Bitcoin Forum

Is anyone else having trouble loading images the past few weeks?

I usually use imgbb.com for hosting images, and lately I've noticed the "Bitcointalk.org Image Proxy: Invalid Image" warning pop up frequently.  The problem is inconsistent, sometimes the image is displayed fine, other times the image won't load.

Should I not be using imgbb.com, or is there something else going on?

I use https://imgur.com/upload and copy the bbcode, it always work fine. It only work on desktop version.

I've seen that warning a lot more recently and I think it's just a forum problem.

I thought it might've been due to more images trying to be loaded on the forums end and the proxy/Webserver dropping requests/communications. (it's especially apparent on pages with multiple images but is normally resolved by waiting a minute and refreshing).

I can't stand imgur.  You can't upload photos without an account, and the adds are as obnoxious nails on a chalkboard.  Most of the time when I post images here they're obviously related to bitcoin, and I don't need some third party image hosting company tracking my financial habits.

imgbb is a pretty decent image hosting site, and no need for KYC, lol.  Maybe it is imgbb that's causing the issue.  Right now I can see all my images that I've posted, but they've been problematic for at least two, maybe three weeks.

You can without having an account with them. I don't know why it was asking you for having the account. However, with VPN that I use sometimes, it does not allow to upload image.

About the problem you are having, I too experienced in some cases the image were not loading and I was thinking about my internet service provider or connection issue with TOR until now.

I don't think so, I can even use the tool without having an account. Here's an example.

https://i.imgur.com/FeOj0Cy.jpg


Apart from that there are several other image hosting sites that are also great for you to use without having an account, no KYC required. Although I mostly use imgbb or imgur, but this one is also worth a try. https://postimages.org/

The upload link I posted above is what I am using, no ads there and I just upload directly using the link. I do not have account registered and it works fine.

Edit: I just saw go ad-free on the site, but I have not gone for such option before and I saw no ads displayed, even I used it again just now and no ad seen.

Nope, no issues lately whatsoever, and I upload images on the regular basis.


I am using postimages almost exclusively and I can also recommend it. Its pretty basic but that's one of the reasons i prefer it over imgur and other more popular image hosting sites.

The site was not known to me until now. It works even with tor which is awesome for me. Pretty fast and clean. Just to have a test of it here is my avatar on the hosting site.

https://i.postimg.cc/HLycMGh0/nrThX1W.png

Bye bye imgur 😉

True, I had the same problem for the last few weeks because I couldn't use imgbb to host the images I posted on this forum. But imgur seems to be a good choice as an alternative to hosting your images here, this site has no ads and I'm using this now.

Charles-tim and BITCOIN4X said, you don't need an account to use it. Same thing for me right now.

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Thanks for another alternative, that would be the image hosting site I would use next if imgbb and imgur really don't work.

I mostly use Imgur and I have an account there for uploading photos. I have experienced the bitcointalk proxy when uploading big resolution images and sometimes it just doesn't work. What I do is either put/select different sizes of the images. Like I put h,l m, etc. at the end of each photo link.

Original code
https://i.imgur.com/Y2IesH1.png

With letters (sizes)
https://i.imgur.com/Y2IesH1m.png

---

Images too big
https://i.imgur.com/sel6LtL.png

When size is changed
https://i.imgur.com/sel6LtLm.png

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I hope this helps somehow. And thank you for sharing the new upload place BITCOIN4X.

Okay, it sounds like others have been noticing the same thing, it's not just me or the image-hosting site I'm using.  I knew it wasn't my internet, because I'm getting the same issues at home and at work.  If nothing else, I hope this notifies theymos that there may be an issue with the forum.

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Nice, thanks for that.  I'll check it out.  Still not a fan of imgur, however.  

If you're still looking for a new image host, I also recommend that you check vgy.me[1]. One can easily integrate their services with ShareX[2] and I like their Privacy Page statement[3]:
https://talkimg.com/images/2024/01/20/3D1kZ.png

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[1]https://vgy.me/ (https://vgy.me/)
[2]https://getsharex.com/ (https://getsharex.com/)
[3]https://vgy.me/privacy-policy (https://vgy.me/privacy-policy)

I can upload images on Imgur without an account, but it is a pain sometimes since it does not let me access so easily and even when I can, it sends back an error message when I try to upload anything. I assume it is because my global location or IP address.

