[Preston951]

Okay... First off, I love AFM. It's definitely one of the top Mustang forums out there in my opinion. I obviously like it if I have over 800 posts here lol!

Anyways... I'm pretty sure there are some things that can be changed/allowed to make this site a better place. I have a list, and the items are in no particular order... And please don't take any of these the wrong way. Just things to consider.

• Allow pictures in signatures.
  Okay, I think I understand why this was disabled originally... "They cause long load times and take up too much space." StangNet will automatically RESIZE your pic in your sig if its too large. Having pictures in signatures is VERY important to do (every other Stang site has them; show off your pride and joy! + the avatar picture is wimpy ), so long as they aren't a nuisance (mods can tell people if their pics are too big).
• Allow "advertisement" of for sale and wanted to buy items in signatures.
  Honestly... Who checks the classifieds EVERY day to see if someone has listed LCA's for sale? The only way I was able to buy a plenum cover was because someone saw ONE of my posts where I mentioned I wanted to buy one. He never saw my classifieds.
• Allow links in signatures.
  Links are a great way to show people great deals, pictures of their Stang, their threads with questions, CarDomain, etc. Overall, links are a good thing. However, there should be somewhat of a limit & if anyone links to something inappropriate, a 1st offense should be a week long ban for sure. 2nd offense... Kick 'em out!
• Allow use of "reasonable" profanity
  Okay... Well profanity is NEVER really reasonable. But... I think as long as people are considerate of their use of bad words and aren't using them in a derogatory manner towards others, they should be okay. When someone says, "Life's a b*tch" or "Sh*t happens" after someone wrecks their Stang, it's a little understandable as to why they chose those words.
  DIRECTLY derogatory words, like anything that falls in the "racism" category SHOULD NOT be tolerated at all. The F-Word shouldn't be allowed either. I know this is supposed to be a "family-based site", but last time I turned on the radio I heard words 10X worse than what is not allowed here. (Here's a good example... On a forum called "SkatePerception", a MOD banned me and cussed me out [used the f-word] because I posted in the wrong section.)
• Add/enable the ability to customize words under display name
  Not too important, but other forums have it & allow it. It's like customizing a license plate... You don't want to be the SAME as EVERYONE else, do you?
• Allow embedded images within threads
  This would be very VERY VERY nice. I think it's REALLY annoying to have to click an attachment when I want to see a picture. Let alone, its even worse when someone is doing an install guide & there are pictures with it. This is 2009... Most people have high-speed internet. A warning of some type for threads with lots of pictures could warn people with slow internet.

That's pretty much it, I think. Sorry... I complain a lot!

Thanks for the feedback.

[JudisStang]

Hi Preston!!

Excellent feedback!!! I am certainly not the one who makes decisions on these sorts of things (the site owners are and I am sure they will chime in at some point) - but like you, I very much have opinions!!! I am making my reply short and to the point, so any lack of compassion - is not intentional - I have to get into the shower for work at 7:15

Much of why I love AFM is found in many of these points you list!!

• Allow pictures in signatures.
  I don't need an avatar and a sig line with pics of my car... iphoto gives me the massive amount of room needed to view each and every picture of my car. Having photo sig lines takes away from the intent of posts and having to scroll significantly more to get to what you want to read - is nuts! Just to show off my car.
• Allow "advertisement" of for sale and wanted to buy items in signatures.
  I agree with no buying and selling on main forums - it makes for a neater area that is cleanly available for discussion and not sales. I am not buying something from you because its listed in your signature... I am buying it because I searched the classifieds and you have what I need. I check the classifieds daily and ask anyone who has sold items through there - many people check want ads and for sale sections. I am 100% sure I would not check your classified because it's in your sig... it takes away from why I was reading that thread to begin with.
  
• Allow links in signatures.
  Just something else for us to moderate... although I like this idea - I can honestly say I think it would be a moderating nightmare.
  
• Allow use of "reasonable" profanity
  "Okay... Well profanity is NEVER really reasonable." You said it! and I agree... I am known to use a few choice words now and then in my daily life... but I can certainly understand AFMs rule on this and agree wholeheartedly... I've worked on member profiles with people as old as 70 and as young as 15 - I think we may have a few 13 year olds here too. I know they hear much worse at school. But we're better than that - we're more mature and able to make our points without foul language... WTF - not acceptable... WTH - is. FTR - not acceptable... STR - is... (I think I am making up my own acronyms) It's about how you express yourself as a person and reflects directly on you. I don't say anything here I would mind saying in front of most of my family... see, I said MOST lol In short - I agree with this rule.
  
• Add/enable the ability to customize words under display name
  Interesting idea... Maybe once you hit a certain level like Stlwagon?
  
