Why are images blocked on forum?

[saturnV]

Why are images blocked on forum?
Dead images everywhere make forum look even more dead.

Are only external images blocked? But in some posts attached images do not show anymore either.

396px-Mona_Lisa.jpg (46.9 KiB) Viewed 12339 times

how to imbed images into post:
1) upload attachment
2) click "place inline"

Why is there large ugly border around image?
1) Rightclick on image, get a link like download/file.php?id=11212
2) put link into img-tags


large ugly border is now a bit smaller.

[FLOZi]

Not sure when or why this changed. Maybe with change to https many years ago or some other 'security conscious' concerns.

[MasterBel]

iirc they only allow locally-hosted images because of what appears to be a big problem with old threads being full of dead image links. It's a little cumbersome (and definitely not noob-friendly) but at least it's documented. I'd image the ideal would be for the forum's server to automatically grab any image that is linked to and generate a link to that and substitute it in the post. Basically "automatic uploading" or sth.

[saturnV]

iirc they only allow locally-hosted images because of what appears to be a big problem with old threads being full of dead image links.

What does that solve?
A 404'ed image will not be displayed anyway, blocking it changes nothing.
Blocking a functional images serves what purpose?

Take the posts on this page viewtopic.php?f=9&t=34266 for example.
All the images are still online (in this case at imgur.com) - you can view them by copying the url. Url is https, too.

[MasterBel]

The only image hosting site that can be guaranteed to last as long as springrts.com is springrts.com itself.

Also thanks, I didn't know some of them were still valid links (you go far enough back and there are a tonne that are just dead, so I just assumed the more recent ones were dead too. TIL.) It's a bit annoying that the solution contributes to the problem itself – but one day when imgur dies at it won't be relevant.

Anyway. There are definitely nicer solutions to this problem but whether they are worth your time or not – you decide. My focus is currently more on the lobby problem, where I feel most qualified to help (Just like everyone else feels qualified to help ) and trying to be a positive influence on the forums.

[saturnV]

Of course uploading images as attachment is safer for longterm, nobody questioned that.
I found it interessting to browse the "random WIP" threads because those are the closest thing spring has to a showcase gallery.
However I lost interest because opening every picture manually is so annoying. Many images are still online but well, it is annoying to view them like that.

You say "it's documented" but where?
I am still unsure if it was disabled on purpose or if it is a bug.
Also I can not help myself but notice: once again you confused solution and problem.

[MasterBel]

Of course uploading images as attachment is safer for longterm, nobody questioned that.
I found it interessting to browse the "random WIP" threads because those are the closest thing spring has to a showcase gallery.
However I lost interest because opening every picture manually is so annoying. Many images are still online but well, it is annoying to view them like that.

Yes, it's annoying. Also a showcase gallery would be a good idea. If anyone has the know-how and the motivation, that would be awesome.

You say "it's documented" but where?

Good question. I can't recall atm, it's definitely documented in at least a couple threads now, so that's something. It doesn't appear to be documented on the wiki. However, I found this and that may interest you.
I rly should have put a link to whatever documentation I was thinking of at the time. For both my own sake and yours.

I am still unsure if it was disabled on purpose or if it is a bug.

Pretty sure it was disabled on purpose, that is what was conveyed when the issue first came up.

Also I can not help myself but notice: once again you confused solution and problem.

I'd appreciate if you elaborate so I can be less confused :)

[MasterBel]

Relevant thread; please read before continuing this discussion
(Imma give it a re-read too)

[FLOZi]

Thanks, tried to find it and failed.

- spam bots are embedding images from external pages.
- privacy
- external services randomly disappear
- springrts.com is backed up

- Spambots now need post approval so only mods and admins see them anyway
- privacy for whom?
- Think its safe to assume major image hosts will outlive springrts.com


The cons imo are:

• Makes it cumbersome to post pictures, especially if using a tool like ShareX to automatically capture and upload to imgur
• Broke a whole load of old posts

[saturnV]

After reading the old thread from 2018:
Everything Flozi asks now, was already ignored in the old thread.

