Post your opinion!

death > avatars

This poll is irrelevant, because you can turn them off if you so chose. Why is this so hard for some people to understand?

Because you have to be logged in to turn off avatars, and we have many, many lurkers who shouldn't be subjected to that. The only way we'll ever do avatars is if they're OFF by default for everyone and you have to specifically log in and ENABLE them in order to see them. This will take a bit of programming work so it's not going to happen any time soon.

Honestly, if they care that much, they should just friggin' make an account. It's their problem, not yours.

I agree... if they like lurking so much then they probably wouldn't mind taking a few minutes to register an account...

Come on lurkers, register, post and tell us if thats true :p

Lurkers don't contribute to the community at all, good or bad, so why should we do them a favor? I mean, who's more importent brian, the ones who post on this site and visit it regularly, or the people who just sit and make fun of us every once in a while?

JediKirby

Sums it up.

Tough **** for them!

I have to agree. If the reason we don't allow avatars is because lurkers would be subjected to not being allowed to turn them off, then I can't see as you're being fair to the community that actively participates in the forum. Even if only *some* of the active members want to have avatars, they should be enabled. The feature is easily disabled through the user CP, and doesn't hurt anybody but the afformentioned lurkers. And even then, they could register an account to never post, and simply disable them through the CP. I say make them available.

I agree with Yecti.

Or, allow them only to certain members, like you were going to do with the titles, but ended up not.

That's quite easy with the admin CP.

I don't mind, but i HATE large avatars that slow down threads loading...

I say enable em. What yecti and such said.

Says the man with a PINK FREAKING SIGNATURE!

/me h8 glyde ^_^

And how do you even know how many lurkers there are? I view the forums while not logged in about as much as I do while logged in. There's no way to tell. Frankly, I think the numbers of lurkers are waaay overexagerrated.

How would they exactly "hurt" lurkers? I'm sure if one of us posted offensive material the user would be banned right quickly.

Agreed. Before the new system, I only placed my nick at the top, and turned off auto fill, simply because I didn't trust the system. I'm sure I contributed to the 'lurker' numbers you have.

JediKirby

Yeah. We should compensate for obsolete modems. That's how technology works, right? ...We wait for people using old technology to catch up.

...

Oh wait. No we don't.
:p

OK my question is: Why do you need avatars? Is their a legitmate reason to have them on rather then off? How does it benefit anyone? Especially 56kers.

I concur with my colleagues Yecti and Pommy.

Avatars are kind of like smilies. They simply add something to the viewing experience. Smilies aren't really needed, but we've always had them.

I'm on 56k. Loading 40 80x80 6k images per page isn't going to kill me. If it does slow me down, I can simply turn them off. 56kers won't be hurt at all.

Some people like avatars. Does it benefit? Not really. Does it hurt? No.

56kers can simply turn them off if they wish. When I was on 56k I viewed forums and didn't turn them off, it's not that big of a deal. Hell, I even kept sig pics on.

It's sort of stupid not to allow them. As said 100 times, people who don't wont them on can simply...turn them off. They're not that big, it wouldn't even be that big of a deal for 56kers really. But then again if it was, it could simply be turned off.

And what sense does it make to please the lurkers? That is essentially putting the people who do not contribute to the community above the people who do.

Expand a little bit people. This site is never going to keep up if it doesn't change.

I agree with Yecti + Josh.

I agree with Jedi Josh.

Why do you need names? We could all just post with our ID numbers.

Enable them. Lurkers are not part of the community.

Avatars are good because they are reflective of the person's personallity, and they give you a chance to be creative.

*cough* :p

avatars == slow loading and unnecessary

smileys == necessity (for me - they run in my blood :D)


To be quite frank, I'm on 56K and, as annoying as avatars are, I can't help but agree with Yecti (and that takes some doing ;)) - I don't like them but I'm a registered user and with the new options for registered users, I can simply disable them. T'is no blood, sweat or tears lost on my part. Heck the smileys we've got are a decent *simple* selection - some boards I lurk on have a ridiculous amount of butchered smileys (and you think I abuse them ;)).

In a nutshell, I say enable them - the "true" massassians at least have the option of disabling them. I suppose it all depends on which audience you're trying to cater for and without any element of bias, I think the current forum members should be priority numero-uno ;).

-Jackpot

*cough* PS: smileys are (usually) smaller file sizes than even the smallest avatars - I say nothing... *cough*

and you keep using them so much they only have to be loaded once anyway

I think you should be called smiley_jackpot

Blargh...

T'is true - a point well-made :). I like to think that I'm doing my part for the community ;). This way, everyone benefits

Suppose I really ought to work on that "excuse" line now...

-Jackpot

Why the hell is it hard to agree with me?

I was pulling your leg (metaphorically ;)) - I may not like avatars, but I think your argument is sound Yecti - I can't find fault with it (nothing to argue with, dang it)

-Jackpot

lol!

Beautiful.

I agree with everyone who said enable them.

Why the hell is my metephorical leg being pulled?

wah wah waaaah. :p

We seriously do NOT ever ever ever ever EVER need avatars. Please?

Members can turn them off if they so choose, and that's all that really matters, in my opinion

Some people like to use avaters because it gives them more of an identity on a forum I guess. I say enable them, registered members can always turn off. Lurkers don't contribute much so their opinions don't matter.

Don't you think that's being a bit selfish? Why not just turn them off instead of ruining it for the people who do want them?

What is your logic?