Imgur.com Removing Images May 15th

[tallbm]

I just found out about this. Imgur .com is a site that allows you to upload images online and share them. They seemed to be the last/best hassle free and quick option for being able to quickly upload an image and then link to it to show it off much like I do here on SMF.

Well now the Imgur terms of service seem to state that images that are NOT tied to an account may be deleted (I bet they will delete more than just the "old, unused, inactive" images to cut costs on storage space, or many images will fall into the classification of "old, unused, inactive" and get the axe for cost/space reasons).

So, most of the images of my cooks, etc. that I post there and link to here will likely go away leaving an "image not found" error in their place.

I just wanted to give everyone a heads up if you happen to do the same as I do. If you have an Imgur account then it's not an issue.

I've always avoided creating an account because I'm big on online data privacy and anonymity. The last thing I wanted was to have images directly associated with me for a websites data mining, data sharing, and machine learning association with my actual In Real Life (IRL) being so they can profit off of it and sell it any/all kinds of buyers.

I know I give up some of this freedom using any "free" online sites/tools but I work in software for a living and I have a decent understanding of HOW MUCH I'm giving up and what I find acceptable to me.

Anyhow, just wanting to let everyone know that if you use Imgur without an account to upload pics and link to them that the images are very likely going away May15 and beyond. :)

 

[mr_whipple]

I just found out about this. Imgur .com is a site that allows you to upload images online and share them. They seemed to be the last/best hassle free and quick option for being able to quickly upload an image and then link to it to show it off much like I do here on SMF.

Well now the Imgur terms of service seem to state that images that are NOT tied to an account may be deleted (I bet they will delete more than just the "old, unused, inactive" images to cut costs on storage space, or many images will fall into the classification of "old, unused, inactive" and get the axe for cost/space reasons).

So, most of the images of my cooks, etc. that I post there and link to here will likely go away leaving an "image not found" error in their place.

I just wanted to give everyone a heads up if you happen to do the same as I do. If you have an Imgur account then it's not an issue.

I've always avoided creating an account because I'm big on online data privacy and anonymity. The last thing I wanted was to have images directly associated with me for a websites data mining, data sharing, and machine learning association with my actual In Real Life (IRL) being so they can profit off of it and sell it any/all kinds of buyers.

I know I give up some of this freedom using any "free" online sites/tools but I work in software for a living and I have a decent understanding of HOW MUCH I'm giving up and what I find acceptable to me.

Anyhow, just wanting to let everyone know that if you use Imgur without an account to upload pics and link to them that the images are very likely going away May15 and beyond. :)

I just got that terms of service email myself. I have an account, but I rarely use it.

 

[tallbm]

I just got that terms of service email myself. I have an account, but I rarely use it.

You should be ok then.
It just sucks that I'm expecting like 90% of my posted images here on SMF to just poof and be gone!

 

[Displaced Texan]

You should be ok then.
It just sucks that I'm expecting like 90% of my posted images here on SMF to just poof and be gone!

I have always posted images here through the "Attach Files" function.

 

[thirdeye]

I moved to Imgur after the Photobucket debacle, when they wanted something like $300/year if you linked your photos to a website or blog, etc. I did keep my PB account and the links worked on my cookin' site. Then they had some kind of server meltdown, and it took months for the backup files to be recovered. The new management came in and lowered the annual fees, so I still have an account. Imgur allows for backup, so I've archived my actual photos, and have them on an external hard drive. But... thanks for the heads up. It's mind boggling how much information is really on various servers. I bet somewhere in cyber-land are my newsgroup or Prodigy posts.

 

[SmokinEdge]

Question,,,,,. I don’t have an image account. When I post pictures here they are straight from the gallery on my device. So why would you have a picture host these days?

 

[DougE]

Question,,,,,. I don’t have an image account. When I post pictures here they are straight from the gallery on my device. So why would you have a picture host these days?

Not SMF, but some forums I'm still a member of do not allow the direct posting of images, so I have an imgur acct for posting images on those sites. Photobucket was always the go to until they started making you pay a fee to hot link images to other sites.

 

[bmudd14474]

It's an expense to host the images but we have been increasing our storage space to accommodate the need as we want to have that available for all. This is also the reason we have kept the image size limited because some of the high resolution stuff can be 20-30mb or more.

 

[tallbm]

I used to post images only on the site here but after some changes there was an image storage size limit put in place and I may have started to come close to it. bmudd14474 speaks about this in his post.

Seeing how other sites did similar things and sometimes completely closing down the feature I switch to using other sites like Imgur.

I'm mindful of trying not to burden a server like SMF and I understand them putting the limits so Imgur it was.
Not sure what I'll do now if they remove the old images and/or lock down the ability to do such a thing in the future for posting images.

I'll figure something out. Just wanted let others here know what was going on in case they use something like that to also post images :D

 

[tallbm]

It`s interesting. Thanks!

I haven't noticed any pics disappear yet but I won't be surprised if/when it happens lol :D