jimswside wrote:Main hurdle if rejoining and posting is how difficult posting a picture is. I’d imagine I’d post more if it was a simpler process.

1 - imgbb.com is a free image hosting website you just upload whatever image you want and can resize it in the upload.
2- once the image is uploaded you can click the on the image it will open a link like https://ibb.co/Q8K8RcT
3 - on this page RIGHT CLICK on the image > Copy Image Address
4 - go back to the message thread and paste the copied address = https://i.ibb.co/3fCfqsj/2024-01-09-191813.jpg
5 - put the above image address in between the 2 IMG tags

Code: Select all

[img]https://i.ibb.co/3fCfqsj/2024-01-09-191813.jpg[/img]

6 - click submit post and your image will show up in the message thread

polster wrote:

jimswside wrote:Main hurdle if rejoining and posting is how difficult posting a picture is. I’d imagine I’d post more if it was a simpler process.

1 - imgbb.com is a free image hosting website you just upload whatever image you want and can resize it in the upload.
2- once the image is uploaded you can click the on the image it will open a link like https://ibb.co/Q8K8RcT
3 - on this page RIGHT CLICK on the image > Copy Image Address
4 - go back to the message thread and paste the copied address = https://i.ibb.co/3fCfqsj/2024-01-09-191813.jpg
5 - put the above image address in between the 2 IMG tags

Code: Select all

[img]https://i.ibb.co/3fCfqsj/2024-01-09-191813.jpg[/img]

6 - click submit post and your image will show up in the message thread

While this works, anything that requires going to multiple sites with multiple steps on each is not going to solve Jim’s (and others’) dilemma here. I know Ron is working hard on this but it remains an issue that I think many of us hope to see resolved at some point.

And I’ve recently run into a new glitch -I now have to login every time I go to the site, even if I have a page open and the “stay logged in” box is checked. I only access LTH on my iPhone if that’s helpful. Not a deal breaker but it is a bit of a pain in the butt…

Occasional logouts using Firefox Nightly on my Android phone and, more rarely, on Windows using Firefox. I use its basic tracking and ad blockers, possibly that has something to do with the logouts. Not a big deal.

Another photo site similar to imgbb is Imgur. It has a bunch of social media-like features but they don't have to be used. One nice option is an automatic resizer to the number of pixels used in LTH pics.

boudreaulicious wrote:And I’ve recently run into a new glitch -I now have to login every time I go to the site, even if I have a page open and the “stay logged in” box is checked. I only access LTH on my iPhone if that’s helpful. Not a deal breaker but it is a bit of a pain in the butt…

If you run into more of these sign-on/sign-off issues, please respond to them here.

I got signed off at least three times yesterday and no issues today.

Regards,
Cathy2

After following the steps below, I still encounter an error message saying "IT WAS NOT POSSIBLE TO DETERMINE THE DIMENSIONS OF THE IMAGE."
I used imgur.com instead of ibb.co but if the intent is to use a free image hosting website, this should not matter? Welcome suggestions on what I'm doing wrong and how to successfully get the images to embed in my post.

polster wrote:

jimswside wrote:Main hurdle if rejoining and posting is how difficult posting a picture is. I’d imagine I’d post more if it was a simpler process.

1 - imgbb.com is a free image hosting website you just upload whatever image you want and can resize it in the upload.
2- once the image is uploaded you can click the on the image it will open a link like https://ibb.co/Q8K8RcT
3 - on this page RIGHT CLICK on the image > Copy Image Address
4 - go back to the message thread and paste the copied address = https://i.ibb.co/3fCfqsj/2024-01-09-191813.jpg
5 - put the above image address in between the 2 IMG tags

Code: Select all

[img]https://i.ibb.co/3fCfqsj/2024-01-09-191813.jpg[/img]

6 - click submit post and your image will show up in the message thread

bluepig wrote:After following the steps below, I still encounter an error message saying "IT WAS NOT POSSIBLE TO DETERMINE THE DIMENSIONS OF THE IMAGE."
I used imgur.com instead of ibb.co but if the intent is to use a free image hosting website, this should not matter? Welcome suggestions on what I'm doing wrong and how to successfully get the images to embed in my post.

polster wrote:

jimswside wrote:Main hurdle if rejoining and posting is how difficult posting a picture is. I’d imagine I’d post more if it was a simpler process.

