CHECK YOUR SIGNATURE -- ASAP

[shriekingviolet]

Hey everyone. Browsing the forum I've noticed that there are a lot of signatures out there that are not in compliance with our guidelines. Some of them contain too many big images, or too many images period, and some take up more than the ten lines of space required (if your signature takes up more space than the content of most of your actual posts, it's ridiculous). I noticed a few are even messing up the summer layout (which became the default yesterday) because there are too many images in a row and they stretch the table beyond the prescribed limits. Which is the quickest way to make me annoyed.

 

Anyway we've rewritten the signature guidelines so that they read a little more coherently. Nothing is really new here except that we've added a row maximum for multiple images as some signatures were fine in one screen resolution and not in another. Or fine in one skin but not in another. So now there's a prescribed max that's allowed so there's no question.

 

Below is the rewritten signature guidelines:

Signatures are a place for members to personalize each of their posts, but there are rules in place to make sure they don't get out of control or violate other tenants of the board guidelines. Big signatures are unkind to members with slower connections and drag down the speed of the forum, so we encourage moderation.

 

In terms of size, no signature should exceed in length the equivalent of 10 lines of text (which is approximately 185 pixels high). This goes for both text-only signatures and signatures with images. Images displayed in signatures must be no wider than 480 pixels and no taller than 100 pixels (though really, we'd be grateful if you didn't use anything that achieved both the width and height maximums). No image should be over 20kb in size. Members are allowed a maximum of 8 images in their signature, provided that all 8 together don't amount to over 100 pixels high (assuming the images are on multiple lines) or 480 pixels wide (if they're all in a row). In essence, if your signature has 8 tiny images, that's likely going to be ok. 8 larger images will not be.

 

We allow links in members signatures, but not to off forum sales as this has been used as a way to skirt our swapping price caps. We do make exceptions for sales of nonBPAL items or for eBay auctions (bpal or otherwise). Other swapping in signatures (i.e. wanted notices, panhandling and mentioning items for sale) is not allowed. Please keep the swap and sales into their respective areas only!

 

Violations of the signature guidelines are a warnable offense, though first time offenders will be given a reminder.

 

We're giving everyone two weeks (until July 6) to comply. After that, we'll be issuing reminders to offenders.

 

 

A special note to Dragon Cave players: you must keep a close eye on your signature if you want to post them there. As your dragons grow, your signature might grow beyond the guidelines. Some adult dragons are taller than allowed, and having multiple adult dragons is likely to exceed the signature maximums. As warnings will be issued on a second offense, you won't want to let any developments of your "pets" surprise you.

 

 

Thanks everyone! If you have any questions, I'll be available until Tuesday night. After that I'll be flying to Barcelona and will be without net access until Sunday July 6. If you have any questions while I'm away, please direct them toward someone else on my team.