Just a heads-up for anyone that's used imgur.com to host and directly link images here. Imgur has recently taken steps to alter the way direct linking is handled on their site, such that imgur direct links now result in 404 errors or other weirdness, as mentioned here on Reddit:
If you don't know what imgur is, its probably the most popular image host at the moment mostly because of the no-bullshit that other image hosts at the time had. For the last nine years on imgur, when you linked directly to an image, it provided the image you directly linked to.
Now? Not so much. Imgur announced via blog post that "lol yeah direct links are gonna do some weird fuckery now". From the horse's mouth:
blog.imgur.com wrote:We wanted to let you know that we’re testing some updates to the way we’re displaying direct images. Over the next few weeks, you might see images that look something like this:
Link to image [rehosted on reddit because it 404's otherwise, nice job imgur]
The problem is that half the time direct image links either just 404 completely or do other weird behavior now instead of... directly linking to the image. Even in albums, it does weird shit that just, shouldn't happen, like causing too many redirects or some crap like that.
From the same Reddit thread, there is a workaround:
Quick and dirty method on how to undo this (chrome or firefox):
screenshot of how settings should look. Also can test it's working against the screenshot.
Personally, I'll likely just switch to using a different host, such as postimage.org, which works in much the same way as imgur previously did.
Last edited by Anonymous Bosch on Fri Jun 23, 2017 2:17 am, edited 1 time in total.
"There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." — P. J. O'Rourke
"The world is suffering more today from the good people who want to mind other men's business than it is from the bad people who are willing to let everybody look after their own individual affairs." - Clarence Darrow
McNutt wrote:That seems like it defeats the reason most people use Imgur. Let me go sell my stock.
Uh...yeah.
While I guess there is still a market for photo libraries where your friends/family go to the site to enjoy your holiday snaps, I would think a HUGE amount of usage involves imbedding your photos in other content via hotlink.
Well, it still works for embedding them in a forum post here, at least. If you try to view them directly, things get all scripty. But I'm not getting any 404 errors on the ones I checked.
"What? What?What?" -- The 14th Doctor
It's not enough to be a good player... you also have to play well. -- Siegbert Tarrasch
My first thought was... that's going to ruin TableTopSimulator. A lot of the mods that people have created host the images on imgur. That's what I did for some stuff I added.
Though maybe it will be smart enough to ignore header chatter and just stick with the image...
Black Lives Matter
Isgrimnur - Facebook makes you hate your friends and family. LinkedIn makes you hate you co-workers. NextDoor makes you hate your neighbors.
Max Peck wrote:
Well, it still works for embedding them in a forum post here, at least. If you try to view them directly, things get all scripty. But I'm not getting any 404 errors on the ones I checked.
I believe it largely depends upon the browser you're using. But even if imgur direct links currently are displayed correctly in your browser, it's likely a temporary situation if the imgur blog post is accurate. So it's worth knowing that for many users, imgur direct links are now likely to result in 404 errors or be replaced with an annoying placeholder image. And that it's an intended 'feature', and not a bug.
EDIT: Apparently, the feedback imgur received over their changes to direct links convinced them to "pause" their latest "test":
blog.imgur.com wrote:UPDATE 6/22/17: Thanks to everyone who has sent in their feedback about our latest direct image test! At time of writing, we’ve decided to pause the test described below in order to continue with bug fixes and tweaks. We’ll keep you posted with any new updates on Imgur products right here on the blog.
"There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." — P. J. O'Rourke
blog.imgur.com wrote:UPDATE 6/22/17: Thanks to everyone who has sent in their feedback about our latest direct image test! At time of writing, we’ve decided to pause the test described below in order to continue with bug fixes and tweaks. We’ll keep you posted with any new updates on Imgur products right here on the blog.
"The world is suffering more today from the good people who want to mind other men's business than it is from the bad people who are willing to let everybody look after their own individual affairs." - Clarence Darrow
Anonymous Bosch wrote:
Personally, I'll likely just switch to using a different host, such as KEK.gg, which works in much the same way as imgur previously did.
Um, I really don't want to be involved in Kek anything.
Holman wrote:Um, I really don't want to be involved in Kek anything.
Fair enough, me either (I overlooked its weird 4chan connotation).
I've edited the OP to avoid any further confusion.
"There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." — P. J. O'Rourke
How does imgur generate revenue, anyway? It certainly isn't from people like me, who just use them to host "funny" pictures so that Isgrimnur doesn't scold us about hotlinking from other websites. Are these changes that they're making related to a monetization effort in some way?
"What? What?What?" -- The 14th Doctor
It's not enough to be a good player... you also have to play well. -- Siegbert Tarrasch
Max Peck wrote:so that Isgrimnur doesn't scold us about hotlinking from other websites.
"The world is suffering more today from the good people who want to mind other men's business than it is from the bad people who are willing to let everybody look after their own individual affairs." - Clarence Darrow
Let's see how many images we can hotlink in this thread.
"The world is suffering more today from the good people who want to mind other men's business than it is from the bad people who are willing to let everybody look after their own individual affairs." - Clarence Darrow
Firefox's "Rehost Images" plugin gives me several choices besides Imgur. I've been using Imgur for years and will be miffed if all of those embedded image links get broken, but as long as I can switch to a different host it won't matter going forward. I don't care where the images actually reside, only that I can upload and link them with a right-click.
