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Photobucket has hosed all their users....

RatRacer

a touch oɟɟ
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Unless you want to pay them $399.99 a year, you can no longer have them 3rd party host your photo's to forums.
I personally, do not like uploading photos directly to sites because of size and compression limitations, so I opt to link hosted photo's that I've personally corrected to meet a sites, and my own, desired display criteria worthiness.
I have pulled all my photos from there, and have begun a search for a new long term solution.
Currently I have I'm using Imgur, but I'm leary for the long term for same type of change.
I used Photobucket since 2006, so what have you been using that you're happy with?
Flickr, TinyPic, a low price subscribed service...
 

kittyn

Member For 4 Years
Member For 3 Years
Member For 2 Years
I tend to use tinypic. Is the easiest/most convenient one I've found by my standards. Not as many options as a lot of hosts have, but I do any edits needed before uploading anyway so it's a non issue to me
 

SnapDragon NY

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I some how got locked out of my Photobucket account a few months ago- my password does not work! I have been using Photobucket for years and started to panic- but my Tracfone has a G-mail account for back ups and all my photos from my cell phone were there( i never used it-). I have all my cell photos go directly to my g-mail photos thru their app and got rid of my automatic Photobucket app- where I originally had all my cell phone camera shots go to.
Set up a google mail- gmail account and they have a photos section that I use just like my Photobucket and it is free. I just had a hard time finding the Photos at first- they are on the upper right hand page, click onto the 4 or 6 dots pattern and the drop down box shows the different actions.
My daughter uses her FaceBook for pictures- I have not tried that yet.
Sucks that Photobucket did this!
 

Teresa P

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I'd like to be able to post a picture without using a hosting service, period. I use Imgur right now, but it seems no matter what my privacy settings are, others can still see anything I post. Doesn't bother me, not like there's porn on there or anything, but I did take a shot of a package I was mailing out to a friend a few months ago, settings on "hidden," yet a few weeks later I'm seeing comments about putting someone's address on Imgur. I deleted that one, but it concerns me how many saw it beforehand.
 

Whiskey

Diamond Contributor
Member For 4 Years
Photo bucket changes
Types of Accounts, Pricing and Limits

  • Visiting : There is no cost to visit the Site or to register as a Member.
  • Free account : Each individual Member gets one free account that provides 2 GB of free storage or space available for your original photo files, or videos under 10min. The free account does not allow any image linking or 3rdparty image hosting. If a free account Member exceeds their Content Limit, their account will be immediately suspended and they will need to become a “Paying Member” (defined below) in order to continue accessing their account. You can upgrade to a Plus account at any time.
  • Ad-free Account : The Ad-free Account offers Members the ability to use the Site without seeing any third party banner advertisements when logged into your Ad-free Account (note, viewers of your images within Photobucket will see ads unless they, too, have Plus accounts and you will continue to see Photobucket offers and announcements). This account level is available for $2.49 / month, payable by the Member on a monthly recurring basis.
  • Plus Account : The Plus Account offers several paid options that may give the Paying Member more storage, bandwidth, 3rd party image hosting, image linking and/or other services as outlined below. Once and during such period of time in which you subscribe to and pay for a Plus Account, we will consider you a "Paying Member." Please note that all Plus Account subscriptions are billed annually at the commencement of the service. Photobucket may also offer a monthly billing option for its Plus Accounts (see terms and restrictions, below).
  • Available Plus Account Plans : Photobucket offers the following Plus Account Plans:
o Plus 50 Plan: 52 GB of Storage for $59.99 / Year. The Plus 50 Plan does not allow any image linking or 3rd party image hosting.

o Plus 100 Plan: 102 GB of Storage for $99.99 / Year. The Plus 100 Plan allows for unlimited image linking but does not allow 3rd party image hosting.

o Plus 500 Plan: 500 GB of Storage and unlimited bandwidth for $399.99 / Year. The Plus 500 Plan allows for unlimited image linking and unlimited 3rd party image hosting.
 

The Cromwell

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Went into Photobucket for the first time in at least 10 years.
Deleted all my photos.

was slow as molasses in January.
 

Time

Platinum Contributor
Member For 4 Years
3rd party hosting is the only reason I used PB. Most forums required 3rd party hosting.

