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Main Boards => Photography => Topic started by: pleb on 11:10:30, 26/06/17

Title: Photobucket gone?
Post by: pleb on 11:10:30, 26/06/17
Anybody else find that photobucket seems to have gone? Another forum is on about it too.
Hope my pics aint vanished! Grrrrr
Title: Re: Photobucket gone?
Post by: sussamb on 11:33:55, 26/06/17
Well it's down at the moment but it's not unusual for a site to go down occasionally.  I wouldn't panic yet  O0
Title: Re: Photobucket gone?
Post by: Penygadair on 15:15:22, 26/06/17
Just checked and whilst I can't upload anything new at present, the images I have on PB are intact and accessible.


Only started using PB when Tinypics went down a couple of weeks back. At that point I could upload but when I tried to access an image I got an error 404 message. Just checked TP and again my images are intact and accessible and I was able to upload a new image and access it.


All a but frustrating.
Title: Re: Photobucket gone?
Post by: ninthace on 15:19:08, 26/06/17
Just logged in and out of Photobucket no problem.
Title: Re: Photobucket gone?
Post by: redeye on 19:15:52, 26/06/17
I have an account with PB and Tinypic and have had problems on and off for a while now. I don't use either very much now as some forums let you drag and drop photo's now. It's only on here where I still have to upload and copy and paste the link which doesn't always work and is more trouble than it's worth. Would it not now be easier to adopt the drag and drop system??
Title: Re: Photobucket gone?
Post by: Strider on 10:10:33, 27/06/17
PB has been flakey for a while.  I was using it a lot yesterday for the first time in ages and managed to get all the pictures off that I needed to.   It seems to work better ie. faster in Chrome than Firefox but still got the occasional error and had to reload a page.

I'm thinking of opening a Flickr account.
Title: Re: Photobucket gone?
Post by: pleb on 10:38:18, 27/06/17
Just logged into PB okay...................
Title: Re: Photobucket gone?
Post by: pleb on 10:08:32, 30/06/17
Photobucket is at it again.................cannot see pics somebody has posted on another forum, just get stuff from pb saying "upgrade your.........etc"
Difficult as I am on a public library computer!
Title: Re: Photobucket gone?
Post by: bricam2096 on 14:58:08, 30/06/17
Photobucket is at it again.................cannot see pics somebody has posted on another forum, just get stuff from pb saying "upgrade your.........etc"
Difficult as I am on a public library computer!

I'm sure they have the latest computers and all the software is up to date  :D
Title: Re: Photobucket gone?
Post by: pleb on 15:07:43, 30/06/17
So whats it on about? :-\
Title: Re: Photobucket gone?
Post by: pleb on 10:49:42, 01/07/17
Further pb update..................it seems to have gone belly up. Try n log in, just takes you to facebook page?
Title: Re: Photobucket gone?
Post by: bricam2096 on 14:00:32, 01/07/17
working fine here  O0
Title: Re: Photobucket gone?
Post by: Forkbeard on 16:43:18, 01/07/17

Photobucket are ending the option to embed images on third party web sites and forums etc. unless you pay a 400 dollar a year subscription. I'll dig out the link shortly...


edit: Here it is:


http://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/06/30/photobucket_charging_400yr_3rdparty_pgs/ (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/06/30/photobucket_charging_400yr_3rdparty_pgs/)
Title: Re: Photobucket gone?
Post by: pleb on 18:16:22, 01/07/17
Thats the end of that then! Bet they go bust
Title: Re: Photobucket gone?
Post by: Penygadair on 18:34:48, 01/07/17
Just checked to see if TinyPic are following suit as they're owned by PB. So far no amendment to their terms and no warning of any charges.
Title: Re: Photobucket gone?
Post by: alewife on 19:51:53, 01/07/17
Without wishing to hear everyones criticisms of FB (again ::) ) you can easily post on there (select just me if you don't want anyone else to see them on there, or friends or public f you do) then copy and paste straight into the reply box on here. If you don't have a fb account, don't witter about it, just create one, its harmless I promise you.
Title: Re: Photobucket gone?
Post by: barewirewalker on 09:56:07, 02/07/17
Not sure what this means, :-\ checked out my PB account and this image the last in added to my PB album;
(http://i171.photobucket.com/albums/u297/barewirewalker/CLA_1pholt_orleton_red_zps57gqdehl.png) (http://)


still seems to be appearing here on the post I added it to. (http://www.walkingforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=30054.msg498650#msg498650)


