Drunk Photo Rant

[tig]

Fresh: https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/s ... xtensions/

[tig]

I find it ironic (in the funniest sense of that word) that some folks on this forum still use photobucket links IN THEIR FORUM SIGNATURES.

[tig]

Test post using the Android app "Flickr2Bbcode".

[tig]

Test using paid version ($1.49). Wish it didn't add all the extra stuff, but it's easy enough to delete.


Spaceman by https://www.flickr.com/photos/82199457@N00/ - Flickr2BBcode
Pixel 2 XL, undefined@3.4 mm, f2.4, 1/50s, ISO131

[tig]

I'm taking a stab at writing a new FAQ post for posting photos. The current post is pretty lame.

Thoughts? Edits? Additions?

Thanks.




How to Post Photos, Pictures, and other Images on mye28.com

MyE28.com does not have a built-in photo gallery. In order to post photos and other pictures that show up in-line the first thing you need to do to post a picture here, is to have that picture hosted on the web somewhere else. You can not post a picture if it is located on your hard drive.

Fundamentals of posting photos
First, for all this to work, you need to know what a URL is. A URL is the gobbly-gook you see in the address bar of your web-browser when you are viewing a web page. They usually start with "http://" or "https://". URLs are also known as web addresses or locations. The URLs for photos that work on mye28.com MUST be direct-URLs that point directly to the image file. None of this will work if the URL is to a web page that contains the image file. You can usually tell a URL is a direct link to an image if the URL ends in .jpg, .jpeg, .png, .gif, or .bmp. If the URL does NOT end in one of these 'extensions' then your URL will probably not work and you'll need to choose a different way of hosting the photo.

The second thing you need to know is how to use the 'Clipboard' functionality on your computer. Cut, copy, paste. Every modern mobile phone, tablet, PC, or Mac supports a clipboard and they all work similarly. If you don't know how to use the Clipboard on your device, STOP and go learn, because you'll never be successful in posting photos here. It's not hard.

The third thing you need to know is the syntax for adding images to posts. To add an image, in-line, to a post on this forum, you must use a special 'code' you type as part of your message. These codes are known as BBCodes (BB stands for bulletin-board, which is a name old folks use for online forums). The primary BBCode relevant for posting images is

Code: Select all

[img]Direct-url to image file[/img]

If, for example, you had an image with an address (URL) of `https://i.imgur.com/Uf2PKX2.png` you'd type an tag like this:

Code: Select all

[img]https://i.imgur.com/Uf2PKX2.png[/img]

Which would show up in your post like this:



Where should I host my photos?
There are many websites that offer free and paid photo hosting. Some are good, most are bad. Some are really bad. Do not use the bad ones. You will be mocked.

The characteristics of a good image hosting site are:

• Your images will be hosted forever, for free. There is nothing (literally nothing) worse than finding a thread with JUST the information you need only to discover the photos that have been posted have been disabled because the hosting website went out of business or became evil (like Photobucket).
• You don't have to be a customer (e.g. signed in) in order to view the direct links to the images.
• The hoster will serve up multiple-resolution versions of your photos.
• It is easy to copy/paste the direct URLs of images from the hoster website AND mobile app. The mobile app part is important because without it, posting images while using mye28.com on your mobile device will be much harder.
• It's not Photobucket. This is not a joke. Photobucket is the WORST service you can use. Do not use it.

The good ones, as of early 2018 seem to be http://www.flickr.com and http://www.imgur.com. Both are free. Both let you post high-resolution photos. Both appear to be healthy and will be around for the long haul. Some folks have success using Google Photos, but figuring out how to copy/paste direct URLs is tricky.

Pro-tips:

• Never delete photos from your hoster that you've used in posts here. It's just rude.
• Post medium-sized images, surrounded by a URL tag linking to the full-resolution versions. Medium sized means ~800-1024 pixels wide. When creating a BBCode snippet on Flickr, it gives you the option to choose what size to use. Choose one that starts with ~1000. This helps keeps threads loading quickly and folks with lower-speed connections.
• Surround your [img] tags with a [url] tag that uses the NON-direct-URL to the photo, so people can view high-resolution versions.

