Signatures + Avatars

[Dinnerbone]

As much as armory generated signatures and lovely artwork is fun to put in your signatures, they do start to slow down the page for some users and can sometimes just generally get messy. Please remember that not everyone has the same size screen as you and the same internet speeds as you - we get a lot of users on handheld devices for example, and they have to spend more time scrolling past signatures than reading posts.

After careful review over the old rules and some compromises to come up with a new set of rules that's both more allowing in what you can have but still as easy on page loads, the following rules are now in place as of the 10th of November (2009) and have started to be enforced as of the 1st of December (2009). The penalty for violating these rules will be a removal of the offending avatar/signature, followed possibly by a temporary removal of posting privileges for repeat offences.

Maximum amount of images, quotes and text in your signature: As much as you can fit within the other rules.
Maximum signature width: 500px total. If you have a 250px image and a 300px image side by side, that would be violating this rule.
Maximum signature height: 100px total (including text). If you have a 75px image and a 50px image one below the other, that would be violating this rule.
Maximum signature filesize: 50kB total. If you have multiple images then the filesize is added between them. Smilies also count.
Maximum avatar filesize: 10kB. A helpful guide on how to shrink your avatars may be found here
Restricted file types in signature/avatar: None. You can have it animated if you must, but be sure that it meets the other rules (More importantly filesize).

Signatures or avatars containing deliberately offensive material will be removed on sight. If you see a user with a signature or avatar that violates any of these rules then please either report a post by the user (Clearly state that you're reporting their avatar or signature and not their post!) or PM a moderator with a link to their profile.

These rules may be subject to change at any time, however strict enforcement of new rules will not likely be used until a few weeks after a change to allow everyone to read them.

To avoid PM or post reporting spam, please report each offending avatar/signature in this thread. Posts will be deleted after they have been dealt with. If you spot your own avatar or signature being reported, change it quick


Edit (16th May 2010): Clicktraps/Clickfarms of any kind are not allowed. This includes any sort of "Click and hatch my egg" or "Give me internets".

Edit (11th May 2011): Some tips on finding image sizes:

If you're using Internet Explorer, Firefox, or Opera, you can just right-click and image and choose 'Properties', 'View Image Info', or 'Image Properties', and it will tell you the dimensions and size of the image.
If you're using Chrome, you can download this extension that works basically the same way.

Edit: Use of the "BANNED" or Scrapbot avatars is forbidden.

[bbr]

I fully support this and will (continue to) report any I see.

And there are MANY! But your inbox should tell you as much

I presume this sticky could be made to be visible in all sections of the forum? e.g. announcement?
That way nobody can claim they didn't see it.

Be sure to update these ones as well:
* http://www.mmo-champion.com/general-...ead-me)-11620/
* http://www.mmo-champion.com/general-discussions/forum-guidelines-(read-me)/
* http://www.mmo-champion.com/general-...nt-signatures/

While it is possible to:

* Don't show users' avatars.
* Don't show users' signatures.

In the "Look and Layout Preferences", users shouldn't be forced to do so because they're being forced into it by users who think it's "fun" to upload / attach 500KB+ avatars and signatures.

[Chrizesu]

I fully support this and will report any violation I see.

And there are MANY!
But your inbox should tell you as much

I presume this sticky could be made to be visible in all sections of the forum? e.g. announcement?
That way nobody can claim they didn't see it.

Be sure to update this one as well:
* http://www.mmo-champion.com/general-...ead-me)-11620/

Oh geese, give people atleast time to log in and change their signatures first.

[phai]

Remember kids: the smaller your siggy is, the longer you can troll without getting banned for something like a too large sig ^.^

[LavaDuck]

Quotes "box" is stretched to the end, is that violating the rules as well?

edit: Bleh! Guess I'll have to find a new avatar when I get home.

[cazy]

hm.... 100 px height incl. text and 50 kb is really low

but there's time till 01.12 @ Chrizesu

[bbr]

Oh geese, give people atleast time to log in and change their signatures first.

The 100px limitation has been in effect for months

hm.... 100 px height incl. text and 50 kb is really low

but there's time till 01.12 @ Chrizesu

A true artist knows how to express himself with a minimalist signature.

Remember kids!
It's not the size of your signature that counts, it's how you use the pixels that are available.


^ That would make an awesome signature quote tbh.

Remember kids: the smaller your siggy is, the longer you can troll without getting banned for something like a too large sig ^.^

You get the idea =^_^=

[Dziukas]

*starts looking for a new avatar*
Bye bye kitty

[Chrizesu]

hm.... 100 px height incl. text and 50 kb is really low

but there's time till 01.12 @ Chrizesu

Yeah, he doesn't really clarify if text is in the image rule.

Even with indexing 50 kb is still pretty low to modern standards. Considering I've used 20 kb before in an 18 bit (colors) image.

