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.