Community Suggestion: Third Party Storage Integration for Image and File Storage

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Third Party Storage Integration for Image and File Storage

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

  1. The User goes to the Images & Files, just as they do now.
  2. 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.
  3. 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)
  4. 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.
  5. 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
  6. If you take it down, add that link to the blacklist that can be checked during image verification in step 2.
  7. (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
    • Login to Vote
    Current score

    99/300 Votes · +10510 points

    Votes Cast

    • +100

      by Ericor
      on 2021-06-11 22:28

    • +50

      by Toomanymagicitems
      on 2021-06-11 15:21

    • +300

      by Galdormin
      on 2021-06-11 13:26

    • +200

      by mcgregor
      on 2021-06-11 09:31

    • +200

      by CrayHimself
      on 2021-06-11 02:36

    • +20

      by behobu
      on 2021-06-11 01:49

    • +100

      by Wolfgal
      on 2021-06-11 00:48

    • +300

      by MachFarcon
      on 2021-06-10 20:58

    • +300

      by goncalojoaoc
      on 2021-06-10 08:55

    • +20

      by Nachreld
      on 2021-06-08 21:38

    • +200

      by Blabermouthe
      on 2021-06-08 03:31

    • -100

      by 13Leagues
      on 2021-06-08 00:12

    • +100

      by TheDragonEngine
      on 2021-06-07 20:12

    • -100

      by StardustScrapper
      on 2021-06-07 16:03

    • +300

      by Loki Tavari
      on 2021-06-07 15:25

    • +50

      by SmithTS86
      on 2021-06-07 13:37

    • +100

      by zalzabar
      on 2021-06-07 08:19

    • +300

      by got_lost_send_help
      on 2021-06-06 02:25

    • +300

      by Blodeuwedd
      on 2021-06-05 23:22

    • +200

      by JohannFarley
      on 2021-06-05 01:59

    • -300

      by GorkamWorka
      on 2021-06-04 20:26

    • +300

      by MyrddinEmyrs
      on 2021-06-04 06:03

    • +100

      by sclark99
      on 2021-06-04 00:56

    • +10

      by iamq
      on 2021-06-03 21:46

    • +300

      by Tyziel
      on 2021-06-03 18:29

    • +300

      by Groo
      on 2021-06-03 17:58

    • +20

      by Lomine
      on 2021-06-03 13:23

    • +100

      by queenlilly
      on 2021-06-03 01:25

    • +10

      by Mayren
      on 2021-06-03 01:12

    • +300

      by anna_b_meyer
      on 2021-06-02 17:51

    • +50

      by TallyMarkings
      on 2021-06-02 09:21

    • +300

      by LiaFelis
      on 2021-06-02 08:49

    • +50

      by ArchyD
      on 2021-06-02 03:01

    • +100

      by herondreams
      on 2021-06-01 15:16

    • -300

      by SirCobalt
      on 2021-06-01 14:51

    • +100

      by Eyes99
      on 2021-06-01 11:53

    • +50

      by FenrisN7
      on 2021-06-01 04:10

    • +20

      by Martos
      on 2021-06-01 00:21

    • +50

      by eldknighterrant
      on 2021-05-31 23:21

    • +300

      by Yui Yukihira
      on 2021-05-31 15:25

    • -300

      by Lethann
      on 2021-05-31 15:14
      I believe this was brought up long ago (before the suggestion features) and the devs explained then why they didn't go that route. While yes this would mean less space taking up on the WA servers, the loadtimes would not always be reliable because some services might go up or down and it's outside WA's support. I think it's also been mentioned that there can be malicious code inserted through such methods so it's just not worth it for WA to go this route. It seems like a easy thing at first, but once you go into the details it really is far more complicated than people realize. I like knowing that if someone can get to my WA page then my images are guaranteed to load.

    • -100

      by Sodose
      on 2021-05-31 13:19
      yeesh, is it that hard to just drag and drop your files? It's fine! Intagrating with 3rd-party storage spaces is expensive and unessisary. The current system is fine, and very good for not-tech-savy users.

    • +200

      by Squanto
      on 2021-05-30 17:45

    • +100

      by maniacalsounds
      on 2021-05-30 14:13

    • -100

      by Amancham
      on 2021-05-30 08:30
      I don't think this is a good idea in terms of copyright and such as previously mentioned by others.   Also in terms of privacy. It would mean that browser, IP and such userdata would also be saved at an external site (or several) and if there is a security issue on a third-party site, it might affect data from users of WA.   Also, for the price I find the storage space adequate. But that's just me.