Are these going to disappear off the posts and topics that have been made? I remember finding some of my photos on other sites used by a completely unknown 3rd party, one annoyed me because it was one of my daughter used completely inappropriately so I deleted that from my account.
Title: Re: Photobucket gone?
Post by: bricam2096 on 11:02:27, 02/07/17

The only "problem" I've found with FB photos being posted on here is that occasionally FB changes the way it does things and the links to the photos no longer exist so the Trip Report e.g. no longer shows photos, just words...which is a shame. The same seems to apply to Tinypic, some old posts either contain no photos or images that are not what they originally posted.

I stopped using PB a while ago, I found the pop up ads annoying, it was soooooo slow and slowed down my computer but mainly because of the storage limit. A new member gets 2GB free on PB but on Flickr you get 1000GB free (it says I have uploaded 2962 photos and have used 1.7422255154% of my allowance, lol.

At the moment I'd say Flickr is the best for sharing on forums but I'm sure someone else might have better ideas.
Title: Re: Photobucket gone?
Post by: Peter on 12:34:00, 02/07/17
I do use Facebook for sharing images. Never tried the others.
I've tried a few 'backup' type sites and they terrify me. Like most people some of my photos mean a great deal, and some of these backup sites have deleted both my on line image and their respective copy on my PC. I've also had issues with them creating a folder on my PC and not actually copying them to the internet.

Title: Re: Photobucket gone?
Post by: bricam2096 on 13:15:26, 02/07/17
If you have photos that mean something to you, it's probably better to buy a USB stick or external hard drive and save them onto that. That way if you have computer problems, you'll still have a portable back up.
Title: Re: Photobucket gone?
Post by: fernman on 13:24:20, 02/07/17
FWIW, my photos are all in the cloud in Yandex.Disk but they are also on the computer as well, as you can download a desktop app, so no fear of losing them, also you're not then dependent on a wifi connection to see them. You can also add the app to other computers to view the same pictures. Syncing is fast and flawless.
For those who haven't heard of Yandex, it's the Russian equivalent of Google. I don't recommend their Mail, though. I tried it and found it wanting.
You get 10GB storage space with a free Yandex.Disk account, plus an additional 32GB if you agree to photos taken with your phone camera to be automatically uploaded to the cloud. As I scarcely use my phone camera, my preference being my slr or my compact, I am quite happy to have the KGB examining them in exchange for 42GB free!
Title: Re: Photobucket gone?
Post by: Peter on 17:39:53, 02/07/17
FWIW, my photos are all in the cloud in Yandex.Disk but they are also on the computer as well, as you can download a desktop app, so no fear of losing them, also you're not then dependent on a wifi connection to see them. You can also add the app to other computers to view the same pictures. Syncing is fast and flawless.
For those who haven't heard of Yandex, it's the Russian equivalent of Google. I don't recommend their Mail, though. I tried it and found it wanting.
You get 10GB storage space with a free Yandex.Disk account, plus an additional 32GB if you agree to photos taken with your phone camera to be automatically uploaded to the cloud. As I scarcely use my phone camera, my preference being my slr or my compact, I am quite happy to have the KGB examining them in exchange for 42GB free!


Always thought there was something suspect about you comrade...  :-X


Thanks for the info  :)
Title: Re: Photobucket gone?
Post by: pleb on 21:29:44, 02/07/17
I am told imgur is good.
Title: Re: Photobucket gone?
Post by: snoopdawg on 10:24:33, 04/07/17
I am told imgur is good.

