The format to post pictures here is not user friendly.

[Kern Dog]

Yes, I have read the thread on this. Still, it is very annoying to try REPEATEDLY to post pictures only to get the BS "You have already submitted ...."
Come on, man! NO other site I'm on has this problem. I renamed every picture.  I've tried twice and I still get the same error message.

[hemi-hampton]

Yes, I agree 100%. This site Sucks for posting Pictures. You should be able to post same pic 10 times if you want, with out renaming 10 times.

[polywideblock]

I've used photobucket.com  from the get go and have never seen that message 

[JB400]

The problem with photo bucket is, if you delete the pic in there, you delete it here as well.

[hemi-hampton]

I haven't used photobucket in over 10+ years. No need to nowadays. I just save my pics on my own computer? Thought everybody did? LEON.

[polywideblock]

The problem with photo bucket is, if you delete the pic in there, you delete it here as well.

yea your right but if you have a "general " bucket + other separate ones its easy not to    

[Ghoste]

How often would you need to submit the same photo?

[VegasCharger]

Yes, I have read the thread on this. Still, it is very annoying to try REPEATEDLY to post pictures only to get the BS "You have already submitted ...."
Come on, man! NO other site I'm on has this problem. I renamed every picture.  I've tried twice and I still get the same error message.

Yes very annoying until I really got the hang of it, but still annoying at the least. Let's say you submit a reply and your pic is too large. And then you go back and reduce that same pic under the allotted 200KB. And then you go back to re-post with the now reduced size pic then "uh oh" you get the red word warning "You have already submitted" even though the website didn't allow your pic to be displayed the first time because it was too big. Somehow the name of the file goes to the memory bank weather it displays it or not.

And on top of reducing the size and re-naming the pic you still might receive an error code. It's like the system recognizes the message format and will not allow it to go through. So now you have to do a major reconstructive message overhaul. Totally back out of the message or delete the page then re-open it. Start all over again, maybe change some of the content of the text and definitely change your pic file name as well as making sure it's under 200KB.

Yes a lot of copying and pasting, reducing pics, re-naming pics, using weird file names (jamming the keyboard) and so on & so on. Anyone ever notice my "¢" character in some of my file names? I put those in there because it's very uncommon that people would use it.

Yea I feel your pain Kern Dog

[b5blue]

  The pic is a mini file that needs a file name to be stored. If ya wanna store it in multiple locations it needs different names for each location. I've 2 cameras that by today's standards are low definition but both work just fine. No size change needed and if I want to put the pic in extra spots I just change one number/letter or add 1,2 or 3 to the file name. Easy with a 15.00 Big Lots camera.
  I get what your saying, most use there 5 meg phone cameras nowadays but that's bunches of pixels! I'm just thankful the forum is here and that pics can be used!

[wingcar]

Same here, several times I felt let I something "important" to say in response to a post, but gave up after having to deal with error messages.  But, having said that I to am just glad the site is here for all to use. 

[Homerr]

I post photos here and there all over the internet.  BY FAR this forum has the least user friendly file attachment.

This site should have a photo submission system that matches the computer skill level of the vast majority of users.  It doesn't.


Those of us more tech savvy understand why it is the way it is, but it is a crummy system. 

Love you DC.com!   

[469 runner]

Yes, I don't even bother, and I have so many great pics. I'd love to share.

[myk]

Photobucket, guys...

[blinkey]

       Yes dido, I cant share any pics with you guys. Cant someone fix this. Ive never had any problems with other sites.

[marshallfry01]

Yes, I don't even bother, and I have so many great pics. I'd love to share.

Same here.  I've tried posting pictures a few times but it just pisses me off.

