[Prof Morearty]

Thanks for the heads up, Magiciano, but it's already included in summary in the stickied thread Rule Changes & Other News PLEASE READ ALL NEW POSTS!, with a link to this announcing thread for those who want to discuss.

µ

[Shadowmuse Blown]

I regret the inconvenience, Shadowmuse Blown.  I confess that we thought that the "megaposters" normally made multiple postings in binges, which would make them easy to monitor. Your practice is to post one or two at a time, so it's a bit more of a nuisance for you to follow up.

Here's a tip which should make it easier: in your profile, go to
Account settings --> Modify Profile --> Look and Layout -> Topics to display per page: set that to 25. Your forum page will now display the last 25 posts, which will almost always cover more than 12 hours: the latest poster and time of post will be displayed for each of those posts.  At least, I hope so: in my case, it works on my PC but not on my Nexus. Assuming it's OK, it's easy for you to scan down and see how many posts you have made: if there are fewer than 8, you may post more. That's oversimplified, but basically valid.

To show you what I mean I attach a screencap of my first forum page at noon today GMT.  You can see that it goes back some 22 hours.  You made two posts during that time, so you could post six more without bothering to calculate exactly.

Hope that helps.

µ

Thanks for the tip, Professor.  Unfortunately, I usually access the forum from my iPhone, which does not display all that good information on the page.  But I appreciate your help.

[Nimrod]

At first I was not sure how to process this new rule.
A maximum limit of 16 new post/images/threads in a 12 hour period. (32 maximum per day)
I understand the limit, just that the reason and motivation feels a bit counter productive.

Any rule that limits forum participation should be reviewed. Granted this would have deleted only a few user's contributions. Yet, as it would affect so few, even now, was this practice really that disruptive?

I have rolled this around my circuits and have concluded that even though this does place a limit on forum participation it does result in a more open feeling and produces an appearance that more contributions are being displayed. Yes, it is all for show, but that does seem to be the intent of the new rule.

I would ask if producing some expansive works, such as the BEA Princess thread, now with dozens of embedded images within a single post, may get special consideration as their intent is to be comprehensive and not disruptive. All I am saying is there may be a few instances where having more than 16 postings (thread, image, posts) may be valid.

I would note that a multi-link posting appears to still be allowed, such as with the Shara "farewell" post a few years back. A single posting could have numerous links to other posts within it, something of an index.
This would be good for post such as:

• Farewell posts
• Loss of computer access posts
• Best of a user's posting index
• What ever happened to posts
• etc.

[Charade Recherche]

At first I was not sure how to process this new rule.
A maximum limit of 16 new post/images/threads in a 12 hour period. (32 maximum per day)
I understand the limit, just that the reason and motivation feels a bit counter productive.

Any rule that limits forum participation should be reviewed. Granted this would have deleted only a few user's contributions. Yet, as it would affect so few, even now, was this practice really that disruptive?

I have rolled this around my circuits and have concluded that even though this does place a limit on forum participation it does result in a more open feeling and produces an appearance that more contributions are being displayed. Yes, it is all for show, but that does seem to be the intent of the new rule.

I would ask if producing some expansive works, such as the BEA Princess thread, now with dozens of embedded images within a single post, may get special consideration as their intent is to be comprehensive and not disruptive. All I am saying is there may be a few instances where having more than 16 postings (thread, image, posts) may be valid.

I would note that a multi-link posting appears to still be allowed, such as with the Shara "farewell" post a few years back. A single posting could have numerous links to other posts within it, something of an index.
This would be good for post such as:

• Farewell posts
• Loss of computer access posts
• Best of a user's posting index
• What ever happened to posts
• etc.

Has this changed?  I thought it was 8 posts per 12 hour period.
It doesn't effect me, but Cris likes to post a bunch over a period of time.
Looking up the rules, I don't see anything about 16 posts/12 hr period.

