As you are reading this, you will notice the animated GIF files in my signature and in my Avatar.

I have had one or two complaints about them, in that they are slowing down connections, browsing, etc.

Really, the number of complaints is like 0.00001 of the site's members, but perhaps there are those who find them annoying and haven't said anything.

I understand members still have dial-up internet and my files would be a huge drain on their speed.

My question is, should I keep them going?

I don't have a poll set up because I think that'd be dumb, because there could be some sort of middle ground or compromise, instead of just "Yes" or "No."

The page always scrolls way slower when your sig in on a page for me. I have high speed too.

Yeah... I have dial up and animated GIFs make it a royal bitch to scroll, let *useful* images and the pages to load, etc. I'm not about to turn off either avatars or signatures just because a few people have to have unnecessary crap like that. Same thing with HUGE pictures in signatures. I think there should be a limit to how big your sig can be as well as the elimination of animated GIFs.

I say people have the option to turn them off.. Most (semi modern) computers today and high speed internet connections should have no problem with a page full of animated gifs and high res images.

I say people have the option to turn them off.. Most (semi modern) computers today and high speed internet connections should have no problem with a page full of animated gifs and high res images.

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Agreed.

Eh, get out of the dark ages, ya pansies. :AH-HA_wink:

j/k

But seriously Captain, while your sig isn't an issue with me (cable modem), I can see where others might have a problem. 9.3 megs for a sig is a bit excessive.

I think animation should be restricted to avatars.

I think animation should be restricted to avatars.

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Atleast that, if nothing else.

I hate to say it, but although I like your sig, I get the spinning rainbow icon at home a lot. You've even clogged me at work. God knows how, I thought we had a T-1 line

Nein!

The bouncing Chevy ladies of Nick's sig are a staple here. Limiting the file size of pictures would be a much better idea than eliminating animated sigs.

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Well, there are expections to every rule.

Some kind of size limit is needed, though.

Well, there are expections to every rule.

Some kind of size limit is needed, though.

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yeah... if it's longer than say a couple secs to go through the animation... it's too long.

on the other side, i don't watch enough simpsons to know what your newest one is actually about (other than what i can see) lol

on the other side, i don't watch enough simpsons to know what your newest one is actually about (other than what i can see)  lol

That episode is actually pretty old (a few years), where Homer goes to clown school. I love the part at the graduation where they go through different school graduations throwing their hats up in the air... and the (I think this is what they were) German solider school with the metal point on the top of the hat.

Sigs just took me longer to scroll through to get to what I come here for, so I just turned them off. If avatars ended up really making an impact on my viewing experience, those would just end up being turned off as well.

As I see it, the grand majority of additional personal features are within reason for size and speed. Sure, limits on other forums are typically set to keep things that way, but common sense from people can also help.

Reflecting on how things go here, I have fewer problems with the load times of the personal features as compared with the errors and screwups of the site in general.

i am pretty sick of people's animated gifs on their avatars and such slowing down or halting my scrolling and pageloading. I kind if wish those with them would just do the right thing and change them to something that does not make it such a royal pain the ass for people like me who have the fastest high speed connections even.

I'm glad someone brought this up, it was getting to the point where I would even say it keeps people from the site.

I don't have a problem with them. I have a Comcast cable connection.

Kinda weird that some broadband users are having a hard time with the GIF's.

Oh well, I'll give it a few more responses, and call the shot.

I have no problem with the animated GIF avatars, and I have cable modem. I do find huge sigs annoying, and I've turned them off.

Intel Celeron M at 1.7 Ghz, over 1 gig of ram, 250gb hard drive and 3 meg cable. Even on my older pc...650 mhz, 10gb hard drive and 93 megs of ram I never had that problem.

Another thing to take note on is what browser people are using.. I'm using firefox which is less prone to download malicious software (spyware/adware/possible viruses). If you're an IE user.. there's a high chance that you may have some form of the aforementioned that could be slowing down your internet browsing. Try downloading any kind of adware software (Microsoft Defender, Spybot, Adaware, among others) and running a scan on your computer. Also clear your temporary files and cache. Other things I do to speed up my computer is I regularly open up the case and take some canned air and spray out the dust to prevent over heating that can be a cause of slow performance.

