meh, I guess I'll join the fray...I'll first say that there are only a few sections I visit regularly, those being the Notebook General Section, Asus Reviews and Benchmarks, Gaming, and Off Topic. I'll go into one of the other sections if I hear about something there (such as a NotW post, or a thread with specs about a HP lappy that was referenced in the general section) or if I have something to contribute (like a digitimes article for example). I make a point to stay out of the Dell and AW sections, and if I do go in there I always wear my hazard suit.
-about sigs/avatars/pics
I'm not a fan of a huge sig, I believe simple is always better, and yes, I've stated that Darq's sig just kills my bandwidth, and that ambit's sig is terribly huge, but the user does have the option to turn off certain features, and so I think that solves the problem. Plus, look at sites like espn and washingtonpost, not to mention other popular websites, they are being designed for broadband speeds now...it can be annoying but it's just the way it is, and the way it's going to be (go ahead and drive your VW Thing on I95 at 55 mph if you want to, but don't get mad when nobody else does the same). That being said, Darq's sig still cracks me up...and it’s a small sig, or at least takes up a small footprint…much like Jack/Astu’s bitmap sig that he had for a little while.
The other thing about pics is that there are several programs which will optimize images for web use, as a rule I try to keep images under a max of 150k (preferably 30-75k), but if it’s in the female rating thread then anything goes
Oh, delta does have a point about font color choices. I know one may not be familiar with all of the NBF styles, but I just love it when someone writes a sentence in size 7 font, all in bold, and then makes it a color that doesn't show up on certain backgrounds. A good example is gs's first post in this thread, where the section titles don't show up with the pale blue theme.
-about search
You can make the search button the size of DanForth's donut fetish and people still won't use it. Often I'll mention that a question was answered elsewhere, or that a certain post should be put in another thread, and I'll get a response along the lines of "yeah, I know but I didn't feel like reading 10 pages" or "yeah, but that other thread went off topic too much" so I don't think there's anything you really can do but show them where the info is and hopefully the new thread dies quickly... And I would not say that the search sucks on this forum, you just have to know what you're looking for and how to use it. Yeah, you might have to read a few pages of a thread, but that's not a bad thing usually. Remember, it's not the size of your tool, but rather how you use it
-about language and post lengths
I really don't find the language to be that bad...well, I find the utilization of language to be bad, but the actual word usage is really pretty tame. Yes, there are flame wars, but those should get taken care of rather quickly...and I believe it's good to have less stringent rules in OT compared to the other sections. Remember there is the ignore feature, which I know people used for roided back during the commentary. In the other sections I always try to make a post worthwhile to read, unless the thread has set a precedent for silliness, or if DanForth and I are trying to teach a noob a lesson. But in OT it's perfectly acceptable for one (no, certainly not little ole me!) to be a postwhore and submit one word/smilie posts.
-about moderators
As I understand it, it's partly up to the community to decide if there should be more moderators, and who should be one...I believe it was in the Apple section where someone asked for a moderator, and the response from Adam or Luke was "well, nominate one then". I've suggested that if needed snorre should be a moderator for the Ferrari, uh, I mean Acer section.
One thing I have thought about is a sticky in the general section just titled “What should I buy?”. Any thread asking that gets dumped in there, and yes, it would grow to 100 pages within a week, but the clutter it would save would be tremendous, and if people checked it routinely then it could be a very useful thread.