Imgur is allright for the odd photo but takes too long for anything more than that and I have found lately will only work on google chrome.
Title: Re: Photobucket gone?
Post by: ninthace on 14:25:44, 04/07/17
Closed my photobucket account on 1/7.  Still there on 2/7 so I checked my account settings to find PB says account will be closed on 3/7.  Went in today (4/7) - account is still there as are pictures. PB said my bucket was 22% full with 109 photos so I deleted all bar 3 and PB says bucket is still 20% full!


I wonder how do you actually get rid of it and what sort of algorithm they are using to calculated storage capacity?
Title: Re: Photobucket gone?
Post by: BuzyG on 21:56:52, 05/07/17
Yup looks like it's pay or don't play on PB for the future.  Other forums I frequent have increased the amount of space and down load size for images.  That obviously requires more space and cost the individual sites more to implement.   :(
Title: Re: Photobucket gone?
Post by: barewirewalker on 12:59:45, 07/07/17
I suppose that image in my previous post answers my question. Open an email from  PB this morning to say I need to upgrade, this entails paying the dollar equivalent of £310, which I cannot afford, if it had been about £30 I might have considered it. Taken out all the images in the topic on Blackholes or X zones (http://www.walkingforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=30054.90), which really takes out the meat of the subject. Just when my research is starting to tell me that I am getting to the spicy bit.
Title: Re: Photobucket gone?
Post by: bricam2096 on 15:16:45, 07/07/17
I wonder when I'll get that email as my photos that I used to post on here from Photobucket still seem to be showing.

Mind you, I use Flickr now so maybe they are just targeting people who regularly still use PB?
Title: Re: Photobucket gone?
Post by: Ridge on 17:32:13, 07/07/17
I'm still using it as normal with nothing from them yet to say anything is changing.
Title: Re: Photobucket gone?
Post by: barewirewalker on 08:22:01, 08/07/17
My commiserations to Pleb his PB photos seem to have gone the same way as mine. As I can no longer show an image, here is the text from PB's email;

WE NOTICED THAT YOU HAVE BEEN USING
PHOTOBUCKET FOR 3RD PARTY HOSTING*


PLEASE UPGRADE TO A PLUS 500 PLAN.


Our Terms of Service does not allow 3rd party hosting with your current account level.


UPGRADE NOW

£310 They can't be serious!!!!!!


It then goes into a load of self worth about itself, but all my photos are backed up on discs and external hard drives. Have I in some way been abusing the service PB provides?


In the past I have discovered my PB images on sites that provide information about locations I have walked in. Presumably these search engines which find these images are linking PB to their websites. I will be sure to delete all my images when I close my PB account.

Title: Re: Photobucket gone?
Post by: ninthace on 08:35:12, 08/07/17
Good luck with closing your account. I tried but although PB said it would close wef from 3/7, to date it has stayed open so I have cleared all my images off it. Even so it says my bucket is still 20% full.
Title: Re: Photobucket gone?
Post by: pleb on 15:25:27, 08/07/17
Why bother closing a pb account? I see no need for me to log in again, all my pics are on my laptop. They can do what they like now!
Title: Re: Photobucket gone?
Post by: ninthace on 16:01:29, 08/07/17
Why bother closing a pb account?
Stops PB emails about your account.
They ask you why you want to close your acct so you can get it off your chest.
Stops any future change in T&Cs, such as charging for an account, affecting you.
Title: Re: Photobucket gone?
Post by: barewirewalker on 11:18:37, 09/07/17
Ninthace, thanks for that advice, I think my idea of closing and deleting all images a bit premature. PB have not closed down all my images,yet, I suppose the pressure is supposed to be there to try to make me pay over £300 for a service I have only ever used as 3rd party hosting. Over 10 years I have only been able to fill 7% of my allowance, this is because I have always reduced my image size prior to placing the images on PB. In fact Photobucket has probably benefited through 3rd party usage of my images, which I have found on other web pages, promoting tourism and general interest.


