[quote=@Captain Jordan]
[quote=@LegendBegins]
[quote=@Captain Jordan]
[quote=@LegendBegins]
[quote=@Mahz]
No. Right now, you can go to massivewallpaperimages.com and paste the URL of an 8192×4608 image into the Guild's avatar box. 

Since the guild's code right now is 100% naive and trusting of the client (always a bad idea), every user will have to download that 8192x4608 image. If massivewallpaperimages.com has no-cache headers on their images, then everyone on the guild will have to download your avatar image every time they see it. That's why I depend on people to just follow the rules right now.

Now, when I implement a system where users can upload their avatars to the guild and I can process their image, then the guild will resize and downgrade that 8192x4608 image into a 150x85 image. In other words, I will be able to enforce the 150x150 max-size constraint since I control the images.

I currently do not control the images.
[/quote]

I'm aware of the fact that you do not. However, is it currently impossible for the server code to accept the image redirection, and then before displaying it, resizes it in the same way it would an uploaded image? It could cause an extra few calculations, but what prevents the server from essentially saying "This linked image is too large, so I'm going to scale it down before displaying it" and output the resized version?
[/quote]

That's an awful idea for folks on mobile and limited dataplans, especially considering Mahz's example.
[/quote]

According to my idea, all the data load would be on the server, since nothing more than our current 150X150 pictures would display. Perhaps I'm explaining my intent incorrectly.
[/quote]

What's the benefit between implementing this and implementing an image upload system? I'm not sure how fetching from a 3rd party site is going to be any cleaner/safer/less open to abuse than uploading.
[/quote]

It's a system that'll take less time to implement, won't require server space to implement, since images are stored elsewhere, and it makes it easier on users of the current system.