Is there not a way to upload our own personal avatars to the forum anymore? I was planning on changing mine (I currently have the AL flag as temporary since it was one of the "gallery" options), though changing something else on my profile settings caused my previous avatar to disappear, and I can't see a way to select a file of my own to upload.
Quote from: freebrickproductions on June 01, 2025, 09:07:26 PMIs there not a way to upload our own personal avatars to the forum anymore? I was planning on changing mine (I currently have the AL flag as temporary since it was one of the "gallery" options), though changing something else on my profile settings caused my previous avatar to disappear, and I can't see a way to select a file of my own to upload.
I've worked around it by going to Wikipedia and grabbing what I wanted. (Speaking of which, pride flags in the gallery options when?)
Quote from: LilianaUwU on June 01, 2025, 09:14:23 PMQuote from: freebrickproductions on June 01, 2025, 09:07:26 PMIs there not a way to upload our own personal avatars to the forum anymore? I was planning on changing mine (I currently have the AL flag as temporary since it was one of the "gallery" options), though changing something else on my profile settings caused my previous avatar to disappear, and I can't see a way to select a file of my own to upload.
I've worked around it by going to Wikipedia and grabbing what I wanted. (Speaking of which, pride flags in the gallery options when?)
That might work in some cases, but I was planning on using one of the pieces of pride art of my pony OC (https://bsky.app/profile/hvillealrailfan.bsky.social/post/3lqlkmzccrk2t) for my avatar, admittedly.
Pride flags in the gallery options would be great though. :nod:
Quote from: freebrickproductions on June 01, 2025, 09:18:35 PMQuote from: LilianaUwU on June 01, 2025, 09:14:23 PMQuote from: freebrickproductions on June 01, 2025, 09:07:26 PMIs there not a way to upload our own personal avatars to the forum anymore? I was planning on changing mine (I currently have the AL flag as temporary since it was one of the "gallery" options), though changing something else on my profile settings caused my previous avatar to disappear, and I can't see a way to select a file of my own to upload.
I've worked around it by going to Wikipedia and grabbing what I wanted. (Speaking of which, pride flags in the gallery options when?)
That might work in some cases, but I was planning on using one of the pieces of pride art of my pony OC (https://bsky.app/profile/hvillealrailfan.bsky.social/post/3lqlkmzccrk2t) for my avatar, admittedly.
Pride flags in the gallery options would be great though. :nod:
Oh, you're Huntsville Railfan? I should've caught on.
Quote from: LilianaUwU on June 01, 2025, 09:19:54 PMQuote from: freebrickproductions on June 01, 2025, 09:18:35 PMQuote from: LilianaUwU on June 01, 2025, 09:14:23 PMQuote from: freebrickproductions on June 01, 2025, 09:07:26 PMIs there not a way to upload our own personal avatars to the forum anymore? I was planning on changing mine (I currently have the AL flag as temporary since it was one of the "gallery" options), though changing something else on my profile settings caused my previous avatar to disappear, and I can't see a way to select a file of my own to upload.
I've worked around it by going to Wikipedia and grabbing what I wanted. (Speaking of which, pride flags in the gallery options when?)
That might work in some cases, but I was planning on using one of the pieces of pride art of my pony OC (https://bsky.app/profile/hvillealrailfan.bsky.social/post/3lqlkmzccrk2t) for my avatar, admittedly.
Pride flags in the gallery options would be great though. :nod:
Oh, you're Huntsville Railfan? I should've caught on.
Yeah, lmao.
Upload to imgur, then right click on the image and grab its url. Make sure it's 80px or below.
Quote from: LilianaUwU on June 01, 2025, 09:14:23 PMSpeaking of which, pride flags in the gallery options when?
Quote from: freebrickproductions on June 01, 2025, 09:18:35 PMPride flags in the gallery options would be great though.
It's a good idea, but I think it'll have to wait until after the server problems stabilize a bit—I wouldn't want to have them disappear because of some sort of upgrade or something and make it look like we were pulling a Target on y'all.
I went for a more subtle approach with mine...
The Alabama flag as an avatar kinda looks like it's a broken image or something we'd set a banned user's avatar to. :D
Quote from: Molandfreak on June 01, 2025, 09:55:03 PMUpload to imgur, then right click on the image and grab its url. Make sure it's 80px or below.
