So, let me start off by saying I've never really been on any forum before in my life.
But basically, I recently discovered that AARs existed, and after reading a few stellaris ones, I wanted to try my hand at making one, and after reading up on all the rules and such, there's really one big thing that I feel wasn't explained very well to me, and that's uploading screenshots.
The rules and guidelines post said that we should upload it to a hosting site and link that if we want to include images, but it doesn't really go into much detail about what the process would entail. It basically just says "post them to imageshack or photobucket and host from there" but that doesn't explain to me at all how it's done. And to make matters worse, the example they have on that post is broken, and doesn't show an image (or emoji, i really can't tell what's supposed to be there since it just shows that little broken paper thing for when an image won't load) and the link for it goes to a page that doesn't exist anymore.
But then another rules thread says that, and i quote, "linking to graphics from a 3rd party site is to be discouraged, as it cuts into their bandwidth costs. Graphics should be hosted by yourself or through one of several free web-hosters." which just gives a bunch of mixed signals to me. You say to post to an image hosting site and then link to it for an image, but then say that linking to images from 3rd party sites is discouraged because it cuts into their bandwidth costs? Am i reading that correctly, because that seems to just... contradict itself. Also, how would I host a graphic myself? Would I just like, post to tumblr and link that or something like that?
And another thing, the thread that explains a lot of the rules doesn't even mention the fact that you can directly insert an image into a post through the ui at the top. Is there a reason it doesn't? Is that not allowed? I saw that someone else seemed to have asked the question about posting images and hosting, but everyone pretty much some variation of "just use photobucket," which doesn't explain anything to me, nor does it answer my question of if we're even allowed to use the "insert image" button at the top of the post box.
There is also yet another thread about posting images that seemed to start to answer my questions, but then contradicted itself to me very fast. It claimed that images attached to a post would always be at the bottom of the post no matter what, but once i reach the bottom, I see an attached image as an example, and while it's close to the bottom, there's still some text under it, implying that you can have the image not be at the bottom. Also, once again, while it give an example of an image embedded via image-hosting site, the image doesn't load at all, as if the source has been removed at some point. And the icing on the cake is that most of these threads are over 4 years old, one of them even being a decade old, so I don't even know if the info in them still applies, like what if some site changes have changed how the whole thing works?
Is there anyone who can give me an in depth explanation about how image sharing works at all? Like, the difference between just attaching the image and hosting it, how that works, what both options can and can't do? Even after looking around, I feel like I just got more questions than answers.
(side note, I tried to link to the threads I'd looked at for answers in the name of providing sources, but for some reason it got flagged as "spam and/or inappropriate content" and wouldn't let me post. I removed them and will try to add links to where I'd been looking around, but no promises on if it will let me post them.)
But basically, I recently discovered that AARs existed, and after reading a few stellaris ones, I wanted to try my hand at making one, and after reading up on all the rules and such, there's really one big thing that I feel wasn't explained very well to me, and that's uploading screenshots.
The rules and guidelines post said that we should upload it to a hosting site and link that if we want to include images, but it doesn't really go into much detail about what the process would entail. It basically just says "post them to imageshack or photobucket and host from there" but that doesn't explain to me at all how it's done. And to make matters worse, the example they have on that post is broken, and doesn't show an image (or emoji, i really can't tell what's supposed to be there since it just shows that little broken paper thing for when an image won't load) and the link for it goes to a page that doesn't exist anymore.
But then another rules thread says that, and i quote, "linking to graphics from a 3rd party site is to be discouraged, as it cuts into their bandwidth costs. Graphics should be hosted by yourself or through one of several free web-hosters." which just gives a bunch of mixed signals to me. You say to post to an image hosting site and then link to it for an image, but then say that linking to images from 3rd party sites is discouraged because it cuts into their bandwidth costs? Am i reading that correctly, because that seems to just... contradict itself. Also, how would I host a graphic myself? Would I just like, post to tumblr and link that or something like that?
And another thing, the thread that explains a lot of the rules doesn't even mention the fact that you can directly insert an image into a post through the ui at the top. Is there a reason it doesn't? Is that not allowed? I saw that someone else seemed to have asked the question about posting images and hosting, but everyone pretty much some variation of "just use photobucket," which doesn't explain anything to me, nor does it answer my question of if we're even allowed to use the "insert image" button at the top of the post box.
There is also yet another thread about posting images that seemed to start to answer my questions, but then contradicted itself to me very fast. It claimed that images attached to a post would always be at the bottom of the post no matter what, but once i reach the bottom, I see an attached image as an example, and while it's close to the bottom, there's still some text under it, implying that you can have the image not be at the bottom. Also, once again, while it give an example of an image embedded via image-hosting site, the image doesn't load at all, as if the source has been removed at some point. And the icing on the cake is that most of these threads are over 4 years old, one of them even being a decade old, so I don't even know if the info in them still applies, like what if some site changes have changed how the whole thing works?
Is there anyone who can give me an in depth explanation about how image sharing works at all? Like, the difference between just attaching the image and hosting it, how that works, what both options can and can't do? Even after looking around, I feel like I just got more questions than answers.
(side note, I tried to link to the threads I'd looked at for answers in the name of providing sources, but for some reason it got flagged as "spam and/or inappropriate content" and wouldn't let me post. I removed them and will try to add links to where I'd been looking around, but no promises on if it will let me post them.)
