Hostage of Photobucket

[Fred W]

Ok, so it looks like the $100 per year plan gives you 50GB storage and unlimited linking. I think that was what I had previously but it wasn't $100 previously. I forget when my subscription runs out. I'll have to check on that when I get home.

Does anyone really wonder that it came to this? I could never understand the business plan where they would give away all of that free storage space to so many people with the hopes that they would buy prints of those hosted photos. Linked images don't bring any ad revenue. It's too bad we will lose this ability, but it was inevitable.

 

[RossKean]

I'm not precisely sure what the difference is between "linking" and "third party hosting". (The latter requires the $400 subscription)

I don't have a lot of photos (and nothing really important) invested in PB so I won't be buying any subscription. Not only that but I can't help but get the feeling that this may be a last ditch cash grab by the owners before the site dies completely. Since there are still "free" sites out there, the only people who pay will be those with a substantial and important (to them)pile of photos that are either not backed up elsewhere or are significant portions of on-line blogs or forum contributions that mean a lot to the owners. Since the paying customers will be getting the ad-free experience, I expect that PB's advertising revenue is going to dry up in pretty short order. If the amount of "in your face", obtrusive and downright annoying ads on the site is any indication, I suspect that the revenue from advertising is considerable.

Perhaps they have underestimated the backlash. Maybe they think other photo hosting sites will follow suit (maybe they will). In any case, this move by PB is going to ruin or at least severely damage the content of thousands of websites, blogs and internet forums.

 

[08FJR4ME]

I haven't logged in recently to PB. I have been a victom of this already when FB took over the last photo sharing site I was on. Lost everything then too.

This sucks,

Dave

 

[Bounce]

Why not go with someone like 1and1.com? I have never experienced an outage and they don't hold your domain names hostage like GoDaddy does. Use their free web designer tool and from there upload and link to your heart's content. You can then also create your own e-mail account that accepts forwarded mail from generic places like Gmail, etc.

All that control and function for about what PB is asking from people.

If you look at them and decide to go that way, the discount link is:

https://www.1and1.com/?ac=OM.US.USf11K361659T7073a&kwk=%5Bcustomer_id%5D&couponCode=MNP2AABF

 

[dcarver]

Like the puppy, I too an downloading folders. one by one. when PB will let me. one folder with 190+ pix downloaded in about 3 minutes. the next folder with 40 images, same resolution, i'm still waiting 30 minutes later.

...and the challenge pictures to i'm not a robot get ridiculously tedious..

Phuck PB.

 

[BigOgre]

I gave up trying to download entire albums. After one or two it almost came to a complete stop, no matter what size the album. I found it much easier to open an album, select the first pic (where it'll full size) and then download that individual pic. Move to the next pic via right side arrow and download again. Two mouse clicks for each pic but I got into a rhythm and it moved right along.

 

[Knifemaker]

Luckily, I have nothing at Photobucket that I'd be concerned about losing. I haven't used them for quit a while now. Just going there to see what I have, I got overwhelmed by pop up ads. **** them. It will of course suck that all those photo links in this and other forums might be lost...so **** them again.

I had pics with yahoo years ago. They lost many of my photos when they handed them over to Flickr....I guess I just learned to back up photos BEFORE posting them to an online photo site.

 

[Uncle Hud]

For me, it's not the concern of losing anything; I have the originals here. Like many have said, it's the realization that every photo I posted in FJR forums will no longer appear.

How long will it take me to repair all the broken links? Who knows.

 

[Fred W]

Yes, that is my situation too. Any photos I've hosted ther I still have the originals of. If Photobucket raises subscription rate to the ridiculous levels that people have mentioned I will have to discontinue it. And I don't really see going back and editing posts.

 

[Laser Dude]

How long will it take me to repair all the broken links? Who knows.

And how many people that have posted get RR's and information don't participate here any more, for whatever reason, that won't be updating those links? It's going to trash forums of all kinds, which is a real shame.

I'm not sure I understand the trigger for getting your images locked out from there, other than bandwidth or storage. I joined PB just to be able to post photos here and the few things I have posted are still available. I think Redfish did his RR on YFO using PB and it was still up last time I looked.

 

[Old Guy]

Yes, that is my situation too. Any photos I've hosted ther I still have the originals of. If Photobucket raises subscription rate to the ridiculous levels that people have mentioned I will have to discontinue it. And I don't really see going back and editing posts.

Same here. PB is just a way to share photos. I've got the originals stored in multiple places.

If I find a thread or post that I feel I really need to keep, I save it to a PDF file and keep it on my computer. I don't rely on it, or the photos, to remain there forever,

 

[SacramentoMike]

I hadn't tried till now, but I just googled "sacramentomike site:fjrforum.com" to find an old post of mine that I could check for this issue--I found this one, featuring someone who used to come here once in a while. This is from 2009, and all pictures (from both of us) are still intact. Wonder how they decide whose accounts to lock up, and how long the rest of them will be open. (And I'm still using the free account.)

 

[hppants]

My days are apparently numbered with Photobucket, as I will not pay $400 per year for this service. Man, this is really going to suck re: ride reports. I need ya'll to help me think this through:

I've got all original photographs stored local in my external H/D

I've got all of the cropped versions (The ones that made the ride report) as well. Each is in a sub folder of the folder that contained the original images. The significance of this is that they are renamed in the order the appear in the ride report. EX: "Carpe_Diem_1" is the first pic in the report. Then "Carpe_Diem_2" is the second, etc.

I've also got all of my ride report text (with the Photobucket direct links) in separate Rick Text Format documents in the same folder as the cropped pics.


I'm thinking I'll go with Smug Mug - do ya'll think that ANY plan they offer will allow the image linking I do for ride reports?

https://www.smugmug.com/features

When I read the comparison, "give custom pages easy to read URLs" - does that mean it allows what we do for ride reports?

Once I start a new account, reposting the ride report will be a matter of uploading images in their new Host Site folder, and then just paste the new URL link into the rich text document, ONE BY ONE, for all 50,000 of them (give or take), and I'm back in the game?

Have I got that right?

 

[RossKean]

More or less. Restoring ride reports (and technical articles) is going to be a major pain in the *** and I commend you for even considering it. At this point, the long term reliability of any "free" service is tenuous at best. The owners of paid services can change the rules too. Smugmug has been around for awhile - I hope they continue without selling out to one of the big boys.

 

[hppants]

Thanks Ross - FWIW, I sent Smugmug and email an hour ago with my questions. On SUNDAY, July 2nd - I got a reply in 45 minutes. Even the basic plan allows for image linking, and an unlimited storage capacity. Only limit is 5000 images per "gallery", but I can have unlimited galleries. Even I won't get any ride report to 5000 pictures.

(hmmmmm)

Nah......

The return email also pointed out that I can convert the images from Photobucket to Smugmug with a free utility, but I'm not quite sure what that means.

As you point out, we are not held hostage with them until they are bought or decide to change the rules. I guess it's no different than anything else.

 

[dcarver]

My days are apparently numbered with Photobucket, as I will not pay $400 per year for this service. Man, this is really going to suck re: ride reports. I need ya'll to help me think this through:
I've got all original photographs stored local in my external H/D

I've got all of the cropped versions (The ones that made the ride report) as well. Each is in a sub folder of the folder that contained the original images. The significance of this is that they are renamed in the order the appear in the ride report. EX: "Carpe_Diem_1" is the first pic in the report. Then "Carpe_Diem_2" is the second, etc.

I've also got all of my ride report text (with the Photobucket direct links) in separate Rick Text Format documents in the same folder as the cropped pics.

I'm thinking I'll go with Smug Mug - do ya'll think that ANY plan they offer will allow the image linking I do for ride reports?

https://www.smugmug.com/features

When I read the comparison, "give custom pages easy to read URLs" - does that mean it allows what we do for ride reports?

Once I start a new account, reposting the ride report will be a matter of uploading images in their new Host Site folder, and then just paste the new URL link into the rich text document, ONE BY ONE, for all 50,000 of them (give or take), and I'm back in the game?

Have I got that right?

'pants, I do similar to you.

Each RR is named by yyyy-mm-dd <RR Name>. Each RR has two folders. ORIG and CBA. CBA is 150k res for web use. I use ipage.com for https://candybuttorg.ipage.com/cba/node. ipage allows for unlimited data, although they have squaked at me time to time. I refer them back to my contract and my lawyers phone/email and haven't heard crap since.

Every month or so I use FileZilla to download the entire ipage content.. just in case iPage takes a dump or I want to go elsewhere for hosting.

It's truly a pita what PB has done.

I am slowly downloading all PB content by folder. I've found if you do more than 3 or so downloads it balks. Using Safari, I clear the cache, start again and the download works every time.

PhuckPhotoPhuckBucket.

Oh I also use iFranView to make pic borders, resize, and rename automagically. Wonderful program.

Good Riddance.

Die.

Oh... also use notepad++ to mass replace url's linking to pictures. Works great. Free.

...and one more thing.. should one want to re-edit old ride reports.. Use the switch on fjrforum in upper left hand corner. Copy code (Cntrl-C) then paste into notepad++, highlight old pic url, in the REPLACE box type in the new pic url then hit do all.

Easy Peasy.

Just time consuming.

Have MakersMark available....

JSNS and https://www.fjrforum.com/forum//public/style_emoticons/default/****.gif

Hugs n' Kisses

 

[hppants]

Carver - many thanks. I think I'm following you, but please realize, Pants knows just enough in these matters to be deadly dangerous. If I understand correctly, regardless of which host site I choose, I've still got to move the pile of rocks one by one, yes? IOW - the new host site will have a new unique (pun intended) URL. I won't know what that is until I establish the photos there. And so, in order for my old ride reports to appear on the forum, I've got to re-build the Rich Text format document with all of the new URLs (after photos loaded there), delete all of the current forum post content, and replace it with the new text file. Have I got that right?

Oh - and +1 on the "upper right button" method of transferring post content to the forum. I use that to paste from the clipboard to the forum dialogue window, and then "unclick" it before posting. I post ride reports to 6 forums. This is the only one that limits the number of photos in a given post. That makes it especially challenging.

 

[dcarver]

Carver - many thanks. I think I'm following you, but please realize, Pants knows just enough in these matters to be deadly dangerous. If I understand correctly, regardless of which host site I choose, I've still got to move the pile of rocks one by one, yes? IOW - the new host site will have a new unique (pun intended) URL. I won't know what that is until I establish the photos there. And so, in order for my old ride reports to appear on the forum, I've got to re-build the Rich Text format document with all of the new URLs (after photos loaded there), delete all of the current forum post content, and replace it with the new text file. Have I got that right?

Yes, a new url for every pix when hosted on a new site. The key.. .the key mi amigo is to keep a 'template' of your ride report as a text file. My template, using notepad++ (many other apps do the same thing) looks like this..

Using notepad++ it's really easy to simply highlight the old url then paste the new url in. All the narrative stays the same, unmolested.

<a class="colorbox" href="https:/candybuttorg.ipage.com/pix/motobikes/wrenching/KZ1300/2016-09-16 Various Oil Leaks/1.jpg"><img alt="" src="https:/candybuttorg.ipage.com/pix/motobikes/wrenching/KZ1300/2016-09-16 Various Oil Leaks/1.jpg"/></a></p>

<p style="text-align: center;">x 
<a class="colorbox" href="https:/candybuttorg.ipage.com/pix/motobikes/wrenching/KZ1300/2016-09-16 Various Oil Leaks/2.jpg"><img alt="" src="https:/candybuttorg.ipage.com/pix/motobikes/wrenching/KZ1300/2016-09-16 Various Oil Leaks/2.jpg"/></a></p>

<p style="text-align: center;">x 
<a class="colorbox" href="https:/candybuttorg.ipage.com/pix/motobikes/wrenching/KZ1300/2016-09-16 Various Oil Leaks/3.jpg"><img alt="" src="https:/candybuttorg.ipage.com/pix/motobikes/wrenching/KZ1300/2016-09-16 Various Oil Leaks/3.jpg"/></a></p>

Oh - and +1 on the "upper right button" method of transferring post content to the forum. I use that to paste from the clipboard to the forum dialogue window, and then "unclick" it before posting. I post ride reports to 6 forums. This is the only one that limits the number of photos in a given post. That makes it especially challenging.

6 forums? Good Grief Doode. What are they? Or do I not want to know?

 

[puppychow]

Trying out smugglr to facilitate my escape from Phucking Photobucket. Will let you know how it goes.

 

[hppants]

Subscribed, Puppy!! Good luck!

Wouldn't it be cool if Smug Mug could take the URL that I have at Photobucket for each photo, and create the exact same URL at Smug Mug with the only change being the domain name? Then it would be really easy for me to fix things - open the old ride report text file in Word, start the proof reading editor and run the string "replace everything that has www.photobucket.com with www.smugmug.com". The report would be fixed immediately and all I'd have to do would be delete the old post, and replace it with the new one. The catch would be on the 1 in 100000 chance that S/M has already used the rest of the URL somewhere else.

Meh... wishful thinking, I suppose...

Carver - they are all M/c forums. Some I've been with for ages (long before this one). Others not so much, just with peeps I've met along the way.