So I shall give a chance to those alternatives you all have share on this thread, thank you.  

This usually happens when the file is large in size and its dimensions. And for god sake, i really hate imgur, aside that you cannot upload using mobile without the app, it has lots of ads unlike imgbb.


Here are some alternatives aside from the above

And the same thing, prepare for ads.

I think that is why he said he can't upload images without an account in imgur maybe he is trying to upload images through the phone which is no option or upload button when accessing the Imgur through a mobile phone.
But if he downloaded the imgur app he can able to upload without registering. On the PC when accessing the website the +New post button is there unlike on the phone.

I am using https://imgbb.com/.
This works for me without registration and is always stable. There are multilingual versions and links are provided in different versions. I checked my screenshots from 2018, and they are also still alive and not blocked.
For example: https://i.ibb.co/KGw9zNg/Screenshot.png (https://ibb.co/6ZB4JvS)

Can you post the image alone without the embedded link of the image upload on imgbb.com? I'm having problem too on using this image hosting website and I can't post the image here whenever I remove the url attached on the bbcode provided by the imgbb. I just don't link to see a long bbcode when I'm attaching it to my post. Is there a remedy for it?

https://ibb.co/z8QQL4z

https://ibb.co/z8QQL4z


No, it doesn't work, if I understand you correctly. But what's the problem with using a ready-made link? Does it somehow deanonymize the user? I never remove the URL, but just paste it into the post.
But you puzzled me, if possible, tell me why you do not use a ready-made link?
https://i.ibb.co/LQYYqZ3/Screenshot.png (https://ibb.co/z8QQL4z)

I too have been noticing the error on several posts of recent, but i on my own have not encountered such error on any image i post, ive never used imgbb, what i use all the time is imgur.
Though i also discovered that image link can be copied wrongly, and when its copied wrongly, the image proxy error is displayed in place of the image ..

For Example -

Below is one/same image from imgur with two different links, first link is copied wrongly while the second link is copied correctly.

image link was copied the wrong way/wrong format
https://imgur.com/Qhlg7zb

image link is copied the right way/right format
https://talkimg.com/images/2023/12/16/E4E1c.jpeg

I guess this is the mistake some of this forum users always make while coping image link which then result to image proxy error that we see on several posts.
So this is my personal note to everyone who might not know, when next you are trying to post an image on the forum through a link, make sure the image format is at the end of the link, else, the image wont display, image format can be .png or .jpg, and always remember to resize your image if its to large.

The ready-made link is too long than usual which makes me feel uncomfortable when attaching on my post or thread. It giving me a hard time to edit a thread that has image if I use long links since I’m just using mobile device when browsing the forum. I’m ok about giving the source link, it's just my personal preference to use short link on my postings.

The reason why Images that are posted on that will only show "Bitcointalk Image Proxy: Invalid Image" is because the image file size limit is 2.5 mb and if the image file size are more than 2.5 mb then expect seeing Bitcointalk Image Proxy: Invalid image in your post. If theymos will increase the file size limit then it would be possible to post images that are more than 2.5 mb without a problem. My solution to an image with more than 2.5 mb in size is to take a screenshot (for mobile phones) and print screen + mspaint (for desktop, save as either .jpeg, .jpg or .png) then you'll see that the file size is low compared to the original and the quality is almost the same as original (it works for me).

Just make sure that the link you are using when posting an image ends with .png, .jpeg or other image format that the forum supported. Image hosting service link does end with image formats like .png, .jpeg or .jpg.

IMAGE FILE SIZE LIMIT

Maybe you're right, but in this case I think the problem is different. Do you know what size the BestChange avatar file I'm using is? It's only 16kb, but if I host the image using imgbb then the image is invalid ^{[proxi invalid image].} So the problem is not all about the image size, but the problem is with the image hosting site imgbb which may not work well in furum now. But when I use imgur and postimage, the images are hosting well because so far both sites are working fine.

Here is an example when I posted an avatar image that was 16kb in size but using a different image hosting site.

