# Basically, HELP ME.



## Sneeze (May 25, 2008)

I'm DISCUSSING THIS SITE by bringing up an issue where maybe someone will read it.
Kay, so I just made this account yesterday and I cannot upload an avatar or any artwork.
For the avatar: It's the right size, file type and it's 11.5kb. (It's the avatar I have on the forums)

For submissions: It gives me an error page with a broken link.
"*System Message* 
*Your gallery folder is missing...click the lnk below to fix it.*
[Click here to continue...]"

And, it seems to be an issue with new accounts now. 

(and, lol, on the support forums, there is no support. So, I'm trying here.)


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## Shark_the_raptor (May 25, 2008)

Did you make an actual account on the site?  Forum accounts are separate from FA accounts.  If you want to make an account for FA, PM Dragoneer.


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## Sneeze (May 25, 2008)

Shark_the_raptor said:


> Did you make an actual account on the site?  Forum accounts are separate from FA accounts.  If you want to make an account for FA, PM Dragoneer.




Yep. Same name. And, I wouldn't be able to access the avatar uploading/ submitting artwork on furaffinity.net if I didn't have one.


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## Shark_the_raptor (May 25, 2008)

Sneeze said:


> Yep. Same name. And, I wouldn't be able to access the avatar uploading/ submitting artwork on furaffinity.net if I didn't have one.



Okay.  Have you PM'd Dragoneer about it?  He can help you.


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## Sneeze (May 25, 2008)

Shark_the_raptor said:


> Okay.  Have you PM'd Dragoneer about it?  He can help you.



I haven't, and I'll do that. Thanks.


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## Shark_the_raptor (May 25, 2008)

Sneeze said:


> I haven't, and I'll do that. Thanks.



You're welcome.


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## Arrow Tibbs (May 25, 2008)

Did you click the "continue" link, or try to access your control panel's gallery management?


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## Sneeze (May 25, 2008)

Arrow Tibbs said:


> Did you click the "continue" link, or try to access your control panel's gallery management?




It's a broken link. http://www.furaffinity.net/account/sneeze/
It goes to a 404 page.


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## Arrow Tibbs (May 25, 2008)

Hm...Usually this would have created your gallery folder, at least in my recollection. Sounds like this might be a bug in the system rather than just a random error.


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## Sneeze (May 25, 2008)

It's been happening with other new users also.

Site problem.


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## JVW (May 25, 2008)

Hello. I just registered today and I'm having the same issue. I'll assume the site admin is looking into it and I'll just check back at a later time.

Have nice day!


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## Shizuki (May 26, 2008)

The same thing is happening to me as well, I created a secondary account for more serious work, and I can't upload neither an avatar nor artwork to it.


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## Eevee (May 26, 2008)

yak appears to have fixed the underlying problem but I don't know if he's actually fixed accounts made in the meantime.


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## Nanakisan (May 26, 2008)

yeah i've been noticing this problem too. but i'm a 2 year user on FA.
for some reason i'm getting blank screened on uploading my art.
everyone else can upload why not me T^T no love for this kitty i guess.
maybe the servers just hate me.
lol


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## Sneeze (May 26, 2008)

Eevee said:


> yak appears to have fixed the underlying problem but I don't know if he's actually fixed accounts made in the meantime.



So, are you saying that accounts made now will be fixed?
...I liked my username, Sneeze.
EDIT:
Well, I just decided to make a new account again. It's Tape.


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## Rue (May 29, 2008)

Nanakisan said:


> yeah i've been noticing this problem too. but i'm a 2 year user on FA.
> for some reason i'm getting blank screened on uploading my art.
> everyone else can upload why not me T^T no love for this kitty i guess.
> maybe the servers just hate me.
> lol



I get the exact same problem. It's becoming frustrating.


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## Eevee (May 31, 2008)

Please don't pollute the username pool  :|

Poking yak.


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## yak (May 31, 2008)

I am going concoct an elaborate reply, and harbor a fool's hope that it will automagically  be read by everyone who is having problem uploading to FA.


Okay, so, the submit script is fairly straightforward albeit overly simplistic, which is why when an error happens instead of a meaningful message you see a WhiteScreenOfDeath. This is a legacy behavior.

However, there are a only a handful of things that can cause the submit script to fail. I will list them all here, and assume you will be able to self-diagnose your situation and find  a solution to your problem. 