1 - imgbb.com is a free image hosting website you just upload whatever image you want and can resize it in the upload.
2- once the image is uploaded you can click the on the image it will open a link like https://ibb.co/Q8K8RcT
3 - on this page RIGHT CLICK on the image > Copy Image Address
4 - go back to the message thread and paste the copied address = https://i.ibb.co/3fCfqsj/2024-01-09-191813.jpg
5 - put the above image address in between the 2 IMG tags

Code: Select all

[img]https://i.ibb.co/3fCfqsj/2024-01-09-191813.jpg[/img]

6 - click submit post and your image will show up in the message thread

Most likely, one of these 3 is the problem:

Either the link is incorrect (like a typo)
The hosting site requires a password for images to be viewed
The url you used does not end with a .jpg extension

If you pm me the link to the image, I will happy to take a look for you and try to figure it out.

Thanks,

=R=

bluepig wrote:After following the steps below, I still encounter an error message saying "IT WAS NOT POSSIBLE TO DETERMINE THE DIMENSIONS OF THE IMAGE."
I used imgur.com instead of ibb.co but if the intent is to use a free image hosting website, this should not matter? Welcome suggestions on what I'm doing wrong and how to successfully get the images to embed in my post.

I have a feeling that you did not copy the URL correctly. What happens after you upload the image on that imgbb site and click on the image its imbedded into a IFRAME and URL doesn't contain .jpg extension... That is why you need to RIGHT CLICK on the image > choose Copy Image Address. The address is the direct URL that contains the .jpg extension.

See screen shots below to clarify:
1 - after image is uploaded, left click on the picture. it will open a new page with just the picture.


2- New page with picture will have URL like:
https://ibb.co/kQSK72c

3 - Right click on the picture and choose > 'Copy Image Address'


4 - the new FULL URL with the .jpg extension will be like this: (which you paste into the message thread and add the [IMG] tag)
https://i.ibb.co/pJL27jX/12well-physed-tmag-Article.jpg

jimswside wrote: [snipped to save bandwidth]
Main hurdle if rejoining and posting is how difficult posting a picture is. I’d imagine I’d post more if it was a simpler process.

First: Read this. I direct your attention to my own posts here on LTHF.
I seemingly need to specify this works from a desktop, laptop, or notebook computer. It does not work with a mobile telephone {Earnestly, people need to cease using a mobile phone to browse here. }
If you browse with Firefox, find a page where I have referred in an image. Hit Ctrl+U.
This will display the Source Code of the page.
I maintain a text file of where I posted the image in case an image host goes off-line or loses a picture. You should too. The source code for the image will be shown. I grant you; some of these hosts are aimed at people who do not speak English. But the learning curve is relatively short.
Here is a list of free, semi-anonymous image uploading services:
https://www.khlgy.com/
https://images.mobilism.org/
https://www.turboimagehost.com/
https://www.imagebam.com/
https://g-lk.com/up/
https://ima.dzgsm.com/
https://linkme.ufanet.ru/
http://hmseh.com/up/
http://www.pics.rs/
http://up2www.com/
http://fotoseif.ru/

I will post an example here = https://images.mobilism.org/?di=7NG5
When the image is accepted, the result screen will have multiple boxes with the code of the image. You copy that from the screen into your file, and from within the file to the LTHF post you are making.
LTHF is a [BBCode] software forum. The data will have Square Brackets "[" "]" around the terms, not Angle Brackets "<", ">".
I spread out my images so as not to put too much traffic on only one host.
I hope this helps.

jimswside wrote:Main hurdle if rejoining and posting is how difficult posting a picture is. I’d imagine I’d post more if it was a simpler process.

Hey, Jim. Welcome back and happy new year! Very nice to see your posts again.

Yeah, the image issue is a major PITA and we're working on it but the fix has been complicated and slowed because it cannot be repaired as a stand-alone issue. Some larger, systematic issues (database repairs, board software updates, etc.) need to be resolved before the image uploads can be restored. Neither I nor any of the Mods possess this expertise and things have stalled out over the past few years with a number of helpers (both volunteer and paid) who could/did not complete what they pledged to complete. So, here we are.

For a few dozen of us, the third-party image-hosting work-arounds are satisfactory -- and enough -- but by no means do I expect everyone take the extra steps. This fix -- along with restoring the ability to Search a member's posts -- is our top priority. Our new helper is aware of it and doing his best to make it happen. But I cannot provide any sort ETA or timeline. He's volunteering his free time, we both have full-time jobs, etc. I'm sure you get it. But I'm confident that it will get done because under his watch, some other rather substantial behind the scenes improvements have already been accomplished. That progress has me very encouraged. But again, we're not there yet.

Okay, that's it on this front for now. I do hope everyone remains patient and sticks around because in spite of all the technological "advancements" that have taken place around us in the past 20 years, the information we share here is really second to none. I hope that it won't be too long before we have some news to report on these issues and a few others, too.