1. ImgBB
https://i.ibb.co/y0CH2m7/Best-Change.png

2. Imgur
https://i.imgur.com/37FZBHD.png

3. Postimage
https://i.postimg.cc/0QDh3f5S/Best-Change.png

So the issue being discussed now doesn't seem to be about image size, but about what happens to an image hosting site ^[imgBB] that doesn't work on forum when posting image ^{[new image or old image that have been posted].}

All the images you have posted are showing/working just fine as I have seen right now. You are right that the issue is not all about the size of the image alone but with imgbb too. I did try to open the link from ImgBB and copy the link that ends in .png but the image still show "Proxy: Invalid Image". The results can be found below that it doesn't work if the links that are used are like this https://ibb.co/z8QQL4z (ImgBB), https://imgur.com/a/xweNMDO (Imgur).

Results:
Without Image Format:

Imgur
https://imgur.com/a/xweNMDO

ImgBB
https://ibb.co/z8QQL4z

Ends With Image Format: .jpeg, .jpg, .gif, .

Imgur
https://i.imgur.com/TPn8Y4A.jpeg

ImgBB
https://i.ibb.co/y0CH2m7/Best-Change.png

Maybe admin fixed it or maybe it's time for imgBB to start working again. I checked all the image posting history I've ever posted, it's showing up again. Regardless of image size, I think what you are trying to say is correct. So the image format is also one of the culprits, but certainly not in my case.

So, the OP seems the problem is resolved.

Same here the problem was there from past two days but some images were visible also so didn't understand what's going on and bumped into this thread and came to know you also facing the same problem.I am also using imgbb for uploading any photos from long time and only once this issue was there but now again facing it.

https://i.ibb.co/WxSjtMz/Screenshot-20220621-163348-01.jpg

Yeah there was issue at the image hosting site only and usually this outage is rare to be there but there could be some problems and resizing it won't matter.In my case I have adjusted the size of images multiple times with width, height adjustment so at the end embedded it with [url] tags to make it clickable in case members can check it by clicking on the invalid image also.

Atm the images are showing again but don't know if the same issue will be there again or not.

I think postingimages.org is solution to it so thanks for letting us know about it.

While we are having conversation about image, who have noticed earlier today the host was down? Who was here to put blame on? Web server or cloudflare? I do check the posts while I am on phone sometimes and I noticed this 500 error. 

In this case you are not giving image url to bbcode. This is link of the page which contain image but when you give the link of the image it's the image itself. What I understand, when image size is larger the host is taking time to return the byte, it's sometimes failing to load and sometimes it's loading. However it is working fine for small size images. There are nothing to do with link formatting or anything else.

I never used imgur with account for posting images and I have been using it for years without any issues.
Few times it happened that imgur was not working I used imgbb or some other alternative servers for uploading images.
You can even find some programs that can help you to upload images faster directly from your OS and choose any server you want.

I saw recently that forum is showing image missing messages but I didn't check if the source server has issue or something else forum related, like image size.
If you want to be sure your images will be available you can run your own server with self-hosted image hosting.

First time I saw your post all images loaded completely normal.
Second time I opened the same page first ImgBB image didn't load, third time I refreshed the page it opened again but first image loaded much slower than others.

looks like the image display for the forum is having a problem. because I also experienced what you said.
specifically for images https://imgbb.com/ I also do 3x refresh. and some pictures that initially look normal then become problematic.
at first, I thought it was a problem with my internet connection a few days ago. Turns out everyone was having the same problem.
https://i.ibb.co/GxTZK5X/imgbb.png (https://ibb.co/DVpBxRN)

The ImgBB image isn't showing up for me at this time, and seems like it's hit and miss.  If I refresh the page it'll show up half the time and the other half I get the proxy error.  I just used PostImage for the first time, I really like that site.  If you have an image in your clip-board you can just call up the site and hit CTL+V and it'll paste and upload in one fell swoop.  That's one of the features I liked about ImgBB as well.

Well, now it looks like I have two decent sites to use for hosting images.  I do hope ImgBB get their ducks in a row soon, I've posted tons of images here that are hosted by them.

There could be few reasons for it.
1. Try doing a hard refresh Ctrl+Shift+R. This will clear your cache and reload everything.
2. Your internet service provider might flag the site, I don't see any reason for that though.


Same here. I used it yesterday and I am not going to use others. It found it loads faster than any other image hosting site. It feels same as in your localhost.

I don't think it's up to him or his provider after all. the same thing is happening to me (I'm sure we don't have the same ISP)
ImgBB most often I used it myself, I noticed that after two reloads of the page, some of the img managed to show up. I did an update of one thread (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5201588.0) and half of the images were visible.

I would say obviously the problem is on their side.

I did, but sadly it didn't help at all. I tested it using the wifi network and the mobile internet network from different providers, and still with the same result and it doesn't work. So I think it would be better to use a different hosting site while we can leave imgBB for a while until the issue is resolved.

Imgur and Postimage are my two current choices for hosting images, so there's no harm in leaving the other hosting site right?

You are right. It's the problem with ImgBB. I do not use it but I use imgur all the time. The size of a file also is an issue for not displaying an image properly.

For me Postimage is better than Imgur. The best thing about Postimage, you can use it on TOR browser, that's the biggest advantage for me. Anway, this topic was useful to find a good solution for image hosting for me.

Same problem on my end also like yesterday the images were visible to me so I thought the problem is now gone but my recent post (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5251894.msg60424878#msg60424878) also have the same invalid proxy from the imgbb site although if you click on the link it's visible on imgbb but not on the forum.So i think we all are facing the same problem and it's not cache related issue.

All my images on the forum were hosted through imgbb from long and have never encountered this issue before but now using the other site postingimages.org for the same and have different options as well like image resizing and different links for the image.So getting used to it and hope problem for imgbb over soon.

I don't think so the size could be issue as the last image that i tried to upload on the site was having the following size and resolution


So I don't think so that size issue is prevailing but some big problem at the end of imgbb while images hosted on other sites like imgur are showing without any delay and all the time on the forum.

Having access over TOR is great advantage for all of us who are using it and have posted my first image through it and it went without any problem so i also have one decent alternative on my end.

Size is actually an issue. Every server has limited resources or at least the website setting has a size limit to save space and avoid abuse. I don't know what size limit we have in the forum but there must be a number x. When an image exit the size it will not load at all.

I have no idea how many times I had to compromise my privacy with imgur all the past days. It does not work well with TOR. Many of us use the forum in TOR but use clear net to host image. Eventually you are giving away your location and other info to the image hosting site. The forum does not know your location but imgur does.

I don't know if imgBB will get back to normal and get back to working for hosting images I've posted. Of course it has been an obstacle for me as there are many graphic images I can't appear so far. I don't want to edit it as quickly as possible and prefer to wait a while as some images are still valid while most are not.

What happened exactly?

You can upload images without an account, but Imgur won't allow you to resize them or perform other changes that are available only to registered users. You can also not delete an image you uploaded if you aren't registered. I don't see any ads, but I am using ad-blockers. The site is ad-free on my end.

I have noticed that as well. That's a new thing. Up until a few months ago, they didn't mind VPN usage. But it probably also depends on the type of VPN. The more exclusive and expensive ones might work, while free VPN software could be blocked because of misuse.

Don't know what happened exactly with imgbb and recently uploaded the image and it's showing on the forum but don't know if the problem is resolved and the past images will be still visible now.I also can't make changes to the images now and wanted that site have a solution to this problem fast and images are visible.

You can upload the images without account on imgur but there are many other restrictions on it and have found it quite complicated but whereas imgbb is quite easy to upload the image and just copy the BBcode to the forum and it's down now.

They are tracking you with IP address tracing while you upload the images and for imgbb also this is  privacy  (https://imgbb.com/privacy) statement for them so using them over TOR is fine with the postingimages.org as it's working fine at this time.

On the internet don't trust anyone. I mean all the site set cookies to collect customer information and they make money out of it, they improve user experience from it. When you are in clear net checking up your email, you are giving them away your information. Even when you are browsing a site without entering anything, by just loading it you are giving them information. It's hard to avoid. That's where TOR helps. But since not everyone wants to be TOR friendly it's hard to use it for most of the service we use. So you make a choice. It's a choice like being with android or iOS. Some apps are not available in both platform so you sacrifice when it's not available for you or you have both.

I use clear net for many service but when it's cryptocurrency, I always like to break connections the possible way I can. 

Looks like imgBB is working again now (Unfortunately still not, but I saw it when I hit the preview of this post). I'm trying to upload the same image for two different formats (jpg & png) and as you can see, both images seem not to be well hosted.

Maybe it's time to say goodbye to imgBB.

