diff --git a/app/community/routes.py b/app/community/routes.py
index 21f5a69a..37049fcb 100644
--- a/app/community/routes.py
+++ b/app/community/routes.py
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ from sqlalchemy import or_, desc
 
 from app import db, constants, cache
 from app.activitypub.signature import RsaKeys, post_request
-from app.activitypub.util import default_context, notify_about_post, find_actor_or_create
+from app.activitypub.util import default_context, notify_about_post, find_actor_or_create, make_image_sizes
 from app.chat.util import send_message
 from app.community.forms import SearchRemoteCommunity, CreatePostForm, ReportCommunityForm, \
     DeleteCommunityForm, AddCommunityForm, EditCommunityForm, AddModeratorForm, BanUserCommunityForm
@@ -465,6 +465,8 @@ def add_post(actor):
         db.session.commit()
         post.ap_id = f"https://{current_app.config['SERVER_NAME']}/post/{post.id}"
         db.session.commit()
+        if post.image_id and post.image.file_path is None:
+            make_image_sizes(post.image_id, 150, 512, 'posts')  # the 512 sized image is for masonry view
 
         notify_about_post(post)
 
diff --git a/app/community/util.py b/app/community/util.py
index 44642fb0..b97b7661 100644
--- a/app/community/util.py
+++ b/app/community/util.py
@@ -210,13 +210,13 @@ def save_post(form, post: Post):
                 remove_old_file(post.image_id)
                 post.image_id = None
 
-            unused, file_extension = os.path.splitext(form.link_url.data)  # do not use _ here instead of 'unused'
-            # this url is a link to an image - generate a thumbnail of it
+            unused, file_extension = os.path.splitext(form.link_url.data)
+            # this url is a link to an image - turn it into a image post
             if file_extension.lower() in allowed_extensions:
-                file = url_to_thumbnail_file(form.link_url.data)
-                if file:
-                    post.image = file
-                    db.session.add(file)
+                file = File(source_url=form.link_url.data)
+                post.image = file
+                db.session.add(file)
+                post.type = POST_TYPE_IMAGE
             else:
                 # check opengraph tags on the page and make a thumbnail if an image is available in the og:image meta tag
                 opengraph = opengraph_parse(form.link_url.data)
@@ -270,13 +270,13 @@ def save_post(form, post: Post):
                 img = ImageOps.exif_transpose(img)
                 img_width = img.width
                 img_height = img.height
-                if img.width > 2000 or img.height > 2000:
-                    img.thumbnail((2000, 2000))
+                if img.width > 512 or img.height > 512:
+                    img.thumbnail((512, 512))
                     img.save(final_place)
                     img_width = img.width
                     img_height = img.height
                 # save a second, smaller, version as a thumbnail
-                img.thumbnail((256, 256))
+                img.thumbnail((150, 150))
                 img.save(final_place_thumbnail, format="WebP", quality=93)
                 thumbnail_width = img.width
                 thumbnail_height = img.height