Doing that keeps giving me this error, even when I made the image 61p x 70p:
Quote from: Forum Error MessageThe following errors occurred when trying to save your profile:
The image you are trying to use surpasses the max width/height settings, please use a smaller one.
I can only assume the file size is too big, or the forum doesn't like .png files for avatars.
EDIT: Testing with the 61p x 70p version converted to .jpg still doesn't work. :banghead:
EDIT 2: Putting it down all the way to 44p x 50p works, so I guess it was just file size. I'll investigate further later tonight.
EDIT 3: Or maybe the forum doesn't like avatars above 60p in height now? :banghead:
EDIT 4: 65p works, hmm...
EDIT 5: Yeah, a 65x65p square seems to be the upper limit currently?
Quote from: freebrickproductions on June 03, 2025, 03:39:53 PMEDIT 5: Yeah, a 65x65p square seems to be the upper limit currently?
Aha, thank you for figuring that out.
I shrunk the photo to 65x65, then uploaded to Imgur.
<-- Looks like it displays here at 80x80 though.
Quote from: Scott5114 on June 01, 2025, 11:55:20 PMI went for a more subtle approach with mine...
You gave me an idea. It helps that my home state uses a rainbow on one of its standard signs.
I'd like to restore the avatar I've had for a long time. It was a route marker I photographed (heavy edits to comply with this forum's avatar guidelines), which I uploaded to the AARoads server.
If you'd prefer something hosted on a third-party server, I now have a Flickr account.
@Alex do you still have oscar's avatar on the server somewhere?
Quote from: oscar on July 06, 2025, 11:38:53 AMI'd like to restore the avatar I've had for a long time. It was a route marker I photographed (heavy edits to comply with this forum's avatar guidelines), which I uploaded to the AARoads server.
If you'd prefer something hosted on a third-party server, I now have a Flickr account.
You could copy the avatar from the Wayback Machine (https://web.archive.org/web/20231204042724/https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?PHPSESSID=acad074a3eac766d1734d4f80c52d680&topic=33048.50) into Imgur and use that URL.
I was gonna change back after Pride Month, but 65x65 is a very small size, and even the reduced size crop of my profile pic accounts for the old 80x80 limit.
Quote from: oscar on July 06, 2025, 11:38:53 AMI'd like to restore the avatar I've had for a long time. It was a route marker I photographed (heavy edits to comply with this forum's avatar guidelines), which I uploaded to the AARoads server.
If you'd prefer something hosted on a third-party server, I now have a Flickr account.
Oscar, see if this works:
https://i.postimg.cc/qBcTMWjL/avatar-1107-1348108042.jpg
That, and the same image hosted on my www.alaskaroads.com server, exceeds the forum's size limits for avatars not hosted on the aaroads server. If Alex can't find my old avatar on the aaroads server, then I'll have to shrink the avatar on my server from 80x80 to 65x65.
Quote from: oscar on July 06, 2025, 11:34:26 PMThat, and the same image hosted on my www.alaskaroads.com server, exceeds the forum's size limits for avatars not hosted on the aaroads server. If Alex can't find my old avatar on the aaroads server, then I'll have to shrink the avatar on my server from 80x80 to 65x65.
I had just downloaded the pic from your profile from the waybackmachine and then hosted it on postimages.org.
The old forum limits were over 100px, somewhere around 150 or 120.
Did something change on SMF's side? This is hilariously regressive.
I can't find a way to update my signature (to update which routes I've been on) without my current avatar going away.
Quote from: hotdogPi on July 18, 2025, 12:01:54 PMI can't find a way to update my signature (to update which routes I've been on) without my current avatar going away.
Huh, that's interesting. I haven't changed my avatar in many years, but I most recently changed my signature in April with no problems. And my signature uses 449 out of 450 allowed characters.
I do see, however, that "No avatar" is automatically selected if I attempt to edit my profile now.
Quote from: hotdogPi on July 18, 2025, 12:01:54 PMI can't find a way to update my signature (to update which routes I've been on) without my current avatar going away.
I updated my location and it deleted my avatar, so I understand your concern.
