Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Help **Adding Photos To Forum**

Almost every thread that I see gets derailed or off on a tangent at some point because someone tries to upload photos via the Attachment Manager and they don't show up. For whatever reason the Attachment Manager does not currently work. I am assuming because the cost of server space to contain all of our pictures is just not feasible for a free forum to support which is understandable. So, this Thread is intended to be one that can be Copy/Pasted into threads as needed to provide the solution in the first post, not buried deep in another thread as my previous tutorial is, and keep the subject thread on topic.

The short answer is that for pictures to show up in your thread on Pond Boss they must be hosted by a Photo Sharing website (imgur, Flickr, etc.). Setting up an account on these sites is super easy and takes less than 5 minutes. You can even use made up information if you are worried about putting your info out on these sites. I will provide a tutorial below using Flickr. If someone else wants to do a similar tutorial using imgur I am sure it would be useful.

The main thing is when you get your photos uploaded to the hosting site to find the BBCode (Bulletin Board Code) link for the picture you want to share. Once you find the BBCode for the picture, Copy/Paste it into your thread on its own line. You can use the Preview Post button to verify that it worked. Now on to the tutorial........


Once you create your flickr account click on the Upload Photo Button seen in the screenshot below:
flickr - Upload by North Texas Half Acre, on Flickr

Once you have your photo(s) uploaded you will then click on the Share Photo Button seen in the screenshot below:
flickr - Share Button by North Texas Half Acre, on Flickr

When you click on the Share button a window will pop up with Share, Embed, Email and BBCode as choices. Click BBCode, which stands for Bulletin Board Code. You can change the size of the image that will display in your post and then Copy/Paste the jumble of characters directly into your forum message. Do NOT click the Insert Image Link button in the forum header.
flickr - BBCode by North Texas Half Acre, on Flickr

If all goes well your images should show up directly in your messages. Flickr also has phone apps that should work exactly the same. Hopefully this helps some to be able to finally post pictures.

Yep, definitely annoying. Pretty much every other forum I use has much better image sharing capabilities. You should be able to upload and embed the image into your post at the same time.

It looks like the forum software is the latest version at least. I noticed this thread while I was on the UBB Crntral website: https://www.ubbcentral.com/forums/u...broken-after-server-migration#Post265534
Looks alot like the same issue on this forum.

I’m not gonna complain though. This forum is an amazing, free resource for pond owners. So, if there is a slight inconvenience in uploading pictures in order to keep this site free then I am all for it.

Thanks for posting this tutorial. LeighAnn does the best she can to work with UBB, but has to do it via email. No human interaction with this company. It does get a little frustrating for her, but sometimes they respond, sometimes not. I've asked her to chime in on this thread for an update.

Hello everyone from Pond Boss headquarters!
For me to contact UBB, I need to understand a little more as to what the problem is. Is it my understanding that the "attachment manager" is what is not working? And if it was working correctly, the uploading of pictures would not be an issue?

Please feel free to email me any information or screenshots of error messages/problems. My email address is leighann@pondboss.com.

As Bob stated above, response time with them is slow.

Thanks everyone!
LeighAnn

See below. Picks up pic but won't show.

Bob, what would it take (money wise and equipment wise) to be able to post pictures directly to the forum from your computer or phone like can be done on other free forums? (But they have advertising dollars coming in to them). No on-line hosting needed.

If you want an example of such a forum, look here: https://www.arboristsite.com/

It's a free forum, no cost to join.

Here's another free forum and they don't have any problems with their pictures, ever and the even funnier thing is that I believe it uses the same software that Pond Boss does for their forum. Why do we have problems and they never do? https://texasfishingforum.com/forums/ubbthreads.php

LeighAnn Maybe Lusk could consider working with a different forum operation group that is more user client friendly as in the two examples provided by esshup ?
Picture no show Post of 09-02-23 by Retired on 40
New Pond Construction in Watkins Glen, NY https://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=activetopics&range=30&type=t


This page of posts has two posts (08-02-23 and 09-02-23) that have images that do not show if the poster does not use the specific details needed for picture to show,
https://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=555519&page=3

I am going to email the examples provided to LeighAnn as she requested. As far as switching forum platforms, the data migration would probably be a nightmare.

At the bottom of the Pond Boss Forum it states the following: Powered by UBB.Threads PHP Forum Software 7.7.5

At the bottom of the Texas Fishing Forum it states the following: Powered by UBB.Threads PHP Forum Software 7.7.3

I wonder if the problem occurred in the update from version 7.7.3 to 7.7.5 and that’s why the picture upload still works on the Texas Fishing Forum site referenced above?

