The new forum + icons.

This might be answerable right away or not, I dunno. But since we're moving to the new forum, why are we not allowed to be able to upload our own icons like every other forum on the internet? It seems like quite a bit of time/effort is being put into managing an incredible amount of icons on the current forum, the majority of which nobody uses or even pays attention to. Not to diss the efforts, but it's a sad fact. Is it a technical reason? The only thing I could think of myself was that nobody wants the hassle of removing offensive icons, but TBH that would take so much less work than uploading icons to the forum that that can't possibly be the reason for not allowing it. Is it financial? Is it the fear of a user hypothetically being so incompetent as to not figure out the icon upload process and thus subjecting us to that foul default icon for eternity? It also crossed my mind that it's because of the censorship (I kid) of having only Star Wars icons and that would also be a hassle to moderate, however then I recalled that we've been uploading LOTS of icons for crappy non-star wars things like The Last Airbender, and the Halloween icons have been up since last year. So clearly that cannot mean so much to those in charge as to not allow it.

TELL ME WHYYYYYY

 

Honestly, even if we're allowed to have our own icons I'd still just use this one and I suspect many others would do the same.

 

I completely agree with SLG here. There is no harm in letting users do this, and it wouldn't difficult or had to root out bad/offensive ones. What would be so bad with people expressing themselves a bit more with their own icons?

Back-to-Back!: 2008-2009 & 2009-2010 L.A. Lakers: World Champions

 

i think you express yourself quite enough already Tunick.

 

Custom icons are a bad idea - not because of offensive ones and the trials of removing them, but because there's ****loads of stuff that's not offensive but is annoying. This line is to which people will flock. I'd rather be in a place where annoying icons are just not allowed, and if that means sacrificing all means of customisable iconneryness, then so be it. [zomg police state!] Sure, what may be annoying to some will certainly not be to others, but that's not enough to justify it. You don't have to read text - however annoying it might be if read - but icons are staring us all in the face each time we glance at the JC.

 

I think there would potentially be an issue with animated GIFs, particularly for those with slower internet speeds. But vB may have an option that doesn't allow GIFs to be used, I don't know.

 

If we got custom icons Everton could make a custom icon of the new Everton away kit.

[image=http://i433.photobucket.com/albums/qq58/mraxeman/efc-72206.jpg]

Do you want that to happen? Well, do you? I didn't think so.

 

lol

I take it all back. It's a bold new world, people!

 

lol

 

@

 

It's just as easy to avoid an icon as it is to avoid text.

Back-to-Back!: 2008-2009 & 2009-2010 L.A. Lakers: World Champions

 

Arsenal/England/He'spoo *





*Delete as applicable

 

No it isn't. Unless it's a very short post, a glance at text isn't enough to take in the content.

You can block images, I accept, but that is a process made unnecessary by the JC's current policy.

Anyway I don't want to have to start blocking every image that annoys the heck out of me or - to be blunt - doesn't fit the look of the forum. Most people have no idea what constitutes a suitable icon, and will argue the toss for their own choice no matter it's gross unsuitability.

People will take advantage of the fact there has to be a particular boundary - specifically defined in a policy somewhere - that divides the acceptable from the unnacceptable. Thus the JC will be filled with relatively unchecked 'creativity' and 'individuality' - images that may not cross the line, but come awfully close to it. It's exactly the same kind of process that can keep clever people from being banned.

The simple, uniform visuals offered by the JC are one of the things that elevate it above any other forum with user icons.

 

If I can block the stars, you can block those custom icons. As long as the size would be kept that our current icons are at, I don't see an aesthetic issue...................it's not like everyone would suddenly rush to use their own custom icon.

