Poll on solving the imgur issue

[theymos]

There are a lot of broken imgur links. How do you think this should be resolved? I've come up with these possible solutions:

1: Do nothing. People will have to edit past broken images and use different image-hosting services going forward.

2: Make it so that all past imgur embedded images show up as a clickable link instead of as an embedded image, as if the poster had just posted the imgur link instead of using the [img] tag. I could also maybe make it so that if you click the link, it will JavaScript-expand into an embedded image (using the specified width etc.) without going through the image proxy.

3: Exempt imgur links from the image proxy so they all just work. But this has privacy implications, since imgur will see forum users' IPs. Also, imgur has apparently banned a lot of Tor exit nodes etc. as well, so imgur images won't work for everyone.

4: Exempt imgur links from the image proxy as above, but prevent using imgur embedded images in any future posts, to sort of phase it out.

[1714536505]

1714536505

[Jawhead999]

1. There are many users have more than 5000+ posts and it's time consuming for them to edit all past broken images.

2. At least users can see the images even though they need to click it.

3 and 4 some users are really care with their privacy.

I vote number 2.

[ibminer]

There are a lot of broken imgur links. How do you think this should be resolved? I've come up with these possible solutions:

1: Do nothing. People will have to edit past broken images and use different image-hosting services going forward.

2: Make it so that all past imgur embedded images show up as a clickable link instead of as an embedded image, as if the poster had just posted the imgur link instead of using the [img] tag. I could also maybe make it so that if you click the link, it will JavaScript-expand into an embedded image (using the specified width etc.) without going through the image proxy.

3: Exempt imgur links from the image proxy so they all just work. But this has privacy implications, since imgur will see forum users' IPs. Also, imgur has apparently banned a lot of Tor exit nodes etc. as well, so imgur images won't work for everyone.

4: Exempt imgur links from the image proxy as above, but prevent using imgur embedded images in any future posts, to sort of phase it out.

#1: I don't like.
#2: It is worth noting similar privacy concerns as #3 when doing the javascript option.
#3: Those that are worried about this, I'm curious what your main fear is with imgur knowing your IPs when you see an image?

Tough decision between 2,3 & 4 for me, but I'd lean more towards 3-4 and would probably land at #4 myself as an option.

[Cantsay]

1: Do nothing. People will have to edit past broken images and use different image-hosting services going forward.

I don't believe this option is fixable because some helpful threads were established by people who are no longer active, making it hard to modify those posts unless admin edit it themselves, such as this thread How to sign a message?! The original poster of this thread was last active in 2020.

4: Exempt imgur links from the image proxy as above, but prevent using imgur embedded images in any future posts, to sort of phase it out.

Option 2 & 3 are okay but I this the fourth option is the best here; as it could solve the issue of the inactive user issue so I'd vote for No 4.

[Adbitco]

There are a lot of broken imgur links. How do you think this should be resolved? I've come up with these possible solutions:

1: Do nothing. People will have to edit past broken images and use different image-hosting services going forward.

2: Make it so that all past imgur embedded images show up as a clickable link instead of as an embedded image, as if the poster had just posted the imgur link instead of using the [img] tag. I could also maybe make it so that if you click the link, it will JavaScript-expand into an embedded image (using the specified width etc.) without going through the image proxy.

For my own suggestions this option should be implemented, maybe whomever that wishes to edit can go ahead and edit to include another image hosting site and at same time make it clickable for those who don't have time to edit their old images may likely click on the link to view images. I think the two option can be implemented because there series of post that contains images they might not be able to ahead editing them, but as for recent posts that has images can be possibly edited and use another image hosting site imo.
Maybe lets see what other options some users may suggest here.

[Nwada001]

Voter for 2. To me, it will be easier that way since the image links are still very valid and active, and people reading through threads can easily click on the link to view the image information without any other form of stress.

1. This could have been better, but, just as Jawhead999 has stated, there are more users who have created a lot of topics and comments with a lot of images that can't all be edited, and there are also users who have dropped quality posts and comments with images. Those threads are still very useful, but those users might either no longer be active on the forum or be permanently banned from the forum, so their ways of editing such threads won't be there.

[Learn Bitcoin]

3 and 4 some users are really care with their privacy.

It's not like the admin will edit the link and add different images. He will adjust something, and the same image will appear. If someone posts an image to show it in the forum, there is nothing about privacy. I don't think anyone wants not to show their images in the forum that was posted already. About showing IP to Imgur, Imgur already know users' IP whoever used their service. I don't think people care too much about using their IP on a image hosting website.