These are the release notes for 7.7.5 It suggest there will be (OR is??) a new picture viewer and uploader. Is that maybe not being deployed properly? It also suggests youtube should embed automatically through a copy/paste into the message. I wonder if the 7.7.5 version is only partially deployed so far? Other forums are still on 7.7.1

===
UBB.threads 7.7.5 has been released and is now available to download in the Member Area.
Version 7.7.5 brings a new responsive layout to your gallery forums, and a new image viewer for attached images. YouTube URLs are now automatically inlined without the need to wrap them in BBCode. Just paste the video's address where you want it to display within in your post. This version contains added features, updates, maintenance items, and fixes. It has been tested to be compatible with php 5.4 - php 7.4.

Primary Changes In This Release

New image viewer for galleries and image attachments.
Direct to-image-linking and sharing.
Auto YouTube Video Embedding using just its URL.
New responsive image gallery albums.
Improved Likes behavior and reporting pages.
Improved emailing from CP batch and direct emails.
Inline-Code code is new for BBCode.
Fixed "multiple-Like" bug.
Added rebuilders for Likes.
Updated UBBT77 and UBBT77-Dark styles.
Added more friendly URL formatting (SEO) to the URLs.
Updated most all libraries and assets.
Cleanup of UBB scripts, templates, and CSS files.

======


Test of direct embed youtube video, RES vs common carp - nest wars!! (yep, it works, just paste the youtube video right into the body of your message and the video embeds automatically although the feature to start at a specific point in the clip as I selected in this video is not working, it is starting at the beginning, but otherwise, nice!!)

Scott,
I have no idea how much money it would take.
In order to make that decision, I need more intel. Over the years, I've had to learn a lot. But the inner workings of updating forum software isn't on that list. I have to lean on LeighAnn to inform me. My role is decision-making, not investigating. So, if that information can be put in front, happy to make a decision. Bottom line--I'm not informed.

Thanks Bob, I'll ask LeighAnn on Monday.

Since the pics posted just fine for weeks to months, I wouldn't think 7.7.5 itself is the issue. The UBB forum, PHP, MySql, permissions, and CKEditor, all have to play nice or "burps" can really screw the pooch. Do DataBase/web administrators sweat upgrades? Yep, they do and should. Finding out if the hosting site updated something would be my first question. If not, then I'd want to know exactly what the tech did to correct the problem. Rebooting a server's not a fix.

EDIT: I looked at another thread, and a new photo updater was mentioned. That would be CKEditor, which was FCKEditor forever. It's a javascript app that's embedded into a website, and is actually pretty amazing. It gives developers the ability to add as many options as wanted, or as few as needed. When you go to the full editor, CKEditor is what you're using. And yes, it's updated a lot.

Bump to keep this thread in the "Active Threads"

I have been working with LeighAnn via email. I will pass on any updates.

Yeah, right now she's working on the Resources Guide and getting the next issue of the Pond Boss Magazine ready to go to the printers.

All attached images in all posts now fail to appear when clicked. Even very recent ones that worked just a few weeks ago.

Also, many people suggest to newbies like me to look at the archives for past information. Unfortunately, many links posted in the archives are dead with a 404 error.

Other forums I belong to don't have these problems and are visually more appealing, to be honest. PB is a nice forum and full of great information, but it is very difficult to use.

I still prefer this forum to any other. Simply post your photos to the free Imgur site and use the BB link. Not all that hard, even for an old guy like me,

Knober, here's what LeighAnn and Bob said to do about the pictures and links in the archives: Please feel free to email me any information or screenshots of error messages/problems. My email address is leighann@pondboss.com.

Doing so will help her figure out what is wrong and fix it.

The problem is not me. I am posting my pics via imgur. The problem is that many years worth of other people's attached photos cannot be seen.

Time goes on and change happens.

If people change their photos in the imgur account or delete their photos there, then they are also gone from everywhere the photos were posted. That's the downside to using an on-line hosting site. We had that problem pith Photobucket a few years ago. When they wanted to charge people for hosting their pictures, the people said screw that and THOSE pictures were gone too. It would be a LOT better for continued continuity here on the forum if the pictures were stored here, but I'm afraid that costs $$ and the forum isn't bringing that kind of $$ for the owner to fork out the cash to make it possible. (That's what I'm guessing)

Well, Leighann can simply look at ANY attached image link in the forum, since they are ALL broken. These are not isolated cases needing an email to point it out. As for the broken links in the archives, the most I have found are in "Structure , cover, etc types and methods with pics." I can send an email about that.

She's a one person show. It will take more time for her to search the forum to find posts that have the attached image link than to get an email sent to her to show her what post is having problems. The administration here asked for the email to be sent, if you want it fixed quicker, just do what they say. Just like a traffic stop, if you do what the policeman asks you to do, there will be less hassle than if you don't comply.