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This is a huge long shot because it requires a lot of work for not much benefit and it might be a heavy load on the server:

Basically, i think it would look really great and slightly increase usability if when you quoted someone a small version of their profile picture was formatted in just before their name. That's it really, i think it would look slick and make using the site just that tiny bit more enjoyable. I know i always say it but i think it's the little things that make a difference. Here is my botched example:

legoburner wrote:I think that's a great idea Casey!

Casey is a Legoburner Sockpuppet!

BAN HIM! BAN THE TRAITOR!

Lol, i'm hoping putting words in his mouth will delay the straight up, 'No!' that's express mailing it's way to my screen as i type.

I kind of like it actually. Not sure how it'd do with the quote pyramids that pop up, but most of the time those things need to be burnt anyway.

Haha, yeh. To be fair it needs to be formatted properly and not just the botched way i slapped it together. I think if it was done properly it would look great and maybe even make those big dirty pyramids less of an eyesore.


I'll knock up an example of that too i guess:

Casey's Law wrote:

yakface wrote:

legoburner wrote:I think that's a great idea Casey!

Me too, it's amazing!

Aw shucks, thanks guys!

I approve of this idea.

And not just because it means Loxodon gets show in more places

Brushfire hostile takeover!

Is there really any other kind of takeover?

Again, I like it!

I tend to recognise people on avatar rather than name so this would be helpful for catching up on threads.

We, the DCMs, have spoken. Make it so!

I like the idea. Doooo it!

This'd piss me off when you quoted GIFs...

Most avatar GIFs annoy me anyway, what could be done though is what i did with legoburners subtle matrix GIF. I just used one frame of it, that solves the problem of loads of flashing images all over the page rather successfully.

Looks cool but I'm not certain of the viability as there are some complex lookups involved in getting accurate avatars from a bunch of names in a block of text.

One possible thought (possibly insane) is change the Quote text to make it be @legoburner rather then just legoburner, and then make the code only look for @Usernames and then display the tiny avatar each time that appears.

Would then be handy for referencing a certain poster in a thread.

It'd also be nifty it then make their username a profile link.

Or maybe it can just work through the quote button, by adding extra code with the quote tags, until an easier way is figured out for just the text? That way it doesn't need to search through by names.

Hmm... I like the workarounds but i'm not sure it's your style, lego?

Since time is the main problem with this, correct me if i'm wrong, then could it be a long term project? Something that gets worked on in the background bit by bit until it's ready?

Again correct me if i'm wrong but you don't have a schedule as such? So would a Christmas update provide enough time for the update to be worked on when nothing else is taking precedence?

The workarounds are not ideal, no, but thanks for the suggestions - always welcome.

Time for all of dakka's coding is based on how busy I am, how complex it is, how cool it would be and how much benefit it would bring to the site. That is why the gallery revision is the most pressing single update required, but due to complexity, dullness and me being busy it is still going to be a while until it is done, and is why I am tinkering with a video section (aggregated wargaming videos from youtube) at the moment instead

The video section sounds awesome!

... I'm upset by how easily distracted i am by shiny, jingly things.

Focus, Casey! So can we expect to see this update eventually? Even if it's not around the corner.

I can see it making quote-heavy discussions look very ugly.

It would make OT even more ugly (quote pyramids). It would also take more resources; how much of a problem that would be is beyond me.

Having said that, Some people recognise avatars rather than usernames, so it would help there. It could also make the website look cooler.

I'd like to see it too if it doesn't cause problems.

I try not to spend too much time in off topic but i can imagine this would make it a bit messier. I bet it would deter users from 'pyramiding' their quotes actually so it would maybe tidy things up in the long run.

Multi-Quote discussions with lots of back and forth could get pretty darn image heavy (bandwidth issues?) and more annoying than they already are.

I've looked into it a bit more and i'm not even sure the images would make it look that untidy. They are so small they don't have a massive effect.

That's nice that you "looked into it a bit more", but I'd rather hear from legoburner. Specifically, take a look at this post. (Just using it as a multi-quote example, not picking on anyone or the thread) What would a picture next to each quote box do to the server load? What if they were gifs (like my image)?

Don't be cheeky. And we've already discussed the GIF problem, read the thread. Obviously hearing from Lego is the important thing but i don't see why you think i shouldn't be allowed to share my opinion, particularly when i've been looking into it.

Thanks.

Again, lego did not address the gifs, you did. You took one snapshot of it. NIce. How will the code do that? What would that do to the server load? I don't know, nor do you, which is why I was asking lego, not you. For someone crying about not getting to express their opinions, how about you let me ask some questions, too?

I think that post I linked would look very silly with avatars on each quote block and I do not like your idea.

*sigh* Okay no problem.

If it is done, would there be a chance for an "Opt Out" similar to turning off avatars? Then you can have your cake and I can have mine, too.

Quote pyraminds between back-and-forth arguments wouldn't add much to the server load.

You'd just download the avatar once, and then it would be in your cache for the rest of them.

Reposting the same image over and over and over again on a page doesn't take much more bandwidth than just posting it once. You just need to say "Use that one again".