Anyone else having issues with members using swear words for images?

MapleOne

MapleOne

Well-known member
Assign a number to image upload instead of name...

Some of my members are attaching screen shots with names like crap.png (trust me I'm being mild) and once the image uploads the name pops up as crap.png whenever the curser hovers over the image.

I know I can use filters to filter words but I would much rather that the board software assign in a random number so that crap.png becomes 18756.png once uploaded.

Not sure if that's possible with the addon or something but Xenforo uses .number to identify everything from members, to posts, to searches etc so I'm wondering why images don't get the same treatment.

I have to add that I don't allow hotlinking, any hotlinked image is converted to an attachment with an addon so we don't get dead images. It would be nice if a consecutive number was assigned as a name to uploads, it would solve a lot of issues with the members that use more colorful language.

crapload.png would simply become 12345.png
 
Last edited:
Ricsca said:
admonish members who do this?
Click to expand...
You don't notice it sometimes for weeks afterwards unless you hover over an image.

I've done it myself by accident, I will download an image as 1.jpg and next time is says override description so I type in anything temporarily as a name and then I don't bother changing the name when I upload it to the forum You can get some crazy colorful names on images.

I'm not sure it is actually done in a way to harm the site but it will hurt SEO if you have swear words and such as image names.
 
I don't go that far.
I have a rule that we have to keep things family friendly.
Nobody has bothered with imagery with swearwords on it.
 
rickhz said:
This started on my forum very recently. I delete the posts and warn the members.
Click to expand...

I knew was not alone

The problem is you don't spot it until someone complains or you stumble across it by accident.

You also can't ban members because half the time it's an accident...

Example

User has 1.png on hard drive and downloads a new image as 1.png to make it quick but 1.png is in use so it asks to override and instead the person calls it sh!t.png out of frustration.

The when uploaded on the forum the image is called sh!t.png and banning the user would have negative impact on the forum.

I thought this was a rarity until I looked at some of the more colourful image names on the server.

That is why randomizing images with a number makes sense, especially because I don't want s!it.png to influence my SEO and have google Mark my site as ADULT.

Just sub sh!t.png with my most commonly used word starting with a F to understand why it worries me.
 
Hence have it in your rules.
Telling people that if they choose to put up a meme that uses some swearwords that it will end with a thread ban and a warning via DM.
 
This should really go hand in hand with improvements for editing the alt attribute which is essential for people with disabilities using screen readers.

Ideally there needs to be an admin editable list containing image thumbnails, editable fields containing the alt attribute and the same for image file names.

This suggestion by @Mr Lucky gives a good visual representation of how that might work.
Mr Lucky

Thread 'Image alt attribute editing made easier for admins (accessibility and SEO)'

Image alt attributes are now possible when uploading or linking an image attachment however I noticed that most users are unaware so they don’t add them. Alt attributes are useful for people using screen readers and also may be for SEO.

This suggestion is for Admins to easily find and edit images that need a (better) alt tag, and to do that via the attachment browser in the admin control panel.

I envisage an extra column in the Attachment browser showing the alt text (or not if there isn't any). Currently if the user didn't supply an alt tag, then it uses the name of the file, often...
  • Like
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom