I've also been using postimages.org (but always without logging in and with adblockers and additional privacy addons. Would love to find something that's more FOSS aligned though (that also doesn't require log in and allows pasting images).
So for my part I don’t have a gigantic issue with Imgur as a service, but I do have an issue with how bloated the website has become and how they’ve completely degraded the experience on mobile. In general I’m not interested in using an image uploading site like Imgur as social media, so everything but image uploading is overhead for me.
On mobile, Imgur is extremely strict about the experience and “optimization”; direct image links will redirect you to the post instead, and the posts themselves are extremely compressed, which makes images with smaller text basically unreadable, on top of everything else just looking like shit.
My usecase for image hosting is to share with friends, and not have to really worry about looking back at previous images, so I personally rent a server for $3/m (and a domain for like $15/y) and use it to host any files I want to upload. That way I don’t have to worry about third parties screwing with the presentation of my images in ways I don’t want them to.
Drew DeVault wrote a blog post back in 2014 that kind of covers it. Imgur seems to have broke the cycle but that doesn't mean they haven't gone to shit. They've just somehow avoided collapsing underneath themselves as they continue the enshittification of Imgur.
I am fundamentally opposed to nearly all forms of advertising at an ideological level and go to great lengths to avoid it in as many of its insidious forms as possible. So that is where Drew and I differ. The only form of advertising I appreciate are extremely dry infomercials (no not the for-TV kind) and authentic word of mouth (not to be confused with "native" advertising or sponsors). Ads are a net negative on humanity and in too many ways to list but because the effects go through a layer of indirection - similar to how secondhand smoke is harmful for non-smokers. People are more OK with ads. It took making the public aware of secondhand smoke and the harm that smoking causes - even for non-smokers - before people took a privileged stance against smoking. That same level of awareness and condemnation will never happen with ads because people are OK with getting things "for free" that they otherwise would have to pay for. So they'll willingly turn a blind eye to the harmful effects of advertisements and "put up with them".
i changed the topic as a general imgur alternatives post, since i could just use the kbin interface to upload images in comments... kbin is miles ahead of reddit with that feature LOL
Hosting the images directly on the lemmy/kbin instance creates imo unnecessary traffic to the servers. I don't know if admins can disable selfhosting images, but considering the low-powered machines almost every instance is currently hosted on, I would assume it would be in everyones self-interest to outsource image hosting (at least for now).
Postimages already has official plugins for several forum softwares. I am sure one of them could be tweaked for use in Kbin and Lemmy instances. And postimages themselves might help in this, if contacted.
To offload the storage requirements of the instance you're posting in. If everyone starts uploading images directly in the comment, the server HDD/SDD will be overloaded. Consider using a third party service and posting the link from there instead!
Thats kinda the point of the feature though.. To be used. If its a performance issue, then it should be turned off. In the end, someone has to host the content.
Agreed, that decision should not be left up to the users. It's the server maintainers who know best whether they can afford the storage space. If not, they should limit the ability to store too much data, by whatever means they find relevant, e.g. by limiting maximum post size.
Discord is the worst option in terms of privacy, and since this is the privacy guides community, I am thinking that should be an important criteria to consider.
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