[el dub]

I use windows paint for resizing. It takes about 30 seconds to resize and rename.  Here's how: Put your mouse arrow on a pic from my pics. It will tell you how many kb's the pic is. If its over 200 you put the mouse arrow on it and right click. Scroll down to open with and put mouse arrow on that and another window opens to the right. Click on paint. Paint window opens. On top left of window There is a tab that says home. To the right you see a box that says resize. click on that. A new window opens. Click on pixels. Underneath two values show up. Change the larger value to 600 then click ok. Now you see a smaller pic than before. Go up to the top left of the window and click on the blue page with a down arrow on it. A new window opens up and you click on save as, to the right you click jpeg pic. A new widow opens and at the top it says save as on the left top. When you see the file name in blue, I put in rsz and then name of pic. Then hit enter. Then you may get a window that says all transparency will be lost if you save pic. click ok. close the paint window and your done. In pics you will see two pics of the one you just make. The larger pic (kb) I delete and keep the resize.
   You get used to it and can move or change pics pretty quick

[Troy]

Is it that time again?

When I removed the "unique name" constraint we had people attaching the same picture tens (and sometimes hundreds) of times. Hard drive space ballooned, bandwidth went nuts. I pay for both of those things!

Even if I double the size limit you'd still have to resize the picture. I *can* add software that will automatically resize pictured buuuuuuuuuuuuuuut that means people will try to upload pictures straight from their 10+ megapixel camera and it will take so long to upload that it will timeout. Or, if it makes it through, the server gets bogged having to spend all it's time manipulating files instead of serving web pages.

This site gets a lot of traffic and uses a lot of bandwidth. You may have noticed that the performance has been a little sketchy lately. The last thing you want to do to an overloaded server is increase the load. I am looking at solutions but the easiest (bigger/better servers) is also the most costly. Whenever something does happen it will most certainly involve updated forum software.

If I offered unlimited photo posting as part of a subscription would anyone pay? If I added several ads per page would everyone complain?

Yes, I agree 100%. This site Sucks for posting Pictures. You should be able to post same pic 10 times if you want, with out renaming 10 times.

Send money. Lots of money. I'll fix it.

Troy

[JB400]

I'm not going to complain.  I'll enjoy it for what it is.

[Mopar Nut]

Me either, love this forum!

[wingcar]

No need to fix as long as we understand how to do it...el dub told everyone an easy way of doing it...(Thank You).  I for one don't need nor do I want ads popping up continually as they do on other sites.  Sometimes people just have to vent.  Troy is doing a great job...Thanks for giving us a great site to exchange information.   

[Mytur Binsdirti]

Send money. Lots of money. I'll fix it.

Here, this should cover it.

[6spd68]

Best advice I can give, is if you have a facebook account; just post the pictures there(hide them from everyone but yourself).  Then do the following:

1. Right click on the image, goto properties
2. Highlight and copy the address
3. Paste it between the two IMG boxes you get when you push the button

SHAZAM!  No more resizing, no more having to post photobucket links, no more having to rename it to some random jumble of letters in hopes that no one else has done the same!

[John_Kunkel]

Do what I do, change the title of the pic each time you want to repost it....the software here doesn't recognize the pic, it recognizes the title.

[lukedukem]

Best advice I can give, is if you have a facebook account; just post the pictures there(hide them from everyone but yourself).  Then do the following:

1. Right click on the image, goto properties
2. Highlight and copy the address
3. Paste it between the two IMG boxes you get when you push the button

SHAZAM!  No more resizing, no more having to post photobucket links, no more having to rename it to some random jumble of letters in hopes that no one else has done the same!

Not everyone has Facebook.

I deal with it because I get so much info from this site.

Luke

[hemi-hampton]

I don't mind reducing the picture size, I reduce all my pictures & rename them anyways, I don't like going through all that otheer stuff VegasCharger mentioned. LEON.

[Dino]

Yeah the system is not ideal but it's a small price to pay.  I love this site.

I use Photoshop to batch resize or I occassionally use one of the numerous online resizing sites.  I also make it a habit to copy each and every post I make before submitting it so I can't lose it if something goes awry.