Thanks,

=R=

Personally, I have no problem reading and replying from my phone to LTH. Though as Mr. Pudgy implies I find it possible but tedious in the extreme to post pictures from my phone.

Posting pictures is easy peasy from my desktop or laptop. Internal picture posting is certainly not a dealbreaker and LTH has been going swimming lately.

The saying is a picture is worth 1000 words. But there are some posters on LTH forum that 60 words from them are worth 1000 words and a picture from many other people.

LTH Forum. Count me a fan!

The pandemic changed everything. Permanently, or as permanently as makes no difference.

Today is the first day it even has occurred to me to log in to LTH Forum since March of 2020. I was not wholly surprised to see the top topic being this one.

Three years of discovering that restaurants are not strictly a necessary part of one's life can have lasting effects. I don't mean that we've never been to restaurants in all this time. We have. But not like we used to. We learned that meals at home, with just the two of us, are something we love.

That said, something made me sign in today. Obviously, a flicker of interest in the Chicago restaurant scene got rekindled in me to make that happen. Long may LTHForum live.

JP1121 wrote:I would avoid politics here at all cost.

Agree. Politics would be a disaster.

What we should add is a section for marijuana and edible products discussions. Not taboo anymore(never should have been, it saves lives). Been legal in Illinois forever now.

Lively discussion on the strains, their flavor and terrine profiles. Weed is as nuanced or more nuanced than wine or liquor imho and should be discussed similarly.

Edible reviews( cookies, gummies, etc ). What works. What helps medical patients.

Could be benificial and fun.

My late brother was a huge marijuana fan as he got sicker. This was not simply psychological. There is no question in my mind that it greatly helped him. Luckily for him, it was completely legal when he needed it. Sometimes he took the kind that helps you sleep and sometimes he took the kind that helps with pain.

lougord99 wrote:My late brother was a huge marijuana fan as he got sicker. This was not simply psychological. There is no question in my mind that it greatly helped him. Luckily for him, it was completely legal when he needed it. Sometimes he took the kind that helps you sleep and sometimes he took the kind that helps with pain.

Appreciated. Ive seen its life saving effects first hand unfortunately/fortunately? I think it would be beneficial to all to share and get educated subliminally.

That said it might be bigger bite than LTH wants. All good.

jimswside wrote:

JP1121 wrote:I would avoid politics here at all cost.

Agree. Politics would be a disaster.

What we should add is a section for marijuana and edible products discussions. Not taboo anymore(never should have been, it saves lives). Been legal in Illinois forever now.

Lively discussion on the strains, their flavor and terrine profiles. Weed is as nuanced or more nuanced than wine or liquor imho and should be discussed similarly.

Edible reviews( cookies, gummies, etc ). What works. What helps medical patients.

Could be benificial and fun.

As an occasional imbiber I wholly support your mission, although I am not sure that we are among the admirers of the magic weed crowd here. I do know that people here love mushrooms, so maybe that edible would be more on point. (I am unable to post using an emoji (?) so please picture a sarcastic face here.

JP1121 wrote:

jimswside wrote:

JP1121 wrote:I would avoid politics here at all cost.

Agree. Politics would be a disaster.

What we should add is a section for marijuana and edible products discussions. Not taboo anymore(never should have been, it saves lives). Been legal in Illinois forever now.

Lively discussion on the strains, their flavor and terrine profiles. Weed is as nuanced or more nuanced than wine or liquor imho and should be discussed similarly.

Edible reviews( cookies, gummies, etc ). What works. What helps medical patients.

Could be benificial and fun.

As an occasional imbiber I wholly support your mission, although I am not sure that we are among the admirers of the magic weed crowd here. I do know that people here love mushrooms, so maybe that edible would be more on point. (I am unable to post using an emoji (?) so please picture a sarcastic face here.

Maybe we need an update to the name for the “Drink” board.

boudreaulicious wrote:

JP1121 wrote:

jimswside wrote:

JP1121 wrote:I would avoid politics here at all cost.

Agree. Politics would be a disaster.

What we should add is a section for marijuana and edible products discussions. Not taboo anymore(never should have been, it saves lives). Been legal in Illinois forever now.

Lively discussion on the strains, their flavor and terrine profiles. Weed is as nuanced or more nuanced than wine or liquor imho and should be discussed similarly.

Edible reviews( cookies, gummies, etc ). What works. What helps medical patients.

Could be benificial and fun.

As an occasional imbiber I wholly support your mission, although I am not sure that we are among the admirers of the magic weed crowd here. I do know that people here love mushrooms, so maybe that edible would be more on point. (I am unable to post using an emoji (?) so please picture a sarcastic face here.

