Getting Back In: I was on facebook and I was wrong. (Recommendations Wanted)

[WallyTWest]

Ill try to keep it short.

Last few years I have done a lot of work in wargaming and community- and the majority of my efforts have been on Facebook.

I switched to facebook because of the ease of uploading photography and the grouping system that seemed to allow access to community that was hyper focused- but I have come to realize there is no longevity to the platform. No long term community and an unbelievable number of jerks.

COVID forced me to buy a new labtop and now I have a return to photo editing capabilities and blogging entries. I want to kill my facebook account- and this is a step towards that.

I was a causality of the "photobucket apocalypse" - so i need a little help.

What does the community use for hosting images?
Has anyone created a good guide for getting into blogging hobby?
Any recommendations or thoughts?

Lastly I want to apologize - Im sorry for leaving guys.

[warlord frod]

No problem its good to have you back. I currently use flicker and it seems to work well.

[OSHIROmodels]

The gallery here is perfectly useable 

[SABOT]

I’m using Post Image ...... no problems so far and easy to use. 👍

[aircav]

I just use a blog page.

[Codsticker]

I found the gallery here great for hosting pics but often when I make a post on a forum like LAF I link to images in my Imgur albums as well as a link to my blog to which I upload photos directly.

[fred]

Glad to hear you have escaped the clutches of Facebook...

I think the answer to this depends heavily on what platform you are using for your various activities.

For a long time I used Google Photos - but I could only get a link for posting in a forum, if I viewed the image on my computer (not my phone).

I’ve recently switched to Imgur (and while at first it seems a bit odd as a platform, it works). So now I can take a photo on my phone, do a quick edit, upload with Imgur, get a link and post to a forum. All in just a couple of minutes, and all on my phone. Which is great - its much better than the old method, that involved switching devices mid process to complete the activity. And having a streamlined workflow means I am much more likely to post more stuff. 

[robh]

For posting short term images for use here in the bazaar or threads I do not intend to maintain I use the gallery here. I tried to keep it to a minimum and delete regularly as the Prof was paying for the bandwidth and I have seen several sites implode under the number of images users were trying to host on it.
I know LAF is now a commercial site but old habits and all that...

For anything I want to store or long term thread links I created a Google site which is very easy to use (has to be if I can manage it).

[arloid]

I generally use imgur for photos I don't care about being lost over time, we actaully don't know how long these platforms stay viable. For long term...there is the attachement option here and most platforms these days allow image uploads...Should really invest into a block, but that is something I personally have to do.

[Cubs]

I use a free image hosting site called MyAlbum. It's very simple, nuts and bolts, doesn't have ads or any frills. I've got hundreds of photos on there (all backed up on the hard drive).

[Elbows]

I tend to use my blog, simple linking the images from there.  I keep Facebook for group discussions on rule sets I use, and only run into the occasional jackwad.

[arloid]

Talking about jackwads, it depends on what the group is about, how the playerbase is like and if it is a international, national or regional group.

I can tell you 2 things, a group with a toxic fandom or playerbase you can write off on a international or national level by default, not worth the effort or pain and your not going to change their attitude except for maybe in the wrong direction from you.

The more local the group is the nicer things generally are, people know each other so being a jerk generally means you have 1 less person to play against at the very least. Local groups can still be toxic depending on the game or subject the group is about or even be toxic in general.

Now on a last note, there are exceptions to the rules, not every 40k group is toxic, not every Hail Ceasar group is nice and sometimes things aren't meant in a meanspirited way and the group has developed its own social dynamics.

Note: the games mentioned here were the first things that came to mind, I didn't mean to imply 40k is toxic, though I now realize it might not been the best game to pick for a unbiased example.

[TacticalPainter]

I use Blogspot and now host photos in Imageshack (I also went through the Photobucket debacle). Both work very well and I’m happy.

No issues with people on Facebook yet, but it has no depth or history. Newbies ask the same questions on a regular basis. There is no collective memory, it’s very much about the here and now. What happened yesterday is ancient history. I’ve found Twitter a better community but maybe I’m lucky as it can be just as toxic as FB.

The youngsters don’t really embrace forums, which is a shame but it seems they prefer the immediacy of social media.

[arloid]

Youngsters...well I’m not that old but I feel ancient already. Guess I should join the local club and let one of the grognards adopt me into one of the historical or “historical” wargames they play.

[TacticalPainter]

Websites have become less important and function primarily as transactional sites. Consumers don’t go to websites to make their decisions and choices, they get those from social media. Most younger consumers only use websites for transactions and would quite happily forego that if they could do the transaction in social media. Forums? What are they? They are looking more and more like non-transactional websites. That’s where old people hang out. The same people who still send emails to each other. Oh how they laugh at our funny ways.