The maximum item size for layers shared to ArcGIS Online in a distributed collaboration is currently capped at 1GB. If a layer exceeds this size limit, the layer will be shared as a reference rather than a copy (link). Distributed collaboration is a great solution for 90% of the layers that I'd like to share as copies to ArcGIS Online, but the 1 GB limit prevents it from being a viable solution. I would like to propose that this limit be increased to allow for larger datasets to be shared as copies to an ArcGIS Online organization.
