Important: deactivation of remote avatars

R

r3naissanc3r

Honoured Citizen
Citizen
Hi all,

The admin team has decided to deactivate the option allowing members to use remote URL avatars.

This has two implications:

1) When you change your avatar, you will no longer be given the option to provide a URL to a third-party website. Instead, you will need to upload your new avatar from where it is stored locally on your computer.

2) If you are currently using a remotely hosted avatar, then it may disappear. This means that, in order to prevent potential loss of your avatar, you must go through the process of saving it somewhere locally on your hard drive, and then uploading it to the forum through "My Controls -> Edit Avatar Settings->Upload a new image from your computer".

In light of the second implication, we wanted to give members a chance to adjust their avatar settings. So, you will have a week to do so, until next Monday, November 26th, at which point remote URL avatars will be disabled.

Best,
r3n.
 
Finding suitable avatars with this restriction is difficult. In light of that I must ask, what's the reasoning behind this?
 
Why is it difficult? You can find suitable avatars in exactly the same way as before.

There is only difference: in the past, you would get the URL of the image you found, and use that in your avatar settings; after the change, you will need to first save the avatar locally in your hard drive, and then upload it from there.

The reason for the change is the same as for storing all of the skin and widely used signature images locally: faster loading, and forum security.
 
There is a 25 KB limit (that cannot be altered). So yes, in that respect it is more complicated, but I would not say difficult. 25 KB should be more than enough for the typical avatar dimensions. Most avatars you find online should meet that limit.

If an avatar is failing this, then you can convert it to jpg to save some bytes, using any image editing software (every OS comes with one).
 
I'm not disputing this if it's what you think is best, but I do have a question. When Lethen explained it to me he said it was because if the third party site got a virus, then it could be transferred to us. If we use a third party site to post pictures in thread, does that pose the same risk?
 
:angry: This will take atleast thirty seconds out of my day. I'll never get it back.
 
Seven Deaths said:
I'm not disputing this if it's what you think is best, but I do have a question. When Lethen explained it to me he said it was because if the third party site got a virus, then it could be transferred to us. If we use a third party site to post pictures in thread, does that pose the same risk?
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To clarify, I said that was *one* of the potential risks.

Also, before anyone gets confused, I've had to manually resize all of my avatars that I've been playing with to the dimensions given in the avatar area. Its incredibly easy, but I know *someone* will get an error message and freak out.
 
Lethen said:
Seven Deaths said:
I'm not disputing this if it's what you think is best, but I do have a question. When Lethen explained it to me he said it was because if the third party site got a virus, then it could be transferred to us. If we use a third party site to post pictures in thread, does that pose the same risk?
Click to expand...
To clarify, I said that was *one* of the potential risks.
Click to expand...
Regardless, this is merely curiosity taking over. It won't hurt the slightest to download pictures to my computer.
 
Seven Deaths said:
If we use a third party site to post pictures in thread, does that pose the same risk?
Click to expand...
Yes, that is true. However, given that there is no reasonable alternative to that (other than enabling file uploads for everyone, which is even worse), we will have to take that.

Also, in that case, the potential impact is much smaller: a hotlinked picture posted in a thread is only accessed by people reading that particular thread. A hotlinked picture in an avatar (or signature for that matter) is accessed whenever people read any thread where the owner of the avatar/signature has posted.
 
r3naissanc3r said:
There is a 25 KB limit (that cannot be altered). So yes, in that respect it is more complicated, but I would not say difficult. 25 KB should be more than enough for the typical avatar dimensions. Most avatars you find online should meet that limit.

If an avatar is failing this, then you can convert it to jpg to save some bytes, using any image editing software (every OS comes with one).
Click to expand...
25KB..... Seriously!?

 
To misquote Orwell,

I understand WHY but I don't understand HOW I'll manage to get my avatar to fit the 25KB restrictions.

Good bye semi-decent quality images :p
 
Is this a problem for everyone else? Switched over just fine.
 
This is...irritating, but not terribly inconvenient, especially now that they allow you to choose pictures and video from mobile.

EDIT: Grrrr....this is really irritating now! I get the error "You are not allowed to upload that type of file as an avatar or personal photo" whenever I try to put a photo up from my iPad.
 
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