Cannot upload any photos

[unixken]

Yes, I suggested that earlier, but some members are loath to use that method for some reason.

The reasons could be numerous (yet another account to create... yet another account/password to remember... yada yada yada.) What I find most annoying about photos linked to Photobucket and other such sites, is that at a later date people forget they had linked to their photos in this fashion, and either change viewing/access permissions on the photos, move the photos to new folders or rename them, or delete their accounts there altogether... thus the posts here which were linked to them then have forever lost access to the photos because no one ever goes back to chase down all the links they created to those photos.

On the other hand, photos uploaded directly to XMTS remain valid and can be preserved, viewed, and enjoyed by all current and future readers of the posts.

I'm not saying those photo archiving sites don't have their advantages, but when manipulating the photos on those sites after the fact, it's all too easy to leave orphaned references all over the forum.

[Steve Ashton]

The same thing can happen if you re-arrange the photos on your hard drive or your computer crashes.
One thing I like about the on-line hosting sites is it is just another copy out there - just in case.
I've had hard drives fail and back-up drives fail and just about every catastrophe imaginable.
I now have at least three copies of everything in three different places.
You don't have any idea of the heart stopping terror when you open your business for the day and find your computers have died overnight.

[unixken]

I can understand every one of those points, and can relate to all of them. LOL
(As an on-call engineer in I.T. for the last 22+ years, I can tell you... I get the calls at 2AM when it happens to everyone else, as well.)

"Real men don't make backups. They upload their stuff to the Internet and let the rest of the world mirror it."
-- Linus Torvalds

[Elizabeth]

Tapping reply to thread, then in the quick reply window I'm typing this, then on the top row of little icons I pick the photo, then the window/pop up drops down and I pick from computer, then it pick a photo from the file inside my iPad ( something I've done 99% of the time I've been on the forum ) and I select a photo (one I've uploaded before exactly the same way. The photo is the same size I've used time and time again. ) and hit upload file. Then a window pops up and says the file is too big, and I give up........for I've already cropped the heck out of numerous photos to try to fit them, even after I know I've uploaded photos the same size........

Hawk
( hope this helps )

This is what I have done as well with the exception that I then resized the photo and tried again and it appears as a link in this thread I posted a couple days ago. http://www.xmarksthescot.com/forum/f...ication-86781/

Just a mention that cropping a photo to make it "smaller" is not the same as resizing it in a photo program.

[sailortats]

@Steve, in my post #58 in this thread I was trying to be helpful but it appears as though you took my attempt as impatience. I guess it will be better if I do not try to help again.

[ThistleDown]

As you can see above, I still don't have an avatar. I'm not able to import from another site (Photobucket), or from my computer. Same pic I've used before, from the same source(s). I don't 'need' to have one, so I'm happy to wait until what ever is going on has gone on.

[Steve Ashton]

sailortats, I am very sorry, that is not what I meant at all. Please forgive me.

[tpa]

I'm not able to import from another site (Photobucket), or from my computer. Same pic I've used before, from the same source(s).

I don't have a problem uploading from Photobucket using option 4 of the links, beginning and ending with URL and /URL in square brackets.: I cannot show the link as I could not find a way of preventing it showing the photo or showing nothing rather than the link if I left all or some of the detail in. However I cannot get a photo to show using the site's "Insert Image" link.

[Mael Coluim]

As you can see above, I still don't have an avatar. I'm not able to import from another site (Photobucket), or from my computer. Same pic I've used before, from the same source(s). I don't 'need' to have one, so I'm happy to wait until what ever is going on has gone on.

Indeed Rex, it is not a good time to update one's avatar.

Rather than have the box with the wording "MC's avatar"; I selected not to have one.

[Steve Ashton]

Hi folks,

I would like everyone to know that we have heard you. The Moderators have received your flags about this issue. Rob and I are keeping up to date on the posts in this thread and I want you to know that we are working on the problem.

However, the fact is that vBulletin, the software package that we run X Marks with, does not handle photos well. Everything that is posted here, the words that you type, and the photos that you show, need to be stored somewhere.

It is all about storage and storage space. vBulletin was never designed to have a dedicated place to store photos. There was a limited amount of space set aside for avatars and icon images, and there was a special place for albums.

Within posts however the old adage is true - one photo is equal to thousands of words - if you look at it as the amount of storage space they take up.

Until about three years ago you could not upload your photos directly to be stored within X Marks. What you actually did was create a link to that photo that was already stored somewhere else on the web. This usually meant another website or a dedicated photo storage place -- such as Photobucket.

This was the norm for 10 years X Marks. Those of us who have been around a while remember when the only way to have a photo appear within our posts was to link to them on a photo hosting site.

About three years ago we found a plug-in for vBulletin that allowed photos to be uploaded to our servers and stored there. These photos could be uploaded from anywhere -- your computer, pad, phone, another website, a photo hosting site, etc.

But many plug-ins are not perfect pieces of software. They are usually work-arounds or small programs that you add to another to work around a problem.
Our current thinking and what we are working on is that the plug-in has failed, and we are trying to figure out how to fix it. Failing that, we will look for another that will work.

Rob and I are going to ask for you continued patience. I know some of you are frustrated and a few are angry. You can still put photos into your posts just as you always did by linking to them. We understand that you may have to resize a photo if you want to use it as an avatar and reduce the size of some very large photos at times. We understand this is an inconvenience.

Rob and I promise to inform you as soon as we have a solution.