https://www.reddit.com/r/discordapp/comments/16uy0an/not_sure_if_this_is_real/

Need a better source but posting just in case. What do you guys think?

honestly, I never really saw the value of just posting a link to the raw image in the source, anyway, Discord or otherwise. outside of the post being deleted, it dosn't provide any utility.

it'd be better to link to the discord message that contains the image instead.

I don't know where "next year" comes from because Discord already seems to be doing this.

sipothac said:
honestly, I never really saw the value of just posting a link to the raw image in the source, anyway, Discord or otherwise. outside of the post being deleted, it dosn't provide any utility.

There is some utility to this, as the ID for the channel it was posted in can be found in the image URL.

Take this random image for example: https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/460517895420772353/1156693589141753977/image.png?ex=6517e099&is=65168f19&hm=eb5b44923b7f4241ffdf0ca685ffe1102c2f8b6dea182b2b9cbc499502f15d54
From the URL alone I can tell that the image was posted into #e621-helpdesk in the e621 discord server (channel ID: 460517895420772353), obviously it requires being in the server or already knowing the channel ID for #e621-helpdesk, but just knowing that information can save you having to scroll through every piece of media posted to that channel, or even having to be in the server at all if there was some sort of compiled list of channel IDs.

This could be pretty handy for janitors making sure all the content posted from an artist's Discord server was in fact from a public channel.

it'd be better to link to the discord message that contains the image instead.

This should definitely be done as well, but due to the nature of Discord servers requiring an invite link, those links aren't necessarily that useful either unless you're already in that server.

Wait, so the link expires if it is viewed outside of the Discord app (e.g., Chrome), but what happens if you just copy-pasted the link onto, say, a random Discord text channel?
Would it still display the image as an embed or would the link be forever considered "dead"?

I don't really get how the timer on links work and why it will still be valid when only viewed on the Discord app itself.

faucet said:
From the URL alone I can tell that the image was posted into #e621-helpdesk in the e621 discord server (channel ID: 460517895420772353), obviously it requires being in the server or already knowing the channel ID for #e621-helpdesk, but just knowing that information can save you having to scroll through every piece of media posted to that channel, or even having to be in the server at all if there was some sort of compiled list of channel IDs.

but a Discord message link provides the same information as a link to the attachment.

faucet said:
[...]due to the nature of Discord servers requiring an invite link, those links aren't necessarily that useful either unless you're already in that server.

but without an invite to the server you couldn't really use the IDs contained within the attachment link either.

sipothac said:
honestly, I never really saw the value of just posting a link to the raw image in the source, anyway, Discord or otherwise. outside of the post being deleted, it dosn't provide any utility.

it'd be better to link to the discord message that contains the image instead.

Not all of us use discord. Direct image links work(ed) to see the source image, a discord message link just gives us a useless login page. Similar for most other direct image links, for some sites you can see it directly when the post may require a login. Having both is good.

watsit said:
Not all of us use discord. Direct image links work(ed) to see the source image, a discord message link just gives us a useless login page. Similar for most other direct image links, for some sites you can see it directly when the post may require a login. Having both is good.

save for cases of post deletion and bvas (which I think Discord has a lower max upload size than we do anyway, so), a direct link to an image will just show you the exact same thing that's already on the post, though? it's just the same thing but hosted on Discord's CDN; what's the point?

sipothac said:
save for cases of post deletion and bvas (which I think Discord has a lower max upload size than we do anyway, so), a direct link to an image will just show you the exact same thing that's already on the post, though? it's just the same thing but hosted on Discord's CDN; what's the point?

Verification that the post is from the source (e.g. not a paysite leak trying to hide with an otherwise legit source URL), or if the image is deleted here there's still a way to see it. I've run into the former on more than one occasion, and any time I see a deleted post with a valid source I'm always grateful (sometimes it also helps to be able to fix the tags, e.g. if it's a deleted post with a bunch of invalid or contradictory tags).

watsit said:
Verification that the post is from the source (e.g. not a paysite leak trying to hide with an otherwise legit source URL), or if the image is deleted here there's still a way to see it. I've run into the former on more than one occasion, and any time I see a deleted post with a valid source I'm always grateful (sometimes it also helps to be able to fix the tags, e.g. if it's a deleted post with a bunch of invalid or contradictory tags).

Both the direct link and the post link sources are fragile for different reasons, so yeah... Been trying to make sure all my uploads have both.