No, he has a low opinion of the types of people who would frequent the board if they could engage in that sort of moronic behavior. One of the reasons we tend to avoid juvenile deliquents here is the lack of “fun” things to do , like posting pictures, using animated smileys, etc.
I’m on other boards that manage to avoid “juvenile delinquents” despite allowing pictures and animated smilies. Want me to ask them how they avoid them? Or just maybe adding the fun things won’t drive up the JD quotient significantly. It’s not like there’s a shortage of boards with “fun” features.
This post alone has convinced me that I have to join this message board. January 1st seems like a good day to do it.
Welcome to the boards.
Prepare the squid!
sniff I’m so proud!
One of us! One of us!
Welcome!
Make that, “spelling-Nazis”.
And the board does allow signatures, within reason – not animated, flashing signatures with dancing frogs.
We like for people to express themselves – but, use your words.
And, this is one of the few forums in which one can discuss anything from economic theory to zombie movies with literate, thoughtful people.
Hey, Baldwin: personal insults are not permitted in this forum. 
[
You got it in one.
I am compelled by my inner demons to point out that “grammar nazis” shouldn’t be hyphenated.
Heh.
"But do they call me ‘MacGregor the kirkbuilder?’ Noooooo.
But ye **** ONE goat…!"
Sailboat
Naww. There are too many of you born every minute. 
And although it’s impossible to keep out ALL the trolls (even trolls have money), we do get a better class of troll.
Frequently in the same thread.
Well, Kizzume has a point. From the point of view of a potential subscriber, there’s not that much here. I have a certain loyalty to this place, but that’s due to an early fascination with it. Esprix, Satan, & Swimming Riddles were still here when I joined. And it was free, so anyone could join in without the conditionality of a “Guest” tag. It’s perhaps a wee bit greyer now.
Welcome
Anyone convinced to join by that type of post will fit right in here.
Hey, guys, since vison isn’t signing up until the 1st can I still borrow the goat for my New Year’s Eve party? I promise I won’t get him too drunk.
I tend to agree. I think it’s worth the money, but the OP’s questions were fair. The feature list is pretty barren for a pay-to-post board. Embedded pictures and avatars are pretty standard features out there nowadays. And I would be shocked to see them abused here (if only because the moderating is mostly pretty good).
If what you look for in a message board are avatars, graphical sigs, and embeddded pictures, there are plenty of boards out there for you. Where this board shines is in content. If the content does it for you, the lack of avatars, animated smilies, graphical sigs probably ain’t gonna keep you away. (And, as has been noted, might actually be an enticing feature.)
In other words: Everybody’s got the bells 'n whistles. We’ve actually got some substance.
Well, embedded pictures are also content (and far less annoying than having to click a link to get to the picture). Avatars are an aid in identification of members (and an expression of a member’s personality). These are useful things in almost any discussion.
I could care less about graphical sigs.
Why not have both? There are boards with both substance (the SDMB certainly has no monopoly on that) and “bells 'n whistles”.
Well, for a starter, because large numbers of the current membership prefer it the way it is. And this issue has come up so many times that it’s almost comical, and the answer is always the same: no, we aren’t doing that.
See, I disagree totally with this. I think reading down a page and suddenly seeing a picture is very irritating. Put in a link, if I want to look at your picture I will. I would pay extra money to keep pictures out of threads.
Avatars I could live with, assuming they are small, not animated, and I can turn them off if I want. But again, I think the board is more readable without them.
Same could be said for smilies.
Yet. At some point I’d expect the people in charge to get this board up to 21st century standards. But then I’m an optimist.
Would you pay extra to keep pictures out of newspapers and magazines? Do you use Lynx to surf the web?