[garner7555]

This is why I don't have a build thread for my car.  I get frustrated trying to upload pictures and I'm only 31 years old.      I'm not very good with technology though.  Im extremely thankful to Troy for the site, regardless of the picture posting. 

I for one would be willing to pay a yearly subscription fee.  (I pay for Mopar Muscle magazine and don't enjoy it 10% as much as this forum)  Either way I love the site and THANK YOU TROY FOR KEEPING THIS RUNNING!!!   

[Kern Dog]

Best advice I can give, is if you have a facebook account; just post the pictures there(hide them from everyone but yourself).  Then do the following:

1. Right click on the image, goto properties
2. Highlight and copy the address
3. Paste it between the two IMG boxes you get when you push the button

SHAZAM!  No more resizing, no more having to post photobucket links, no more having to rename it to some random jumble of letters in hopes that no one else has done the same!

I don't DO facebook.

[ws23rt]

Best advice I can give, is if you have a facebook account; just post the pictures there(hide them from everyone but yourself).  Then do the following:

1. Right click on the image, goto properties
2. Highlight and copy the address
3. Paste it between the two IMG boxes you get when you push the button

SHAZAM!  No more resizing, no more having to post photobucket links, no more having to rename it to some random jumble of letters in hopes that no one else has done the same!

I don't DO facebook.

  WTF is facebook?  When I went there they wanted me to become part of them in order to see who they were.

[Lennard]

I don't visit many websites but I'm on this site at least once a day.
Thank you Troy for this awesome informative website.  

(And I don't have Facebook either )

[hatersaurusrex]

The problem is that the forum software is 10 years old, and 10 years in tech might as well be 100.  

We're on version 1.1.9 which came out in 2006.  Version 2.0 has been out since 2007.   That's a LONG time in the web world.

The upgrade process seems pretty straightforward according to simplemachines.org - a few command line permissions changes, then an upgrader is run.

I'm happy to help do it, as I've run several forums and I do this kind of work for a living - but I suspect a forum full of guys who like to drive 45 year old cars are fine with figuring out how to keep 10 year old forum software going, even if it means reformatting a pic for 25 minutes or doing four different workarounds just to post it, even if 99.999% of other sites automatically resize and rename pics on the backend.

[Troy]

The problem is that the forum software is 10 years old, and 10 years in tech might as well be 100.   

We're on version 1.1.9 which came out in 2006.  Version 2.0 has been out since 2007.   That's a LONG time in the web world.

The upgrade process seems pretty straightforward according to simplemachines.org - a few command line permissions changes, then an upgrader is run.

I'm happy to help do it, as I've run several forums and I do this kind of work for a living - but I suspect a forum full of guys who like to drive 45 year old cars are fine with figuring out how to keep 10 year old forum software going, even if it means reformatting a pic for 25 minutes or doing four different workarounds just to post it, even if 99.999% of other sites automatically resize and rename pics on the backend.

Yeah, sounds easy. Except it doesn't work right unless your FTP server is configured exactly like how they want it (ours isn't). In the past I would upgrade on my home server then just copy the changed files to the server. When I do that the site goes down and rumors fly. Some people are still jumpy about the last time that happened.

Also, there are server "mods" installed so you basically have to walk through every line of the upgrade scripts to see if it's going to break or disable functionality. I *can* do it, I just lack the time to do it right.

And even then... if I turn on the auto image resizer there's still the problem of someone uploading a giant file and having it timeout. There still has to be a limit.

If I turn on the uploaded file renaming there's guys who can't figure out how to make a signature so they upload the same file with every post!!! Since they're unique names it bypasses any server or browser caches when the other thousands of users see it. You may think I'm joking but I only wish that were true.

