Late Adopter Contemplates Image Sharing: should I sign up for Imgur?

March 20, 2023 7:01 AM

I am not interested, mostly, in sharing images of my life, apart from texting family and using a private Instagram. However, in a recent free thread I had the urge to share images of my recent pottery, and am thinking of signing up for Imgur specifically to share the occasional image here on Metafilter Dot Com. What is Imgur's reputation? If I post things there can other people use them? Do people regret using it? What are best practices when using it?

I am so old you guys. This question makes me feel old.

posted by Lawn Beaver to Computers & Internet (11 answers total)

My understanding was that imgur gets used so frequently because you can post images without signing up.
posted by zamboni at 7:10 AM on March 20, 2023 [4 favorites]

I use Imgur for this kind of thing. There are two upload options: the "shared post" option means it is posted to your social media feed on Imgur and it is discoverable. Anyone can comment on your pictures.

The other option is "hidden post" and this is more like traditional image hosting. No one can see the image unless you share the link, there is no comment section. But like other image hosting, if someone else has the link (like you post it on Metafilter) then they can share the same link on other websites.

When I try to upload a picture on my account, the default option is "Hidden" but I don't know if that's a setting I picked. Here is a link to a hidden post on my account.
posted by muddgirl at 7:12 AM on March 20, 2023 [2 favorites]

I upload to Imgur all the time with no account and in hidden mode. It's great, highly recommend. Also browsing Imgur without an account is an interesting way to see a pretty broad cross-section of internet culture. Yes silly jokes and memes but also some great photography and journalism etc. In theory an account would let you steer your feed more toward your interests, and it would also allow you to more easily keep track of what you've uploaded. (Nice tarts muddgirl!)
posted by SaltySalticid at 7:31 AM on March 20, 2023

I use Imgur exclusively for posting pictures that I want to link to on MeFi. I don't have an account there. I've never had any trouble with it.
posted by flabdablet at 7:33 AM on March 20, 2023 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Thanks everyone! I have posted! See today's free thread for link.
posted by Lawn Beaver at 8:29 AM on March 20, 2023 [6 favorites]

I like that you gave your clay pot critter a cute lil' butthole <_<
posted by xedrik at 10:56 AM on March 20, 2023 [4 favorites]

I have completely stopped using imgur. I used to be a huge fan, but it's the most horrible, seething stew of violent fringe politics, self-righteous hatred, and ... I can't imagine. Imgur is a place where people go to seek acceptance and praise by searching for the mindless hatred of the day and reaffirming old ones so nobody forgets. Absolutely nothing is too innocuous to be spattered with bile and fear. There are innocent, pleasant posts, but they're diminishing very quickly. I think most of the original people are long gone, and the remaining few ore horrified by what it's become.
If you want to post your own pictures and share them with friends, you can do so, but the decent, kind posts are like pleasant tide pools on the edge of a huge, rancid ocean. If you set a foot outside your pool, disgusting and awful things will try very hard to drag you into the rotting depths.
posted by AugustusCrunch at 12:40 PM on March 20, 2023

Response by poster: AugustusCrunch, thank you for the warning and the rationale for not using it. I suspected that the cesspool might exist, but knowing that I can use the site without signing up is good enough for me. I can post something and then never actually engage with any other content, which is what I'm looking for.
posted by Lawn Beaver at 6:25 AM on March 21, 2023

Imgur still allows deep links, so you can post links to individual images if you want to use Imgur without any risk of exposing anybody else to the cesspool. It's a bit more work though. For example:

Lawn Beaver's Spring 2023 pots:
strong
hello!
lovely cretchur!
sleepy
tatpole
small water thing
if it has feet it counts as a chreature
critter
toes
butt
posted by flabdablet at 6:45 AM on March 21, 2023 [1 favorite]

Just an FYI. I use imgur as a place to put sort of "disposable" images if I want to add them as one-offs to a "for sale" post on a local mailing list. I also run, personally with some friends, a small closed image-sharing community which has a small fee ($3/year) but allows you to do the same things--upload images (or GIFs or link to videos), leave a comment, share individual posts, and like things. We're an older-skewing community of maybe less than 1000 people and maybe 50 hardcore posters so you won't feel like you don't fit in. It's called MLTSHP and you can read about it at that link and here's an example shared post.
posted by jessamyn at 10:21 AM on March 21, 2023 [1 favorite]

[just in case my post above wasn't clear... the community is open to anyone, but individual posts aren't viewable to the general public unless you or someone else shares them out]
posted by jessamyn at 3:51 PM on March 21, 2023