So it's a been a while since I have looked at my website but it's a good thing I did and because now I have a (important) reason to update it again. Usually I think people don't look back at certain parts of their websites as they don't have a reason too if it's in someway complete, but I'm that type of guy who likes to admire their work, even this it's as something as simple as a post through cheaply made HTML.
So this brings me to a story I want to discuss today when it comes to certain morals because
sometimes there are things that people say a lot that may be a good idea to take advice from if people keep bringing it up or it is a common practice.I may be typing this in, in the most poetic way possible because I feel this is a lesson to be learned with dealing with this type of stuff on the internet.
So what is it exactly? Well judging by the title of this post, I have just discovered that Imgur is a total lie and a waste of time and resources. So after viewing one of my pages I have realized that certain image assets were missing and instead replaced with a error image (
link to actual image used when replaced) which can be show in the image below. Can be found on in
this link.
Now when I first discovered this I was confused at first because I didn't even know what was the issue exactly, I would easily assume at first it's a TOS issue because certain images WERE working (again check the page). But I check my notifications and nothing comes up about nor I check my gmails and there's nothing from them at all.
But the thing that was confusing about it is that images on imgur are like contained posts in the images were removed completely with any evidence that it originally existed (like saying a error placeholder). I would find
posts incomplete, or some that
contained only one image and simply only became a empty post. It really annoyed me at first and made me a little pissed possibly skeptical if Imgur was pulling some bullshit (which they kinda were but bear with me for a second), but I did found out something.
It appears from further research after several minutes of looking around and it appears that Imgur actually has TOS that states on about hotlinking and it can only be used for "forum purposes". Now while I can take the blame for myself and it's my fault for not checking the rules. I often feel that Imgur handled the situation poorly by expressing the consequence when the incident happened.
First off, they didn't give me any warning or notify me that it happened so I don't even know when the links were dead knowing now that their are now. And second, if you have a issue with images not being hotlinked in places you don't want them, instead of deleting them from existence just simply block their hotlink location to where their heading, or maybe just put up a blacklist entirely. Like obviously sites like Neocities are not "forum eccentric" so just put it on the a blacklist. And why are you just deleting one of the images but still leave the others up? Should have you just purge them sooner if this was a issue in the first place?.
Now I'm sure there's the answer that maybe blacklisting isn't possible and there's a only On/Off for hotlinking. But I feel like something like that is possible. But regardless, this is another instance of me not liking a service because of how corporate it is and it's another reason why I found myself here and I fully subscribe to the web revival.
Even if I did not find these issues and kept using Imgur, I don't really like the website and brand anyway, it's so cringey to look at with all their modern esc artstyle and their way of "dialoging", hard to explain fully but you will totally understand if you see for yourself and you would easily think "Yea this is just another corporate social media platform.".
I'm glad I figured out sooner because it's not like I used this service for
hotlinking years worth of media/assets, so I can easily fix the url damages. But it's still concerning if I did and I would have a lot of resources wasted, and this is a also a recurring issue that is constantly bring up with the internet with old links dying and the preservation of media, it even happens in modern day and my website just explains it here perfectly as a example, how fast it can happen. And the worst part with the poor fault of Imgur their can be so many instances like this with other websites and people may not even ever know for possibly years and certain context may be missing depending on what people are reading. That's why they gave you the ability to add
alt="" in
<img> in formatting encase of missing asset.
Now I think I typed in enough in this post and it is the longest post I made so far on Melonand Forums, but I think people should give this post some attention as much as possible and should be take noted as a reminder for things like this. I kind want this thread to be read by anybody who may come across this community (so pin it as you will).
As for the services, don't use Imgur for hotlinking, for a matter of fact, don't use it at all or make a account, even if you consider using it on how they find it comfortable (forums & domestic use). I would consider using
postimages since I have heard of it here and there and seems pretty reliable to how people want it it to be used for web development (hotlinking).
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~ Inconvenience is counterculture ~ 
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