Crosspost entry userpic

[allchildren]

Title:
Crosspost entry userpic

Area:
Crossposting

Summary:
Enable users to automatically include the original entry userpic as part of a crosspost to another site.

Description:
Few people want to maintain paid accounts at both LJ and DW, and one of the most popular perk of a paid account is a larger variety of icons than available to a free account. (Especially since LJ's basic accounts only include 6, rather than DW's 15). Thus it's easy to get into the place where you have hundreds of icons on DW, but only 6 on LJ and when you crosspost your LJ mirrors show the same default icon every time.

It's already possible to include a dynamic image of your DW entry comment count in LJ crossposts, so I propose a similar system be set up for DW userpics, only at the top of an entry instead of at the bottom, preferably inset with the entry text.

The obvious problem I can think of is server load. I have no idea if DW could handle all this image hotlinking, though of course it would be optional and not every user would care enough to enact it. For those of us who are slightly obsessed with our userpics, though, this would be a great boon, and may well encourage people to make the switch.

Poll #2023 Crosspost entry userpic

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 39

View Respondents

This suggestion:

View Answers

Should be implemented as-is.
5 (12.8%)

Should be implemented with changes. (please comment)
1 (2.6%)

Shouldn't be implemented.
26 (66.7%)

(I have no opinion)
7 (17.9%)

(Other: please comment)
0 (0.0%)

Comments

[ratcreature]

Considering how server intensive icons are always said to be, that they are the most expensive and such, I don't see how this could work, but even aside from that, I dislike the idea, because the icon would not be in the icon place, and would not go with the icon meta information, keywords and such. And there would be the normal LJ icon too So if I read someone on LJ who x-posts from DW, I'd get two icon pictures in every post, one as icon, and one random small picture, that is an extra user icon, but out of place.

[triadruid]

Pretty much my thoughts exactly; this benefits DW not at all.

[cesy]

+1

[matgb]

they are the most expensive and such

It was my understanding that the main cost is for comment icons &c, followed by the database cost of the friends page. Thus this doesn't specifically apply.

However, I don't know where I got that understanding from, so welcome correction from one that knows.

Regardless, I would like an option to have my chosen icon appear in crossposted entries and, perhaps more importantly, in the feed. Increasingly, when I post, most views come from feeds, and a lot of my readers come from feeds and similar.

To me, an icon adds a lot of flavour and character to a post, and I select them carefully, with icons designed specifically for posting instead of commenting.

Icons are one of the USPs of DW & LJ compared to other blogging services, and we know they're popular.

I have actually considered actually hardcoding icons into posts themselves in order that they show up everywhere--I know at least one friend does actually do this.

If icons can be made to be more useful off site, and thus bring more people here to comment, this benefits me. It also shows one of the strengths of the site and can be used to recruit more paid users.

However my opinion (implement with changes) is predicated on the costs/server load not being excessive and/or there being a better way of making them work. Given it's already possible to hard embed icons into posts, and they're planning specific icon galleries within the image gallery software, I think this is possible.