A Feature to help with Large Sigs

[ScottJC]

More and more people seem to be using large sigs to express themselves and for one i'm getting sick of it. I'm sick of repeating myself so I posted this thread. Here's why:

1. I do not give a crap if you're a fan of this that or the other and to use a massive pic to show off how big a fan you are just pisses me off.
2. They post one line of text, it takes up most of my browser screen space and I just think thats rediculas.
3. They use a hell of a lot of BANDWIDTH usually.

I have some idea's that could help eliminate this problem. Best ones imo are highlighted in bold.

1. Use tv.com's method, by putting small frames on sigs that are too large with scroll bars (see pic 1) this would allow people to have large sigs without being a pain in the ass.
2. don't allow outside images, give people a feature that allows them to upload sig images to emutalk (with restrictions such as no larger than say 300x200 - just picked that number at random btw) and no more than one or two of these images and no more than a certain amount of text.
3. Give me the option to "ignore" someones specific sig so I can see say t0reks sig but not some jerk with a large sig.
4. Ban everyone with a large sig (nah not really, thats cruel I guess.)
5. Have the board do a check on the size of the image if you're using the img tag in your sig... php can do this easily... if its too large just make it not load the image on the page (my personal favourite idea). more info here: http://us3.php.net/getimagesize
6. Do something similar to the thumbnail attachments.

Just to show how annoying these sig images are i'm going to simulate the experience in my next (and don't complain about double posting) post. Obviously exaddurated but I trust it gets accross my point.

Its not that I hate sigs, its that I hate ones that take up too much room on the screen and I shouldn't have to scroll about ten bloody times to read 5 lines of text! Sigs are useful sometimes, they contain system specs, they show others what a user likes/dislikes but I don't need to see an image the size of london to get that you like Sonic the hedgehog.

I like sigs, but like turn quickly to hate when things are abused. People fail to realize that sigs appear in every post they make unless they tell it otherwise so you can imagine what a thread with three jerks posting constantly with large sigs would look like. Hope this gives you some ideas guys.

I say n00bs are the future, unless we stop them now.

[ScottJC]

"LOL UR GAY bcoz you h8 large sigs"

--------------------------------
Processor: Pentium 5.10ghz Memory:9082 Graphics: ATI Supreme X10000 Operating System: Windows Vienna Other stuff: I'm so 1337

http://img20.imageshack.us/img20/5325/simulateec0.jpg

I HAVE A LARGE SIG I HAVE A LARGE SIG I HAVE A LARGE SIG I HAVE A LARGE SIG I HAVE A LARGE SIG I HAVE A LARGE SIG I HAVE A LARGE SIG I HAVE A LARGE SIG I HAVE A LARGE SIG I HAVE A LARGE SIG I HAVE A LARGE SIG I HAVE A LARGE SIG I HAVE A LARGE SIG I HAVE A LARGE SIG I HAVE A LARGE SIG I HAVE A LARGE SIG I HAVE A LARGE SIG I HAVE A LARGE SIG I HAVE A LARGE SIG I HAVE A LARGE SIG I HAVE A LARGE SIG I HAVE A LARGE SIG I HAVE A LARGE SIG I HAVE A LARGE SIG I HAVE A LARGE SIG I HAVE A LARGE SIG I HAVE A LARGE SIG I HAVE A LARGE SIG I HAVE A LARGE SIG I HAVE A LARGE SIG I HAVE A LARGE SIG I HAVE A LARGE SIG I HAVE A LARGE SIG I HAVE A LARGE SIG I HAVE A LARGE SIG I HAVE A LARGE SIG I HAVE A LARGE SIG I HAVE A LARGE SIG I HAVE A LARGE SIG I HAVE A LARGE SIG I HAVE A LARGE SIG

[Poobah]

Point proven, and well demonstrated. :) I had a good laugh while reading this.

I would like to see an option to disable all signature pictures.

[Agozer]

I agree. However, I still off-site linking with strict size rules though.

[Allnatural]

I would like to see an option to disable all signature pictures.
User CP\Edit Options

[ScottJC]

If i'm not mistaken that turns off all images not just the ones in sigs, and thats a bit too unspecific i.e. what if we want to see pics in the post but not the sig? better if there was a very specific option called "disable signature img tag"

Disabling "Show Signatures" removes the entire signature not just its images, so I would no longer be able to see peoples pc specs nor any other stuff. Its kind of an overkill solution to the problem... people shouldn't have massive sigs in the first place.

