Photo bucket ruining forums across the world...

[Mikej]

Man, everywhere I surf - I see the dreaded update your account where a photo used to be-

[R3awak3n]

yep, F those guys. Really screwed everything up. I have been going to the VW forums to see what some upgrades people have done to their sportwagens and there are so many links broken.

[AngryScientist]

what they did is maddening.

there is so much archived information across the web right now that is ruined by them. a lot of GOOD informative information is now lost. i suppose only a very small fraction of users are going to pony up a steep yearly fee to host photos, so that stuff is never coming back.

screw them. very angry at what they've done - seemingly overnight.

[R3awak3n]

without any warning whatsoever. They just said things were going to change, never mentioned $400.

I wonder how many people actually are paying the money.

The least they could have done was to just keep uploaded images live and not allow anyone going on forward to direct link without paying.

[colker]

There is a lesson to be learned; never ever again host information on 3rd party web lockers. Icloud, drive etc... forget them. Buy hard drives.

[R3awak3n]

There is a lesson to be learned; never ever again host information on 3rd party web lockers. Icloud, drive etc... forget them. Buy hard drives.

well, you can't host images out of hard drives now can you?

Your crap is actually not lost, you can go to pbucket and download all your old images so your comment really does not apply here but yes, its good to have local backups of crap.

[RFC]

what they did is maddening.

there is so much archived information across the web right now that is ruined by them. a lot of GOOD informative information is now lost. i suppose only a very small fraction of users are going to pony up a steep yearly fee to host photos, so that stuff is never coming back.

screw them. very angry at what they've done - seemingly overnight.

Couldn't agree more! Last night, I was just thinking about posting this same discussion. I think it is just a matter of time before Photo Bucket shrivels up and disappears.

[Mikej]

Couldn't agree more! Last night, I was just thinking about posting this same discussion. I think it is just a matter of time before Photo Bucket shrivels up and disappears.

OR, makes you wish you bought in early!

[regularguy412]

"There is no free lunch"

Mike in AR:beer:

[colker]

well, you can't host images out of hard drives now can you?

Your crap is actually not lost, you can go to pbucket and download all your old images so your comment really does not apply here but yes, its good to have local backups of crap.

You can post directly to whatever forum you chose to. It´s what i do.

[vqdriver]

it was a free service, so i couldn't gripe about the slow site or all the ads.
but the suddenness with which they pulled the plug is an issue. it's obvious they wanted people to feel the loss without giving us an opportunity to consider alternatives. a business decision to be sure, but sucky nonetheless.

in the end, they've probably annoyed more people than they've retained. so there's that...

[OtayBW]

They suck now, always did, for free or fee.

[xvxax]

imgur is a great alternative in case anyone is looking. It's free.

[R3awak3n]

imgur is a great alternative in case anyone is looking. It's free.

imgur is better than pbucket, however I wish it resized the images. Actually, this forum needs a resize tag.

[seanile]

imgur is better than pbucket, however I wish it resized the images. Actually, this forum needs a resize tag.

it does. view the image, click "edit image" at the bottom, then in the top right where it shows the dimensions, type "800" in the box with the smaller # (leave the "lock proportions" box checked), and that'll resize your picture to a size the forum can handle. click save, copy the new direct link, and paste.

[R3awak3n]

it does. view the image, click "edit image" at the bottom, then in the top right where it shows the dimensions, type "800" in the box with the smaller # (leave the "lock proportions" box checked), and that'll resize your picture to a size the forum can handle. click save, copy the new direct link, and paste.

hell ya. im a imgur newb.

[Black Dog]

OK, I am one of the photobucket 'victims'. I would like to change the linked images in my past posts that are showing the dreaded message with attached images. It is super easy to click the message which opens the image in my PB account and download it then upload it to the forum as an attachment and no future worries about 3rd party hosting. However, the issue I am having is finding my posts that I have liked images ti PB. Does anyone know an easy way to find posts with image links?

[Tony T]

Does anyone know an easy way to find posts with image links?

