Using attachments

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SteveColes

Steve
Corporate Member
Quite a while ago. I instituted a policy that disallowed using the vB's attachment mechanisms to post pictures or documents within a post. The primary reasons for this was, the perceived loss of those Photos and/or documents. They only existed in the context of the post/thread they were in. If the post or thread were deleted then the picture or document was also lost. Other reasons were:

Fear of the Photo Gallery not being used. A feature that used to be a major attraction to visit our site.
Same thing for documents and the download library.
Duplication of pictures and documents. It was easy to see our users uploading the same picture many times for use in different threads.

Since that time, the issue of files getting lost is not a real problem. The images and files are there and can be found. An example, of this is found in a add on that I found. I have put a Link to it under the Admin Menu. That add on could really be enhanced if wanted to. Also if you try to upload an attachment, you will be taken to the new "asset Manager" where all you attachments are shown and you just reuse then when appropriate.(That feature can Be turned of if desired.)

Another reason is that people seem to hate uploading to our gallery so much that many have switched to using galleries outside our site. So our gallery is no longer growing as it used to.

Anyway I have enable picture and file attachments the staff so we can play and decide if we really want to open this up.

so here is my examples. image-1267526348.jpgImageUploadedByTapatalk1336015082.436680.jpgIMG_1110.jpg
 

ehpoole

Administrator
Ethan
Sorry, Steve, I'm not meaning to ignore you. I just find myself a little torn on the subject of whether we should or should not.

A part of me wonders if we would not be best served finding (if we can) a way to make photo uploading easier for our users (as we have with insertion). I know I've always found albums to be rather confusing to create.

On the other hand, our users have to have tools they will actually use.

I just wish 'attached' photos could be expanded inline (i.e. not take over the screen) the same as uploaded photos, so that the thread could remain readable even with the photos expanded.
 

SteveColes

Steve
Corporate Member
Sorry, Steve, I'm not meaning to ignore you. I just find myself a little torn on the subject of whether we should or should not.

A part of me wonders if we would not be best served finding (if we can) a way to make photo uploading easier for our users (as we have with insertion). I know I've always found albums to be rather confusing to create.

On the other hand, our users have to have tools they will actually use.

I just wish 'attached' photos could be expanded inline (i.e. not take over the screen) the same as uploaded photos, so that the thread could remain readable even with the photos expanded.
I knew you weren't ignoring me.

Where I think? I stand, is that document should be enabled, no matter. As long as getting a desired picture into a post, I think that there will be some push back and an urge to use some other picture gallery. In an ideal world, we would drag and drop for upload to photopost, to the post themselves etc. When we did allow attached images before ther were very few maintenace issues. Most people got it.

I understand the issue of having re-size show 2 different ways based solely on how they got into the post. Actually, before, I was looking at forcing highslide for all, because it has become the most used type of resizing. The type we are using is now considered "old fashioned".
 

cskipper

Moderator
Cathy
I have a fair internet speed, but the photo's that are attached instead of linked do take a while to load. JMTCW.
 

cskipper

Moderator
Cathy
FWIW, it occurred to me that one of the reasons we had avoided attachments was because the original poster would eventually change and/or delete the original document resulting in a dead link.
 

ehpoole

Administrator
Ethan
Cathy,

Actually, attachments are uploaded to the NCWW server.

My greatest (and only real) concern with regard to attachments revolves around copyright infringement issues. Even something as innocent as uploading a tool manual will generally constitute an act of copyright infringement. Just a couple weeks ago we had a user who uploaded a modified project plans/templateto our Downloads section that I would be willing to bet money constitutes a derivative work infringement.

The average user does not understand that a magazine authorizing limited personal use of an enclosed feature does not in any way constitute permission to reuse and redistribute the original work, or any derivative work based upon such. Before attachments users shared such files informally amongst themselves through back-channels. But, with attachments (and Downloads) we no longer enjoy Common Carrier protections as we are now hosting the actual downloads (and attachments, which carry far less forethought than Downloads) direct from our site, which can create liabilities for ourselves and possibly some of our users. Intellectual property law is just not one of those things most woodworkers have ever brushed up upon (or even care to for that matter). Sadly, I'm not an average woodworker and, as a software developer, I have had a good deal of exposure to such. :(

I did not act upon the Downloads issue because we really do not have a set policy with regard to such matters and I did not know how to handle it without coming across as a curmudgeon when the OP was only trying to do a good deed.
 

cskipper

Moderator
Cathy
Would you create a thread for discussion of the presence or lack of guidelines for downloads?
 

cskipper

Moderator
Cathy
I don't think I understand what you are asking for.

That was a request to Ethan because he said he didn't see a that we have an established policy regarding what can be included in the download library - please see his comment in post#8 above.
 

MikeH

New User
Mike
Ethan brings up a good point with copyright infringement, but it would make it a little less cumbersome for users to post images. JMTCW
 
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