Offline due to bandwidth overage

[Motorhobo]

motobrick.com was offline for two days due to bandwidth exceeding the hosting plan, I guess. I've been here for at least three years and never saw that before.

The biggest bandwidth hog are images. I think with HD images from cell phones now being the norm, bandwidth usage is increasing. Also, I think since 2014 people have been encouraged to host all images on the site rather than link to them from image hosts or private web servers.

Whenever I upload images, I always crop away anything that's not relevant and resize them to about 800 X 600. Uploading a 6000 X 4000 image here is a complete waste of bandwidth, since most monitors can't display anything greater than 1920 X 1280 anyway. If higher resolution is necessary to get the idea across, then max 1000 X 1000. Or, maybe the site mods might reconsider the recommendation to post images to IMGUR or other reliable hosts and just link them in.

Or, there's always a bandwidth upgrade to consider but that costs money. I'd like to say at this opportunity that I don't know who pays for this site, but I really appreciate it. Having the site offline for the last three days of each billing period is unnerving...makes me wonder whether there's a Plan B in effect in case whoever's in charge disappears from the scene.

 I don't know where the site is hosted, but I know what my shared hosting plan on Godaddy costs. Maybe if there were a contribution account on PayPal people would throw in a couple dollars a month for an upgrade. I know I would.

Just sayin'

[Filmcamera]

I agree this site is amazing for all the people who use it, I cannot begin to calculate how much money the knowledge and expertise to be found here has saved members but it is huge. The site is what has made me decide to do the work on my bike myself rather than giving it to another hack mechanic.

Now that I have the bike back I opened an image shack account just to host the photos I post, it is $38 a year and means none of the images are being hosted on Motobrick. If more members did the same the site would never go down due to bandwidth issues.

How about a voluntary contribution page? I would be against charging a membership but I think allowing people to contribute would be great.

[Motorhobo]

Now that I have the bike back I opened an image shack account just to host the photos I post, it is $38 a year and means none of the images are being hosted on Motobrick. If more members did the same the site would never go down due to bandwidth issues.

I think the problem with that in the past is that paid image hosting accounts disappear with time and the images with them. I think the site could handle self-hosted images as long as the img resolution is reasonable. Some BB software resizes images automatically on upload...not sure whether this software does that. If it does, then the problem is that the bandwidth just doesn't cover the usage. But that's OK -- I'd rather have a motobrick.com 27 days a month than no motobrick.com at all.

[Filmcamera]

Yes image shack gives you the chance to resize and I use 640 x 480 which is plenty big enough I think.Good point about the images disappearing, it has been frustrating on a few of the old threads here when the images are gone.

[Laitch]

motobrick.com was offline for two days due to bandwidth exceeding the hosting plan, I guess. I've been here for at least three years and never saw that before.

It was offline in March for a day while you were being productive somewhere else, Motorhobo. :giggles

I agree that posters should be mindful of resizing their images—8'' widths or less—will be useful to view in most cases. I don't condone the use of offsite image storage. As Motorhobo has indicated, hosting them off site has demonstrated that much useful information will be lost when the poster lets the hosting account lapse or needs to replace existing images with new ones that are not relevant to Bricks. A useful image here really can be 500KB or less. Good ones can be viewed here that are only 80KB which is not much more size than a lengthy text post.

The site has returned and I'm grateful to those who maintain it and to whoever is paying the freight. Subscription would be ok by me. Enjoy it while it lasts. :yippee:   :computer-noworky:   :grimreaper:

[rbm]

Resizing images may not be an intuitive operation from a mobile phone or tablet.  It depends on the means used (eg. Tapatalk, etc.) or whether the option to reduce the image size at the time of posting is available.  If it is possible, maybe a moderator can investigate whether the facility exists on the server side to auto-resize images before storing them.  That way the site can enforce a ceiling on image resolution without imposing the responsibility on the end-user.

[Laitch]

Resizing images may not be an intuitive operation from a mobile phone or tablet.  It depends on the means used (eg. Tapatalk, etc.) or whether the option to reduce the image size at the time of posting is available.  If it is possible, maybe a moderator can investigate whether the facility exists on the server side to auto-resize images before storing them.  That way the site can enforce a ceiling on image resolution without imposing the responsibility on the end-user.

Determining why the damned bike won't start after a trip to the weed dispensary isn't necessarily intuitive either, judging from my own experience and the input of others here.

If learning how image resizing works and developing patience until the appropriate tools at hand are beyond a poster's grasp, what are his chances for successful DIY bike repair? Resizing photo submissions by tapping the keyboard a few times will give some light practice in coping with imposed responsibility to those of us without that experience.
 :oldguy:   

I just want the moderators to enjoy carefree days, luxurious nights and to keep the lights on for my personal benefit and amusement.  :giggles

[The Mighty Gryphon]

Geez, I feel guilty for posting all those massive files on my fairing repair thread.  My "new" laptop doesn't seem to have anything I can use to resize photos before posting.  Can anyone suggest or provide a link to a resource to do this?

I would also be willing to help defray the cost of this forum.  I have been on others where there is a paypal account members can send money to and they run short annual fund drives to cover the costs.  It's my understanding that Johnny(who, by the way hasn't been around lately) is the Motobrick benefactor).  If he ever decides to let this forum lapse, a very significant resource for these machines will be lost.

[Inge K.]

My "new" laptop doesn't seem to have anything I can use to resize photos before posting.  Can anyone suggest or provide a link to a resource to do this?

If you use Windows, Paint is included.

