Paul Schmehl
Chevereto Noob
We have run a hobby website for antique Chevy and GMC truck owners from all over the world for almost 20 years now.. Stovebolt.com We have a very active discussion forum running UBB software, a gallery where we provide a handful of photos and short story for members' trucks, and a ton of helpful content such as technical articles, links to parts providers and service providers, etc., etc.,
In the past, we have encouraged our users to use services like Photobucket to host the photos of their trucks. Now, Photobucket is preventing third-party image hosting without a large expense for our users. Google's Picasa site has gone away.
So, now we are considering hosting images for our users, but we have some requirements.
1) We MUST have the ability to approve account requests. If we do this, we will only host for our members. All member applications in UBB must be approved before they have access, and their first four posts must be approved before they get full access. We would want similar control over image hosting. (We own the servers and have shell access, so installing, configuring and maintaining software is not an issue.)
2) It would be helpful if the account registration included a field where the user could enter their member number from our forum (or, alternatively, their "handle" - called Display Name in the UBB software.)
3) We have no idea what the space requirements for such software would be. What is the average size of a user's gallery of photos? We have about 300GB of free space on our server but fear that may not be nearly enough.
In the past, we have encouraged our users to use services like Photobucket to host the photos of their trucks. Now, Photobucket is preventing third-party image hosting without a large expense for our users. Google's Picasa site has gone away.
So, now we are considering hosting images for our users, but we have some requirements.
1) We MUST have the ability to approve account requests. If we do this, we will only host for our members. All member applications in UBB must be approved before they have access, and their first four posts must be approved before they get full access. We would want similar control over image hosting. (We own the servers and have shell access, so installing, configuring and maintaining software is not an issue.)
2) It would be helpful if the account registration included a field where the user could enter their member number from our forum (or, alternatively, their "handle" - called Display Name in the UBB software.)
3) We have no idea what the space requirements for such software would be. What is the average size of a user's gallery of photos? We have about 300GB of free space on our server but fear that may not be nearly enough.