Google removes 'save image'

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scotland
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Google removes 'save image'

Postby scotland » February 16th, 2018, 8:47 am

I do a lot of image searching, and yes, I often reuse them on places like social media. If I want to talk about Atari 2600 Pac Man, I will likely want to grab an image of the box art or gameplay.

Now Google has removed the 'save image' button. This was done after lobbying by content creators. You might be able to get the image still by opening it in a new tab on some browsers, or going to the website.

I am not saying Google is wrong in bending to content creators like Getty images (who was suing them), as its a case of balancing things. Some headlines do frame it as Google working to prevent stealing. Dave has a right to protect his review content for instance, and we have other content creators here in our community too.

I will say that it will drive me to find an alternative to Google for image searches. I always preferred Google over Bing, but now Bing will be the preferred engine. I say this as when I appropriate an image for a discussion, its for a momentary use in a fleeting conversation. I consider that fair use, like a movie review using an image.

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Stalvern
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Re: Google removes 'save image'

Postby Stalvern » February 16th, 2018, 12:07 pm

No, they removed the "View Image" button. There is a "Save" button; I couldn't tell you what it does (except that its little ribbon icon turns yellow after clicking), but it's probably tied to your Google account.

This corporate gesture means nothing. You can still go to the image's page and save it from there. You can even right-click it there and use your browser's "View Image" option if you really have to see it on its own in a tab before saving it.

I would not advise switching to Bing over this - over anything, in fact. In my experience, Bing is the engine to use if you aren't actually all that interested in finding what you're looking for.

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Stalvern
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Re: Google removes 'save image'

Postby Stalvern » February 16th, 2018, 12:19 pm

Also, in a baffling bit of design, it looks like even large images are linked directly in the preview pane, so you can just save them from there without even bothering to go to the actual sites.

Sut
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Re: Google removes 'save image'

Postby Sut » February 16th, 2018, 3:25 pm

Stalvern wrote:Bing is the engine to use if you aren't actually all that interested in finding what you're looking for.


:lol:

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pacman000
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Re: Google removes 'save image'

Postby pacman000 » February 16th, 2018, 3:56 pm

Gigablast recently brought back their image search option, and Yandex has image searching, I think.

Bit tired of Google's near monopoly status, so I try to use another engine before them. Also, Google's advanced search options work really poorly, often ignoring part of my query in favor of a more generic result, and Google sometimes makes me answer captcha. I'm a human! I'm just bored with the 1st page!

Having said that, I don't mind the absence of the separate image tab.

I do mind not being able to highlight text on the critic's reviews; that's how I read things on the computer; it helps me focus. Background color doesn't matter; I highlight black text on a white b/g or white text on a black b/g. Actually since the switch I rarely use this site's reviews.

If someone wanted to copy the reviews they'd use their browser's save page feature, or they'd download a crawler and use it to scrape the whole site. Disabling highlighting or right clicking? Please. It's pointless.

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Retro STrife
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Re: Google removes 'save image'

Postby Retro STrife » February 16th, 2018, 4:10 pm

pacman000 wrote:If someone wanted to copy the reviews they'd use their browser's save page feature, or they'd download a crawler and use it to scrape the whole site. Disabling highlighting or right clicking? Please. It's pointless.


I recall that change coming about because someone was literally stealing his reviews and pawning them off as their own, to start their own review site. Fortunately it got cleared up, but not before it almost had the VGC discouraged enough to stop doing reviews entirely. Not worth that happening again IMO. I agree - where there's a will, there's a way.. heck, someone could type a copy of each review if they wanted to. But still, eliminating the copy and paste function is a big deterrent and, by making plagiarizers work for it, it cuts down on the possibility significantly.

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pacman000
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Re: Google removes 'save image'

Postby pacman000 » February 16th, 2018, 6:45 pm

Problem is a scraper, like Recycled Games, is most likely not using copy/paste; he using a scraper program. And the guy posting to Racket Boy was just rewriting reviews really badly. Disabling text highlighting is unlikely to hurt those people, and it does hurt users. I'm not the only person who dislikes it when a website disables text highlighting: https://forums.digitalpoint.com/threads ... ge.848814/

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scotland
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Re: Google removes 'save image'

Postby scotland » February 16th, 2018, 7:14 pm

pacman000 wrote: I do mind not being able to highlight text on the critic's reviews; that's how I read things on the computer; it helps me focus. Background color doesn't matter; I highlight black text on a white b/g or white text on a black b/g. Actually since the switch I rarely use this site's reviews.

If someone wanted to copy the reviews they'd use their browser's save page feature, or they'd download a crawler and use it to scrape the whole site. Disabling highlighting or right clicking? Please. It's pointless.


I echo your frustration about not being to highlight or copy/paste. It actually does dampen my enthusiasm on commenting on specifics of a review because I can't quote it easily. My workaround is to open up the forum on one tab, the review on another, and try to create feedback that way.

I also remember the review lifting issue though, so I understand why that feature is disabled as well. Its a balance, I get it.

GameOfThrones
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Re: Google removes 'save image'

Postby GameOfThrones » February 16th, 2018, 11:24 pm

I use Duck Gogo as my search engine. It uses bing but does not track you everywhere.

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scotland
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Re: Google removes 'save image'

Postby scotland » February 17th, 2018, 12:01 pm

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2018/02/internet-rages-after-google-removes-view-image-button-bowing-to-getty/?amp=1

Ars Technica explaining tbis is due to a lawsuit by Getty Images. There is a browser extension out there to restore the removed functionality, or it suggests Bing or DuckDuckGo as GameofThrones did.


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