Complaint...

[Takeru]

Unfortunately, what I have to say is more of a complaint than a suggestion. I'm not trying to offend anyone in this. I'm just stating my concerns. But your forum system is really, really strict. A slight overexaggeration, it kinda seems like most of my freedom is sapped.

I have no ability to change any of my text whatsoever, aside from the colors and basic formatting (Bold, Italic, Underline, and Strikethrough). I can't change the font, or text size, and to top it off all of my posts, including BBC formatting, are limited to 3500 characters. That may seem like a gorgeously large amount, but for a writer/critic, it isn't, especially since I usually write unanimously large posts in roleplays and fan-fictions.

Also, the limit you've set on images is astoundingly small. My banners look good only when they're the size that I intended for them. Think about the whole idea of flipping manga during translation, so that it could be read left to right. When they're squeezed into a smaller space, it changes it from what I originally made it to be.  Because of that, I have to spend extra BBC coding to turn my image into a link leading to an expanded version of my banner, spending all of my characters just to make the banner look good. Now I can't even include a quote, like on the other five forum systems I'm on.

I love this forum. The layout is beautiful, the community is always active, the staff are alert and managing the forum like a real team. But sometimes limitations like these set boundaries too strong. I feel, you know, suffocated. I'm really, really sorry I have to be complaining to you guys like this, I really am. I just... want this forum experience to be like any other I've had.

Maybe I'm just being picky. Maybe my spoiled side is a bit strong these days. Maybe I'm asking for way too much. Nevertheless, I really want you to please consider what I said and put some thought into it, or at least tell me why these limitations are set.

Thanks.

~ Takeru

[D.J.P]

Your compliants/suggestions will be looked at and responded too.

[Little Wolf]

There's a single reason why certain restrictions have been imposed in this forum. It's to prevent anyone from abusing those features.

I disabled font selection simply because a board that uses too many makes it look ugly. It's there to make the text look more consistent and easily readable. Same thing with font size. You don't want to see topics with posts in different font sizes. I don't honestly see the importance really of changing the font size. If you want that people will not be able to read your post easily because it might spoil something, instead of making it small use the

Show content

tags. If you want to emphasize a point, put it in bold format which, in my opinion, is enough already. Other than those reasons, I don't see why someone would need to write a post in smaller/bigger letters.

And here we go again with the character limit... I've already said we'll be having a fanfiction section soon. The character limit is there for readability reasons here in the forum. The Fan Creations forum in CCS is actually meant to be a place for members to post synopses of their fanfics. Writers should just give a link to another page like fanfiction.net where members who are interested will be able to read the full stories. Not here because..imagine the space and bandwidth it will take up along with the avatars and sigs in the post.

The maximum image width is set to 400px because there are still many users in a lower screen resolution (like 800x600) and/or in a dial-up connection. I can't sacrifice those users just so members can post overly large images. Also, if I increase the maximum allowed width, it will only the destroy the forum's table layout when viewed in some pages and I don't want members to post manga scans here either. Please just post a thumbnail picture of the image and then link it to some host like photobucket.com. Alternatively, you can also use the forum's attachment feature to post the image.
I will increase the signature's character limit so I hope that's fine with you.

And.. it's okay. I prefer to have members who speak their opinions rather than me trying to guess what they think of the forum. And believe me, this isn't the only message board who has done this before. I can name you another board where they have stricter rules but I won't. Let's just say that the board I'm talking about is one of the best boards I've ever seen because it's being handled so perfectly that many members don't mind anymore if the rules are slightly stricter than the usual. By usual, I mean those boards who don't specify maximum size, etc. etc...

Anyway, I've tried my best to balance things out so that members here will still enjoy the forum despite of the rules. We're getting a lot of new members everyday. It's better that we have these rules enforced beforehand rather than wait for the board to be in chaos just because we didn't prepare for it from the very start while it was still controllable. Trust me. It will all pay off in the end. Just think of the rules as something that will help this place to become a much better community. Okay? 

[Arcademan]

I think the settings of this forum are done with much thought and consideration. The changing of letter size to me is an annoying feature at best...and the statement made about people using dial-up to view the boards is dead-on. Pictures, especially large ones and moving gifs take time to process and usually slow down or overload the screen so to me, the size limitations imposed here is acceptable. As was noted on more than one occassion, the post size limit of 3500 isn't bad for I really don't see much in the form of lengthy posts here and I'm confident the administration will have things in place for a fanfic section where the post size can be increased for those kind of posts.

I've been here for only a few days however I'm impressed with the way the administration is running things. It's not perfect but it's far from being bad. I'm sure in the upcoming future they'll be some tweaking and they'll do it with the members in mind 

[D.J.P]

Of course we will

[Little Wolf]

Thanks Arcademan.

oh, I see you removed the Sakura gif in your sig. I don't think it broke any of the signature rules, did it?

[Takeru]

Hmm, it seems like most of my complaints have been addressed... and I like what I'm hearing too.

Well, first of all, thanks for addressing me at all to begin with. I see that you are very dedicated to the forums and their members. Second of all, thanks for being detailed with your reply. I clearly understand why these limitations have been set, and have no other questions or complaints (edit: see below).

If I do come across a problem, though, be sure that you'll be hearing it from me. ^_^

EDIT: I have a slight idea of what you mean, but I'm not really sure so I have to confirm it with you: can you define "synopsis" for me please?

[Shinigami Zero]

A summary, I would assume.

[Arcademan]

Thanks Arcademan.

oh, I see you removed the Sakura gif in your sig. I don't think it broke any of the signature rules, did it?

Nope...I may switch back to it at a later date. I'm still trying to settle down as far as an avatar and sig pic here so I may change it a bit until I'm satisfied

[Little Wolf]

Takeru ¥amamoto >> Glad to hear that. And yes, it's a summary or overview of the story like what Shinigami-Zero said...

Arcademan >> okay.