There is no longer any way to upload an avatar directly, so you'll need to post your avatar somewhere else online and then paste the URL.
Quote from: kphoger on July 18, 2025, 12:08:29 PMI do see, however, that "No avatar" is automatically selected if I attempt to edit my profile now.
This is the same issue I had, the upload option disappears and any uploaded avatar is deleted if you edit your profile and then save it, since the "no avatar" option becomes the default option without the upload option being available.
Well, the change obviously happened since early April, or else my avatar would have been wiped out then.
It happened during the last restoration of the forum after a long period being down. The avatars aren't actually deleted, however - they show up in the gallery, so you just have to poke around to find the string of characters that's used as the file name for the stored one.
Quote from: vdeane on July 18, 2025, 12:40:07 PMIt happened during the last restoration of the forum after a long period being down. The avatars aren't actually deleted, however - they show up in the gallery, so you just have to poke around to find the string of characters that's used as the file name for the stored one.
Bafflingly, when I do that, it shows a single option for anything other than the categories:
yours (avatar 45 1399424045). WTF!!?!
I also don't see any way to change those characters to find my old one. Not that I'd ever take the time to figure out which string of characters was my old fingerpost avatar...
I tried "copy image address", which showed my current avatar (before it was lost) in the preview. However, when clicking "save":
QuoteThe following errors occurred when trying to save your profile:
The avatar you have selected is not a valid image
By doing so, it removed my avatar, but my signature did
not update.
The file is https://www.aaroads.com/forum/custom_avatar/avatar_12069_1563874566.jpg, which I only still had because I have more than one tab open. However, that URL seems to have been deleted as soon as I lost it.
I clicked Preview on the signature before I did anything with the avatar, if that matters.
So what's the new size limit, in width*height, for avatars hosted elsewhere and for avatars hosted on this site?
Quote from: kphoger on July 18, 2025, 02:09:35 PMSo what's the new size limit, in width*height, for avatars hosted elsewhere and for avatars hosted on this site?
65x65p is the current limit, I believe?
Quote from: kphoger on July 18, 2025, 02:09:35 PMSo what's the new size limit, in width*height, for avatars hosted elsewhere and for avatars hosted on this site?
Quote from: freebrickproductions on July 18, 2025, 04:36:32 PM65x65p is the current limit, I believe?
My own avatar is 48x48 pixels, and it's hosted on this site. Yet, if I go to change anything on my profile, it still defaults to 'No avatar'.
https://www.aaroads.com/forum/custom_avatar/avatar_6641_1357740451.png
(https://i.imgur.com/Px1ptc2.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/l5oAzfZ.png)
Quote from: hotdogPi on July 18, 2025, 01:03:46 PMI tried "copy image address", which showed my current avatar (before it was lost) in the preview. However, when clicking "save":
QuoteThe following errors occurred when trying to save your profile:
The avatar you have selected is not a valid image
By doing so, it removed my avatar, but my signature did not update.
The file is https://www.aaroads.com/forum/custom_avatar/avatar_12069_1563874566.jpg, which I only still had because I have more than one tab open. However, that URL seems to have been deleted as soon as I lost it.
I clicked Preview on the signature before I did anything with the avatar, if that matters.
I tried the same trick, I had a single tab open with my old avatar still. Unfortuantely, no-dice, exactly the same error.
In theory, following vdeane's advice, we should be able to find/select our old avatars from the gallery, but I don't see any way to change the code in the avatar list. Mine is still stuck on vdeane's (which is still baffling to me...)
Quote from: kphoger on July 18, 2025, 04:47:04 PMQuote from: kphoger on July 18, 2025, 02:09:35 PMSo what's the new size limit, in width*height, for avatars hosted elsewhere and for avatars hosted on this site?
Quote from: freebrickproductions on July 18, 2025, 04:36:32 PM65x65p is the current limit, I believe?
My own avatar is 48x48 pixels, and it's hosted on this site. Yet, if I go to change anything on my profile, it still defaults to 'No avatar'.
https://www.aaroads.com/forum/custom_avatar/avatar_6641_1357740451.png
(https://i.imgur.com/Px1ptc2.png)
(https://i.imgur.com/l5oAzfZ.png)
It defaults to no avatar because the option you previously used (uploading directly to AARoads) is no longer available as an option (probably would have been the fourth option down); without that option available, although your old avatar is saved on the website, saving any changes to your profile will involve selecting one of the three remaining avatar options, the default being "no avatar".
