Photo Hosting Options (2025)

@scripple started DollFun - Fun With Dolls recently, but I'm not sure if hotlinking is allowed. It's easy enough to share photos on!

I'm still stuck on Imgur with decreasing usability and image quality when posting here I don't even want to post them anymore because the quality is so low.

 

Hotlinking isn't allowed as of my last read-through of the rules a couple months ago (ADHD brain, man, gotta keep refreshing on the important stuff because only random facts stick).

I use Imgur. I know some people have had trouble with it, and I've had a couple of my photos just disappear after uploading them, but the vast majority of the time it works fine for me. (Literally three photos out of like 500, which seems like a pretty standard glitch rate for even good tech.) So long as you use the "direct link" instead of the "image link" or other options, you don't even have to resize because Imgur will do it for you! Most of my photos work just fine with the "large thumbnail" size, but a few are big enough to require a "medium thumbnail".

Spoiler: example of a "large thumbnail"

 

@dm_sof hotlinking just means you are using an asset from another domain. You are hotlinking to Imgur right now, but that is what the site is intended for, so it's fine. Because this site has very few places to upload an image, almost every image on this site is hot linked. Avatars and some doll profile images are not.

Hotlinking photos from sites not intended for the purpose is bad internet etiquette because it eats up bandwidth. It's up to the site owner to decide if it's acceptable or not.

Inline linking - Wikipedia

 

Is mobile upload/management a requirement for you? And do you need a visual user interface to manage your photos?

If the answers to those are not requirements, the post in this thread I have a mini tutorial on a possible image hosting solution: What Image host do you use?

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This did prompt me to look up possible CDNs that might meet our needs as that's what CloudFlare is for me. I came across this site called Imagekit I haven't used this site before just now, so this is just my immediate experience.

I created an account, uploaded an image, right clicked copy URL, and I think that works? Again, still on a desktop and not mobile, but it has a simple UI that might be friendlier for more people.

Spoiler: Example Image

 

N/A

 

imgur is the most reliable one I have found with links that work

 

I guess I have a follow up question as to are you just trying to have a host so you can post images for DoA? Or are you wanting more long term storage and management of photos?

 

I've been using postimages, too, so tagging along this thread for other options. ImgBB seems to be another easy option but they don't let you scale images down for web use which is not ideal for DoA. Edit: they do! There is an option! Also easy enough to upload from phone.

Spoiler: Test img

 

I mostly crosspost images from either my tumblr or pillowfort.

 

I am also in Camp Imgur, I scale my photos before I upload them most of the time. The #1 culprit of broken-after-uploading photos here on DoA is image size, just as an FYI: most phones now take ENORMOUS images so when you upload them at full quality the forum just freaks out and says no. Direct linking gives you those scaled options, and if you want it to generate the bbcode just scale the image before you upload (I keep my longest side to 1200px and have no troubles). I've never to my knowledge had any pics go missing, although I've heard about it happening to others.

 

I've been using Imgbb for quite some time, after Imgur years ago scrambled up the quality so badly. It's not ideal, and I'd argue unless you have an own server none of these options are truly long-term. Just remember how Photobucket fucked us all over all of a sudden
But I've accepted that it just needs to be good enough for now, not eternity. If I really like an image or find it useful, I simply save it to my PC.