Duplicate Attachment Quota and Management System

Wildcat Media

Well-known member
Unfortunately, we've had a recent rash of members abusing our attachment privileges, and we had one member upload 100 (!) photos in one thread over the course of a few days.

There is no way to control attachments other than to turn them on or off per usergroup. I think that for big boards, especially, there should be some sort of mechanism to limit either the total number of attachments a user may post on the forum, or the amount of storage space their attachments can use.

This is necessary for us since our server is running solid state drives, and due to the expense, we do not want to run out of room on these smaller drives, nor do we want to add two more drives (one primary and one "shadow" drive as a backup) just so members can use us as a free image hosting service.

Currently, we can only control the pixel size of uploaded images (the maximum file size is the size of the file they can upload, and it is downsized automatically to the maximum pixel size), and turn on/off the ability of members to upload attachments.

Because of the quotas, members would need a way to manage their own attachments--in other words, as they run out of space, they need the ability to be able to delete their own files. Ideally, a page of image thumbnails (or placeholder icons, such as with PDF files which don't have thumbnail views) with checkboxes, perhaps with short links to the post(s) they are used in, would allow members to easily delete them. There should also be an option for members to purge attachments prior to a given date. (I've found on our big board that very few older threads with attachments are ever viewed and, as such, the attachments can be deleted without anyone missing anything.)

Quite frankly, I'd rather see them host the images elsewhere and link to them in their posts, and we may have to go that route for the time being, until some sort of quota system could be put into place. We are also contemplating adding a subscription (of a minimal amount) per year for members who want to upload attachments, and that funding would go toward another pair of drives. But still...if you give some members an inch, they'll take a mile (as the saying goes).
 
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After searching several pages of threads relating to attachments last night, I could only find one half-hearted thread about an attachment manager--nothing about a quota system.
 
We need quota management badly, but it looks like we have to deny attachments entirely to our members now. The abuse during the past few weeks has been miserable...
 
I wouldn't doubt it. Some members abuse uploading images. And I really hate to have to update my hosting because a few members abuse their privilege.
 
Support is not very good, reading through the discussion for the add-on. Users are having problems with a lot of activity in the error logs. Not good.

This needs to be in the core. For our smaller forums it is not a problem (in fact, we only offer it on a couple of the forums as a subscription perk), but on a large forum where we have offered attachments for 11 years now, it's a problem not having a quota.

I still have not found another thread in this forum asking for an attachment quota system...a shame since it is flagged as a duplicate and now won't get any attention. :(
 
I completely agree... I think I am going to go with IPB until xenforo comes out with a quota for images and attatchments. Because to be honest, images can kill your forum, especially with lots of users uploading them. I love xenforo and wish they had this simple feature but they dont. I will just wait using IPB.
IPB
phpbb
vbulletin
mybb
they all have the quota.
 
It breaks my heart that xenforo doesnt have this. It really does :(
I love xenforo, but I love my pocket more, and I cant be wasting more money on disk space because my members want to upload hundreds of images a day. With a quota... they can delete their attachments and upload new ones. But it seems that xenforo does not have this, nor is interested in creating this.

I honestly couldn't find the post that its a duplicate of either. I was searching.
 
We are just going to tell users---no more attachments. They'll have to link to images hosted elsewhere. Or we may start charging for attachments, and put the money toward a large drive. But try telling this to members who had the privilege for years, and that only a small handful of abusers forced a change in policy.

Not good.
 
Ours always threaten to leave, but come back anyway even if they do. The change would affect only a small number of members anyway.

I am pricing out a 1TB drive, and we may offer a subscription to use attachments. Even with a nominal $5/year fee, 100 users would more than pay for the new drive.
 
The creator from the Attatchment Essential addon seems MIA.. I dont think i will be spending $30 on that addon for something that will be leaving me stranded.. We need this to be implemented into the core LIKE other top forum softwares... IPB, Vb, Phpbb... etc

If this is done... I can assure more copies will be sold. I will buy one and so will other members from 'theadminzone' who are also wondering why xenforo doesnt have this already implemented into the software. Dont make me go to IPB... please :cry:(n)
 
I've been searching for a "main thread" for this request, but I don't see another one that is similar, so I'll add my vote to this one. I'd love to see limits per usergroup for uploads!
 
Several suggestions relating to this concept have already been made.

Do you have links to these suggestions? I could not find one thread about an attachment quota system in Suggestions, after searching a few separate times. (It doesn't help that some suggestions have very poor thread titles.)

It should be a core feature IMHO--right now we are looking at disabling attachments completely due to ongoing abuse. Keeping members directly accountable via a quota system is the only logical solution. I feel as though my suggestion here has been brushed off and ignored...
 
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