4: Exempt imgur links from the image proxy as above, but prevent using imgur embedded images in any future posts, to sort of phase it out.

I support number four. There are a lot of members who are not in the forum anymore. Some of them are unlikely to return to the forum in the future. We don't know the possibility. There are a bunch of tutorials where a single thread contains more than five or ten images. It would be tough for someone to open all ten images and see them. Some tutorials are incomplete without images. I highly recommend implementing number four.

Thanks for your attention.

[Eternad]

1: Do nothing. People will have to edit past broken images and use different image-hosting services going forward.

Do nothing I guess, There’s a lot of old post in the past that have a broken images when I’m browsing old post in the forum especially on the marketplace section that typically post images for the item they are selling.

It’s the author/poster main responsibility to update all his post if he really values all his content. I think the only exemption to the rules are those constructive post that have a high a value in the forum which created by an inactive user already.

But ofc, fixing it is not a bad idea if the admin will not sacrifice their time on doing it.

[Lafu]

There are a lot of broken imgur links. How do you think this should be resolved? I've come up with these possible solutions:
1: Do nothing. People will have to edit past broken images and use different image-hosting services going forward.

I guess that will or would be the worst nightmare for all Users that only used imgur for there Pictures.
I am not affected of this issue with imgur and only used it maybe 2 times , most time i using a german service or imgbb.

2: Make it so that all past imgur embedded images show up as a clickable link instead of as an embedded image, as if the poster had just posted the imgur link instead of using the [img] tag. I could also maybe make it so that if you click the link, it will JavaScript-expand into an embedded image (using the specified width etc.) without going through the image proxy.

Guess for all the Users that are affected with the problem that would be the best solution.
So its a yes for option 2 and 4 from me.

[Dr.Bitcoin_Strange]

I vote for number four: let the old ones be exceptions, but the future ones should be disabled. There is a new image hosting site that has been designed by the user Joker_josue for forum members to use. I think members should go for it and forget about Imgur.

[ibminer]

Guess for all the Users that are affected with the problem that would be the best solution.
So its a yes for option 2 and 4 from me.

#2 still effects the flow or context of a post, discussion, etc., forcing it clickable just adds a step each reader would need to do to see the image, which is a bit annoying and defeats the purpose of an embedded image, which in a lot of cases can provide valuable information to a post or discussion as you scroll through. #2 is not a horrible option though, as it may take more accountability off the forum itself because the user has to initiate a click to expose their IP to imgur, instead of the forum auto-allowing it through an exception, IF this is a concern. If it is not a concern, #4 seems to be a better option for the forum and its users.

[pawanjain]

There are a lot of broken imgur links. How do you think this should be resolved? I've come up with these possible solutions:

1: Do nothing. People will have to edit past broken images and use different image-hosting services going forward.

2: Make it so that all past imgur embedded images show up as a clickable link instead of as an embedded image, as if the poster had just posted the imgur link instead of using the [img] tag. I could also maybe make it so that if you click the link, it will JavaScript-expand into an embedded image (using the specified width etc.) without going through the image proxy.

3: Exempt imgur links from the image proxy so they all just work. But this has privacy implications, since imgur will see forum users' IPs. Also, imgur has apparently banned a lot of Tor exit nodes etc. as well, so imgur images won't work for everyone.

4: Exempt imgur links from the image proxy as above, but prevent using imgur embedded images in any future posts, to sort of phase it out.

We never know what additional restrictions Imgur may impose on us and therefore, I believe that we should avoid using it in our future posts.
My ideal choice would be to exempt the previous posts and restrict the use of Imgur for future posts.
Fortunately, we have Talkimg by Joker_Josue, which is an excellent alternative for hosting images.
Additionally, the script by TryNinja has helped many of us to replace our existing images with the ones hosted on Talkimg.
So we do have that option as well for the previous posts.

[ImThour]

Turning Imgur images into links will be the best option in my honest opinion, so I have voted for that. I mean "Do nothing" shouldn't be an option when you have great alternatives with you.
It's crazy like imgur is the only site I used in all of my forum posts to add images, will have to find another reliable option without ads.

[jrrsparkles]

I voted for option 2 which is turn them into clickable links because thousands of inages had been posted on bitcoin using Imgur hosting service now all those images becomes invalid. For future we can use alternate hosting service which will not affect the users but all the concern is about the posts made in the past.

