As of May 06, 2010 at approximately 0100 (-7 GMT) I have reduced the upload amounts, as we continue to average approximately 1.1Gigs a month. That being said the following changes have been made.
Upload Limit set to:
300KiB
with a maximum of three (3) attachments per post
No apologies for these changes, and it is my hope that many have already converted to off site hosts for files by this time.
If you have not, you are welcome to read the below statement and set up hosting by whatever needs that fit you.
Additional links are available in the below post and in the Important Links area of the forum
ATTENTION!!!
This is another of my never ending posts, but you will want to read and be aware of what is going to happen
As many of you know we recently hit a ceiling on our uploads limit.
This ceiling automatically stopped all uploads to the forums.
What exactly happened?
The server, and the forum ACP, only allow for so much space, we maxed our limit from the ACP control set.
As soon as we hit our maximum allotment of space, the Forum would no longer allow any further attachments.
Since I have been tied up with other projects and personal issues...I missed it, and uploads were denied for about a week.
What is the culprit for the space being gone?
I hate to say it, but it is the skins.
The heart of Rainmeter is what is taking the most space.
Screenshots and other small image items are inconsequential, the skins is what is sapping our space
Where are we at now?
At this time: Space limit has been expanded, but the space is not infinite.
As our space is limited, we will hit this expanded ceiling again, and it may not be in the too far future.
First: I would have our community understand that this forum space is donated to the Rainmeter community by
NiteShdw; Owner of http://osirisdevelopment.com
NiteShdw operates a business and at least one other forum through his account.
NiteShdw has been incredibly generous to our community, by expanding current space available, and other things that I can not even list....I wish not to further impose on his generosity
Second: We started accepting donations several months ago, but this has panned out very little, and the account remains stagnant.
The Donations account is transparent, and I maintain it meticulously...More information on the donations: http://forum.rainmeter.net/viewforum.php?f=43
Now I just recently realized that the information for donations is missing at the footer of the forums and I will work to get this returned as soon as possible.
As the Community bucket (Donations) remains mostly empty, we will not be looking to expand the forum space.
I would need to see steady and long term flow of donations to even consider the community flipping the bill to maintain several Gigs of server space.
Sooner or later this space ceiling will be hit again, uploads will cease at that point.
So where does this leave us???
We need to find alternatives to this space issue.
After some interesting discussion the solution we have developed, although not totally appealing, is a working solution.
Below is an outline of how the future of uploading skins and test skins to the forum, will eventually play out.
We require that folks that have upload Beta skins, and have released full versions of that skin...to delete the post and the attachments.
We are asking that members find an off site File Hosting solution for their skins:
I use DropBox (You can see evidence of this in my larger skins here at the forum. I also use it for my Avatar, Signature, Flash preesentations,and most of my screenshots here at the forums)
MediaFire Has been found to be a free unlimited and decent interface host, with unlimited information handling.
Deviant art....Also an excellent choice, absolutely free, and Rainmeter has a full blown Group working there with several members and non-community members working their tails off to make it special. Bendenfield is also doing everything in his power to ensure that the DeviantArt group and the forum community remain connected.
Give him a pat on the back when you can :thumbsu:
- http://www.mediafire.com/
https://www.dropbox.com
http://www.deviantart.com
http://customize.org/rainmeter
I would use DropBox for Beta releases to the forum, and then Customize.org, or Devart for the links, but Media fire is a great way to track Downloads and categorize, so please look at these solutions, and if you find one of your own, please share it...We are always looking for better solutions
We want to keep the skins and projects here at the forums as much as our members need, but the offsite solution must be instituted.
If members can convert their skin releases and beta projects to offsite hosts, for their skin downloads/files...It will be greatly appreciated.
Upload limits will be reduced in the future. This will not happen immediately and members will be warned with plenty of time in advance.
The current limit for attachment size is 1.5M with a maximum of 5 attachments per post; this will be reduced.
To what size and how many? We have not made a determination.
So further information will be made available in the future.
The Skin Development and Share Your Creations forum will be culled!
At some point in the near future; I will start culling older beta and test skins. I will make every attempt to keep Full skins, but I can not guarantee that this will happen, as we need to make room for new skins, but would wish to maintain a skin gallery.
If you do not wish to lose you beta skin, start converting to offsite hosting soon.
I also suggest the same for full skins as well, as I am unaware as to whether I will need to cull full skins, but better to be safe.
Also keep in mind that sometimes, beta and full skins may share the same thread so better to convert all.
When will this happen; I am unsure at this time, but I will be starting no later than 2 months from now...so Member have plenty of time to convert their skins to an offsite host and delete their attachments to the forum.
More information Will be made available as changes are to come.
Please understand that we are not looking at eliminating Skins and Beta forum, as any of us find a special privilege in watching the skins being built and the skins being released through the forums are special, especially to me.
I make no apologies, actually it sends not only a tinge of sadness, but a glorious feeling through me.
Rainmeter forum and the resurrection of Rainmeter has not even been a year in its time, and look what has happened.
I thank all of you for placing Rainmeter where it is today.
We will be around a lot longer, and hopefully these requests and changes will assist in keeping our forum.
If you have questions or suggestions, let us know..we are highly interested!!!
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