Maybe we need an update to the name for the “Drink” board.

Easy enough to start a thread on a specifically related subject and see if it gains any traction, right? I assure you that no one's censoring -- or is opposed to -- anything food-related here but starting an entirely new forum for said discussion seems a bit premature.

p.s. on emojis, you can only include those native to LTH in a post. The emojis generated by your device will disable your post. This is for security reasons.

Thanks,

=R=

JP1121 wrote:

jimswside wrote:

JP1121 wrote:I would avoid politics here at all cost.

Agree. Politics would be a disaster.

What we should add is a section for marijuana and edible products discussions. Not taboo anymore(never should have been, it saves lives). Been legal in Illinois forever now.

Lively discussion on the strains, their flavor and terrine profiles. Weed is as nuanced or more nuanced than wine or liquor imho and should be discussed similarly.

Edible reviews( cookies, gummies, etc ). What works. What helps medical patients.

Could be benificial and fun.

As an occasional imbiber I wholly support your mission, although I am not sure that we are among the admirers of the magic weed crowd here. I do know that people here love mushrooms, so maybe that edible would be more on point. (I am unable to post using an emoji (?) so please picture a smiley face here)

edited to change to correct emoji description because I was going for gentle humor not sarcasm, although I sometimes confuse them , and thanks to Ron for explanation, it was kind of driving me a little crazy.

As a newer member, I think that part of the problem with lack of engagement might be this website, which feels like outdated technology and it's really hard to share photos here. I'm 47 and fairly tech savvy (Microsoft Certified), and a Mac user, and I can't figure it out. I would engage a lot more and would be more aware of events and opportunities to connect if this group moved over to being a Facebook group. I think there are so many brilliant people in this group, especially folks who are great local historians, and I want to hang out with them and connect more frequently in person.

rebfyffe wrote:I would engage a lot more and would be more aware of events and opportunities to connect if this group moved over to being a Facebook group. I think there are so many brilliant people in this group, especially folks who are great local historians, and I want to hang out with them and connect more frequently in person.

Moving over to Facebook? That is not a solution. I use facebook and cannot find information I incidentally saw a few days ago and wish to revisit.

On LTH, there are threads going back to our inception 2004 that have had content added to them recently. I do not use the default google search, rather I use the site search when I use keywords in titles or threads to find information. I have the advantage of being here from the get-go and familiar with the content.

Prior to LTH, I was part of the Chowhound (CH) community. You think this software is a dinosaur, CH was quite heavy on bandwidth and relatively unwieldly. Nonetheless it was an exciting encounter, which I read for weeks before writing a single item. I recall my first query was related to Uncle Remus Chicken and their first to respond was ReneG.

Not too soon afterwards, a major player suggested I did not know what I was talking about and suggested I should leave. It was over a restaurant where the owners told one story to him and another to my friends. Did that stop me? No, but it could have caused others to pick up their toys and walk away.

If you want convenience, this website does not offer it. You have to really dig to learn and it has been very worthwhile effort for me.

The picture issue is a big time annoyance to me. For a brief period, you could upload directly and then it broke or something. For far longer, people hosted their images somewhere else and linked the images here. This is still workable, but it is not convenient. There are conversations about this on site chat board.

I do like information painted with words best, because sometimes pictures are substituted for adequate description. Plus you cannot search an image (well, maybe via google possibly).

LTH can be a very humbling experience, because there is always someone who has a nugget of information you did not until it was shared. People who are the go-to food person in their circle of friends don't always chart these waters well. All the needles in the haystack have gathered with a lot of expertise exchanged. It does not bother me to be corrected, because I just learned something new. Bonus!

Facebook has its place, but it would not work for this community. You have to invest effort to belong.

Regards,
Cathy2
who has stuff to do and promised herself just take a quick look ... bad Cathy!

Absolutely agree -- no comparison between LTH and Facebook. I'm in both, and they don't fill the same needs. And, as C2 notes, you can't search Facebook for past posts. So much information here -- food, travel, history, wisdom, expertise -- and friendships. That's why we don't want to let it go.

rebfyffe wrote:As a newer member, I think that part of the problem with lack of engagement might be this website, which feels like outdated technology and it's really hard to share photos here. I'm 47 and fairly tech savvy (Microsoft Certified), and a Mac user, and I can't figure it out. I would engage a lot more and would be more aware of events and opportunities to connect if this group moved over to being a Facebook group. I think there are so many brilliant people in this group, especially folks who are great local historians, and I want to hang out with them and connect more frequently in person.

I have entirely given up on posting photos - just way too much hassle for something that works maybe 50% of the time.

