Black & Gold by Alia Atreides
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What say you?
Keep the rules as they are. (option 1 below) 3 (15%)
Change the rules. (option 2 below) 14 (70%)
I really don't care. 3 (15%)
Total Votes: 20
Sig rule change? (concerning animation); please read & vote
Topic Started: Mar 6 2007, 10:29 PM (838 Views)
Admin
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There have been some complaints, now and in the past, about sigs with lots of blinking and/or bouncy bits. To keep animation in sigs at more acceptable levels, we added a rule that limited the number of smilies (and other small pics) that you can use. Unfortunately, that only works so far. However, the only alternative is to have a rule that says 'not too much animation and not too many smilies' - and that is very subjective, of course.

FYI, the current rule on smilies/animation is this:
Quote:
 
You may have smilies in your sig, Parley-based or from other sources, but their total filesize may not exceed 10 KB.


Having thought about what to do... I decided it was best to just have everyone vote on it, like proper pirates.

Option 1:
We keep the rules as they are; objective, but still having a potential for over-animation in banners and the like, and with little room for smilies.

Option 2:
We get rid of the rule limiting smilies, and add a rule to the effect that the amount of animation and number of smilies in one's sig should not be excessive. The downside of this is that what is too much will be a subjective but incontestable decision made by the modmins. The upside is that there may be more room for smilies than there was (depending on the smilies used), and if you're one of the people who can't stand a lot of animation, this might accommodate you.

P.S.
Should not many people vote on this, please encourage everyone to do so. This affects all of us, so it's important that everyone gets a say in it.
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adamantpanda
Wretch
Maybe a definition of acceptable animation is required? It seems that the issue is not necessarily only with the amount of animation in the signatures, but how flashy/distracting it is.
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Admin
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Exactly - and that's the problem. You can't put any objective limits on that sort of thing. You can say "only 10 KB worth of smilies", so you don't get 21 smilies bouncing up and down like crazy in someone's sig, but then you'd have, for example, the bigger version of the Rackham flag I got in my sig, which isn't nearly as distracting, but it's all of 10 KB by itself, so people who use it can't use any other smilies or such. And that's only the smilies; banners can be extremely flashy as well, even if they're well within the KB limits.

If anyone can come up with a rule that will cover all these things (semi-)objectively, I encourage them to do so, but I don't think it can be done.
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swedishfish67
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Rogue
I voted to change the rules to option 2, because I think that you're right, while it is subjective, thats really the only way I see to do it. Like you said, 10 KB can accomodate one non-distracting flag, but also a bunch of distracting smilies. Now I don't want anyone to be censored that much in whatever they want in their sig, because its theirs, but it does make sense to have some limit if people have complained or if there appears to be a slight problem.

I also agree there should be some definition of this.. hmm I'm trying to think of a fair one... Idk. Like, you could say so and so many number of flashy smilies, but then you'd have to define a flashy smilie, so theres that... bc not all animated smilies/pic are flashy, for example, your flag is just fine. Or you could say, if a complaint has been privately issued, the individual with the sig could be asked to cut down on the flashyness or something, *shrugs* I'm not sure, I certainly don't want anyone to have to take stuff out of there sig, at least, not a lot. But something has to be done if theres been a complaint.
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katiepotcdepp
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Wretch
Does my sig fit in with the rules?
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will_k_williams
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Miscreant
I know how easy it is to let signatures run wild. I started off not even wanting a signature, then I had my pirate claim, then my unofficial claim, then Adam gave me the banner I'm using, then the PvN contest started so I got the 'Pride of the King's Navy' and 'Captain' thingies and now I think I'm violating space regulations. I don't like flashy banners and I think it's annoying when you have to scroll through reams of blinking, bouncing, swirling images just to read what people have to say.

Not everyone wants shiny, flashing things in their signatures or as an avatar but a rule like this has to assume the worst. If everyone did use smilies and moving images then what would be an acceptable level for the site?

Will
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Monkey
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Smuggler
what if we did this:
If someone REALLY doesn't like a sig or avvie, they can PM the modmins. If more than, say, 2 or 3 people complain, the modmins can kindly "suggest" they remove it. I guess that would sort of fit in with #2.

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Alia Atreides
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Journeyman Craftswoman
Quote:
 
If someone REALLY doesn't like a sig or avvie, they can PM the modmins. If more than, say, 2 or 3 people complain, the modmins can kindly "suggest" they remove it.

While it's a nice idea, I don't think it will work. As a modmin, it already is to some degree assumed that when it comes to things like this, that our opinion already does not count, but I don't like making it into an actual rule where it means our opinions will hold no sway whatsoever just because we do happen to be a modmin.

The other thing with that...is the two or three person bit...people might complain because, there are some people on here that don't necessarily have a fast connection thanks to being at a university not using cable or DSL, or who are on dial-up connection, and the lower the spead, the longer it takes to load, which equals the more time the person wastes waiting for something to load. Not to mention some ways of connecting limit how much data you can send and recieve, and if you go over you have to pay more. They shouldn't be forced to remove signatures and avatars for that just because it would require more than just them complaining about a signature.

Quote:
 
Does my sig fit in with the rules?

The current ones or the potential new ones? Because it won't let me right click on the thing to find out how much space it is taking up, instead it just gives a bunch of weird options. Personally...while I think it's nice to have a count down...I'm pretty sure something like that is taking up a lot of space, so I don't think that it would be the best to use in that regard. Maybe something like that in one of the first posts of the countdown thread would be cool (because I know several people were looking into trying to get a countdown to work, but it wouldn't work).
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katiepotcdepp
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Wretch
Thank you alia, I will change it.
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will_k_williams
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Miscreant
If there are images that people desperately want to use on the site but they're too flashy to use as banners why not use them as them as the picture in their user profile?

Will
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Admin
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Everyone's sig here is just fine. :)

With an overwhelming majority in favour of option 2, the rules shall be changed accordingly. I'd tell you when the new rules come into effect, but, off the top of my head, no-one is in violation of them, so no one needs to do anything weird. So the new rules start immediately.

Thanks to everyone who voted and thought with us on this. Huzzah for democracy. :jollyroger:
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