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Author Topic: Ookla speed test results in forum signatures.  (Read 19143 times)

kitz

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Ookla speed test results in forum signatures.
« on: May 13, 2021, 06:05:36 AM »

It has recently been brought to our attention that size of some of the ookla speed test results used in signatures have become rather large and can be up to 6x that of the actual forum post.  We have already asked some users to please amend their signatures.

Whilst re-reading an old thread last night, I noticed a post from 2019 where the users signature was literally taking over the whole thread with these enormous graphical results.  It looked pretty awful (not to mention monotonous and overbearing) as I scrolled down the page on a PC, so goodness knows what it must be like on a mobile device.  :( 

To give an indication; these images are 750 x 400 pixels on a monitor with a screen resolution of 1920 x 1080... which in old money is 9¼ x 5 inches.  If you are anything like me and often have other things on the go and never view your browser in full window mode, then this one image is literally taking over half my visible window.  When the same user posts more than one reply in a thread, it soon becomes messy and an eyesore.

Based on the fact that this particular user hasn't visited the forum for a couple of months I can only assume that Ookla has recently changed something their side as I'm not aware of it being a problem until the past week.   I have tried to set a limit on the maximum signature size, but this doesn't appear to have any effect on signatures that were previously in place before I made the changes. 

If you do have an Ookla speed test result in your signature, would you please check its size and if necessary, change or remove it.   Admins will automatically delete any that we come across without any notification to yourselves.
Thank you for understanding. 
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kitz

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Re: Ookla speed test results in forum signatures.
« Reply #1 on: May 13, 2021, 06:34:58 AM »

This also affects speedtest.net.     

What a stupid thing to do.  They've increased the image size 4 fold and I cant see anything in the links that give an option for size.
It will only result in a lot of forums banning their use in member signatures.   :-\
« Last Edit: May 13, 2021, 02:06:59 PM by kitz »
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Alex Atkin UK

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Re: Ookla speed test results in forum signatures.
« Reply #2 on: May 13, 2021, 07:05:23 AM »

Ten fold?  As far as I can tell they're just over four times the size they used to be.  This happened (at least for new tests done) some months back

I'm guessing since then they have been slowly re-generating historical images which seems an utterly baffling thing to do for the reasons you describe.

I really can't see why they did this, its not like EVERYONE is using high DPI screens and even those that do usually have 150-200% scaling set on their PC anyway.  Seems to me this will actually break scaling not improve it, perhaps where your ten-fold is coming from?
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Chrysalis

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Re: Ookla speed test results in forum signatures.
« Reply #3 on: May 13, 2021, 10:54:36 AM »

They likely doing it to try and gain attention to their site, but as kitz said it will backfire as forums will ban them.

Its a shame windows has no DPI setting to shrink below 100%, so much stuff seems to be about making all UI elements bigger these days as if we using 4k screens.
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licquorice

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Re: Ookla speed test results in forum signatures.
« Reply #4 on: May 13, 2021, 11:15:33 AM »

Call me old fashioned, but I'm afraid I have never seen the point of sigs in forums, even less the point of speedtest results in a sig. I never use one and always tick the box not to display them on any forum I subscribe to.
Asbestos suit donned in readiness!!
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renluop

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Re: Ookla speed test results in forum signatures.
« Reply #5 on: May 13, 2021, 11:23:30 AM »

Agree! it seems like jungle ape chest beating, or just juvenile showing off.
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broadstairs

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Re: Ookla speed test results in forum signatures.
« Reply #6 on: May 13, 2021, 12:05:42 PM »

I have mixed feelings about signatures. I feel that on a forum such as this it is worth posting details of your setup (OS maybe ISP Router etc) as it saves re-typing it all when you post about problems and on some other forums I add that kind of detail if relevant to the forum subject, but it usually just one to two lines of text.

Stuart
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kitz

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Re: Ookla speed test results in forum signatures.
« Reply #7 on: May 13, 2021, 02:06:38 PM »

>>Ten fold?

