We might actually get some new ones shortly if my secret plan to make avatars during the holidays instead of writing code works out.
Great, everyone will choose new Avatars and it will be months before I realize that I am reading a post from Cosmo, Vic, James or Heath.
Just curious as to what the deal is as to why permissions aren't set to let users hotlink to off-site avatars.
Just curious as to what the deal is as to why permissions aren't set to let users hotlink to off-site avatars.
I don't know the specific reasons Paizo has, but I can think of some possibilities.
1) Copyright issues. They probably don't want to risk legal action because someone uses a copyrighted image for their avatar.2) Offensive images. Why risk someone posting an image with offensive content? Even a written black text on white background could be bad, let alone if they post adult content pictures. It'd get stopped quickly, but it'd be a hassle for the staff to deal with too.
3) Bandwidth leeching. Pointing the link at someone else's server for the image puts pressure on that other site's bandwidth. A few years back I saw a guy get into trouble because the site he was leeching off put a huge obscene image in replacement of the one on their site that he was using for a forum avatar. That's avoidable if you can upload the image to the local forum here at Paizo, but that then brings it back to point one, and hosting potentially copyrighted images making for legal hassles...
Edit:
And 4) As I understand it the local forum/store software is a custom job by the Paizo staff, and it probably isn't designed to have the capability to upload or link to images for one or more of the above reasons.
All of that stuff makes sense. But what about the rest of us, that don't want to cause problems and just want to use a small image that was hand-drawn of commissioned?
Again, you don't need to reply, you already stated your point. I'm just saying that this is at least 1 honest person that would love to use his own image.
Chief Technical Officer
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Just curious as to what the deal is as to why permissions aren't set to let users hotlink to off-site avatars.I don't know the specific reasons Paizo has, but I can think of some possibilities.
1) Copyright issues. They probably don't want to risk legal action because someone uses a copyrighted image for their avatar.
2) Offensive images. Why risk someone posting an image with offensive content? Even a written black text on white background could be bad, let alone if they post adult content pictures. It'd get stopped quickly, but it'd be a hassle for the staff to deal with too.
3) Bandwidth leeching. Pointing the link at someone else's server for the image puts pressure on that other site's bandwidth. A few years back I saw a guy get into trouble because the site he was leeching off put a huge obscene image in replacement of the one on their site that he was using for a forum avatar. That's avoidable if you can upload the image to the local forum here at Paizo, but that then brings it back to point one, and hosting potentially copyrighted images making for legal hassles...Edit:
And 4) As I understand it the local forum/store software is a custom job by the Paizo staff, and it probably isn't designed to have the capability to upload or link to images for one or more of the above reasons.
Of those, issue #2 is certainly a big one. As for #3, assuming we had custom avatars, we'd probably make you upload them to our server—not so much because of the bandwidth as to remove the potential for broken images... but that then makes #1 a bigger deal.
However, there's another big reason: by eschewing custom avatars, we're able to ensure that our boards keep a clean, consistent look. Personally, I can't stand it when people have avatar images with garish color schemes, sized too big or too small (or are squished more one direction than the other)...