pwhodges wrote:Incidentally, I feel bound to remark that this new policy about not quoting images in their original img tags is misconceived, and a right pain for no benefit whatsoever (and possibly a disadvantage); every browser made in the past fifteen years caches images so that multiple references to the same image on the same page are not downloaded multiple times - and nor does the rendering engine do any work on them until they are requested to be displayed; however, changing the things to links which open in a new page might make some browsers download a new copy when they are opened, thus causing the users to do more downloading than if a simple quote had been used.
I described it as a new policy without thinking, because hadn't realised that the fix-ups have recently been automated (and not least because some were broken).
I understand the policy of not quoting images if they are not hidden in spoilers (indeed, I have that policy elsewhere); but technically, unless I'm very wrong, in this case there is no benefit, and having the subject of discussion or comment an extra step removed from sight is simply an annoyance. It might be less annoying (a step removed) if the spoiler tags went as well; but that's a bad idea because they commonly contain identifying annotation themselves.