Actually, it can be. Just last week on another forum the admin received a notification from the hosting service that they were approaching the maximum storage on their plan saying the pictures were the biggest load. They had few choices:
- Delete pictures themselves. This would have to be done by each poster editing their own content.
- The hosting service would delete them as necessary, oldest first to remain in plan.
- Go to an offsite image hosting service.
- Pay for higher storage capacity.
This forum has been struggling for a few years for a number of reasons IMHO. It's membership is small because it's for a single model of boat and is barely funded by Class Association dues which also partially funds a quarterly magazine. Registered forum membership is around 1900, paid Association membership is around 250. They are at a crossroads, either reduce the storage or find a way to feed the beast.
While our precious resource here does not suffer such malaise, it is still an example of how little things can add up. The forum limits your picture size to 1280 px for a reason. My suggestion of limiting attachment sizes further was intended as a courtesy to our host. There is nothing in a 1280 px (one dimension) picture you can't see in a 640 px pic.