New Signature Line Guidelines

[Jason]

The question of "acceptable signature guidelines" has always been subjective on the forums, making the job of our local Gurus difficult to judge which signatures were inappropriate. Because of these issue, I have assembled a short list of guidelines, which when compared to the guidelines of many other forums, is about as strict as Ozzy Osborne's parenting style. Please commit the below guidelines to memory before creating your signature.


Signature images may be no larger than 80 pixels high x 350 pixels wide
If more that one image is used, the total dimensions/pixel space used may be no larger than 80 x 350
Total combined sig image file size may not exceed 35k
Text may be up to 5 lines long if not used in conjunction with images
Text may be up to 2 lines long when used in conjunction with images
Signatures must be appropriate, non-distracting, and non-defamatory. They cannot contain referral links.
Your signature must not extract or be able to extract information from or display information from other members. This includes all personal information such as IP address, members location, email address, etc.
Signatures will be allowed after 30 days of membership and 30 legitimate posts made.


Conclusively, the breaking of the signature line law will result in a catapulting.

[montroze]

Originally posted by Jason

Conclusively, the breaking of the signature line law will result in a catapulting.

Would be catapulted to Ozzie's House? :) He's settled down since he's been rehabed, you can't really tell tho, after 25 years of ingesting drugs

[gtmitch2]

What about that dude from BSB being stuck in rehab? Haha.

[JGAC]

Would my sig be ok? or is it too long?

[Ian]

Originally posted by Jac83188
Would my sig be ok? or is it too long? Text may be up to 2 lines long when used in conjunction with images.
Is yours? I count 3, so thats a fail.

Signature images may be no larger than 80 pixels high x 350 pixels wide.
Is yours? Your image is 70x400, so thats a fail. (to wide).

So why are you asking if it is ok? Clearly it is not, so you know what to do about it. Thank you.

[JGAC]

ok, Ill change it soon as I redo the img

[JGAC]

Would you realy argue over 30x50 pixels?

[JGAC]

Too late now, shortened it

[Gregory]

ummm... i forgot what my sig is... oh yeah. i guess its probably too long, huh?

[transmothra]

Originally posted by morrowasted
ummm... i forgot what my sig is... oh yeah. i guess its probably too long, huh? it's 5ive lines long, that's within the guidelines.

[Gregory]

i shortened it anyway, cuz the other were like longer than my posts lol

[doogxela]

Is there a reason the extra spaces are removed from signatures? I have an ASCII sig that I like that gets garbled because spaces are removed.

[dork1337h4x0r]

gay

[scruff]

Originally posted by dork1337h4x0r
gay

Comming out are we?


I wish the Osbournes were my parents. Ozzy is God.

[JGAC]

those comments werent nessacary since this thread is old.

[scruff]

Maybe, but the light bulb was lit indicating new activity so I read it. Why did I respond? Well, because I'm bored I guess. But, I do wonder why someone would join a forum such as this one that exists so people can help other people, and then spend his/her time posting negative comments about how it is run, or against others that have obviously put in the time (500+ posts) to help it grow to where it is now.

Then, ask for help??

But rest assured, I have decided to ignore that type of B.S. in the future.

I also just now read dorks apology. Good deal man. We all have bad days. Hell, I'm having one now :rolleyes:

[darksidepuffin]

I've got a grey area question...what exactly is the benchmark for judging rather or not a sig(the images therein) are distracting?are we talking bright annoying colors that burn retnas and can't help but draw eyes to their torture?or is there a certain level of eye candy it should be kept below?reason I ask is I'll be making a new sig soon..and rather then bother a mod whom I'm sure are busy enough to review the image before it's set as my sig(altho if that would be a better way to handle it I can do that as well) I would like to find out the benchmark and perhaps a few examples of acceptable and unacceptable imagery for a signature?I don't wanna get in hot water for a distracting sig,but I also don't want to make it if I have no idea of where the line between distracting and not distracting is :)


thanks ^^

[Jokerman]

