Some Pinned Filter Topics Removed

[Andrea B.]

Three pinned filter topics were removed because the links no longer work.

 

Filter Series :: Rosco Storano Color Filters

Filter Series :: 25 Comparisons on Full Spectrum 5D MKII using Tiffens, Wrattens and More

Filter Series :: Rosco 47, 75, 361, 378, 2006, 3202

 

These filter tests were made by member https://www.ultravioletphotography.com/content/index.php?/profile/39-a-stranger-in-the-wind/. The photos were linked from his server which seems to no longer exist.

 

This is one of the hazards of linking photos from another server. I could probably forbid such linking, so welcome any comments about doing that.

 

 

[Andy Perrin]

Honestly, forbidding that is probably a good idea. It puts stress on the other server every time the page loads, I think, so it's not "neighborly." (Correct me if I'm wrong on that.) And as we see here, it makes a mess of things for us if the other server goes offline. I'm just not seeing any upside to allowing it!

[Doug A]

Would this forbid links with image sharing sites like Flickr, or just Private servers?  It is a shame to lose info to broken links. Hope something didn't happen to the original poster. Six years is a long time to contribute and then one day it just ends with no goodbye. 

Thanks,

Doug A

[Andy Perrin]

Doug, I hope it does forbid hotlinking to Flickr. Remember that such links are vulnerable to being destroyed whenever the outside website changes its architecture, which even major sites like Flickr will do from time to time. It's not a smart thing to do at the level of the poster, this site, and (because it has to serve the picture every time the page is loaded) the other site either. Bad all the way around.

 

(To be clear we are talking about serving the images from an outside server, not simply posting a URL to Flickr or whatever. A URL might still get outdated but at least it's not putting strain on the outside server.)

[lukaszgryglicki]

I would never remove anything (like post) even if their URLs expired.

Also if you forbid links to external (arbitrary) servers you will (for example) loos all my links to high-res images/videos - because most websites (external too?) affect the quality of images and changes them on the flay, which is exactly the opposite of what my private server do (because I've writen its software or config) - very bad (IMHO) to forbid such a content, and I'm sad hearing this.

 

 

[Andy Perrin]

Lukas you are misunderstanding. It’s embedded image links we are discussing, not a URL. 
 

For instance this would be not allowed:

(embedded link from Twitter)

 

but this is okay:

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FlFCEynaEAIKFVU?format=jpg&name=large

 

The above picture would vanish if Twitter itself did. Also, if your own server were unavailable for some reason we would be left with holes in the forum. 

[otoien]

Most of the images I have posted would disappear if such links were forbidden (in my case linked from Zenfolio). Bad idea to exclude such an option. It is better to educate members about the need to commit to a stable image hosting site if images are linked externally. Personally I also link  images used at this site from two dedicated galleries to keep track of what I link. Unfortunately one sometimes gets what is paid for when using a free image hosting site. The only trouble I encountered was a one time problem when http became https, but that was fixed with some search and editing of links at this site.

[lukaszgryglicki]

OK I see what you mean, this is O)K then, thanks for the info.

 

[Andy Perrin]

19 hours ago, otoien said:

Most of the images I have posted would disappear if such links were forbidden (in my case linked from Zenfolio). Bad idea to exclude such an option. It is better to educate members about the need to commit to a stable image hosting site if images are linked externally. Personally I also link  images used at this site from two dedicated galleries to keep track of what I link. Unfortunately one sometimes gets what is paid for when using a free image hosting site. The only trouble I encountered was a one time problem when http became https, but that was fixed with some search and editing of links at this site.

No, not necessarily— all Andrea has to do is disable the “Insert Image from Url” button and then nobody will be able to add new images from an external server, but your old ones will be okay!

 

And if you are suddenly worried about your images vanishing, then you now understand why this was a bad idea to begin with. 

 

Hosting images locally makes the internet more redundant and therefore more robust. 

[Andrea B.]

 It is better to educate members about the need to commit to a stable image hosting site if images are linked externally.

 

The problem is not necessarily with unstable vs. stable external hosting sites. The problem can occur when a photographer moves their images to another external hosting site or when a photographer removes images from the external hosting site or when a photographer drops their membership in the external hosting site. Or even, heaven forbid!, if the photographer becomes incapacitated or passes away. (I've seen *everything* happen in the years I've been Admin-ing websites!!)

 

For UVP, the most stable solution is to permit only uploaded images. It is not a difficult nor particularly time-consuming process. And it ensures our topics remain useable for members and readers. 

[otoien]

Actually, with "stable image hosting site" I meant committing to keep access available to the images for all foreseeable future, not the stability of the server, which can be a issue with the databases for both  local and external sites. Yes everything can happen - the major astrophoto hosting site astrobin.com lost half of their locally stored images a few years back when the backup solution that the owner thought was in place was not what was assumed.

 

My issue with uploading images to some other forums, is that local images have to be attachments that cannot be placed among text. Thus pairing images with their comments become an issue. I believe we have a solution to that here that allows tags to be placed in text. So time for a test (sorry if image is a bit off topic) :

 

A simulation of the conjunction between Mars and our Moon, as would have been seen from Fairbanks, Alaska on December 7, 2022 (it was cloudy that day...). Composite of a Mars capture at closest approach a week before and the full Moon in early February, both stacks of about 30% of the best of about 500 images captured with 300mm f/4 PF and TC14E+TC20EII. Processed with PIPP, Astrostakkert (3x drizzle), and waveSharp/Registax + final touchup in CNX2. (Open image in new tab and click+ for larger version.)

[Andy Perrin]

7 minutes ago, otoien said:

My issue with uploading images to some other forums, is that local images have to be attachments that cannot be placed among text.

That's not a problem here? I think you just confirmed that for yourself, though.

[otoien]

Another test to see if images can be uploaded as attachment from an image hosting site:

 

I used the "Other media" link in the attachment field to insert this image. Is it an attachment or would it still be linked? 

Animated Jupiter captures as with the above equipment in mid November composited from different nearly simultaneous exposures for its moons (Io, Ganymede, Europa and Callisto left to right) and the planet. 

[Edit: Image replaced with an uploaded version]

[Andy Perrin]

That’s what needs to not be happening or our UVP site gets missing link messages every time the other server reorganizes it’s file hierarchy. 

[Andrea B.]

Otoien: ...local images have to be attachments that cannot be placed among text. I believe we have a solution to that here that allows tags to be placed in text.

 

That is correct. After dragging the image file onto the "Drag files here" area, you can place the cursor anyplace in the text and then click insert on the loaded image file to put the image where the cursor is. If you put an image in the wrong place, just right click it and select Cut.

 

BTW, that is such a cool animation of Jupiter and its moons !!!

[otoien]

Thanks Andrea, that animation took "some" work and  >6000 captured frames for the stacking software to evaluate and process. Funny enough, my second version of the animation that I uploaded as attachment instead  of linking as the one above, with a comment along something like "now let us see which version survives the longest" disappeared because of  the database problems. May be I should not have challenged the systems!!!