Need new image hosting site? Suggestions?

Simmingal · February 5

Idk really what category this thread should go probably here?
but recently Imgur has really been into deleting my story pictures
so I readded them right
thinking maybe those images were too inactive or old,
well they deleted them again after just day or so *sighs*

So I have to assume they just don't like me
either because bots found those images too hot
or because I don't have account, right. understandable.

well I was gonna make account but they're asking for phone number?
nope Imgur our romance bar is not that high nor will it ever be.

So anyway after this unneededly long explanation:

Imgur is not really reliable anymore for posting my stories

and I need alternative image hosting site for those times its being absolutely insufferable

something that does not add watermark, annoying texts or borders, make the image size smaller or pixel the heck out of things
or ask for unneccessary amounts of personal information? or find Mortimer Goth too hot?

Anyone have recommendations?

Ellupelluellu · February 5

I use postimage.org , replacing my pics there when ever imgur decides my pics are too hot to keep.

I do have account tho in both but its not needed.

Simmingal · February 6

Ellupelluellu wrote: »

I use postimage.org , replacing my pics there when ever imgur decides my pics are too hot to keep.

I do have account tho in both but its not needed.

Thanks! gonna try with that one then
hopefully this site doesn't have thing for sim daddies

Maven08094 · February 6

I use Photobucket, it's a monthly fee but worth it

LeucosiaX · February 6

I was using Flickr and recently started an Imgur.

DeKay · February 13

Imgur shouldn't be deleting images that are tied to an account, so I guess that's why they are deleting yours. If you don't mind logging in with it using your Google account etc, then you can do that too.

Another one I use that doesn't require an email login is this one: https://imgbox.com/

I cannot guarantee that they won't do like a regular cleanup of photos that aren't tied to an account tho. I just checked and if you want to create an account, there is no need for a phone number so I think this will suit your needs.

Kendrana · February 13

Imgur used to be decent, but some time back they started requiring payment in order to use some features that were previously free. For those who didn't have an advanced (paid) account, they began using ads, putting watermarks on uploaded pictures, and limiting the number of uploads.

Anyway, I agree that postimage.org is a good alternative. It's what I use now, and it works extremely well for the purposes of linking and/or uploading pictures on the internet.

flauschtrud · February 20

@Simmingal
I was just curious about imgur since I know a lot of Simmers here use their platform and I had a look into their terms of service: https://imgur.com/tos

Under the "Stuff not to do" part they say: "Also, don't use Imgur to host image libraries you link to from elsewhere, content for your website, advertising, avatars, or anything else that turns us into your content delivery network. If you do – and we will be the judge – or if you do anything illegal, in addition to any other legal rights we may have, we will ban you along with the site you're hotlinking from, delete all your images, report you to the authorities if necessary, and prevent you from viewing any images hosted on Imgur.com. We mean it."

So that basically means that probably every Simmer that uses imgur to add images to their stories here or on their blog is breaking the terms of use and is at risk of having their images or even their account get deleted.

I have no idea how they enforce this exactly, but they can definitely tell where the traffic from the hotlinks is coming from (each time an image is loaded in a forum post
https://forums.thesims.com/ is sent to imgur as the refering page). So I would guess it's a question of numbers. The more popular your blog or forum thread is and the more requests are sent to your image file on imgur the higher the risk that it gets classified as illegal traffic theft.