It's a shame. I posted many pics of hobby work I've done for speaker building(audio) as a help guide. Those can no longer be viewed. Oh well. As soon as I can get in(the site is fucked for some reason right now) I'll delete all my pics as they are only there for 3rd party hosting.
 

The Cromwell

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I thought I deleted all the photos.
Apparently you have to move the bucket photos to an album and then delete the album.
The album I deleted is gone but the bucket pics are still there.
 

Giraut

Gold Contributor
Member For 4 Years
Yes, Photobucket sucks. Imagine that: they no longer provide the service you've been paying nothing for for years - the bastards, how dare they!
 

Severs

Member For 4 Years
ECF Refugee
I used to use Tinypic, but apparently people stopped liking that one for whatever reason and would complain if I sent something through them. So as of recently, I've just been using imgur.
 

The Cromwell

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Yes, Photobucket sucks. Imagine that: they no longer provide the service you've been paying nothing for for years - the bastards, how dare they!
LOL I prolly only used them 6 times.
And they got 1,500 or so pics in their public DB for free.

Is kinda like those who want to pay no taxes though.....
 

The Cromwell

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I used to use Tinypic, but apparently people stopped liking that one for whatever reason and would complain if I sent something through them. So as of recently, I've just been using imgur.
If a site will not accept an uploaded pic from my PC they do not get a pic.
No skin off my back.
 

AndriaD

Yes, I DO wear a mask! I'm vaccinated, too!
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Unless you want to pay them $399.99 a year, you can no longer have them 3rd party host your photo's to forums.
I personally, do not like uploading photos directly to sites because of size and compression limitations, so I opt to link hosted photo's that I've personally corrected to meet a sites, and my own, desired display criteria worthiness.
I have pulled all my photos from there, and have begun a search for a new long term solution.
Currently I have I'm using Imgur, but I'm leary for the long term for same type of change.
I used Photobucket since 2006, so what have you been using that you're happy with?
Flickr, TinyPic, a low price subscribed service...

I use tumblr, who totally rock. Free, and very easy to use, for photos or anything else, even a blog.

Andria

ETA: I had to find an external host for larger pics after I no longer had a website of my own. Looked at Imgur, but couldn't figure out how to use it to grab the URL of a pic you want to post elsewhere. I'm not exactly tech-stupid, after running and designing websites for 15+ yrs, but tumblr is MUCH more intuitive than Imgur.
 

Time

Platinum Contributor
Member For 4 Years
Yes, Photobucket sucks. Imagine that: they no longer provide the service you've been paying nothing for for years - the bastards, how dare they!

They got paid, through ads, like everyone else that provides a "free" internet service. ;)

If VU started charging for their "free" forum use, I'd be out. Same for FB, or any others.
 

Giraut

Gold Contributor
Member For 4 Years
They got paid, through ads, like everyone else that provides a "free" internet service. ;)

If VU started charging for their "free" forum use, I'd be out. Same for FB, or any others.

Yes, I'm like you. I've never paid for anything on the internet in my life (or for anything software-related since the 80's for that matter) and I never will. If my favorite sites start charging, I'll go someplace else. I know they need the money to keep providing the service to me for free, but I'm an unashamed cheap-ass freeloader.

But there's one thing I don't do, and that's trying to rationalize being a freeloader. I admit I don't pay a dime to use services that cost money to run and so should you. And if you're honest, you'll admit to using ad blockers like everybody else too...

So, I've had a Photobucket account for years and I've used it to host my pictures for free. Now that they've started trying to charge me for the service, I'll silently move on and go freeload somewhere else. But at least I have the decency of not complaining and getting all pissy about it.

(Incidentally, I think PB signed their own death warrant with this one...)
 

Time

Platinum Contributor
Member For 4 Years
Yes, I'm like you. I've never paid for anything on the internet in my life (or for anything software-related since the 80's for that matter) and I never will. If my favorite sites start charging, I'll go someplace else. I know they need the money to keep providing the service to me for free, but I'm an unashamed cheap-ass freeloader.

But there's one thing I don't do, and that's trying to rationalize being a freeloader. I admit I don't pay a dime to use services that cost money to run and so should you. And if you're honest, you'll admit to using ad blockers like everybody else too...

