Imgur blocks access to most VPN IP addresses so any posts using the host will result in many users being unable to see the content. Sometimes only remote viewing is affected but is also often blocked when trying to open in new tab and view at the parent site.
Consider uploading to the fediverse or using a privacy-respecting hosting service like postimages.
heck I often won’t see them as I don’t like to allow imgur
Same goes for catbox links. Either post the fatbox link instead or choose a different image host, the VPN is not getting turned off just for shitposts.
Didn’t know catbox are also blocked by some as well
I honestly don’t get why folks use external image providers. Lemmy is perfectly capable of providing post images, just attach it and there you go. Or is it about saving free space on a server?
I also was of the assumption that imgur has turned to dogshit? Only read it in a Reddit comment before moving here, though.
It depends what they liked about Imgur in the first place, in the first couple of years, it really was a wild West platform that would host anything. Then it sort of became a social network, with one thing being the mods being really open to user suggestions and an active part of the community. The “community” was literally just the comments under images on the public feed. It was at its strongest around 2015 when a secret santa was organised completely adhoc under an image post, then turned into a formal thing. People would post images of something they were working on, accompanied by long personal stories and these would become some sort of “canon” and people would post response meme, and highlight reels of what had been shared in the last month. And then ads came. A couple of the mods left. The filters became a little more automatic, a little more prone to flagging stuff that was fine. There’s still community stuff there, I just feel it’s not as inspired as it once was. Everything that happened with Reddit going public didn’t help.
Also, anyone in the UK not using a VPN won’t be able to see them, since imgur chose to block the UK rather than adhere to age verification laws.
Whatever one thinks about that legislation, other countries (including the whole of the EU and Australia) are likely to do the same and it seems likely imgur will become a US-only resource…
Well, that and due to them being investigated for how they handle children’s data and access, it had appeared that a fine was heading their way.
I wonder if using a hash-based system could work slightly better (on platforms where you can’t edit image links) in these cases where a platform decides to stop serving to some users or go defunct. So that way, you can at least have a slight chance of ‘fixing’ an image after the fact.
It wouldn’t work with most image share sites, but at least you could rehost it on a mirror yourself.
I really wish we had this. A browser that allows loading files directly using P2P Torrent V2 hashes to load files or even static websites. Opera supports torrents but not as a direct replacement to http.
Then you could simply upload images to some random torrent seed box to host them and distribute them.
This seems problematic… if I click on a link to something that infringes on a copyright, my system is being used to distribute copyrighted material. That would be exposing me to legal liability without me knowing. Also it’s using my bandwidth without my knowledge.
Yeah I do download from torrents, but I do it with the knowledge that whatever I download is going to be redistributed by my computer, so I know to make sure the VPN is on. Something built into a browser is doing this without the user’s knowledge.
Maybe creating a browser extension to do something like this would be ok, people are opting in when they install the extension. But then the torrents wouldn’t work for everyone and given the problem we’re trying to solve is links not working for everyone, that doesn’t make a lot of sense.
I forgot how I found out about it, but is imglink.cc good? I had a look at the site briefly and it seemed okay to me.
catbox.moe used to offer free infinite time uploads without an account until very recently. They changed it to max 2 years. That’s where I upload my images and videos (with an account) whenever I need to send bug reports with evidence via email or a repo issue tracker
It’s funny really… what was the quote? You either die a hero or live long enough to become the villain.
Imgur was started back in the day to provide a no-bullshit image host, because all the others were too corporate / too monetized / too much bullshit/enshittification. So MrGrim started Imgur to fix that.
Then MrGrim took a bunch of VC money, and they eventually sold out, and now the result is the sad shell of what it once was today.
Yeah. I remember ye olde days of Imgur. NSFW in gallery and stuff. Now it’s just shitty. It was a pretty gradual thing. I don’t even remember exactly what made me stop using it.
Nah, it was started as an image host for reddit. It has always been extremely corporate. The site has even always almost been reddit with the same up/down vote and comment systems.
It’s true and I won’t turn off my vpn for companies that do this crap.
Thanks Imgur for saving me from Imgur
Prepare this is gonna get a lot worse, though.
You don’t see imgur because you use a VPN.
I don’t see imgur because I won’t enable their Javascript.
We are not the same.
image loading doesn’t use javascript regardless
I don’t see imgur because I use a vpn and also because I am in the UK. We’s diffrunt.
Innit
How do you disable site specific JavaScript?
NoScript extension
I have to use a VPN to see imgur pics because the UK government is run by wankers 😭 And I don’t even live in the UK proper, I’m in N. Ireland, but I’m subject to those bullshit laws with zero recourse.
Did I just become an IRA man? 👀
The IRA existed for a reason, that reason never really went away.
I live in California and still get randomly geoIPed to the UK. I start noticing it when imgur stops loading.
To be fair, the UK and California are very close to each other, so that’s understandable. Same planet, that’s a mistake that’s easy to make.
Don’t use VPN! Easy! /S
Trick: If it’s asingle image, you can still download it with save link as…
If it’s a gallery, it’ll unfortunately download a .json file. I’m not sure about gifs.
I’m in the UK. I can only see imgur when I do use a VPN.
I’m also in the UK, and imgur blocks my VPN, so I get the worst of both worlds.
Shit even without a VPN, it might not work unless you make damn sure to link the correct direct image link and not the imgur container link. This has been an issue with imgur on other social media for years now.
It’s by design, to incite people to spend time on the imgur website/app with ads instead of just using for image hosting. It used to be a nerd-friendly image hosting for redditors at the beginning, but about 3 years ago they decided it’s time to try to look more respectful to make some more money out of it. They banned NSFW (and probably whatever else their investors/advertisers/payment processors don’t want to see) and automatically deleting images uploaded anonymously and not accessed enough. Interestingly, similar timing as the Reddit API debacle which created a big wave of new comers to Lemmy, including myself.
They are not a reliable image hosting service anymore, by design. https://help.imgur.com/hc/en-us/articles/26479362527771-Imgur-Terms-of-Service-UpdateCould you please specify how to tell them apart?
The correct one has a file extension.
You get the image URL by right-clicking on the image and selecting ‘copy image link’ or whatever it is in your browser. It looks like ‘i.imgur.com/33blahbleh.jpg’, whereas the page URL is ‘imgur.com/gallery/cat-making-pizza-33blahbleh’.
If you use the app, I doubt it that they give you the direct image URL anywhere.
I’m more shocked people still use Imgur for anything anymore.