Edit: I just also had a look at postimages.org since they were mentioned and they do not forbid linking from forums or blogs but in their FAQ (https://postimages.org/faq) they talk about having some kind of soft limit: "How many images can I upload in general? As many as you like! We do not impose strict limits on our users (except restrictions mentioned in our Terms of Service). Some users store and share tens of thousands of images, and we are cool with that. However, disk space and bandwidth are not cheap, so if you use REALLY much of either, and your usage pattern does not allow us to recover our costs (e.g. you do not publish your images embedded into links leading back to our site, thus stripping us of any potential advertising income from them), we reserve the right to contact you and discuss possible ways to satisfy your needs while allowing our project to make ends meet."

cyncie · February 20

@flauschtrud

flauschtrud wrote: »

@Simmingal
I was just curious about imgur since I know a lot of Simmers here use their platform and I had a look into their terms of service: https://imgur.com/tos

Under the "Stuff not to do" part they say: "Also, don't use Imgur to host image libraries you link to from elsewhere, content for your website, advertising, avatars, or anything else that turns us into your content delivery network. If you do – and we will be the judge – or if you do anything illegal, in addition to any other legal rights we may have, we will ban you along with the site you're hotlinking from, delete all your images, report you to the authorities if necessary, and prevent you from viewing any images hosted on Imgur.com. We mean it."

I feel they’re more concerned with people using them to link to business/ advertising content and to blogs, etc that can be monetized. In that case, they become a free means for you to conduct your business and make money off of their services. The “ we will be the judge” part gives them leeway on how to interpret that. I doubt they care about hosting screenshots for a fan forum, unless you’re posting a ridiculously high volume. I’ve used Imgur for years with no problems.

However, if I’m a “content creator” hoping to make money off of my Sims blog, I’d definitely consider another option.

flauschtrud · February 20

@cyncie
I don't think it's only about commercial use, but basically the same as postimages.org write in their FAQ: "disk space and bandwidth are not cheap, so if you use REALLY much of either, and your usage pattern does not allow us to recover our costs..."

It's quite possible that the average Simmer still is a profitable user for platforms like this as long as their own usage of the site (uploading and managing images) generates enough advertising income. But there will be a point where a user becomes unprofitable (if they use hotlinking and the platforms don't get any advertising revenue for the image views).

Even if these platforms claim to be free they are companies that want to earn money and you either have to pay directly for their service or indirectly by allowing advertising.

I can't tell how big the risk is that images get deleted based on the terms of service, but I think it's important to know for people that don't backup their images elsewhere.

jupejuperocket · February 20

I'd recommend getting your own free website hosting and uploading it to your own space. That way you can even post them on a site to share with the world if you wanted to. idk what I'd do without my domain :)

MonaSolstraale · February 26

@Simmingal I have experienced a few times that images have been deleted from Imgur. One was a picture of Don Lothario in his underpants, but the other was a harmless landscape picture. If I have tried to charge them again they have been removed again. There is no explanation and I can't see any pattern that explains why those particular images have been deleted.

@flauschtrud That sounds really horrifying. I have thousands of images linked to Imgur I use in my story. I've slowly started numbering these images in my archive to have a backup in case Imgur should suddenly shut itself down or change their terms significantly. I think I need to speed up the process more.

@jupejuperocket I'm curious about what your proposal means in practice. How to link to another free website.
I have considered uploading all my photos to my own website, but that will probably require an increase in space and an increase in the price of my subscription.

mightysprite · February 26

@flauschtrud yep, I have been using postimages for about 3 years with almost no issues.
I agree, the way they make their money is clearly advertising when someone clicks on one of our images and is led to their site.
I almost always use the "hotlink for forums" option when sharing images I post there, the only time I change the link address is when using a single image in a post that I want to link to my story thread.

It is possible that they resize images. I don't usually upload anything bigger than 1600 pixels wide, since this forum sizes things down to 1600 pixels and I'm mostly uploading images to post here, so if it sizes bigger images down in some way I wouldn't have noticed.
If you click the "thumbnail" option, you will of course get a very small image

Occasionally an image will hang at 100% uploaded but never move through to the next screen. This happens most often when re-uploading something with the same filename. It's happened like 5-10 times in 3 years.
Maybe twice in 3 years, images have had trouble loading. It seemed to be a sitewide problem as it was every image in every one of my stories, then it resolved in a few hours.
That's it.

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Need new image hosting site? Suggestions?

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