Avatar suggestion

[Master Zen]

I have a suggestion for the Poly admins and mods related to the unfortunate suspension of avatars due to the server slowness...

In my brief experience with vBulletin I believe there is an option to disable uploading avatars as well as disabling the avatar gallery. But there is still another option that remains which is to link to a picture outside the board.

That means, for example, you can upload your avatar to somewhere else (say if you're registered in another forum you can use that pic) and link to it here. That would not cause any bandwidth problems as every time the page loads the bandwidth would be occupied by the other site and not Apolyton.

The only problem I see is that people may start uploading avatars to their upload accounts and linking them there... but after the recent "crackdown" on uploads, perhaps people will think twice

-MZ

[Harry Seldon]

I don't know that it would do me any good but if it gave a shot to get my screaming baby avatar back up I'd go for it.

[Locutus]

Sheesh, why are people making such a big deal out of the avatar thing? What would you rather have? Avatars, or actually being able to access the site?

We went 4 years without them so we can do with another a few days/weeks...

[Inverse Icarus]

ZEN, even when you link them, the server downloads them, i've tested it.

[alva]

I still have webspace from ISP provider I don't really use, so I could have a couple of avatars on there.

[Dis]

we'd like both

I'm not sure I exactly understand what you are saying.

I have a website I can put my avatar on if that's what you mean.

This poses a qustion I was wondering about. does linking images to Apolyton using the image tag reduce bandwith and take up server space?

[ixnay]

The only bandwidth it would consume would be to convert the img tags into html code so that it can be displayed. The actual picture itself wouldn't take up any bandwidth.

Personally, I would support allowing off-site avatars, because then I could point mine to a PHP script on my website and have it select a random avatar every time somebody views a page with my posts on it.

[DrSpike]

Well let's see what the next week or so holds for the avatars and general server reliability before considering drastic changes.

[Inverse Icarus]

Originally posted by ixnay
The only bandwidth it would consume would be to convert the img tags into html code so that it can be displayed. The actual picture itself wouldn't take up any bandwidth.

Personally, I would support allowing off-site avatars, because then I could point mine to a PHP script on my website and have it select a random avatar every time somebody views a page with my posts on it.

you'd only be able to link to images, you nit wit.

i don't think they'd want me with the ability to add PHP and javascript code to poly pages

[Master Zen]

Originally posted by Uber KruX
ZEN, even when you link them, the server downloads them, i've tested it.

how so? you are downloading them from another site, not Apolyton, in fact you can check in the status bar of your browser and see how when that image is being downloaded, it shows the link to the other site.

I know a lot of forums do this precisely to avoid bandwidth problems.

[Master Zen]

Originally posted by ixnay
Personally, I would support allowing off-site avatars, because then I could point mine to a PHP script on my website and have it select a random avatar every time somebody views a page with my posts on it.

Off-site avatars ARE supported, check it one avatars are re-enables, problem is that since you are able to upload them, most people choose to upload rather than link.

[alva]

Personally, I would support allowing off-site avatars, because then I could point mine to a PHP script on my website and have it select a random avatar every time somebody views a page with my posts on it.

ooOOOOooooOOooo Look at me.....
-
No alternating avatars btw , confusing enough as it is...

[Skanky Burns]

With Markos off in the army at right now, and Dan holding the fort by himself, I don't think this will be a priority. Sure, it would be good, but the effort needed would probably be prohibitive. Besides, all we need to do is wait until the RoN Rush (tm) is over and avatars should be back.

[Master Zen]

Originally posted by Skanky Burns
With Markos off in the army at right now, and Dan holding the fort by himself, I don't think this will be a priority. Sure, it would be good, but the effort needed would probably be prohibitive. Besides, all we need to do is wait until the RoN Rush (tm) is over and avatars should be back.

IIRC switching these things is just a few clicks in the Admin CP away...

[alva]

Summer should help traffic too.