photos - why is it hard?

The Bard Rocks · #1 12-06-2014, 07:28 AM

Everyone here asks for photos, yet the process for adding them seems arcane and complicated to me (to be fair, I've never tried it). I know it frustrates others, as it is often mentioned. You have to establish an account with a third party site and work it from there as I recall.

OK, why haven't the folks that administer this site made that process easier? I administer and use numerous sites where I can just drag and drop photos in, but that apparently cannot be done here. Why not? Is it something that for some reason us non-techies would never understand, something that would require an entire overhaul of how it works?

ahorsewithnonam · #2 12-06-2014, 07:32 AM

It's more than easy. It takes about 15 seconds to take a pic and upload it.
Download photobucket app.
Take pic
Attach to post.

cdikland · #3 12-06-2014, 07:34 AM

+1 Must agree (with Bard Rocks). While I don't think it is all that difficult it is archaic.

cdikland · #4 12-06-2014, 07:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ahorsewithnonam

It's more than easy.
Attach to post.

Please explain the last step to any techno-peasant. Here are some likely questions you will get.
- What's an app?
- How do I download the app?
- Whats a URL? (or what a link?)
- What do you mean "right click"?

The word "easy" is relative. Many would disagree

PTC Bernie · #5 12-06-2014, 07:48 AM

Regardless of ease, it's a matter of money and storage space.

I've stopped putting up photos because it's a hassle to go to a third party site, upload the pic, copy the URL, come back here, etc, etc, etc......... Also, I hate the concept of going through an intermediary to get things done. You'd think that after 30+ years into the life of the PC that we'd have things working a lot better.

BUT I DIGRESS!

Also, 95% + of what I do is on an iPad and you can't upload to the hosting sites from an iPad.

Having said that, think about how many pictures you have and how much space they take up on your hard drive.

Multiply that by the number of users and you'll see a huge investment in both time and money to set up servers and keep them backed up and keep them from overflowing.

I agree that drag and drop would be nice on AGF, But it's their site and if they don't want to deal with the expense and hassle, thst's their right.

Just my opinion.

devellis · #6 12-06-2014, 07:51 AM

Photos take up a lot of server space. Having a system that stores them on a server other than the one the board is on helps the board owner avoid the cost of paying a substantial up-cost for all that extra server space. Yes, it's convenient when you can just point to a file on your computer and the software uploads it to the server on which it resides. But there are lots of big photos that appear here and, collectively, they would represent a lot of disc space the site owner would be paying for.

Another advantage is that if you post the same picture on multiple guitar sites, they can all use the same image stored on a third-party server. That is, if I post an image, say, here, on the Collings site and on UMGF, they can all load a single image stored on Photobucket rather than there needing to be three separate photo files, one on each server.

New technologies may eventually change all of this as storage costs diminish. But for now, it does save the site owner a bundle not to have to pay storage for all those images.

[I see Bernie beat me to it.]

Silly Moustache · #7 12-06-2014, 07:51 AM

I think it might be more friendly to try to assist the OP rather than mock him. We are not all I=phone users etc.

Cdickland - please tell us what sort of device you are using to view this forum? - i.e. a desk=-top or laptop computer, i-pad or mobile phone.
Then hopefully those more technically competent than I should be able to assist you.

For what it's worth, I have a "photobucket" account and still find adding pics difficult and sometimes impossible so I'd also be grateful for an intelligent discussion on this.

Best regards,

ahorsewithnonam · #8 12-06-2014, 07:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PTC Bernie

Regardless of ease, it's a matter of money and storage space.

I've stopped putting up photos because it's a hassle to go to a third party site, upload the pic, copy the URL, come back here, etc, etc, etc.........

Also, 95% + of what I do is on an iPad and you can't upload to the hosting sites from an iPad.

Having said that, think about how many pictures you have and how much space they take up on your hard drive.

Multiply that by the number of users and you'll see a huge investment in both time and money to set up servers and keebacked backed up and keep them from overflowing.

I agree that drag and drop would be nice on AGF, But it's their site and if they don't want to deal with the expense and hassle, thst's their right.

Just my opinion.

You keep saying you can't do it from an iPad. 100000% wrong. What on earth are you talking about? And hard drive space? Save them to a cloud service.

All I have is my cellphone and an iPad. I pop up pics in seconds!

ahorsewithnonam · #9 12-06-2014, 07:55 AM

10 seconds..From my iPad.

ahorsewithnonam · #10 12-06-2014, 07:56 AM

5 seconds from my phone......

cdikland · #11 12-06-2014, 07:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Silly Moustache

Cdickland - please tell us what sort of device you are using to view this forum? - i.e. a desk=-top or laptop computer, i-pad or mobile phone.
Then hopefully those more technically competent than I should be able to assist you.

,

Huh? What's a device?

ahorsewithnonam · #12 12-06-2014, 08:02 AM

Under the classifieds section is a quick, simple explanation of how to post pics.

cdikland · #13 12-06-2014, 08:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ahorsewithnonam

You keep saying you can't do it from an iPad. 100000% wrong. What on earth are you talking about? And hard drive space? Save them to a cloud service.

All I have is my cellphone and an iPad. I pop up pics in seconds!

You assume everyone is as tech-savy as yourself. The fact that he stated "You can't upload from an iPad" says different. There are a whole lot people who know a whole lot less.

You (and others may think) my hypothetical questions above may be silly but having worked in high tech field for over 30 years I heard them all and none shock me any more. Back in the 90s the number one question asked of technical support staff was "Where is the any key?"

dekutree64 · #14 12-06-2014, 08:13 AM

Even more than the difficulty of uploading, what bothers me is that the majority of old threads have dead photo links. Better to store photos on the same server as the forum, so they have the same lifetime.

Captain Jim · #15 12-06-2014, 08:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dekutree64

Even more than the difficulty of uploading, what bothers me is that the majority of old threads have dead photo links. Better to store photos on the same server as the forum, so they have the same lifetime.

I participate on a sailing forum where photos can be stored on that site. After a year or so, those are deleted (space/$$ saving), so those "archived" photos go away. Better all around to have the photos on a third party site.

Seems to me that if someone can learn to play guitar, and can get on a computer and find their way to this forum, they can learn to post a photo. Like any new skill, it takes some desire to learn. No one is born with guitar or computer skills.