• Allow embedded images within threads
  OK so - imagine you set up an instructional thread with photobucket images... and you decide a month later to move those images to another album in your PB account... where does that leave the thread? With lots of holes... It happened to me on here when I added sound clips and moved them - it doesn't remember where the links came from or went - when I went back to the thread - they were gone and of no use to anyone!!

Excellent post, Preston - coming from a valuable member here at AFM! I am very interested to see more discussion on this thread!! Let see how many responses you can get!!

[white angel]

Great points Judi! I would add that we are not like other stang site, and for that I am truly grateful! I would not be here if we were. I love what AFM stand for and up for!

There is already so much to moderate here. If you add links and sigs etc.. there would not be enough time in the day to check everyone of them.

Sadly too many have ruined it for others by pushing the envelope in many areas. In a perfect world we could have the things we want all the time.

[stlwagon]

Many of these things are restricted because they negatively impact site performance.

[JudisStang]

Mark... seriously - just posting impacts site performance with all the fatal errors....

[EagleAutosports]

I think these questions come up just about every month or so. Here's my take on those points.

• Allow pictures in signatures.
  I will say the forum photosigs are creative, I know what you're saying about them and I've made signatures for other people to use on other sites, but they're also not necessary. I do agree the avatars are on the small side, but I also don't want to go through a thread dominated by photosigs. I'm there reading the thread; when the emphasis is on who has the best sig then the purpose is negated. Plus, photosigs are yet ANOTHER thing the staff will have to babysit. Overall I think they're fine, but this is a privately owned website and all rules are up to the site owner.
• Allow "advertisement" of for sale and wanted to buy items in signatures.
  I actually agree with you on this, how can I show I have something for sale other than the small green $ under my avatar? But I also think having random for sale/want to buy threads would clutter up the forums. The most I could see is having a dedicated forum for such ads exclusively. This would require the website owners and staff consent because it would have to be designed and implemented. Then it would take dedicated moderating, putting more work on the staff. I actually think that would be a good idea but it's not up to me. That's my take on the subject.
  
• Allow links in signatures.
  Links would invite other problems as well for the staff, although I can see your position on it. This would also have more moderating for the staff, because what would these links bring and then what about our younger members who have no idea what this link does? It has possible negative impacts to have links to other sites, but it could be discussed.
  
• Allow use of "reasonable" profanity
  Okay... Well profanity is NEVER really reasonable. That statement is actually the final word. Those who know me would say I'm not even close to being politically correct but in consideration for our younger members, we have to curb it. It's also the old saying about allowing one thing and then it gets run into the ground because it gets out of control. All it takes is a couple of members who let the profane language flow and then ANY word and phrase is ok. It's not possible to allow "light" cursing and then not the heavier words. We all make mistakes, but we're also adult and want to project professionalism the other sites don't seem to care about. Plus, it just makes the quality of the site look bad when cursing is allowed. We're better than that here, and hope others would agree.
  You won't be banned here for just posting in the wrong section, that's a simple mistake. That other site sounds like poor moderating; you don't ban just to ban. And most of all, the mod who cussed you out isn't any sort of mod at all. A moderator is supposed to lead by example and character.
  
• Add/enable the ability to customize words under display name
  I have no idea about this, so I have no opinion. It would take a staff decision to decide if this is worthy of inclusion, but it's another thing the staff would have to moderate. Somebody would try to put words there that shouldn't be, it's inevitable.
  
• Allow embedded images within threads
  I see your rationale for this, but if the images (same for the links in signatures) are moved or deleted from their original server, then we have dead links which we get penalized for. I'm personally not sure if this will be allowed for this reason. We, the staff, try to get members to post the actual image rather than a link for this reason and you'll see us correct this constantly within a thread.
  

We the staff volunteer our time and with as much as we have to do here, it gets to the point we can't even enjoy the site due to us working instead. We put in hours to make this the best site we can. If there's legitimate suggestions presented, then we'll discuss and decide on them.

[smokeshow]

I'm very strongly opposed to photo signatures (and in general, lots of extraneous content in the signature.) I've seen forums that have that sort of thing, and "hideous" is a nice word to describe the experience. A forum thread starts to look like a great big MySpace mess.

If I want to see pictures of someone's car, or go to their website, I will look in their gallery or check their profile. If someone posts a dozen times in a thread, I don't want to have to scroll through a dozen pictures of their car to read what they have to say.

[Preston951]

Thanks for the feedback guys, and not being TOO harsh about it.

I like most of the comments I you've shared, and I agree with most of them.


Here's what I can live without:

Profanity: Good point. Although it is on every other forum out there, I guess it's probably a good thing it's not tolerated here.
Embedded pictures: I agree, it is very annoying when an embedded image is "no longer available". But why not allow embedded images so long as you attach them as well?


