Signatures?

For the same reason I don't care for animated gifs in avatars, I do not allow signatures on the forum. They end up being distracting and take away from the flow of the conversations. They inevitably end up being misused by a few people.

Oh, alright then. I didn't see on the avatars page that you didn't like flashing avatars, do you wish for me to take mine down?

It's not a policy and is my preference. Those photos look familiar. Your choice.

Yes, I just couldn't resist putting the cuties up there. I'm still trying to figure out how to get my own boy's pictures up, but I'll figure it out.

What about my avatar? Is it allowed?

Not really flashy but..

Laura, your avatar is very distracting because of the movement in it. I have asked Teresa about whether you can keep it or not. I am awaiting an answer.

I'll try to change it right when I can

Yeah, but Doc was allowed to keep hers. They are a bit distracting though...but cute!

I prefer not to have them move because it's too difficult to draw the line.

I thnk you're right about the signatures, flashing avators, etc. I was on another forum and I coudn't tell where the actual posting began and all the other junk began.

I think signatures are rather annoying and opens up doors for abuse. I like that no signatures are allowed in this forum and I do not allow them in mine, either.

OK! I changed it

I agree signatures and really flashy avatars are pretty distracting.

Very strange. I have no problem with sigs or avs. I like them. They show creativity. I don't know what forums you guys have been on where signatures have been misused or open up doors for abuse, but almost every forum I'm on, they're allowed on, and commented on for how cool they look.


They distract from the conversation. A lot of threads go from the topic to talking about some silly sig pic. If you want creativity, go to an art forum. We're here to talk about proper guinea pig housing, and the pigs that fill it, not signatures.

I run two forums and moderate several others. I'd like to believe I know what I am talking about. From my experience, people have put porn in the sigs and avatars or made the pics such large files that they drag down the speed of page loads.

In one of my forums, sigs are not allowed. I see it as one less thing to worry about.

I hate large signitures. In forums where they are allowed, mine have maybe 50 characters of writing a a little .5" by 2" pic.

Think about this. You're having a conversation with someone you vaguely know at a cocktail party or a dance at a school. EVERY TIME you want to say something, you say it, then you say, Oh, wait, here's my card, please read it, it's all about me.

Rather, if you want to get to know someone better, you pull them aside and ask about them. Or you pull them aside and tell them about yourself. In the same way, you can very easily go the person's public profile, read more about them, see an additional photo or graphic. See their home page if they have one and read their comments about themselves. THAT's ENOUGH.

Every little post does not require a full-blown personal advertisement.

That is a very good point.

They just look a little tacky - I've seen some sigs that list all the pets a person has. Cute, but not when they have like 20 animals and their signature just seems to go on and on forever.