Hi,
Some guidance is needed over the posting of images to the forum.
Firstly, posting images to some posts, threads (topics), and boards, sometimes detracts from the seriousness of the subject. There is no absolute ban on the posting of images to a thread, but you should ask yourself 1) 'is it appropriate; 2) 'does it add anything to the discussion'? The core boards (and their sub-boards) of Welcome to the Forum; Planning Your Taper; General Withdrawal Support; Buddie Journals; and Buddie Blogs are considered core forum boards, central to what we do around here. As I said, no ban on images, but ask yourself why you are posting the image before clicking that 'post' button!
You should also pay special attention to the following point when posting to core boards.
Posting images to
any board on the forum takes up a lot of bandwidth for the visitor, and unnecessary images can lead to considerable delay for those on dial-up connections. It will also add to their costs if their Internet charges are related to their time browsing the web. You should try to keep the images to a reasonable file size (they should be optimised*) - they should be no larger than they need be for the effect you are trying to create. More slack on this guidance is appropriate for specific threads where many images would be expected. Since such threads are not central to the core business of the forum, download times of these images and pages are of far less concern.
Again, the above is meant as guidance - use your own judgement. If you are on a dial-up connection, and you make use of the Buddie Space board, you might consider adding your guidance to your opening post about the posting of images. Member's own Buddie Space threads will not be monitored in this regard - we understand some of you have a lot of fun with images and animations.
*We hope to add information about how to optimise your images soon. Remember, optimised images create better access, so you will benefit from more people accessing your contributions.
