Hey all,

Would anyone miss the ability to leech images from other servers inside posts? Simply put, images can be loaded into the middle of forum messages by using a modified HTML code (or link). This gives the user the ability to load an image from a different server every time someone reads the message.

The problem for the club is:

- Some images are very large in size and screw up the layout of the page.

- Some images take a long time to load.

- Images can be moved or deleted (from the host server) and the message left on our club shows red X's and benefit nobody in the long run.

Our alternate method to include an image in a message post is to use the ATTACHMENT feature. The attachment feature is nice because it resamples the image and displays it in a thumbnail. If a user wishes to view the image, they simply need to click on it.

With that said, you might be thinking that it's a pain in the butt to upload your images directly into the forum. However, I have to let you know about a new feature....

If you open the attachment portion of a message post, you'll see a feature that allows you to literally pull an image from another website directly to the message you're writing. It's called "Upload Image from a URL." You can find it when you compose a message by clicking on the "Manage Attachments" button.

Now all of this might sound too technical. So, I'm going to word it easier. I'm thinking about forcing everyone to use the image attachment feature rather than the image link ability. What do you think?

-- Mike

Sample images pulled directly from other websites. Photos courtesy http://www.dell.com and http://www.zhome.com

Notice these images have been pulled directly from their URL into this message. If the URL changes or the website goes down, they will always remain in-tact in our database. These images also appear at the bottom of the message post below in a small box called Attached Thumbnails.

-- Mike

I would prefer the 'attachment' feature, yes.

Here's an example of an image "leeched" from Dell. The image physically resides on Dell's server and we simply link to it.

If the URL changes, our website won't know where to look for the file and the image will turn out like this:

Here's a good example of a technical article written by a fellow member using the image leeching option. Notice the article is pretty old and many of the images on the host server are moved or deleted. Thus, we are left with a broken thread with no images for reference.

http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/showthread.php?t=13796

Mike, as a Sys Admin myself, this is an issue that I deal with on several of the systems I baby-sit. I say go for it. The few people that know how to insert a remotely served image should have no problem using the attachment feature instead. In addition to correcting the disappearing image if the remote server changes the path, etc. - this reduces bandwidth use, and should make this site load faster, as all images are hosted on the local box, we're not waiting for some other server to parse our request.

One more thing... I also want to mention that some people may wish to post an image directly next to a paragraph of text. In other words, they want an image to be directly next to a description of some kind.

This can be done. To do it, simply upload one or two images (related to the sentence/paragraph of choice) and post it. To continue your message, simply reply to yourself with another series of photos and paragraphs. Very much like what I've done in this thread. (I just love to hear myself talk)

Anyway, there is no limit the the amount of times you can reply to yourself. There's nothing that says you need to keep it all in a single post.

-- Mike

Mike,

As one who likes to lookat old threads, I think all of the images on your website need to be based on your website for the reasons you and Arne have already brought up-thanks for beating me to asking you how this could be done...The first time I found the situation in question, I was suprised given the nature of these threads, and the rise and fall of many other Z sites.!

Will

Will

One more thing... I also want to mention that some people may wish to post an image directly next to a paragraph of text. In other words, they want an image to be directly next to a description of some kind.

This can be done. To do it, simply upload one or two images (related to the sentence/paragraph of choice) and post it. To continue your message, simply reply to yourself with another series of photos and paragraphs. Very much like what I've done in this thread. (I just love to hear myself talk)

I apologize up front for beating a dead horse...

If you delete this function then us plain 'ol users still have to wait for the image to be approved. I know this is old ground, sorry, but I like the fact, even if I don't use it often, that I can link to an image on my own webspace and not have to wait what might be several hours for image approval before posting. And I know I have said this previously, but I think the image approval is a waste of your admins' time. If someone posts something objectionable, you can always delete it and ban them. You don't pre-approve text, and that can be just as objectionable...

Even if you got rid of the approval process I still think that the ability to link to images hosted elsewhere is worthwhile. Not everyone wants to host every picture they intend to share on the classiczcars.com server.

I apologize up front for beating a dead horse...

If you delete this function then us plain 'ol users still have to wait for the image to be approved.

No Jon, using the attachment feature inside a post is not the same as adding a picture to the gallery. No approval is necessary, it happens instantly. Plus, those like you (and me) who do have personal webspace can attach from the url of the picture and this site will suck the picture down automatically. And again, no approval is needed for these pictures.

Jon, you do have a valid point about image approval. However, the only image approval I have enabled is in our gallery. The images uploaded (or attached) to a message in the forum does not require approval.

The reason for the image approval process in our gallery is to assure the images are placed into the correct category. When someone uploads a ton of images to their own gallery, they usually forget to categorize them. So, we do it for them during the approval process. This makes for a cleaner gallery.

Anyway, as far as the forums are concerned... the example I provided allows you to directly suck an image from your host into the forum without uploading, approving, or waiting. You can try it here if you want.

-- Mike

OK, let's give this a try...

You are correct! Well that's a lot better situation then. Even so, I have tons of pics on my personal web space and on hybridz.org. Kind of a pain to have to move them here before I can use them in a post.

No moving is required, Jon. You can attach them from where they are now. That's kinda the point.

For example if I had a need to include something (like my site's logo) that lives nowhere else but on my site, instead of linking it directly to the post, I attach it directly by it's present URL.