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.
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.
I don’t see imgur because I use a vpn and also because I am in the UK. We’s diffrunt.
Innit
image loading doesn’t use javascript regardless
How do you disable site specific JavaScript?
NoScript extension
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.
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.
Very gradual. One thing at a time. The site has gotten more scripty and ‘modern mobile friendly web’ ish.
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…
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.
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-UpdateI remember they banned NSFW everywhere but Reddit. They still show NSFW through Reddit, or at least used to.
Initially, it was made by a redditor to make Reddit image posting easier when Reddit was text hosting only. So anything allowed on Reddit was allowed there.
Then they added their own optional public gallery on imgur directly, with public comments. They didn’t allow NSFW there.
3 years ago they decided they didn’t want to be an image hoster anymore and focus on their gallery, which coincidentally also allows showing more ads. So they have been cutting anything that does not fit there anymore, nsfw, anonymous hosting and low view images etc.
Could 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.
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’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.
Proton seems to work just fine with it, AFAIK.
imgur is a swamp
Used Imgur for decades? But never browsed it. That seems weird.
No I’ve never bowsed imgur but I made the mistake of uploading a photo of my wife holding a chicken so I could post it to a back yard chicken forum, and the comments were enough to ensure I never posted anything there again.
Basically an unmoderated cess pool.
There is/was public upload and private upload, the UI was/is shit though.
There are comments? I had no idea!
I thought people just uploaded the image grabbed the URL and pasted it elsewhere.
Are you using an app or domething?
For years in kde it was just right click and a URL popped into the clipboard.
They made it into a quasi-Reddit like fifteen years ago. Back then, Reddit was mostly text posts, while Imgur only ever had image posts and later videos (including screenshots of text, of course). These days that’s not as much of a distinction — however on Imgur, short quippy comments always prevailed, and lots and lots of gif comments. After a while, this sucked even ten years ago when I used Imgur for a while, and I don’t imagine the situation improved lately.
Anyway, when uploading an image to link it elsewhere, you can just not publish it for others on the site to see it and comment.
P.S. Gotta say, though, the most fun I’ve ever had on social media is when people browsing by ‘new’ on Imgur decided that for one day they would upvote anything and everything that comes by. As a result, exceptionally weird stuff actually made its way to the main feed. I haven’t seen such abundance of weirdness and quirkiness even on the early 2010s Tumblr when it was still fresh and hip.
You can select hidden or public when uploading to Imgur. If you select hidden, no one sees it unless they have the direct URL to the image. If you select public, it uploads to the public feed and everyone on Imgur can potentially see it. It’ll pop up on Newest, and anyone browsing that category can upvote or downvote it.
If your public post gets enough upvotes, it’ll rise to the front page of Imgur. Much like Reddit. And yes, the community can comment on all public posts.
That’s funny to me. Decades of uses and never once wanted anything private, and never once knew people voted on those things or gave a shit.
I guess they needed a business model that wasn’t basically a free image host.
But now that I don’t use imgur, maybe I should just add on to my own server. Don’t know why I didn’t do that before. I guess it was easier not to.
same goes for anyone using catbox.moe.
it’s become such a problem I’ve started to block users and communities because 95% of their posts are shared catbox links.
It sounds like that’s some network providers that block catbox, rather than vice versa.
Why can’t I access Catbox/access files on Catbox (files.catbox.moe)?
Good question! It turns out certain governments in the world hate freedom of information, don’t have net neutrality, don’t see online service providers as legally exempt entities, or a combination of the three! You will have issues accessing Catbox/files on Catbox if you are connecting from the following countries or providers:
Probably the most significant ones on there from a standpoint of users here are “Australia”, “Rogers”, “Comcast”, and “Verizon”. It sounds like all of those blocks are pretty easy to bypass (like, they’re either DNS-level or can be disabled by users on their router, where there’s a blacklist toggle that’s on by default).
I’ve never once even managed to get anything from Catbox via Tor, via different routes. Seems to be a rather widespread problem.
They must’ve hosted something egregious to make a whole bunch of ISPs and entire countries block them.
catbox is operated by a nerd like us not some greedy corporate, i personally haven’t ever been blocked by them… they’re the best pomf-like site atm imo
I’m not disputing that.
it’s annoying to have 50% of posts to have missing or broken media, that’s why I block those that religiously use it.
I understand why catbox blocks vpns, but ultimately they need to understand that solution will only solve so much of their problem.
+1 for postimg endorsement
I just yesterday was trying to re-upload a video posted to Imgur that many people couldn’t see. Is there a good, privacy-respecting service for videos? Postimage wouldn’t allow me to select the MP4 file. It was under 5MB.
catbox.moe usually works, but I can’t upload anything to it if my VPN is active. >…>
Thank you!
Iirc Lemmy itself allows uploading videos when posting, though perhaps this differs per instance.
Is there a good, privacy-respecting service for videos?
This question is especially tragic because we have a Fediverse video service – PeerTube – but the design of it isn’t quite right for your use-case.
Don’t most Lemmy instances have their own image proxies? Or is that just for comments, you mean direct links in posts? I don’t know if those are proxied.
I don’t see the images when I’m on the VPN or off the VPN.
