We're making some changes to our rules around offsite image hosting for user avatars, forum signatures, etc. to combat malware warnings. Get all of the details here.
Have you ever been browsing a website that you know and trust only to be stopped by a bright and flashy screen warning you that the page you just tried to open is riddled with malware and you should really just leave that site and never come back and, oh no, I hope it's not too late?
If you're using Google Chrome--which is incidentally the Web browser of choice among our users--chances are you've experienced this before. This is a security feature built into the browser and is generally a really good thing to have. Except for when it's not.
Every now and then, a user will host, say, their avatar image on a website that is known by Google to be a malware host, which is a problem for us. Even though we're not hosting this image and we're not infected by malware, any page that this user posts a comment on will be flagged as a malware carrier, and users will see something that may scare them away from the site.
This doesn't happen too often, but it has definitely been happening much more often lately--so much so that we've decided to make some changes to our offsite image hosting rules to fix this for good.
Update 2: We've added in Tinypic, Twitter, Flickr, and Minus to the trusted list.
Update: We've added in Steam to the trusted list. Also, the text below was changed to reflect that profile signatures will not be changed: users may continue to use external "gamer card" images and bring in images from offsite hosts for now, though we will reconsider this if we continue to be flagged as a malware carrier in the future.
Right now, you can either upload your user images (profile image, banner image, user icon, and blog header image) to GameSpot, or store them pretty much anywhere that you can link to.
Obviously it's the latter case that needs to change, which is why starting March 4, 2013, users will only be able to link off to the following trusted external image hosts for their user images:
If after March 4, 2013, you are still linking off to user images hosted by any external provider except for the ones listed above, your images will be automatically changed to photos of Robocop. Or unicorns. Or Robocop riding a unicorn. Srsly. So consider this your warning.
If all of your images are hosted on some other obscure image hosting website that we've probably never heard of before and that you swear is totally legit and not at all a malware haven, and you really don't have the time to move them around, etc., etc., post your hosting domain in the comments below--we can't make any promises, but we'll consider adding additional hosts to our trusted whitelist if there is enough demand for one.
A lifelong gamer, Lark believes that the best Final Fantasy is VI, the best Zelda is A Link to the Past, and the best Metal Gear is Peace Walker. He will fight you if you disagree. Also, he fights dirty.
Question: When you say "Even though we're not hosting this image and we're not infected by malware, any page that this user posts a comment on will be flagged as a malware carrier"
Do you mean any page such user post a comment on IN THAT MALWARE WEBSITE? Or are you talking about gamespot??
@HemmaroidsBasically, if a user with a malware-hosted avatar posts on a GameSpot page and their image appears, that particular page on GameSpot will be flagged as harboring malware.
1 Like Robocop riding a unicorn would be an awesome avatar so maybe I'll give a try....although if I can find Robocop riding Rainbow Dash or Pinkie Pie xD
tinypic wasn't a trusted website before? I've used it before so. now I mostly use photobucket and imageshack sometimes
My website is not a malware site. www.whiteknight77.net is hosted at 1and1.com and should not be considered a malware site. Please add it to the trusted list.
http://sig.grumpybumpers.com/ ....
My Avatar and signature has been uploaded to this site for years and I haven't had any problems. Can you please allow that site?...
Noted, though I've been using cut & paste scripts web site to store my Dan sigs (which are hosted on photobucket)
OK just read that you aren't mucking with the signatures, so we are good to go
I'd like to add THIS one:
http://www.fotos-hochladen.net/
German one, for uploading a HD Pic or so to a US server takes even more time and I use it ever since.
So, check it out please, GameSpot ^^
Hey Mr Anderson, I'm sorry this is out of context but it would be awesome to also improve the video player... Been really annoyed by the fact that you cannot jump to the middle of a video without downloading the beginning of it first. This is particularly annoying when you watch a video for a while and then change the quality setting.
Proud Imageshack user, never had this issue, but good to see some more trusted sites that you can't deny their legitimacy.
Sorry but you said "Right now, you can either upload your user images to GameSpot , or store them pretty much anywhere that you can link to" can you explain how please?
@matastig You do it through your settings, and it only works for the profile images I outlined above.
@LarkAnderson But that's works only for our Avy's and banners. how about our regular images to post in our blogs and stuff? so we're not allowed to host images in our Gamespot anymore?
We've updated the list of trusted websites to include a few that have been requested. Read above for the details!
1 Like @LarkAnderson Thanks for adding tinypic :) I was worried I might have to move all of my images.
1 Like @2ndWonder @LarkAnderson Tinypic is by far the best and most reliable Host i ever seen.
@LarkAndersonI used Tinypic for years and it's my favorite and most trusted host, Photobucket didn't work out well for me, Tinypic all the way.
1 Like lol. Robocop riding unicorns..that is hilarious. I've always used imageshack so I'm good in that regard.
1 Like where is tinypic? it's linked to photobucket, so I hope it's allowed. 99% of my images are on tinypic
Almost every issue of System Wars Magazine will now become the Robocop Unicorn gallery when this goes into effect.
We stopped using Gamespot Images when Gamespot broke all the old links to the images (by moving to a different system (?), I imagine), resulting in them not loading (example: http://www.gamespot.com/forums/topic/26064586)
Can Wordpress.com images be allowed to be posted? If not, I can understand; we'll rebuild the way we make them into the new system.
@Willy105 Emblem incoming this week! http://www.gamespot.com/news/daily-digest-robocop-icorn-inspired-emblem-6404779
@Willy105 This isn't going to affect images you post in the forums right now--just profile images, banner images, user icons, and blog header images.
@LarkAndersonwhich is the main reason I haven't bothered to suggest things like puu.sh/puush.me - they're almost exclusively for quick pictures in posts rather than avatars/banners/etc. Unfortunately, we'll still get the odd malware warning complaint due to google chrome as a result of allowing all images in the main body of posts, but it should be a great deal rarer at least.
4 Like "If you havin' virus problems, we feel bad for you son / we've got 99 bugs but hostin' malware ain't one"
99 bugs is an understatement, gamespot :P
Hopefully this doesn't lead to moderation if someone forgets to take down their potentially malware avatar picture.
Alucard the Virus.
2 Like @Lark Anderson I use Flickr for most of my non-png images. Why isn't that on the list?
@harry_james_pot @F22_King_Raptor agreed. Flickr should be considered before imgur.
Have only used the flickr api once from a developer standpoint and haven't used it personally so don't know how easy it is to use from someone who doesn't code html to use compared to photobucket for example but it should be on the list.
