So now that Lemmy and the community overall are getting a lot of attention, with /c/memes being one of the biggest communities across instances, I think we should be a bit more strict about certain things.
I'd like your opinion, though. What do you think about a rule about only allowing images, and that such images need to be uploaded to Lemmy instead of linking to something like Imgur. I think that text and videos are a better fit for some other community (at least until we get something where we are able to play videos within Lemmy).
I remember when "meme" meant something that reflected information or behavior that had self-propogated to a degree that it entered the zeitgeist. Now it's pretty much any picture that someone thinks is humorous, even if they made it themselves ten minutes ago. Something used to become memetic as a community function; now there's people who sit around and try to come up with new "memes" by themselves, even as a way to make a living. Kind of like giving yourself a nickname, lol.
images need to be uploaded to Lemmy instead of linking to something like Imgur
Not a good idea, sites like Imgur allows lemmy to not store the data, which takes up a huge amount of space, accross all instances. It's better to have image on the instance, yes, but after a bit of work, the lemmy's devs can show external images inline, just like on reddit.
Not sure if this is still the case, but I remember reading earlier that processing uploaded images was using some of the most resources on lemmy.ml's servers at one point. Given the strain and load on the server already, I don't think it would be a good idea to put even more on it by requiring images be uploaded directly
I think storage costs need to be considered first. It could cause instances to be unable to support the costs of running due to storage and bandwidth fees.
Unless you're hosting the storage, it would be wise to contact whoever does host your instance and make sure they don't have a problem with mandating direct uploads.
But, on this end, it isn't necessary. It's easy enough to click through if it doesn't show directly.
note that when a user pastes an image on lemmy, it gets hosted on the user's home instance - not to the home instance of the community where they pasted it.