# Turn off post icons, please.



## RangerWickett (Apr 21, 2004)

Of everything on this site, those blasted post icons are my least favorite.  They're huge and unsightly, with their garish primary colors clashing against the subdued grays of the main board layout.  They take forever to load when the site is slow like this, which means for about two minutes the page layout is messed up because the computer doesn't know what to do with the empty cells.  And there are too many of them.  Really, if you want to talk about Spycraft, put [Spycraft] in your thread title.  All the post icons do is encourage people to post ambiguous thread titles.

We could get away with just three post icons:

* Urgent - for moderator and admin use only
* Announcement - for announcements not related to the site
* Help - for requests that may be a little off topic, like asking where to find a website on pet health

Can we please get rid of all these unnecessary images?


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## ph34r (Apr 21, 2004)

I agree. They aren't very pretty and alot of people don't use them. Also alot of times it's pretty easy to see what the thread is about because of the title and the forum it's in.


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## Cergorach (Apr 21, 2004)

I have to agree here, although i use them sometimes, i don't find them really helpful, i just hoped others did...


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## Ankh-Morpork Guard (Apr 22, 2004)

I'll throw in with the other side. I like seeing them because it definitely helps to label posts. Sometimes things are impossible to tell WHAT they're about without that icon.


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## MerricB (Apr 22, 2004)

I like the icons, but the size and colours of some could be better chosen.

Cheers!


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## Seonaid (Apr 22, 2004)

I don't use them either, and could definitely do without. Are they necessary? Not at all. If people just used appropriate thread titles, it would accomplish the same thing with less effort. I don't think we even need the three RW suggested.


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## MerricB (Apr 22, 2004)

I find them most useful when I'm looking for a D&D Miniatures-related thread.

Yes, I know I start most of them, but not all! 

Cheers!


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## Ao the Overkitty (Apr 22, 2004)

I do find they make finding specific threads easier.  If I know I'm looking for a gameday thread, it seems faster just to look at the pictures then to actually read all of the titles as I scroll down.


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## blargney the second (Apr 22, 2004)

Seonaid said:
			
		

> I don't use them either, and could definitely do without. Are they necessary? Not at all. If people just used appropriate thread titles, it would accomplish the same thing with less effort. I don't think we even need the three RW suggested.




Same here!  I actually now use the icons as a way of determining which threads I *don't* read! 

If they were less intrusive, I would mind them less...
-blarg


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## Cheiromancer (Apr 22, 2004)

And is it just me, or do some old threads get random post icons?  Maybe some quirk in the way the boards work?

I didn't like the post icons at first (spent a few days in stealth mode), but now I'm able to ignore them.


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## Chacal (Apr 22, 2004)

They really clarify things but I agree they're quite intrusive and some are not very well suited to the standard style.
I still like to have them, because I can focus quickly on topics of interest at first glance. And everything that enhance thread sorting and filtering is a good thing if I want to do at least some work instead of reading all enworld 

People don't using them isn't a valid  argument IMO. It's quite new and they'll learn. I'm not sure it's easy to select them in stealth mode.

As I liked the incentive to use the posticons in the old Nutkinland, maybe something similar could be done, like 
a default "useless post" posticon when posting new threads . 

If it doesn't convince people to use them, then nothing will !

Chacal


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## Umbran (Apr 22, 2004)

Ankh-Morpork Guard said:
			
		

> Sometimes things are impossible to tell WHAT they're about without that icon.




Well, if folks can go to the effort of picking an icon, they can go through the effort of writing a thread title that actually gives a clue.

I'm neutral on the icons, overall.  They aren't real pretty, but I can ignore them easily enough.


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## doghead (May 2, 2004)

Being able to Sort or Search by post icon would be useful at times. But those icons are pretty screen real estate heavy (read 'wide'). For people with smaller screens (like me) that is a bit of a pain (more scrolling).

I'd have to agree that some of the post icons are pretty, er ... loud, and inconsistant with the general style of the boards. (I've only just discovered this cos I am a 'stealth' worlder.) Anything that cuts down on visual clutter and loading time is good in my book. Any chance of getting Stealth mode to zap the quaint images at the top of some of the forums?

the head of the dog.


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## Crothian (May 2, 2004)

Perhaps in the users CP there can be a way to select them or not?  Like avatars and sigs are .


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## Seonaid (May 2, 2004)

That's a *great* idea. Any chance it'll happen?


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## Michael Morris (May 3, 2004)

Installing that feature would require a PHP hack and table modification - not something I can undertake lightly.

If you hate the post icons, use the stealth styleset.  I may also do other post-icon-less sets in the future, but please give it time.  I only have so much time to work with.

When the new server comes online post icons loads shouldn't be such a problem.  Also, if you load the show all post icons page you can cache the post icons and not have to reload them again.


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## hong (May 3, 2004)

I don't mind the posticons. Actually, some are really pretty.


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## diaglo (May 3, 2004)

hong said:
			
		

> I don't mind the posticons. Actually, some are really pretty.





yeah, i love this one:


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## Plane Sailing (May 6, 2004)

The post icons are using the additional height which each row in the table currently has because of the thread originator appearing below the thread title.

I'd still really, really, really like to see thread originator appear in its own column once more.


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