How do I use my favorite photo website to post photos here?
Below are some of the best threads here on mye28.com that provide instructions and tips for the favorite hosting services.

• Flickr: http://www.mye28.com/posting.php?mode=r ... 2&t=144895
• Imagr: <tbd>
• Google Photos: <tbd>

[geordi]

Test using paid version ($1.49). Wish it didn't add all the extra stuff, but it's easy enough to delete.


Spaceman by https://www.flickr.com/photos/82199457@N00/ - Flickr2BBcode
Pixel 2 XL, undefined@3.4 mm, f2.4, 1/50s, ISO131

Charlie, may I ask you to post a higher res pic on your Flickr? I'm trying to discern that thing in your right ear...

[tig]

The photo posting FAQ has been updated for the 2000-teens!

http://www.mye28.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=147488

[Jeremy]

The photo posting FAQ has been updated for the 2000-teens!

http://www.mye28.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=147488

Many thanks for taking the time to do that, btw. It should help lots of posters.

[Justin_FL]

Oh yeah, sorry I forgot to make any sort of announcement.

[tig]

Oh yeah, sorry I forgot to make any sort of announcement.

I'm just thankful we have a modern faq. Thanks for taking care of it. I spelled Imagur wrong.

[tig]

Oh yeah, sorry I forgot to make any sort of announcement.

I'm just happy newbs will be informed.

I spelled Imagur wrong

[Jeremy]

Oh yeah, sorry I forgot to make any sort of announcement.

I'm just happy newbs will be informed.

I spelled Imagur wrong

You mean "imgur"? Gotcha covered.

[jhh925]

I'm taking a stab at writing a new FAQ post for posting photos. The current post is pretty lame.

Thoughts? Edits? Additions?

Thanks.

I like it. Only comment is that you might expand or clarify a bit on how to ensure that when you do the image tags in your post, you're doing it in a way that it includes the link to the image source or the full size image. I'd note that the pre-formatted BBCode snippets in imgur do not seem to include the necessary info, while the flickr ones do. Not totally sure about that ... imgur generally seems incrementally easier to use, though less powerful.

[tig]

This is either really good news for Flickr users like me, or really bad news. Time will tell.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/201 ... 537377002/

Flickr bought by SmugMug, which vows to revitalize the photo service
SAN FRANCISCO — Flickr has been snapped up by Silicon Valley photo-sharing and storage company SmugMug, USA TODAY has learned.

SmugMug CEO Don MacAskill told USA TODAY he's committed to breathing new life into the faded social networking pioneer, which hosted photos and lively interactions long before it became trendy.

SmugMug, an independent, family-run company, will maintain Flickr as a standalone community of amateur and professional photographers and give the long neglected service the focus and resources it deserves, MacAskill said in an exclusive interview.

He declined to disclose the terms of the deal, which closed this week.

“Flickr is an amazing community, full of some of the world's most passionate photographers. It’s a fantastic product and a beloved brand, supplying tens of billions of photos to hundreds of millions of people around the world,” MacAskill said. “Flickr has survived through thick-and-thin and is core to the entire fabric of the Internet.”

The surprise deal ends months of uncertainty for Flickr, whose fate had been up in the air since last year when Yahoo was bought by Verizon for $4.5 billion and joined with AOL in Verizon’s Oath subsidiary.

Oath has started to weed out some of its assets after merging AOL and Yahoo. Earlier this month, Oath sold Polyvore, the e-commerce company it acquired under Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer.

The mostly free Flickr was founded in 2004 and played a central role in the cultural and social life of the Internet. Friendships were forged on Flickr as people shared photographs and others commented on them.

Overshadowed in the smartphone era by the rise of Facebook and Instagram, Flickr suffered defections to rival services but held onto a core loyal following of shutterbugs despite product and policy misses and the hacks of Yahoo, as well as encroaching competition from Google and other massive photo services.