[LavaDuck]

*starts looking for a new avatar*
Bye bye kitty

Awww... I love that kitty :'(

[Gigajot]

The 100px limitation has been in effect for months


A true artist knows how to express himself with a minimalist signature.

Remember kids!
It's not the size of your signature that counts, it's how you use the pixels that are available.


^ That would make an awesome signature quote tbh.


You get the idea =^_^=

Wise words ^^

[Dinnerbone]

Quotes stretch the fill the available space and are not included in the width rule. If a quote contains something bigger than the given size, however, that would be a violation. Quotes do take up extra height and will be measured - for sake of argument we're going to say that a quote will add 35px height and a blizzquote will add 80px (Which is a lot, I know).

Text is a complicated issue and not something we can really measure as it's dependant on other factors (Screen size, namely). Unfortunately because of this I can't give an exact definition of what would be unacceptable or acceptable in regards to lines of text in a signature. For simplicity let's just imagine that each line (That is broken and not just wrapped) of text in a signature adds 10px. I know you can go over the limit with this rule without realising it (Forcing all text onto a single line), but I'm afraid it's not something easily avoidable. Play it safe by not sticking entire paragraphs of text in a signature.

I'll update the main post with these and fix other links when I get a moment.


About the sizes being too small: I know why you'd feel that way, and honestly I'd agree, but please understand that many people browse this site while on handheld devices, small browsers for browsing ingame, etc. In addition, a signature really isn't there for you to stick the latest five favourite quotes of yours in the forums, or a screenshot of your brand new pet collection. If there's a lot of things that you want to show in a signature but can't, stop to think for a minute about whether it's really fitting to be in there, and not just on a blog or another topic with a small link to it neatly put there for anyone to read if they wished.

[Eyetotem]

I do believe that several Mods are already enforcing the new rules. I logged in yesterday to see my old sig deleted. Is there no warning system before out right deleting the sigs? Maybe a PM?

[Sokogeka]

hm.... 100 px height incl. text and 50 kb is really low

You should know how to optimize your images for net use and lower load time.

I am sorry for this but, even this image:


(made for non mmo-champion use)

With the size of 450x115 px keeps a size of 38.07 KB (38983 bytes)
Ditch the heavy c4d renders.
When saving as a JPG file lower the quality to 7-9. This has no visual effect on the signatures look but do lower the file size by a fair amount.
I won't say the file size guide lines are too strict here, it's just one function you need to remember when saving as a JPG.

- Soko

[Dinnerbone]

I do believe that several Mods are already enforcing the new rules. I logged in yesterday to see my old sig deleted. Is there no warning system before out right deleting the sigs? Maybe a PM?

If the incident was yesterday then the old rules would have been in place. Your signature was removed for violating them (Most likely from height and for having multiple images which was not allowed until this new set). We do try to preserve as much of the signature as we can but I cannot speak for every moderator; Personally I either PM a user with their old signature and a friendly reminder of the rules or I just remove the [img] tags so that the links remain.

[bbr]

You should know how to optimize your images for net use and lower load time.

I am sorry for this but, even this image:

(made for non mmo-champion use)

With the size of 450x115 px keeps a size of 38.07 KB (38983 bytes)
Ditch the heavy c4d renders.

Indeed, they have nobody to blame but the ones who made their signature in this thread:
http://www.mmo-champion.com/general-discussions-22/(photoshop)-signature-request-(read-before-requesting)/7320/

And I agree 80-90% optimized has no visual effect that anyone is going to pay attention to on a forum.
Plus, I've seen several people using photobucket as an image host.... >_>
Funny enough those signatures are almost always automatically deleted within a day due to bandwidth usage. *g* I wonder why.

[LavaDuck]

Looks lame when my avatar is not animated :'(

[phai]

10KB is far too small.

Hell no. My avatar is only 2.32 KB (2378 Bytes) and I use a full 100x100 sized JPG on high quality.

[bbr]

10KB is far too small.

Just scale it down to forum size, and itll be much smaller.

[cazy]

Indeed, they have nobody to blame but the ones who made their signature in this thread:
http://www.mmo-champion.com/general-discussions-22/(photoshop)-signature-request-(read-before-requesting)/7320/

And I agree 80-90% optimized has no visual effect that anyone is going to pay attention to on a forum.
Plus, I've seen several people using photobucket as an image host.... >_>
Funny enough those signatures are almost always automatically deleted within a day due to bandwidth usage. *g* I wonder why.

hm perhaps this is the prob, photobucket lowers jpg quali heavily, so kk, i'm too bad to save it once for photobucket as png (which they dont lower quali) and once as jpg for imageshack upload... but i'll keep in mind for the next...

btw i have a REALLY low internet too and its not really a pob for me to wait a few seconds