Photobucket Photo Hosting

[bbrown]

The Council agreeing to get quotes on direct posting forum software is a step in the right direction!  It is a real shame to see posts that have recorded significant pieces of AC history with their posted pictures now lost because of the actions of a third party photo hosting service.  It will be next to impossible to re-establish those links unless the original poster takes a huge amount of time to relink all those photos.  We still have the written words in the posts, but losing the pictures is distressing.
   
   The only way to go for the future is direct hosting, as many other organizations do.   Thanks
   Bert

[MkIV Lux]

quote:Originally posted by administrator
   
We will be getting quotes for this option, agreed at the last Council meeeting.  Don't expect anything until the autumn - I am away until September and do have a life outside the ACOC.
   

   
   Thanks, Bryan, and to the Council, for having taken this up. Quite a project ahead!
   [:)]
   Constant

[BE774]

I second that. And thanks to those original posters who have been updating their posts to replace the ransomed pictures.

[nikbj68]

Thirded! Having hosted'n'posted for dozens of people over the years, there are far too many photos for me to start updating, only to find that we migrate to an 'inclusive' forum, fingers crossed we can transition without too much drama .

[AC Ventura]

Fab news. I feel sure this innitiative will be a cornerstone that will help ensure the future of the AC marque in the years to come.

[SB7019]

This is great news.   Suspect I will be posting quite a few pics in the future and huge thanks to Nik for being my go-between up till now.

[GSouthee]

I see we needed to wait till autumn for a response to the council meeting and agreeing to possibly update our forum to take images.
   
   Not heard anything yet, not seen any minutes with this matter being raised since?
   
   Has it been forgotten or ignored?
   
   Come on use some of the kitty and get this done.
   
   Gary

[shep]

Gary,
   A more user friendly forum is discussed at the council meetings, and our Webmaster has received tenders to convert from the current software to one which accepts downloads. As I am sure you will know, it is not as simple as sticking a new disc in a server. The same goes for publishing the ACtion on the ACOC Website. It is already possible to publish both past and future issues, but there is a major problem with copyright on articles and particularly photos. Many contributions are conditional on the photo remaining in the printed medium, and reproduction on the internet is expressly forbidden. It would certainly be an advantage to be able to reference previous articles from an electronic library, but we need to be careful not to invite litigation over copyright. Hopefully there will be some news on the new Forum software in the near future. Andy.

[administrator]

Andy has answered this one for me, but details are that there is forum software available which allows direct photo hosting and claims to include a migration routine to go from Snitz.  Our provider (racecar) has given an indicative quote for the work but it appears that the migration process can throw up a lot of snags which can be time-consuming to overcome, so the next steps are to ask the Council on Thursday for formal permission to go ahead and then for racecar to put in the time to check out the potential issues in detail and confirm their quote is in the right area. Assuming all still looks OK we will then proceed.
   
   There will be a photo size limit, probably 512 kb, to stop the server getting clogged up.  This size is plenty big enough for good screen resolution but does mean that larger photos will have to be resized before posting.

[MkIV Lux]

Excellent news! Thanks.

[GSouthee]

Ditto, a move in the right direction at last.Fingers crossed.

[dkp_cobra]

quote:Originally posted by administrator
   
   There will be a photo size limit, probably 512 kb, to stop the server getting clogged up.  This size is plenty big enough for good screen resolution but does mean that larger photos will have to be resized before posting.
   
   

   
   Resizing can (should) be done automatically.

[nikbj68]

512kb is a bit stingy in this day & age, even a couple of meg shouldn't clog up a server at the rate we post.

[GSouthee]

Well at least we will be able to post pics and 512kb is more than big enough for screen images, your not posting wall art. Lets be thankful.

[nikbj68]

[;)]