Avatar upload/url grab

[Overkill-GB]

I think avatar should be aloud to public users so say at 500 posts or so the forum should defaultly give you access to an avatar i find it really iratating to miss out on the cool animated .gifs out there is there any reason behind this?

Also i think you should have the option on Vbulletin to change your nickname i think its called "Custom Title" in Vbulletin.

Apart from that thes forums are the best and i get a really quick response time when posting and browsing unlike other sluggish forums.

[Cricket]

Originally Posted by overkill-gb I think avatar should be aloud to public users so say at 500 posts or so the forum should defaultly give you access to an avatar i find it really iratating to miss out on the cool animated .gifs out there is there any reason behind this?

Custom avatars are allowed for those members who have 1024 posts (or more) under their belt. It's always been that way (at least since I joined back in 1999) and I guess the administration saw no reason to change that policy. Besides, the purpose of this forum is to help computer users fix any computer problems they may have, not to show off fancy avatars.

Cricket

[mairving]

We always try to maintain focus on these forums. Some forums you visit will have huge distracting avatars, other images in signatures and people adding images in there posts. Very distracting to have a one sentence post surrounded by clutter. Our goal is to provide help to people not show off avatars.

[Overkill-GB]

Yeah thats a really good point and now thinking about it can be very distracting while concentrating on a thread i guess i will have to work to my 1000 posts.

[RevCLB]

Can he still become a PCMech supporter & get avatar privileges?

[Statica]

Yep .. that is an option (thanks for reminding us RevCLB). Overkill-gb, PCM does offer you the option of using a custom avatar (among a host of other features) by becoming a Premier Member : http://www.pcmech.com/membership/

[Overkill-GB]

How much does this cost a month via through paypal?

[Cricket]

Originally Posted by overkill-gb How much does this cost a month via through paypal?

$4.99

Cricket

[Devastator]

Wow, that's really cheap. However, I look at Premiere Members as people who have a very great knowledge, which they do, but surely allowing just anyone is a problem?

[Overkill-GB]

Yeah i agree with dev, when i first got my thread awnsered too by a premiere member i though definately knowledgeble but if a guy with 10 posts came along with premeire member i would think differently. Even though its a good idea i think there should be a donate buton anyway just for people who want to keep the community going.

[Cricket]

Originally Posted by overkill-gb Yeah i agree with dev, when i first got my thread awnsered too by a premiere member i though definately knowledgeble but if a guy with 10 posts came along with premeire member i would think differently.

The number of posts a member has does not determine his level of expertise or knowledge of computers and you should not base your acceptance of his answers based only on his post count.

What if a member with 10,000 posts was always asking questions and never actually helped anyone before? Would you still consider his answers better than someone with only 10 posts? What if the person with 10 posts was an actual computer repair tech and had built and serviced 10,000 computers? You wouldn't know it by his post count.

I may have a high post count but I'm far from being an expert. I don't even work in the computer/IT field, I work at a water utility as a cross-connection/backflow prevention tech. Computers are just an interest of mine. But there are members here with lower post counts than mine but they do in fact work in the computer/IT field and know a lot more than I do about computers.

So don't take post counts too seriously when looking for help with a problem.

Cricket

[Devastator]

Agreed.

I think you are extremely knowledgable, and so far I'd say I've learnt the most off you. I'd look at you as an expert, you know a heck of a lot, you could fix any problem, and you have years of experience including 8 on this forum! Keep it up

[RevCLB]

My actual computer knowledge & experiance would fill a medium sizes postage stamp. I like to read in these forums & the membership price is much less expensive than a school.

[The_YongGrand]

Originally Posted by Cricket The number of posts a member has does not determine his level of expertise or knowledge of computers and you should not base your acceptance of his answers based only on his post count. What if a member with 10,000 posts was always asking questions and never actually helped anyone before? Would you still consider his answers better than someone with only 10 posts? What if the person with 10 posts was an actual computer repair tech and had built and serviced 10,000 computers? You wouldn't know it by his post count. I may have a high post count but I'm far from being an expert. I don't even work in the computer/IT field, I work at a water utility as a cross-connection/backflow prevention tech. Computers are just an interest of mine. But there are members here with lower post counts than mine but they do in fact work in the computer/IT field and know a lot more than I do about computers. So don't take post counts too seriously when looking for help with a problem. Cricket

You are right - also - too big of a signature and oversized avatars are really distracting and a bandwidth killer.

Uh... Cricket - so you are an engineer, and also fixing water pipes?

[Cricket]

Originally Posted by The_YongGrand Uh... Cricket - so you are an engineer, and also fixing water pipes?

I'm not an engineer, I'm a technician. I don't fix water pipes anymore but I used to when I was a pipefitter 10 years ago.

Cricket

[TwoRails]

Does this make me a pipefitter?? I some times tell folks to "pipe down," I like my soup "piping hot," I some times pound a few beers "down the pipe," and I've installed glasss-packs on my exhaust pipes, I like video cards with lots of pipes, etc...

[hitchface]

I have killer pipes...can't quite kiss them yet, but they are getting there...