Here's what I'm 50/50 on:

Pictures in signatures: I'm not going to lie, I would honestly love to see a decent sized picture of somebody's Mustang underneath whatever they say. The gallery is nice as well, but isn't exactly the most convenient thing. Limits can be made that will not allow anyone to have a picture over "said dimensions" so I don't think that's much of a problem. I guess pic-sigs aren't too important.


Here's what I still think should be allowed:

Links in signatures: You could put a limit on like 2 links in a signature or something. There's also this little tiny convenient button called "Report" that us regular members can hit if someone posts something inappropriate. It's not only up to the mods... Overall I think it's worth a shot to allow and if things go awry, it can easily be not allowed again.
Advertisement of classifieds: I got 2 seperate answers here, and EagleAutosports summarized my point EXACTLY. I think allowing to advertise classified or making a separate section for selling would be very helpful to the site. Obviously allowing advertisement in signatures would be an easy fix.
Judi, this doesn't really make since...?

I am 100% sure I would not check your classified because it's in your sig... it takes away from why I was reading that thread to begin with.

I read your signature... & does that take away from the thread? You wouldn't need to check people's classifieds because it would be conveniently in their signature. I for one experienced firsthand how inefficient the classifieds are. Someone may have an old shifter lying around & not know 3 other people want it. With 1000's of members, I'm definitely not going to check every S197 owner's classified to see if they listed billet door pins. Do you understand where I'm coming from?
Customizable words under display name: Why not? I'd say it's worth a shot and could be cool. Once again, that "Report" button isn't too hard to click.

--------------------------------------

I think that at least the 3 points mentioned above should be considered for the site... Why not try them out? Testing them for a few weeks or so would definitely not be too harmful, and if things turn bad, disable them. This could possibly make the site a lot nicer, and my vote is to try it out.

[fromthesouth281]

Originally Posted by Preston951

• Allow pictures in signatures.
  Okay, I think I understand why this was disabled originally... "They cause long load times and take up too much space." StangNet will automatically RESIZE your pic in your sig if its too large. Having pictures in signatures is VERY important to do (every other Stang site has them; show off your pride and joy! + the avatar picture is wimpy ), so long as they aren't a nuisance (mods can tell people if their pics are too big).

PLEASE DONT ALLOW THAT!!!..I love reading all the information i get from this forum. Pictures in the signature section would just be annoying and distract some from the reading material....

[white angel]

We do not have the final say so here, and the software may not support some these features.

[EagleAutosports]

We're not too harsh on legitimate suggestions for the site. Let the website owners see this and then they'll consider what to do about each of those subjects.

And there's no problem in asking questions about things, or even asking a staff member about things. Keep em coming in.

[JudisStang]

Hi Preston - to clarify:

My point is: If I am reading a thread - it's highly unlikely I will stop reading the thread to see what you have for sale. I check the classifieds daily! The $$ next to peoples Usernames mean nothing to me, personally! (Because I check the classifieds) I am reading a thread to learn, frankly - sig lines could go for all I am concerned with them lol When someone adds a line like this in their sig line.... Check out my classified ads! I mean, how does a person reading that thread recover? lol Again, JMO!

Good discussion!

[Preston951]

Originally Posted by JudisStang

Hi Preston - to clarify:

My point is: If I am reading a thread - it's highly unlikely I will stop reading the thread to see what you have for sale. I check the classifieds daily! The $$ next to peoples Usernames mean nothing to me, personally! (Because I check the classifieds) I am reading a thread to learn, frankly - sig lines could go for all I am concerned with them lol When someone adds a line like this in their sig line.... Check out my classified ads! I mean, how does a person reading that thread recover? lol Again, JMO!

Good discussion!

Fair enough.
Like I said, so long as everything is within reason I think that it could be worth a shot. If someone had a line as obnoxious as that in the sig, I could see how that could be a problem! LOL!

Say it was like this though:

2008 Dark Candy Apple Red Mustang GT, autonatic, K&N drop in filter, WebElectric Sequential Tailights, painted calipers, ebaY oil separator

Those who say they would rather push a Chevy than drive a Ford usually do


Please check my classifieds... Wanted to buy: GT Plenum Cover

[JudisStang]

The one you posted is lookin' good! Not too shabby... if they were all regular text - I could handle that... You made a good argument.

[sixers007h]

I think the customizable rank thingy would be neat, if only those with a certain high level post had that right. Maybe not being able to make your own name but at least select from a list. It would be cool to have a rank like "Big Dawg" or "Forum Moderator" *cough*hint*cough*

I also agree with a little less tension over a little profanity.

The classifieds are a maybe, if it was limited to a single line and generic text, it wouldn't bother me.

Having any pictures would just bother more then anything else. Smokeshow said it perfectly, it would turn the site into a Myspace like mess. If I don't already know what your car looks like, I will look at your profile. There is no need to clutter the forums with thousands of pictures. It already takes a good piece of time to load the site, and that would slow things even further.

AFMs a great site, and why bother with fixing something thats not broke.