Not sure where I got that from.   I distinctly recall thinking the old one was about 100 pix...  but my fingers obviously typed something else as you are quite correct it should be four fold.  Thanks for pointing it out - I will change it as it's not what I intended.   :-[   
« Last Edit: May 13, 2021, 02:12:49 PM by kitz »
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meritez

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Re: Ookla speed test results in forum signatures.
« Reply #8 on: May 13, 2021, 02:09:22 PM »

You guys have signatures!  :o
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licquorice

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Re: Ookla speed test results in forum signatures.
« Reply #9 on: May 13, 2021, 02:15:39 PM »

Err, I don't. Or should that be a question mark rather than exclamation mark?
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kitz

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Re: Ookla speed test results in forum signatures.
« Reply #10 on: May 13, 2021, 03:08:24 PM »

Its only the ookla and speedtest.net sig because of its new large size. 

The rules on signatures can be found here.  There is a stated recommended max image size, but when I checked the config this morning there wasn't anything set in the forum software configs.   Bearing in mind that was about 15yrs ago it's highly likely that one of the major updates such as SMF1 > SMF2 has set the default back to 0  (no limit).   Even if there had been I doubt it would have made any difference as it only seems to affect new sigs, not those which had later been resized.

Some people feel the speed test result is relevant as it gives an indication of the type of product they are on.   Some sigs do get repetitive though, but the ones I dislike the most are those where you can't tell if it is a signature or not.   There's one forum in particular where I find they are annoying and ask you to rate the reply...  but because its 'normal text' your eyes follow on and your re-read it many times in the same thread.

 
Quote
This happened (at least for new tests done) some months back

I'm guessing since then they have been slowly re-generating historical images which seems an utterly baffling thing to do for the reasons you describe.

Thanks.  yep sounds logical as I'm sure someone would have noticed sooner. 
   


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eke struggling to type today - that took ages (nrly an hr to make one single post).   My fingers don't seem to be typing what my brain is thinking.  I even struggled with a one sentence text earlier today.  (MS neuro flare)  
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Weaver

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Re: Ookla speed test results in forum signatures.
« Reply #11 on: May 13, 2021, 03:56:10 PM »

I agree with what Kitz was saying. Signatures drove me mad because of the repetition especially seeing as I was originally using a small iPad, for ~4 yrs, so long ago I searched for the required setting and turned signatures off with a great sigh of relief. Turning them off also saves byte count seeing as I pay for downloaded bytes. I hate to think what it would be like on a mobile phone with all the repetition, or to a blind user who, like someone I once knew, uses a screen reader or speech synthesiser to read the page aloud.
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Alex Atkin UK

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Re: Ookla speed test results in forum signatures.
« Reply #12 on: May 13, 2021, 10:30:13 PM »

My take is that signatures are essential on support forums.

If you are asking for support on a subject and you get a reply from someone, who are you more likely to take seriously?  The person who has no signature or the person who has listed their configuration and its somewhat similar to what you are asking about?

When you spend a lot of time on forums it gets INSANELY tedious to have to explain every single time WHY your opinion is relevant.  Sometimes I will just fire a quick response and hope the user sees from my signature why my opinion is to be taken seriously.

Also the fact its taking up more space on the screen I find beneficial, its often easier to identify who is posting from their signature than their little profile box.

I seem to recall on this very forum I've had one or two users PM me purely because they saw something in my sig.  I will even often refer back to my own sig to remind myself of things in the middle of a discussion.
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Weaver

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Re: Ookla speed test results in forum signatures.
« Reply #13 on: May 14, 2021, 01:17:16 PM »

Alex has an important viewpoint. I shouldn’t complain because I could, and did, turn them off. So I’m happy, because I had the choice.

However to make both me and Alex happy, perhaps a (very short-named) link to each sig or some javascript wizardry that expands a sig when you select it would suit us both. But here I’m redesigning the UI!
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jelv

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Re: Ookla speed test results in forum signatures.
« Reply #14 on: May 16, 2021, 04:35:48 PM »

Get people to add "width=100" to the img tag? That gives a thumbnail which links to the results page.

E.g. [URL=https://www.speedtest.net/result/11107962508][img width=100]https://www.speedtest.net/result/11107962508.png[/img][/URL]

displays as

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