User CP->Attachments:

Edit: Sorry, not what you're looking for, this gives you files that you uploaded here, not links to photo's

.

[seanile]

Does anyone know an easy way to find posts with image links?

Advanced forum search. Search for posts made by you with the exact keyword "[/IMG]" or "photobucket", because this'll search for the html code to allow for seeing the image ([/IMG]), or search for a term that is common to all of the links that youve posted (photobucket).
Thats the only way i can think of that might work.

edit: got to a computer and tested my above theory. no dice unfortunately. if you find a way, i'd love to hear it.

[William]

it does. view the image, click "edit image" at the bottom, then in the top right where it shows the dimensions, type "800" in the box with the smaller # (leave the "lock proportions" box checked), and that'll resize your picture to a size the forum can handle. click save, copy the new direct link, and paste.


Good advice though for an FYI, Keith has expanded the max image size to 1024x1024.

Just reiterating the obvious - any third party hosting site will at some point in time lead to broken links. If you would like the image that you post to be permeant here (unless you want to go back and delete it yourself) then uploading to the forum is the surest way to do that. No a big deal really for the classifieds, but more so for the photo galleries and GD area.

Just saying,


William

[redir]

I really can't imagine who it was that thought it was a good business decision to seriously piss off every single one of your customers.

[Dead Man]

I really can't imagine who it was that thought it was a good business decision to seriously piss off every single one of your customers.

I feel like they must be on their way out, and this is just a last ditch attempt to generate some profit.

The ads had gotten significantly more obtrusive and annoying, prior to this move.. I was thinking about leaving, due to that, already.

[denapista]

Whoa! Did I read the yearly fee is $400?!?!?!?!

Flickr is $25/year and once they changed the interface it got kind of sloppy to view other users photos, but your personal organization is intact.

Not promoting for flickr, but I've been using it for ages and I feel no need to use any other service. Photobucket was old and was like using AIM in the world of SKYPE.

[azrider]

I really can't imagine who it was that thought it was a good business decision to seriously piss off every single one of your customers.

Define customer. Pbucket has been a free service so I'm not sure why all the angst. Like someone else said, "no such thing as free lunch." If people didn't see this coming then it's on them, not Pbucket. Servers cost money people.

[ColonelJLloyd]

Whoa! Did I read the yearly fee is $400?!?!?!?!

Flickr is $25/year and once they changed the interface it got kind of sloppy to view other users photos, but your personal organization is intact.

Not promoting for flickr, but I've been using it for ages and I feel no need to use any other service. Photobucket was old and was like using AIM in the world of SKYPE.

Nah, that ended once they went free years ago. The $25 for "Pro" still applies to those grandfathered in and you retain the metrics, no-ads, etc. But, now it's $50/yr for ad-free service that doesn't give you the metrics, etc.

[DRZRM]

Yeah, I just went back though the images of bikes through "posts I started" (or whatever it is called) and uploaded pictures that I downloaded from PhotoBucket. When I'm done saving pictures I want I'll cancel my account. I know its a free service, but I don't want them to use me as one of their member numbers.

[redir]

Define customer. Pbucket has been a free service so I'm not sure why all the angst. Like someone else said, "no such thing as free lunch." If people didn't see this coming then it's on them, not Pbucket. Servers cost money people.

IMO if they sell advertisement then it's not free. Anyone who uses the site is a customer. In exchange for their service they have to put up with advertisement. Worked for TV since it first came out in the 1940's.

[azrider]

IMO if they sell advertisement then it's not free. Anyone who uses the site is a customer. In exchange for their service they have to put up with advertisement. Worked for TV since it first came out in the 1940's.

Times they are a changin'........

The whole "selling advertisement" dictates who is/isn't customer is a bit of stretch, but I'm not in the advertising game so I can't speak to that.

I work for a technology company that helps businesses manage data, and this is a good example of data becoming too overwhelming and too expensive for them to scale/manage without charging. Some of the "facts" out there are truly mind boggling:

More data was created in past two years than in the entire previous history of mankind. Said another way, 90% of worlds data was created within past 24 months.

