• IMPORTANT: The Buy/Sell forums are now for reference only; all shops are closed here. Please visit the new Marketplace for active buying and selling. Old sellers can access their previous shop links in these forums for setting up new shops in the Marketplace.

Active Avatars and User Group Perks

Martin

I'm just kinda here
Donor
Credits
20
These are the two topics I want to bring up in this thread

Avatars
There are two things that I want to bring up on this topic
  1. A file size limit increase
  2. Enabling animated gifs
With regards to the former, I think the minimum should be increased to 100 kb for normal users. I have tried to upload regular images before and found that I have to size them down just to use them as an avatar, and this very rarely happens with a 100 kb limit. I also suggest having a graduated system which ties into point two, which increases the file size limit based on a person's highest ranking user group to act as a user perk to encourage contribution a little more. Just as an example:

Normal user: 100 kB
Lemon: 1 MB
Moderator/Administrator: 3 MB

Note how I have included lemon in there. That kinda ties into my next topic, so I'll just leave it there for now. The values can be re-jigged and ironed out and talked about itt, but using that as a starting point is just why I've included it.

As for enabling animated gifs, what currently happens is that you can upload an animated gif as your avatar but it
will be locked to the first frame once you set it as your avatar. I know for a fact that XenForo can support animated gifs because Smogon supports them and it also uses XenForo, and I am personally a fan of animated gif avatars and enjoy making them only to be unable to use them on this site, which is a shame honestly. This is also why I have suggested the graduated system, as it gets easier to get gifs which are usable with larger file sizes and as such being able to use better gifs could act as an incentive to contribute to the community.

Donor, Lemon and Moderator Perks
The reason that I have brought this up is because currently the donor banner and the lemon badge feel very much novelty items that don't serve that much purpose. While I definitely feel that the lemon badge is definitely worth more than the donor banner is, I do feel that the current perk for donor isn't that great and I also feel that having no perks after working for lemon makes it feel really pointless in general. The added stuff for moderator is more because I felt like adding it on while I was writing up lemon, but it is very much an afterthought so please just reject it if you think its just me being greedy.

Anyway, I have got suggestions for perks that become available to a user after obtaining the respective item:

Donor:
  • Profile banner
  • Ability to change CT at will
Lemon:
All donor perks, plus:
  • Increased avatar file size limit
  • Custom post background? (This one I'm kinda sketchy on)
Moderator:
All lemon perks, plus:
  • A lemon (if they don't have one already)
  • Further increase to avatar file size limit
  • Custom moderator banner
  • Custom post background (if not included in lemon)

There could be one more perk for Lemon to make it feel like a bit more of an upgrade from donor than just that, but IDK what other features there are that we could provide them with.
====================
Any thoughts/alternative suggestions? I particularly want input from other site staff, but if you have any input please go ahead and respond to the thread too.
 

Cheza

Administrator
Staff member
Admin
Team Elite
Will Not Fall
Trusted Seller
Donor
Friendzilla
Smaug
Journalist
Credits
76
These are the two topics I want to bring up in this thread

Avatars
There are two things that I want to bring up on this topic
  1. A file size limit increase
  2. Enabling animated gifs
With regards to the former, I think the minimum should be increased to 100 kb for normal users. I have tried to upload regular images before and found that I have to size them down just to use them as an avatar, and this very rarely happens with a 100 kb limit. I also suggest having a graduated system which ties into point two, which increases the file size limit based on a person's highest ranking user group to act as a user perk to encourage contribution a little more. Just as an example:

Normal user: 100 kB
Lemon: 1 MB
Moderator/Administrator: 3 MB

Note how I have included lemon in there. That kinda ties into my next topic, so I'll just leave it there for now. The values can be re-jigged and ironed out and talked about itt, but using that as a starting point is just why I've included it.

As for enabling animated gifs, what currently happens is that you can upload an animated gif as your avatar but it
will be locked to the first frame once you set it as your avatar. I know for a fact that XenForo can support animated gifs because Smogon supports them and it also uses XenForo, and I am personally a fan of animated gif avatars and enjoy making them only to be unable to use them on this site, which is a shame honestly. This is also why I have suggested the graduated system, as it gets easier to get gifs which are usable with larger file sizes and as such being able to use better gifs could act as an incentive to contribute to the community.

Donor, Lemon and Moderator Perks
The reason that I have brought this up is because currently the donor banner and the lemon badge feel very much novelty items that don't serve that much purpose. While I definitely feel that the lemon badge is definitely worth more than the donor banner is, I do feel that the current perk for donor isn't that great and I also feel that having no perks after working for lemon makes it feel really pointless in general. The added stuff for moderator is more because I felt like adding it on while I was writing up lemon, but it is very much an afterthought so please just reject it if you think its just me being greedy.

Anyway, I have got suggestions for perks that become available to a user after obtaining the respective item:

Donor:
  • Profile banner
  • Ability to change CT at will
Lemon:
All donor perks, plus:
  • Increased avatar file size limit
  • Custom post background? (This one I'm kinda sketchy on)
Moderator:
All lemon perks, plus:
  • A lemon (if they don't have one already)
  • Further increase to avatar file size limit
  • Custom moderator banner
  • Custom post background (if not included in lemon)

There could be one more perk for Lemon to make it feel like a bit more of an upgrade from donor than just that, but IDK what other features there are that we could provide them with.
====================
Any thoughts/alternative suggestions? I particularly want input from other site staff, but if you have any input please go ahead and respond to the thread too.
Yes, "While I definitely feel that the lemon badge is definitely worth more than the donor banner is" hahaha praise the lemon! !!

I'm pretty sure the ability for custom post backgrounds wouldn't be possible, based on how they're added (from my understanding). There are other websites with larger avatars perks (dimensions), usually through purchasing the larger avatar feature for your account... The layout for the forums and avatars on the forums is different though. And while I haven't had issues with image file sizes from my memory, if animated avatars were a thing, they'd have large file sizes than static images.

So essentially, animated avatars would be for people with perks, which isn't a bad thing considering my two concerns. (i) Do people get uncomfortable with moving images / avatars on websites? (ii) The website slowing down from forum lag? But if larger animated avatars remained to a select group of users (lemon badge and above) this might not be much of an issue.

@doulie @KitaVonKanada
 

notsoclutch

Rare Breed
Donor
Let It Reign
Battler
Credits
35
Seems like a solid idea. I know I'd probably use a GIF as an avatar if given the opportunity, so I'd be down on that aspect. While I've never experienced not being able to use an avatar, I'm sure it would be frustrating. With picture quality only going up from here, it only stands to reason that this could be an even bigger issue in the future.
 

Martin

I'm just kinda here
Donor
Credits
20
OK I've streamlined my proposal a bit in my head and am going to bump this thread because this is something I want to push for.

Final Proposal:
  • Donors retain current perks
  • In addition to all donor perks, Lemons get access to animated avatars with a maximum file size of 3 MB.
  • Moderators/Administrators get one of the following (depending on which is easier to implement):
    • All Lemon perks (being a moderator implies that you have the appropriate qualifications for Lemon just by design)
    • Automatic assignment of Lemon if they lack it when promoted.
In addition to this, I suggest the implementation of a hidden subforum called "Badge Nominations" in which any Moderators/Lemonholders can nominate a user to be given the lemon in order for it to be reviewed/any (justified) rebuttals can be made before a promotion is made a day or two later. This makes the badge much more accessible in the respect that people with poor Administrator connections are still capable of earning a Lemon. Given that Lemon is a subjective badge, this also reduces the "cool kids" symbol that it currently somewhat acts as and gives a much more even spread of opportunities related to it than there is currently.
 
Top