Off Topic Attachments and/or Photos here.

[White Fox]

Folks, it has been suggested that we should allow off topic attachments and/or photos here in this forum.

 

I want to stress that such would only change this one forum. All set up and rules would be exactly the same for all other areas of our site. We already have varying ideas from our mods, so we know that we cannot please everyone here but we really do value your input.

 

This would allow members to post limited photos of their hobbies, family, etc. The reason that I say limited is this. If we suddenly had 10 members posting Nascar photos and this forum began to be oriented only to that, we would limit the number of photos on that topic for a short while. We want this to be a home where all members can come to sit down and relax and "take their shoes off" etc.

 

I would love to hear your thoughts on this. We might for instance allow photos for a somewhat limited time in our Gallery on off topics. For instance, photos would disappear in 12 months or 18 months, etc. We could use links of course as well for photos in places like ImageShack but I realize many of us - including me - do not post there. We would of course not allow X rated off topic photos, and again, would not allow large numbers of R rated photos to take over here. The number of photos allowed on any one topic would limited. We want every member to feel at home. You could post a photo of your favourite car, truck, or tractor. Your wife. Your girl friend. The pesky mouse in your house. The pet rattle snake in your house that caught it. Your photographic hobby. Your toy trains that your pet rattler loves to ride on. What ever.

 

Hoping to hear from you with your ideas.

 

At this point at least I am not going to use a poll as I really hope to hear your written ideas rather than one tiny tick on a poll. Yah Mr B, I know you will differ. But excuse me this one little time please. Old guys need things written down once in awhile.

 

White Fox

[Kappa]

In the spirit of generating traffic, I think it would be a good idea. I'll concede to the fact that it isn't in line with the title of the site or the statement outlining the content of the site either. I believe it really will come down to those with final say for the site but input on something like this is necessary.

I am totally in agreement that the site is and should be what it has been, all about the groups appreciation of fur. I am also not against having a 'corner' if it were somewhere, where person's, if so inclined, wanted to share other aspects of themselves. Just as WF said, other content to a limited extent. After all, I'm not in favor from straying away from the reason we all came here and continue to come here.

I do think it would be an interesting addition and another outlet for those that are comfortable enough to push aside the anonymity blanket of the internet and share some other sides of themselves. One of the reasons I enjoy it here so much, the group here at the den is a reasonably tight knit group, a place where most everyone has had some interaction to some extent with one other through message threads. Just one more of the many upsides for the Den.

Anyone can get carried away at some point and I'm sure there will have to be definitive limits put in place if this happens. I also do not see having a single area to share and display other sides of ourselves as a bad thing. So, in stepping down from the soap box, I understand the main theme and reason for the site but if there may be a single area for members to share other things, I don't see that as a bad thing either.

[White Fox]

Just clarifying that this would involve attachments to the Pub forum here, and possibly storing photos in our Gallery on a temporary basis. Yes, the Gallery album would be new but a small area, and the Pub already exists right here.

 

Thanks for your note Kappa

 

Hope to hear from others on this as well.

 

WF

[Worker 11811]

People need to have a chance to talk about other things every once in a while.

 

Even when people are at work, they need a chance to talk about other things. We talk about sports. We talk about current events. We talk about hobbies and other interests. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.

 

The same thing applies here. While it is important that we stay true to our mission statement, I think it's important to talk about other things, too. If we talk about nothing but fur all the time, the Fur Den will be like a one-trick pony.

 

Talking about other things allows people to become part of a community of friends with a common interest. It's the same thing as people who go to watch a football game. They go to the game to see their team play but that's not the only reason people go to the stadium. They also go because they like tailgating in the parking lot before the game.

 

Expanding the Fur Den to talk about things is a lot like that. We're all here to watch the "Fur Game" but we also like to tailgate when we're not watching the game.

 

Many people go to the ski resort because they like skiing but, when the day is done, they go back to the lodge and sit in the lounge, drink wine and talk about other interests. There are 100 different things to do at a ski resort besides skiing. It wouldn't be the same if nothing but skiing was allowed. Would it?

 

That's all I think we're talking about, here.

[AKcoyote]

While we have had an off-topic area (the Denne Pub forum) almost since the beginning of the current incarnation of The Fur Den board, what we are really discussing is a proposal to enhance this area in a small way. The phrase that comes to mind is: "A picture is worth a thousand words". Some concepts are better (and more clearly) expressed via an image and a comment than a long winded dissertation.

 

 

All comments pro, con, or other ideas for improving this website are welcome.

[samurman]

I say, Bring it on! The more the merrier!

 

However, I have been complaining for a long time about the difficulty of posting photos that are found at the Den gallery in forum messages. So, if attachments and photos are to be allowed in the Off Topic forum, I would say it is even more important for attachments to be allowed in the main fur forums.

 

Currently, there are tons of free (and some not free but very affordable) image upload sites: imageshack, imagevenue, imagebam, photobucket, flickr... Most importantly, it is very easy to upload a photo to these sites and give thumbnail links in the forum postings. Compared to these sites, it is a pain to upload photos to the Den gallery and then generate thumbnail links for use in the forum postings, hence I frequently use these image upload sites.

 

Things are changing very fast on the internet. 10 years ago, when I first had broadband connection, it was a mere 256kbit ADSL connection. I paid about $30 for it. Since then, my monthly payment has been the same, but the connection speed increased from 256kbits to 512kbits, then to 1mbit, then to 2mbit, and to 10mbit fiber optics. My ISP is now offering streaming premium TV channels in full HD.

 

Today, my home network has over 3 TB storage. Heck, just my MP3 collection is more than 1TB! My mobile phone (proudly android!) has a 16 GB micro SD card.

 

10 years ago, hotmail tried to sell 100 MB email quotas, now we have 2 GB gmail. Dropbox is offering 2GB online storage that you can access from any computer for free, whereas Microsoft is offering 5GB free online storage but because Microsoft's service is not easy to setup and does not have the broad availability in other operating systems, mobile phones and tablets, Dropbox has become a very successful company. What I am trying to say is that bandwidth and storage is getting cheaper every day, so attachments and such should not be a problem they were just a few years ago.

[White Fox]

Are there only two people who visit this site regularly who have thoughts on this?

 

Let's go folks! We want this to be YOUR site but we can't do that if you won't give us suggestions etc. Let's hear your thoughts

 

W

[AKcoyote]

This is a response to Samurman and partly personal opinion, so please ignore the fact that I am an admin here while reading the rest of this post.

 

Yes, space is getting cheaper UNLESS you are a user supported website on a commercial hosting service like this place is. We recently upgraded to a dedicated server with 2 - approximately 112 GB disk drives so that there would be enough space for significant expansion of the galleries. The cost of doing so put a very significant dent in the Den's treasury. We could have purchased use of a server with even more space, but the cost would have been exponentially higher.

 

I agree that getting a proper link to a Gallery image for posting in a forum is difficult, but that is why we have detailed instructions available. The attachment feature of the forum software does make it easy to upload an image and include a thumbnail of it in a post that links to the original of the image, but using attachments would defeat the purpose of having a gallery where the stored images are easy to find for all members. Attached images can ONLY be found in the post where they were included and can NOT be found by search or any other means. Also, some prefer the Den's Gallery to only contain furry images. For those reasons, one proposal being considered is to allow attachments in only the Denne Pub forum where non-fur images might be appropriate.

 

The other proposal is to setup a non-fur and miscellaneous section in the Den's Gallery.

 

The idea behind these proposals was a suggestion from a member to allow uploading & sharing of non-fur images related to posts in the Denne Pub forum.

 

Currently, we have enough disk space that either proposal is reasonable. What we need is input as to what you think about these ideas. We the admins can implement either proposal, or neither - But we first need to know what YOU the members think about the topic.

[Kappa]

I know from how many people actually post, that not everyone is putting in their 2 cents but some are actually speaking up. I agree that more members should be sharing their opinions but everyone has their own reasons for posting or just browsing.

I am in favor of a place to talk about and share non-fur content but I've had my turn on the podium already. I am all for what the mission statement of the Den says but I'm also into being more social here. In order to be more social, more items should be talked about or shared.

Ok, that's my rant. I'll go back in the corner now.

[ew19975]

I've had to think on this a bit, and based on experience with other forums, a spot where we can share non-fur photos (within reason) can be a good idea. I'm not sure though which way would be better, a) to allow links/attachments in posts from external hosting sites or other web pages, or b) a separate section in the gallery.

 

From the standpoint of bandwidth usage (if an issue), I would consider whichever path keeps the usage below any monthly data limit we may have. My personal experience is posting pictures as attachments to a post from an online photo site (photobucket, IIRC), and I have found this to work fairly well. Looking at a separate section in the gallery brings one issue to mind; what to do with the photos that were added for a topic when that thread has gone quiet for several months (or longer).

[White Fox]

We will probably be deleting attached photos in a specified time since they are indeed off topic. BUT we are not talking a couple of months. Possibly we are talking 12 months? maybe even a bit more.

 

The time is easy to manipulate later. It is just that if these photos stay for ever we really could face dragging the site down without a necessary reason etc. If the photos are simply an attachment to a thread we need to watch that we do not set the site here to delete that thread but leave the photos intact but useless. In the Gallery it is VERY easy to coordinate this. However, at the same time, I think that some members prefer to keep the Gallery as all fur, and thus we have a decision to make. Also, if we delete photos too quickly in the Gallery, and someone reuses a thread, we can have messages in that thread without working attachments. That is part of the reason for this thread. To gauge the thoughts of members on the issue.

 

Still hoping to see a few more comments before we make a decision. A HUGE thank you to all who have replied. These replies help us a GREAT deal!

 

W

[AKcoyote]

ew19975,

 

You bring up a good point about bandwidth limits. Our current hosting plan allows us 500GB per month. While I am unable to check our actual usage as calculated by the hosting service, I believe our monthly data transfer (bandwidth) is around 15 - 20 GB. Thus bandwidth is not an issue at this time.

 

While PhotoBucket, Imageshack, and similar sites are always an option, I think some members would prefer to not use those services for sharing non-fur images with the community here.

[Worker 11811]

I have a Photobucket account and I use it to share non-fur images on this site. I've been doing that for years.

 

It's free, it's easy and it doesn't take up hard drive space on my computer or the Fur Den.

[White Fox]

This is one area where I think we should allow personal preferences. If you like using external storage places that is great! You can store there and save space here. But others including me like to keep things simple. I would far, far, sooner just post such things here. I think that the key is to respect both sides and allow both methods.

 

And I think that most everyone here is in favour of that angle.

[Worker 11811]

If we could post things directly on this site I would do it.

 

Posting media on external sites leaves the possibility of dead links. If the external site goes down or if the media gets deleted, the links will break.

 

Posting media on this site virtually eliminates that possibility.

[AKcoyote]

All members should now be able to upload attachments for their posts in this forum.

 

There is a maximum of 3 attachments per post. Attachment files should be no more than 256 KB each. Thumbnail images for the post will be auto-generated when the uploaded file is attached to the post.