Is this the reason why only so many of my images have been so far deleted or is it progressive?


Looking back at the topic My best pic of the day (http://www.walkingforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=13385.0) HumperLumper's, the OP, first photo is still there and that is a pb image. If I go back far enough I find some of my images still showing.


So much of the interest in some of the web pages is in the historic contribution, TR's, advice and general information as well as historical comparison is dependent on the photo images that have been voluntarily contributed. Even if we stop using PB because it is too expensive a way to 3rd party host images, will it be a public service to leave those images in their library, even though their behaviour, high handed and intimidating, is pretty scurrilous.
Title: Re: Photobucket gone?
Post by: bricam2096 on 11:30:55, 09/07/17
I can see why people who have been affected by PB would close their accounts but not those that haven't. All this means is trip reports etc on here and other forums that no longer have photos....even though PB hasn't "edited" them which means we don't see the beauty of them any more.
Title: Re: Photobucket gone?
Post by: Forkbeard on 12:48:14, 09/07/17
I find myself in the position now of having no photos backed up online and a load on my computer. I'm tempted just to go back to the old film days of doing things - take less pictures, have them printed. Digital has spoiled us, giving us the ability to take unlimited numbers of pictures, most of which we (well, me for sure) wouldn't actually miss.
Title: Re: Photobucket gone?
Post by: Glyno on 13:39:01, 09/07/17
Unless I'm missing something, Photobucket hasn't removed or deleted anyones photos has it? It's basically just charging a fee (albeit a relatively hefty one) for the privilege of being able to use their (PB's) bandwidth to show the photos on sites such as this one.
Anyone who's chosen to store their photos on PB still can, can't they?
Title: Re: Photobucket gone?
Post by: barewirewalker on 14:51:47, 09/07/17
Unless I'm missing something, Photobucket hasn't removed or deleted anyones photos has it? It's basically just charging a fee (albeit a relatively hefty one) for the privilege of being able to use their (PB's) bandwidth to show the photos on sites such as this one.
Anyone who's chosen to store their photos on PB still can, can't they?


That is the correct interpretation as I see it. I would not take exception to their wishing to charge for this service, but with proper warning. They have terminated the links for a proportion of the images their members have used in the past, in order to pressure them into making this hefty upgrade.


Many here have gone to considerable effort to explain problems, give advice and show how walking can be a rewarding pastime. Sometimes the membership here gets a bit thin both in contributions and expertise, but that is evened out by the back pages of past contribution, which has been backed up with images as well as text. Will PB restore those images pre their decision to require payment or are they expecting to twist enough peoples tails to pay for that bandwidth, they must have calculated as part of their business model when the first started off.


I have stuck with PB because of it's reliability, images do not disappear for some unexplained reason. Their service has not been anyway near good because of the slow connections and the advertising, even to the extent of the risk of getting virus infections from the front page. I got a frozen screen and a ransom demand yesterday, had to switch off at the mains quickly, just because one of their leaping adverts came too close to my cursor.


This is not a service I will pay $399.99, but because I know I have been getting a good free deal, I have not minded my images being used by third parties. Only when I found one of my daughter being used inappropriately, I quickly deleted it.
Title: Re: Photobucket gone?
Post by: fit old bird on 12:41:52, 16/07/17
Just found this thread. I have posted a lot of photo's on here, and Down the Lane Forum, over the years, now they have all gone. I am not paying Photobucket to upgrade. My photo's are still there, it's just that I can't use them for anything else.


I have just discovered that I can copy and paste Tweets to Down the Lane, I wondered if that was an option for here. Also, I pay £4 a year to Google for unlimited storage on my blog. I wondered if there was a way to move photo's from there to here.