Hell some images in sigs are neat but I draw the line on neat when it comes to "i'm the ultimate sonic the hedgehog fan so i'll have a massive pic of sonic in it"

[Allnatural]

Disabling "Show Signatures" removes the entire signature not just its images, so I would no longer be able to see peoples pc specs nor any other stuff. Its kind of an overkill solution to the problem... people shouldn't have massive sigs in the first place.
Works for me. I hate the non-humor and the nuggets of non-wisdom people insist on putting there too, and PC specs can still be viewed in the profile.

I agree a customized approach would be better though.

[Toasty]

I've suggested the scroll bars in the past (it might not have been on EmuTalk; I can't remember) and agree they are a very good idea. Perhaps in the CP the user could choose whether or not they want large signatures to be surrounded by scroll bars or not. The user option to disable the viewing of other individual sigs struck me as a good idea as well.

[Miretank]

500x150 size limit. And the problems shall be gone.

[Poobah]

User CP\Edit Options
Thanks. I hadn't realised that that option actually just disables user-posted images; I had the impression that it literally disabled all images.

[Allnatural]

Thanks. I hadn't realised that that option actually just disables user-posted images; I had the impression that it literally disabled all images.
Well, there is that option too. I was pointing specifically to the disable signatures option, which removes sigs completely, images and text.

[t0rek]

I also dislike the big sigs, the solution for me is that the sig size should be stated in the forum rules, something like this:

- User signatures are welcome, however they can't be bigger than 150 x 500 pixels, otherwise moderators are able to remove it, etc. etc. bla blah

And then if a mod sees a huge sig, will have the task to remove it, so this means a little work from the staff, but is not that much

[ShadowDamien]

500x150 size limit. And the problems shall be gone.


This works on almost all the forums I've been on. KEEP IT TO 500X100 AND IT WILL WORK!

If you can't keep it within the limit, you are putting too much on! 500X100 is a great size for all screen resolutions and easy for Adobe Photoshop.

[ScottJC]

Speaking of someone with a big sig, none is larger than Cobrax1884's. His sig is quite litterally 843x430, overkill much? Don't believe me? Here's a thumbnail of it on imageshack with the image size.

THAT IS NOT ON. I have already told him about his sig and it looks like he just made it worse to me so I will bring it to the attention of the mods and everyone, i'm not letting people get away with that. It's also excellent proof of people putting into practice large sigs on this forum so thats why I chose that one to post here. It's the largest sig i've seen yet.

http://img113.imageshack.us/img113/6328/spamsigyf9.th.jpg (http://img113.imageshack.us/my.php?image=spamsigyf9.jpg)

This is a prime example of what I was talking about, it's redundant, it wastes forum space and it pisses me off. I don't see why I should have to turn off sigs to get rid of one persons signature. I know i'm not the only one who despises signature abuse - and I do not want this place to end up like gamefaqs.

I suppose I can just put this guy on ignore but the longer one person gets away with a massive sig like that the more that join in and follows his trend. "WOW look at the size of that and he gets away with it, i'll impose my views with a massive sig too".

I do not care how unpopular it makes me with people like cobra either, Its nothing personal I just prefer to fight for the rights of all emutalk users (including myself) and we should not be subjected to things like the above. Given that more people share my views on it I don't see why I should care about the opinion of the individuals who bend over backwards to ruin the emutalk experience for everyone.

[Agozer]

I am inclined to agree with what you posted about cobra's sig. It's even more useless than "normal" signature texts/images. It doesn't look too great either, and the smiley animations aren't helping.

I say that if you're going to make a sig, put some useful information in it and don't make it so big that whoever is viewing a post with that particular sig under it doesn't have to roll the mousewheel several times just to get that one post off his or her screen.

Yes, I could disable signatures completely, but I actually like reading sigs when they really have something worthwhile in them and don't jump at your face.

[Whew, I'm done with that rant]

[Toasty]

I agree wholeheartedly. I asked him if he'd make it smaller at one point, but it looks the same size to me. A single-line post with that sig occupies an entire screen at my current resolution.

EDIT: A perfect real-world example of why large sigs, in conjunction with failing to use the edit function, are the devil. (Link removed, as the issue has been resolved.) At this time there are 4 posts, which occupy 5-1/2 screens at 1024x768. With sigs disabled, these posts occupy about 2-2/3 screens. 52% of the space was used to display sigs.

