avatars, for this board Options

[Sillara of th...]

Is there any way to upload an avatar? Am I just not seeing it? All I seem to be able to find is the gallery of pregenerated ones.

Thanks!

Sillara

[Baronius]

Rabain: Well, I'm using this one: http://www.sigil.cz/webwork/4all/bwl3.gif
And Vlas?already told me, that he will upload it.?

http://www.blackwyrmlair.net/portraits.php contains the portraits, and it can expanded by a new portrait if we agree that it suits the BG/IWD style even if it is not from those games. I think (and I doubt that anyone would disagree) that the portrait you linked to suits the RPG style of BWL forum.

So Vlasak will add your portrait there and activate it if you contribute in anything or do something that meets our requirements of getting a portrait from the official gallery (linked above). Otherwise it's not possible.

About the chaotic graphic... Logo is nice. But I don't like these little dragons next to the name of threads.

As Sir-Kill said, you can choose a different skin. We have several forum skins available, which can be accessed via your profile.

As for not allowing custom uploads, Rabain perfectly summarized my viewpoint as well:

The problem with allowing people to upload their own avatars is that you end up with cats, dogs, game advertisements, drawings etc etc that we feel would detract from the atmosphere we are trying to create here.

I would also like to react to balduran's words.

I have to agree that the logic of the "portrait policy" evades me. If it serves the purpose to destiguish forum members from BWL council, modders and other contributors, it may well be acomplished using the stars system. Council members have red stars, modders blue(or purple depending on the monitor) and so forth...

I don't see why this system is so unacceptable. Many members seem to accept the in-built gallery of graphical elements from IE games, and are using these images. Some of these items are so nice that once I even considered choosing one of them instead of a portrait. And Galactygon could use a portrait, but he prefers a Dagger +1!

As far as the stars are concerned, in case someone would feel anything negative in it, I'd like to clarify it: it is not for giving 'ranks' to people.
The stars help new users to see which people have forum editing permissions (so red stars show that the member is a BWL administrator and thus can help in many cases, and blue stripes indicate that this member has a mod forum here so you can easily recognise him as the moderator of the forum etc.). So they're not for showing "hey, I have a rank here, you little user!" to new visitors. (Stars are not a rarely used system. Many forums use it, in the IE modding community e.g. TeamBG used it, and AddonCZ uses it.

I'd like idea about gallery which would includes IE games potraits - BG(2), IWD(2) is classic; PST avatars are beautiful and some of NWN as well (bronze dragon is mine).

We tested these when BWL was founded, and agreed that PST portraits didn't suit the forum's style good enough (we tested this visually), and that we would use NWN graphics only if really needed (e.g. if the BG/IWD-styled portraits are all used up).

About BWL's policy to assign avatar for deserts I have mixed feelings. I do not execrate it but it is some form of user-hostility.

I admit that this portrait policy can reject many users, but I think that once the (intelligent) user has understood our principles, he will not find it hostile.

The number of BG/IWD styled portraits is limited. Other portraits don't go well with our forum, we tested it. Since the portrait number is limited, they shouldn't be given to every user. Windwalker worked lots of hours to make the BG-IWD graphics in-built database (which is available to anyone!), and I think the forum looks very nice if both portraits and these items are used.
Additionally, I don't see why it's wrong to give portraits to those only who contributed. Someone said that many people "have no time for the competition" or something similar... no one forces anyone to join the 'competition'. Because it's not a competition. It is good to reward those who help directly. I think that intelligent users doesn't find this hostile at all. It is acceptable. A real modder/player doesn't care so much about portraits anyway. And if someone wants to "chat a bit", he is welcome in BWL's General Discussion.

So giving portraits only to a specific group of members is not hostility. I think that real user-hostility (if it existed on this forum) could appear in the attitude and posts of BWL administrators. You can see many forums where administrators, in their posts, are making their position ("power") felt by other users etc. Have I (or any Council Member) ever done this?
Additionally, I don't think too many forums exist where the administrators work so much on the site and forum, and are so helpful as at BWL.