[BitcoinGirl.Club]

2: Make it so that all past imgur embedded images show up as a clickable link instead of as an embedded image, as if the poster had just posted the imgur link instead of using the [img] tag. I could also maybe make it so that if you click the link, it will JavaScript-expand into an embedded image (using the specified width etc.) without going through the image proxy.

That's for me and "prevent using imgur embedded images in any future posts".

As an admin the lesser involvement for you is better to avoid any future controversy, although I don't think any controversy is even possible. But there are people, who can bring a serious case out of nothing.

For those who really want their images as it was, they can just use TryNinja's script. Seekers will find their solutions today or tomorrow.

[ibminer]

IMO I'm not sure it should matter as much on what the user can do themselves, some of the users may not even be here anymore.

The forum itself should want the images as they were in the thread, to preserve the historical nature.

I certainly will not be mass-editing my prior posts, with or without a script, so hopefully there will be something that can be done here with one of the options in the OP, even if it doesn't end up the most optimal option for the forum and future readers.

[shahzadafzal]

Ahh so it's clear we don't have a clean solution to this at the moment.

Having a forum's own image hosting service would be ideal, but yes it would require significant investment in terms of time, money, and effort.

To be honest I think doing nothing shouldn't be an option here... we have to do something

3: Exempt imgur links from the image proxy so they all just work. But this has privacy implications, since imgur will see forum users' IPs. Also, imgur has apparently banned a lot of Tor exit nodes etc. as well, so imgur images won't work for everyone.

Big No!!! Leaking ip to imgur might be ok to some users but this could potentially be manipulated and exploited, I mean "nobles" will find a way to put their own urls, which might lead to user's IP tracking.

4: Exempt imgur links from the image proxy as above, but prevent using imgur embedded images in any future posts, to sort of phase it out.

Isn't it the same as option No. 3? How will it work? I mean If I go to my old post and try to edit, will it allow me to save without updating the imgur link? If not then it's another headache for the users and if yes then the same risk of IP leak is there.

So technically speaking, option 3 and 4 aren't the same?

2: Make it so that all past imgur embedded images show up as a clickable link instead of as an embedded image, as if the poster had just posted the imgur link instead of using the [img] tag. I could also maybe make it so that if you click the link, it will JavaScript-expand into an embedded image (using the specified width etc.) without going through the image proxy.

This seems more appropriate solution from all the options presented, convert all the imgur [img] tags to clickable links.
Further I don't know how this "without going through the image proxy" thing will work? I'm afraid it might have a risk of IP leak too, as you mentioned in option 3.

For those who really want their images as it was, they can just use TryNinja's script. Seekers will find their solutions today or tomorrow.

That script is limited to active users only and even among those users, I have doubts that less than 50% will be aware of its existence or actually execute it.

[sokani]

There are a lot of broken imgur links. How do you think this should be resolved? I've come up with these possible solutions:
2: Make it so that all past imgur embedded images show up as a clickable link instead of as an embedded image, as if the poster had just posted the imgur link instead of using the [img] tag. I could also maybe make it so that if you click the link, it will JavaScript-expand into an embedded image (using the specified width etc.) without going through the image proxy.

I would go with this because there are members that have a made great number of educative posts containing imgur broken images and it's going to be a daunting task to update all of these images. More also, some members have passed on so there is no way such posts can be updated, some accounts have been banned while some have been abondoned because of one reason or the other.

[decodx]

I support the idea of implementing option 2 - "Make it so that all past imgur embedded images show up as a clickable link instead of as an embedded image". This approach strikes a middle ground where users can still choose to fix their images by switching to a different image hosting service and editing their posts. At the same time, this solution addresses privacy concerns as members' IP addresses won't be shared with third parties without their knowledge or consent. It provides a practical compromise that benefits both user experience and privacy protection. The same as we already have with external links. As for JavaScript-expand into an embedded image, I don't think it's necessary.

[dkbit98]

There are a lot of broken imgur links. How do you think this should be resolved? I've come up with these possible solutions:

None of the four solutions you offered is ideal but if I had to choose one of them I would select second option to make all imgur links clickable and keep some privacy.

There was a lot of talk of turning all imgur links into TalkImg links, or maybe even imgbb, but we don't know if imgbb will do something similar in future, and I am not sure TalkImg can handle a lot of traffic yet.
In ideal situation I would prefer if we could just replace all imgur images, but I don't think it's that simple.