IMGUR now blocked in the UK?

RandallFlagg

digitalscream said:

RandallFlagg said:

Fixing old posts is one thing but what about new classifieds etc?

Either find another image host and hope they don't get hit by the ICO/OSA in the same way - there have been a number of suggestions thus far - or subscribe

What I will say is that I'm not going to be going through all this pain of scraping and re-uploading every time one of these image hosts blocks the UK. The only reason I'm doing it this time is that we've got 13 years of content that needs fixing, and Imgur has been the "official" recommendation for a long time.

I'm more than happy to subscribe, will do it now, it may be worth putting the subscription link in a more visible place, it took me a while to find it! Unless it's just me being thick...

digitalscream

RandallFlagg said:

digitalscream said:

RandallFlagg said:

Fixing old posts is one thing but what about new classifieds etc?

Either find another image host and hope they don't get hit by the ICO/OSA in the same way - there have been a number of suggestions thus far - or subscribe

What I will say is that I'm not going to be going through all this pain of scraping and re-uploading every time one of these image hosts blocks the UK. The only reason I'm doing it this time is that we've got 13 years of content that needs fixing, and Imgur has been the "official" recommendation for a long time.

I'm more than happy to subscribe, will do it now, it may be worth putting the subscription link in a more visible place, it took me a while to find it! Unless it's just me being thick...

It's been mentioned that it's not particularly visible. I'm working on some graphics to sort that out, I just suck at the whole "self-promotion" thing

RaymondLin

I would use my own hosting if only

1 - I could remember my login for the FTP part of the website
2 - I could access it easily everywhere then link from just a browser (I know you probably could)
3 - Free

I have signed up to s3nd.pic now.  It seems the same as IMGUR minus the private feature.

Sporky

My hosting is £7 a month for 50Gb with daily backups. Then WinSCP for desktop uploads, AndFTP for tablet (which appears in the "share to..." list). 

drofluf

Great picture @RaymondLin ;

ElectricXII

I'm been using Flickr for forum uploads. Is that also likely to disappear thanks to the stupidity of our politicians?

Amigo

.

digitalscream

@Amigo - there's a thread for that here:

https://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/17284/test-posts#latest

With my admin hat on, I'd generally prefer if people didn't use Google Drive/Dropbox/etc for it, because files stored there are subject to deletion when you run out of space, which can ruin threads. I'm obviously not going to enforce that, but it's at least a bit of a concern

maltingsaudio

Just saying don’t bother uploading my imgur pics again  , they were either very bad attempts at humour  or the gears been sold

Amigo

digitalscream said:

@Amigo - there's a thread for that here:

https://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/17284/test-posts#latest

With my admin hat on, I'd generally prefer if people didn't use Google Drive/Dropbox/etc for it, because files stored there are subject to deletion when you run out of space, which can ruin threads. I'm obviously not going to enforce that, but it's at least a bit of a concern

I think I cracked it, thanks!

ICBM

Just got Proton VPN. That's fixed it.

manicguitarist

RandallFlagg said:

What other image hosting sites are recommended we use instead of imgur?

imgbb.com

Penn

I barely upload photos in the great scheme of things and I don’t sell stuff but I subscribe. The forum is great and I’m happy to support it.  

allen

This needs a PSA in the for sale sections: 90% of the ads are buggered.

Habanero

WezV said:

drofluf said:

The BBC article https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c4gzxv5gy3qo suggests that you can request your data.

” Imgur said in the help article on its US website, external that UK users could exercise their rights under data protection law and request to receive a copy of their date or request to delete their account.”

as above, this is not them giving you your pics back.  it is them giving you the data they hold about your content to comply with GDPR....  hence my 83 page PDF of exported file names and dates

I've since asked Imgur if they will give me a way to access my content, not just the data they hold about it, but don't expect a response.

This is an example of the data they have given me.  It's hard to see it as anything other than malicious compliance on Imgur's part, not that I blame them

I was able to connect and see my account using an Opera browser and the built in free VPN tool. In my Account settings there was a button to Download Images (or similar) which produced a zip file of all my images.

WezV

I know, i did that a few months ago.  There are various ways to get the content, but not the ways the BBC are reporting and none that will work on my work computer where i spend most of my time

FX_Munkee

Seeing as the UK government are effectively forcing me to use a vpn, looks like I'll be cancelling my Now TV sports, improving my Spanish, and saving quite a bit of money. Every cloud and all that.

For reference: https://sporticos.com/en-gb/providers/price-index/epl

PhilKing

I hadn't realized that you couldn't see any the images from Imgur, as I live in the States, I do have a subscription here, so I can upload pics, which I will do going forwards.  If you need me to fix old pics, just let me know.

RaymondLin

PhilKing said:

I hadn't realized that you couldn't see any the images from Imgur, as I live in the States, I do have a subscription here, so I can upload pics, which I will do going forwards.  If you need me to fix old pics, just let me know.

The issue isn't people in the UK can't upload or use IMGUR.  We still can, via a VPN.  The issue really lies in the fact the IMGUR, from a forum's perspective, is a image hosting platform (as opposed to looking a memes).  So unless everyone has and uses a VPN (which there are free ones, even as a plugin into a browser), then you can't guarantee people can see your images.

Which is annoying, it is like making a post in written form and not sure who can or cannot see it.  

Not everyone is IT literate, a lot of people still can't link a photo from IMGUR and post here, they paste the link to the page, instead of the image and into the forum's image tag button.  If you paste just the link, the photo only shows up as a link on the phone.

So the solution now are

1 - Use forum's own hosting.

Downside for this is that if I want to share the same photo on a different site, I still need to find a way to host it

2 - Find another hosting service.  I am using s3nd.pic at the moment now.

3 - Self host - which is the most secure way, but also the most expensive and a lot more IT steps involved.

4 - Force everyone to use a VPN.  Not going to happen.

5 - Don't bother with images at all. 

BillDL

RaymondLin said:
4 - Force everyone to use a VPN.  Not going to happen.

Correct.  I subscribe so I can easily upload images from my own computer, but I'm not going to have to use a VPN here just to see other peoples' photos and anybody that thinks that's a viable proposition can take a hike.