Folks, the forum has grown to be VERY LARGE in terms of disk space usage. Jeff and I have discussed options and have a plan in place. Our plan is to enact an automatic compression system that will compress images to 2mb via JPEG lossless compression. This will not require a change for users (you lot) but will reduce the quality of images a little bit. This will be applied to ALL images that are on the system.
Before we just start whacking image quality (it is a one-way change), I'm open to feedback. There are options that would allow us to keep images at full quality but they would require folks to use a DISCRETE upload process. The other options involve $$ out of Jeff's pocket and I would ask us to pitch in to cover that cost. Below is a simple poll to get a for the community preferences. Feedback in comments is welcome, but make sure you use the poll as well.
Board disk space issues
- Jaysen
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Board disk space issues
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Re: Board disk space issues
2mb pictures are still decently big. The auto compression may even simplify forum use as I often have to resize pictures to upload... perhaps I am even one of the culprits? :/
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- Location: Bush Alaska
Re: Board disk space issues
External hosting is a slippery slope.... I don't know how many forum threads (here and elsewhere) I have scoured for information where the picture links were dead :/
We have a lot of great info on this forum, some from members no longer among us, it would be a shame to lose their knowledge and wisdom.
We have a lot of great info on this forum, some from members no longer among us, it would be a shame to lose their knowledge and wisdom.
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- Location: Bush Alaska
Re: Board disk space issues
Paid membership is a tricky one as well......
You want to provide 'perks' for contributing financially, but do not want to cripple the forum or user base.
Sometimes something as simple as larger avatars or titles is enough 'reward' for people who would donate anyway... digging deeper, you could have something like a 10 image upload per day limit for normal members and unlimited for contributing members. The advantage to a system like this is that 'premium' membership can be given away by bbc, as rewards or 'free' with purchases for x number of months, etc......
Just throwing my random ideas against the wall for you, they seldom stick, but you never know till you go back and look either
You should never underestimate the power of 'gamifying' anything in todays world.
You want to provide 'perks' for contributing financially, but do not want to cripple the forum or user base.
Sometimes something as simple as larger avatars or titles is enough 'reward' for people who would donate anyway... digging deeper, you could have something like a 10 image upload per day limit for normal members and unlimited for contributing members. The advantage to a system like this is that 'premium' membership can be given away by bbc, as rewards or 'free' with purchases for x number of months, etc......
Just throwing my random ideas against the wall for you, they seldom stick, but you never know till you go back and look either
You should never underestimate the power of 'gamifying' anything in todays world.
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Re: Board disk space issues
I think images are varying too much. Users should not be allowed to post over a certain size. I think the size limits are probably too large.
Most boards have image limits, and I have wondered for awhile now if my image sizes were an issue.
I think if people come here and are not adding to Jeff's bottom line or building a Merten's design, they could pay a very small fee for hosting their thread.
If someone from California wants help on a Grady White transom replacement, they could be charged a one time fee, or we all could. Something like 5 bux per boat. Pretty cheap to get good advice on boat builds and repairs. The fiver might also prevent a China styled attack where they bombard the site with 400 users.
If you are able to review the same image at different resolution, I suspect you'll find very little quality difference between a file that is massive and one that is not.
For this poll, it would be good to use a boat image and show us differences between various resolutions and file sizes.
My own phone has become a burden for me. There are too many pics and I have trouble finding certain pictures. The idea there is trouble here is not m surprising.
On Richard's site, he switched to tapatalk, but so many pop ups, I basically stopped going.
Most boards have image limits, and I have wondered for awhile now if my image sizes were an issue.
I think if people come here and are not adding to Jeff's bottom line or building a Merten's design, they could pay a very small fee for hosting their thread.
If someone from California wants help on a Grady White transom replacement, they could be charged a one time fee, or we all could. Something like 5 bux per boat. Pretty cheap to get good advice on boat builds and repairs. The fiver might also prevent a China styled attack where they bombard the site with 400 users.
If you are able to review the same image at different resolution, I suspect you'll find very little quality difference between a file that is massive and one that is not.
For this poll, it would be good to use a boat image and show us differences between various resolutions and file sizes.
