Why do I get this message in posts where there should be an image. Have I made any mistakes or is it a bandwidth saver feature of the board or something?

Open this link:

http://pessoal.onda.com.br/rjamorim/screen.png

Actually it's set to yes already... Funny thing is that it happens in just some cases (maybe about 1/3). Sorry that I didn't include that info in my first post. And it can be somewhat sporadic as well. Sometimes I see the picture first time I view a thread but then it's gone the second time and back again by the third refresh.

Oh, by the way, I'm using Mozilla Firebird v0.7 on a Windows XP machine if that can be of any help...

One more thing: last example of a thread where this happens is http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index....showtopic=14890

Happens very frequently in the "new logo" thread as well. Anyone?

Here it only happens when the URL is invalid...

So why does the server check if a link is valid or not? I though that would be left to the web client to discover on its own.

Edit: or is the text "user posted image" the alt text of the image... Then it makes sense... I think I found the evildoer now. It's probably Mr Norton and his firewall who sit and block pictures for me.

Sorry for the confusion. Lesson learned for the 10th time. Always check my own configuration one more time before shouting for help from others.

The server won't check anything. Invision Power Board (the forum engine used here) adds the alternate text "user posted image" to any posted graphic. The browser will then display the alternate text when the image was not found (Internet Explorer also shows the alternate text when moving the mouse over a picture).

Happens to me, as well. As you said in your previous post, it only happens sometimes. I'm using Internet Explorer 5.5 with Windows 95b. I haven't tested it with other browsers.

First cause : someone linked an image hosted in a webspace blocking redirection. This is the case of most free webspace, like Yahoo, Geocities, Lycos... You must upload pictures in the webspace provided by your ISP for them to be linkable.

Second cause, the URL is wrong

Third cause, the server hosting the image is busy, or your connection is laggy, and the picture is not accessed before the timeout. In this case, refreshing can work.

In my case, it's probably the third cause. I am on dialup and my browser is probably unable to handle downloading many pictures at the same time (a requirement in the logo thread). Right-clicking the image box of the failed download and selecting 'Show Picture' seems to work in IE 5.5.

Thanks for the information.