If copyright violation is the driving force behind not allowing pictures to be uploaded directly to the PRS Forum, it would seem there must be a workaround on that issue. A paragraph in the "Terms And Conditions" of the forum should suffice to keep at bay, any responsibility that could be thrust upon PRS. And even if there was a violation (a copyrighted photo gets posted), most copyright disputes start with a cease and desist letter and if complied with, there is no legal case that makes it to the courts AFIK. Complying with such a letter is simple, remove picture from sight and maybe warn (or in persistent cases ban) user that posted it about the ramifications of copyright violations (as in read TOC again or GTFO). All that said, I find it unlikely that even 0.1% of pictures posted here would raise such hackles considering that the overwhelming majority of pix posted (from what I see) are of members instruments (have at it Alan, low hanging fruit there)!
I would note as well, that there is more to the picture stuff here on the site that simple upload direct. I have been a web programmer for 30+ years and have built custom forum software from the ground up. I have modified dozens of forum software packages to provide custom functionality that is not available in the stock program. When I first joined this forum, I had troubles even when using my own server to host the pix. Why? Because number one, it has to be at a https site. That is not mentioned ANYWHERE that I know of other than the
tutorial I put together. It also must end in a web image extension (.jpg, .gif, .png, etc.) which is why google drive (a very secure platform) can not be used as your third party picture hosting service. I also have never seen this qualification mentioned anywhere other than my tutorial and my comments on this topic. This goes beyond the limitations of "must use a third party so we are not liable for copyright violations" and brings in whole new set of elements regarding WHO and HOW can a third party host material to be displayed here. This issue would be resolved without any additional efforts if direct uploads were implemented.
Finally, I think PRS misses an opportunity here in not letting others upload pix here. If the TOC had the proper wording (
"PRS Corp. reserves the right to utilize in marketing and other promotional endeavors, all images uploaded to the PRS Forum. We do not own the copyright to your image, but we are reserve the right to use your image for our corporate marketing and promotional purposes. If you do not agree with such conditions, do not post any pictures here on the forum.") , all pictures uploaded here could be used by the PRS marketing department. What could be better than the enthusiasm of your users and their praises/pix of your product? It is in my perspective, a marketing treasure trove that is being passed over. And you do NOT get such rights when people are "linking" the pix from other sites (although wording could be fashioned to give PRS such rights I would imagine, but then you are just taking advantage of people IMO).
Any arguments about the "cost" of storage of the pix is uninformed! I would bet my bottom dollar that the storage space necessary to host the pix uploaded by users would amount to a fraction of the cost of a SE guitar. I get 8TB drives for $120 (and have been for several years). One of those drives would hold ~8 million photos at 1MB each (and many photos are going to be 10% of that file size if that). My server account where I host my websites has UNLIMITED storage available at no additional charge (and that costs me $20/month).
I LOVE my PRS guitars and my enthusiasm has undoubtedly helped to influence other to whom I have sung my praises. I LOVE that PRS is a small private corporation and keeping the product pure. I do believe however, without any expectations, that the picture situation could be overcome with some legal wording/software adjustments and it would make many users more comfortable with usage of the forum. It may even increase usage which would increase exposure to the product line which could increase sales, blah blah blah ;~)) I am here regardless of how the pix are done! Like I have said for the past 3 years here on the forum "Once you PRS, you won't settle for less!" ;~))