Traffic has shrunk from its heyday, but Flickr says it has more than 75 million registered photographers and more than 100 million unique users who post tens of billions of photos. In March, Flickr had 13.1 million unique visitors, up from 10.8 million a year earlier, according to research firm comScore.

Founded in 2002, SmugMug has been around even longer than Flickr and, from the start, has defied conventional wisdom in Silicon Valley, never taking a dime from outside investors or entertaining buyout offers. It operates on a smaller scale, but has won over millions of customers with a single-minded devotion to photography and a personal touch often lacking in online services run by giant corporations.
Don MacAskill, CEO of Smugmug

Don MacAskill, CEO of Smugmug (Photo: Christopher Prentiss Michel)

And, in an industry that dangles free services to suck up people’s personal information to target ads, SmugMug has catered to people who are willing to pay for privacy and storage, offering four levels of subscriptions to appeal to everyday shutterbugs and professional photographers alike.

MacAskill says the SmugMug model works for the business and his conscience because it aligns his incentives with his customers. “We don't mine our customers' photos for information to sell to the highest bidder, or to turn into targeted advertising campaigns,” he said.

After revelations that 87 million Facebook users had their personal information pilfered by Cambridge Analytica, a British political firm with ties to the Donald Trump presidential campaign, consumers are having second thoughts about trading their data for a free service.

“We may now be witnessing a fundamental change in the marketplace. As preferences shift — or as users of digital platforms become better informed about the consequences of sharing their private data — we could be entering a world in which a substantial number of consumers view their data as an asset they won’t part with for free,” Makan Delrahim, head of the Justice Department's antitrust division, said at a conference in Chicago Thursday.

That may be especially true when it comes to the safekeeping of photographs, which are often more personal than words, says Carolina Milanesi, a technology analyst with Creative Strategies.

“While most regular consumers might have moved on from Flickr, the platform is a go-to point for a vibrant community of people who love photography,” Milanesi said. “SmugMug has the potential to offer that community a much more curated offering as well as the guarantee that photography is not just a core focus, but a priority.”

The majority of Flickr users have free accounts that run advertising alongside photos. Flickr also offers “Pro” subscriptions for $6 a month or $50 a year.

MacAskill says he does not yet know what his plans are for Flickr’s business.

“I don’t know what the future holds. This is a new model for me,” he said. “We certainly think we need to operate it with an eye to our cash flow and our profitability. We are going to have to take a detailed look at the business and make sure it’s growing and healthy.”

A longtime fan of Flickr, MacAskill says before making any decisions, he plans to collect feedback from employees and users.

“It sounds silly for the CEO not to totally know what he’s going to do, but we haven’t built SmugMug on a master plan either. We try to listen to our customers and when enough of them ask for something that’s important to them or to the community, we go and build it,” he said.

The SmugMug acquisition brings to a close a long and frequently painful chapter for Flickr. Founded in 2004 by Stewart Butterfield and his then-wife, Caterina Fake, Flickr was sold a year later to Yahoo for $35 million after the service gained a massive following.

Silicon Valley talked of the “Flickrization of Yahoo.” And Yahoo retired its photo service, Yahoo Photos, and made Flickr its flagship.

But innovation at Flickr sputtered under the Yahoo umbrella, Butterfield told Wired. He and his co-founders found themselves scrapping for resources, delaying critical progress as smartphone photography exploded. Flickr's mobile app finally launched in 2009, but it was slow and beset by bugs.

When Mayer took charge of Yahoo in 2012, Flickr users hoped it would finally get the attention it deserved. One user, photographer Sean Bonner had a website — dearmarissamayer.com — to telegraph the message: "Please make Flickr awesome again."

But by the time itreleased improved mobile apps and began offering a terabyte of storage space for free, it was too late for Flickr to make up the ground it had ceded.

"We’re thrilled for these two brands to come together to grow their photo sharing communities and continue to innovate for their members," Oath said in a statement to USA TODAY.

[Karl Grau]

lol...