Every minute, over 300 hours of video is uploaded to YouTube

Last year over 1 Trillion photos were taken, and a third were uploaded to internet

Data explosion is here and this move, albeit a very crappy move, from Pbucket is a result of that. From what I understand, Pbucket changed their T's&C's back in June and most people did what everybody else does and that's click "accept" terms. But verbiage around price increase was in that release and I don't have any pity for people claiming themselves to be the victims

that's just me tho

[54ny77]

the photobucket thing was quite an annoyance at first, but now it's kinda liberating.

in other words, after about 30 seconds or so of thought, i couldn't give two s&#!s that my photos posted over the years are no longer showing up on the few hobby-related forums i frequent.

amidst all the hullabaloo about it, i mean come on, is it an end of days event for not being able to see a pic of [insert whatever one fancies here]?

now if posting free photos was critical to my day job and i was posting, say, images of cellular construction in the pursuit of curing cancer, then yeah, i'd probably be pissed. but then again, i wouldn't be using photobucket--i'd own a server.

[OtayBW]

Define customer. Pbucket has been a free service so I'm not sure why all the angst. Like someone else said, "no such thing as free lunch." If people didn't see this coming then it's on them, not Pbucket. Servers cost money people.Well, sure - let's just let anyone charge whatever the heck they want and provide whatever service they please.

[bicycletricycle]

Sure it was free, but it is still rude.

[Dead Man]

Sure it was free, but it is still rude.

Free stuff that sucks isn't free - it's gonna cost you time, money, or grief, one way or another.

[CAAD]

I started using Blogger. Upload, view, and copy image url. Easy and free.

[bicycletricycle]

Free stuff that sucks isn't free - it's gonna cost you time, money, or grief, one way or another.

crazy amazing wisdom here :) (read with extreme sarcastic tone please)

I am curious, do you go out of your way to pay for every service you use ? Do you use free email? Would you just be cool with them deleting all your email unless you paid a ransom? I guess they might be legally allowed to do such a thing, but many people would still be pissed off, perhaps enough people to cause some changes in law. I wonder if these long term relationships with companies through data will eventually birth some kind of "common law marriage" between the consumer and corporation.

Also

It wasn't free, the users where subjected to advertisement. They had the right to adjust the deal, sure, but the sort of blackmail way they did it is a bit rough.

Certainly we probably all should have read the fine print. Fact still remains that they could have handled it better IMHO

of coarse, what the f do I know. I am sure that they are under some intense financial pressures. I certainly do not think that they are legally obligated to do something else, I just think it was bad business in the long run.

[Dead Man]

crazy amazing wisdom here :) (read with extreme sarcastic tone please)

I am curious, do you go out of your way to pay for every service you use ? Do you use free email? Would you just be cool with them deleting all your email unless you paid a ransom? I guess they might be legally allowed to do such a thing, but many people would still be pissed off, perhaps enough people to cause some changes in law. I wonder if these long term relationships with companies through data will eventually birth some kind of "common law marriage" between the consumer and corporation.

Also

It wasn't free, the users where subjected to advertisement. They had the right to adjust the deal, sure, but the sort of blackmail way they did it is a bit rough.

Certainly we probably all should have read the fine print. Fact still remains that they could have handled it better IMHO

of coarse, what the f do I know. I am sure that they are under some intense financial pressures. I certainly do not think that they are legally obligated to do something else, I just think it was bad business in the long run.

I was agreeing with you and expanding on the point.

[bicycletricycle]

I was agreeing with you and expanding on the point.

hence the sarcasm!

:)

also trying to expand past my original point of "it was free"

I guess we should all do some thinking about this free internet thing.

[SlowPokePete]

I guess we should all do some thinking about this free internet thing.

What once was free isn't anymore.

now that we depend on it.

What once cost $ now costs $$$.

now that we depend on it.

i.e. cell phone (device as well as service), cable, internet...

Makes me feel a little bovine at times.

SPP

[bicycletricycle]

Has cell phone , cable , internet gone up in price?