I have sigs turned off as it helps me to browse through the posts faster, reading wise. The sigs do not hinder my PC's performance.

That said, in agreement with Variance, 9.3mb is indeed pretty damn big for a signature.

No. Dialup users have the option to disable signatures.

Another thing to take note on is what browser people are using.. I'm using firefox which is less prone to download malicious software (spyware/adware/possible viruses). If you're an IE user.. there's a high chance that you may have some form of the aforementioned that could be slowing down your internet browsing. Try downloading any kind of adware software (Microsoft Defender, Spybot, Adaware, among others) and running a scan on your computer. Also clear your temporary files and cache. Other things I do to speed up my computer is I regularly open up the case and take some canned air and spray out the dust to prevent over heating that can be a cause of slow performance.

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Using Firefox and my PC is clear of any spy ware for once in its life.

I'm sorry but my PC, mixed with my dial-up internet connection simply can't handle all these damn animations. I'm not going to turn off signatures or avatars because a few people are selfish and have to have unnecessary animated GIFs. There's no reason to ruin everyone's fun? I bet eliminating these animations and restricting signature sizes would help with all the server problems C&G is prone to.

I wouldn't call it selfishness BV...

Anyway, I'll take off the big ones, and try to reduce their size and see what I come up with.

I'm not too computer savvy, so I'll likely give up and just have am small animated GIF with George C. Scott repeatedly getting a football in the groin... or maybe find some memorable moment with Mickey Rourke!!!

Or I'll have to send in a picture of the truck and have an RWD Mafia member tag it for me...

Here's some animated auto gifs:

Edited November 13, 200618 yr by HarleyEarl

I have no problem with animated GIFs... someday I'll

make a custom one for myself, I''ve got a few ideas.

Anyway for what it's worth I guess I could see a

mandate to keep the signature GIFs at a reasonable

size. Some of the avatars are fun.

I wouldn't call it selfishness BV...

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Perhaps not selfishness, but what's one good reason to have and essential video for a signature or avatar. I can understand simple ones like Nick's Chevy girls and whatnot, but all those video animations are entirely unnecessary. What's one good reason to have something like that as your sig or av?

I do (did) it because it's fun to make people laugh, and remember a good ol' Simpsons episode...

Either way, for the moment, they're gone until I can see if I can figure something out.

They'll come back if I feel like nothing else fits my signature, but until then...

Edited November 13, 200618 yr by Captainbooyah

They'll live...it's their fault for having dial-up still...get with the 21st century!

keep em. the sites been f@#ked up anyway for the past few days at least.

it seems better now anyway. besides they can be turned off so f@#k it.

Lo-Fi version exist for a reason

They're kind of like those "funny" answering machine messages. Yeah, it might be amusing the first time you hear it, but everytime after that, it's just annoying. In a large thread where there are multiple posts by the same people, it just ends up being repetitive visual noise.

i just shut off everyone's avatar and sigs. Shame I had to do that, but it was too big a pain in the ass to deal with the slow page loading. Shame now I can't see everyone's cute deals, but even with a 7 meg comcast connection it was a royal pain the butt. At least now the pages will load.

OK update.

I got a new one, and it's much smaller than any of my previous animations.

It's around 1.7 - 1.8 Megs, which should be much more tolerable even for lower bandwidth users.

If it's giving you crap, then there'll be a chance that I won't listen, because my Pentium II with MMX technologee can handle it just fine.

Edited December 8, 200618 yr by Captainbooyah

Yea, if your PC can't handle it, then your computer must be extremely old...

...or littered with more running software than you know what to do with.

I have no idea if my pc can handle it. Can't see it. I appearantly have the host of that vid blocked.

I have no idea if my pc can handle it. Can't see it. I appearantly have the host of that vid blocked.

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Ok, good.

Everybody's happy.