The sticky in the "your picture" forum

[wrist cutter]

To me this seems kind of pointless to enforce. I am under the understanding that one cannot increase their post count by posting in that forum, so thus it's not as though they're double posting to gain posts are something else ridiculous...

So what is the harm being done? Someone makes maybe three posts in a row to get all their pictures up, where's the crime in that? So what if someone responds in between? Really, I don't see how waiting until a reply has been made makes any difference, except maybe some stupid little "yeah thanks for the compliment whatever" comment in the second attachment post.

Please, I'm really not understanding the purpose of this rule other than to annoy members.

[Syk3]

Well, this is like the debate over the Newbie Lounge, and, as you know, it eventually had to go. People were asking why they couldn't kind of go off topic in that forum and ignore a few of the rules. The answer was pretty obvious: it sets a bad example for the rest of the forum. Even if post count is not an issue, it's still the debate of following the rules. I dunno, maybe it's completely different, but that's my take on the matter.

[Guest Matt]

[color=red][b]I agree with wrist cutter on this one. If posts are not counted in that forum, members should be able to double, or triple post to get all their pics up. They shouldn't have to wait for someone to post in order to post another pic.[/b][/color]

[Red]

[b][color=515050][size=1]Regardless of whether posts are counted in Your Picture or not, double posting is against the rules. Your Picture isn't exempt from the rules.

The harm being done is examples. Newbie Lounge was just insane with spam and pointless posts, and Your Picture seemed to be turning out the same way until recently. People breaking the rules by consistantly double posting with attachments isn't going to help at all.

New members seeing double posting could get the impression that it's okay, and only cause further annoyance by spamming in other sections of the boards along with Your Picture.

Unless the rules are changed or Charles/James say otherwise, that's how it will stay.[/b][/color][/size]

[James]

[color=#808080]I think it's also worth noting that if we allow endless successive posts for the [i]sole[/i] purpose of attachments, two things happen:

1) There is no discussion. If a person wants to post one attachment after another, they're not going to be talking to [i]themself[/i] or something.

2) We open up a scenario where people start posting eight or twelve attachments in a row. And why stop there? Someone could decide to host their entire photo album in one thread. lol

We have these limits for appropriate reasons; to encourage quality posting and to ensure that attachments are as limited as possible. I don't think it's a particularly confusing or hard to understand rule. The rules weren't made just to annoy members; that's foolish. They're there for a good reason.[/color]

[wrist cutter]

If someone posted up their entire photo album, yes, I can see where that would be a problem.

But I see no harm done in posting up 2, 3, or even 4 posts in a row to get all the attachments up. What difference does it really make if there's a post in-between? The same comment could be made an hour later after all the pics have been up...

I see the point with the number of attachments someone makes - I can't see use for someone putting up any more than 3 in a row.

But as for your first point James, that definitely makes sense. But you know... maybe they have two pictures they'd like to put up, I can't really think up a scenario for it. Because maybe the first picture doesn't stir up any conversation, but the second one does.

I don't know, it just seemed so nonsensical to me and still does. I mean, I haven't noticed anyone really abusing this - posting up like 10 pictures in one go or something. If people are responsible I don't see the need to enforce such a rule.

[James]

[color=#808080]Well, as I've said...these rules come into existence for a reason. We don't just sit down and dream up rules for no purpose.

The rule makes plenty of sense. It's there to ensure that there is a limit on the number of attachments as well as to ensure that discussion occurs within these threads. My Picture is [i]already[/i] pushing it in terms of unrelated spam. If anything, more of a focus is needed on maintaining quality in that forum.

I don't make any secret about the fact that members are encouraged to host their images away from OB. If people did this more often, they could use the [IMG] tag to insert multiple images within the post. That would be the ideal solution.

So, in some ways, this rule also encourages people to host their images remotely from elsewhere. If people have a large number of pictures to show, they should be doing that anyway. We have the attachment feature in place so that the odd image can be attached.

You'll notice that when I post screenshots for games in the gaming forums, I never host them on OB. I always have them linked remotely. This is what [i]everyone[/i] should be doing in terms of multiple images.

So, the rule really has nothing to do with post counts as such. That's part of it, but not a major part. The idea is to send the message that it's more efficient for people to host their images remotely. And as Elite said, we've made a specific rule against double posting. If we start to exempt people in My Picture, then we'll be asked to do the same in Art & Design...and so it continues. The lines become blurred and most people will have no idea what they should be doing. It's too confusing.

It's easier and more effective to have a very standardized rule when it comes to image hosting. We've always made our rules very clear regarding image hosting, so the issue raised with My Picture is certainly not a new issue. It's just that Elite has chosen to bring it to the attention of the members who use that forum, and rightly so.

Really, this is a non-issue. It's not difficult to avoid double posting. Posts shouldn't be used specifically for attachments anyway -- they should be used for discussion. If you want to attach an image to your post, that's fine. But just because you're adding an attachment does not mean that you are somehow exempt from the site's rules. There's no real substantive change; as I said, the posts aren't there for file hosting, they're there for discussion. Image hosting is a secondary concern.

Whether or not you see the need to enforce this rule in particular is noted, but as a private site, we reserve the right to decide how these issues are handled; particularly when we're talking about the use of our own server and issues of quality. Every site is different of course and other sites may not have such a policy. But that's for each individual site to decide.[/color]

[Lady Macaiodh]

[color=darkblue]People shouldn't be posting that many attachments, anyway, like James said. It takes up space on OB. The obvious solution is to put all their pics on one page, that way it only takes one attachment to get them up there (I hope I'm explaining it right). You can do that with freaking MS Word, for godsake (though it wouldn't be ideal, it would work). The point is, it's not hard. It seems like it would save more time for the poster, anyway, because you have to wait 60 or so seconds between each post as it is. A bunch of attachments just wastes space.[/color]

[Sandy]

Umm, I just want to ask this (kind of a silly question):

You (Syk, Elite, James) said that double- or more posts are ABSOLUTELY forbidden, then what about for example the Fanfic- and RPG-sections? If one has a story over the limit of one post, is it allowed to continue the story in second (or third) post?
I've seen this happen, I've even done this myself once, and nobody has said anything about it, but what is the "official" comment on this?

[James]

[color=#808080]Sage, the RPG/Fan Fiction forums are the only exceptions to this rule. The reason we allow double posting in those forums is because our software will limit the number of characters to a certain maximum.

If you reach that maximum and can't post any further, you can add a second post. [i]However[/i], if you double post without reaching the maximum...that would obviously be against the rules.

So, yeah, that is the only exception that we allow.[/color]