New Feature Addition · Images & image management · Created by
BrewerJohn
declined
images storage-integration S3 files
Feature Proposal
Integrating with 3rd party storage solutiions (AWS S3, Google Drive, etc) would, in my opinion, take a lot of stress off the WA servers and bring a lot of Quality of Life improvements for users. The current system only allows a certain total size of images, based on account size. The only way to increase that is to up your subscription level.
Over the life of a world, the total number of images will grow and with that you will see the size of those images grow even more quickly. 3rd party storage integration and allowing direct linking would solve that.
I know that direct linking was discussed and a centralized image repository was chosen to allow for simple image monitoring and take downs. What I am proposing is a possible solution to this issue: a modified blacklist w/ central registration and reporting tool.
Possible Workflow
- The User goes to the Images & Files, just as they do now.
- Instead of using the File Upload the user could use a URL textbox just below the Drag and Drop box. The User would input the S3 URL in the box.
- Simple image verification work can be done after the URL is submitted (verifying it is public, is an acceptable file format, grab a possible thumbnail, etc)
- Just as you do now, generate an image ID to use for in-article linking. On the backend you would have an internal link to s3 link translation table so the direct link of the image is never shown.
- If there is a DMCA or other copyright claim, you can set the in-article mapping to a static image saying either "This image has been taken down due to a copyright claim." or "This image is awaiting verification." or some other phrase depending on if you are going to take on copyright investigations or default to removing them by default
- If you take it down, add that link to the blacklist that can be checked during image verification in step 2.
- (Optional) Add a tally of each users and/or each world's number of copyright claims against it (similar to the way Twitch and Youtube do it). Once they reach a certain number, further sanctions could be implemented.
I really think that this would both benefit the community and make it easier for you to track images and files.
The Team's Response
This suggestion has not gathered enough support during its voting period.
Having said that, I will have to respectfully decline this suggestion, most of the reasons have been explained by other voters already but to summarize
There are legal implications (actioning a DMCA)
To date, nobody has reached their storage space
This is quite a cumbersome and big task for tiny profit, if any
This does look almost like a cheeky way to go over the limit (I am not saying that you wanted that, Brewerjohn {amazing nickname by the way})
There is the imageurl if you wish to take the risk of having your article completelly taken down in the case of a DMCA
Current score
99/300 Votes · +10510 points