Imgur blocks access to most VPN IP addresses so any posts using the host will result in many users being unable to see the content. Sometimes only remote viewing is affected but is also often blocked when trying to open in new tab and view at the parent site.
Consider uploading to the fediverse or using a privacy-respecting hosting service like postimages.
It’s true and I won’t turn off my vpn for companies that do this crap.
Thanks Imgur for saving me from Imgur
Prepare this is gonna get a lot worse, though.
You don’t see imgur because you use a VPN.
I don’t see imgur because I won’t enable their Javascript.
We are not the same.
I don’t see imgur because I use a vpn and also because I am in the UK. We’s diffrunt.
Innit
image loading doesn’t use javascript regardless
How do you disable site specific JavaScript?
Also, anyone in the UK not using a VPN won’t be able to see them, since imgur chose to block the UK rather than adhere to age verification laws.
Whatever one thinks about that legislation, other countries (including the whole of the EU and Australia) are likely to do the same and it seems likely imgur will become a US-only resource…
Well, that and due to them being investigated for how they handle children’s data and access, it had appeared that a fine was heading their way.
I honestly don’t get why folks use external image providers. Lemmy is perfectly capable of providing post images, just attach it and there you go. Or is it about saving free space on a server?
Impur started as an amazing simple free host
Then they had to enshitify it for money.
I also was of the assumption that imgur has turned to dogshit? Only read it in a Reddit comment before moving here, though.
It depends what they liked about Imgur in the first place, in the first couple of years, it really was a wild West platform that would host anything. Then it sort of became a social network, with one thing being the mods being really open to user suggestions and an active part of the community. The “community” was literally just the comments under images on the public feed. It was at its strongest around 2015 when a secret santa was organised completely adhoc under an image post, then turned into a formal thing. People would post images of something they were working on, accompanied by long personal stories and these would become some sort of “canon” and people would post response meme, and highlight reels of what had been shared in the last month. And then ads came. A couple of the mods left. The filters became a little more automatic, a little more prone to flagging stuff that was fine. There’s still community stuff there, I just feel it’s not as inspired as it once was. Everything that happened with Reddit going public didn’t help.
It’s funny really… what was the quote? You either die a hero or live long enough to become the villain.
Imgur was started back in the day to provide a no-bullshit image host, because all the others were too corporate / too monetized / too much bullshit/enshittification. So MrGrim started Imgur to fix that.
Then MrGrim took a bunch of VC money, and they eventually sold out, and now the result is the sad shell of what it once was today.
Yeah. I remember ye olde days of Imgur. NSFW in gallery and stuff. Now it’s just shitty. It was a pretty gradual thing. I don’t even remember exactly what made me stop using it.
Very gradual. One thing at a time. The site has gotten more scripty and ‘modern mobile friendly web’ ish.
I have to use a VPN to see imgur pics because the UK government is run by wankers 😭 And I don’t even live in the UK proper, I’m in N. Ireland, but I’m subject to those bullshit laws with zero recourse.
Did I just become an IRA man? 👀
I live in California and still get randomly geoIPed to the UK. I start noticing it when imgur stops loading.
To be fair, the UK and California are very close to each other, so that’s understandable. Same planet, that’s a mistake that’s easy to make.
I’m in the UK. I can only see imgur when I do use a VPN.
I’m also in the UK, and imgur blocks my VPN, so I get the worst of both worlds.
Proton seems to work just fine with it, AFAIK.
same goes for anyone using catbox.moe.
it’s become such a problem I’ve started to block users and communities because 95% of their posts are shared catbox links.
It sounds like that’s some network providers that block catbox, rather than vice versa.
Why can’t I access Catbox/access files on Catbox (files.catbox.moe)?
Good question! It turns out certain governments in the world hate freedom of information, don’t have net neutrality, don’t see online service providers as legally exempt entities, or a combination of the three! You will have issues accessing Catbox/files on Catbox if you are connecting from the following countries or providers:
Probably the most significant ones on there from a standpoint of users here are “Australia”, “Rogers”, “Comcast”, and “Verizon”. It sounds like all of those blocks are pretty easy to bypass (like, they’re either DNS-level or can be disabled by users on their router, where there’s a blacklist toggle that’s on by default).
I’ve never once even managed to get anything from Catbox via Tor, via different routes. Seems to be a rather widespread problem.
They must’ve hosted something egregious to make a whole bunch of ISPs and entire countries block them.
catbox is operated by a nerd like us not some greedy corporate, i personally haven’t ever been blocked by them… they’re the best pomf-like site atm imo
I’m not disputing that.
it’s annoying to have 50% of posts to have missing or broken media, that’s why I block those that religiously use it.
I understand why catbox blocks vpns, but ultimately they need to understand that solution will only solve so much of their problem.
+1 for postimg endorsement
I just yesterday was trying to re-upload a video posted to Imgur that many people couldn’t see. Is there a good, privacy-respecting service for videos? Postimage wouldn’t allow me to select the MP4 file. It was under 5MB.
catbox.moe usually works, but I can’t upload anything to it if my VPN is active. >…>
Thank you!
Iirc Lemmy itself allows uploading videos when posting, though perhaps this differs per instance.
Is there a good, privacy-respecting service for videos?
This question is especially tragic because we have a Fediverse video service – PeerTube – but the design of it isn’t quite right for your use-case.
heck I often won’t see them as I don’t like to allow imgur
I wonder if using a hash-based system could work slightly better (on platforms where you can’t edit image links) in these cases where a platform decides to stop serving to some users or go defunct. So that way, you can at least have a slight chance of ‘fixing’ an image after the fact.
It wouldn’t work with most image share sites, but at least you could rehost it on a mirror yourself.
I really wish we had this. A browser that allows loading files directly using P2P Torrent V2 hashes to load files or even static websites. Opera supports torrents but not as a direct replacement to http.
Then you could simply upload images to some random torrent seed box to host them and distribute them.
This seems problematic… if I click on a link to something that infringes on a copyright, my system is being used to distribute copyrighted material. That would be exposing me to legal liability without me knowing. Also it’s using my bandwidth without my knowledge.
Yeah I do download from torrents, but I do it with the knowledge that whatever I download is going to be redistributed by my computer, so I know to make sure the VPN is on. Something built into a browser is doing this without the user’s knowledge.
Maybe creating a browser extension to do something like this would be ok, people are opting in when they install the extension. But then the torrents wouldn’t work for everyone and given the problem we’re trying to solve is links not working for everyone, that doesn’t make a lot of sense.
Don’t use VPN! Easy! /S
Trick: If it’s asingle image, you can still download it with save link as…
If it’s a gallery, it’ll unfortunately download a .json file. I’m not sure about gifs.
i’ve been using imgbb as an alternative for a few years, they’re proba gonna enshittify soon but it’s not bad as of now. i make sure to save anything i share to the web on the wayback machine SPN tho…
