News

How do you want images hosted?

  • Ban third-party hosting solutions and force users to upload images via The Reefuge

    Votes: 12 17.4%
  • Create a local copy of the image and host it on The Reefuge

    Votes: 57 82.6%

  • Total voters
    69

The Reefuge

Administrator
Jul 9, 2011
4,152
1,929
Images
Hello everyone,

I would like to hear some feedback from the community regarding an issue involving images posted on The Reefuge. As you all know, this site is free for users to use. In return, we ask that all content posted on The Reefuge gives us a non-exclusive right to use the content however we see fit as stated in the terms and conditions. Basically this means that you own the copyright of the content, but we are allowed to publish it. This allows us to keep running and it gives users the opportunity to get help when they need it, as well as have a place to hang out with like-minded people.

Now, in regards to images, we always have asked that users upload images here rather than hosting on a third-party website (such as photobucket, imgur, etc). This means that the content will always be viewable and available for users. However, some users have preferred to use third-party websites to host their images. This means that should the file url change, the post becomes useless as content will no longer load.

So, to fix this, we have two options.

1) Make all third-party hosting sites non-functional on The Reefuge. This will mean that linking to any photos will result in broken links. As an example, if a user links to their photo, it will not display anything at all. This is one way around the issue.

2) All images that are linked are automatically downloaded by The Reefuge and hosted on The Reefuge server. This means users will still be able to link their photos that are hosted on third-party websites, but The Reefuge will automatically download the photos upon the user posting, and use the local file to serve the image instead. This will be the preferred option as it will not need users to absolutely use our hosting for files when creating a post, but will achieve the same result.

I ask all of you to vote on which option you would prefer.

Thanks.
 

The Reefuge

Administrator
Jul 9, 2011
4,152
1,929
Some of us are members of multiple
Sites and using flicker et al makes it easier to cross post.
Direct uploads have their advantage of images always being available though
True. This way you can still use the image links hosted on flikr, etc, except now when you post it on The Reefuge, we will automatically save the image on our server. This way if your flickr account is deleted or modified, your posts here will not break.
 

The Reefuge

Administrator
Jul 9, 2011
4,152
1,929
As long as uploading direct to the site remains as easy as it is now, there is no real need for #2. (IMO obviously).
Uploading here will remain the same. The problem is a lot of users prefer to upload to third-party hosts. This is fine, but when the third-party host changes, and thus the route for the file, the content here breaks (broken image links, etc). So, we can ban third-party image hosts and force users to upload their files here directly, or we can simply copy the image to our servers when they link to them. The end result is the same.
 

Agent M

Member
Oct 21, 2011
3,536
1,586
Melbourne
Nothing worse than finding an old thread that is really innovative or something and there are no longer pics - happens to me all the time when I'm researching marine topics online and is a major pet peeve so I'm glad to hear this won't be happening on The Reefuge!
 

TheJordans

Member
Mar 29, 2013
722
369
Sunbury
Should you go with Option 2, you're going to have to have BIG warnings and "I agree" boxes or something otherwise you risk someone being unaware of your intent to automatically download and (if you so choose) PUBLISH their pics. I'd imagine that you'd be left open to backlash from some doofus somewhere ;)

Just my 2c
 

The Reefuge

Administrator
Jul 9, 2011
4,152
1,929
Should you go with Option 2, you're going to have to have BIG warnings and "I agree" boxes or something otherwise you risk someone being unaware of your intent to automatically download and (if you so choose) PUBLISH their pics. I'd imagine that you'd be left open to backlash from some doofus somewhere ;)

Just my 2c
Hello @TheJordans,

It has always been part of the terms and conditions when registering. Users must agree to all the terms and conditions before they are able to activate their account.

4. Submitted Content
When you submit content to thereefuge.com.au you simultaneously grant thereefuge.com.au an irrevocable, worldwide, royalty free license to publish, display, modify, distribute and syndicate your content worldwide. You confirm and warrant that you have the required authority to grant the above license to thereefuge.com.au. You retain copyright over the Content.
This is to make sure that if a users decides to terminate their account their content remains available. It is only now that I am looking to add a mirror for media due to a rather large thread dying due to a user changing the url for their images. However, it has already been covered in the terms and conditions from when the site first launched.

Thanks.
 

The Reefuge

Administrator
Jul 9, 2011
4,152
1,929
Yes, that may be so. But there will always be twits ;)
It would not be tolerable to have a message users will need to agree to every time they upload media. I understand where you are coming from though and I hope users thoroughly read through the terms and conditions when they register their account. This is standard practice for online businesses and communities.
 

Weinie

Member
Dec 4, 2013
57
28
Option 2, as this allows users the flexiblility to have their images hosted how they like, but this also allows the reefuge to access the images equally! Best of both worlds IMO.
 

Gordon

Member
Jan 29, 2013
141
37
Casula
I can't really understand why it would be a huge deal for people to download directly. I get people like cloud storage these days which is probably what is driving this but I'd be surprised if it was that hard to directly download the image here and then delete again if you so wish.

If it's simple to write the code to have the image download to the reefuge server then all the better though. Caters for all.

Voted for option two as breaking all the links and banning cloud makes little sense if option two is available.