I don't need to store all my photo's for ever, I am constantly de cluttering my computer, dumping stuff I don't want.


Ilona
Title: Re: Photobucket gone?
Post by: Mel on 20:34:45, 20/07/17
I've just received "The Email" from PhotoBucket... for the ONE photo that I have stored on there.
 
I'm going to be awake all night worrying about it, that's for sure  ::)
Title: Re: Photobucket gone?
Post by: alewife on 20:44:16, 20/07/17
I've just received "The Email" from PhotoBucket... for the ONE photo that I have stored on there.
 
I'm going to be awake all night worrying about it, that's for sure  ::)


 ;D


That must be a pretty amazing photo, Mel.
Title: Re: Photobucket gone?
Post by: joester on 21:36:57, 20/07/17
Just logged on to WF to look up one of my old Trip Reports for a friend.  Abhorred to find the Photobucket update.  That's many, many hours worth of work that I've put into my Trip Reports basically gone down the pan.
I've used my old TRs a lot for reference, sharing and just reminiscing.  Quite a few of them have had 1000's of views.  I was even going to print some of them off to make a scrapbook of our family's jaunts for my dad, who is seriously ill right now.  I now wish I'd acted a few weeks sooner.

I understand why they've done it.  I don't think I can stomach £310.  It would almost be worth that to re-edit the whole lot to upload and re-link everything, but I don't have the gumption for that right now.

Modern life is rubbish sometimes.  :(
Title: Re: Photobucket gone?
Post by: barewirewalker on 09:49:14, 21/07/17
My sympathies.
Having spent over a decade posting on this forum I have engaged in many interesting discussions with other members, some no longer with us and with the help of 'Show Posts pages' it has been quite rewarding to read back. Many of these have been backed up by photos and other images, so much of the content has been ripped out by Photbucket's Vandalism. I can see PB's reason but not the justification of so high handed a course of action, by all means terminate the service for new but to wipe out many years of past links is close to blackmailing their clients into paying up an exorbitant fee.



Title: Re: Photobucket gone?
Post by: April on 12:15:46, 21/07/17
I had a few photobucket accounts and one or more of those has been affected by this and some of my trip reports on here no longer have any photos. It did take a long time doing those reports and it is so annoying to have lost all the pics. It would take too long to retrieve them from photobucket (if I am able to?) then upload them to flickr and perhaps redo the report  >:(

I hope Flickr doesn't do the same in the future.
Title: Re: Photobucket gone?
Post by: Penygadair on 14:21:56, 21/07/17
Agree fully April. Apart from it being annoying for those who have taken the time and trouble to post, it's sad that many TR's will now be without photos. I've always enjoyed looking back at TR's posted on here over the years often with a view to making a similar walk.. It's just not the same when the pics have been deleted.  :(
Title: Re: Photobucket gone?
Post by: bricam2096 on 14:53:36, 21/07/17
I haven't had the email yet but as I host my own website, I think I'm going to start posting any forum photos using that.

It's a pain that many good trip reports have now been ruined  >:(
Title: Re: Photobucket gone?
Post by: barewirewalker on 13:21:30, 23/07/17
Found this article relative to this topic;

https://www.ghacks.net/2017/07/02/photobucket-alternatives-for-third-party/


Seems to summarize the queries for me as I am rather low tecky re. things IT. The answers and comments at the bottom of the page provide quite a bit of good additional reading.


Seems Photobucket is not well thought of in general, even before their current antics. I am not sure if I will continue my pursuit of the comparison of the old and new footpath network, with reference to the Corruption of the Definitive Map. Feed back from here has been very helpful, but trying to explain the anomalies I have found would be very difficult without the inclusion of images.


Not that I am too interested in spending my income on something the bureaucracy should have sorted out years ago and anyway the lack of rights of way have never really hampered my walks. Off piste can be less obstructed than the Righteous Way.


