i have decided to make my own guide based on my personal experience with hosting and sharing files on the internet

If you have any site/application that you use for linking files, please let me know so that I may add it

How Image/File Links Work and How To Use Them

  Image links are the way that images on the internet are shown on sites. A person can use image links to "copy" the exact image onto their own site or post. One can tell if it is a proper file link if it ends with something like ".png, .jpeg, .mp3, .wav, .mp4, etc". The easiest way to obtain an image link is by right-clicking on an image and pressing "Copy image link" or "Copy image address".

Example with two browsers:

How to Add Images to PMC

-Default/Visual

  By pressing the Insert/edit Media button at the top of almost all text boxes, a UI pops up giving the options of pasting the image link, adding an optional description, and changing its size. Speaking of changing its size, there is an option to keep its aspect ratio, which is on by default.

-BBCode Source

  Pressing the BBCode Source button will show the code that formats blogs and wallposts. I'd recommend learning BBCode; it's pretty easy and will help a whole lot. I will simply show you the basics of using BBCode for media. One must be typing in BBCode Source for this to work.
  To add an image add [​img] and [​/img] before and after the image link. To change the width and height of an image in BBCode, use [​img width=# height=#]. There is no way to lock the aspect ratio of an image via BBCode, so do so in the visual editor.
-- Examples
[img]https://od.lk/s/NjZfNTg2MTE4Mjdf/howtoimagelinkfind.png[/img]

[img width=300 height=102]https://od.lk/s/NjZfNTg2MTE4Mjdf/howtoimagelinkfind.png[/img]
⚠ DO NOT USE Postimages. It has been reported to add spam links to images and steal user data!!! ⚠

Made For File Hosting

-Sites

-- For Images Specifically

--- ImgBB

  ImgBB is a popular image-sharing site. The site can be used with or without an account. A paid account can also be made.
  To upload an image, press the "Start Uploading" that is in the middle of the screen. The option to autodelete the image after a certain amount of time will be shown afterwards. ImgBB offers many kinds of link, but the one for PMC is called "BBCode Full Linked".
  By default, the image will be formatted for BBCode Source with it also being linked directly back to the site. To remove the link, delete the "⦋url=imgbb.com⦌⦋/url⦌" parts. To use the visual method, only copy the image link or delete the BBCode parts afterward.

-- For Multiple File Types

--- imgur

  imgur is a very well-known option to choose from. It can be used for photos and videos with or without an account.
  To host an image, click on the "New Post" button at the top left corner of the site. You will be given the option to give it the image directly from the site or by pasting it from your clip board. Once the image has been posted, the link can be grabbed by right-clicking the image. DO NOT press the "Copy link" or "Grab link" buttons, as those do not work.
  I am not sure when this happens, but sometimes when using imgur, a very large frame with the imgur logo will appear.

--- OpenDrive

  Not to be confused with OneDrive, OpenDrive can be used for both saving files for oneself or hosting, which I use personally for .wav or .mp3 files. There is, of course, limited storage, unless a subscription is paid for.
  To obtain an image link from OpenDrive after a file is uploaded, press on the three horizontal lines at the the top right corner of the file and press Links. Make sure to copy the "Direct Link (streaming)".

-Applications

-- For Multiple File Types

--- Tixte

  Tixte is a very interesting option. It gives the option to use custom website domains to host the images if one does not want to use Tixte's subdomains. It also has the options to collaborate on images (I do not know exactly what this means) and can make links expire. 15 GB are given for free.
  I have not tried this option myself, so i cannot speak for it.

Not Made For File Hosting

--- Tumblr

  Tumblr is used for creating blogs and sharing content, but recently I have been using it for its image/video links. Making a private post with the image in it works perfectly, although I am not sure if deleting the private post will delete the image as well. An alternative, yet more crappy way of using Tumblr for image hosting is via the messaging system. Send the image to someone and click onto the thumbnail of the image and copy that link. The full image does not have a correct link, so this is not good if you want your image to be good quality.

Stuff That Doesn't Work

--- Discord

  After the company realized their users were using their product for image hosting, they changed how image links worked on their site, so that they expire after a short amount of time. Discord links can still be used for image sharing, especially if you want the image to expire.

Potentially Scammy Sites

--- img.vdoerig.com

  I was privately messaged by someone with the site "img.vdoerig.com" for image hosting. Although the site itself seems alright, some scam site checkers proclaimed the site suspicious. I will not check this site myself, but if others that use this site can speak of this site's authenticity, I shall remove it from the category.