Cynthia wrote:Absolutely agree -- no comparison between LTH and Facebook. I'm in both, and they don't fill the same needs. And, as C2 notes, you can't search Facebook for past posts. So much information here -- food, travel, history, wisdom, expertise -- and friendships. That's why we don't want to let it go.

I’m guessing the rec was to establish a FB group—you can definitely search posts on those but I don’t think you can organize them into separate Boards within the site like we have now. But I could be wrong about that. I know I set up a FB page for my company once upon a time and I was surprised at how much I could do with it—even now, I use it instead of bothering with a website and it’s fine. It’s certainly easier to post photos on it

zoid wrote:

rebfyffe wrote:As a newer member, I think that part of the problem with lack of engagement might be this website, which feels like outdated technology and it's really hard to share photos here. I'm 47 and fairly tech savvy (Microsoft Certified), and a Mac user, and I can't figure it out. I would engage a lot more and would be more aware of events and opportunities to connect if this group moved over to being a Facebook group. I think there are so many brilliant people in this group, especially folks who are great local historians, and I want to hang out with them and connect more frequently in person.

I have entirely given up on posting photos - just way too much hassle for something that works maybe 50% of the time.

There are several threads about this. The inline function here doesn't work at all, so, way less than 50%. No reason to try uploading here at all until it's fixed (eta unknown, subject to much larger back-end issues that must be fixed first).

In the meantime, several of our members successfully link their images to display here by using a 3rd party hosting site like imgur, flickr, etc. It isn't exactly rocket science -- even my 85-year-old mother can do it -- but it does take a small amount of extra effort.

As for facebook+LTH, the short answer is never.

=R=
for LTH

zoid wrote:I have entirely given up on posting photos - just way too much hassle for something that works maybe 50% of the time.

????? It either works or it doesn't. I have previously posted instructions that work 100% of the time. You must do it through an external service. My instructions are for imgur.com as that is what I do. PM me if you want the instructions.

ronnie_suburban wrote:As for facebook+LTH, the short answer is never.
=R= for LTH

I certainly knew that answer, but thank you for clarifying.

lougord99 wrote:

zoid wrote:I have entirely given up on posting photos - just way too much hassle for something that works maybe 50% of the time.

????? It either works or it doesn't. I have previously posted instructions that work 100% of the time. You must do it through an external service. My instructions are for imgur.com as that is what I do. PM me if you want the instructions.

I can vouch for this. Once you get the procedure down via Imgur, it works perfectly.

ronnie_suburban wrote:As for facebook+LTH, the short answer is never.

Having participated in some food-related FB groups, I'm fully with you but curious what you see as the major disadvantages of FB?

The three advantages I do see are the ability to react positively without clogging a thread, the outline style of replies vs single threading, and obviously the pic capabilities. But those don't outweigh the negatives.

tjr wrote:

ronnie_suburban wrote:As for facebook+LTH, the short answer is never.

Having participated in some food-related FB groups, I'm fully with you but curious what you see as the major disadvantages of FB?

The three advantages I do see are the ability to react positively without clogging a thread, the outline style of replies vs single threading, and obviously the pic capabilities. But those don't outweigh the negatives.

LTH does have a page on facebook, though it is not used very often.

You cannot duplicate the topical boards on facebook. It is difficult to find old topics to add new information.

I have long advocated for some kind of thumbs up. There have been some fantastic posts with tremendous content who received little to no response. The poster did such a complete job, there was nothing to add or ask about. They felt dismissed, though it was read by many. A simple thumbs up would give them they feedback they wanted.

Regards,
Cathy2

tjr wrote:

ronnie_suburban wrote:As for facebook+LTH, the short answer is never.

Having participated in some food-related FB groups, I'm fully with you but curious what you see as the major disadvantages of FB?

The three advantages I do see are the ability to react positively without clogging a thread, the outline style of replies vs single threading, and obviously the pic capabilities. But those don't outweigh the negatives.

Inline images and thumbs ups are both possible with phpBB, so going to facebook just for them wouldn't make sense. For better or for worse, those features do work (pretty well) at a few other phpBB sites I visit. If we do ever get this site working to spec (Joe is working on it), those features will be present.

Personally, I love the way message boards like this one are organized, so that's nothing I see as in need of adjusting. I'm guessing that many who spend time here feel the same.

Beyond all that, I loathe social media. I might not be the best custodian of LTH but I'd never willingly drop our 20 years of collectively-built history squarely into someone else's platform. Arbitrary rule changes, unilateral conflict resolution, and primarily motivated by the constant need for ever-increasing profits. And that's just to name a few. It's really a complete non-starter.

=R=
for LTH