[Laitch]

In my Mac, I use Preview. Arrows, circles, text and other overlay gimmicks are available in it without much fuss.

[Inge K.]

About the size of images, on some of the other forums I have membership....images greater than set limit
is rejected.

[Laitch]

About the size of images, on some of the other forums I have membership....images greater than set limit
is rejected.

+1

[jaxon]

I think the problem with that in the past is that paid image hosting accounts disappear with time and the images with them. I think the site could handle self-hosted images as long as the img resolution is reasonable. Some BB software resizes images automatically on upload...not sure whether this software does that. If it does, then the problem is that the bandwidth just doesn't cover the usage. But that's OK -- I'd rather have a motobrick.com 27 days a month than no motobrick.com at all.

You're right. Those tools are GD & ImageMagick on the server.  Generally you can restrict the file size of the image or file being uploaded within php. The graphics libraries crop, rotate, resize and scale. I've also found people intentionally upload large images and files to antagonize sites.

[Laitch]

. . . what are his chances . . .

The use of his is for convenience—not offense—and should be taken by the reader also to refer to any member of the other four genders.

[broberg]

Hosted images could also be denied to not logged in users (effectively cutting of links to the images on the forums host server and reduces unnecessary bandwidth being wasted).

[Motorhobo]

Resizing images may not be an intuitive operation from a mobile phone or tablet.  It depends on the means used (eg. Tapatalk, etc.) or whether the option to reduce the image size at the time of posting is available.  If it is possible, maybe a moderator can investigate whether the facility exists on the server side to auto-resize images before storing them.  That way the site can enforce a ceiling on image resolution without imposing the responsibility on the end-user.

There are free online image resizes, such as http://resizeimage.net/. There are image resizing apps for mobile iOS devices, and I'm sure for Android devices as well.

I use Photoshop. As Inge said, MS Paint, which ships with Windows, can be used but I don't think it's as intuitive as Photoshop. I admit, it does kind of put a damper on quickie uploads because I have to get my images to my Windows machine then edit them before uploading, which is kind of time consuming. Sometimes I don't get to it for days or weeks just because it entails sitting at the computer which I do for a living and thus despise doing it in my free time.

It think GD ships with Simple Machines, the forum software used for this site. Still, I don't think implementing that is trivial and it's probably best if we all just reduce our image resolution. It ain't like this site has millions of strangers uploading images -- I'm sure we can all cough up a llittle self-restraint.

[TimTyler]

I wonder how much it would cost to upgrade to a hosting plan that includes the necessary bandwidth?

I'd be happy to kick in a few bucks, or upgrade to a paid membership level if one existed.

Or maybe incorporating some paid advertising?

[Motorhobo]

Paid advertising -- ugh. I think the best option would be contributions to a PayPal account. I don't think an upgrade would cost very much. I'd hate to start with subscriptions and the like.

But bottom line is it's the site owner's call and there hasn't been any input from that area, so it's probably best to assume it is what it is and be more conscious of image resolution from here on in.

My $0.02...

[stokester]

I wonder how much it would cost to upgrade to a hosting plan that includes the necessary bandwidth?

I'd be happy to kick in a few bucks, or upgrade to a paid membership level if one existed.

Me too.   :2thumbup:

[TrueAce]

Maybe we can get NPR to pick us up. :euro

[herseyb]

I'd happily send some cash, especially over having ads on the site.  My understanding is this wonderful place is mostly a mutant tumor offgrowth of what was originally a place for Johnny to post his own pics and rave about cannalube in your final drive. 

Its sweet that he runs it, but I feel a bit indebted to his kindness.  Maybe it's time to sell some motobrick t-shirts, that's what my college radio station did for it's annual fund drive.

[Scud]

I donate to the two Moto Guzzi forums that I use - and I would contribute something here. I think voluntary contributions would be best - as mandatory would deter new members. The WildGuzzi.com forum looks very much like this one - and they have figured out how to show donor badges on people's profiles - with the year donated. So you can see, in each post, in which years each member has made contributions (amounts not listed).

As for pictures, I look at it this way:

Stuff that is largely for entertainment value is best self-hosted. Examples: Me and my bike by a tree, taking a piss at the side of the road, my newly powder-coated wheels, etc.
Stuff that contributes to the knowledge base should ideally be hosted on the site. Examples: how to fix something, modification, maintenance procedure, part failure, etc.

I use PhotoBucket for free. Check out my wheels (entertainment value, not knowledge base).   

FWIW - I downsize the files before putting in photobucket too. This photo is only 158kb. I think it started about about 6MB - but looks the same on-screen. :clap:

[riots100]

There is no free lunch.

So far we have been enjoying the generosity of whomever set up the site and is paying for the servers.  I know of similar hosted forms/mailing lists for other trade crafts that run into the tens of thousands of dollars a year. By far the biggest bandwidth suck are images and media followed by requests/minute or how many simultaneous users are on the site at any given time.  A given server can dish out more RPMs if it doesn't have to send that much data for each request.

 What we are starting to see is the tragedy of the commons.  We have been warned about image sizes and redundant posts.  No one has been discouraged from using the site, just to be more mindful of what they post and the manner in which they do it.

I for one, and grateful to whomever is paying the bill to keep the lights on here.

[TrueAce]

In the spirit of universal support, could someone speak to who owns and managers this site?
We want to support this site...........who do we talk to? :euro

[TimTyler]

Historically, uploading images directly to Motobrick.com has been encouraged since the images will always be available even if the user who posted removes images from an off-site image hosting service.

Johnny owns and operates Motobrick.com.