I've noticed that some people have crazy unique signatures, and that's alright. However, I've also noticed some people have signatures that are too large. An image should not exceed 50px in height. That said, I've been thinking about adjusting how Signatures work. I've always been a supporter of providing free basic functionality to all users, and permitting advanced functionality for contributors. I'm thinking that it may be for the best to restrict the use of images inside forum signatures to contributor's only, as it would reduce the amount of moderation required in keeping forum signatures within appropriate levels. Any amount of contribution would unlock the feature - a $5 donation, for example. It's my hope that this move would knock out two birds with one stone - increase donations, while decreasing the amount of absurdly large image signatures. Now that said, I've also been considering the idea of reserving advanced features for contributors, such as access to BBCode, colors, fonts, and sizes in signatures. Although this may be pushing boundaries - that's why I've made this announcement first. What should be locked/unlock to contributors? Is my proposed change to images in signatures acceptable? Let me know what you think, I value your feedback. As always, if there are any questions, feel free to ask.
I think color and font sizes should stay. Images should be kept, but their size should be restricted, in my opinion. Peeps could also use spoilers, though!
PLEASE, PLEASE, Do not disable images. Personally I only use them to list my alts due to the character limit. If I don't list my alts people -will- get confused. However if you can provide another way to list alts without making it look too ugly, then sure.
i can understand image restrictions to keep small images however colored text and font for contributors only is a little unfair in my opinion. there are always people who won't or in most cases CANT donate due to whatever reasons. no money, no job. card restrictions. no paypal whatever. My signatures colored text represent the color thats most based on said character, defining who is whp on the forums like corvus does. ect.ect. My sig is currently not as neat as i want it to be because of sig limitations. i'd personally have one character info per one line. not my jumbled mess that it is right now. but thats just my two cents...
Sizes, definitely need to stay. My sig would be too long without the smaller font. Spoilers don't ease the work load either, sadly. I think sizes 4 - 1 should be available always, maybe 5+ should be pay-to-earn? Like, comes with a $2 (or more) donation. Images are also iffy. As Iridium said, some people use images for their chars. Images aren't always a must though, you can use smaller fonts. Colored text is also something I'd recommend having it come with the same package as text sizes above 4. Also, images should be pay-to-earn as well. $5 sounded good. Now fonts however, should be free. There's no reason to add a price to something people use on the daily for free, while it's not common in sigs, it's still a thing and shouldn't be pay-to-earn. But that's my P.o.V, and hey, I could have just looked like a total ass. But, that's just how it happens.
I'd like the donor tiers to reflect their value and unlock progressionally, such as increased character count, line limit, and so on. Also, colors, fonts, and sizes are all in one package. I can't restrict those individually.
Fonts and colors is extreme, any forum on the net has that and sometimes is useful to make clearer posts. (For us it's used to difference computer text, narration, etc.). As for images in signature, I wouldn't mind since that's something completely optional (and in some cases even useful since I've seen some rather big images in sigs).
I think the image restriction is great, the text restriction maybe not. Even though I do not (and cant understand why people do) have a ridiculous amount of alts there are people that do and displaying all those names might take up more space than the image would. Or there are many people who display some sort of funny quote that may or may not be long enough that it would take an enormous ammount of space without font size changes. While yes this could run down to an argument of "well then pay or just don't do it" and I personally do not care I can see you and this site getting lots of flak for something like that. For me I will throw my money at you when I can because you provide a great, well kept service and it would be a shame to see it start running down before the full game is even released.
Well, I'd give non-contributors ample space to write signatures as well. Although, there is such a thing as "Well, I can't write my 1,000 letter signature!" when you really shouldn't be having a 1,000 letter signature anyway.
Fair enough. I see the point about how images can get a bit clunky in the signatures. I'll remove mine, as much I love my Tyranids I have to agree that they need to be managed. Text colors/font and such should remain available, however. Despite first looks, the color can imply directly upon the behavior, mood, personality, etc, of some characters, at least in my case. Plus, with the limited character count as it is, that shouldn't be an issue, anyways.
A forum I used to mod on had a rule that total signature size (images AND text) couldn't exceed 300px height x 600px width, and that always worked well for us.
I think image restriction is more than fair. Members already have avatars to differentiate themselves, and as far as signatures go, people don't really need to list all their characters. I started doing it in my signature for this server alone, because it seems to be common practice, but as far as the server goes, your character is severed from your OOC self, so there's no real need to list who's who, when people can just ask each other, and remember if it's important, instead of having the constant reminder of "Here's who's who on the server," and then subconsciously linking the character to the person. Just my two cents, basically I think that it's fair to limit images and colors on signatures, but nothing past that.
I don't even have a signature so my 'two cents' is probably worth less then that. However, I feel you could easily put all of your character on your profile page instead of in your signature? If someone is curious it's 1-2 clicks away. If you want to list them in your signature you'll still have enough room for any main alts you may have? I know several people have a lot but you tend to only see a few of them regularly. Images in signatures are very pretty and a great personalizer but having to donate for that seems more then fair. Or at least limit the size or amount. Servers aren't free to run and every donation helps. I'm 100% behind this.
I'm one of the folks who DEFINITELY agrees on restricting image use and character use. However, restricting fonts/colour/size is a bit far, imo. I feel that those should stay available. But definitely restrict the image use and number of characters. Hell... even for contributors, restrict the image size. Just because someone contributes, doesn't mean they should be allowed to use a large, obnoxious image in their signature. Something small that makes sense for a signature, however, would be fine. I just get irritated with the giant signatures that just clutter the forums.