[Prof Morearty]

The limit is indeed eight image posts per 12-hour period.  This is stated clearly in the opening post of this thread and in the rules. I'm happy to note that most people welcomed this limit, or at least accepted it with good grace.  The problem for most people was that megaposters could take over the entire first page, or even more, thus obscuring everyone else's posts.  Obviously there had to be some limit, otherwise one poster could take over dozens of pages of the forum.  Eight per 12-hour period (=16 per day, in two batches) was accepted as a reasonable limit.

µ

[lurker]

If that is the reasoning, then it should be ok to attach an unrestricted number of images to any single post.

[Prof Morearty]

If that is the reasoning, then it should be ok to attach an unrestricted number of images to any single post.

That would be true if we only consider the rule under consideration.  However, other rules and principles would apply:

- First rule: You may post/attach/link only one unmorphed image per thread in a 24-hour period.

- Flood rule: Do not post, offer, or solicit any of the following types of content:
          Excessive quantities of copyrighted content

- As mentioned earlier in this thread, the BEA had legal problems earlier because of flood posts.  After all, practically everything posted here is copyrighted.

And it's all moot anyway: the forum's software allows only one attachment per post.

So forget it.

µ

[Nimrod]

If that is the reasoning, then it should be ok to attach an unrestricted number of images to any single post.

That would be true if we only consider the rule under consideration.  However, other rules and principles would apply:

- First rule: You may post/attach/link only one unmorphed image per thread in a 24-hour period.

- Flood rule: Do not post, offer, or solicit any of the following types of content:
          Excessive quantities of copyrighted content

- As mentioned earlier in this thread, the BEA had legal problems earlier because of flood posts.  After all, practically everything posted here is copyrighted.

And it's all moot anyway: the forum's software allows only one attachment per post.

So forget it.

µ

You bring up a good point with the interplay or interaction of the other forum rules.

Let me see if I have a full understanding of the limitations by first noting the pertinent rules and then describing the impact they have.

Rules in consideration are :

a) Do not post/attach/link more than eight images per forum in any 12-hour period: any posts exceeding this limit will be deleted. After the 12-hour period has elapsed, you may post again. (New rule as of May 2018)

b) You may post/attach/link only one un-morphed image per thread in a 24-hour period.

c) Do not post, offer, or solicit any of the following types of content:
          Excessive quantities of copyrighted content


On first pass there appear to be immediate contradictions / conflicts with rules a and b. Additionally rule c introduces aspects of copyright and the indistinct concept of "excessive quantities" which must rely on other rules to define. But this is not an exercise in semantics but one of proper interpretations.

So, from these three rules alone we define image post limits by several criteria:
Q) Quantity: Number or count of images
R) Rights: Copyright or not-copyright
M) Morphed: morphed or not-morphed
D) Duration: 12-hours and 24-hours
L) Level: Forum or Thread

TYPES OF IMAGES :

Let us first list images in order of most to least restricted by these rules:
* = "per thread"

1) copyrighted un-morphed image / rule b = limit of 1 in 24-hours *.
2) personal un-morphed image / rule b = limit of 1 in 24-hours *.
3) copyrighted morphed image / rule a = limit of 8 in 12-hours *.
4) personal morphed image / rule a = limit of 8 in 12 hours *.

As one can see the key aspect to bi-pass the rule b is to "morph" the image. This is more appealing because rule b treats both personal and copyrighted images the same.

This brings into consideration as to what is a morphed image. This is not defined, however from practice it appears to be any image that has had individual pixels of the source image manipulated. This therefor excludes simple 1st level edits such as; resizing, rotation, crops, hue/intensity/contrast, etc. This does allow for any 2nd level or higher edits such as; deformation, mesh warps, composites, blends, text, watermarks, or pixel manipulations, etc.

There is one other rule that if added to the mix would create yet another level of criteria:

LOOPHOLE? :

x) You may post text-links or image-links to images that already exist on the BEA server without restrictions.

This is something I actually do often and it begs the question, since we are to consider the interaction of all the rules to help us limit our postings, how does one reconcile the terms of "without restrictions" in the context of this discussion?

