What’s up with imgur?

[Deleted Member 1643]

Since the admins don't appear to see it's in their interest to fix this...

Any ideas for what to do with Tor browser? Surprised others aren't using it, given the https problem.

Tried blocking tracking as strictly as possible without success. It's a portable installation with no cache. Closing the browser clears everything. All other security settings appear to be maxed by default. Scripts are allowed for FC, which is needed for most sites to function these days.

There is an ultimate solution that's beginning to have more appeal - a certain alternative forum in which many of the same topics are discussed by many of the same participants. For now, FC appears to get higher traffic, but as problems like this make FC less competitive, that could (and sadly, maybe should) change.

Love FC - learned volumes of useful information here. It's sad to see these issues bringing it down.

 

[pakalolo]

Since the admins don't appear to see it's in their interest to fix this...

Have you not read anything we've posted on this topic? There is a clear explanation for what is happening and I've posted the only solution that will avert it. Imgur has banned direct links from FC and our choice here is to drop the Classifieds or suffer as we're doing. Since the only administrator for FC isn't available, we can't close the Classifieds even if we wanted to. We can see the problem perfectly well, we've posted several times on the subject, and it's pretty disappointing that you would still say such a thing.

You are welcome to leave for the unnamed forum any time. We certainly don't need you around here undermining this one.

 

[Deleted Member 1643]

Have you not read anything we've posted on this topic? There is a clear explanation for what is happening and I've posted the only solution that will avert it. Imgur has banned direct links from FC and our choice here is to drop the Classifieds or suffer as we're doing. Since the only administrator for FC isn't available, we can't close the Classifieds even if we wanted to. We can see the problem perfectly well, we've posted several times on the subject, and it's pretty disappointing that you would still say such a thing.

You are welcome to leave for the unnamed forum any time. We certainly don't need you around here undermining this one.

Sounds like a tricky problem. Don't have a solution to offer, not an area of expertise. Truly hope you solve it eventually. Post was deliberately provocative to encourage mods not to give up, but to think outside the box.

There's room for both fora, and it's more fun to use both for different reasons. Is there nothing to be learned from its approach to security?

 

[Summer]

Post was deliberately provocative to encourage mods not to give up, but to think outside the box.

What???

 

[pakalolo]

Is there nothing to be learned from its approach to security?

There is not, because this isn't a security issue. They haven't been cut off because their forum doesn't consume enough imgur bandwidth to attract notice.

 

[Deleted Member 1643]

There is not, because this isn't a security issue. They haven't been cut off because their forum doesn't consume enough imgur bandwidth to attract notice.

Alright, best of luck with this. Just want the best for FC. May have been too hard on you. Difficult to imagine running a forum under the conditions you have to work with. Feel free to delete post, if you'd like.

 

[cybrguy]

The very simple solutions to this problem is to not use imgur until they relent or change their policy. It is a stupid excuse to blacklist FC anyway and I am NOT installing an addon just so I can view imgur pics. Imgur offers nothing that the other image hosters don't, and they are only hurting themselves by blocking a huge number of advertising opportunities.

Sometimes we have to vote with our feet, folks. It's a good lesson. Most of the time I just see the image tag I don't bother going out of my way to see it so posters that continue to use imgur are just limiting their audience. Entirely up to them.

So, just as a data point, here is a tinypic test post I made in the sandbox thread soon after joining this forum in 2014 that is still available, so tinypic is no fly by night hoster...

 

[KeroZen]

Well, at least imgur pledged to not delete user images, even when posted anonymously without registering an account, and also to not set bandwidth limits. To me that was of clear interest and contrasted to all the previous image hosting services, which either removed images after some time or displayed a "monthly bandwidth exceeded" icon...

Some even closed or merged and changed their policies and were not viable options anymore.

No really, imgur wasn't that bad. And I can understand why they want to limit their services for "commercial uses". Speaking of which, @pakalolo did they offer a paid for alternative? Do we have any idea of the amount they would charge?

I mean, hosting images has a cost. If we can't host them on the forum server then I don't think it would be that outrageous to pay for such a service, and imgur could be the provider we need.

And about hiding the classified section, I imagine it's something we can't do without vtac? Your moderator account rights are not sufficient to change forum visibility settings?

 

[Summer]

The very simple solutions to this problem is to not use imgur until they relent or change their policy. It is a stupid excuse to blacklist FC anyway and they are only hurting themselves by blocking a huge number of advertising opportunities.

Why would they relent or change their policy? And hurting themselves? I don't recall seeing any ads on imgur. If they are there I guess I'm just not cognizant of them. I go, do my business, maybe peruse a couple of posts while I'm there & leave. And, I ask seriously, what would their motivation be to blacklist FC?

 

[cybrguy]

Why would they relent or change their policy? And hurting themselves? I don't recall seeing any ads on imgur.

