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A problem with this is that many Imgur links link not to the embedded page (i.imgur.com) but to the display page (imgur.com). Normally this was, at worst, sligh

A problem with this is that many Imgur links link not to the embedded page (i.imgur.com) but to the display page (imgur.com). Normally this was, at worst, slightly annoying. Now you're forced to login to view the picture. Not only is this a hindrance to users but it actively blocks archiving.

basch 7y ago
The embedded page still appears to require sign in, see the link above. When I click the link, it converts to the non embedded page, then I have to edit the url back to the direct link.
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
djsumdog 7y ago
The notice made it seem like you would either have to login or click an over 18 verification modal. Hopefully they won't requiring logging in.
stevekemp 7y ago
To be honest I've noticed that links to specific images (i.imgur.com/blah.jpg) get rewritten once they hit some specific traffic-threshold. imgur rewrites them so they can serve you adverts, and modal dialogs telling you to install their application. imgur started out well, as a fast and simple image-host, but like all the others it tries to recoup money by serving adverts and getting up to increasingly shady things. Soon it will be time for the cycle to repeat and a new host launch itself; no doubt with a cute tagline saying they'll even host nsfw content.
- lol768 7y ago
  > To be honest I've noticed that links to specific images (i.imgur.com/blah.jpg) get rewritten once they hit some specific traffic-threshold. I didn't realise they had a traffic-based condition that did this, too. Wow. They've been pretty hostile with this sort of thing for a while. Look at this behaviour: # Mobile UA $ curl -v -H "Accept: text/html,application/xhtml+xml,applciation/xml;q=0.9,*/*;q=0.8" -H "User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Android 10; Mobile; rv:68.0) Gecko/68.0 Firefox/68.0" https://i.imgur.com/6WAZZpN.jpg < HTTP/2 302 < retry-after: 0 < location: https://m.imgur.com/6WAZZpN?r # Desktop UA $ curl -v -H "Accept: text/html,application/xhtml+xml,applciation/xml;q=0.9,*/*;q=0.8" -H "User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux x86_64; rv:71.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/71.0" https://i.imgur.com/6WAZZpN.jpg | file - < HTTP/2 200 < last-modified: Wed, 18 Sep 2019 20:45:26 GMT < etag: "21d323ddb1c1926ab0d7a5bb9786c996" < content-type: image/jpeg ... /dev/stdin: JPEG image data, baseline, precision 8, 2250x1500, components 3 Notice that they redirect mobile users to https://m.imgur.com/6WAZZpN?r https://m.imgur.com/6WAZZpN?r. I've noticed they do this in order to serve them ads, encourage them to install their PUP on their device (as you mention) and break their ability to zoom on the image (the image embedded is thumbnail size). They use UA sniffing to disguise this behaviour from technical users on desktop. They also detect if you're using curl and spoofing a mobile UA (which sends Accept: * / *), in which case this dark UX pattern is disabled.
  - TheNorthman 7y ago
    I was wondering why there was no easy way to access embedded images on their mobile site. This is so much worse than expected.
    - Skunkleton 7y ago
      To some extent it is a positive feature. I appreciate that the embedded images don't waste a bunch of bandwidth and load quickly.

basch 7y ago

The embedded page still appears to require sign in, see the link above. When I click the link, it converts to the non embedded page, then I have to edit the url back to the direct link.

deleted 7y ago

[deleted]

djsumdog 7y ago

The notice made it seem like you would either have to login or click an over 18 verification modal. Hopefully they won't requiring logging in.

stevekemp 7y ago

To be honest I've noticed that links to specific images (i.imgur.com/blah.jpg) get rewritten once they hit some specific traffic-threshold. imgur rewrites them so they can serve you adverts, and modal dialogs telling you to install their application. imgur started out well, as a fast and simple image-host, but like all the others it tries to recoup money by serving adverts and getting up to increasingly shady things. Soon it will be time for the cycle to repeat and a new host launch itself; no doubt with a cute tagline saying they'll even host nsfw content.

lol768 7y ago
> To be honest I've noticed that links to specific images (i.imgur.com/blah.jpg) get rewritten once they hit some specific traffic-threshold. I didn't realise they had a traffic-based condition that did this, too. Wow. They've been pretty hostile with this sort of thing for a while. Look at this behaviour: # Mobile UA $ curl -v -H "Accept: text/html,application/xhtml+xml,applciation/xml;q=0.9,*/*;q=0.8" -H "User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Android 10; Mobile; rv:68.0) Gecko/68.0 Firefox/68.0" https://i.imgur.com/6WAZZpN.jpg < HTTP/2 302 < retry-after: 0 < location: https://m.imgur.com/6WAZZpN?r # Desktop UA $ curl -v -H "Accept: text/html,application/xhtml+xml,applciation/xml;q=0.9,*/*;q=0.8" -H "User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux x86_64; rv:71.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/71.0" https://i.imgur.com/6WAZZpN.jpg | file - < HTTP/2 200 < last-modified: Wed, 18 Sep 2019 20:45:26 GMT < etag: "21d323ddb1c1926ab0d7a5bb9786c996" < content-type: image/jpeg ... /dev/stdin: JPEG image data, baseline, precision 8, 2250x1500, components 3 Notice that they redirect mobile users to https://m.imgur.com/6WAZZpN?r https://m.imgur.com/6WAZZpN?r. I've noticed they do this in order to serve them ads, encourage them to install their PUP on their device (as you mention) and break their ability to zoom on the image (the image embedded is thumbnail size). They use UA sniffing to disguise this behaviour from technical users on desktop. They also detect if you're using curl and spoofing a mobile UA (which sends Accept: * / *), in which case this dark UX pattern is disabled.
- TheNorthman 7y ago
  I was wondering why there was no easy way to access embedded images on their mobile site. This is so much worse than expected.
  - Skunkleton 7y ago
    To some extent it is a positive feature. I appreciate that the embedded images don't waste a bunch of bandwidth and load quickly.