Signature rules abolished?

[dev 47]

I've noticed recently tons of sig pics that are much, much larger that 300x50...Is this not breaking the rules...it seems since I have gotten back to ST the sigs have gone somewhat wild...So is it possibly time for a 'revival' of the rules? It really has gotten ridiculous in some...like there aren't any sig rules...Aren't the rules...:

1. Each signature can only have 1 image;
2. That one image cannot exceed 10k in size, 50 pixels high by 300 pixels wide;
   
3. Signatures must have a minimum of spacing; and
   
4. Overall Signature size
   cannot exceed 150 pixels high by 800 pixels wide for text and spacing
   (these dimensions include 1 and only 1 image that does not exceed the
   size stated in rule 2)

 

Am I not right on this? 

[vidioman 21]

You are correct. i have noticed numerous violations, and have just given up on sending people little warning PMs.

I followed the rule. Heck, my sigpic is 300x25, that's half the size it can be.

[Meg 368]

The staff has been nicely PMing people, pointing out the violations.   If this approach doesn't work for people, we could always go back to the days when signatures were cleared and locked without warning.

[tungston 19]

Date: 12/18/2005 4:09:51 PM Author:dev

I've noticed recently tons of sig pics that are much, much larger that 300x50...Is this not breaking the rules...it seems since I have gotten back to ST the sigs have gone somewhat wild...So is it possibly time for a 'revival' of the rules? It really has gotten ridiculous in some...like there aren't any sig rules...Aren't the rules...:

1. Each signature can only have 1 image;
2. That one image cannot exceed 10k in size, 50 pixels high by 300 pixels wide;
3. Signatures must have a minimum of spacing; and
4. Overall Signature size cannot exceed 150 pixels high by 800 pixels wide for text and spacing (these dimensions include 1 and only 1 image that does not exceed the size stated in rule 2)

Am I not right on this?

quote>

I certainly agree, the sigs are taking up half a screen, and the byte size is starting to get out of hand with the animated images.  It is slowing the site down something fierce.

 

[hym 358]

I've noticed this also.  I'm presently looking into shortening mine (it's a little longer than I would like).

 

EDIT: That was fast.  Got beat by three people.  Anyway, my personal hope is that it doesn't have to come to locking profiles again, but if it must, then that's what needs to be done.  The rules were written for people to follow because they make the site more enjoyable for all and those rules need to be followed.

[dev 47]

Yeah...I think your's is too long...I've noticed the following things that could keep sig size down:

• Listing of the following: Join Date, My 50th post, My 100th Post, My 200th Post, etc. Absolutely worthless. If you want to keep these dates I recommend a journal or a notepad doc...We really don't care when you made your 1000th post...
• Creating big pictures with text...thinking that passes as not being an image. Takes up too much space.
  
• Sure, showing off your favorite CJs are nice, and fun to help out the creator, but when you have more than about 5 favorites...it gets kinda long...
• Text larger than this, or excessive use of this size. No Sig pic if you use a font this big as a header or something.
• I became a dweller on...blah...blah, same as the first one.
  
• Trixie Winner!! (Though this is an honor, and something to be proud of, it is in your member label, which makes listing it twice take up more space than needed.)
• Sure, we all love sig pics, I do, and not having one in The Sig above me will knock off some points, but remember, they are discouraged by the admins...I think something the size of my Christian Pride image is plenty.
  
• Anything else that is a waste of space, quotes are cool, 3 or 4 links are nice, but other than that it is just too much...IMHO duke's sig seems to be the most ideal most of the time as far as size and amount of info. Same with Vid.
  

[Duke87 1,070]

So my sig is ideal, eh? Nice to know.

Well, I certainly agree that rules need to be enforced.

PMs are always in order at first. Lock their profile if they fail to fix it.

 

My only issue is that 10kb is tiny. Hell, we allow avatars to be up to 250kb, and they're physically smaller than sig pics (300x50 is more than 80x80). I think we should allow sig pics to be up to 250 kb as well. Otherwise, the rules are out of balance.

[hym 358]

Date: 12/18/2005 5:13:55 PM Author: dev

Yeah...I think your's is too long...I've noticed the following things that could keep sig size down:

• Listing of the following: Join Date, My 50th post, My 100th Post, My 200th Post, etc. Absolutely worthless. If you want to keep these dates I recommend a journal or a notepad doc...We really don't care when you made your 1000th post...
• Creating big pictures with text...thinking that passes as not being an image. Takes up too much space.
  
• Sure, showing off your favorite CJs are nice, and fun to help out the creator, but when you have more than about 5 favorites...it gets kinda long...
• Text larger than this, or excessive use of this size. No Sig pic if you use a font this big as a header or something.
• I became a dweller on...blah...blah, same as the first one.
  
• Trixie Winner!! (Though this is an honor, and something to be proud of, it is in your member label, which makes listing it twice take up more space than needed.)
• Sure, we all love sig pics, I do, and not having one in 'The Sig above me' will knock off some points, but remember, they are discouraged by the admins...I think something the size of my Christian Pride image is plenty.
  
• Anything else that is a waste of space, quotes are cool, 3 or 4 links are nice, but other than that it is just too much...IMHO duke's sig seems to be the most ideal most of the time as far as size and amount of info. Same with Vid.
  

I agree that mine is too long, but I'm trying to shorten it without sacrificing the amount of information in it.  IMO, the amount of information is about right for my purposes, but I would like my signature to be shorter.  As for the sig pic, SHS members are requested to have this picture in their sig to promote the SHS.

[ephorex_77 0]

Date: 12/18/2005 4:34:20 PM Author: SkiGeek The staff has been nicely PMing people, pointing out the violations.  If this approach doesn't work for people, we could always go back to the days when signatures were cleared and locked without warning.

quote>

Always good to hear.

 

dev: The person whom I think sparked off this issue when it came to you has fixed it already, probably without any pressure from the staff. I personally haven't noticed anyone else violating the rules.

[Voar Tok 4]

This could put a serious hamper on my sig service.

I agree that multiple sig violations have been happening over the past few months (heck, I'm positive that my sig is over 150 pixels long).  MrC and I had a conversation a few weeks ago about what was too big of a sig, and if I remember correctly, he thought that my sig wasn't too long.

 

SkiGeek: I hope that it doesn't come back to that, because that would suck.  To any site staff out there, if you think that my sig is too big, then please send me a PM.  I would definitely be willing to take care of resizing it.

[sloppet 3]

edited. Mr. C.

 

[TheCrybKeeper 284]

I like Dev's sig especially the little Pride label.

Sloppets sig is textbased and  linkless; IMHO that is completely fine.

 

Which is worse though; a sig image 300x50 or several lines of text 480x128?

 

...and then there's smileys, maybe a size2 text question mark, would do better than the animated smiley?

[ephorex_77 0]

Date: 12/19/2005 1:48:49 AM Author: Voar Tok

This could put a serious hamper on my sig service.

I agree that multiple sig violations have been happening over the past few months (heck, I'm positive that my sig is over 150 pixels long).  MrC and I had a conversation a few weeks ago about what was too big of a sig, and if I remember correctly, he thought that my sig wasn't too long.

SkiGeek: I hope that it doesn't come back to that, because that would suck.  To any site staff out there, if you think that my sig is too big, then please send me a PM.  I would definitely be willing to take care of resizing it.

quote>

It's 300 pixels isn't it??

[Duke87 1,070]

Date: 12/18/2005 5:40:48 PM Author: hym

I agree that mine is too long, but I'm trying to shorten it without sacrificing the amount of information in it.

Well, to start, get rid of the line skips. Line skips in a sig are the ultimate space waster.

 

ephorex_77: He meant that his sig overall is more than 150 pixels tall. that is the supposed maximum. 300 pixels is just how wide the image can be.

[tungston 19]

I think what you put above the signature is much more important the signature itself.  How many members acutally pay any attention to what's in the signature.  Maybe a thread for members to display their skills would be a better place than on every post.  I personally, and no umbrage is intended, am not impressed.

[vidioman 21]

this is gonna be short.. if you make a really short post, the user info on the left takes up the most space, height wise. So, if your signature stretched the thing down when you make a really short post, it's too long. How's that?
See? Mine fits. I also set the font to about as small as I can get it to go.

