Rule change: Attaching images to posts

[Gaussian]

One of the strengths of forums is that they can also serve as one big knowledge base.
I?ve been browsing through some old posts and wasn?t surprised to see several interesting threads in which many people commented on an image or discussed a problem that was related to it, yet? the image was gone because it was originally posted on a third party server that stopped to exist.
At such a point threads like these that have great potential to help any member who is dealing with related issues become totally useless.

I want to avoid this and I can sadly only do this by introducing a rule which will be in affect after one week (so that people can get used to it):

It?s now not allowed (with exceptions) to link to images that are not on our server. This includes links using URL or IMG tags.

This also includes images of your artwork, even when it means that it will slightly affect its quality by showing it at a lower resolution. Do understand that PSG was never built on egos, PSG is built on the community spirit and in my view the community doesn?t want to see very long detailed threads that are extremely interesting, related to an image that is?uh? missing.


Under certain circumstances I will not be very strict:

A - Images that are an embedded part of tips/techniques/tutorials

B - Someone might want to start a challenge and has an image that should be used in the challenge, yet the image is too big to post as an attachment, so he/she provides a link instead.

C ? Someone wants to know how an image was done and posts a link instead of an attachment to respect copyrights.

D ? Several other situations I can?t think of.

Note that under some of those circumstances I will move the images involved to the PSG server and adjust the links manually.

A person who wants to update an image can post a new link, after which I will move the updated image to the server.

A person who wants to remove an image that is hosted on the server, can remove the link to the image and if needed contact me to delete the original.

I hope that you all understand that I do this for the sake of the community, even if it means that more space will be used on the server and more manual changes need to be done. Sadly some people will not be happy with the chance, but again understand that it's sometimes a struggle to balance the positive with the negative sides of descisions like these.

In return I have decided to make 3 changes:

- the max width of attachments on this forum is increased to 700 pixels
- the max file size of a single attachment is increased to 100kb
- the max number of attachments is increased to 3


My only request is; if you don?t really need the full 700 pixels, then please don?t, because it will make the board faster if images are kept small and it avoids that I have to prune the board, which often means getting rid of very old posts (which I want to avoid).

Thank you for your understanding.

[Gaussian]

Update

What is allowed is to link to a large image with a URL (no IMG tags allowed) as long as you also attach the same image as an attachment. That image that you attach will then be smaller, but make sure you post a descent size. So linking with a URL to a very large image and attaching an image with the size of a post stamp is of course is of course not the proper way.

This original thread is now 1 week old and I assume most people read it, so as of tomorrow this rule will be in effect. Again, I hate "rules" but for reasons mentioned earlier I think they serve the community best in the long run.

Thanks.

[SCync]

I can live with this, in fact I like the spirit in which it was conceived. Keeps the threads viable. Good plan Reg.

[Gaussian]

Originally Posted by SCync

I can live with this, in fact I like the spirit in which it was conceived. Keeps the threads viable. Good plan Reg.

Thanks a lot SCync for taking your time to share your opinion, more should do that.

[Stroker]

As long as I can do my thing when I get the urge, I'm happy.

[Gaussian]

Originally Posted by Stroker

As long as I can do my thing when I get the urge, I'm happy.

Oh yeah, no problem Stroker.? ?

Btw, I'm still thinking about how to continue with the Forum Tutorials section.
At the moment people are/were unable to reply (to avoid that tutorials of multiple posts are broken up), but I do want our members to have a place where they can discuss these tutorials. I was thinking about opening a sub forum.

Maybe I should just get rid of the whole limitation and allow members to reply in the same thread?? What do you think?

[sfm]

Hey G Man what ever is easier for you, remember it is all work for you so what option is going to help you save yourself some time?
just my 2 cents pence worth he he he

[Stroker]

Maybe I should just get rid of the whole limitation and allow members to reply in the same thread?

If the limitation stiffles discussion, I say get rid of it. But I also understand being nice and tidy.

Finding balance can be such a pain.

I say get rid of it. See how it goes.

[Gaussian]

Originally Posted by Stroker

I say get rid of it. See how it goes.

Yeah, I'm considering that too. Let me think about it, in the mean time it stays on my to-do list.

[MsOz]

Why not have the tutorial, with an accompanying comments thread?
That way, all the kudos, and questions, will be separate from the basic information, while still being close enough for reference, if needed?
It's FAR nicer to read a tutorial and have all the repetitive "wow, that's great, thank you!" replies separate.

~MO