Eric, which is easier on MB, resource-wise?

Syd · Post by **Syd** » Fri Jun 22, 2012 7:08 pm

Attaching photos to a post?
Linking to images posted elsewhere?

The question came up in the Tag thread. I found something in the FAQ about attachment limits, but I'm not sure if MB incurs charges for the network throughput too.

Mousenut · Post by **Mousenut** » Fri Jun 22, 2012 8:32 pm

Although I'm not Eric, I help run a very large forum (disboards.com) and I can say that with vB, attaching is vastly heavier on the db and in bandwidth usage. Obviously Eric will have to answer based on his host and how he is set up.

TVB · Post by **TVB** » Fri Jun 22, 2012 8:52 pm

Linking to external images is definitely easier on the MB server itself. When someone includes an image that way, the forum software just gives each visitor the address where the image is stored; the image itself never passes thru the MB server at all.

JHScoot · Post by **JHScoot** » Fri Jun 22, 2012 10:51 pm

One more image tag and this place is gonna EXPLODE!

JohnKiniston · Post by **JohnKiniston** » Fri Jun 22, 2012 11:12 pm

Syd · Post by **Syd** » Fri Jun 22, 2012 11:56 pm

Mousenut wrote:Although I'm not Eric, I help run a very large forum (disboards.com) and I can say that with vB, attaching is vastly heavier on the db and in bandwidth usage. Obviously Eric will have to answer based on his host and how he is set up.

My corporate firewall doesn't like your site. Naughty, naughty!!

jonlink · Post by **jonlink** » Sat Jun 23, 2012 12:54 am

You ask me a question and I answer you directly VS. you ask me a question and I direct you to someone else who spends the time to answer.

The first instance is an image attached on MB, the second is one linked.

This is why many sites guard against "image jacking" (sidenote: do not google amything with the word "jacking"), because it passes the work on to another site, leaving the offending site's bandwidth mostly unscathed.

michelle_7728 · Post by **michelle_7728** » Sat Jun 23, 2012 5:05 am

However, if you link to something, isn't there a risk that sooner or later that link will no longer be valid? If it's just a picture of someone's new scooter, that's okay, but if it's a picture or pictures of how to do something that would be a real bummer...especially if it somehow has made it into the Technical Forum.

Just playing Devil's Advocate.

michelle_7728 · Post by **michelle_7728** » Sat Jun 23, 2012 5:29 am

Wow! Nice diagram. I printed one out when I did the back off brake light mod, and it wasn't anywhere near this clear!

Post by **ericalm** » Sat Jun 23, 2012 12:48 pm

TVB wrote:Linking to external images is definitely easier on the MB server itself. When someone includes an image that way, the forum software just gives each visitor the address where the image is stored; the image itself never passes thru the MB server at all.

While this is true, in many cases, we'd prefer the images to be uploaded to MB. We don't use anything close to our bandwidth limits. Many times images on other servers disappear, even when linked to members' photo services accounts. So we may have some tutorials and other useful threads missing images that would be pretty useful.

Also, the MB system will enforce image size limits to keep things tidy. When linking on other sites, sometimes the images are too large, which messes with page layout and so on.

TVB · Post by **TVB** » Sat Jun 23, 2012 2:00 pm

Sure, there are pluses and minuses either way. I was just answering the specific question.

Syd · Post by **Syd** » Sat Jun 23, 2012 8:36 pm

Thanks, Eric. I appreciate the answer.

velobuff · Post by **velobuff** » Mon Jun 25, 2012 5:46 pm

As an aside it would be nice to include the reply in a thread in the email rather than just a link to the thread. 1/2 the times I don't need to/want to respond. There would be less bandwidth and server load this way - on MB and MV. But I guess you want your sponsors to see your page views

Post by **ericalm** » Thu Jun 28, 2012 3:12 am

That's kind of an interesting idea, but I'm not sure it would work. When a topic you subscribe to gets a reply, the system sends you an email. It often will not send you another email until you visit the topic. So you won't be notified repeatedly of every reply unless you visit the forum.

Getting an email with every response would mean more messages coming to your InBox and a much heavier load on our email servers.

Hmm…

velobuff wrote:I guess you want your sponsors to see your page views

You must think we're more sophisticated than we actually are! I've never provided site stats to any sponsor and none have asked for it. They're all here because this is an active, vibrant community, not because of our numbers!