Lastly, I’m sorry that you feel like you can’t recommend this forum to your cousin and your female friends (what?!? females on the intraweb!!!), but is it really that bad? I know OT can get dragged down sometimes, and the flame wars are just stupid, but overall it can’t be worse then anything you find on TV…and it is, or can be, an anonymous message board on the internet, it’s not meant to be Teletubbies in the Park or some such thing…
-about sigs/avatars/pics
I'm not a fan of a huge sig, I believe simple is always better, and yes, I've stated that Darq's sig just kills my bandwidth, and that ambit's sig is terribly huge, but the user does have the option to turn off certain features, and so I think that solves the problem. Plus, look at sites like espn and washingtonpost, not to mention other popular websites, they are being designed for broadband speeds now...it can be annoying but it's just the way it is, and the way it's going to be (go ahead and drive your VW Thing on I95 at 55 mph if you want to, but don't get mad when nobody else does the same). That being said, Darq's sig still cracks me up...and it’s a small sig, or at least takes up a small footprint…much like Jack/Astu’s bitmap sig that he had for a little while.
The other thing about pics is that there are several programs which will optimize images for web use, as a rule I try to keep images under a max of 150k (preferably 30-75k), but if it’s in the female rating thread then anything goes
Oh, delta does have a point about font color choices. I know one may not be familiar with all of the NBF styles, but I just love it when someone writes a sentence in size 7 font, all in bold, and then makes it a color that doesn't show up on certain backgrounds. A good example is gs's first post in this thread, where the section titles don't show up with the pale blue theme.
-about search
You can make the search button the size of DanForth's donut fetish and people still won't use it. Often I'll mention that a question was answered elsewhere, or that a certain post should be put in another thread, and I'll get a response along the lines of "yeah, I know but I didn't feel like reading 10 pages" or "yeah, but that other thread went off topic too much" so I don't think there's anything you really can do but show them where the info is and hopefully the new thread dies quickly... And I would not say that the search sucks on this forum, you just have to know what you're looking for and how to use it. Yeah, you might have to read a few pages of a thread, but that's not a bad thing usually. Remember, it's not the size of your tool, but rather how you use it
-about language and post lengths
I really don't find the language to be that bad...well, I find the utilization of language to be bad, but the actual word usage is really pretty tame. Yes, there are flame wars, but those should get taken care of rather quickly...and I believe it's good to have less stringent rules in OT compared to the other sections. Remember there is the ignore feature, which I know people used for roided back during the commentary. In the other sections I always try to make a post worthwhile to read, unless the thread has set a precedent for silliness, or if DanForth and I are trying to teach a noob a lesson. But in OT it's perfectly acceptable for one (no, certainly not little ole me!) to be a postwhore and submit one word/smilie posts.
-about moderators
As I understand it, it's partly up to the community to decide if there should be more moderators, and who should be one...I believe it was in the Apple section where someone asked for a moderator, and the response from Adam or Luke was "well, nominate one then". I've suggested that if needed snorre should be a moderator for the Ferrari, uh, I mean Acer section.
One thing I have thought about is a sticky in the general section just titled “What should I buy?”. Any thread asking that gets dumped in there, and yes, it would grow to 100 pages within a week, but the clutter it would save would be tremendous, and if people checked it routinely then it could be a very useful thread.
Lastly, I’m sorry that you feel like you can’t recommend this forum to your cousin and your female friends (what?!? females on the intraweb!!!), but is it really that bad? I know OT can get dragged down sometimes, and the flame wars are just stupid, but overall it can’t be worse then anything you find on TV…and it is, or can be, an anonymous message board on the internet, it’s not meant to be Teletubbies in the Park or some such thing…
and a I heart 
on their sleeves. Dell, with the rollout of the Gen 1 XPS a couple of years ago, also aspire to have a headbanging mentality to gaming, but are still stuck in the logic and workman-like necessity of owning laptops like Sager members - who seem oddly cool about such awesome rigs. AW and Dell guys love to get together and bang heads - lots of cursing and locking of threads. Notebook General is filled with an abysmal number of nOObs looking for answers they could get from any reputable notebook review like Toms Hardware, and many forum members flock there to give their heartfelt opinions about favorite laptops, spilling into a Braveheart-type open battlefield on occasions. which is confirmed by the number of Noob of the Week findings by Off Topic members. However, there are many great topics being discussed and lots of notebooks being talked about that don't have a forum section home yet.
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