Dear GRM-Please start hosting photos

Rufledt wrote:

David S. Wallens wrote: We have enough to field a football team.

What's that, you say? GRM is starting a football team to compete with other magazines' employees?

JG is charge of that one.

In reply to David S. Wallens:

You are good. I see why they have you host the town hall meeting.

More than one smallish forum I've been part of over the years allows uploading photos so I won't easily accept that it isn't doable because you aren't Facebook or Imguar. I think you guys are too quick to dismiss it because it sounds scary. I think you are missing out on really interesting traffic. I have also probably excessively argued my point so I will let it go.

I think asking the GRM group if they would mind if their pics are cross posted on GRM is a great idea. I don't see why they would care but they should be asked. A big-"look what GRM stuffs on facebook" thread like the hotlink thread would be cool.

I can't think of much I'd enjoy doing less than trying to host images for the public on the internet on a shoestring.

I wouldn't wish that on my enemies. I like the GRM folks.

I think there might be some low hanging fruit for smoothing out the papercuts for mobile users.

YouTube embed support was added. Most photo hosting sites, particularly on mobile, seem more willing to give an embed code than a raw jpg url. What about adding embed support for them?

Can the buttons on the edit window on mobile be made bigger?

Trying to see if there is a middle ground.

Tumblr does a great job hosting photos, making them text searchable and allowing tags and descriptions

Toyman01 wrote: In reply to MrJoshua: I do build threads on multiple boards. GRM, Expedition Portal, Zuwharrie, and on occasion Pirate4X4. It's easier for me to dump the pictures on Photobucket and hotlink them, than it would be to upload to multiple boards.

One this I wish they did NOT change on Photobucket was using sequential file names (they are random now). Argh. It used to be so easy to link a series of pictures here. You just linked the first one, then copy and paste as many photos you have then change the last digit sequentially. Now you have to copy and paste each image link.

Tim Baxter wrote: ... 3. A page chock-full of massive images sucks giant balls for people on slow connections. ...

You tech guys and your "tech speak".

Isn't there some sort of code to turn Suck Giant Balls mode off?

/SuckGiantBalls ?

Making the boards more conducive to linking images is what I would like to see fixed.
double-space, enter, hit image button, double-space, enter...
followed by hitting image button and replacing first url with the next, double-space, enter for each subsequent image...

not helpful when there's lots of pictures you want to share.

Ironically, halfway convenient for threads that thrive off of single images per post.

FWIW, I host all my images on imgur, free and pretty painless.

David S. Wallens wrote:

Rufledt wrote:

David S. Wallens wrote: We have enough to field a football team.

What's that, you say? GRM is starting a football team to compete with other magazines' employees?

JG is charge of that one.

I think there should be a contest to come up with a team name. The Daytona Answers?

I agree with the OP.

I am not on FaceBook, and do most of my posting from my smartphone.

You guys have captured my loyalty and I spend very little time on any other site.

I tried really hard to do a decent build thread this year and, once again, it fell flat because it was a PITA.

I also agree that although I am pretty ignorant on the subject, it can't be that hard. My wife does it for free on her website and she has a staff of, well, zero. I've also been involved in other smaller sites that were perfectly capable of doing it regularly.

I respect your position, but will not be doing more build threads while it remains the way it is. I love GRM, but this is annoying. I can't imagine it is helping you position for future growth.

I opened my first Imgur account this year just so I could post here. I did not enjoy it. My life is really full, and I have no interest in adding a few steps to it.

I am considering joining FaceBook so I can participate in Aussie's page. That would probably mean I would not be here.

I think at least making the picture and link icons bigger would be a huge step in the right direction. They are tiny.

Now, if you guys would buy the proper forum software ... I'd also become a paid subscriber. We all know thats wishful thinking.

This thread is a perfect example of why I post here less and less.

And it's not because I want them to host images.

I for one do not have a problem with how it's set up here. I post a lot of pictures here. It's never been an issue. It's every bit as easy as any other site I've posted pictures on.

Slippery wrote: Now, if you guys would buy the proper forum software ... I'd also become a paid subscriber. We all know thats wishful thinking.

We have looked into new forum software in the past. I don't recall all of the details, but I remember it opening a giant can of worms. First, which one to use? Also, the forum is so tied into the rest of the site that we'd lose a lot of functionality.

I can ask about bigger icons, though. It's not always obvious, but we're constantly making tweaks on the backend. We want this to be a cool place to hang out--a lot of that is thanks to our awesome community, I might add. (That's all of you guys.)

In reply to David S. Wallens:

The bigger icons would certainly help on mobile. They're fine with a trackpad or mouse, but on the phone, they're on the small side for touch.

I actually like the forum software you're using. I like it a lot. I find most forum interfaces to be crap, but yours has a clear idea of what is important, and puts that front and center.

I haven't had any problem with GRM not hosting pictures. Since I might post the same picture on several websites it is easier to host in one place instead of having to upload to the different sites.

I do have a problem posting pics right now since Comcast decided to do away with personal web pages which is where I have been hosting my pics. So now I need another place to host my pics. I am undecided on whether to use a photo hosting site or set up my own domain somewhere.

Thanks. We do try. Baxter got it rolling, and we have kept it moving along into whatever decade this is.

I find it relatively painless to post photos here....if I am posting from my computer. I've never done it from my phone. Facebook may be easier, but I refuse to use it, so I don't know.

If it were really so hard to post photos here, then please explain the number of pages in the hotlink thread.

It blows my mind that people can figure out how to work on a car but can't be bothered to upload photos to the web receptacle of their choosing and copy paste a link. Sites like Imgur make it easy and free, or for $10 or less a month you can pay for hosting and have total control. Heck, you can hotlink from Dropbox! Drag to public, right click, and copy public link.

Y'all happily complain about dumb Autozone employees who can only look things up one way. YOU ARE ACTING JUST AS INTELLIGENTLY WITH YOUR INABILITY TO DEAL WITH HOW THE WEB WORKS. You can't figure out how to upload an image because it's not in GRM's system?

In reply to Kylini:

LOL-yes,stupidity is the problem. Believe me, I know how to post pictures. It's EASIER to post pictures elsewhere so people do, not because they are stupid. THAT is the way the web works.

GRM runs what is basically a home-brew forum instead of a store bought off-the-shelf system. Sure, it's got some idiosyncrasies such as the weird formatting and the lack of picture uploading - but it's home-brew because it's custom-built to do just what they need to do. And it was probably less expensive than buying software, and certainly costs less to run in terms of server load.

There's a parallel here, I'm trying to think of what it is.

For all those who brag about not having a Facebook account - you don't need one to view pages like the GRM one. You don't need to log in or swear fealty to the social media gods. Just pretend it's a website you can look at like every other website and it works.

Facebook is great for quick, easy, transient updates like pictures of your race car in the middle of a thrash. It's not so great for anything you want to be found two weeks from now.

In reply to Kylini:

Yeah! Calling people dumb is surely a way to make the internet a better place. Are you really ready to stand on that and include people like Andrew, GTech, and Texas AM (some of the smartest people I know)?

Nobody said they couldn't figure it out. We said it is annoying, and that other sites do it, and that we wish GRM would.

MrJoshua wrote: Why does all this madness GRM inspires end up benefiting facebook instead of GRM? I post here, have for years. I'm not the person who documents stuff elsewhere. But many many others do. Facebook is easy, GRM is not. How can that be changed?

how do I tap into this FB stream? I have an account but not really getting the "group" thing.

z31maniac wrote: This thread is a perfect example of why I post here less and less. And it's not because I want them to host images.

I honestly don't understand this comment. This thread is an exchange of viewpoints and ideas where everyone is playing nice with each other. Threads that have got me posting less are the ones where divisive topics come up and or it descends into personal slander and name calling. This is positive and friendly. Honestly, what is your issue, I'm intrigued.

In reply to NOHOME:

Here is the GRM approved link post to the link. Just click on the Join button once you get to Facebook.