is there a way of doing it so you do not have to upload it to an image site?
Maybe running your own server.
I'm not to terribly tech savy. I wish there were a way just to drag and drop a file on my computer/phone into the forum message box.
Not all forums will allow that because it'll just eat up server and bandwidth space providing that feature to their users. The site already bears the brunt of all the images we upload for the database... including that for the forum, too, would just add to the cost of keeping the site up.
Here's a tutorial I provided for others who had the same questions about how to put an image up on the forum:
You cannot upload photos directly to the forum post. What you need to do instead is upload an image to something else, like imgur, and get the image link for it and then insert it like thus:
[img]http://image.jpg[/img]
So yeah, step by step:
1. go to imgur.com
(optionally, you can sign in or create an account so that you can access your photo later. otherwise, you might not be able to find it later.)
2. click on the "upload images" button at the top of the page.
3. drag and drop the image onto that imgur page
4. click on "start upload"
5. on the right side of the page, it will say "Direct Link (email & IM)" with a link typed under it, usually ending with .jpg
6. Copy that link or click on the little icon next to that link to copy the link.
7. Go to your vgcollect forum post and click on the "insert image" icon (mona lisa icon).
8. paste in your link
9.? ? ?
10. profit!