Imgur blocks access to most VPN IP addresses so any posts using the host will result in many users being unable to see the content. Sometimes only remote viewing is affected but is also often blocked when trying to open in new tab and view at the parent site.
Consider uploading to the fediverse or using a privacy-respecting hosting service like postimages.
same goes for anyone using catbox.moe.
it’s become such a problem I’ve started to block users and communities because 95% of their posts are shared catbox links.
It sounds like that’s some network providers that block catbox, rather than vice versa.
Why can’t I access Catbox/access files on Catbox (files.catbox.moe)?
Good question! It turns out certain governments in the world hate freedom of information, don’t have net neutrality, don’t see online service providers as legally exempt entities, or a combination of the three! You will have issues accessing Catbox/files on Catbox if you are connecting from the following countries or providers:
Probably the most significant ones on there from a standpoint of users here are “Australia”, “Rogers”, “Comcast”, and “Verizon”. It sounds like all of those blocks are pretty easy to bypass (like, they’re either DNS-level or can be disabled by users on their router, where there’s a blacklist toggle that’s on by default).
I’ve never once even managed to get anything from Catbox via Tor, via different routes. Seems to be a rather widespread problem.
They must’ve hosted something egregious to make a whole bunch of ISPs and entire countries block them.
catbox is operated by a nerd like us not some greedy corporate, i personally haven’t ever been blocked by them… they’re the best pomf-like site atm imo
I’m not disputing that.
it’s annoying to have 50% of posts to have missing or broken media, that’s why I block those that religiously use it.
I understand why catbox blocks vpns, but ultimately they need to understand that solution will only solve so much of their problem.
PieFed allows you to block entire domains. With a PieFed account, you would be able to just block
catbox.moeand never see another Catbox post again from anyone.
I stay away from piefed for multiple reasons, most of all because my I like my mobile client.
I’m on Fedia and not using a VPN, I never see imgur thumbnails in the posts, I always have to manually click on a link. I rarely bother to click.
+1 for postimg endorsement
You don’t see imgur because you use a VPN.
I don’t see imgur because I won’t enable their Javascript.
We are not the same.
How do you disable site specific JavaScript?
NoScript extension
I don’t see imgur because I use a vpn and also because I am in the UK. We’s diffrunt.
Innit
It’s true and I won’t turn off my vpn for companies that do this crap.
Thanks Imgur for saving me from Imgur
Prepare this is gonna get a lot worse, though.
hasn’t worked for me in over a year. my vpn is always on. fuck imgur
Imgur is also banned in the uk, I think its due to cyber flashing and epilepsy trolling. Section 187, Online Safety Act.
It’s funny really… what was the quote? You either die a hero or live long enough to become the villain.
Imgur was started back in the day to provide a no-bullshit image host, because all the others were too corporate / too monetized / too much bullshit/enshittification. So MrGrim started Imgur to fix that.
Then MrGrim took a bunch of VC money, and they eventually sold out, and now the result is the sad shell of what it once was today.
Yeah. I remember ye olde days of Imgur. NSFW in gallery and stuff. Now it’s just shitty. It was a pretty gradual thing. I don’t even remember exactly what made me stop using it.
deleted by creator
Lemmy.zip has the same problem when browsing on mobile. There’re a lot of moving parts on the fediverse, and it seems like there is constantly something broken.
Shit even without a VPN, it might not work unless you make damn sure to link the correct direct image link and not the imgur container link. This has been an issue with imgur on other social media for years now.
It’s by design, to incite people to spend time on the imgur website/app with ads instead of just using for image hosting. It used to be a nerd-friendly image hosting for redditors at the beginning, but about 3 years ago they decided it’s time to try to look more respectful to make some more money out of it. They banned NSFW (and probably whatever else their investors/advertisers/payment processors don’t want to see) and automatically deleting images uploaded anonymously and not accessed enough. Interestingly, similar timing as the Reddit API debacle which created a big wave of new comers to Lemmy, including myself.
They are not a reliable image hosting service anymore, by design. https://help.imgur.com/hc/en-us/articles/26479362527771-Imgur-Terms-of-Service-UpdateI remember they banned NSFW everywhere but Reddit. They still show NSFW through Reddit, or at least used to.
Initially, it was made by a redditor to make Reddit image posting easier when Reddit was text hosting only. So anything allowed on Reddit was allowed there.
Then they added their own optional public gallery on imgur directly, with public comments. They didn’t allow NSFW there.
3 years ago they decided they didn’t want to be an image hoster anymore and focus on their gallery, which coincidentally also allows showing more ads. So they have been cutting anything that does not fit there anymore, nsfw, anonymous hosting and low view images etc.
Could you please specify how to tell them apart?
You get the image URL by right-clicking on the image and selecting ‘copy image link’ or whatever it is in your browser. It looks like ‘i.imgur.com/33blahbleh.jpg’, whereas the page URL is ‘imgur.com/gallery/cat-making-pizza-33blahbleh’.
If you use the app, I doubt it that they give you the direct image URL anywhere.
The correct one has a file extension.
I wonder if using a hash-based system could work slightly better (on platforms where you can’t edit image links) in these cases where a platform decides to stop serving to some users or go defunct. So that way, you can at least have a slight chance of ‘fixing’ an image after the fact.
It wouldn’t work with most image share sites, but at least you could rehost it on a mirror yourself.
I really wish we had this. A browser that allows loading files directly using P2P Torrent V2 hashes to load files or even static websites. Opera supports torrents but not as a direct replacement to http.
Then you could simply upload images to some random torrent seed box to host them and distribute them.
This seems problematic… if I click on a link to something that infringes on a copyright, my system is being used to distribute copyrighted material. That would be exposing me to legal liability without me knowing. Also it’s using my bandwidth without my knowledge.
Yeah I do download from torrents, but I do it with the knowledge that whatever I download is going to be redistributed by my computer, so I know to make sure the VPN is on. Something built into a browser is doing this without the user’s knowledge.
Maybe creating a browser extension to do something like this would be ok, people are opting in when they install the extension. But then the torrents wouldn’t work for everyone and given the problem we’re trying to solve is links not working for everyone, that doesn’t make a lot of sense.
Same goes for catbox links. Either post the fatbox link instead or choose a different image host, the VPN is not getting turned off just for shitposts.
Didn’t know catbox are also blocked by some as well
I don’t see the images when I’m on the VPN or off the VPN.
I’m in the UK. I can only see imgur when I do use a VPN.
I’m also in the UK, and imgur blocks my VPN, so I get the worst of both worlds.
Just proxy Imgur links through duckduckgo with a tamper monkey script. As long as it isn’t mass adopted, it should run under the radar okay for day to day browsing 😂
