Restoring missing images

[khj]

Fellow Stamp Bears,

As you have noticed, many images have disappeared over the years. Some because image hosts went belly-up, some because the pictures were moved/deleted by the poster without updating the link in the post, some because the image host changed server links, some because the image host is holding images for hostage to force users to pay for premium services...

Our policy in the past has been to remove any posts with missing images into an archive section of Stamp Bears (they are not deleted, just moved to a part of the forum not visible to the public).

Of course, the result is a lot of holes/gaps in the thread flow.

Some of the broken links are correctable by the poster. If you are missing any pictures and can correct them, please do so. But please do not delete your post, especially those who used postimg or PB (yes, your picture may still be recoverable!!!)

Over the course of this year, I will try to correct as many broken picture links as possible, prioritizing postimg links, then PB links, then other images host links as time permits. This will take a LONG LONG time, so please be patient and don't be offended if your post isn't corrected soon (or don't be offended if your post is one of the first to be corrected). To make things easier, I will editing your posts, but will not be sending each of you individual messages. This post will serve notice to all.

In the meantime, please:

-- do not delete pictures on your image hosts, as that will break the link
-- if you move pictures on your image hosts, please make sure your image host does so internally so that it doesn't change the actual public access link to your picture! For example, on SeeMyStamps, you can move pictures to another folder and it won't change the public access link. However, if you delete a picture and re-upload it into another folder (or even the same folder), the original public access link is no longer valid and you will need to edit your post to have the corrected new public access link.
-- do not delete your post if your picture was hosted on postimg or PB

Any questions, don't hesitate to post here.

Thank you!

k

[tony]

khj 

What a great idea this will keep you busy for some time!!

I have worked on my thread "Tony's US Collection"  I have edited some of the images also some pages I have added a new image as I add to my collection.

All my images are still in PB I have not removed any. Please take a look and see if this will upset your plan, or as time permits can I carry on.

[khj]

Mar 17, 2020 13:52:47 GMT -5 tony said:

All my images are still in PB I have not removed any. Please take a look and see if this will upset your plan, or as time permits can I carry on.

As long as your images are not being ad-masked/blurred by PB, then there is no problem.

The problem we are running into is PB holding free account-holder pictures hostage to try to force them to pay for a premium package. In these cases, some options:

1) the user pays for PB premium package
2) the user moves images to a new image hosts and goes back update all the image links in their posts
3) I pilfer your unmasked picture from PB and load it onto our image host, and change your image link in your post

Right now, I'm resorting to option 3 as most users are not resolving this through the 1st two options. However, it does take time.

Meanwhile, to everyone, I will repeat the earlier statement in my post:

Please do not delete your image files, because once you do that, it is basically impossible for me to recover anything.

[khj]

tony, I took a quick look at some of your older posts/pics. It looks like you have a few PB images blurred, and it looks like you are moving things to SMS and properly updating your links.

If you want to continue to do this, that would be great. Then I won't touch your posts and let you do it all yourself. If I do it, you will no longer have direct control over the moved image, since I will be porting it over onto our image hosting account instead of yours. If you do it, it will be on your SMS account and you can access as you please.

Let me know if you want to update all your images yourself. If so, I'll skip all your posts (unless you have used images with postimg, in which case I will still update those links).

[khj]

If any Stamp Bear is interested in updating their own image links themselves, the quickest way to find missing images is to go to your profile, choose "View this member's recent posts.", and check your posts from the oldest first (i.e., jump to the last page of listings of of your posts, since the recent posts list is in reverse chronological order).

[tony]

khj

I have all my images in SMS since Phil created this hosting for us all, I can always scan any I need again and edit the page.

I will continue to update and edit my pages and  images as time permits. 

Tony

[khj]

Great, thanks tony! In that case, I'll skip over your few blurred PB images so you can port them over your own SMS account. However, feel free to post here if you run into any difficulties.

k