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Can we get a limit on the size of images posted, please?!?
I've held off on posting this question for a LONG time, partly because up until mid-April, I had access to a high-speed broadband connection at work, and partly because I HOPED (in vain, it turns out) that people would realize they were being jerks and bandwidth hogs. But I now find I can withhold my thoughts no longer, so...
Basically, we have a problem, and it is, simply, this: People are posting WAY too many pictures that are absolutely GINORMOUS! These pictures take forever and a day to load for those of us that have slower connections (my average speed is in the 150-200 kbps range right now) and I shudder to think how long they take to load for anyone that actually still uses dial-up!
Posting such large images is, frankly, inconsiderate of those who aren't blessed with a lightning-fast cable or FIOS internet connection, and is quite rude as a result.
So, I am now officially asking: Can we PLEASE get a REASONABLE limit placed on the size of posted images?
What's reasonable? Well, there should NEVER be any need to post an image larger than 1024 x 768 pixels on a messageboard. Not EVER. Not hotlinked into the body of your message, anyway.
If people want to attach a larger image (where a person has to click the thumbnail to download and view the attachment), or post a URL link to the large image, and let people download the larger image if they so choose, that's cool. Hell, if they want to host it on a site that lets you post just a small, clickable thumbnail in the body of the message (like Imageshack does) that's cool as well! But posting an image that's larger than can be viewed on a single screen at a typical resolution setting is NOT cool, and makes it take way too long to load the page you're trying to view, especially when one member, or a couple members, have filled the page with nothing BUT gigantic images!
There are different ways of handling this. I've seen some messageboards just flat-out refuse to let you post a hotlinked image if it's over a certain size. I've seen other messageboards automatically scale the image down to a more appropriate size, and then you can click to view it full size if you want. You, the Admins and Moderators of these forums, have a few options you can explore, I leave it to you to decide which is the appropriate action to take.
Thanks for taking the time to read my concerns. I hope you can do something about this growing problem.
Basically, we have a problem, and it is, simply, this: People are posting WAY too many pictures that are absolutely GINORMOUS! These pictures take forever and a day to load for those of us that have slower connections (my average speed is in the 150-200 kbps range right now) and I shudder to think how long they take to load for anyone that actually still uses dial-up!
Posting such large images is, frankly, inconsiderate of those who aren't blessed with a lightning-fast cable or FIOS internet connection, and is quite rude as a result.
So, I am now officially asking: Can we PLEASE get a REASONABLE limit placed on the size of posted images?
What's reasonable? Well, there should NEVER be any need to post an image larger than 1024 x 768 pixels on a messageboard. Not EVER. Not hotlinked into the body of your message, anyway.
If people want to attach a larger image (where a person has to click the thumbnail to download and view the attachment), or post a URL link to the large image, and let people download the larger image if they so choose, that's cool. Hell, if they want to host it on a site that lets you post just a small, clickable thumbnail in the body of the message (like Imageshack does) that's cool as well! But posting an image that's larger than can be viewed on a single screen at a typical resolution setting is NOT cool, and makes it take way too long to load the page you're trying to view, especially when one member, or a couple members, have filled the page with nothing BUT gigantic images!
There are different ways of handling this. I've seen some messageboards just flat-out refuse to let you post a hotlinked image if it's over a certain size. I've seen other messageboards automatically scale the image down to a more appropriate size, and then you can click to view it full size if you want. You, the Admins and Moderators of these forums, have a few options you can explore, I leave it to you to decide which is the appropriate action to take.
Thanks for taking the time to read my concerns. I hope you can do something about this growing problem.
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