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I think the problem with imgBB not working on forum is not just this time, but I've had it a few times. However for this period the problem is not resolved any faster and as we know, it looks like it will take a few days. For all the image hosting sites I use (imgBB, Imgur and postimage) it looks like they will collect some user data even without a login. Here is some data collected by the imgBB site without login.

https://imgbb.com/privacy

I wanted to try it out myself, so here goes. This is uploaded without registering to the site.

Viewer links:
https://ibb.co/pxMr66S

BBCode full linked:
https://i.ibb.co/wRPrZZf/imgbb.jpg (https://imgbb.com/)

BBCode thumbnail linked:
https://i.ibb.co/pxMr66S/imgbb.jpg (https://ibb.co/pxMr66S)

After that, I registered an account and it gives me further link customization options. I can select direct links, for example, something that wasn't there before I registered.

Direct link:
https://i.ibb.co/wRPrZZf/imgbb.jpg

To conclude, seems like the image host works just fine, but you need to create an account and select Direct links. Viewer links don't work though.

Another simple solution, if I previously posted the image link without referencing the hosting site then the image is not hosted. This means that the image will be valid if I use the full url (BBcode Full Linked) even without creating an account. The image in my previous post has been displayed.

Doesn't work (invalid proxy image):

The link is working valid:

Testing by removing the "code" tag. I will update the post with result 😂
Technical: For browser I am using Firefox with tor connection.
Preview works fine for both with and without image URL link

Update: Like I was expecting image with url tag and without url tag works fine 😂

But why? In my experience, imgbb always worked properly without requiring an account.
As far as I can tell from your example, "BBCode full linked" and "Direct link" are exactly the same except that the full linked option includes the [*url] tag on the image.

Added "code" to explain better.
This is not image link but the web page link of the image.

This is an image link. Notice the file extension (.jpg) at the end of the URL. You can also call this "link for the image file".

You do not need to. Even after uploading the file mouse hover on the image > right click > click on Copy Image Address. The URL of the address will be copied in our clipboard. Put the URL in between the "img" ([img]) tag. 😉

Actually, you are right. I didn't pay close attention to the links.
It works without an account, but not with the viewer links the image host gives you by default. You get the direct link if you register or if you remove the url tags from the BBCode full link.

And like BitcoinGirl.Club mentioned, even if you right-click on a Viewer link, like this one https://ibb.co/pxMr66S and select "copy image address," you will get the correct image link that can be posted on the forum.

Case closed finally. :)

IMGBB broke on this forum, can't post using their links anymore. I mean it worked fine previously even as a guest.

Try pictr.com, quality's better. No need to register as well

So much complications for a simple image upload...
Why not just use alternative imgur or postimages, so you don't have to put anything in between  ;)

This is not true.
You can't upload anything on that pictr website without registering account, it just redirecting to login page without it.
There are many alternatives for image uploading but I would use one that has higher chances of surviving future years.

I recently also faced some issues while posting images through https://imgur.com/.


Pictr.com will not let you upload images without registering.



So which image uploading sites will you recommended that will survive for decades and centuries  :D (Joking)

Wait, what? I have been doing so without an account. Perhaps it could be restricted to certain countries?

Here's an example. Savor some fried chicken behind the screen :p

https://pictr.com/images/2022/06/28/B9wBpn.png

It keep asking me for login as soon as i hit the upload button. Weird  >:(

I tried to use VPN too to change the country but still the result is same. I wonder why it allows you to upload without login  ???

Beats me.

I discovered Pictr shortly after Imgbb stopped working on this forum and they supported anonymous uploads right off the bat

There is problem for imgbb as discussed but some images are visible and some are not so don't know when it will be completely resolved till then we need to find some more alternatives.

But talking about pictr.com then it's not letting us to upload the images without registering the account as shown in the these two images :

First one is from imgbb to check whether it's working or not :

https://i.ibb.co/0sbLQ1w/Screenshot-20220628-163049-01.jpg

Second one from postingimages.org which was suggested in this thread only and quite good over TOR also :

https://i.postimg.cc/VstkWDKy/Screenshot-20220628-163049-01.jpg

So at the time imgbb is also working fine at my end and there's no problem for it but can't say this has been fully resolved or not.


I am long time imgbb user and have never made an account and it's completely fine but there is problem a their end from few days so it might resolve soon.

That's the ease of imgbb that you can directly copy the address and clipboard usage makes it more comfortable for users.