Ask HN: Imgur Replacement

#1

Post by ev1 » Fri, Jan 08, 2021, 2:25 PM UTC

They are now doing heavy cross site tracking, loading ads from dozens of domains, and no longer allow uploads unless you whitelist several ads/analytics/tracking domains that also request canvas and WebGL and microphone data. There are/were also autoplaying loud video ads "while you wait" on top of all the tracking. They load pixels from Facebook explicitly.

Is there a simple-ish alternative for the direct link occasional image upload, ideally one I can just Cmd+V into a web page?

I do this so rarely it's not worth setting up a webserver. It would be helpful to offer a few recs for non-technical friends too; it'd be ideal if it strips timestamp/EXIF data too as a side effect like imgur did.

Most of my uploads are demonstration screenshots via Snipping Tool, so they usually don't exist on the filesystem, just clipboard.

some I've tried:

- ibb.co tries their hardest to not give you a direct link, only thumbnail w/link to their site.

- photobucket and tinypic no longer exist.

- dropbox requires account and can't easily be uploaded to; requires files

- flickr, requires account, difficult to direct link; not sure if this has changed since smugmug; requires files

- deviantart, not meant for this purpose; requires account and file upload

- google photos, no direct link, requires g account

Re: Ask HN: Imgur Replacement

#2

Post by SubGenius » Fri, Jan 08, 2021, 2:33 PM UTC

Not quite the exact thing you want, but all image uploads on Gurlic are directly linkable. And they end up under the user's `/images` endpoint too.

For eg:

https://gurlic.com/bob/images

All exif/metadata is stripped, but there is a bit of compression. I think I'll allow high-res images if people care enough to use it. I should implement pasting/dropping images too. Didn't think of that before..

Re: Ask HN: Imgur Replacement

#3

Post by sdevonoes » Fri, Jan 08, 2021, 4:35 PM UTC

What's the downside of sharing the url of the image instead?

Re: Ask HN: Imgur Replacement

#4

Post by diogenesjunior » Fri, Jan 08, 2021, 6:12 PM UTC

GitHub, no? Just create a repo and upload an image, direct links will work! And all of your images will be saved in an easily accessible place. - As far as your Imgur itself, I don't like where it is going. I use the site a lot, and my reputation shows that, but the annoying ads have got to go.

Re: Ask HN: Imgur Replacement

#5

Post by XCSme » Fri, Jan 08, 2021, 7:15 PM UTC

sdevonoes wrote: post #3

What's the downside of sharing the url of the image instead?

Having to click it? Although most messenger apps already automatically show the image if you post an image URL.

Re: Ask HN: Imgur Replacement

#6

Post by reader345611 » Fri, Jan 08, 2021, 7:23 PM UTC

Not what you are looking for, but there is ImgurViewer app on fdroid. Works well with imgur, gfycat, redgifs and more

Re: Ask HN: Imgur Replacement

#7

Post by therealmocker » Fri, Jan 08, 2021, 7:27 PM UTC

I use Dropshare (https://dropshare.app) for images / screenshots, may be close to what you are looking for. Point it to an S3 bucket and whenever you clip an image it puts the URL in your clipboard.

Re: Ask HN: Imgur Replacement

#8

Post by justinv » Fri, Jan 08, 2021, 7:33 PM UTC

https://imgz.org

Re: Ask HN: Imgur Replacement

#9

Post by pmiller2 » Fri, Jan 08, 2021, 7:54 PM UTC

What are you talking about? Unless they just recently changed it, they allow uploads for me, and I have uBlock origin plus Ghostery running.

Re: Ask HN: Imgur Replacement

#10

Post by LinuxBender » Fri, Jan 08, 2021, 8:08 PM UTC

NeoCities [0] And you could use scripts + ImageMagick [1] + ffmpeg [2] to make thumbnail pages or albums for your images and videos. I do not have any links handy for making albums, but you can find them in your language of choice. The advantage to this method is that if some day [image host site] does not like you or they go out of business, you can push your albums to a different site. Most git repo sites like Github and Gitlab should also work.

[0] - https://neocities.org/

[1] - https://imagemagick.org/

[2] - https://ffmpeg.org/