[thelist] to upload or to include image urls

[Ken Snyder]

Bob Meetin wrote:
> Is there a consensus on whether it's better to allow the audience to 
> upload images and include them in a page they have access to write to or 
> include URLs only?
>
> Some considerations
>
> - uploading certainly gives you more control of the image in terms of 
> content, size and dimensions
> - linking to another site, such as flickr, whatever is seemingly 
> simpler, but less control of network and image size
>
> If you were selling used car parts which would you rather do?  We're 
> interested in increasing activity and traffic to the site, not just 
> selling the parts as on craigslist which is a sweetheart...
>   
Other pros and cons (some you probably thought of already):

UPLOADING PROS
- Ability to easily display various sizes (e.g. thumbnail, summary, detail)

UPLOADING CONS
- You become responsible in some degree for inappropriate images
- You have to tighten security to prevent spamming or other abuse
- You must work to ensure scalability, probably storing data in a 
database for a load-balanced environment

LINKING CONS
- Some users may not be familiar with or willing to post an image 
elsewhere such as flickr
- Hard to police bad links

My choice would be uploading, but that may be because I just barely 
finished writing an image uploader and thumbnail viewer this week :)

- Ken Snyder