Post by Scott on Jul 26, 2017 12:38:45 GMT -8
Photobucket: What To Do - (Thread Summary)
So if you are reading this thread then you have seen this Photobucket image, as shown here on the right, somewhere on a ProBoards forum.
What this is:
What this is NOT:
The image above is NOT an advertisement.
The image above is NOT placed on the forums by ProBoards.
ProBoards has nothing to do with the display of the Photobucket 3rd party hosting image, no more than you can control what advertisements appear on your television.
How do I make the Photobucket generate image(s) go away:
1) You can suppress them, but please note suppressing the image does not remove the Photobucket link nor restore the missing original images and may be more of a stopgap measure than a permanent fix.
Finding a new hosting service:
Our Help Guide article, External Resources, has a list of image hosting services. Some of the services listed are free and some offer embedding as part of a paid plan. It is your responsibility to review and choose the service that best meets your needs.
ProBoards and Image Storage:
ProBoards forums offer three different methods of storing forum images: Attachments, Forum Defaults, and Themes.
Attachments:
1) Forums have an attachment system for members to attach images (or files) to posts. Forum admins dictate whether this feature is available to their members to use or not, as well as setting limits of use. Once the current storage limit for the forum is reached, there is the option to increase the available storage limit for a monthly fee.
Forum Defaults:
2) There are areas of the forum where default images can be either directly uploaded (stored with ProBoards) or linked to your image host service:
Themes:
3) The following areas have images that are specific to the theme. Images used in these areas can be either directly uploaded (stored with ProBoards) or linked to your image host service:
[/ul]
Theme Images Tip:
If you have multiple themes with custom theme specific images for Thread and/or Forum Icons, but want to use the same set of Smilies and/or Group & Rank Star images across all themes there is an easy way to copy them from one theme to another. Example, load all your custom smilies in theme A. Then within that theme, on the Images tab, click the 'Export' button next to Template Options.
Next tic the 'Smilies' option and the choose the theme you wish to export the images to and click the Export Images button.
Your smilies from the current theme will then be copied into the smilies section of the receiving theme. Please note any exisiting custom smilies in the receiving theme will be overwritten.
Note on Plugins:
If a plugin you are using is displaying the Photobucket replacement image, check the plugin settings or other available tabs (Admin > Plugins > Manage > 'click on plugin name'). Quite often there you will find an editable field where an existing link to a Photobucket image can be replaced with a link to your own image hosted elsewhere.
[/div]
TO-DO Tips:
Tip: For any image host service (including uploads to ProBoards), please attempt to upload images as close to their intended size as possible and not rely on CSS to resize the image.
This smiley image (left) at 32x32 pixels is 3KB in size, where it's original (right) is 600x600 pixels and 359KB in size. That is a whopping increase in size of 11,966% and thus uses that much more bandwidth every time it is displayed. If you multiply this by 50 custom smilies x the the number of users x the number of times the smilies are used, then it's no wonder image hosting services are losing money. This is just overkill and wasting bandwidth.
Tip: Keep a copy of all your images on a local hard drive/backup drive. Do not rely on an image host service to store all your images without at least keeping a copy offline.
NOT To-Do Tips:
And finally what you should not do:
Do NOT hotlink (embed) images from other sites not specifically designed for content distribution. This means do not link to images displayed on Facebook, WordPress, blogs, etc. Doing so is basically stealing their bandwidth and most have policies that if discovered your account with them will be terminated without question.
Do NOT use a link (or embed) any image uploaded to ProBoards on any non-ProBoards site or for any use within ProBoards to which the uploaded image is not intended. Doing so will result in an automatic deletion of your forum and/or also banning of your account.
Please do not abuse our service or the services offered by others.
This thread is now closed. After 20+ pages I believe the topic has been well discussed from pretty much every angle.
If you have any issues with the Photobucket replacement image still appearing on your forum, please create a thread on support for your issue and include a link to and/or screenshot of where you are seeing the Photobucket image. (Please do not hijack another member's thread.)
So if you are reading this thread then you have seen this Photobucket image, as shown here on the right, somewhere on a ProBoards forum.What this is:
This is a Photobucket generated image that appears in place of an image that has been hosted with the Photobucket service and 3rd-party hosted (embedded with an <img> or [img] tag) in some fashion on a forum. This "replacement image" is a result of Photobucket's recent changes in their 3rd party hosting policies. In short, if their user does not have the plan that allows linking or embedding, then display of a user's images are suspended (replaced with this generic image).
What this is NOT:
The image above is NOT an advertisement.
The image above is NOT placed on the forums by ProBoards.
ProBoards has nothing to do with the display of the Photobucket 3rd party hosting image, no more than you can control what advertisements appear on your television.
