Anglo Large Clawed Otter

Likewise. I just took tons of photos of the W Mexico City with my new 40D, and look forward to doing the same at: Sheraton Palace, Moscow; Le Meridien Cyberport, Hong Kong; Westin Canal Place, New Orleans; and Resort at Singer Island (Palm Beach), in coming weeks. Hope I'll have a chance to post embedded-photo reports in the Master Threads for each of those hotels.

kokonutz

FWIW, as I indicated on the private TB forum, while I'd prefer that the test also include one of the 'big four' airline forums as well (UA, AA, DL, BA), with the recent amendments I am now supportive of this motion as well. ^

Here are some of the things I will be looking at during the test (assuming this motion passes and our recommendation is accepted by Randy and IB):

What is the feedback from posters?
Does it in practice annoyingly slow page loads?
Does it add significant value to posts?

Football Fan

Excellent ^

Punki

I too would prefer to see a test in a major airline, but this is a big step forward so I will in all likelihood vote for it.

Aviatrix

I'm amazed nobody has spoken against this proposal so far.

I travel a lot (I thought we all did). A lot of my travelling is outside my own country, a lot of my on-the-road Internet access is via a mobile link where bandwidth = money (and roaming charges are quite extortionate).

I don't want to be forced to download photos.

As a (mostly) KLM traveller I use the Flying Blue Forum a fair bit to keep up to date with developments while travelling, so needless to say I am particularly unhappy about your choice of test bed.

I don't mind photos in (for example) the trip report forum which I can read at my leisure when I'm at home. But I don't want photos in forums that I would read while travelling, and if photos start appearing in these forums I will no longer be able to access them while travelling.

Punki

Good news! You won't be forced to download photos, Aviatrix.

Not veiwing photos will be the default position, so, when you are on the road keep them turned off. When you get home and want to browse through Trip Reports and look at pictures, you can turn them back on again.

That is the beauty of this feature. No one has to use it unless they want to. ^

lin821

(Bolding mine).

That's not totally accurate, Punki.

Like I had pointed out in the other discussion thread, when the viewers visit FT as guests, all the photos are showing under current system default. I would think for FTers who are on the road, they probably don't always log in (for security concern, convenience or whatever reasons). Hence the page load will be an issue.

TB please consult with the tech team while the chosen 4 fora are in test mode, guest views won't see photos loaded. The setup has to be different from Travel Photography and Trip Reports Fora, or the page loads will be a problem for those with slower connections, who don't log in or simply browse as guests. Or please advise if that's the intention of TB to run the test under the same default settings as Trip Report and Travel Photopraghy Fora.

scoow

Actually, quite a few people spoke out against (and quite a few others in favor of) the idea of in-thread photos. Their comments are in the proposal thread which was started before this motion was made by the TB. Posters in that thread sort of hashed-out the need for viewing the photos to be an opt-in feature (as Punki noted) and suggested restrictions on the number and size of posted photos. Of course, if you have additional thoughts, now is the time to express them!

Personally, I'm glad the TB is looking at moving forward with a test. And that several forum moderators have agreed to moderate the test. I hope the motion passes, the test is successful, and posters show some discretion in the use of this function. While I think it is a great feature, IMHO not every thread will require photos. I think only about half the threads in Travel Photography forum include photos.

I do have a couple of questions though. The motion doesn't mention several issues that were discussed in the "proposal" thread. First, will the feature require an "opt-in"? I don't recall if I had to opt-in to see photos when I joined FT or not. If this requires a change to the current settings, will this change reset everyone's ability to view photos? If we are required to re-opt in (or opt-in if we have never done so), please post an announcement to that effect at the top of all the forums. Second, I believe "guests" now can view the photos in TR and TP. Will this continue? If the functionality requires an opt-in, will guests or members who are not logged in be unable to view photos? (A potential means of encouraging lurkers to join?) Finally, the motion addresses the number of photos but doesn't mention the size of an individual photo. Will this be left to each forum moderator, or will some restrictions be added to the TOS or posted somewhere? As previously mentioned, Birdstrike's contest restrictions worked well (and as maximum limits, would not exclude posting thumbnails with links to larger photos). But contest rules in another forum won't carry much weight across the board.

bhatnasx

These are all great questions - and while not addressed in the proposal - some of these are technical questions that we may not be able to answer & may need to refer to the folks at IB. I'm going to post a link to your post in the private forum & bring it up for discussion there. I believe (though I may be wrong) that the protocols for the test fora will follow the protocols for Trip Reports & Travel Photography in terms of user options & picture size.

serfty

Some comments on this:

1. Yes to Images but limit their Size to < 10 Kbytes (this is Technically feasible now, and is easy to post, see below),
2. Allow Images loading to be turned on/off with a click of an icon added to a post containing images. (not sure how feasible this currently is),
   
3. Restrict images to general fora like "Travelbuzz", "Diningbuzz", "Travel Technology" and "CommunityBuzz" - those fora where a images could enhance the topic they are posted in a similar manner to the way "Trip Report" works). Exclude fora like "Coupon connection" and "OMNI", I really can't see images being productive.

Here's a post of mine with a 3Kbyte thumbnail linked to a larger image:
There is no problem loading this when, say, using dial-up.

This page is different; it's image is 225Kbyte and would take > 2 minutes to load on a 56K dail-up connection:

robb

Which is why I'm not sure I understand why we're dribbling out more forums at 4 every 3 months. it will take many years at this rate to have photos in all of the forums.

What makes these next 4 test forums different than the few test forums we've already had?

scoow

I understand this, but wouldn't it be a good idea to have the answers before voting? If IB says the photos can only be opt-out, not opt-in, some TB members may vote differently. (I don't believe this is the case, but is an example of "technical issues" that the TB can't control, but could effect their decision.)

If you look in the TP forum, there are no specific guidelines/restrictions. The stickies cover how to embed a photo but not how to reduce or limit the size... or what the size limit should be. So, while most posters limit the size of photos - both "height/width" and "quality", someone could post a HUGE photo and there is no recourse other than asking & hoping that s/he agrees to remove/reduce it.

Jenbel

When we tried to restrict the trial in other ways because of feedback, some people objected. Perhaps it's a good idea to have a trial with an open door, simply because it does give us a great opportunity to assess (for example) how often people post huge images, and how great or rubbish we are at managing image size. I'm not saying that this is or isn't what we should be doing - I see an argument in either direction.

monitor

It looks like I am in a substantially minority position here but as I said in another thread, please do not put images into the main body of FlyerTalk.

The boards load slowly enough as it is and forcing all to wade thru pages of pictures concerning subjects that may or may not be of any interest is IMO certainly a self-defeating practice. And even tho turning off is the default position for any given poster, when one cares not to sign in for some good reason, the pictures will reappear.

More importantly, the embedding of pictures in the conversation will generate extended discussion of their contents, even down to technical details, and those who do not or cannot load the pictures (or who do not bother with photography) will experience a large amount of waste posts to wade through in order to pass by the subject.

If there is a need to discuss photos in detail, create a forum for such and keep the rest of the board clean. As far as I am concerned, any posts about such details as aperture openings or F stops in a Starwood or Community Buzz thread is completely off topic, but these will come like snowflakes and the mods will eventually give up.

I believe that when someone has photos that are particularly germane to the subject at hand in any thread, a link in a post that one chooses to follow to see pictures is clearly adequate to serve those who are truly interested in that subject or who are merely image-starved.

Just my two cents, but I believe that I see a lot of graffiti coming to FT.

magiciansampras

The great thing is if that you are right, we'll find out with this test. ^