revisited: photos per thread limit

Thanks for all of the opinions - keep them coming.<br><br>One note of clarification: there is nothing within the existing posting guidelines right now that requires people with photos from a trip to post only text. The current guidelines simply request that no more than 1 photo be made to display in the post. Everyone is free to add links to as many other photos as they desire, and many people already do this. Some people also/instead link to their own gallery of photos.<br><br>Inserting the code to cause a photo to display in a post is pretty much the same amount of work as inserting the code to cause a link to the same photo to appear in the post, so I'm not sure that I see how the current policy or technology would be limiting people.<br><br>Maybe there is another issue getting tangled up here, that being the inability with the current forum software of members to upload their photos to the TAY server. I think this is a different issue. People who do not have access to "web space" right now can't display or link to (URL) their photos, but this has nothing to do with the 1 displayed photo per post rule. What these members need is what the new forum software should provide, the ability to easily upload photos to the TAY "web space" so that the photos can be displayed or linked to in a TR. Even with this technological advance, some kind of guidelines for the number and size of displayed photos would seem to be a good idea (ever tried to read a thread with a 2000 pixel wide photo inserted? Lots of scrolling).<br><br>

I'm happy with the current guidelines. I frequently use dialup, but that's not the real reason.<br><br>I think the current guidelines encourage people to write better posts. You have to choose your words more carefully. TAY has fewer of the mindless posts you see on so many other forums, and the guideline may be part of the reason.<br><br>As for myself, I enjoy the challenge of the TAY format. It's like writing haiku. You express yourself within a certain rule set.<br><br>I'm pretty sure my view is in the minority. I can live with a more open guideline. I definitely think photos should be limited in size though. Anything more than 800 pixels wide is too much. Maybe less. I hate horizontal scrolling.

I'd suggest implementing an automatic filter to reject any photo over 80 kb, or greater than 800x600 pixels in dimension.<br><br>However, I don't know if that is done easily for photos hosted offsite. Perhaps an even better alternative would be to have a filter that automatically translates any embedded image into a url. Users would then be given the option to turn this filter on or off depending on their bandwidth.

I think that I am a better photographer than writer and everyone knows how many words a good picture represents, so I would like to see more photos.<br><br>Bob Wiebe

Personally I would like to see more photos allowed. I may be wrong in this assumption, but I would guess the majority of the users have some kind of high-speed connection. Of course, there are still those with dialup, but overall I would guess most have a fast connection. <br><br>I think a good way to handle it is to allow as many pictures as the poster wants, but if someone posts an excessive (so how many is excessive?) amount of photos or a few extremely large photos, either edit their post or notify them via PM. I think in general most people would post an amount of photos that is decent for all, and for those who abuse this, they can be handled on a case-by-case basis.<br><br>Although this is an option, it does seem a bit complicated. Perhaps just keeping the original guideline in place is a good idea.

Before changing how TAY works, it might be worth asking: Do you like TAY better than other forums? Or do you like other forums better than TAY? And why is that so?<br><br>TAY has gradually become my favorite forum for exchanging information about backcountry skiing. Partly because it is local, and partly because of the quality of the discussions. I occasionally visit other ski forums, and there's a remarkable percentage of "Fuggin' Aye, Dude!" posts out there. TAY seems to have more information exchange. I like that.<br><br>If we do open up the guidelines, I'll be watching to see whether the TAY atmosphere changes.