resolved External Image Hosting Rules

[bigtez]

Please all be reminded that external image hosting is not allowed on AFO. Please upload images directly onto the AFO forum. You can upload multiple images in the same post

Sorry for going OT, but does that mean photobucket etc hosted images are no longer allowed?

[AFO]

I have split this into it's own topic.

To answer your question, externally hosted images have never been allowed, however as our forum software did not allow multiple image uploading we 'turned a blind eye' over the last few years and allowed it but always did discourage it.

The Site Rules state:

5. Forum:

* Images hosted on an external site are not allowed (multiple images can be uploaded to forum posts and community photo albums on this site)

However, the AFO forum was upgraded several months ago adding the ability to upload multiple images in forum posts. As the AFO forum now has the ability we are now enforcing our original rule on external image hosting.

There are several reasons behind this, the main one being that if the images are not hosted on our server the continuity and completeness of the forum and its posts are out of our control. This means we lose the ability to keep the integrity of the forum. With 300,000 posts we want to ensure these are posts that will always be readable and not be disrupted in discussion. Already you will see there are numerous forum threads that had externally hosted images in them, which these images have now been removed or the external image hosting accounts closed by members with which (most probably unknowingly) significantly disrupts the AFO forum. If the images get uploaded to the AFO site we know those forum threads will remain intact forever and that is our main concern.

Another reason is that externally hosted images are not resized by the AFO forum software and as such they 'break' the layout of the AFO forum. If images are uploaded to the AFO site they are automatically resized to fit the forum and keep within the allowable dimensions so that the forum is displayed correctly. There are numerous examples of this on the site already.

We believe it is reasonable request of our members, as it is simple, quick and straightforward to upload images now to our site. We have increased allowable photo and file upload limits to 2MB each respectively to make it even easier to upload. We have also upgraded our photo album system in the community section of the site as well such that if people wish to have large albums then AFO can also handle it. There are increased privacy settings in this Community section as well.

As of the start of this year we will start really enforcing this rule and will ask all moderators to do the same. Please kindly refrain from using externally hosted images.

If you have any concerns or questions, please feel free to email admin@australianfishing.com.au with these. We have this rule to benefit all members to ensure the forum's 'intactness' stays into the future.

[rayke1938]

Why can I only post 4 photos in a thread and then the remainder are shrunken. I downsize the photos in windows live and copy from there.

Cheers

Ray

[AFO]

Ray,

There should not be any restriction on the amount of files or images able to be uploaded into a forum post through the AFO forum. We are trying to make the system as easy as possible so that the forum can keep its ‘continuity’.

This must be a bug in the software, which we will look into as soon as we can. However, our initial tests can't seem to replicate this issue, as we can insert as many images as we like into forum posts like below.

[rayke1938]

Have a look at my post npd 12/1/11

cheers

ray

[AFO]

Ray, had a look and it just seems that you didn't insert all the images. Once you add the files, you then need to click the "Insert" button to place the images within your forum post. It seems you missed clicking the Insert button on a few images. I have clicked those for you and all is working.

[rayke1938]

Thanks. I even forget to push the button on the toilet at times.

Cheers

Ray