In other words: you have to reupload your avatar to another website and paste in the link for the third option if you need to make changes to your profile.
Yes it's idiotic. Between this change and the removal of the "like" button, I'm very confused about the direction of AARoads lately. The two are likely not related, but I neverthless dislike (no pun intended) both changes.
Quote from: jakeroot on July 18, 2025, 05:06:22 PMBetween this change and the removal of the "like" button, I'm very confused about the direction of AARoads lately.
The like button was removed because it was generating too many messages in the site's error log. I have a fix for it but I'm waiting on Alex.
Quote from: Scott5114 on July 18, 2025, 06:24:42 PMQuote from: jakeroot on July 18, 2025, 05:06:22 PMBetween this change and the removal of the "like" button, I'm very confused about the direction of AARoads lately.
The like button was removed because it was generating too many messages in the site's error log. I have a fix for it but I'm waiting on Alex.
Yeah, I like to think that most of us are understanding of what a pain it has become to host this thing.
Quote from: Rothman on July 18, 2025, 07:12:15 PMQuote from: Scott5114 on July 18, 2025, 06:24:42 PMQuote from: jakeroot on July 18, 2025, 05:06:22 PMBetween this change and the removal of the "like" button, I'm very confused about the direction of AARoads lately.
The like button was removed because it was generating too many messages in the site's error log. I have a fix for it but I'm waiting on Alex.
Yeah, I like to think that most of us are understanding of what a pain it has become to host this thing.
The pain is not so much the forum itself, as it is that hosting providers are more or less doing away with the traditional "you upload the files to the server and we handle the rest" model, or charging so much for it that it's not feasible. Now you're given access to a computer with an OS and nothing else and told have fun. It's not too bad once you get everything set up, but Alex was basically thrown into the deep end by the hosting provider and told if he wants a website he has to learn to swim. Between working out all the kinks to that and the AI scraper bullshit it's a lot to handle all at once.
Even this profile-avatar issue is probably "something is misconfigured somewhere, but who the fuck knows which subsystem it is that needs its settings adjusted".
Quote from: Rothman on July 18, 2025, 07:12:15 PMQuote from: Scott5114 on July 18, 2025, 06:24:42 PMQuote from: jakeroot on July 18, 2025, 05:06:22 PMBetween this change and the removal of the "like" button, I'm very confused about the direction of AARoads lately.
The like button was removed because it was generating too many messages in the site's error log. I have a fix for it but I'm waiting on Alex.
Yeah, I like to think that most of us are understanding of what a pain it has become to host this thing.
I'll come back and like both of these posts once it's back 😁。
Quote from: jakeroot on July 18, 2025, 05:01:54 PMQuote from: hotdogPi on July 18, 2025, 01:03:46 PMI tried "copy image address", which showed my current avatar (before it was lost) in the preview. However, when clicking "save":
QuoteThe following errors occurred when trying to save your profile:
The avatar you have selected is not a valid image
By doing so, it removed my avatar, but my signature did not update.
The file is https://www.aaroads.com/forum/custom_avatar/avatar_12069_1563874566.jpg, which I only still had because I have more than one tab open. However, that URL seems to have been deleted as soon as I lost it.
I clicked Preview on the signature before I did anything with the avatar, if that matters.
I tried the same trick, I had a single tab open with my old avatar still. Unfortuantely, no-dice, exactly the same error.
In theory, following vdeane's advice, we should be able to find/select our old avatars from the gallery, but I don't see any way to change the code in the avatar list. Mine is still stuck on vdeane's (which is still baffling to me...)
The URL redirects to the forum index for me, so there must be something preventing hotlinking or similar.
That's interesting that the extra avatar is mine for everyone. I guess I managed to restore it after updating my profile only out of sheer dumb luck.
Other people's avatar URLs still work if I put them in the URL bar. I believe the reason mine doesn't work that way is because I lost my avatar when attempting to update my signature.