For a while, one of the biggest downfalls to phpbb (the forum software we use) is the restriction on uploading photos and pushing users to use a 3rd party source (like imgur, etc). Steve even wrote a kick ass tutorial
HERE showing step by step instructions on how to use a 3rd party. Steve will be modifying that post later with the changes as outlined below.
Earlier this year, when we switched to our own server, one of the hopes was to test self-hosting photos on the site, to see how it impacted the site. That time has come!
You can now upload much larger photos to the site when making or replying to a post!!! This means you should be able to upload directly from your smartphone. The site will automatically re-size the pixels of the photo so it can display properly.
Please do not abuse this feature. If you are posting classifieds, great, but just random photos on your computer for the random photo threads etc, please continue to use a 3rd party hosting site.
The biggest issue with self-hosting is 2-fold;
1) Bandwidth - Hosting and displaying self hosted photos uses bandwidth. This can slow the site for other users or make the server host cranky from the additional loads.
2) Disk Space - Photos now-a-days are not small. Our phones take some HUGE photos (larger than we really need). We only have XXX size of hard drive on our server.
We still have some limitations on the size, so if you run into an issue with posting and get a size error, please let me know so I can see if we can accommodate the size (size does matter).
We are going to continue to monitor the impact on the site, now that we have let you all know.
Please don't use this thread to test, it works, go with it. Just know that next time you want to post a classified, you can do it a little easier now.