I know it's been suggested before, but it was long ago, and storage and bandwidth prices have dropped dramatically since then.

I like the facts that avatars have to be 66x66 or smaller. I've seen some forums allow up to 200, and it's just an absolute mess. But having more than 19.5 KB storage would be a great improvement. I personally am a fan of animated avatars, but even some of the good stills I've come across don't fit into 19.5KB.

I doubt very many of us would even take advantage of this, so I think the increase in cost would be negligible, if even noticed.

I spent last week in a rural community where NOBODY had DSL or cable and everyone had dialup. From the front porch of the house where I stayed, there were no other buildings in sight.

The bandwidth on the line I had ranged as high as 21.6kbps and as low as 4.8kbps!

I had to drive 30 miles to get to high-speed internet access.

The experience reminded me just how important it is to have fast-loading pages, to accomodate the (still numerous) dial-up users out there.

I think that the small avatars on this site are a welcome change. I don't want larger avatars, nor do I want ones with more complex animations etc. Of course, no site can please everyone so I realise there is a chance that this may be implemented, but I think it is far easier on the eyes just as it is.

Here's the good news for rural folks, Xnarg.

User CP --> Options --> Thread Display OptionsVisible Post Elements
You have the option to show or hide various elements of messages, which may be of use to users on slow internet connections, or who want to remove extraneous clutter from posts.
• Show Signatures
• Show Avatars
• Show Images (including attached images and images in [IMG] code)

Here's the good news for rural folks, Xnarg.

User CP --> Options --> Thread Display OptionsVisible Post Elements
You have the option to show or hide various elements of messages, which may be of use to users on slow internet connections, or who want to remove extraneous clutter from posts.
• Show Signatures
• Show Avatars
• Show Images (including attached images and images in [IMG] code)I'm aware that one can turn off viewing avatars - however, doing so reduces the "experience" of SD. There IS value to avatars - otherwise we wouldn't have them.

It's easy to locate a particular poster's comments by scrolling down the thread looking for his avatar. If avatars increase in size, fewer dialup users would be able to leave avatars turned on.

I believe that Hot Deals prevents inline images from being displayed.

IMHO, if folks need to provide a routine expression of their personality, they might do that through their own linked homepage, like MySpace or something like that...at least until WiMax provides more of us high-speed access.

I spent last week in a rural community where NOBODY had DSL or cable and everyone had dialup. From the front porch of the house where I stayed, there were no other buildings in sight.

The bandwidth on the line I had ranged as high as 21.6kbps and as low as 4.8kbps!

I had to drive 30 miles to get to high-speed internet access.

The experience reminded me just how important it is to have fast-loading pages, to accomodate the (still numerous) dial-up users out there.
Don't worry, I understand the dialup thing - I spend a good deal of time at my sister's house. It's 90 years old and sits on the side of the mountain. They won't even tell her that there's a possibility of pulling more than 14.4, although I've done it a few times. When I'm there, I either suck it up or turn them off. I would be just fine with sucking it up a little more if it would mean a little more space.

I cannot imagine a bigger waste of money for the website administrator than to spend storage on increased avatar sizes. I like using avatars and would appreciate more storage space for them, but that is not really justafiable for the admin.

Make it a premium service. $5/mo, for 100x100, 100KB

Make it a premium service. $5/mo, for 100x100, 100KB

Ha, I wonder how much money that would make...?

Ha, I wonder how much money that would make...?Oh, on a sliding scale too. $3.75 for govt. employees like myself...

Oh, on a sliding scale too. $3.75 for govt. employees like myself...

Dood that is like 50% of a gov't paycheck! Don't do it! :lol: