As of 14th September 2020, the popular image-sharing service imgur nsfw will no longer display NSFW subreddits. The company has decided to prevent this kind of adult material from putting its “business at risk.” Following the trend of many other tech companies, this move means that no new r/subreddits can use Imgur for file hosting, and all existing pages of this kind can now only be viewed using secure age-verified logins.
In this guide, we look at the decision made by Imgur NSFW to ‘discontinue’ support for NSFW subreddits and what alternatives there are for this kind of
content.
What is Imgur?
Imgur is an image-sharing site that has become popular primarily due to its fun family content or amusing GIFs, ‘cute’ cat pics, and memes. It was initially a design tool to be used by the Reddit community as a way to host files rather than simply sharing links through Reddit and evolved into a handy way or curating images and organizing these into folders.Originally developed as a solution to Reddit’s hosting issues, Imgur has developed into a service of its own that is now at odds with the NSFW-friendly Imgur NSFW. Image via Flicker.
The site allowed users to see at a glance all of the images posted to a subreddit without having to trawl through the text, click on URLs, and try to
filter to the good stuff. It was a fantastic time-saver and provided Redditors with a decent way to appreciate and enjoy the content being shared through
their groups. Over the years, Imgur has changed from being a simple tool for image hosting, sharing, and organization and has become something of a proto-Reddit with its community and business model…..one which is at odds to the NSFW communities of Reddit.
From its inception in 2009, when it started with a few thousand hits a day, the site now receives well over 270 million visitors each month. Imgur is
ranked the top file-sharing website globally and is the 59th most visited website in the United States (109th globally). Therefore, it takes the future
of its business very seriously, which is why it should come as no surprise that it has decided to discontinue hosting NSFW subreddits.
This holding page will now greet visitors to any Imgur subreddits. Image via Imgur. So, does this mean that all subreddits that use Imgur NSFW to host images will be left up shit creek without a paddle?
Not for the immediate future
Imgur has said that no content will be moved or deleted and will all still be available to view at the original URL. However, they have declared that all
pages known to contain content, which is NSFW in nature, will now require users to log in and verify their age to view it.
Why Has Imgur Banned NSFW Content?
A trend of late has seen many tech companies take a stand against adult content on its services. In December 2018, the famous microblogging website Tumblr decided to ban adult from its pages. This follows stands made by Twitter and
Facebook, and even PayPal. Since Tumblr decided to ban adult, Reddit has been inundated with new users but could Tumblr’s NSFW refugees have chosen the wrong ship? Image via Flicker.
It is hard to say what the long-term impact for Reddit will be after this decision, but the tech community’s initial feeling is that there may be a slight blip but that the social news aggregation site will be able to ride this out quite quickly. Though the initial connection between Reddit and Imgur NSFW was a symbiotic one, Reddit now has its native image hosting, and many r/subreddits created since this decision shouldn’t impact 2016.
However, there are some concern that this may be the thin end of the wedge and many Redditors are looking for alternatives just in case Reddit decides to
follow suit but also to provide continuity for new content with a site/platform that is NSFW-friendly.
Alternatives to Imgur for NSFW
With all the drama of Imgur abandoning its support for NSFW Reddit content, what alternatives are there for image hosting and sharing or even replacements for Reddit itself?
Fortunately, Redditors are a proactive bunch and, you’ve guessed it, there’s an Imgur Alternatives subreddit already well advanced in its suggestions and advice. In fact, there is quite a discussion going on about the future of NSFW content right across potentially affected subreddits. The
popular r/Drama subreddit is fast becoming a focus page for Imgur related rants and new information.
Reddit Grid is picking up a lot of new traffic since the decision by imgur nsfw to stop supporting Reddit’s NSFW community. Image via Reddit Grid.
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