There once was a "media gallery" but it was nuked without replacement.
Actually the old gallery-system seems superstrange: with uploaded to a subforum and threads moved around by moderators and whatnot.
In over a decade nobody thought to just use the existing mediawiki?

Well, this time I know better than when I asked about botflags or banned games. This topic will not go anywhere.

[MasterBel]

This topic will not go anywhere.

Eyyyy, he's learning

If you wanna know why things are going nowhere, that's because your concerns have been voiced before. Multiple times. This frustrates me a lot, especially because I have a very low level competence in a lot of related areas. Thing is, the people who are left with the power to do things just don't see it worth it to compromise in the way you're asking because it takes extra effort and doesn't get them closer to where they want to be.

TLDR; they think different, it's frustrating, but it frustrates them that we think different. Who's right? They think they are. We think we are.

The only (time-effective) way to change their mind is to prove it by learning new skills and "fixing" things yourself – and that may not work. ("Fixing", because some people will think you're making things worse.) You have to take responsibility for it, and be a part of the solution. You can't just try to change their mind – it probably won't work.

(Especially, I've discovered, because when you haven't proven your ability to provide value, people take you word with a grain of salt. That's the default. I do it too without realising. Doing and achieving things brings a whole lot of weight to your opinion. As I've said and I'll keep saying, that's where you need to start.)

saturnV, do you have any programming experience? If so, with what languages/technologies? What part of the Spring infrastructure would you most want to work on improving? I'm pretty familiar with the lobby & related systems, but I've picked up a bit of knowledge about other things. I'll be more than happy to share what I know.

[FLOZi]

After reading the old thread from 2018:
Everything Flozi asks now, was already ignored in the old thread.

There once was a "media gallery" but it was nuked without replacement.
Actually the old gallery-system seems superstrange: with uploaded to a subforum and threads moved around by moderators and whatnot.
In over a decade nobody thought to just use the existing mediawiki?

Well, this time I know better than when I asked about botflags or banned games. This topic will not go anywhere.

Mediawiki is free to edit for all forum members, have at it!

I wanted to do a showcase on wiki, though a showcase of 'what gameplay elements have been created' with links to relevant lua source rather more than a visual one.

[saturnV]

I wanted to do a showcase on wiki

That is nice but "they" have already deleted the old gallery.
Instead they just want links to games websites. Meanwhile official server and website are made less and less acttrative.

What part of the Spring infrastructure would you most want to work on improving?

politics.
Currently it would be a wasted effort to write code.

[PicassoCT]

They were posting Total Annhilation porn from external sites? Freaking Mecha Weebs..

[StevenD]

Why are images blocked on forum?
Dead images everywhere make forum look even more dead.

Are only external images blocked? But in some posts attached images do not show anymore either.

396px-Mona_Lisa.jpg

how to imbed images into post:
1) upload attachment
2) click "place inline"

Why is there large ugly border around image?
1) Rightclick on image, get a link like download/file.php?id=11212
2) put link into img-tags


large ugly border is now a bit smaller.

There are several possible reasons why your images are not showing up on your pages as expected: The image file is not located in the same location that is specified in your IMG tag. The image does not have the same file name as specified in your IMG tag. The image file is corrupt or damaged.

[mikaM]

iirc they only allow locally-hosted images because of what appears to be a big problem with old threads being full of dead image links. It's a little cumbersome (and definitely not noob-friendly) but at least it's documented. I'd image the ideal would be for the forum's server to automatically grab any image that is linked to and generate a link to that and substitute it in the post. Basically "automatic uploading" or sth.

There are several possible reasons why your images are not showing up on your pages as expected: The image file is not located in the same location that is specified in your IMG tag. The image does not have the same file name as specified in your IMG tag. The image file is corrupt or damaged.