Originally posted by willamoose
I've got a grey area question...what exactly is the benchmark for judging rather or not a sig(the images therein) are distracting?are we talking bright annoying colors that burn retnas and can't help but draw eyes to their torture?or is there a certain level of eye candy it should be kept below?reason I ask is I'll be making a new sig soon..and rather then bother a mod whom I'm sure are busy enough to review the image before it's set as my sig(altho if that would be a better way to handle it I can do that as well) I would like to find out the benchmark and perhaps a few examples of acceptable and unacceptable imagery for a signature?I don't wanna get in hot water for a distracting sig,but I also don't want to make it if I have no idea of where the line between distracting and not distracting is :)


thanks ^^

I'm not sure, and don't quote me on this, but I assumed they meant something along the lines of nothing that could cause people to get in a knot about. Distracting like taking a swimsuit model and having a gif which moves up and down to highlight her... "features" and such.

I guess something else would be making a gif that flashes a lot. Just stuff that takes your eye off the text and on to it... I think having bright colors is fine if you're not flashing them around, but I'd wait for a mod.

[Josh]

Or just a swimsuit model in general. Not too long ago somebody had their sig as a girl with a bikini. He was asked to change it.

[Ian]

Originally posted by willamoose
reason I ask is I'll be making a new sig soon..and rather then bother a mod whom I'm sure are busy enough to review the image before it's set as my sig(altho if that would be a better way to handle it I can do that as well) I would like to find out the benchmark and perhaps a few examples of acceptable and unacceptable imagery for a signature?I don't wanna get in hot water for a distracting sig,but I also don't want to make it if I have no idea of where the line between distracting and not distracting is :)


thanks ^^ The fact you are thinking it may be susspect means that it probably is. Would you be happy to see it if it was in someone elses sig? If yes, then its probably ok, if no, then there is your guideline.:D
Send it to me in a PM Will if you're not sure and I'll be happy to look at it before you put it on and give it the ok if you are worried about it.:rocker:

[darksidepuffin]

Originally posted by Ian
The fact you are thinking it may be susspect means that it probably is. Would you be happy to see it if it was in someone elses sig? If yes, then its probably ok, if no, then there is your guideline.:D
Send it to me in a PM Will if you're not sure and I'll be happy to look at it before you put it on and give it the ok if you are worried about it.:rocker:

well...I wouldn't mind it...but not everyone has the same tastes as me...I appreciate the offer there Ian,but alas...I havn't made it yet..I just have a concept in my head...I won't be making it till I need it(ie: till my sites are close to going up in beta..which will hopefully be by monday) but I'll be sure to take you up on that...after all...if it's distracting I'd rather not find out the long way ;) ....it's nothing explicit or anything with any sort of ennuendo....but it would have a fair usage of effects(grids and such) as well as distinct seperation into at least 4 different 'parts'...hense why I questioned it's distractingness.

Thanks ^_^

[nilsmo]

If in the Introductions forums a newcomer has a signature not within guidelines, and nobody has yet refered them to this thread, or non-moderators allowed to tell them to see this thread?

[Pegasus]

No. Contact a moderator and they'll do the referral.

Pegasus
Moderator

[Erikina]

Does my signature image count as text? Can I still have my 2 extra lines of text?

[Pegasus]

Your sig image is too large. You do not get "2 extra lines". You're only allowed 5 lines of standard forum text, not 5 lines of size-and-a-half text.

The dimensions are fine, but your sig is 52k in filesize - 17k larger than Jason has allowed.

Pegasus
Moderator

[Erikina]

If I just wrote out what my sig says it would be:

"Help make a story, of a orange orangutan who eats people with an atomic spoon. You control every aspect of the story by adding three words: for full details click here. Kindly hosted @ HTMLforums"

Two lines.

Even in a size larger font:
Help make a story, of a orange orangutan who eats people with an atomic spoon. You control every aspect of the story by adding three words: for full details click here. Kindly hosted @ HTMLforums

2-3 lines (depending on screen resolution).

It's because the words in the image must rap after 350px while in the browser it isn't restricted so much. :D

[Pegasus]

Fine. Then use straight text to create your sig and ditch the image. You have 5 lines of normal text or an image of no more than 80x350. Your choice.

The only way you can get 'extra' lines of text is if your image is considerably less than 80px high.

