How to (Really) Tell Which Threads Contain Images?

[Aviator1]

Often times, I will seek out additional pictures of certain providers, if their showcase doesn't show much, or perhaps they have no showcase. In those cases, I will click on their handle to bring up their main profile page, then click on "Statistics / Find all threads started by (user)."

I then can see a list of results, some of which show a paperclip (attachment) icon indicating that there is a picture attached to that thread. However, a great many threads which do not show a paperclip will still have pictures attached. Two questions:

What is the difference between a picture that is indicated by a paperclip, and one that is not?

Is there any way I can identify which threads, among those NOT showing a paperclip, contain images?

[Mokoa]

First question...

The threads with the paper clip contain posts with images that were uploaded to the ECCIE site as attachments. The threads without the paper clip that have posts with images, those images are actually imbedded links to where the images are actually located.

The following thread may be of interest to you...

http://www.eccie.net/showthread.php?t=251071

Second question...

No, because they do not actually contain the image. They contain only a link to the image.

[Kimchi]

Good question - I've wondered the same thing.

Thanks for the reply.

[Aviator1]

Indeed, thanks for the help, Mokoa. I only wish there was some way to view ALL of a privider's posted pics without clicking on every single post she's ever made. But I guess I shouldn't complain; we've come a long way from the Hobby Dark Ages of responding to newspaper ads with no pics at all.

Perhaps a future update will include advanced search options that can somehow detect links to images.

[Whateveruwant2]

How do u change ur name?

[Aviator1]

Figured it out!

It occurred to me right after I typed my last reply, but I didn't try it until today.

Mokoa said that we can't identify which threads contain embedded links to images, because they don't have actual attachments. Which is spot-on correct.

Then I commented, "perhaps a future update will include advanced search options that can somehow detect links to images."

Then I asked myself, "what is a link? It's basically just text! So what is a link to an image? Text which contains the terms "jpg," "tif," "png," or "gif!"

Go to "Search."
Search keywords "jpg," "tif," "png," or "gif."
Find posts by user.
BAM, all threads containing image links posted by that person. Success!

My only remaining complaint is that the typical Boolean operators don't seem to be working here. I feel like I should be able to type into the keyword box just like this... jpg OR tif OR png OR gif... and thereby see links to images for ANY of those file extensions. But it seems to only work when I type in one at a time, requiring me to search four times to find any of the four types of image files.

Regardless, I'm a lot better off now than I was before. Thanks again, Mokoa, for explaining the system and leading me down the right path.

[Mokoa]

For the Boolean stuff...

Keyword1 Keyword2 means Keyword1 OR Keyword2.

Keyword1+Keyword2 means Keyword1 AND Keyword2.

[Aviator1]

Typing in keywords together is definitely not working for me. The only way I'm seeing results is by typing one at a time.

[Mokoa]

Did you use the "+" sign as I demonstrated?

[Aviator1]

Wouldn't the plus sign yield only results containing ALL of the keywords? That's not what I'm looking for. I want to find results with ANY of the keywords; at least one, but not necessarily the others.