What once was free isn't anymore.

now that we depend on it.

What once cost $ now costs $$$.

now that we depend on it.

i.e. cell phone (device as well as service), cable, internet...

Makes me feel a little bovine at times.

SPP

[azrider]

Well, sure - let's just let anyone charge whatever the heck they want and provide whatever service they please.

You're comparing hosting bicycle pictures to life saving EpiPen?.........got it. :rolleyes:

[seanile]

You're comparing hosting bicycle pictures to life saving EpiPen?.........got it. :rolleyes:

well, once you set a precedent..

[BobbyJones]

I do understand everyones frustration.

I'm not a photobucket user, but was curious about all the hubub, so I read the statement from the company here (http://blog.photobucket.com/photobucket-launches-unlimited-3rd-party-hosting-plan/).

The important stuff:
"seventy-five percent of Photobucket’s costs originate from non-paying users leveraging 3rd party hosting."

"and the Company’s explosion of 3rd party hosting that generates zero revenue.”

And on another page:
"If you were a Plus Account subscriber in good standing as of June 1, 2017,
you will continue to have all the privileges you have enjoyed including 3rd
Party Hosting until December 31, 2018 as long as you maintain your
subscription."

So it sounds like if you were actually a paying customer, you're good for another year plus. And if you weren't, you we're driving the company out of business anyway. And once they shut the lights off, you'd have lost not only 3rd party hosting, but ALL access to your images.

At least that's the way I'm looking at it.

[Dead Man]

70 are 3rd partying?

what the fap are the other 30% doing? There's a purpose for photobucket beyond 3rd party linking?

[fa63]

The fact that they disabled free 3rd party hosting is one thing. But it is another that I can't seem to download my old pictures that are on there, unless I do it one by one. Their "Download Album" functionality seems to have stopped working as well. I wonder if that is a conscious "screw you" from PB, or if they are just struggling to keep up with the bandwidth of all those downloading their pictures...

[BobbyJones]

70 are 3rd partying?

what the fap are the other 30% doing? There's a purpose for photobucket beyond 3rd party linking?

Maybe the paying customers have business critical needs? Was there a limit of some sort on the free accounts?

The fact that they disabled free 3rd party hosting is one thing. But it is another that I can't seem to download my old pictures that are on there, unless I do it one by one. Their "Download Album" functionality seems to have stopped working as well. I wonder if that is a conscious "screw you" from PB, or if they are just struggling to keep up with the bandwidth of all those downloading their pictures...

Think of it as a hard drive going bad and you have to pay for data recovery ;-) I wouldn't be surprised if they are throttling downloads. Not as an FU, but from a $ standpoint. With "15 billion images stored" and (60 billion accessed every day!!), that's alot of resources at once if there's a run on the bank.

[SlowPokePete]

Update here...

Check your PayPal account and be sure you don't have any kind of subscription set up because I got charged $29.99 for the upcoming year and it looks like there's nothing I can do about it other than cancel it for the future...

SPP

[cgolvin]

Makes me feel a little bovine at times.

Apologies for the pedantry, but I think you mean "ovine".
And thanks since I learned something today.

[SlowPokePete]

Apologies for the pedantry, but I think you mean "ovine".
And thanks since I learned something today.

Re-read and have no idea what i was trying to say.

SPP

[cgolvin]

Re-read and have no idea what i was trying to say.

SPP

I took you to mean that in continuing to pay more for cellular, broadband, etc. you felt like a sheep, hence 'ovine'.
But maybe you meant you felt like a cow being led to slaughter and 'bovine' was appropriate.
Inquiring minds want to know!

[unterhausen]

Update here...

Check your PayPal account and be sure you don't have any kind of subscription set up because I got charged $29.99 for the upcoming year and it looks like there's nothing I can do about it other than cancel it for the future...

SPP

had you previously given them money with paypal?

[ultraman6970]

Talking about hostong pictures, since long time ago i was wondering if it was easier just to send a couple of 1T HDs to the owner of the server/forums to host the pictures locally?