Any chance of custom avatars for subscribers?

[Valhalla1]

i just wish that forum members had a little more say in forum features and stuff.. i mean, we are paying customers.

 

[Devistater]

<< maybe you shouldn't have quoted my post then... >>


Perhaps not.


<< i just wish that forum members had a little more say in forum features and stuff.. i mean, we are paying customers. >>


Well, thats one of the purposes this forum serves. Zuni does read some of this stuff and respond to it. Other than that, I would say to use the subscriber email addy. It might take a day or two for them to respond, but they usually do.

 

[neovan]

if it helps...i could be a mod, i visit the forums on a daily basis

so that way it could be more regulated!

 

[Jason Clark]

Valhalla, you do have a say, say it. But, realize this, we have to do whats best for the community not just one person or five people. We will not allow people to link images here, it just will not happen, and for good reason. Most readers do not want to sit here and wait while someones image on their 300 baud fed website loads. We also want this community to remain a clean, professional IT resource, and community. If Ars Technica want's to allow people to post images, they have that right. We don't want that. The suggestions do get reviewed and if they are

a) not going to cause a bad experience for the readers
b) not going to suck up gigabytes of bandwidth
c) not going to slow anything on our network down
d) is within the scope of the software we use (we do not modify the software)

Then they are considered.

 

[Hossenfeffer]

Zuni, thanks for the guidelines. Any chance that list could be put in a FAQ/help?



<< d) is within the scope of the software we use (we do not modify the software) >>

Looks like the subscriber-only avatars might only cause a hiccup in this one.

 

[Jason Clark]

Hoss, yep, as without creating a group and adding all subscribers to it that won't work.

 

[Tallgeese]

Zuni:

Just wanted to say how much we all appreciate your patience and response to this question, and also for all the hard work that goes into AT.

 

[mastertech01]

How about just changing one thing.. change the word member to subscriber. Golden Subscriber for example.

 

[Valhalla1]

Zuni - the whole image thing has been debated a million times, I am not concerned about that anymore since its obviously not going to happen

what i was talking about was putting up a vote for subscribers to see if the majority (not 1 or 5 like u said) want to have either special avatars that you select that only subscribers can get, or to have "Anandtech subscriber" or replace "member" with "Subscriber" (Golden Subscriber, Diamond Subscriber etc)

 

[Rainguy]

I like Mastertech01's idea. Surely that is doable?

I really think there are alot of folks here that like the forums and want to "brag" that they are subscribers. It's kind of like advertising and if AT can implement something different, for the subscribers and that is noticeable to all viewers, that you may get more folks to "jump on the bandwagon" and send in their subscription $$$. I'm very happy with all the subscriber features and benefits but, none of these features are noticeable to other members of the forums. Just something to consider when trying to get more financial support.

 

[Hossenfeffer]

<< I like Mastertech01's idea. Surely that is doable? >>

Going out on a limb here, but I'm guessing that this would be a similar case where either all subscribers get a custom title or a new "group" is created, to which all the subscribers are added.

I'm assuming that at least one reason a title change hasn't been implemented is because people would "cry foul" if some folks got a perceived preferrential treatment at the hands of the mods. We've seen that the "Elite Status" elicits the same comments, 99.9% are ignored by the community at large. I tend to see it more of an advertising tool for AT than bragging rights, but I could just be smoking crack again.

 

[Valhalla1]

http://arstechnica.com/etc/subscribe/subscribe-1.html



<< Addition of "et Subscriptor".
Custom Titles. >>

 

[Geekbabe]

Zuni,


The ability to buy subscriptions to give as gifts would be wonderful! Another thing that would be cool would be a family subscription plan
so that members of the same household could get a small break on price for having everyone subscribe.

 

[BlitzRommel]

Lotsa good ideas here

I think the custom avatar would be too hard on AT's network.
Custom Titles wouldn't, but I think if you can restrict what's allowed, then it may be feasable.
Changing "Member" to "Subscriber" is a great idea.

 

[Jason Clark]

This is entirely up to anand.. he is aware of your requests.

 

[NikPreviousAcct]

<< You know it, Baby! >>

 

[Geekbabe]

Zuni,

It would be very cool if the blonde woman icon could also have sunglasses like the blonde dude, what's his name "duke" ?

Lol, this is for purely altrustic reasons of course, summertime's coming,wouLdn't want her to catch eye strain from the glare of the sun


LOL, just interJecting some humor

 

[Valhalla1]

Valhalla1
Diamond Subscriber
Posts: too many
Joined: Oct 1999

 

[Farmall]

Some neat ideas - would be nice for those of you who would take advantage of the perks, for myself I really don't care one way or the other. I don't post that much anyway to take the time to set up the custom stuff.

Have to say for me the increase in forum speed is more than enuf reason for me to continue to subscribe from year to year.

Farmall -

 

[Valhalla1]

BTW if you are worried about not all the suscribers liking/wanting these changes... you could make it optional!

 

[Rainguy]

Wow, the "Yes" votes almost caught up to the "No's" :Q

 

[Hossenfeffer]

<< Wow, the "Yes" votes almost caught up to the "No's" >>

I like to think that the idea of having some subscriber-only avatars swayed the vote toward the aye-side.

 

[zeruty]

Maybe if you just make it so subscribers can see others that are subscribers... that way all subscribers will think that everyone can see who is a subscriber, and will be satisfied

 

[Valhalla1]

see, so many compromises we are willing to make, lets change the poll from "would you subscribe if.." to "Suscribers: Do you want this.."

 

[Gaard]

Can't you just put something in your signature if it's that important to you that people know you're a suscriber?