Which brings us back to disk space and bandwidth. These days, the colocation gives me unlimited *outgoing* bandwidth so that helps. But - if I want a more cost friendly cloud server - the disks are on a SAN and the size dropped to 30-40GB. We're already beyond that! (Figure that out with a 200k limit on uploads.) To get a realistic drive size it's another $100 per month - then I have to fork over the cash for the additional backup space too so might as well double my monthly costs. Or I can keep the physical hardware which gives me larger - but slower - disks but the backup requirements are the same and I have to monitor/manage the server more closely.

Troy

[el dub]

Just curious. If the members paid twenty dollars a year would that help?

[skip68]

   
If Troy could collect $20 annually from the members he could retire.    

[hemi-hampton]

Does the website offer T-Shirts. If everybody bought a $20 t-shirt that could fund a upgrade? LEON.

[Dino]

Don't mention T-shirts on this board!  That's bad mojo! 

Some people are still bitter about that crap and I know cuz I'm one of them   

[hemi-hampton]

What I miss

[Dino]

The site's original owner took members' orders, and their money, for T-shirts and then disappeared.   

[hemi-hampton]

I found this thread, Looks like they had t-shirts? LEON.

http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php/topic,46265.0.html

[Dino]

Yes Troy had those made, nothing wrong ordering those.  He may still have some.

The issue with the other shirts dates back to '03 or something.

[hemi-hampton]

So what happened to this Jesse guy. Did he get Lynched?

[Dino]

Not that I'm aware of.  I think he got away with it.

[Kern Dog]

Uhhh....

Yeah, sounds easy. Except it doesn't work right unless your FTP server is configured exactly like how they want it (ours isn't). In the past I would upgrade on my home server then just copy the changed files to the server. When I do that the site goes down and rumors fly. Some people are still jumpy about the last time that happened.

Also, there are server "mods" installed so you basically have to walk through every line of the upgrade scripts to see if it's going to break or disable functionality. I *can* do it, I just lack the time to do it right.

Uhhh.......


And even then... if I turn on the auto image resizer there's still the problem of someone uploading a giant file and having it timeout. There still has to be a limit.
If I turn on the uploaded file renaming there's guys who can't figure out how to make a signature so they upload the same file with every post!!! Since they're unique names it bypasses any server or browser caches when the other thousands of users see it. You may think I'm joking but I only wish that were true.
Which brings us back to disk space and bandwidth. These days, the colocation gives me unlimited *outgoing* bandwidth so that helps. But - if I want a more cost friendly cloud server - the disks are on a SAN and the size dropped to 30-40GB. We're already beyond that! (Figure that out with a 200k limit on uploads.) To get a realistic drive size it's another $100 per month - then I have to fork over the cash for the additional backup space too so might as well double my monthly costs. Or I can keep the physical hardware which gives me larger - but slower - disks but the backup requirements are the same and I have to monitor/manage the server more closely.

Troy

I have no idea what any of this means.   

[Lennard]

  Duhh, neither do I but that is because he's replying to hatersaurusrex, who is also a computer guru and does know what it means.

[hatersaurusrex]

All of that made sense to me.  It sounds like Troy understands the issues perfectly but doesn't want to hose the site or double his costs, both of which are perfectly understandable concerns.  SAN storage is not cheap - you're basically paying for reserved space for two of everything since SAN disks are usuallly backing some sort of cluster that keeps the site(s) alive in the event of a hardware failure.   All that redundancy = redundant costs, too.   Think of it like a spare tire that changes itself in the event of a blowout.

[6spd68]

Best advice I can give, is if you have a facebook account; just post the pictures there(hide them from everyone but yourself).  Then do the following:

1. Right click on the image, goto properties
2. Highlight and copy the address
3. Paste it between the two IMG boxes you get when you push the button

SHAZAM!  No more resizing, no more having to post photobucket links, no more having to rename it to some random jumble of letters in hopes that no one else has done the same!

I don't DO facebook.

I merely used facebook as an example...  You should be able to use the same method with any site...  I've done it with photobucket in the past as well.