[Compromise 1]

Trying to keep an eye on everyone's signature's is a hard job for the staff so we are just going to have to be patient and do are part to make it easier for them. I really don't want to see us go back to even first time violators having there profiles locked without warning.

 

Working with writing and pixles is difficult so I would recommend keeping your signature's no longer than 15 lines using normal font, including picture's and based on when the forums are not been stretched.

[gggg 9]

one more thing I'll want to point...

Multiple pics as links.. though some of them are very usefull.. are still pics...

or in other words if you want a few links then dont make them into pic links..

 

take care

[TheCrybKeeper 284]

Tungston: I agree with what you say above.

Although I may be the rare sort, I read what's in everyones sigs.

 

I like using just a couple lines of text. Setting a byte standard for myself, tends to make me think more creatively. How to say more, with less, so to speak.

[Constantina 5]

Date: 12/18/2005 5:13:55 PM
Author: dev

Yeah...I think your's is too long...I've noticed the following things that could keep sig size down:

• Listing of the following: Join Date, My 50th post, My 100th Post, My 200th Post, etc. Absolutely worthless. If you want to keep these dates I recommend a journal or a notepad doc...We really don't care when you made your 1000th post...
• Creating big pictures with text...thinking that passes as not being an image. Takes up too much space.

• Sure, showing off your favorite CJs are nice, and fun to help out the creator, but when you have more than about 5 favorites...it gets kinda long...
• Text larger than this, or excessive use of this size. No Sig pic if you use a font this big as a header or something.
• I became a dweller on...blah...blah, same as the first one.

• Trixie Winner!! (Though this is an honor, and something to be proud of, it is in your member label, which makes listing it twice take up more space than needed.)
• Sure, we all love sig pics, I do, and not having one in 'The Sig above me' will knock off some points, but remember, they are discouraged by the admins...I think something the size of my Christian Pride image is plenty.

• Anything else that is a waste of space, quotes are cool, 3 or 4 links are nice, but other than that it is just too much...IMHO duke's sig seems to be the most ideal most of the time as far as size and amount of info. Same with Vid.

quote>

To me, it's better to keep it simple and text-only. Pictures in signatures look like banner adverts to me.

EDIT: I am actually reviewing my current signature.

[Eastwinn 6]

I've been seeing the same problems lately. I just shortened mine now anyway, all that fading text made it a masacre.

[Hordijk 18]

The staff always if they see it pm's people who violate the rules on signatures, but we can't see everything so if you see something really inappropriate report it to a moderator.

[vidioman 21]

My image has something to do with the text, I spend a lot of time finding pictures that match the text (my next signature will be a quote from northern Pikes' Hope Goes Astray which will probably be out tonight) and it is a small image, not a banner add.

The trees covered in snow represent the cold, and the familiar faces is sort of a refernce to simtropolis (not in the original song, but how I apply it in my signature)

The song by the way is Watchmen Any Day Now, a really nice song.

Well, I have a different definition of nice, but its good.

[M-SIL 2]

I couldn't agree more with dev. Just way to many ppl breaking the signature rules a joke. It would be great if Aronion was here to kick things back into order. Dont get offened, it just my opinion.

[winonanick 0]

any help us poor dial-up users can get would be great.

 

Be nice- small sigs, no anitmated avitars.

 

thanks

 

[Fairlane500 8]

I just cropped a bunch out of my signature, inclluding some bits that hadn't changed since I don't know when. Oh, well.

Anyways, I'm pleased by the more concise appearence.

[ACEfanatic 7]

*feels guilty*

*cuts down sig*

Hmm... this okay?

-ACE

[brtim2 10]

But I like what I have to say.

[dudyconstructor 40]

Well I guess they should lock everyone's profile again, cause it's not fair, I got my profile locked once cause I violated the rules, so why shouldnt these violators get it locked too?

[Voar Tok 4]

Date: 12/19/2005 9:12:02 AM Author: frndofyaweh

How to say more, with less, so to speak.

quote>

This is what I try to do.  Unfortunately, I probably say to much.

 

winonanick: I have dial-up too.  To solve the problem with images, I just turn the pictures off.