EDIT: The aforementioned thread's large signature has been edited by a moderator, so don't refer to it anymore. :P (Thanks to whoever did that.)

[Cyberman]

1) large sigs can be considered spam
2) making a large sig just to spam is obviously spaming
3) Spaming is a bannable offense on Emutalk

It would be so much better if people didn't behave like morons idiots, and or imbeciles and save the admin from having to become the SIG police. This is just a waste of everyones time by making large and anoying sigs.

Cyb

[t0rek]

But sadly there are always morons and idiots around, so an action is required, I'm also agree with Scott

[ScottJC]

People should have common sense that's their problem, your sig will appear on all of your posts if you have it auto-enabled and if you have a large sig and post frequently in one thread you are using a lot of the height of the page just for your sig and it all adds up. It becomes annoying and If we let people get away with that more will follow.

This and the fact that I had to tell three people before posting this thread about their large sigs was the reason why I posted this in the first place as it was becoming a small-trend. When the majority of peoples posts is just their sig you know damn fine something isn't right.

[xneoangel]

Long life to the userbars!!! :D
Death to large sigs!!! :evil:

[yegosimo]

Uh ... is my sig too large???

[Clements]

You could incorporate the link into the text to save some space:

Need OoT Saved Game States ??? (http://zeldagamestates.phpnet.us/)

[yegosimo]

I'll do that, thanks

[Cobrax1884]

Wow, i'm preatty popular on this thread and i am very sorry because of my sig, i did not notice it was so big because i did not pay it attention i repeat i am extreamely sorry and please forgive me :((

[ScottJC]

Wow, i'm preatty popular on this thread and i am very sorry because of my sig, i did not notice it was so big because i did not pay it attention i repeat i am extreamely sorry and please forgive me :((
You are forgiven. Like I said it wasn't personal and it was an excellent example of what I was trying to prove so I should be thanking you really! (no seriously, I mean that, it was useful in a way).

I'm not saying you cannot have a sig, by all means do but please ensure that it doesn't go too large, I don't have a problem with sigs less than 200 pixels in height. It's easy to pull this off, its around 10 words on a line (average sized words) and a picture of 150 pixels in height for a sig with a pic and text. Or encorporate your text inside your pic! Trust me people are far more likely to agree with your ideals with a more pleasent signature.

Example - look at why i've got, with my single line of text i've drawn in more people to my cause and it doesn't disrupt your viewing experience at all. People tend to prefer something thats not too in their face so to speak.

Don't sweat it we learn from our errors, not like I haven't screwed up in the past.

[Cobrax1884]

Thank you and it was my pleasure to help lol :) and you're right about big sigs, it takes a lot of time for people with dialup to load a page especially if the sig is an animation
EDIT:Can i keep this sig?

[ScottJC]

Thank you and it was my pleasure to help lol :) and you're right about big sigs, it takes a lot of time for people with dialup to load a page especially if the sig is an animation
EDIT:Can i keep this sig?
Your sig is fine like that, yes.

[ShizZy]

LOL... ScottJC has more authority around here than most admins :P

[Cobrax1884]

:) yeah, I noticed that too :P
EDIT:He should be a mod, no?

[ScottJC]

I wouldn't recommend that. Things would end badly.

[Cobrax1884]

Hehe i guess so, But if you wold be, then what rules wopuld you put on the forum?

[ScottJC]

We're getting a little off topic here are we not? anyway I am not a mod and its highly unlikely I will ever be mod anyway so this is pointless discussion, mods aren't the ones who make rules anyway - its the admins who do that.

I only posted this thread because I hate large sigs - not for any paticular glory. If people have concerns about other members they are within their rights to post them to mods/admins - its up to them what gets done in the long run not me. [last post from me today, a member of my family died [on my fathers side] so i'm just going to be a total asshole if I post again today]

[Cobrax1884]

Ouch, sorry for you, but hey, cheer up ok? Things like this happen :( i was once about to loose my parents but they were lucky

[ShadowDamien]

How about we have a signature request thread for the newer posters that have huge obnoxious signatures?

This way, anyone with photoshop experience can show their talents and you are garunteed to see good non-paint siggys

[ScottJC]

(looks like I failed to stop posting today, damn I am addicted to emutalk)

ShadowDamien, thats not such a bad idea actually - I like the idea, I suck at graphics though so someone else will have to fill that line of work. Sigs can be as rubbish as you like them to be as long as they don't fill my entire page - its not about quality, its about largeness.