 First, and the most obnoxious reason why the submit script fails is the *pixel dimensions of the image* you are trying to upload. 

Honestly, I am looking into the error logs and seeing people trying to upload _six thousand_ pixel wide images in 6pass interlace .png format, totaling over 7 megabytes of file data. 
Resampling that image down to 1280x1280 - main submission file, 600x600 - halfview and 120x120 - thumbnail _exhausts_ the generously given 81Megabytes of maximum allowed RAM usage the submit script can claim. Or in other words, the submit script goes "NO U", and whitescreens.

*Solution*: You know of the maximum pixel dimensions of the file that FA allows. _Please_ resize your submission down before uploading.



 Second most frequent error: *users trying to upload .BMP images*.
Up until not so long ago it was possible. It was still prone to the same memory exhaustion when resizing as the preceding list item.

I missed the exact point when the php's GD image library dropped support for .bmp files, but looking at the logs distinctly shows that .bmp files _are_, and _will not be_ supported by FA any more.

*Solution*: Do not upload bitmap files to FA. Even mspaint has an option to save the file as a .jpg image.




 Third reason why an upload can fail: *problems with the image's filename*.

Due to various reasons beyond my will to understand them, FA is very sensitive to the filename of the image you are trying to upload.
Things that can cause an upload to fail:
 Very long filename
 Filename with special characters in them. As a safety measure, name the file using the English keyboard layout.
 Double extensions. No this.is.my.file.bmp.jpg  filenames please. Infact, better not use the "dot" character anywhere in the filename.

*Solution*: Rename the file to something short and simple before uploading. Do not worry about the meaningless filename if the users decide to save your submission file on their computer - FA will soon change the file format to a more clean "Artist - submission title.extension" format.





 Last, but not least is the *corrupt image file problem*.
This can happen because of various reasons. You could have a corrupt imagefile to begin with, or it could become corrupt to the unstable internet connection of yours, dropping halfway through the upload - or it could even become corrupt within the system of FA.

As a rule of thumb - if you can view your image both in the browser directly (tell the browser to open your image), and in some basic image viewing software native to your OS, then the image is likely not to be corrupted. 

*Solution*: No real solution here. Try to upload the image to imageshack or some such website. If it goes through there, but fails on FA - and you have tried to resolve the problem using the above written solutions - then please, report the problem on these forums.


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## yak (May 31, 2008)

Sneeze said:


> So, are you saying that accounts made now will be fixed?
> ...I liked my username, Sneeze.
> EDIT:
> Well, I just decided to make a new account again. It's Tape.



No.
I have fixed the broken link on the "missing gallery folder" error message. All you have to do is click it, and the problem will be fixed.


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## Stratelier (May 31, 2008)

> Honestly, I am looking into the error logs and seeing people trying to upload six thousand pixel wide images in 6pass interlace .png format, totaling over 7 megabytes of file data [apiece].


Six thousand?  I've seen occasional submissions weighing in at excess of _nine thousand_ pixels to a side.

Uploading BMP's should be a bannable offense.  Or at least punishable by an automatic 24-hour account suspension.


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## NerdyMunk (May 31, 2008)

Smaller file sizes are .gif. Just a tip. You can save an image as a .gif and have it not be animation. It is probably the best way to get your avatar on the site or here.


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## Lobar (May 31, 2008)

brownsquirrel said:


> Smaller file sizes are .gif. Just a tip. You can save an image as a .gif and have it not be animation. It is probably the best way to get your avatar on the site or here.



Different image formats are better at compressing different types of images with minimal loss of image quality.  If .gif was better for everything, there would be no .jpg files at all.


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## NerdyMunk (May 31, 2008)

Lobar said:


> Different image formats are better at compressing different types of images with minimal loss of image quality.  If .gif was better for everything, there would be no .jpg files at all.



But still, it buys you some time of changing image sizes and not having the message "Your avatar exceeds maximum allow-age."


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## Eevee (Jun 1, 2008)

There is no reason to use GIF for a non-animated file.  I have yet to see a static GIF image that is not smaller as an indexed PNG, and if you aren't that concerned with filesize then there's no reason to dick up your colors with dithering.


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## codewolf (Jun 1, 2008)

yak said:


> {problem fixes here}



have created an announcement to air this a bit more yak


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