Now, no doubt this is my own dumbarse fault, but I’m coming to find that relying on Imgur to preserve my pic-content across the mini-articles I write and share on the Lemmysphere is just… well, I mean it’s just so utterly hit-or-miss that it’s become completely unreliable, daggit.
For example, I happened to check on the Satania review I first posted ~10mos ago, and discovered that the Imgur page source had been deleted without notice, altho oddly, the lead full thumbnail / image still remains. Like, what…?!
Point is-- there seems to be utterly no rhyme nor reason for the image deletions, whether the content is uploaded via official acct or not, or is kid-safe vs NSFW stuff, or is new vs old stuff, or even via file-size issue (I think, not totally sure).
Anyway, yeah… it’s clearly past time to get the hell out.
So what would you recommend, mateys, and how reliable do you think that host is? (I’m completely cool with paying a monthly fee via PayPal in order for our content to last)
Note: the lead pic is just an anti-Imgur thing I randomly discovered, lol.
Don’t use Imgur as social media. Don’t even use it as image hosting nowadays, its main point (image available directly via URL) is increasingly being enshittified. Use Catbox or GitHub.
- find any GH repo.
- start a new issue.
- drop image onto new issue.
- copy URL.
- close new issue page because you have your image cdn link, which is what you came for.
https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/f886759a-e3a5-47f2-99f0-478c48e16e97
Or just commit them to a git repo. GH won’t harass you unless you have over 50mb file sizes or a repo over 1GB https://docs.github.com/en/repositories/working-with-files/managing-large-files/about-large-files-on-github
Or publish them to cloudflare pages, which has great file size limits and unlimited bandwidth https://mattsayar.com/why-does-cloudflare-pages-have-such-a-generous-free-tier/
The first method is risky to rely on. There is no guarantee they will keep hosting your media, especially since they had a kind of vulnerability not too long ago
catbox.moe. And it’s free, though you can donate.
I wonder how this compares to other similar services? (another I’ve seen used here is imgchest)
And specifically, is there one that allows you to edit alt-text (so it’s there when you copy the markdown)? Folders would be nice, too.
Though one thing I can say is according to the FAQ .svg is (not un)supported which is interesting (something that didn’t seem to work on imgur, at least when I tried it).
Thanks!
Side note: my cat is already an expert at such regular donation, altho it’s always good to change things up, so to speak.
{"data":{"error":"Imgur is temporarily over capacity. Please try again later."},"success":false,"status":403}lol
https://catbox.moe/ is awesome. Can’t say how long it will last, but it has lasted a long while so far. Donate if you can.
Looks like a lot of ISPs block access to catbox, seems like a limited choice.
Any list of those ISPs? I usually use catbox, would like to see if my content isn’t visible to a lot of people
Thank you!
@Emperor@feddit.uk , that might explain the issues you were having with it. Are you still having trouble at the moment?
If it’s for your usage, you have a little cash to spare, and you can follow software guides, I would recommend a VPS with Apache or Nginx web server. OVH has VPSs for about ~$5/mo. for 40GB of space.
For a little more money, you could use a web host and not have to worry about installation or security.
Dreamhost has a $8/mo. plan with 50GB storage, and $14/mo. unlimited storage.
Either way, you’d also need to spend less than $20/yr. on a domain name.
You can just do a simple HTML index (w3schools can teach you in ten minutes) and then use ssh (FileZilla) to put images into a folder structure of your choosing.
Yeah, for actual trustworth longevity, having under your name and wallet really is the best way to do it.
Plus, you can move your files to a different provider very easily—especially if you’re routinely backing up.
And iOS and Android both have apps for sending files over ssh.
Is there a way to set up a vps as a seedbox with a cloud storage provider as storage? VPSes have almost no storage, and I already have a cloud storage provider with a fuckton of space; so spending $30+ a month on a dedicated seedbox seems unnecessary.
Yes, you could use the VPS as your web server, and probably map a connection to your other storage.
Or, if you’re confident it won’t cause problems, run a web server directly on your current storage provider if that’s possible (such as with a dedicated server).
$14/mo. unlimited storage.
!datahoarder@lemmy.world has entered the chat
I’m probably a little biased since I use it as a repository for art receipts, but Internet Archive. I started using it after learning that images uploaded to Imgur expire after a certain amount of time or if they get no views after a certain amount of time. The Internet Archive is just that, an archive, so uploads expiring or the site being discontinued should be the very least of your worries!
If you’re willing to use a techy solution, I can recommend Cloudflare Pages.
It allows you to host a basically limitless amount of files for free, with the only drawback being that each file cannot exceed 25MB.
And I would claim that Cloudflare is about as reliable of a host as it gets.
(You also get free domains that looking like this: JohnnyEnzyme.pages.dev)
You want someone to host your meme photos forever for free? That is sort of lol. You need paid hosting. I’m happy to recommend this (formerly buyshared.net, started by the buyvm guys) at $8/year: https://namecrane.com/store/da-shared-hosting
You probably want your own domain name too, but I you might be able to alternatively use a subdomain of namecrane.
That’s what everyone who seeks an alternative wants, is something to forever be hosted for free so they can dump anything on it worry-free.
Like, there’s always a price to keep these things afloat. Who’s going to fund it? The people who want that alternative? Unlikely.
Hm, the imgur app on Android has never crashed on my devices. Are you on iPhone?
Note: the lead pic is just an anti-Imgur thing I randomly discovered, lol.
(anyway yeah, I’m an android)
I have the official app but use NextDNS to block the ads. I’ve never had crashing issues. And I’m on a 6-year old Android phone. Note 10+
Nice meme