So, I've had a Photobucket account for years and I've used it to host my pictures for free. Now that they've started trying to charge me for the service, I'll silently move on and go freeload somewhere else. But at least I have the decency of not complaining and getting all pissy about it.

(Incidentally, I think PB signed their own death warrant with this one...)

Sure. But this is a bit different, IMO.

I agree with those calling it blackmail.

They offered a free service to suck people in and now everyone dependent(blog owners and others) either have to pay up or lose their content.

Me and you can just leave. But the forum that has my(and hundreds of other peoples) contributions, stands to lose allot of content.

And that sucks. I hate when I look at old threads, whether it's auto related or other hobbies and find the OP had deleted his old pics(Image no longer available). Now we'll see that often.

For instance, I have a speaker building thread(as do many) on a speaker building forum detailing my build of a speaker that has not been detailed, with lots of pics. That's all gone. Words are there. No pics.
 

Giraut

Gold Contributor
Member For 4 Years
They offered a free service to suck people in and now everyone dependent(blog owners and others) either have to pay up or lose their content.

Clever freeloaders don't use a free service as their primary storage solution (or even a paid-for one - you never know when the company behind it will tank or start screwing you).

I was never dependent on PB for image storage. They're just a mirror of my main archive on my NAS, that exposes (or rather used to expose) my content internet-side for free. I'll just find me another such service and mirror my content again...
 

SteveS45

Diamond Contributor
ECF Refugee
Member For 5 Years
I have never seen a site that you cannot just post a picture by simply doing a copy/paste and I do not use online storage.

65603378.jpg
 

Whiskey

Diamond Contributor
Member For 4 Years
Clever freeloaders don't use a free service as their primary storage solution (or even a paid-for one - you never know when the company behind it will tank or start screwing you).

I was never dependent on PB for image storage. They're just a mirror of my main archive on my NAS, that exposes (or rather used to expose) my content internet-side for free. I'll just find me another such service and mirror my content again...
What about those that paid for a plan that they will no longer offer for more expensive plans? My plan comes up for renewal this April only to find they don't have mine and replaced it with one that is $30 more....
 

The Cromwell

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What about those that paid for a plan that they will no longer offer for more expensive plans? My plan comes up for renewal this April only to find they don't have mine and replaced it with one that is $30 more....
Ohh you get suckered in just like I did with Symantec.
they no longer offer the $39 plan it is around a hundred now.
Have to kill that authorization on my Credit card.
they do not make it easy to escape their clutches.
 

Time

Platinum Contributor
Member For 4 Years
Clever freeloaders don't use a free service as their primary storage solution (or even a paid-for one - you never know when the company behind it will tank or start screwing you).

I was never dependent on PB for image storage. They're just a mirror of my main archive on my NAS, that exposes (or rather used to expose) my content internet-side for free. I'll just find me another such service and mirror my content again...

You miss the point. I haven't not lost a single image. Nobody has.

Photoshop was not useful for a "storage device". It was useful as a third party link. My only photos were there to link to.

But the 3rd party ljnks to those images are lost. Unless, you pay the randsom.

Did you back up your 3rd party links? ;)

I won't be tracking down every post or blog I've done over the last ten years, try to figure out which pic was there, and then redo my content.
 

Giraut

Gold Contributor
Member For 4 Years
What about those that paid for a plan that they will no longer offer for more expensive plans? My plan comes up for renewal this April only to find they don't have mine and replaced it with one that is $30 more....

That is why I wrote "Clever freeloaders don't use a free service as their primary storage solution (or even a paid-for one - you never know when the company behind it will tank or start screwing you)."

I would never buy any plan from internet companies even if I wanted to: they are notorious for reneging on their promises because they know full well nobody's going to go after them for such a small sum with a lawyer, and across borders to boot for many customers. The only thing that keeps them from screwing you freely is the threat of lost reputation and - at least in the US - class-action litigation. That is to say, not very much.

In short, money you pay for lifetime or long-term access to an internet service is as good as lost, as you never know when the company's gonna fall victim to their unprofitable business plans and close doors, or plain steal your money, with you having essentially zero recourse against them.

You miss the point. I haven't not lost a single image. Nobody has.

Photoshop was not useful for a "storage device". It was useful as a third party link. My only photos were there to link to.

But the 3rd party ljnks to those images are lost. Unless, you pay the randsom.

