Why is visibility to photos restricted to forum members?

[TrueBlue]

The question is in the title -
Many non members look at the YBW forums, but can't view attachments. That seems a missed opportunity, especially as otherwise (apart from the Lounge) there is general public access.


As a Thames boater, I want as much information and even comment to be available to all who can be bothered to view, especially as this section has been rather quiet of late (the dreaded Trotman excepted.....)

 

[AuntyRinum]

What do you mean by a member? You are a registered user. What else is there apart from Guest?

 

[TrueBlue]

What do you mean by a member? You are a registered user. What else is there apart from Guest?

There are unregistered visitors to this site, "guests" if you want. Methinks a lot of folks just want to browse and don't want the (minor) inconvenience of registering - especially if the don't want to contribute.
I can't see any (good) reason why they can't display photos.

 

[JorgeinLondon]

If you post your pics using the inbuilt photo function on the forum it will only show them to logged in users. If you use a 3rd party to host your pics and then do a web link to them they appear for everyone.

You don't really want to use the inbuilt function as it compresses the pics terribly. Obviously Time Inc don't have the budget to offer everyone tons of space to host pics on their servers.. Once you get your head around posting links from 3rd party pic hosting sites its pretty easy. Use the advanced authoring tools offered in the full desktop version of the site and keep click on 'preview post' to make sure you've got everything in the right place.

 

[TrueBlue]

If you post your pics using the inbuilt photo function on the forum it will only show them to logged in users. If you use a 3rd party to host your pics and then do a web link to them they appear for everyone.

You don't really want to use the inbuilt function as it compresses the pics terribly. Obviously Time Inc don't have the budget to offer everyone tons of space to host pics on their servers.. Once you get your head around posting links from 3rd party pic hosting sites its pretty easy. Use the advanced authoring tools offered in the full desktop version of the site and keep click on 'preview post' to make sure you've got everything in the right place.

Thanks - that makes sense.
I tried P'bucket and it seemed incredibly slow and I couldn't get their 'wrapper' to work.
Will try harder!
It's not something I intend to use much....

 

[prof pat pending]

The main reason is that encourages new membership which in turn looks good to the advertisers that pay for the forum....perhaps the bigger question is why did you post this here :ambivalence: