Third party linking of photos appear to no longer work.

[grandad]

Ever since I first joined this forum back in 2012 I have hosted all photos in threads on my own server. What I believe is called third-party linking.
I recently was advised that none of the pics on an old thread of mine are showing up anymore.

Thread here

I've done what experimenting I can think of to try to fix things but nothing seems to be working.
If you just put the link to the photo into your browser, it shows up, which shows the file itself is not corrupted and available for viewing in a browser. Its just not available with the img tag elsewhere.

Right click on the little picture icon below and "open in new tab". Voila! There t'is. 

Has anything changed in this forum in recent times that might now disallow this practice?

As a further experiment, I'll try posting an image here.



Nope, doesn't show in a preview of the post.

Can anyone assist me in working out why this is now happening?

Jim

[cobber]

G'day Jim,

I know next to nothing about this subject except..... I think 'KING FISHER' self hoasted his own photos also and they appear to have bit the dust too.
That may be relevant or not ? 
COME IN KING FISHER.   (I have sent a PM to King Fisher so he may come back soon)

Cobber.

[grandad]

Thanks Cobber,

Jim

[grandad]

Cobber, I've been doing some research and investigation into this issue.

I'm also a member of several other caravan forums. This method of posting pics seems to still be working in all of the others with the exception of the classic forum which of course is also a Proboard forum.
So it would appear that something has changed within the Proboard model.

I've search the Proboard community help forum and can find no reference to it, but I still believe it's a Proboard issue.

Maybe its time to contact the webmaster. The only problem there is, who is the webmaster?

Can you assist?

Jim

Edit to add: There does appear to be a slight difference in the BBCode used on Proboards.

Here and on the classic forum, the code for an image is [img style="max-width:100%;" src="http://www.byers.net.au/jim/100_0968(Small).JPG"]

Whereas in other versions it is <img src="http://www.byers.net.au/jim/100_0968(Small).JPG" border="0" alt="100_0968(Small).JPG" width="640" height="480" />

Ever so slight difference.

[Don Ricardo]

G’day Grandad,

Sorry to hear about the photo issues that have arisen for you.

I’ve had a bit of a look at what’s going on, but can’t figure out the source of the problem. I can copy the URL for your photo and get it to display in Google, but not on the forum, so it’s a bit strange.

I agree it’s probably a Proboards issue and I can check with them to see if there’s a solution. In the meantime, you could consider posting your photos using one of the photo hosting websites such as Flickr or Postimage. I know it’s more fiddly than the system you’ve been using, but it is workable.

Regarding a webmaster for the forum, we don’t have one as such. Various ones of us know a little bit, but really that’s why we’re using a system like Proboards.

Have a look at using one of the photo hosting websites and see what you think. There’s instructions in the ‘Forum Guidelines & Helpful Hints’ section of the forum.

Don Ricardo

[cobber]

G'day Jim,

Sorry for not getting back to you sooner but I have been thinking about your issue and that is a slow, labourious and not very efficient process 😟

I mentioned that kingfisher self hosted his photos. Have a look at this thread of his (right down at the bottom of the page and over on page 2 ) and you'll see all his photos are still missing and at the time he was blaming the cut-over to NBN for the problem.
Could that be your case too ?
Why it would only effect proboads forum in your case I know not 😫

Cobber. (still thinking)

[grandad]

Thank you both for your responses.
Don Ricardo, if I could ask you to let me know the outcome of inquiries with Proboard I will proceed once I've heard any news. Good or bad.
I had already considered and looked at other options. Flickr seems to be the main choice at present.
But it is a mammoth task to undertake, which I will do for this thread alone but would rather avoid if possible.

Cobber. I've read of Kingfishers issues but the transfer to NBN causing the issue is not logical. If the NBN was the culprit it should have affected all hot-linked photos regardless of which server they may be hosted on. There really is no practical difference between say the server that hosts Flickr and the one that hosts my photos. They're both just computers. Yet, it's only Proboard forums that seem to be affected. That indicates the software or coding behind Proboards. After all, if the highway we travel on causes only one brand of car to fail do we blame the highway?


Cheers, and thank you for trying to help me figure this out.
Jim

[Franklin1]

G'day grandad,
On 21 Feb 2020, Proboards announced they were transitioning to HTTPS from the previous HTTP system. As a result of that change, some photo links may no longer work. If that is the case, it means the site hosting your images does not support HTTPS.
Do I understand what I'm talking about?? No, not really...I'm just repeating info I found on the Proboards Support pages.
Maybe it'll help you, maybe it won't.🤔😁

Cheers,
Al.

[grandad]

Well now Al, you may not think you know what you're talking about but it's the best clue I've heard so far and it's highly feasible. There was a move late last year to move as many domains to a secure server as possible. All instigated by Google. And, it's easy enough to test it.
It so happens I have two domains which is effectively two servers. One secure and one that isn't. I'll try an experiment later today and will let you know.
Thank you most sincerely

Jim

[grandad]

Stuff later today. I'll try just one right here. If it works here, it will work in the thread.
Fingers crossed

[grandad]

Eureka! By George, I think we've got it.

Jim

[Don Ricardo]

Well done Franklin1 and Grandad!

Great effort between the two of you.

Maybe we need to add a post to the ‘Forum Guidelines & Helpful Hints’ section? Franklin1, can you post or PM me with the advice from Proboards pleased, in case I can’t find it? Thanks.

Don Ricardo

[Gypsy 10]

I thought caravan races were a silly idea.............but who used a dragster? See picture above if you don'
t understand.

[Franklin1]

G'day Don Ricardo, there are a few different references on the Proboards Support pages about the transition to HTTPS, but the best summary is probably this one:
support.proboards.com/thread/660963/help-images-displaying-on-forum

Cheers,
Al.

[Don Ricardo]

Hi Franklin1 and Grandad,

Thanks for the link Franklin1. I’ve created a new thread on posting photos from your own server here.

Grandad, if there is anything in the new thread that is not correct or needs to be clearer, please let me know and I will make any changes you suggest. I’ve not put in a lot of explanation because I’m assuming that anyone who is thinking of posting photos from their own server probably has a bit of IT knowledge, and therefore won’t need a lot of detail.

Don Ricardo

[grandad]

I haven't read your new thread Don. I will. But its fairly straight forward. it's the absence of an SSL certificate for the particular domain I was using causing the issue. I have the option of moving the photos to the secure domain, which is what I've just started doing, or.....spend another roughly $100 a year to secure the first domain, which is not very appealing, or..... use the free SSL that is mentioned in Al's post. Not too fussed about that one. Always a bit suspicious of something free.
Jim

[grandad]

Ok, not too onerous a task. Approx 20 minutes. All fixed.
Thought I might just mention for anyone else in the same situation I tried a little experiment.

I thought I might be able to trick Proboard into thinking it was a secure server by adding an "S" to the HTTP://
That would be too easy, wouldn't it? Didn't work.

thanks again everyone

Jim

Edit to add: The new post is fine Don. Anyone with their own server or renting space on one like me will understand.

Jim

[King Fisher]

Sorry guys haven't been around for a while and I didn't realise my pickies weren't working. So I will try to look into it tomorrow and get them working again. Thanks for the advise guys, Interesting problem solved, I will move them to https in due course.
King Fisher