It's been about six months since we've posted about this, and I can tell it's about time to do so again.

Guys, please do not link signature pics from other sites, such as kirith.com and others like it. First, it's called "bandwidth theft" and it's both rude and possibly illegal depending on the statutes where you are. Second, it is extremely annoying to the rest of the members to have to click through the pop-up windows asking for a name and password to be able to view the image.

Please remember that sig files are a privilege here, not a right. Be polite with your signature graphics! [img]smile.gif[/img]

Thanks,
-Sazerac

I am confused. I thought we could have a link to our sight in our sig or are you talking about something completely different and I don't know what I am talking about (the most likely explanation)?

Reeka, he means don't use graphics that are on pay sites or members only sites that expect passwords to be seen. It makes popup windows show on every thread where you post.

Your 'advertising' a site in a signature is fine.

[ 06-11-2002, 09:50 PM: Message edited by: Cloudbringer ]

What Saz means, in short, is that you should find your own host for pictures. In simple terms it works like this:

The main reason for that is that to view your picture, your computer has to access the site where the picture is found, taking up what is called 'bandwidth'. Think of it as a wide road where only so many cars can pass side by side. Now if everyone wanted to view a page on the Ironworks with your picture on it, that would take up a lot of bandwidth. The result would be that the site where the picture is stored takes longer to access, as if you'd have a line of cars waiting in front of you.
If the site is someone else's and you don't have permission, you are making his or her site slower. Obviously that isn't pleasant for the owner, and that's an understatement ;)
Usually it's okay to take an image from one site and put it on your own hardly visited one, and it'll be your own bandwidth used to show your own picture. Sometimes a copyright applies and you'll have to ask the owner for permission to store it elsewhere and use it on the forum.

The second problem is that some sites don't simply show the picture, but want I and password before it can be shown. Almost noone would be able to provide that, but that doesn't stop a box fom popping up and asking for it. Which is not a problem for the owners, but rather for the users on the forum. [img]smile.gif[/img]

Not entirely true, I know, but it'll no doubt get the idea across [img]smile.gif[/img]

Let me ADD to this reminder. I've noticed that some people's sigs are considerably bigger than our maximum allowed size, which is 255W x 155H, and 150kb. I've seen some sigs that are double this size, and have emailed the people involved. If you have a sig that is bigger than this, please be considerate to people using dialups and shrink it down. [img]smile.gif[/img]

I too have been seeing larger Sigs, and I had planned to post a message about it. If I have to, the Offenders with larger than TOS size will have their sig removed, and their profile locked. I simply don't understand why anyone would need a sig larger than 255x155.

Infact, I'll post a new message about it now. :D