My own phone has become a burden for me. There are too many pics and I have trouble finding certain pictures. The idea there is trouble here is not m surprising.
On Richard's site, he switched to tapatalk, but so many pop ups, I basically stopped going.
- Jaysen
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Re: Board disk space issues
A couple of points:
1. If we put up limits on file sizes (currently set to 12m to accommodate the current round of phones), it is up to the person uploading a file to ensure it is scaled correctly. I have no issues doing that, but it will mean that you need to ensure you use the right file on your device.
2. Payment would need to be "out of the goodness of your hearts". PHPBB isn't really designed to support "premium" services. I could set it up, but it will be a mess and I'm not sure Jeff wants to get into the problems that would bring.
3. "External" simply means that we would use something like a gallery package (literally one of the galleries) to handle the uploads. The gallery would then store the files in AWS S3 buckets. This is much different than using photobucket software as Jeff would own the services. S3 is pretty much the industry standard for this stuff at this point and I can't remember the last time we had a data loss with s3.
my personal preference is auto compression. Here's why:
1. it gets every file already on the system.
2. I don't have to do user support for every device that gets a "file too big" message.
3. it requires no changes to the forum software for uploading or including an image.
4. it leaves all the images on Jeff's servers
5. Is pretty easy to support as I can cobble together "standard tools" to build the compression "junk".
I just want to make sure we all have a bit of a say. This is a community site.
1. If we put up limits on file sizes (currently set to 12m to accommodate the current round of phones), it is up to the person uploading a file to ensure it is scaled correctly. I have no issues doing that, but it will mean that you need to ensure you use the right file on your device.
2. Payment would need to be "out of the goodness of your hearts". PHPBB isn't really designed to support "premium" services. I could set it up, but it will be a mess and I'm not sure Jeff wants to get into the problems that would bring.
3. "External" simply means that we would use something like a gallery package (literally one of the galleries) to handle the uploads. The gallery would then store the files in AWS S3 buckets. This is much different than using photobucket software as Jeff would own the services. S3 is pretty much the industry standard for this stuff at this point and I can't remember the last time we had a data loss with s3.
my personal preference is auto compression. Here's why:
1. it gets every file already on the system.
2. I don't have to do user support for every device that gets a "file too big" message.
3. it requires no changes to the forum software for uploading or including an image.
4. it leaves all the images on Jeff's servers
5. Is pretty easy to support as I can cobble together "standard tools" to build the compression "junk".
I just want to make sure we all have a bit of a say. This is a community site.
- OrangeQuest
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Re: Board disk space issues
Jaysen wrote: ↑Tue Aug 17, 2021 1:32 pm
my personal preference is auto compression. Here's why:
1. it gets every file already on the system.
2. I don't have to do user support for every device that gets a "file too big" message.
3. it requires no changes to the forum software for uploading or including an image.
4. it leaves all the images on Jeff's servers
5. Is pretty easy to support as I can cobble together "standard tools" to build the compression "junk".
I just want to make sure we all have a bit of a say. This is a community site.
For a simpleton as me it was an easy choice once put in simpleton language.
"that it isn't just an ordinary sort of boat. Sometimes it's a Boat, and sometimes it's more of an Accident. It all depends." "Depends on what?" "On whether I'm on the top of it or underneath it."
A. A. Milne
A. A. Milne
- Jaysen
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Re: Board disk space issues
Hopefully, folks will see this...
1. These images are ridiculously big... on purpose
2. This is NOT currently happening
3. This is a request for feedback on the quality of the resize
4. The resize on this file is HUGE and would not represent the savings on most images (that's why I went "big")
I have finally managed to get usable automation (not in place) and decided that the idea of "show us" is best. Here is what a 9MB file looks like
Here is the same image at 1MB
1. These images are ridiculously big... on purpose
2. This is NOT currently happening
3. This is a request for feedback on the quality of the resize
4. The resize on this file is HUGE and would not represent the savings on most images (that's why I went "big")
I have finally managed to get usable automation (not in place) and decided that the idea of "show us" is best. Here is what a 9MB file looks like
Here is the same image at 1MB
Re: Board disk space issues
Jaysen, that is perfect!!! Jeff
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Re: Board disk space issues
No notable difference for 9 times the file size.
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