Were I to spend, perhaps this offers a way;
Quote
switched to Smugmug. Smugmug isn't free, but the cost is a small fraction of what Photobucket is demanding,

I think I would have to study Imgur in more detail to find out what the implied pitfalls are.


Another suggestion;
[/quote]
Quote
Has anyone use dropbox as a solution? https://zapier.com/learn/how-to/generate-direct-dropbox-link/

Quite a bit of info there.



Title: Re: Photobucket gone?
Post by: Ridge on 20:22:57, 27/07/17
I've had an email from Photobucket to say that when my current subscription ends I will either have to pay a fortune or not be able to post photos on the forum. Interestingly it doesn't tell me when my subscription does end but kindly offers to let me start paying more now to 'beat the crowds'.
What! 'beat the crowds'? Can you not do it on line, do I have to go and queue at their headquarters?
Title: Re: Photobucket gone?
Post by: Ridge on 07:47:23, 28/07/17
Oh I take it all back, I'm part of an elite group that has been hand selected


Quote
You Spoke, We Listened.
Photobucket is now offering a monthly plan
Congratulations! You're part of Photobucket's Elite Beta Group! You have been hand selected out of millions of users to be an essential part of our team of influencers. Best part so far? We have created a monthly option for our Plus 500 Plan. And YOU get the first crack at it. It's only available from the link below, so click below to get started!
so I can click on a link to go on to the new super new monthly plan with no idea what it will cost. Thanks but no thanks
Title: Re: Photobucket gone?
Post by: Mel on 19:10:53, 28/07/17
I'm waiting to be part of the Supreme Mega Fantastic Alpha Elite Group before I even think about opening the email link  ::)
Title: Re: Photobucket gone?
Post by: Ridge on 19:23:29, 28/07/17
I'm waiting to be part of the Supreme Mega Fantastic Alpha Elite Group before I even think about opening the email link  ::)
;D ;D ;D
Title: Re: Photobucket gone?
Post by: bricam2096 on 20:33:26, 14/08/17
well, I haven't had any email yet from PB but I looked at one of my earlier Trip Reports on here and see that the photos have been removed with ones telling me to upgrade if I want them to be shown on the forum.

They can bugga off  O0
Title: Re: Photobucket gone?
Post by: pleb on 21:14:45, 14/08/17
well, I haven't had any email yet from PB but I looked at one of my earlier Trip Reports on here and see that the photos have been removed with ones telling me to upgrade if I want them to be shown on the forum.

They can bugga off  O0
yes its buggad up my old ones too, I hope they go bust!
Which they surely will, who is going to pay?
Title: Re: Photobucket gone?
Post by: vghikers on 12:02:33, 15/08/17
This is symptomatic of the ill-advised use of free cloud services, I'm always amazed that nobody seems to see events like this coming. Vast numbers of people are becoming increasingly enmeshed in free cloud hosting to the point where it's very difficult to backtrack and get out.

Photobucket funds the service through ads: if readers can see your photos directly on a third party site, they never visit the Photobucket site - no ad revenue. I'm surprised it lasted this long. All other sites with a similar model are under the same pressure - Dropbox recently dropped the Public Folder facility that many people relied on, and as for the many Google free services, I dread to think - if it isn't making enough money they'll pull it (they've got form).

Often the problem is not so much the amount of data you have in their cloud but the links you have posted to it. That Dropbox fiasco resulted in a huge number of links posted over years on websites and forums being instantly broken.

By far the best solution is get it all under your control by registering your own domain and getting a low-tier hosting plan with a Web provider. It's yours, it's cheap and it guarantees your links. If the provider goes bust, or if you change provider for any reason, you just migrate your data over to the new host and all your posted links remain valid.
Title: Re: Photobucket gone?
Post by: Glyno on 12:56:25, 15/08/17
For less than a pound a week I have my own website from which I can link to, and my own .com domain, I tend to use it for more selective photos. If I want to post a quick photo for illustrative purposes or a classified ad then I use imgur.com
www.glynmorton.com