On the one hand, this is a fairly specious argument. I was (what I thought was) a long-time lurker before joining, so a recent join date can be meaningless. On the other hand, I don’t get why someone who just “found” us (assuming no socks) a month or two ago is arguing somewhat vociferously that the Board should be set up in line with their preferences and ostensibly denigrating ‘old school’ members that like the ketchup-free nature of the joint. I guess I don’t get the mentality of trying to change something relatively trivial (as opposed to, say, arguing for rational thought on a conspiracy board) instead of just moving on because this particular corner isn’t what you like on the Internet. That’s not the be-all and end-all of it, and of course there is a lot of nuance and nothing Pit or even mini-rant worthy, just a perspective I don’t quite get.
As for Avatars, I’ve modified my thinking quite a bit.
[ul]
[li]Off-by-default means I won’t see them when I check the Boards but am not logged in. [/li][li]Available only to members (or guests who pay for just the avatar?) means an additional/increased income stream, which will bolster the long-term viability of the Board.[/li][li]Combining* availability only to members *with *off-by-default *means that the proverbial riff-raff (as opposed to the actual Riff-Raff) won’t storm the battlements or even notice avatars exist—only by sticking around long enough to get a feel for Board culture/mores and looking into the perks of membership will it be apparent. [/li][li]I’ve posted sparingly (mostly lurked) on the Giraffe Boards, and tried to remember a situation/thread where avatars made a difference. They’re on-by-default there, so it is obnoxious to read when I’m not logged in, but that doesn’t seem to be what’s being asked for here. I do notice them being mentioned from time to time, but mostly in an “oh, I didn’t recognize you; when did you change your avatar” or “can you make me one like yours?” kind of way. I could be misremembering. There are a lot of hits for ‘avatar’, but I’m not going to wade through a jillion posts to weed out those referring to avatars that would be annoying, threads I wouldn’t have opened up in the first place, and mentions of the movie. [/li][li]As I understand it, off-Board hosting means that there will be absolutely zero impact on Board performance or additional drain on its resources (other than the bits of the referring URL). [/li][li]Allowing those who choose to see and/or display avatars won’t affect the layout at all (i.e., no spaceholders or changes to post sizes).[/li][/ul]
Of course, there are some mighty big ‘ifs’ there, but if I got the gist of things right, that’s mostly what people are asking for. If that’s how it’s implemented, then as a community member I’d withdraw my objection. **Please correct me if any of the above are wrong. **
None of that, though, overcomes the remaining objection from the admin-side—an uptick in labour and overall hassle. Even in a thread discussing the issue there have been a lot of the snide, snappish, vitriolic, and hyperbolic posts. In addition to fodder supplied by the loose group of so-called ‘Usual Suspects’, there are a constant flow of ATMB threads filled with anger at trivial issues—even mod direction, let alone warnings, unreasonably get people’s dander up. Now there would be objections to mod actions revolving around something people * paid *for?
This place is modded tighter than most (from a non-set viewpoint perspective). Expecting that there won’t be an increased workload checking out reports, discussing it in the back-channel, then dealing with the fallout in the inevitable ATMB thread is either intentionally obtuse or a display of ignorance of the Board’s man-we-love-to-argue culture. Heck, we’ve had mini shitstorms over what does and doesn’t qualify for the two-click rule, what was and was not a zombie, and whether it’s okay to post open spoilers for age-old movies. Heck, look at the fiasco that was the re-implementation of nested quotes.
Of course, it’s the mod/admin choice if it is a burden and if so, whether to take it on.
So—from a user’s perspective, have at it if it can be done as easily and unimpactful as people have claimed. If the mods/admins don’t think the hassle is all that much or want to take it on, great. My mind has been changed.
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