How do I make the Photobucket generate image(s) go away:
1) You can suppress them, but please note suppressing the image does not remove the Photobucket link nor restore the missing original images and may be more of a stopgap measure than a permanent fix.
- You can use the censored word function (Admin > Security > Censored Words) enter photobucket.com for the censored word and leave the replacement word field blank. (This solution works for both the desktop and mobile viewing versions.)
OR - Add this code to your Global Header:
<style>
img[src*="photobucket.com"] {display: none;}
</style>
Finding a new hosting service:
Our Help Guide article, External Resources, has a list of image hosting services. Some of the services listed are free and some offer embedding as part of a paid plan. It is your responsibility to review and choose the service that best meets your needs.
ProBoards and Image Storage:
ProBoards forums offer three different methods of storing forum images: Attachments, Forum Defaults, and Themes.
Attachments:
1) Forums have an attachment system for members to attach images (or files) to posts. Forum admins dictate whether this feature is available to their members to use or not, as well as setting limits of use. Once the current storage limit for the forum is reached, there is the option to increase the available storage limit for a monthly fee.
Forum Defaults:
2) There are areas of the forum where default images can be either directly uploaded (stored with ProBoards) or linked to your image host service:
- Member Profile Avatar (Profile > Edit Profile > Avatar)
- Forum Banner Image (Admin > Themes > Colors & Theme Creator)
- Forum Background Image (Admin > Themes > Colors & Theme Creator)
- Forum Avatars (Admin > Members > Forum Avatars)
- Favicon (Admin > Settings > Forum Settings)
- Social Media Icon (Admin > Settings >Forum Settings > Social Media)
- Forum Directory Thumbnail (Admin > Settings > Forum Settings > Directory)
Themes:
3) The following areas have images that are specific to the theme. Images used in these areas can be either directly uploaded (stored with ProBoards) or linked to your image host service:
- Forum Logo
- Default Theme Avatar
- Thread Icons
- Forum Icons
- Group & Rank Stars
- Smilies
- Wysiwyg / BBCode Buttons
- Custom Images - OK uses:
- Site build images on Custom Pages
- Site build images in Layout Templates
- Site build images in Headers/Footers
- Replacement images for plugins
Theme Images Tip:
If you have multiple themes with custom theme specific images for Thread and/or Forum Icons, but want to use the same set of Smilies and/or Group & Rank Star images across all themes there is an easy way to copy them from one theme to another. Example, load all your custom smilies in theme A. Then within that theme, on the Images tab, click the 'Export' button next to Template Options.
Next tic the 'Smilies' option and the choose the theme you wish to export the images to and click the Export Images button.
Your smilies from the current theme will then be copied into the smilies section of the receiving theme. Please note any exisiting custom smilies in the receiving theme will be overwritten.
Note on Plugins:
If a plugin you are using is displaying the Photobucket replacement image, check the plugin settings or other available tabs (Admin > Plugins > Manage > 'click on plugin name'). Quite often there you will find an editable field where an existing link to a Photobucket image can be replaced with a link to your own image hosted elsewhere.
[/div]
TO-DO Tips:
Tip: For any image host service (including uploads to ProBoards), please attempt to upload images as close to their intended size as possible and not rely on CSS to resize the image.
This smiley image (left) at 32x32 pixels is 3KB in size, where it's original (right) is 600x600 pixels and 359KB in size. That is a whopping increase in size of 11,966% and thus uses that much more bandwidth every time it is displayed. If you multiply this by 50 custom smilies x the the number of users x the number of times the smilies are used, then it's no wonder image hosting services are losing money. This is just overkill and wasting bandwidth.Tip: Keep a copy of all your images on a local hard drive/backup drive. Do not rely on an image host service to store all your images without at least keeping a copy offline.
NOT To-Do Tips:
And finally what you should not do:
Do NOT hotlink (embed) images from other sites not specifically designed for content distribution. This means do not link to images displayed on Facebook, WordPress, blogs, etc. Doing so is basically stealing their bandwidth and most have policies that if discovered your account with them will be terminated without question.
Do NOT use a link (or embed) any image uploaded to ProBoards on any non-ProBoards site or for any use within ProBoards to which the uploaded image is not intended. Doing so will result in an automatic deletion of your forum and/or also banning of your account.
Please do not abuse our service or the services offered by others.
This thread is now closed. After 20+ pages I believe the topic has been well discussed from pretty much every angle.
If you have any issues with the Photobucket replacement image still appearing on your forum, please create a thread on support for your issue and include a link to and/or screenshot of where you are seeing the Photobucket image. (Please do not hijack another member's thread.)