One could argue that the original intent of the 1-1-1-1 rule was actually to limit the amount of bandwidth used to power the BEA forum as rule x would indicate that after an image was in the mix, reusing it was not problematic, just the addition of NEW content was a concern.

(I know this to be the case having been there each time the 1-1-1-1 rule was expanded)

CONCLUSION:

To maximize any one user's images per post the following would have to be employed so as to conform to the rules as they stand here at the end of 2019.

- Post (do not externally link) images
- Post only morphed or edited/created work
- Post only work that you created/morphed or own
- Claim ownership of the works
- Post no more than 8 such images in one thread or across threads in any one forum in 12-hours.
- and link "without restrictions" other related morphed/created non-copyright images already in the BEA.

MOST RESTRICTED IMAGES :

It should be noted that the most restricted content would be:
- Copyrighted externally linked unedited images - limited to 1 in 24 hours

LEAST RESTRICTED IMAGES :

It should be noted that the least restricted content would be:
- Personal posted morphed/created images - limited to 8 every 12 hours (16 every 24 hours)
- Personal internally linked morphed/created images - "without restrictions" but may run into the "excessive" clause, so let us say the maximum of all rules at 16 in one thread in 12 hours.

Is that comprehensive enough?

[Nimrod]

Now that my analysis of the new posting guidelines has been up for 4 months without any comments I feel that it has been deemed in keeping with the letter and intent of the forum rules.

I say this because I am planning on posting a comprehensive big-bust influence history to coincide with my 2000th post here at the BEA. This post will comply with the rules, however it will appear as a series of related image references personally modified, composited, and noted to refer to commentary of the post.

Because of the attachment size limit set by the forum for any one image, I will employ and utilize the posting limits established in this thread and outlined in my review post above. A maximum of 8 images in consecutive posts within one thread within 12 hours. This will allow other users to read and see the reference images uninterrupted by other user posts as it is a single work in that thread.

I feel it necessary to forewarn as I can see how this might "trigger" a moderator or other user to say that some manner of posting limit has been exceeded. As several others in this posting limit thread have mentioned, when properly applied, these limits will produce a better forum, less apt to have broken links, fewer copyright challenges, and less likelihood that a single user will "flood" the forum front page.

To qualify for this upper posting limit my images are (as outlined above) modified/morphed and personally created/composited and not externally linked while relating to my own reference text which I claim.

[Bombayduk]

I noticed after the outage, images were dropped from 3mb to 2mb in size limit.  Is this permanent or an unaddressed accident?

[lurker]

Why is it that in 2020 this site is still not using HTTPS?

[ninja1195]

My two cents?

No more than 6-8 post, threads, images or even REPLIES within a 24H period.

I'm beyond tired of seeing the same two or three "good ole boys"  post AND reply to nearly every single thread.

Day after day, the same few people are all over this forum and seem to wish to hijack each and every thread. Often times with long winded and idiotic replies that have no context in relation to the thread.

This forum is supposed to be for everyone but it has become clear long ago that some people just do not know when to NOT post a reply if its not relevant or "reply worthy" if you will.

[salem]

I would be happy to keep the same posting limits for the General Discussion forum, that of no more than 8 posts in a 12 hour period, but apply that not just to image posts but to all posts, regardless of whether or not they have images on them.

I do agree that the posting (mine included) can be a bit excessive (although my posts are almost always image related) at times. I have seen posts from 9 in the morning be on the third page by late afternoon, or worse. A lot of these replies are just a couple of words.

[ninja1195]

"I would be happy to keep the same posting limits for the General Discussion forum, that of no more than 8 posts in a 12 hour period, but apply that not just to image posts but to all posts, regardless of whether or not they have images on them"

I will not speak for others but I would applaud that rule!!

Certain people (I will not name names but we all know who you are) seem to go overboard and dominate the BEA with endless posts and off topic idiotic replies just for the sake of "keeping a thread alive" ??

So the rest of us are forced to endure your countless replies day after day?

Threads will die off assuming you allow them to!

[scamitar2]

Long time user, seldom commenter.

I am in total agreement.