Katka wrote: unlimited bandwidth and unlimited storage space for £6.99 a month
. Does that mean we'd each have this cost if we post a photo, or the Forum buy it but all contributors use it? If the first, those who just have a one-off question won't want it, and collectively forum members would pay rather a lot - I'd prefer to pay a sub to the forum. If the latter, it's good value.
Do we know what the bandwidth/capacity BF would need and its potential cost?
It would be a cost for the forum. I have no idea on the accounts of the forum, but as there is an income from membership it may be possible that there are funds available - on the flip side there may be no spare money, it may already be running at the limit.
It was just an example to show that it is possible to host for a minimal amount. I posted the 100GB option as I would have thought that a forum of this size would struggle to ever fill 100GB with compressed jpegs.
I've no idea how close they are to bandwidth limits etc.
I've hosted a number of forums in the past (I have changed jobs since) and often self hosted the images on the server. By restricting size or automatically resizing images it allowed me to control the size and none of them got unmanageable, most forum software allows you to set a limit of total space for each user too. You're only talking a matter of KBs for compressed jpegs.
There is an added risk in allowing people to upload files as it gives them a point to try and hack the website by uploading malicious files but properly written checks reduce this as does only allowing verified members to post images (after 10 posts etc.)