How do you access this site?

Hey John are you a member of any other astro boards there's a lot of them out there. I drop in on this one from time to time to read this very type of post, i find alberts.......... very amusing but the admins in this board in general seem to be full of their own importance i also find this amusing. A lot of the folk on other boards are usually very friendly and helpful just drop me an email and i will gladly send you on some links to a couple of uk forums where you wont find a bad attitude, these people are just passionate about astronomy and don't have time for the cat fighting and smart one liners that seem to be prevelant here on IFAS. There is another Irish Astronomy forum starting soon so hang in there and you will have a choice on who you want to talk to :lol:

I really don't think you're being very fair here. How exactly is ensuring we have an open and inclusive board "up our own ass"? Surely trying to cater for as many people as possible is a good thing? Or do you think discrimination would be a better route?

If we had decided not to give a dam about dialup users THEN we'd be up our own asses. As it is we have done absolutely nothing out of the ordinary or catty or anything. I'm sure there are valid criticisms to be leveled against us but this really isn't one.

Bart.

I'm also a broadband user, and happy with the 200k size.
If something really gets me excited I'll either chase down the owner's website to see them at a higher res, or contact the owner directly.
Otherwise 200k gives me a good idea of what's there.
However, I'm still not sure of how the data in the poll will or even can be used. As we've seen, not all broadband users want to change the res, making it all pointless.
I've found the mods on this site excellent, making changes and spending valuable time to help many, many people, so I think the bitching above is frankly ridiculous, and smacks of pure opportunism.

For inline images it's hard to see why more than 200kB would ever be necssary - anything wider than 1000 pixels is going to break the thread display in any case and reasonably invisible compression can be applied to such an image whilst staying well under 200kB.

If there's a need to show anything bigger then it should open in a new window and be accompanied by an appropriate warning - something like http:///www.xyx/abc.def.jpg (500kB).

Dialup users thus can choose whether to spend the time or not, and broadband users can decide whether they want to see more detail.

Addendum: Just read the other thread - 800px max width and 200kB max size looks absolutely fine to me, regardless of the mode of access.

Well Paul most of the time I would agree with these limits but sometimes they need to be broken.
For instance Anthony Wesley from Australia has just posted some stunning images of Jupiter from Down under, and the pixel size considerably exceeds 800. 1325 to be exact. If you set these types of rules then you need to stick to them. I for one though want to see images of the type Anthony has posted.
So either impose your rules and watch people abandon these boards, or chuck them. While people might not miss my miserable images (which incidentally I do try to keep within the limits) it would be an awful shame to lose out on what the likes of Anthony Wesley has to offer.
BTW here are some others you'll lose out on:
www.irishastronomy.org/boards/viewtopic.php?t=8721
www.irishastronomy.org/boards/viewtopic.php?t=8698
www.irishastronomy.org/boards/viewtopic.php?t=8694
www.irishastronomy.org/boards/viewtopic.php?t=8639&start=0
I for one think it would be a shame to lose these images from these boards and mods have in the past turned a blind eye, but it looks like those days are now over.

Well Paul most of the time I would agree with these limits but sometimes they need to be broken.
For instance Anthony Wesley from Australia has just posted some stunning images of Jupiter from Down under, and the pixel size considerably exceeds 800. 1325 to be exact. If you set these types of rules then you need to stick to them. I for one though want to see images of the type Anthony has posted.
So either impose your rules and watch people abandon these boards, or chuck them. While people might not miss my miserable images it would be an awful shame to lose out on what the likes of Anthony Wesley has to offer.

I'm not a big fan of absolutes and like to leave a little room for common sense. I don't like playing the forum nazi and neither do the other mods. We're asking people to try to keep their images small. I don't want to turn this into a stupid power struggle where mods and users get in a big fight. I'm pretty sure we're all adults and can conduct ourselves with a little more decorum.

If you really think a nazi-esque enforcement of the rules and guidelines would be a better way to run these boards then please file a complaint with one of the admins for each infringement you find.

Personally I just want the people posting the images to be considerate of other users and for us all to get back to discussing Astronomy.

I don't like stomping on free speech so for now I'm leaving this thread open regardless of the fact that it was an under-handed attempt to create a storm in a teacup. However, if there are any more insulting or overly sarcy posts I'll lock it.

Bart.

so I think the bitching above is frankly ridiculous, and smacks of pure opportunism.

I was thinking the same thing.