My point is I don't really care if they relent or not as I won't be using them until or unless they do. They are only one of many hosters, and if they make me jump through hoops I just move to another.
And just fyi, at this moment my ad blocker is blocking 20 something items on the front page of imgur. Many are trackers that may or may not be visible, but as soon as I disable the blocker I see ads from Mike's Hard Cider, Papa Johns and SquareSpace.
As to their motivation, you would have to ask them but I don't think it serves them very well if it drives customers away.

 

[asdf420]

...Also, don't use Imgur to host image libraries you link to from elsewhere, content for your website, advertising, avatars, or anything else that turns us into your content delivery network...

wtf, that's basically, don't do anything

 

[pakalolo]

The only thing I can find is in their terms of service. Under 'Stuff Not to Do'.

...Also, don't use Imgur to host image libraries you link to from elsewhere, content for your website, advertising, avatars, or anything else that turns us into your content delivery network...
​

It all comes down to how Imgur interprets FC use as a whole. It is a grey area in ways that relate to their rules and leave room to wiggle if they feel generous or if they feel onerous.

https://imgur.com/tos

Here is the crux of the matter. Their TOS are deliberately vague and they reserve the right to interpret them as they choose. These are the same terms you accept when you register here, so clearly I have no problem with that. I also accept that their ruling about our Classifieds can be justified. The troublesome thing is that we have no guarantee the dropping Classifieds will get us off their blacklist. Everything hinges on their attitude towards FC, because they could easily rule something else a violation of their TOS.

If @vtac were around, he could at least drop the Classifieds or move them to another domain and then we'd see. Meanwhile, and they must know this, it is trivial to bypass their ban but it's a nuisance that has to be implemented by users, so there's their leverage.

 

[DieHard]

The fix I have found to work on my IPad is to hold my finger on the link until some options pop up. Then I choose "Open in New Tab". This seemed to do the trick.
It takes the request away from the FC Forum window and fools the block.

 

[cybrguy]

The fix I have found to work on my IPad is to hold my finger on the link until some options pop up. Then I choose "Open in New Tab". This seemed to do the trick.
It takes the request away from the FC Forum window and fools the block.

On a PC if I REALLY want to see one, I just hit reply and it is visible in the reply window.

I really don't see any upside for them to block FC (unless it's purely about the bandwidth we use). It's kinda self defeating to me, but these days that seems to be a trend, and not just in the cannabis industry...

 

[pakalolo]

...unless it's purely about the bandwidth we use...

It is, but perhaps not in the obvious way. The bandwidth consumed by FC is not noticeable in terms of load. I think they look for sites that exceed a threshold in order to detect sites using imgur for their content delivery.

 

[lookhigh]

I find uploading pics through a hosting site a pita. Numbers and letters are a blur to me.

 

[cybrguy]

It would be a lot easier (for us) if we could just attach them to our posts, but FC must have determined early on that they either didn't want to use that much storage or bandwidth. I don't know if the economics have changed since that decision or not, but a missing sysop makes that kinda moot...

 

[hd_rider]

So if our sysop is MIA and never to return, what are our options?

Being as old as this board's software is, should we put our heads together, look for volunteers to help run a new board, look for new hosting options, etc.?

I would truly hate to wake up some morning, load up my e-nano in front of the PC, and come here for the morning blab only to find it doesn't exist anymore.

 

[KeroZen]

I think you are extrapolating here. He's not MIA, he's just unavailable. We're not a lost ship on the sea don't worry!

 

[Stu]

So if our sysop is MIA and never to return, what are our options?

He's had a history of going dark many times in the past but he has always come back, so there is no reason to assume he's "never to return". This current absence is nothing new.

 

[Fat Freddy]

He's had a history of going dark many times in the past but he has always come back, so there is no reason to assume he's "never to return". This current absence is nothing new.

I knew it!

FC has just been a "front" all these years for international espionage!

Quick! To our secured ComSys everyone!

I think you are extrapolating here. He's not MIA, he's just unavailable. We're not a lost ship on the sea don't worry!

Hehehe!

"Mr. and Mrs. Vtac...the United States Navy regrets to inform you that your son, Ensign F. C. Vtac, is...is...not available at this time...yeah, that's right...he's just unavailable."


.

 

[asdf420]

why not write some scripts to download all the imgur images linked, upload them somewhere else and replace the links?

 

[cybrguy]

Man, think of what we could have saved if we could have gotten Pruitt one of these instead of his super secret phone booth. They are on a similar level of silly it seems to me...
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/16/climate/scott-pruitt-phone-booth.html

 

[LesPlenty]

So, why don`t FC just host the pictures like most other forums already do?

 

[asdf420]

So, why don`t FC just host the pictures like most other forums already do?

i imagine either they didn't like how it worked, this forum software doesn't support it, or they didn't wanna deal with the traffic or storage space
edit: (which should be dirt cheap now, with a decent host) this forum is hosted on ramnode. i already had https on my ramnode-hosted site years ago. just have been too lazy to re-set everything up using a configuration management tool like chef

i wonder how much traffic this forum gets, from lurkers or anything that pulls images