    • +200

      by Moridrin
      on 2021-05-30 06:55

    • +50

      by JacksonMoore
      on 2021-05-30 06:13

    • -50

      by DaniWhey
      on 2021-05-30 03:28

    • +300

      by A Sneaky Devil
      on 2021-05-30 02:35

    • +10

      by jackporath3
      on 2021-05-29 22:22

    • +20

      by xjaycan
      on 2021-05-29 20:23

    • +300

      by dbgoodin
      on 2021-05-29 20:04
      Excellent idea! Add Dropbox to the list as well.

    • -300

      by A Goodhearted Kobold
      on 2021-05-29 17:05
      I believe they host the images on here to take action if any copyright issues come up. And WA does have plenty of storage space for images.

    • +50

      by kapaan
      on 2021-05-29 12:03

    • +50

      by Justin Hamersly
      on 2021-05-29 10:14

    • +100

      by Mewfan
      on 2021-05-29 07:21

    • +300

      by Mikedweb
      on 2021-05-29 01:36

    • +50

      by GMSeth
      on 2021-05-29 01:27

    • -50

      by Vulthuryol
      on 2021-05-28 20:59

    • +100

      by AuraGuard
      on 2021-05-28 17:12

    • +300

      by JaeDMC
      on 2021-05-28 13:30

    • +50

      by Ono-D
      on 2021-05-28 11:39

    • +10

      by A Adorable Goblin
      on 2021-05-28 10:02

    • +300

      by tobias hart
      on 2021-05-28 00:35

    • +20

      by Drsullivan74
      on 2021-05-28 00:02

    • +50

      by cheesemijit
      on 2021-05-27 19:17

    • +300

      by Und die 6 Faucher
      on 2021-05-27 19:16

    • +300

      by halfblake
      on 2021-05-27 16:04

    • +100

      by stonebandit
      on 2021-05-27 15:00

    • +300

      by genraven
      on 2021-05-27 14:38

    • -10

      by jackledead
      on 2021-05-27 11:58

    • +300

      by Zagazoo42
      on 2021-05-27 06:05

    • +300

      by Vonnerath
      on 2021-05-27 03:25

    • +50

      by axym09
      on 2021-05-27 02:55

    • +50

      by Unthar3Green
      on 2021-05-26 14:14

    • -50

      by RibenLARP
      on 2021-05-26 13:57

    • +100

      by Makoto Ichijoji
      on 2021-05-26 13:49

    • +200

      by CrossAlbeo
      on 2021-05-26 13:02

    • +100

      by Zeloxiss
      on 2021-05-26 12:30

    • +200

      by Spicy McHaggis
      on 2021-05-26 02:26

    • -50

      by redbeardcreator
      on 2021-05-26 02:05

    • +100

      by unusnemus
      on 2021-05-26 01:35

    • +200

      by Jyhrowolf
      on 2021-05-25 22:55

    • +20

      by mattverdini
      on 2021-05-25 19:21

    • +300

      by WiseNyt
      on 2021-05-25 18:59

    • -100

      by Vertixico
      on 2021-05-25 13:56
      The images are hosted on WorldAnvil on purpose, as far as I know, to be able to act directly when any copyright issues come up.   They mention this on their legal page about copyright (worldanvil.com/copyright):   "Any copyright owner following the procedures in this Copyright Policy can require World Anvil to remove his or her copyrighted content in use by a member of World Anvil. When through the proper notice we become aware that a submission to World Anvil infringes upon the copyrights of another artist, creative person or company, we will immediately delete it. This is a legal requirement which we fulfill immediately; you will not receive an advanced warning and you will not be given an opportunity to 'fix it'."   If they would not host on WA directly, I guess they'd have to pass along the Take Down notice. Which I can gather is a lot of hassle.

    • +20

      by Littlelangy
      on 2021-05-25 13:16

    • +10

      by Butterflycake
      on 2021-05-25 13:05

    • +10

      by desnop
      on 2021-05-25 12:39

    • +300

      by Aquilus_Decimus
      on 2021-05-25 12:11

    • +200

      by Deliakatt
      on 2021-05-25 09:49

    • +100

      by The Talespinner
      on 2021-05-25 09:19

    • -10

      by Michael Chandra
      on 2021-05-25 08:34
      I think that the DMCA risk wouldn't be worth it.

    • +10

      by KajetanWrites
      on 2021-05-25 08:21

    • -300

      by SoulLink
      on 2021-05-25 08:16
      I don't believe that image storage is actually a problem. Nobody has reached the limit as of yet. And this would just add complexity that only a tiny portion of the users would even know how to use.

    • +300

      by lordofcrebain
      on 2021-05-25 07:52

    • +300

      by Projekt
      on 2021-05-25 07:47

    • +50

      by spartango
      on 2021-05-25 07:18

    • +50

      by Hunter0680
      on 2021-05-25 03:13

    • +300

      by BrewerJohn
      on 2021-05-25 02:58
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