Images in the signatures

[twomoon]

Hello Staff!

Maybe it would be a good idea to allow images in the signatures?
It would help our members to brand their websites or anything else.
At other forum it's possible and it looks very nice in my opinion.

I guess it's not allowed to make direct links to the other forum so I will add links (cause can't insert images here for some reason) to help people who don't know how it look like.


http://postimg.org/image/4n0bo0l49/

http://postimg.org/image/yqbax81p3/

http://postimg.org/image/uthxus79d/

Just an idea.

Thanks, Nick

 

[Deathstarr]

I vote yes for this.

 

[iowadawg]

No, not unless there were a max size on the image.
And what kind of image (certainly would not want a porno in here).
And then, I vote no.
Just clog up the entire signature.

 

[Eric Lyon]

We've talked about this before and the reason we declined was due to the following:

1. More ads on ever page = more scrolling.
2. Once you get 10, 20, 50, 100, 500, etc. members with banner ads in every post, the entire forum becomes harder to navigate.
3. More ads on every page clutters the forum and makes it look spammy.
4. More ads on every page runs members off that hate being hit with ads everywhere they look.
5. The more banners / images the server or browser has to render, the slower the page loading times get.

There were more reasons, but the above should give a good general idea on why we decided against it. We still haven't ruled it out as an additional PAID option. As in, a member can pay a monthly rate to use a banner in their signature.

This would assist in:

1. Limiting the number of images the server has to process
2. Help keep the forums from being saturated in advertising everywhere
3. Help cover server / hosting / maint. / upgrades / etc costs
4. Provides the option for those that want it

If something like this was done, it would more than likely be added to the advertising option page here: http://www.namepros.com/mediakit.php and priced similar to the rates you see for our other advertising options.

Thanks again for the suggestion,

Eric Lyon

 

[Deathstarr]

I think as a community forum that this forum should let some features be free. This "Feature" should be free since many businesses use this forum to gain members. There is a reason that bbcode is allowed in the signature and images can be linked from different websites such as imageshack and photobucket to keep this forum from hosting all the signatures.

 

[Eric Lyon]

I think as a community forum that this forum should let some features be free. This "Feature" should be free since many businesses use this forum to gain members. There is a reason that bbcode is allowed in the signature and images can be linked from different websites such as imageshack and photobucket to keep this forum from hosting all the signatures.

Your account here is free
The Signature you are using right now to promote your blog is free
The Marketplace is Free to use
Your avatar is a free ad option
Etc.

We don't charge to use the above things and others like some domain communities do.

Eric Lyon

 

[lll]

Make it so only members with 500+ posts get a signature image option
300x200px max size or something
I think it would promote some business in the design section as people can make cheap sigs for others for small rates and it can just keep some happy and if others don't want it I think there is option where they can opt out from seeing signatures too.

No need to charge really I'm saying what's the harm?
Not my site tho

Make members happier and more members will come too

 

[Eric Lyon]

Make it so only members with 500+ posts get a signature image option
300x200px max size or something
I think it would promote some business in the design section as people can make cheap sigs for others for small rates and it can just keep some happy and if others don't want it I think there is option where they can opt out from seeing signatures too.

No need to charge really I'm saying what's the harm?
Not my site tho

Make members happier and more members will come too

Please review my previous 2 posts.

Thanks for your suggestion

 

[4pm]

i would definitely visit a forum full of this kind of members' images/ads/spam stuff a lot less... A LOT..

it will look spammy and unprofessional. it will be slow. it will be tough on eyes.
members' banners are much worse than adsense visually, i would better pay for membership on a forum with no ads...

i'm here not to see members' ads of any kind as i'm not interested in most of their services or visit members' sites (which are total crap 99,9% of time anyway - as "developed" by domainers). i'm here to read about domains, discuss domains, buy/sell domains, learn domains...

you guys eager to advertise you adsense minisites, wordpress affiliate stuff blogs, cheap hosting reselling templates etc - you already got 4-row colorful sigs, avatars with your "logos", profile links and "Advertise your crap" section - isnt it enough for you?

if you just want to showcase your portfolio or your domaining blog - signature link is more than enough imho. no outcrying needed


.. i vote NAY ..if anyone cares


--



on a side note i would also like to suggest simple flat hovering bootstrap-style divs for "Quote", "Reply", "Rep" etc forum links over these red static 3d-like buttons with no active/hover states...

...spinning stars hurt too ..do they really need to spin all the time, does it add anything to a forum design or usability besides some back-to-90s retro feel to it? only takes to replace one animated gif with a nice static star to stop this evil please



*

 

[Eric Lyon]

on a side note i would also like to suggest simple flat hovering bootstrap-style divs for "Quote", "Reply", "Rep" etc forum links over these red static 3d-like buttons with no active/hover states...

...spinning stars hurt too ..do they really need to spin all the time, does it add anything to a forum design or usability besides some back-to-90s retro feel to it? only takes to replace one animated gif with a nice static star to stop this evil please
*

Not sure what browser you're using, but I see the simple flat hover boxes over the the links / buttons in FireFox already

As for the spinning star, I suppose we could do without the spin. It's something to think about. However, I think we'll probably eliminate the moving star anyways later down the line as we do more work on the infrastructure and framework of NamePros. The current buttons will probably change as well later on. (Which is a totally different topic than this thread was created for)

Thanks for the suggestion

 

[4pm]

Not sure what browser you're using, but I see the simple flat hover boxes over the the links / buttons in FireFox already

Eric,

i meant "Quote", "New reply", "Add rep", "Multiple quotes", "Edit" etc buttons that shows on every post in a thread - they are all gifs being loaded from your cdn images folder.

Firefox/Chrome on Ubuntu/Win7, Safari/Chrome on iPad ios7 here



one more quick question if i may - no plans for getting user avatars (thread author/last posted) back in forum views?


thanks

 

[twomoon]

Thanks for the reply Eric and to for all contributors.

Well, I understand the position. The only one thing I wanted to say, just surf an other forum and you would see how many people use that option and you would see that not so many. Really not so many. And it's free for any member.

I don't know how many active members are there here at NP, but I'm sure that only around 1/4 of them have their websites that they would be able to promote. Around 1/4 of that 1/4 group would like to promote their websites with the image option. Around 1/4 of that 1/4 of that 1/4 group would do it really.

For example check now, how many people generally use their signature at NP + how many of them are promoting any websites.

As guys suggested we could have a smaller images

 

[4pm]

I don't know how many active members are there here at NP, but I'm sure that only around 1/4 of them have their websites that they would be able to promote. Around 1/4 of that 1/4 group would like to promote their websites with the image option. Around 1/4 of that 1/4 of that 1/4 group would do it really.

For example check now, how many people generally use their signature at NP + how many of them are promoting any websites.

As guys suggested we could have a smaller images

Nick,

i believe any avertisement needs to be targeted on the internet. Whom would those members promote their websites to? How many of regular and casual members/visitors want/expect/need to see other members' banners considering this is one of probably two biggest/best/pro domaining forums in the whole world where people join to discuss domains mainly, not minisites/blogs/affiliates/etc?

if you are talking of porfolio links - do they need that big and splashy banners to attract targeted eyeballs? isn't simple link to a quality domian doing its job just ok?

imagine those animated gifs everywhere in threads shouting in your face before you even start reading about serious stuff like value of .pw domains - "BUY BUY BUY Cheapest $.50/year hosting - only 10.000 client per server, fastest dial-up facilities with 45% uptime in Northern Uganda!" ...and a fat blondie in bikini with a laptop on a beach - "we also do SEO, sell backlinks and offer cheap foot massage.."

..think of how many members would want to sell their sig space to anyone for $1 a month - "100.000 1-word posts and counting. Have your banner on every NP page plus i'll write down your www on my forehead in big red letters (serif fonts only) on my avatar for free!"

who would benefit from that..?

кошмар (Russian nightmare)


imho

 

[twomoon]

Nick,

i believe any avertisement needs to be targeted on the internet. Whom would those members promote their websites to? How many of regular and casual members/visitors want/expect/need to see other members' banners considering this is one of probably two biggest/best/pro domaining forums in the whole world where people join to discuss domains mainly, not minisites/blogs/affiliates/etc?

if you are talking of porfolio links - do they need that big and splashy banners to attract targeted eyeballs? isn't simple link to a quality domian doing its job just ok?

imagine those animated gifs everywhere in threads shouting in your face before you even start reading about serious stuff like value of .pw domains - "BUY BUY BUY Cheapest $.50/year hosting - only 10.000 client per server, fastest dial-up facilities with 45% uptime in Northern Uganda!" ...and a fat blondie in bikini with a laptop on a beach - "we also do SEO, sell backlinks and offer cheap foot massage.."

..think of how many members would want to sell their sig space to anyone for $1 a month - "100.000 1-word posts and counting. Have your banner on every NP page plus i'll write down your www on my forehead in big red letters (serif fonts only) on my avatar for free!"

who would benefit from that..?

кошмар (Russian nightmare)


imho

Yes I agree with you about targerted ads. And I agree, that the idea of this (or any other) domain forum is to gather domainers and to talk domains, but also to buy/sell domains. For example, I'm mainly here to buy and to sell. This is why I (and many of us - you too) have portfolios, to wich we have links. Why we post our links at our signatures at Namepros? Cause we want domainers to buy our names. Images in my opinion are just more visual and visual ad have much more chances to be remembered by someone. Why we use logos at our sites? To become more recognizable. Plus in my opinion there are many people who are not registered at forum but see our posts or sale threads (for eample from twitter feed).
My only idea - we could use it to make our brands more recognizable.
As guys suggested it could be made with some restrictions (i.e. number of posts). If you ask me, I would even happy to pay for such possibility.
And - no .gifs
As i said before we have a good example how it works on other forum. Some people use it and it looks totally fine for everyone.

 

[Eric Lyon]

one more quick question if i may - no plans for getting user avatars (thread author/last posted) back in forum views?

This may or may not happen once we get more done on a better infrastructure and framework. As we get closer achieving that we can look that option over again.

@Twomoon
Also keep in mind that Banner images (even if they aren't flashing) tend to distract readers from the content. If you've ever been on a site that has banners just about everywhere you look, you'll know how hard it can be sometimes to focus on the content and not get distracted by the banners you have to navigate your eyeballs around.

A community like NamePros is based on it's content and that's the main reason members come here (Whether its domain discussions, industry news, warnings and alerts, break room fun, contests, marketplace, tutorials, etc.). If members can no longer navigate the content without lots of added distractions, then it defeats the purpose of being a content driven community.

What we don't want, is to end up like all those sites we've all visited before that have so many ads we end up leaving out of frustration.

Eric Lyon