Back-to-Back!: 2008-2009 & 2009-2010 L.A. Lakers: World Champions

 

I don't want to be a naggy Comm's stereotype but I think I will for this moment. I don't really feel that any of what was just said is a good enough reason as to why not to allow customs. I mean only a few of my points were addressed. If some people find customs to be annoying, so what? I find a good deal about the visuals of TF.net to be unprofessional, tasteless, and annoying, but I don't think it's my place to push my personal opinion of that onto others and make them suffer for it. It's really just an opinion thing. And in the end, custom icons would please the most people. If you don't like an icon, don't look at it. It's not like you're going to be looking at a giant 3inch image like on those crappy forum systems. On most forums where you're allowed customs, there's a pretty reasonable image size restriction, which is 50px. That's the same size as icons on this forum right now (except those big long ones). Easily avoidable. And then you have to consider that more time would be put into the icons, rather than just pumping out craploads of icons that no one uses. It's just not practical.


Also, Everton, I appreciate your post but it really doesn't address the point I made about that in the OP.


EDIT: Someone else just made a good point I didn't think of - why don't we just have a vote to get a general idea of what the community thinks of this? It seems to be the only fair thing.

 

On last check, there are about 7,800 different icons that can be used. I would call that a pretty good variety.

 

I have no idea how you got that from what I said. I just reread what I wrote. Since I have no idea I guess I'll just tell you that's not what I meant at all and...I just have no idea how that's what I said. I guess I should rephrase?

I was saying that in the end this just comes down to opinion. I believe that everyone's opinions should matter equally (as I think most people do), and as such, this should be up to the majority. Like any opinion, I may find parts of this site to be visually hideous. Just like others can find other sites to be visually hideous. It's just an opinion, nothing serious. That being said, custom icons are small way to cater to the visuals of everyone. I am...not in any way saying that custom icons are hideous therefore they should match the forums (I'm still trying to figure out what you just said, I think that's what you were getting at, correct me if I'm wrong). I'm saying that it just brings a bit of everyone's aesthetic appeal to the forums in a very small way. Yes, one can argue that they just don't want to look at any custom icons because they're all hideous, or some are hideous, etc.. However to me that opinion is completely valid, but it's valid just as much as the person who would like to look at custom icons. I'm just saying give it a chance. Throw a vote out like we did for the stars. Just see what the majority thinks.

And to clarify, obviously the details would have to be up to MS to figure out. If hypothetically the custom icons were put into use, it would be relatively easy to just throw out a set of rules like "no icons that exceed this size, no 4chan crazy icons" etc. (obviously more specific than that but you get the jist). The JC happens to be a pretty consistent community that doesn't have an insane number of new users coming through like other forums, which is something that would work to our advantage. We wouldn't have to consistently remind users to change their icons. The people who post here as the majority are the same people all the time. The occasional crazy newbie who joins the forum and uploads a 70x70inch lady gaga icon would be....incredibly rare if never an occurrence.

Also I look at it this way - I know it sounds like a *huge* change since it's something that's never been on the forums before. However, if you really just simplify it, it would be modded the same way that anything else on the forums. We have custom signatures, which are more work to read than an icon, but people for the most part are able to handle that and the occasional person who uses one against the TOS gets edited. Just like using a word on the disallowed list, which is even more difficult to pick up on. I mean, this is what we have mods for. And in the end, this would cut back a lot of the mod work that's currently going into the icon system right now. Example: the Halloween icons that you mentioned. I understand that they're being cleaned through and whatnot, but they've still been there since last year. That's an insanely huge project. Realistically that alone is more work than it would take to moderate custom icons if they were actually put into use

 

I'd just like to pop in here and say that Grimby summed my feelinggs up perfectly.

And yeah, the Halloween icons project is definitely bigger and is taking longer than I thought when I started (I also hoped it would be a community thing, get people who don't usually pop into the icons thread interested, etc.). In hindsight, maybe not the best idea, but it was worth the shot.

 

edit: Oh oops apparently what I said would be considered a flame. Nevermind. You can just lock this up was the gist of it.

 

I agree with Grimby and that strange Everton person on this matter. JC Icons =