Cinderella Stamps Forum Homepage
Forum Home Forum Home > New Members Area > Frequently Asked Questions & 'How-To' help
  New Posts New Posts RSS Feed - How do I add pictures to my posts?
  FAQ FAQ  Forum Search   Events   Register Register  Login Login

How do I add pictures to my posts?

 Post Reply Post Reply Page  <12345 7>
Author
Message
Londonbus1 View Drop Down
Special
Special
Avatar

Joined: 16 May 2010
Location: Israel
Status: Offline
Points: 350
Post Options Post Options   Quote Londonbus1 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 10 July 2017 at 23:07
What would be an approximate cost to set-up a hosting service ?
Facebook is Ok too, I use it a lot and it can be fun but discussions disappear quickly.
Back to Top
Londonbus1 View Drop Down
Special
Special
Avatar

Joined: 16 May 2010
Location: Israel
Status: Offline
Points: 350
Post Options Post Options   Quote Londonbus1 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 10 July 2017 at 23:15
I should add that I find the situation with Cinderella collectors/collecting rather odd and have done for some time.
There are Cinderella groups/pages on Facebook but they don't get many responses either and I usually end up trying to initiate the uninitiated on Postage Stamps groups. It is not busy here as everyone can see.
Yet there are many Cinderella collectors out there because on any given day there are tons of bidders and buyers on eBay and the like. I cannot win anything and many items go for well over the catalogue or market price.
In conclusion, I am of the opinion that Cinderella Collectors are many but don't like to talk !! I am serious, it's been like this for a while.
So thinking a bit more, a Facebook transfer might work but we would need to infiltrate the Postage Stamp groups and get them interested. I am doing that slowly and see that some are now collecting both Postage and Non-Postage.

I'd better shut up before I am accused of being of being a collector of postage !!

Londonbus1......Wink
Back to Top
Daniel View Drop Down
Mint
Mint
Avatar

Joined: 30 March 2010
Location: London
Status: Offline
Points: 1128
Post Options Post Options   Quote Daniel Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 11 July 2017 at 04:55
Here are my thoughts.

Firstly, with Photobucket, it would appear that the first 2 GB of storage are still free. My recent Photobucket images are still showing.

Secondly, Photobucket is not the only show in town. I've mentioned Flickr and there are many other free alternatives including Imgur, TinyPic, PostImage, IMGHST and Imgbox, to name but a few. Londonbus has suggested that other sites will follow the lead of Photobucket but I very much doubt that they would be anywhere near as audacious with their charges if they were to charge.

I would not favour Facebook, it is too timeline based.

It would be interesting to know what you currently pay for this forum, perhaps you could message us with this info. As has been suggested elsewhere in the forum at least some of us might be willing to pay a straightforward contribution.

I have previously suggested broadening the forum to attract more mainstream stamp collecting interest. So, as Londonbus has also suggested, this may be one way forward. Or, and rather sadly, we migrate, en masse, to another forum!
Back to Top
Colin View Drop Down
Unhinged
Unhinged
Avatar

Joined: 29 March 2010
Location: United Kingdom
Status: Offline
Points: 2411
Post Options Post Options   Quote Colin Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 11 July 2017 at 06:21
Some comments to questions asked above...

Apart from cost, setting up a hosting service brings other problems - who owns the materials?, who is responsible for any legal consequences of misuse or copyright contravention?, what happens should the forum close? what happens to their pictures when people leave the forum (or die)?  

The cost of a dedicated picture hosting site could be as littele as $5-10 /month but would rise as the amount of pictures grew. We would have to limit the size of pictures hosted, someone would have to edit pictures to fit. We do not know how many pictures we would accrue, I have no idea how much space our current pictures take up, but I wouldn't want to be in the position of having to limit the number of pictures per thread.

The forum costs me about £150 every year in licence and registration fees and maintenance, plus the annual cost to register the website and email contact details.  Despite selling anniversary stamps to offset the costs, we have never quite achieved this because the cost of printing and perforating regularly exceed sales.  I have persevered with the idea of the stamps because I had hoped membership would increase and sales would improve but while more people have been voting, fewer have been buying.

It is very good of members to offer to pay a contribution but creating the structure to be able to do this fairly, gathering contributions and managing where the money goes in a 'proper' manner would be more time-consuming and would require a commitment I couldn't guarantee.  I would rather spend my spare time designing stamps.

Facebook IS an option but there are lots of stampgroups there already, often dominated by the same few people, lots of duplication of posts between groups pages making them seem the same at a glance.  I have joined several over the years but have only one or two have held my interest.

Broadening the interests of the forum to include non-cinderellas would just make us the same as other general stamps forums. As a consequence we don't get as many members as general forums  - but we have had a couple of places on the forum where non-cinderella interests can be posted but there hasn't been much of a response to these, apart from the same few of us who post everywhere else! I would rather run a smaller forum for people who are really interested in the subject matter, than a thriving mainstream board that is all things to all people.

I agree Facebook is too timeline based.  Forums are so much better for archive-based information.  Facebook is great if you have the attention span of a small insect.  For a while we have had the option here to add a link to a Facebook page so that posts can be 'liked' there but I have always thought that takes away from being a discussion forum. Being able to click a 'Like' button just isn't the same as spending time to put some thoughts down.

Perhaps the short-term answer is to use other free hosting services as Daniel suggests.  Replacing all the links to existing pictures currently on Photobucket just isn't an option for most of us, so do we leave the current 'holes' or attempt to patch them up, only to potentially have the same problem happen again with the next supplier a couple of years further along?.