Did you back up your 3rd party links? ;)

I won't be tracking down every post or blog I've done over the last ten years, try to figure out which pic was there, and then redo my content.

Many people use "the cloud" as their primary storage solution and lose their files when cloud companies goes rogue.

As for broken links, well, that's the nature of the free internet. If you don't want to risk it happen, you need to host your images yourself and that's not free. If some of your blog posts are important to you and you don't want to pay for the safety of your links, then you should be prepared to go back to your old posts and redo the links.

In short, you get what you pay for.

But if you think about it, the true losers when a company breaks your links are the blog site owners. In this case, VaporJoes now has a forum full of broken links that suddenly lost a lot of its value thanks to PB - and *he* makes money out of his site, unlike your with your forum posts. In a sense, ultimately he's the victim of cheap people like us who don't want to pay anything for internet services...
 

Sonar505

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Member For 4 Years
Member For 3 Years
Modder
Is this supposed to have already happened? Cause I just checked Some old posts from 2012 I made on ECF using Photobucket and they are all still showing. About 3 years ago I switched from Photobucket to Imgur because they were throttling me each month and also because their Homepage became very slow to load. Never paid for anything on their but kept the old posts linked to it. Still seem fine. So is this happening soon?
 

RatRacer

a touch oɟɟ
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Member For 4 Years
Is this supposed to have already happened? Cause I just checked Some old posts from 2012 I made on ECF using Photobucket and they are all still showing. About 3 years ago I switched from Photobucket to Imgur because they were throttling me each month and also because their Homepage became very slow to load. Never paid for anything on their but kept the old posts linked to it. Still seem fine. So is this happening soon?
It's a slow roll across its membership. I watched it happen across several forums to various members a little at a time. They will catch up to you at some point.
 

The Cromwell

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That is why I wrote "Clever freeloaders don't use a free service as their primary storage solution (or even a paid-for one - you never know when the company behind it will tank or start screwing you)."

I would never buy any plan from internet companies even if I wanted to: they are notorious for reneging on their promises because they know full well nobody's going to go after them for such a small sum with a lawyer, and across borders to boot for many customers. The only thing that keeps them from screwing you freely is the threat of lost reputation and - at least in the US - class-action litigation. That is to say, not very much.

In short, money you pay for lifetime or long-term access to an internet service is as good as lost, as you never know when the company's gonna fall victim to their unprofitable business plans and close doors, or plain steal your money, with you having essentially zero recourse against them.



Many people use "the cloud" as their primary storage solution and lose their files when cloud companies goes rogue.

As for broken links, well, that's the nature of the free internet. If you don't want to risk it happen, you need to host your images yourself and that's not free. If some of your blog posts are important to you and you don't want to pay for the safety of your links, then you should be prepared to go back to your old posts and redo the links.

In short, you get what you pay for.

But if you think about it, the true losers when a company breaks your links are the blog site owners. In this case, VaporJoes now has a forum full of broken links that suddenly lost a lot of its value thanks to PB - and *he* makes money out of his site, unlike your with your forum posts. In a sense, ultimately he's the victim of cheap people like us who don't want to pay anything for internet services...

yep and just look what happens when Russians hack your ecig!
exoskeleton mod.jpg
 

RatRacer

a touch oɟɟ
VU Donator
Gold Contributor
Member For 4 Years
Yes, Photobucket sucks. Imagine that: they no longer provide the service you've been paying nothing for for years - the bastards, how dare they!
Yeah, they got paid with their data mining info and ads along the way, until it wasn't enough anymore. I knew it was bound to happen eventually, but their lack of any forewarning, and the Trump penthouse rent payment amount to keep things the way they are, is the fucked up thing about it.
 

Time

Platinum Contributor
Member For 4 Years
Is this supposed to have already happened? Cause I just checked Some old posts from 2012 I made on ECF using Photobucket and they are all still showing. About 3 years ago I switched from Photobucket to Imgur because they were throttling me each month and also because their Homepage became very slow to load. Never paid for anything on their but kept the old posts linked to it. Still seem fine. So is this happening soon?

Check post #17 in this thread. http://vapingunderground.com/threads/post-your-mug-shot.104384/

You'll see more and more in that thread(all such threads) over time.
 

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