUOTE: Originally posted by ckfredrickson Is there a way so that it is only displayed once (i.e. at the bottom of an author's first response or the bottom of the author's most recent response)... is there really a need to show an author's sig multiple times within the same thread?

It could be done, but I think it would some nifty programming to do so.

I think the sig is simply appended to any post made by a forum member.

QUOTE: Originally posted by ckfredrickson I normally leave the sigs off, but how about a compromise.... I've noticed that if a member responds multiple times to the same post/thread, his signature also gets reposted every time. Is there a way so that it is only displayed once (i.e. at the bottom of an author's first response or the bottom of the author's most recent response)... is there really a need to show an author's sig multiple times within the same thread?

You are correct, the poster has the option to include (or not) his sig each time he posts. It is in Options: (under the message window of the Post a New Reply page).

As an example, I'll turn my sig off.

And turn it on...


(because I like having mine and seeing those of others...)

QUOTE: Originally posted by rjkplasticmod Tom, when you get the B-26 done, post some pix. Just hope it doesn't rain before you finish it . Regards, Rick

it's rained for the last 9 hours straight... so much for innovation... I was even thinking of making it a flying replica!

Thanks Model Museum and Dwight, though it was more of an open question to one of the moderators... I was hoping they could reach into their bag of tricks and pull something out.

No dice yet, but we'll give it some time.