Why can’t I see these pictures?

[Ian PParticipant @ianp]

I regularly see (in this forum only) little image icons instead of the picture that is supposed to be in the topic reply, I have just captured the example below.

Is it a setting on my PC (Win10, Chrome) or just a bonus feature of the forum software?

Ian P

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

Those three have used the wrong flickr code and are not quite like the ones that occasionally don’t show up at first but usually appear after 12-24 hours.

Correct code

[Ian PParticipant @ianp]

Do you mean that the poster somehow used the wrong code when he (presumably) dragged and dropped the pictures into his reply.

How does one know whether a missing image is like the ones that ‘occasionally don’t show up’ or one that will never show up? (Sorry, Jason I know you are not responsible for the forum software but I doubt the admin want anything to do with it nowadays)

Thinking about the problem itself, I dont have my images stored on in Flikr or any other external website and I’m not an expert, but does drag and drop work actually with externally hosted pictures?

Ian P

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

I clicked his name and looked at the posts he has made. The one about the knurling tool is at the top and is displayed differently to how it appears on the forum.

The three images have the bracketed IMG and /IMG codes at either end. This is not needed on the new system for externally hosted images just the https………… which can be pcopied and pasted in rather than dragged.

 

[Ian PParticipant @ianp]

But how can I see the images (other than by jumping through hoops and editing from a posters profile?

Ian P

[SillyOldDufferModerator @sillyoldduffer]

Several possibilities:

When a user posts a photo stored on an external site, the forum inserts a link to the image.  The forum doesn’t store the image, it passes the link to the member’s browser, and the member’s browser follows it back to source.  The browser downloads the image and displays it.   If it can!

• Very common for image hosting sites to secure photos behind an account and password.  They’re only released if the browser provides a login and password, which ordinary forum members don’t have.   The image owner has to explicitly make them public, and it’s not unusual for owners to forget or not realise they have to unlock the door!
• The image might be corrupt or in a format the browser can’t cope with.

Loading images from a PC uses a different mechanism.  As PCs are rarely accessible from the internet, images are copied from them and stored on the forum.  Member browsers still get a link, but it’s to a public area on the forum.   This goes wrong in other ways, maybe image too big, or corrupt.

When a browser can’t render a linked image, it displays a thumbnail marker and the name of the failed file.

The old forum was very buggy when it came to images.   The new one is much better, except it occasionally disappears pictures and posts!   The error is temporary and appears to be random.  Despite several attempts I’ve failed to recreate the problem, or even to capture solid evidence it exists!   Possibly a cache error, in which a temporary store in fast memory is mangled and fixed when the cache is refreshed from disc.  Dunno.

Drag and drop works, but not in all circumstances, and it fails silently when something is wrong.  Drag and drop of a local image into the Insert Image dialog worked for me below.

 

Drag and drop from file explorer directly into the post failed silently.

Drag and drop from a browser image also failed (this depends on exactly how the browser displays a particular images,  but copying and pasting the link direct into the post works.

Clear as mud!

Dave

[Ian P]

On Ian P Said:

But how can I see the images (other than by jumping through hoops and editing from a posters profile?

Ian P

Ask him if he can repost or edit the existing post so that they show. Quite common thing to do when people post things like videos that are marked private or get the code wrong. I mostly use Photobucket and that gives me several option sof links to copy depending on where I am posting eg MEM needs the IMG codes.

[JasonB]

On JasonB Said:

On Ian P Said:

But how can I see the images (other than by jumping through hoops and editing from a posters profile?

Ian P

Ask him if he can repost or edit the existing post so that they show. Quite common thing to do when people post things like videos that are marked private or get the code wrong. I mostly use Photobucket and that gives me several option sof links to copy depending on where I am posting eg MEM needs the IMG codes.

My emboldening of your first sentence.

With respect, I don’t think it is right that participants that want to see what other participants have linked, or tried to link to, should have to reply and ask for the information to be reposted in a different manner.

Ian P

[Bill PhinnParticipant @billphinn90025]

With respect, I don’t think it is right… that participants…should have to…

From where I am, it looks like Jason was suggesting a practical solution to not being able to view Robert’s pictures. The only alternative I can see is just to sit tight, and wait and see whether Robert reposts his pictures in a way that makes them viewable.

Hard to see how right and wrong come into it.

[Ian PParticipant @ianp]

Maybe ‘right’ was not the best word. I should have conveyed my point about it not being conventional or (the forum) not following good practice.

I am still not sure what causes these image problems and maybe it is a setting in my browser, which I mentioned inmy first post. I’m also still not enamoured with Jason’s suggestion of asking the OP to repost.

Ian P

[Ian P]

On Ian P Said:

 

I am still not sure what causes these image problems and maybe it is a setting in my browser, which I mentioned inmy first post. I’m also still not enamoured with Jason’s suggestion of asking the OP to repost.

Ian P

As I said in my first reply the problem with that post is not the usual one that happens here sometimes which has been covered in other threads.

Different forums need images embedding in different ways, the way Robert posted them would have worked on other forums which he may be more used to using. There are also forums that use the same method that this one does for embedding hosted images so are they also all using bad practice? No it is just different and the Robert made a simple mistake, he may even be able to see the image she has posted and not see anything wrong.

This is a snip from MECH forum, you can see I just paste the url, the box comes up when I click the image icon

This is the Clarkson post as it is entered on MEM forum, it uses the IMG and /IMG code like Robert has done

 

I quite often see people posting “I can’t see your image” or “your video won’t play” just needs someone to let the poster know and most are happy to sort it out. Even a simple look at the FAQs will show that the URL needs to be used not an embed code.