Peg

[Erikina]

Understood! The reason I choose, using an image was so I could add that 'cool' effect in photoshop (which I just got :D). I'll try do something else and stay under the file size limit :)

[jatos]

I am a newbie to these forums, anyway can I advertise another site in my sig?

[Erikina]

Yeah go ahead, just make sure they follow the guidelines above. You can advertise anything yo want as long as it's not offensive.

[jatos]

Good good, don't like to break forum rules...

[Jbw1291]

Is this signature allright?

[Pegasus]

It's less than 5 lines of text. You're okay with it.

Thanks for asking.

Peg

[Jbw1291]

Good . . . you're welcome.

[ChiefLee]

This is all pretty old stuff but I don't see any new notes about sigs. Just wanted to make sure I wasn't getting too many links. But I've got fewer than some members with many posts. So I assume I'm rockin'. BTW -- I frequent several forums and this is one of my favorites.

[Horus_Kol]

we don't have a link limit...

we have a line and image limit - and some other guidelines on 'suitability'...

i don't see a problem with your sig right now - but if it did irk a mod, they should warn you first and politely ask you to reconsider - so you won't be cast out right away (we only do that to blatant spammers and scammers :) ).

[afireinside]

i personally am NOT a spammer and i do not think it is fair that I have to have 30 posts to have a signature. I think it is a good idea to limit peoples signatures so they dont get out of control with them and crazy.

[Pegasus]

While it may not be "fair" to individuals, having one-hit-wonder spammers come in just to use our popularity as a stepping stone to their own supposed success isn't fair either. It's also not fair to the members who have to wade through the junk to find the solution to their problems or wade through old posts to find out that a spammer was at the end of the line. It's also not fair to the mods who have to go through all the posts to see which ones are spam and which ones are legit solutions to a problem. We'd much rather spend our time helping people.

[afireinside]

I understand where u are coming from. When I was mod I didnt mind looking for spam. I actually enjoyed it. I am kinda of weird. ok now how does this have anything to do with signatures. i understand the posting thing but this doesn't affect signatures does it. tell me what u think Pegasus






While it may not be "fair" to individuals, having one-hit-wonder spammers come in just to use our popularity as a stepping stone to their own supposed success isn't fair either. It's also not fair to the members who have to wade through the junk to find the solution to their problems or wade through old posts to find out that a spammer was at the end of the line. It's also not fair to the mods who have to go through all the posts to see which ones are spam and which ones are legit solutions to a problem. We'd much rather spend our time helping people.

[Horus_Kol]

afireinside - more and more spammers have been posting bogus messages with links in their signatures instead of the more obvious spam postings.

we find that most of these spammers give up after only a few posts/days - so we set the limits as they are.

unfortunately - as always - the actions of one annoying group has forced a penalty against all...

[afireinside]

afireinside - more and more spammers have been posting bogus messages with links in their signatures instead of the more obvious spam postings.

we find that most of these spammers give up after only a few posts/days - so we set the limits as they are.

unfortunately - as always - the actions of one annoying group has forced a penalty against all...

Its cool I got my 30 posts so now i have a signature. I am happy. I am here alot and I look out for those annoying spammers and either private message an admin or IM them on yahoo lol. So we can keep the spam down and enjoy this forum.

:):):):):)

[Pegasus]

You have 30 posts, but you don't have 30 days membership. Your sig will start showing up around Aug. 10.

[afireinside]

You have 30 posts, but you don't have 30 days membership. Your sig will start showing up around Aug. 10.

I think its showing up now when i posted last it showed up.

[Pegasus]

Yeah, that's odd. I'll have to talk to Jason or Scoutt about it.

[afireinside]

WELL don't get rid of it I worked hard to get those posts so i would have a sig and I am not a spammer.

[rebelx]

Good to know the rules, I will keep posting good post!

[Jupjee]

Can I ask why? I'm not complaining, I probably couldnt even think of 5 lines of stuff anyway, but like jason said, this is a lot stricter than the strictest forums ive ever been on. So whats the reasoning behind this?

[Pegasus]

While we can appreciate that signatures are necessary, 5 lines of text or an image of a 350x80 plus 2 lines of text is enough to be of use without being overly distracting.