About done ........

[verybrad]

Just opened the upteenth post with giant sideways pictures that won't load and lock up my computer.  Questioners also do not provide enough information in their titles to guage what they are asking about.  As a result, I am about done helping out here any more.  If something really piques my interest I'll have a look but, as for general help,  I am done.  Just a shame since the boards here used to be a great place.

[aristotles_id]

I also remember dialup. my access speed is now about 3000 times faster at 150megabits per second,) but those stupidly large phots syill irritate me, because they are generally rubbish anyway. And not everybody has superfast cable internet and no data charges.

The people running the boards could auto-resize incoming pictures with simple proprietory software but they just cannot be bothered.

I'm with brad all the way on this. I often think  when I see a question that if they don't care that much about a sensible question, I really cannot be arsed to give a sensible answer. 

It's not as if preparing good pictures for the web was some deep secret, there are plenty of simple guides, I have posted one or two myself. 

Is it weird to be annoyed watching people do things really badly? (but not badly enough to be funny)

[janetpjohn_la]

There are so many things posted that annoy me, but I realize that listing them is like preaching to the choir.  The offenders are surely not reading this!  I, too, hope Brad doesn't leave entirely.

Janet

[maxine*j]

When one inserts an image, one can choose (from an easy frop-down menu) to make the picture Small, Medium, Large, or Full size, and also choose its alighment.  Here's the same image in each size, aligned to the left. 

I don't think it could be made any easier for people who don't know how to resize their own photos.  But it does require a momen't thought and one extra mouse click...

And my apologies to anyone for whom this loads slowly, but I wanted to make the point.

[maxine*j]

And for those who don't know to right-click on an image to see the info, here are the sizes of the photos in the above post:

Full-size is 1,928.22 KB

Large is 40.13 KB

Medium is 23.84 KB

Small is 9.01 KB

[maxine*j]

And that's a drop-down menu, not a frop-down one. 

[mountaingigi]

And then there's the posters who don't know how to add more than one photo* at a time ... duh. Can we say step and repeat?

*thereby starting another post to add another photo!

[verybrad]

Some of you definitely get it.  It is not just about the pictures.  It is the attitude of the people asking for help. The poor oversized pictures are a symptom of this.  They seem unwilling to do the work necessary to get the help they need.   I don't know how many requests for additional photos have gone unfilled.  I realize that there might be a learning curve to using the board but respond to the people trying to help and put a little effort in to helping yourself.  Oh, and thank the people helping you.  We volunteer our time for little to nothing in return.

[verybrad]

Thgought I would come back and share this bit here that I received in my e-mail this AM:

"Hello verybrad,

Your topic recently received replies.

---

Topic: About done ........
Date: 04-06-2016 02:58 PM

Did it solve your problem?

Click here to view the replies and mark one as an Accepted Solution.

This helps others find helpful answers in the community too!"

They just don't get it!

[aristotles_id]

It is of course all automated, but the real idiocy is the 'accepted solution' idea.

My expereice is that it is almost invariably a unique problem posed, so even a real and correct solution would be irrelevant for anyone else, but also as often as not the OP marks their own post as a solution. The feature is worthless. 

[sonomabarn67]

Yes, just imagine if Edison had marked "accepted solution" after the fist three tries at the light bulb. Or Jonas Salk with the polio vaccine said "I can't see this working...accepted solution on that last one." Good thing all that sciency stuff got settled before the internet.

As for Maxine's bird pics, baffled.

[aristotles_id]

The bird pics are back and the post about them being removed has gone.  

[mountaingigi]

It's like Alfred Hitchcock all over again ...

[pixzee]

This type of bandwidth problem is a common one for any board or social media. (I personally believe it was the main downfall for MySpace.)

Forums and social networks routinely limit image size, you'll get a message like "that image is too large to post, please try with another image." Other sites, like flickr do all the work for you, creating thumbnails and links to full size images. Reddit will not allow images unless they are from their sister site, imgur.

The lack of a program like that demonstrates the ability and level of professionalism at Lithium (sorry guys).

But it seems very unlikely that Lithium will change anytime soon, because of the cost of implementation. But the first question would be where's the real incentive?

I mean besides false threats to "give up" from the answer-guys who frequent the forum. (There will always be some know-it-all willing to answer a question.)

EBays relationship to the boards has always been blazé, imho. Maybe because the boards don't seem to be trying to serve a tangible purpose, or one that can be measured in terms of making economic sense. It's like the chairs in the lobby of a hotel, does anyone really need them? Do the chairs need to be comfortable? Durable? or what? Or are they just window dressing that says, "we are accommodating". Sure if every time a guest places an overnight bag on a bench it falls off and breaks something inside their bag, the hotel might replace the bench, but if the bum off the street who drops in every day says, "there's no room to stretch out on this bench", are they going to listen?

In case you find it difficult to apply this metaphor, allow me. The folks who ask the questions are like the guests at the hotel. And right now, they don't have a problem with the furniture.

[mountaingigi]

If someone finds out the item they were going to list for 99¢ is actually a rare and valuable item that they can list for $1000, well then, these boards do serve ebay a tangible service in regards their bottom line.

But I get your metaphor and that ebay will never contemplate that added value.

[pixzee]

I agree that the boards do have a value, even a monetary value, but I doubt that the value you suggest is carefully or statistically considered.

In the case of the seller who asks if they should list at $0.99 or $1,000.00, I seriously doubt that either Lithium nor eBay is able or willing to write a program to detect and track such posts, in order to determine whether or not the items actually achieve a better return for eBay, or how often that happens, and what the exact return on investment is. It's a speculation.

My point is, if once a week (or even once a day) a seller who was wondering if they should list at $0.99 but finds out here that they should list at $1,000.00, and even do eventually sell their widget for $1,000.00 -would that pay for the Lithium service? I seriously doubt it.

What would the 'break even' point be? How often would that have to happen? Yes, that kind of help is beneficial to eBay, but I doubt if it even pays the light bill for the boards? So, I doubt that's eBay's consideration for keeping these boards.