[Black Wolf]

Is there anywhere we can upload images for use in the wiki? I was considering using a thread with attatchments, but I was worried it'd suck up bandwidth if people randomly browsed through it. Any ideas?

[Fury]

Use ImageShack?
http://www.imageshack.us/

[Setekh]

Is there anywhere we can upload images for use in the wiki? I was considering using a thread with attatchments, but I was worried it'd suck up bandwidth if people randomly browsed through it. Any ideas?

This might sound a little clumsy, but as an extension to your attachment idea, we could do this: set up a private forum where only senior Wiki contributors can go. Then, if you ever need to post for a Wiki article, post a new thread for the article in the private forum and attach as many files as you need to in separate posts. That way no one can accidentally load every image in the Wiki. People without access to that forum can request the senior contributors and you can hand out the links - then just reference them in the HTML you post. The question isn't so much bandwidth; rather, it's a question of how much this will impact the databases we're using. It shouldn't be too much.

Is that okay? Or does it sound too clumsy for you?

[WMCoolmon]

I was thinking some kind of upload system, with notification, a filesize limit, and an easy way for admins to prune images.

The forum system definitely sounds workable.

IMHO it should be somewhere onsite, so that it's easier to move things around, and images don't die off because of bandwidth getting exceeded on an account.

[StratComm]

If they are put into a private forum, would normal users be able to see them?  I've run into places before where you had to have forum access to see the attachment itself.

[Black Wolf]

This might sound a little clumsy, but as an extension to your attachment idea, we could do this: set up a private forum where only senior Wiki contributors can go. Then, if you ever need to post for a Wiki article, post a new thread for the article in the private forum and attach as many files as you need to in separate posts. That way no one can accidentally load every image in the Wiki. People without access to that forum can request the senior contributors and you can hand out the links - then just reference them in the HTML you post. The question isn't so much bandwidth; rather, it's a question of how much this will impact the databases we're using. It shouldn't be too much.

Is that okay? Or does it sound too clumsy for you?

That sounds ideal.

[EDIT]Doh - Strat's right, or at least, he was on vB, and I'd assume of here too. Hmm...

[Setekh]

Oh, right. Well, that's not that hard to get around: make it a viewable forum, but just let moderators be the only one who can post. How about that?

[Black Wolf]

Works for me I suppose, so long as I have somewhere to put my Bosch pic.

[kasperl]

If you click one of those threads, you'd  still be downloading all the images.


What's wrong with a simple FTP account to hand around to senior contributers?

[Fury]

What's wrong with ImageShack?

We could even install this one for this very purpose...
http://mods.simplemachines.org/index.php?mod=134

[Setekh]

If you click one of those threads, you'd still be downloading all the images.

Yeah, all the images on one article (as each thread corresponds to one article) - which is exactly what you'd be doing if you clicked on the article in the Wiki.

[StratComm]

Could you make it hidden but not protected?  Like the old hosted project forums were before they were deleted; if you knew the forum ID you could still get in and look around (and post, though you would want to limit that in this case) but it didn't show up in the forum index?  Everyone would have access, but the chances of someone who shouldn't be able to post in it actually finding their way into the forum itself would be slim.  I don't know if this board system can support that, though.

[WMCoolmon]

Maybe you could give everyone view access to the forum, but put it in a category that virtually noone has access to.

[Sandwich]

What's wrong with a simple FTP account to hand around to senior contributers?

That's what I want to know. There's asolutely no reason that I can see not to use a Wiki FTP account (unless someone figures out how the Wikipedia handles such things). We're nowhere near overstepping our bandwidth limits, if that's a concern.

[Black Wolf]

Well, if I'm going to be a major contributor (and I expect I will be) FTP is 100% out for me - the Uni has blocked it and I'm using their internet 9 months out of 12.

[StratComm]

Who on earth blocks FTP?  I use it all the time for school.

FTP would be nice, but it's hardly necessary if the thread idea would work equally well.  I'd think that you'd need someone in charge, much like a project head, to be sure that the space didn't get cluttered or abused.

[WMCoolmon]

A simple upload script with PHP isn't too hard to make. There's probably dozens floating around.

[kode]

use an0ns uploader

[Nuke]

i have another idea. all the pics i put in the wiki are stored on my nukemod acount over at game warden. when you want to add an image use your image shack, wepsace or whatever to store your image. and then when you use a pic in the wiki but a comment with it that says its stored offsite. then every week or two, an admin does a search for the comment (which should be standardized so that its always the same), and transfers them to a storage location on the same server. that way they only get stored off site for no longet than a week or so. so the rules would be, if you use a picture offsite, tag it with an indicator of sorts that can be easily found by the admins. you would be required to leave your images on whatever external source you have for 1 week (or some other duration) after wich they should be transfered to the onsite location and can be taken down to free up their account space. this also gives admens a chance to edit the images for size and abuses (such as storing your porn in the wiki ).

[Black Wolf]

That seems overly complicated and work intensive. TBH, I can't see too many better systems than either a forum or an image uploader. It's one upload in the forum system, which is so straightforward a monkey could do it, one address check, and a paste into the wiki. Neat and tidy. I can probably even make a standardized tag for it so it can be captioned and aligned without any real work.