I have checked my Photobucket account btw, and my current use only amounts to 312MB and they still 'blanked' my pictures, so i don't imagine it will be long before they start coming after other smaller users too. I think their problem is that we are using their free facilities to draw attention to our forum - it's not about the volume of pictures stored.  It's understandable when they are struggling to attract adevrtising to the Photobucket site and we are to all intents and purposes using their facility to advertise our hobby without them getting any revenue from that service.

All Forum and associated fees are paid up until next April/May so no need to make any rash decisions on the future just yet - beyond the need to show pictures here of course - so PLEASE carry on discussing this and let's come up with a solution that suits everyone...

Thanks again everyone for your contributions  :-)
  
My Etsy shop - FarFetchedPhilately - new 'stuff' coming soon...




https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/FarFetchedPhilately

.
Back to Top
milkman View Drop Down
First Class
First Class


Joined: 02 June 2011
Location: UK
Status: Offline
Points: 65
Post Options Post Options   Quote milkman Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 11 July 2017 at 22:25
Let's not rush into making any sudden decisions here.  There must be a solution that suits everyone.

Am I right in thinking that Photobucket and our own Forum actually share the same problem? What might have started out as a 'for-free' nice idea has developed into something that is now large enough to require proper funding and a sensible long-term strategy which might include the prospect of asking its members to make a contribution if they want the service (and that is what this forum IS!) to continue?

I have been a member here for a while now and a fairly frequent visitor. I have never got round to posting pictures of my stamps (I have never been one for thinking something I collect would be remotely of interest to anyone else) so never had to deal with picture hosting. I have never put pictures on any forum. However I am sure if the system were made easier I would give it a try.  You only have to look at the number of requests for information on how to get scans onto the forum to realise that it is a problem for many of us older members who haven't grown up with internet, computers, scanners ect.  So lets see what can be done before going to Facebook or elsewhere, which might be a step too far away for many of us.


Back to Top
Steve View Drop Down
Unhinged
Unhinged
Avatar

Joined: 26 March 2010
Location: Wrexham
Status: Offline
Points: 3481
Post Options Post Options   Quote Steve Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 12 July 2017 at 01:38
I am not trying to be argumentative but I cannot see what age has to do with using a computer/lapto/mobile device. I am both a pensioner and work in IT as system manager and superuser for a number of health care systems. For me it is the twenty-somethings who are clueless. I get asked to copy files from an attachment to a rive and run macros to load an array of parameters by a science graduate who has full instructions with screenshots. We oldies have had the benefits of years of Windows versions and running progranms from typing a command line in MSDOS. What fun I had explnoring Unix!
Oh! And I put together my own PC system. These days it's probably simpler than Meccano or Ikea furniture.
Back to Top
milkman View Drop Down
First Class
First Class


Joined: 02 June 2011
Location: UK
Status: Offline
Points: 65
Post Options Post Options   Quote milkman Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 12 July 2017 at 04:33
I was only trying to flag up the number of requests there have been about putting pictures on the forum (and many of these have mentioned a lack of knowledge or ease with computer systems) reflected by the fact we are all posting these messages in a thread dreamt up as an FAQ to address this need.

I don't want to be argumentative either, but perhaps that FAQ response needed to be written by someone who was not capable of exploring Unix coding or running parameters for macros to a rive (whatever that is?) so that those non-technical members could understand it and put it to use. It doesn't appear to have been a great success as evidenced by so few people posting their pictures here since.

I agree many of us did grow up with MS-DOS and have watched the digital world become increasingly idiot-proof since, but that doesn't apply to everyone.  Many of the members here and in my PhilSoc are in their 80s and 90s and couldn't give a toss about learning how to use a smartphone any more than they would want to build IKEA furniture.

We need a forum where members can throw pictures up on screen as quickly and as easily as clicking the 'add' button to their Facebook posts or Twitter feed.  Is that impossible? Is there an App for that, as we used to say in the olden days?
Back to Top
Steve View Drop Down
Unhinged
Unhinged
Avatar

Joined: 26 March 2010
Location: Wrexham
Status: Offline
Points: 3481
Post Options Post Options   Quote Steve Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 12 July 2017 at 04:42
What I do not want is some young fellow, who thinks taking a selfie and posting on Facebook as the acme of the technological revolution, patronising me because because that are responding to comment like yours.

Both old and young have issues using computers etc in equal measure.

I wrote that FAQ because nobody else could be bothered. I thought it made sense, used simple words and proceeded logically stepwise. No-onr has said they couldn't follow it, so I assumed it was okay. Perhaps I should not waste my time in future, and leave it to you to recruit someone capable of communicating better.
Back to Top
Colin View Drop Down
Unhinged
Unhinged
Avatar

Joined: 29 March 2010
Location: United Kingdom
Status: Offline
Points: 2411
Post Options Post Options   Quote Colin Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 12 July 2017 at 23:48
TEST!

My Etsy shop - FarFetchedPhilately - new 'stuff' coming soon...




https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/FarFetchedPhilately

.
Back to Top
Perky View Drop Down
Registered
Registered


Joined: 11 March 2015
Location: GB
Status: Offline
Points: 34
Post Options Post Options   Quote Perky Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 14 July 2017 at 01:00
Looking good!  Nice collection  Wink
Back to Top
 Post Reply Post Reply Page  <12345 7>

Forum Jump Forum Permissions View Drop Down

Forum Software by Web Wiz Forums® version 12.05
Copyright ©2001-2022 Web Wiz Ltd.