Rule request - images of listings

[graceless]

The amount of threads that have links to reverb listings, craiglist listings, shop pages, etc, that are totally dead or lead to fluff is sort of depressing. There are threads with pages and pages of conversations talking about something shown on reverb, for example, but you have no idea what the people are talking about because the link is dead.

It would be amazing if in order to post an outside link containing pictures that are integral to the discussion - we required people to post a screenshot of what they are talking about. This is incredibly easy to do using websites like imgur which cost nothing and require just seconds of effort - literally a drag, drop, copy link, paste - to ensure that information lasts for more than a month in threads.

In some cases, questions are asked about reverb links that are dead within hours of being posted. It's a total waste of bandwidth and a loss of information. I try my best to link screenshots whenever possible, rather than just a link.

[Jay]

I agree... it's good practice to include pics of this kinda thing but I'm not sure how much luck we'll have enforcing it. Worth a shot though.

[cestlamort]

It's also really easy to simply link the photo. (Right click source photo, copy link, use IMG tag in listing).

I've often longed for images to some of the links in the "what have you done to me thread" just to temper the unhappy surprise (or maybe that is the point).

[graceless]

How about a site-wide announcement and a regular scolding by anyone who sees random links posted? I think it's a cultural change that's needed (I will start gently scolding people )

It would be so helpful for so many threads and so much information that gets lost to time as listings go down, websites change, etc.

[andy_tchp]

The concept makes sense but what happens when imgur decides they will no longer host images into perpetuity for free? This comes under 'websites changing' and is almost a certainty to happen at some point in the future.

We have already seen this scenario play out with Photobucket, which used to be the 'default' (and free) choice for image uploads.

The only way to keep images permanently (and have control of this) is to allow them to be directly uploaded to the forum, which is also decidedly 'not free' from a hosting point of view.

[timtam]

I don't think there's an easy solution to this. While I use imgur for images I will likely want to use again, I think it's hard to be prescriptive on everyone's posted links having to be more permanent. A lot of things are posted 'in the moment' with no notion that they will have any enduring interest/relevance. If people want their content to be more permanent, they have the Photobucket debacle to guide them on what extra steps might be necessary.

It's just one of the annoying things about the internet - web sites change their content or disappear (for which the wayback machine sometimes helps). I often post direct website links because I want to acknowledge the source. There are few real rules for ethical posting of others' material, but I do think you should provide a link to the original source, even if it will likely disappear to some point in the future. So often I do both - an imgur image with a link to where it came from.

Imgur changed their policy from short-term to perpetual storage, and could of course change their mind again. Or go out of business and disappear altogether.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imgur#Images

[graceless]

"but imgur might not last...."

Of course - but it would be SO MUCH BETTER than the current alternative!

I would happily pay to be able to permanently host images right here, though I realize it opens a can of worms tax-wise for whoever is running the site.