ALL SCI-FI

Bud Brewster

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WARINNG! Do NOT used Hostpic All Sci-Fi!

While spending the last few weeks fixing all the glitches on All Sci-Fi which were caused when we imported the database from Randy Everett's server to my own — namely those damned ??? which appear in place of certain punctuation marks — I've discover several posts with missing jpegs with the Hostpic jpeg codes!

And I noticed that those missing jpegs are less than two years old! This confirms what I've read online about how Hostpic dumps their older jpegs after about two years! Shocked

Folks, please use a reliable image host like IMGUR, which is free and very user friendly. In addition to repairing all the posts by our members which contain those damned ??? characters instead of apostrophes, quotation marks, and em dashes, I've been replacing all the Photobucket codes on my own posts with copies I placed in my IMGUR account.

IMGUR allows UNLIMITED storage, so I can easily replace all the jeps on All Sci-Fi (my own and everybody else's) which might be in danger of suddenly vanishing!

We all know that the Photobucket jpegs used by Robert "Butch" Day and orzel-w stopped working several months ago. When that happened, I spent a few weeks replacing Orzel-w's jepgs on the posts I happened to find. But eventually orzel-w began replacing his own Photopucket codes with IMGUR codes from his own account.

Over the last two months, I have also replaced 90% of the Photobucket jpegs on Butch's many posts, along with those on the posts made by both Eadie and Pye-rate, who also use Butch's PB account.

The bottom line is this: DO NOT use Hostpic for your images. They are likely to vanish in about two years. And DO NOT use Photobucket, either. They will eventual vanish, as well.

Please set up an account with a reliable image host like IMGUR so that your valuable posts won't be marred by jpegs that stop working! Shocked

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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

scotpens · Posted: Sat Mar 17, 2018 12:19 am Post subject:

I've been using Hostpic.org to host my pictures because it's quick and simple. I thought it was common knowledge that they dump image files after two years or so.

I figure there aren't too many people who'll be reading my posts more than two years from now. Besides, if I notice any pictures missing from my older posts, I can always re-upload them.

Bud Brewster · Posted: Sat Mar 17, 2018 12:05 pm Post subject:

scotpens · Posted: Sat Mar 17, 2018 9:03 pm Post subject:

Well, when you put it that way . . .

Very well, you have my permission to re-host my pictures on Imgur. I've created my own Imgur account and I'll use that as my default image host from now on. I'll transfer as many pictures as I can whenever I have a few spare moments.

Bud Brewster · Posted: Sun Mar 18, 2018 8:19 am Post subject:

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Thank you! Very Happy

After battling the forces of evil and rescuing All Sci-Fi from the dark abyss, I'm passionate about preserving all the great contributions which make it such a fun online community for our small group of distinguished members.

Post with pride, good sir! We appreciate it. Cool

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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

Custer · Posted: Thu Apr 12, 2018 7:18 am Post subject:

I must report that the host I've been using lately, postimg.org, has run into a problem - the Registry has suspended their domain, without any prior notice. They have started to use postimg.cc instead - maybe the old domain will become active again, but otherwise, feel free, if you have editing capabilities, to change my image urls by taking out "org" and substituting "cc"... I'll certainly do some, when I can.

Bud Brewster · Posted: Thu Apr 12, 2018 9:20 am Post subject:

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Custer, I'm so sorry to hear the bad news about the image host you've often used. I thought your "postimg" pictures were safe, so I haven't been replacing any of them with Imgur versions, the way I have with any hostpic images by all of our members as I ran across them.

I have, however, been replacing the occasional Photobucket images of yours which I found. Please be sure not to used Photobucket any more, because they are getting more unreliable every day! Shocked

I'm almost finished replacing the mages in the Sci-Fi magazines and fanzines section, having started at the top of ASF's main index and working my way down for the last few weeks.
_________________
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

Custer · Posted: Thu Apr 12, 2018 11:49 am Post subject:

Yes, I've not used Photobucket for a while - since they went mad, basically. At least changing "org" to "cc" as an edit is pretty easy here - over at SFMB even in the edit box one has to right-click the little error image, choose "copy image address," back-space to get rid of the error, then put the img code in front of and behind the pasted-in address, and then change the "org" to "cc"... which takes a while.

If it's easier and safer for you to re-host the images at Imgur, feel free. Nothing on the internet is 100% safe - even if we hosted images on our own web space, the provider of that space might easily go out of business one day.

Bud Brewster · Posted: Fri Apr 27, 2018 2:08 pm Post subject:

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Over the past few months I've been going through every post on every thread here at All Sci-Fi, searching for Photobucket images that need to be replaced with versions hosted on Imgur.

Starting at the top of the main index, I've worked my way down through All Sci-Fi's many forums, and I'm currently on page 3 of the 15 pages of threads in the section called Science now, add Fiction later.

Whenever I find a Photobucket jpeg — either mine or anybody else's — I copy it to my own Imgur account. This allows me to replace the Photobucket codes with the Imgur codes to prevent the loss of those images when PB finally pulls the plug on everybody who hasn't paid their outrageous $399 a year! Shocked

Photobucket claims that members who paid for any of their less expensive plans up until June of last year would still enjoy third-party hosting of their images until December of this years.

I paid their $7.98 fee for years, but my last payment only took me through January of this year.

However, I've already encountered dozens of my own images which now won't display when I first open a post! I can refresh the page and bring the images back up, but clearly Photobucket is becoming less reliable every day.

I'm also encountering more and more Hostpic images and hot-linked images that are now completely gone, either because they've been removed from the Hostpic database or because the host of the hot-linked images change the image codes to stop them from working.

There's nothing I can do to save those pictures, folks, so please remember not use either Photobucket, Hostpic, or hot-linked images. All those posts which feature wonderful images will be ruined by the loss of those jpegs.

Thanks
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)