Update 1: This is an issue with cloudflare, we are having issues with the account that hosts the site, we are contacting cloudflare support about the issue.
Update 2: we have switched s3 providers and images should be working again, older images may be missing, we will have to do a merge with the old s3 storage backup into the new provider, we plan to do this soon, but all new images will work as expected, sorry for the issues and thanks for your patience and kindness while we were working on the fix
Update 3: we have created a new ticket with cloudflare support with more information so that hopefully they take this issue more seriously.
For those experiencing issues uploading pictures, that is a separate issue we were not aware of until yesterday, that should be fixed now
EDIT: Federation issues:
It seems like federation is working now and the issues with photo uploading and admin settings getting 500 errors was also causing federation issues. Some posts were, to my understanding, in a federation window that has passed so the data is no longer there to be federated to our instance but future posts should federate properly. Please let me know if you see any other more recent posts that aren’t federating properly.
I work in software and manage hosted services myself, for personal and professional purposes. Once set up, it's pretty easy. It's once an issue like this arises that it can become a bit of a nightmare. What I'm going on about is the dude putting in well over an hour, at least, of typing about his little conspiracy theory. Could something sketchy be happening? Yes. Is it likely? No.
Do you realize the first half of your comment equates to, "It's easy for an expert like myself, so it's easy for everyone?"
I would be shocked if it took them "well over an hour" to write that comment. I'd bet fifteen minutes or so.
That's not the only comment he left on this post.. And that's not how my comment is meant to be read. More a "Once you get it set up, it runs itself." doesn't matter your skill level. I mention my experience to give credit to my perspective, since I've been a dumbass at this stuff before, so know how it is.