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Dropbox changes

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jsmorley
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Joined: April 19th, 2009, 11:02 pm
Location: Fort Hunt, Virginia, USA

Dropbox changes

Post by jsmorley »

I don't know how many folks use / used DropBox to create a link to things here in the forums, but be aware that DropBox has changed its policies and functionality when it comes to the "Public" folders that it supported. That functionality is gone, and any links you created to the public folder in your DropBox will no longer work.

Direct, or "hotlink" links to items in your DropBox folder will no longer work. Each item must be individually "shared" in DropBox, which will allow you to get and use a shared link to the item. The person clicking the link will then be taken to the item in their browser, where they can download it from DropBox.

Embedded image links using the img or hsimg BBCode tags in the forums here will be "broken". You can simply "attach" the image in question to the post instead if you like, or use the "shared link" I mentioned above, BUT change the ?dl=0 at the end of the line to ?raw=1. That will allow you to embedded an image here as before.

Anyway, I suspect not many have been doing this, as this "public" functionality has been on its way out at DropBox for some time, and was "grandfathered in" for older DropBox accounts (like mine). I used it quite a bit though, and will be working to find and fix the tons of my posts here that contain these links. This will take some time, but I'll track them all down hopefully. If you spot one, a "broken" embedded image, or a link to a file that returns an "error" page in your browser, you can send me a PM and let me know which post has the issue. That will help me track them down.

So to share images and files here in the forums:

For images, I recommend just using the "Attachments" tab at the bottom of the post when you are creating it. Just upload the image here, and click on "Place inline" to embedded that attachment in your post.

For files, There are alternatives.

You can attach a file to a post just like you do an image, but be aware that there is a size limit (currently 10 Megabytes) per attachement. While we don't mind the drive space to store your smaller .rmskins, and you are welcome to attach them, we only have so much space available, and larger .rmskins or other files should be done with a shared link to some external source like:

DropBox
Google Drive
Microsoft OneDrive

Those are probably the most popular and common. There are other "file sharing" services out there, but I caution. Any links that open up a service in the browser that is sketchy, that is a site primarily intended to share illegal downloads, or that has pop-ups or other annoying advertising, or has a reputation for distributing malware of some kind, will not be allowed. I will delete the link and add a warning that the site in question is not appropriate.
Celeras
Posts: 12
Joined: April 23rd, 2012, 3:31 am

Re: Dropbox changes

Post by Celeras »

Such a nightmare. You have to share every image manually as they don't let you generate more than 1 link at a time, and what used to be /u/[YourUserNumber] is now /s/[RandomlyGeneratedHash].... so its different for every link and you have to copy them 1 at a time. You used to be able to just change the front end of the link since it was specific to your account. I did that for an old blog when I left my host.. just ctrl-f + replace all every instance of oldhost.com/image to dropbox.com/u/me since the image names were the same.

R.I.P. the only purpose for Dropbox. Don't know why I ranted about it here lol :confused: