The SIZE tag.

[KingMike]

Since I've been seeing this a bit lately... it's really quite annoying when the size tag is used to create unreadable-sized text, and I don't think I should have to click the Quote button just to be able to read the text.
Is it possible to mod this to either remove it, or at least force the text to be the "normal" size at a minimum. I just don't see a good reason for using intentionally teensy-tiny text. It's not really a "secret" anyways when one can/has to click QUOTE to read it.

[Lenophis]

I, for one, support KingMike's suggestion.

[BRPXQZME]

I am going to be so much more dramatic than usual that I will up and leave if you take away a tool of communication that allows me to deëmphasize things that might need to be said but could possibly be construed as explaining too much or trying too hard for a lame punchline and I probably account for more than half the time it’s used here and I’ve been doing it for years without a peep from anyone so oh hell yes I feel at liberty to take this personally no matter how ridiculous you may consider the practice or non-targeted you believe the suggestion to be comma thank you. It would be nice if every time we could perfectly say as much as needs to be said, no more, no less. But in forum posting, we have time constraints, even if it less of a constraint than in instant messaging and chat rooms.

The notion that this is in any way to make things secret is risible. The way I keep a secret, gentlemen, is by not saying it.

[Kiyoshi Aman]

I would recommend enforcing an 8pt minimum. (Mind you, I also use my browser's minimum-font-size setting, and you should too!)

[Nightcrawler]

I can disable the size tag entirely, but that's about all the time I would spend on this. This is just an annoyance that you have of certain user's habits. You can easily take steps to enforce minimum font size on your browser.

[MathOnNapkins]

Another option to is to use the browser's zoom function temporarily. Most I've used allow you to hold the Ctrl key and use the middle scroll wheel of the mouse for convenience. And most also have a keyboard shortcut for returning to the default zoom level. Yet another possibility is to copy the text and paste it into another text box without any size control (browser address or some other edit control).

[RedComet]

I've been complaining about this very thing since RHDN first opened.

[Neil]

I've been complaining about this very thing since RHDN first opened.

TFTFY.

That joke having been made, can I ask what the point of the size tag is? is there a valid use for it on the forum in the first place?

[BRPXQZME]

To make text a different size, of course!

Section
I am an article content. I contain lots of interesting things.

Subsection
This product may be used with alkaline or rechargeable NiMH batteries. Rechargeable NiCD never to use!!! Do not forget to charge the batteries from time to time.*

* batteries not included

[Neil]

Okay, but is there a valid use for it on a forum? You just showed what good use it would be on a wiki, which is awesome, but what realistic point does have a forum have with size code?

[Kiyoshi Aman]

The submissions policy thread used it, IIRC.

[BRPXQZME]

Okay, but is there a valid use for it on a forum? You just showed what good use it would be on a wiki, which is awesome, but what realistic point does have a forum have with size code?

Do you only speak at one volume? I for one do not sound my barbaric yawp over the rooftops over the world at the same volume I call someone a dumbass out of earshot. This is an effect conveyable through text size. I might point out, on an aside, that in the Personal Projects subforum, it is occasionally necessary to present a project using an article-like format.

When conversing in a forum, we must occasionally use emphasis or deëmphasis in ways best conveyed through styles. I often find it  to use the full range of options from time to time, especially in cases where refactoring a sentence for clarity would be less clear than, say, italicizing or parenthesizing particular terms for clarity or flow management. I fully admit the amount of times I use it would be considered offensively frequent in literary prose, but this is a forum; a message board, if that brings to mind master rhetors in their togas orating in debates at a level that would put Lincoln and Douglas to shame, although it really shouldn’t when it is not generally considered a faux pas to converse using yellow smiley faces. Even text color, largely a forum annoyance, has recently found a not in any way useful or elucidatory purpose here.

I am going to assume for politeness’ sake that you seriously missed or didn’t understand my first post, but if you are being passive aggressive with your insinuation that it is not “valid”, Neil... know that I think rather highly of you, sir, but you’d be challenging an established belief of mine here.

If you must know, I usually prune things when posts get about this long and flowery and irate (even to the point of just not posting), but no such mercy today.

[Neil]

There was no passive aggressiveness implied. I was not sure if you missed the word forum in my earlier post. Your response/example looked more like something you'd see on a wiki or in a report outline rather than something you'd typically see on a forum. Personally, those are the only times in writing I play with size.

I suppose my philosophy is: if you can't do it on a typewriter, you probably don't need it for communication on a forum. I see it's role in presentation, drawing attention, but on a forum I wonder if bold and it's kin are the better choice.

In short, I respect your detailed philosophy, misunderstood your shorter answer, and politely disagree with both as far as effective conveyance of intent on a forum goes. I would be more inclined to believe someone was purposely being an ass with the use of font size in a paragraph. Now I at least know better where you are concerned.

[BRPXQZME]

There is a wide gap, good sir, between needs and conceits. I do not pretend this is not a conceit. But it is an important one to my own communication. Probably-don’t-needs are far different from nice-to-haves. You absolutely don’t need the ability to post images or attractive clickable URLs to communicate on a forum (and you can’t do that on a typewriter, not the same way). But then why are we here and not on the wild-west unmoderated USENET anymore? Because this is a step up, and the nice-to-haves are indeed nice to have. We can have nice things, sometimes. Nice things that have been around for over ten years on this kind of software.

And speaking from under my graphic designer and translator hats, size and bold are very different effects. In Script Help, from time to time (although the opportunities have dried up of late) a complicated kanji is enlarged as a courtesy. Size up makes it clearer; bold makes it muddier.

Moreover, there is no analogue between my whispertext and something like boldface. The alternative is to just not say it, which is basically being institutionally required to shut up as far as I’m concerned, which is basically why it going bye-bye means I do, too. It would be a reluctant parting, but the majesty of my tower of hats must not be tarnished.

[DarknessSavior]

Oh, come on, guys. You seriously can't just hit Ctrl+ and Ctrl- a few times to let people have something? This shouldn't be rocket science...

~DS

[UglyJoe]

You can take our font tag, but you can never take our

[snarfblam]

There are a whole lot of long posts with detailed discussion about the size tag. Any way I look at it, I can't see what the issue is. Is it a big deal if somebody decides to make a post that includes tiny text? Is it a big deal if there is no option to use tiny text? I mean.... really?

[Neil]

There are a whole lot of long posts with detailed discussion about the size tag. Any way I look at it, I can't see what the issue is. Is it a big deal if somebody decides to make a post that includes tiny text? Is it a big deal if there is no option to use tiny text? I mean.... really?

There is something wrong on the internet. It needs to be discussed.

[Garoth Moulinoski]