Thanks GCG, I just fear that since we are only just starting the month, it will get to be a very very long thread which is tough for those trying to catch up on the all the goings-on.
How long is a very, very long thread? In 2012 the June Radisson thread was 74 pages and this year (2013) so far it is 12 pages, for the 2012 McKenzie thread it was 27 pages and so far this year (2013) it is 12 pages. I certainly agree that Photos should not be quoted (only the text) and only the pertinent text of long three to four paragraphs entries should be quoted.
For some Forum Administrators, 10 pages is a long thread. I don't have a problem with the length of the thread (number of pages) it is the size of the posts. For example, there are 15 posts per page and they all take up a certain amount of space before we type in a single word. Add the comment and the post gets physically longer. Add a photo or photos and the post gets longer again. When people quote the photos you are doubling, trebling the amount of physical space being used for each post. The post count per page stays at 15 regardless of the physical space the post takes up. Add to that that I have set the photo size to be fairly large, many forums just allow for thumbnails (150x150) with a link to the gallery where the photo is stored. I haven't done that though I have requested that folks don't post all their photos here, just the important ones.
If you are on a computer with a mouse, relatively easy to scroll through a long thread but if you are on a mobile device you have to scroll up/down on a much smaller screen and whereas photos can be side-by-side on your larger computer screen, they are lined up vertically on the small screens. If you are a guest the newest posts are always at the end, so you have to go to the end and back track to find where you were when you last visited which when there are new chicks or fledging, can mean 10 or 20 pages. And even on a computer, scrolling through the same photo(s) over and over again can be frustrating when you are trying to catch up on the details.
- posts/June = 3497 (June 2008), 9872 (June 2009 - a very big year), 3880 (June 2010), 2578 (June 2011), 2242 (June 2012) & 524 new posts to-date this year
- pageviews/June = 160K (June 2008), 364K (June 2009), 190K (June 2010), 167K (June 2011), 158K (June 2012) & 104K (to date June 2013)
June and July tend to be about the same overall, with May be a little less. If that trend stays true for this year, then our June total pageviews should be close to the 2009 numbers ...
I don't want to discourage folks from posting photos, definitely not! Just the repeating the same photo over and over again in quotes when it isn't necessary. If it is necessary, then quote the photo and whatever else is necessary.
And just as a reminder, every time a photo is displayed the system has to go out and retrieve that photo to display it which eats up the band width the Project has paid for to host the Forum, website et al. So, I post a photo, then 5 other people quote the photo, the system goes out to get that same photo 6 times, 6 times the traffic, 6 times the band width used. And as time goes on, our links to photos increases so we use more and more band width each year. If I get anywhere close to my band width limit, I will have to stop having photos of any type on the Forum which would be a bad thing I feel.
More than you were asking specifically Rose, but hopefully it helps folks understand the mechanics behind the request.
