These rules have been informal for some time, but instead of PMing people individually I thought we should codify some of the signature and avatar rules. Moderators have wide descretion when it comes to this sort of thing, so if they ask you to change it, please oblige.

Signatures
1. They should be no more than 5 lines of text using a regular font . That means that you can fit more/less into that space depending on font size. If you can't fit all of your system specs in that you'd like, why not create a small graphic to contain the information?

2. No animations of any kind. (In respect of dial up users)
3. No high-definition graphics of any kind. (Ditto)
4. No referral or affiliate program graphics. It's fine to have a small text link in your signature, but graphics are not. (Bandwidth)
5. Nothing offensive, pornographic, or vulgar.

Avatars
1. Avatars should be in "good taste," a qualification that is broad enough to let us determine what is and isn't. Goth-devil-child-wild-eyed-in-the-violent-blackness probably qualifies as being in bad taste.
2. Nothing offensive, pornographic, or vulgar.

If you have any questions please consult one of the moderating staff. Thanks!

Blog links are ok.

I was at one site the other day and a member had linked his avatar to a high-res medical diagram that took forever to load. Yeah, that's definitely not allowed. :-)

Why was I asked by SABR to shorten my signature, when there's a countless number of forum members, with much larger post counts, and far longer sigs? Why am I being singled-out?

BTW, my signature was 11 lines long (10 lines of text, which were the technical specs of my system), before I modified my sig. Now it's 2.

xVariable, you are not being singled-out at all... As you can imagine, a forum with 22,000+ active members, it is very hard to keep everyone sticking by the rules. So the best thing we can do is browse the forum, and anyone we find breaking a rule is sent a PM asking them to change it.

If you have any more problems with this, feel free to show us your opinion. I'm sure Mashugly is willing to hear other peoples views and if things should be changed, he will definately look it over

xVariable-

Yup, you're not being singled out at all. We routinely PM users when their signatures get too long. It's obviously not something we make public but we do ask from time to time.

As one of the many users who still has to use dial-up on occasion, I can tell you that these rules help us keep the pages quick and easy to load for everyone. If you have any more concerns, feel free to PM me.