revisited: photos per thread limit

I've had a couple of inquiries recently about the TRs policy of limiting the posting of photos to 1 photo/thread, and it seems like a good time to revisit this issue.<br><br>I'm definitely open to changing the policy. I get no joy from trying to enforce the rule, but it was established for what I think was a good reason, and that was to keep page loading time short by limiting the number of photos posted in a given thread. In reality, if everyone used good judgement and selectivity and posted only photos that were really relevant to a thread, then there would be no need for a limit. I think that this could generally work on the TRs. The thing I really want to avoid are those stupid threads where people just start posting dozens of photos, many of which they do not have the (copy)right to post.<br><br> I'm looking for opinions whatever they might be, not simply agreement with me, so let 'er rip!<br><br>Charles<br><br>

I want to post more than one photo with a TR. I've actually been posting TRs elsewhere because of this.<br><br>Other limits you could propose:<br>-Maximum # of kilobytes per page. Obviously a pain to enforce, but hopefully a conscientous group of users could do a good job self-regulating.<br>-Limit photo size and number. <br><br>I know this just sounds like more work for you, but what about a feature where users can choose to display photos or not? It must be possible. Maybe not even too difficult. <br><br>

"Maximum # of kilobytes per page" would actually be the best guide to page loading speed, but I don't see how that would work very easily in practice.<br><br>"Limit photo size and number" seems like what we've already got, but you are probably referring to a higher limit than 1 photo. So what would be a reasonable number of photos displayed per thread that would balance the desire of many to post a full "photo TR" and the opposing desire to keep page loading time reasonably short?<br><br>A variation that I have thought of for actual trip report threads (as opposed to threads elsewhere, eg. Hot Air boards) would be to limit the display of photos in the thread to the actual trip report (eg. the initiating post for the thread). This would allow the trip reporter to display multiple photos in their trip report, but keep the thread from getting packed with photos in replies. People posting replies could still insert links for photos, but just not make the photos display in the thread.<br><br>I need to look into the details, but the new forum software will have more control over photo posting, certainly over photos that are uploaded to the TAY server.<br><br>"...what about a feature where users can choose to display photos or not?" I don't think this is in the new software. I'm going to be cautious about making a lot of modifications to the software (though it is allowed) because this makes upgrading to higher versions problematic.

what about a feature where users can choose to display photos or not?  It must be possible.  Maybe not even too difficult.

<br><br>There's always the option of setting one's browser to not display photos (buried deeply in a place like the "advanced" tab of "internet options" or something like that) - a holdover from the dark early days of universally slow connectivity. <br><br>My quick take is to let folks post more photos and perhaps give guidelines (suggestions on keeping photos relevant, making size reasonable maybe even with tips or a pointer to someone else's web page with tips on image resolution and compression settings so you don't see too many 12 megapixel .bmp images being posted...) rather than setting strict rules. If it gets out of control on a few threads, no big deal - they're easy to ignore. If it gets out of control in general, you can go back to rules.<br><br>If you start actually hosting the photos on your server, that's another story, of course, where you may need something like a per-person limit on total storage space for all photos this person has uploaded or something equally annoying to track and abide by.<br>

I did mean more than one photo by 'limit size and number'. You could alternatively use 'X kb or Y photos, whichever comes first' as the guideline. <br><br>Lowell does a beautiful job making mosaics. I once put three photos together to achieve a similar effect, but I'd rather just post the photos.<br><br>As far as any of these suggestions (besides the BB-code hack) working without additional headaches for you, they definitely require conscientious users. <br><br>Maybe other users will have input too.<br>

I'm not adamant about this position, but I prefer the guidelines that are currently in place. They're straightforward, allow for the posting of links that access other photos people may be interested in seeing (or not), and keep thread length down. Threads at other sites, like splitboard.com for example, I personally find to become cluttered and cumbersome for the number of photos people post. Moreover, the quality of photos seems to go south - I assume because there's a reduced incentive for selectivity. This isn't true of every TR, of course, but in general. <br><br>That's just me, though.