With the number of forum members rapidly approaching 50,000, we need some guidelines about the use of group build badges and personal images in signature lines.
Group Build badges are a symbol of participation and pride among our forum members, but we have not had any restrictions on the size or quantity of group build badges a user might have. It is beginning to affect server performance and degrade our users’ experience. Therefore, we have decided to restrict the size of Group Build badges to no more than 65 x 65 pixels and 72 dpi resolution. We will allow a maximum of 15 images in 3 rows of five images each, totalling no more than 330 pixels wide by 200 pixels high.
You may also use this allotted space for personal identifiers, such as a national flag or photo of your pet, car, or favorite aircraft. You may have images within this space provided they do not exceed the 330 by 200 pixel size restriction, again, with a resolution of no more than 72 dpi. We also ask that you consolidate your group build badges into a single image file, to improve performance and reduce download times. We will be posting how-to instructions to assist you in achieving these results.
What does this accomplish you ask? Those readers who do not have the luxury of fast computers will notice appreciable delays in the loading of pages. Since larger images require longer load times, and since these images are located on outside servers, the performance of our forum is at the mercy of your computer and the performance of the servers that house these images. Although these are technically not our problems, the result is that it takes longer for you to load the pages and get to the information you want and need.
When does this go into effect? We would ask that readers begin to voluntarily resize their images immediately. We would like to have everyone operating under the 330 x 200 guidelines within thirty (30) days. After that time, the FSM staff will begin to contact members whose displays are outside of these parameters. This does not impact your ability to post images in your main text, showing models, works in progress, or reference photos. We do ask that you be considerate of your fellow readers by sizing your images accordingly when posting. This will not have any effect on your account status or ability to post unless you choose to ignore the guidelines. With your help and cooperation, we can keep the FineScale Modeler forums fast and efficient for all readers!
If you have any questions, please post them in the Community Assistance (aka Forum Help) forum.
Thank you for your cooperation,
Jeff Herne
Associate Editor, FineScale Modeler