[Ian P]

On Ian P Said:

Maybe ‘right’ was not the best word. I should have conveyed my point about it not being conventional or (the forum) not following good practice.

I am still not sure what causes these image problems and maybe it is a setting in my browser, which I mentioned inmy first post. I’m also still not enamoured with Jason’s suggestion of asking the OP to repost.

Ian P

Um, I think it’s not understanding how this stuff works and who is responsible that’s behind Ian’s dissatisfaction.  It’s a team game, not just the forum.   Nor do I think Ian’s Browser settings are a big problem, though more on Browsers below!

Trouble is there are number of ways in which a member can post a link to an object that other members can’t read. Examples include:

• Images stored on a service such as FlickR, Photobucket, Imgur, Dropbox or Google Photos etc are all privacy protected.   The owner can access them via the forum, but not anyone else, because the forum doesn’t have the owners security credentials.  Nor does anyone else.  Only the owner can open the door by logging into his service account and making the images he posted ‘public’.
• A storage provider can change the rules.  A few years ago, Photobucket, having built a huge customer base, suddenly switched from being free to demanding a couple of hundred dollars per year from customers who shared images on the web.  As most chose not to pay, millions of links to images across the web broke.   Again, this can only be fixed by the image owner coughing up money!  Not by the forum.
• Inadvertently linking to an image or website that’s behind a pay-wall or requires newcomers to register before the link works.   Can’t be fixed by the forum – members are free to register if they want to.   This one has recently become more common. Folk not realising that registering to a news service gives them access, but that links sent to the great unwashed won’t work.
• Browser security settings, ad-blockers, and other privacy controls set by the owner can block links.  I use Firefox, often in Private Mode, with DuckduckGo, Privacy Badger, and a hard-nosed Ad-Blocker.  I always reject cookies, and walk away from any site that mentions ‘Legitimate Interest’.   This combination of security measures often blocks stuff, but on closer examination, I’m happy it does.  Frankly I don’t want others collecting information about me in exchange for their honeypot material.  Only the browser owner can alter these settings.  People who run wide open and are happy to share, have fewer broken links than I do.  Up to them – I prefer to deal with the mild inconvenience caused by imposing tight security.
• Not uncommon for computer users to run ancient hardware and software, perhaps deliberately choosing not to keep up-to-date.   Unfortunately, their installation slowly becomes incompatible as it ages.  Gets complicated if an application is updated on top of an old operating system version, or a later operating system version tries to run an ancient application.   Or maybe the software is up-to-date on a slow elderly machine short of memory, packed full of obsolescent peripherals, and intermittent due to corroded contacts or dirt induced overheating.  The result is strange intermittent buggy behaviour that’s very difficult to diagnose.   And when an out-of-date Browser connects to the internet, there’s a risk that a modern server will send it stuff the browser doesn’t understand, or mishandles because the world has moved on.   Cure: computer user upgrades his system.

Though the forum has some problems of it’s own,  the above issues are common across the web.  Ian could take charge: he usefully sent me a PM pointing out a mistake.   He could PM any member who posts a duff link, pointing out summat is wrong, and asking them to try again.

Dave

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

Or none of the above.

As I said Robert simply used the IMG code rather than just the url.

[Ian PParticipant @ianp]

As it happens (when I first saw Robert’s post) I did view one of the images by doing exactly as Jason just showed but it is a slightly fiddly process and it prompted me to start this thread. What I did wrong was use Robert’s post as an example, what I should have done is use one like this.

its a perfectly normal reply from Michael but the image he placed does not show, only a little icon and his image number.

I see these little icons fairly regularly in post on this forum and I know there has been some discussion recently about disappearing images, I thought this might be related.

Ian P

[Robert Bowen-CattryParticipant @robertbowen-cattry70600]

Sorry for causing a kerfuffle chaps, in other forums I can just paste the Flickr code and the images appear fine, not sure why it’s different here but will try better in the future.

[Robert Bowen-Cattry]

On Robert Bowen-Cattry Said:

Sorry for causing a kerfuffle chaps, in other forums I can just paste the Flickr code and the images appear fine, not sure why it’s different here but will try better in the future.

You’re not causing a problem, but did spark my curiosity over a cup of coffee.
Hence my having a play in the test images thread.
Just to satisfy that curiosity to another Flickr user, how did you generate (and post) that flickr photo URL bounded by img in square brackets.
I failed completely.

Bill

[Robert Bowen-CattryParticipant @robertbowen-cattry70600]

Morning Bill,

When you are viewing a photo in Flickr there is a share button:

When you click on it you will get this box:

Just click on the BBcode button and select the picture size you want, then copy the URL.

In most forums you can just paste the URL (with the [IMG] and [/IMG] code at either end) and the picture will appear in your post.

[Robert Bowen-Cattry]

On Robert Bowen-Cattry Said:

Morning Bill,

When you are viewing a photo in Flickr there is a share button:

 

Just click on the BBcode button and select the picture size you want, then copy the URL.

In most forums you can just paste the URL (with the [IMG] and [/IMG] code at either end) and the picture will appear in your post.

Cheers, Yes I appreciate that, and was experimenting with exactly the same scenario on the test image thread, along with lots of screenshots etc.
The strange thing is, that I couldn’t replicate the exact same text in the final post that you did, as per Jason’s screenshot above.
It doesn’t really matter, as we both now know how to insert a photo, but I was hoping for an easy solution for other Flickr using posters; that is to insert an image size of choice, without extraneous text.

Bill.

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