Airliners.net Compressing Photos Now?

[ChrisW]

I recently had photo ID 1304172 accepted to the database with the following screener comment: "Christopher, please reupload with copyright bar."

Looking at the photo upon receiving that email, I noticed that it had a "/" for the photographer name on the copyright bar. I intended to re-upload the photo when I returned home today (which I already have done as requested). However, I noticed that the quality of the photo currently in the database is SEVERELY compressed.

In short, the photo current in the A.net database for photo ID 1304172 looks AWFUL - I can't believe how compressed the file is (down to roughly 100 KB versus the original 600 KB file I uploaded originally).

Is Airliners.net (i.e. DemandMedia) compressing images automatically? If so I'd be very disappointed.

I've emailed the screeners and head screeners but have yet to receive any replies.

Original file (636k): http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a350/refleckt/image2.jpg
Compressed file now on A.net (196k): http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a350/refleckt/image1.jpg

[flyboy 28]

I've noticed that too, with a couple other images as well. I just thought it was my eyes playing tricks on me, but your evidence leads me to believe otherwise.

[PhilDernerJr]

I thought it was understood that both sites slightly compress photos for web reasons.

I also thought photobucket compresses photos, making your linking reference useless. :wink:

[ChrisW]

With all due respect, can you not tell the difference in quality between the two photos? Secondly, going from a 600K file down to a 200K file is anything but "slight." That's a major reduction in file quality.

None of my other photos accepted have experienced any quality issues such as this after uploading them to the site.

Not to mention that since the Demand Media acquisition the site has anything but functioned near its previous owner's reliability and functionality.

[T-Bird76]

As far as the site goes, Demand Media moved all of A.nets servers from Europe to the U.S, that in itself is huge task that just demands problems to happen. Demand also upgraded allot of A.net's old software and they’re compatibility issues with the data and the new software. Overall I think they've done a good job with the conversion, bumps along the way will happen and it will take a bit of time to resolve the issues but overall to me it looks like biz as usual at A.net. As for the compression thing, I wonder if it’s a flaw in the new software.

[ChrisW]

True, there have been many bumps in the road. But issues that were "solved" by the new staff continue to return such as the aircraft info. discrepancy and now, apparently, over-compression of photos.

[Matt Molnar]

Has anyone noticed similar problems? It could be a sporadic glitch, or it could be the result of trying to squeeze every nickel out of their investment by reducing storage and bandwidth costs (which would of course be a huge mistake).

[PhilDernerJr]

Storage is cheap. Compression is for loading times for site visitors...if anything.

[adam613]

Storage is cheap. Compression is for loading times for site visitors...if anything.

Storage is cheap, but bandwidth isn't. Especially in the kind of volume a.net needs...

Compression might make a bit of sense from a business perspective, but if it results in a loss of quality, that would ruin one of the truly great things about a.net...

[ChrisW]

And that makes absolutely zero sense. The point of the Demand Media acquisition was to EXPAND and GROW the site, not reduce the quality.

Regarding compression, I found this on the inoperative photo re-upload page:

If your photo is wider than 1600 pixels or higher than 1600 pixels you need to resize it before uploading. Keep the width on above 1024 and save with minimum JPEG compression (highest JPEG quality) and the quality will be at it's best. Do not worry about long download times for low compression files, our scripts will automatically optimize compression without loss in picture quality.

So much for the loss in picture quality.

[ChrisW]

The photo re-upload feature has been fixed and wouldn't you know it - did not compress the image at all. Another software bug for Demand Media to sort through.

Reupload:
[airlinerstp://www.airliners.net/open.file/1304172/L/[/airliners

[mirrodie]

I thought it was understood that both sites slightly compress photos for web reasons.


That was what I understood as well.


But Chris, what Anet has been going through is much like a house under construction with the occupants still living inside. This is my loose understanding of the techno lingo:

Johan built a house with a lot of 'patchwork" and whenever DM tries to make a change in code, something else goes wrong.

We have teams of people devoted to working solely on the bugs while other teams are in planning and others are in keeping it running right now. But I can assure that reducing quality is not their intent.

Its tedious but in the long run, it should be worth the disruptions.