Forum Guidelines

[Judy]

1.  Politeness  
2.  No animated avatars or signatures
3.  Try not to have consecutive text posts, rather go back and add the second post to the first post by using the modify button. 
4.  When responding to a post, do not quote the entire post, only quote one or two sentences and do not include any previously posted pictures in your quote unless it is from a few days prior.
5.  Please check with one of the administrators or moderators before starting a new topic.  
6.  Images - please keep images to about 1-6 a post depending on the size of the image.  You can place four 320x240 images in one post, or sometimes 6 with be okay.  You could have the first two side by side and then the next two underneath side by side and so on. If images are larger than 400 width place just two in a post, one under the other. If an image causes one to scroll sideways to read the page, then the image is too big. You should do thumbnails for large images. If you have many images, then creating a slideshow is a good way to show the images.

Here is how you do thumbnails.
Go to photobucket, do one picture at a time, place a check mark in the picture, then scroll down to the bottom of the page, and click "Generate HTML and IMG code" then on the page that opens next copy the text in box that says "IMG clickable thumbnails for message boards - recommended". Come to the forum and paste what you have copied and repeat for each picture. This is much easier to do with two browsers opened.

We will post how to do a slideshow also.  

Thank You.  

[JudyB]

Please limit the number of pictures on the primary nest/cam discussion threads to four or occasionally six per person per event (an event being a visit or series of in-and-out visits, a mating, a food delivery, or something like that).  We'll be happy to set up a companion thread for photos for any nest, and encourage people to either post additional pictures there or put them in a slideshow.  Slideshows and links to additional pictures are welcome on the primary discussion threads.

[JudyB]

There was a suggestion that we post the reasoning behind the limit on pictures in the Discussion thread - so I'm copying here what I originally posted in Chat:

We have a couple of reasons for doing this.  First, pages with lots of pictures aren't always accessible for people with slow internet connection speeds.  (I have a fast connection and a fast computer, and there are times I need to refresh a page a couple of times before I can see the pictures.)  Second, this will make it easier for those who only have a few minutes to catch up on what's been happening - we're expecting that there will be a higher percentage of text-only posts or posts with one or two pics per page, which will make it faster to scroll through looking for highlights.  Third, we're hoping this will encourage more people to post their favorite couple of pictures from each visit - which will do two things.

First, it will provide a variety of perspectives on the visit, as we all have different information that we bring to our viewing.  And second, by hopefully increasing the number of people who take s'caps and post one or two of them, there's less chance we'll miss something important because everyone assumed that one of the regulars was taking s'caps.  We are also hoping that by asking everyone to post only their very favorite pictures from each visit or activity in the Discussion thread, each picture will have the attention it deserves. 

We've set up pictures threads for Maine Cam I and Norfolk - and we'll be happy to add a similar photo thread for s'caps and captions for any cam where there are observers who'd like a place to post additional pictures.  I know I'm thrilled when there are lots of pictures to choose from when I'm looking for a picture of a 6-day-old eaglet for some project - but I also like to skim a dozen or more threads quickly to see what happened since my last break.  Hopefully this will let us do it all.