Hostage of Photobucket

[Bounce]

App? Just use the web interface. Never had a problem.

 

[HotRodZilla]

I'm almost NEVER on Photobucket from a computer. I'm also on here on my phone 98% of the time. However, I found the issue. Somehow my username got changed to start with a capital letter. That was never the case before. As soon as I did that, it fired up a and worked flawlessly. Some update they did changed something. Weird, but it works.

 

[CAJW]

I'm a subscriber. I have none of these problems. I use the photos on this and several other online forums. It's worth a couple bucks a month to me. YMMV

Fred,My account just got shut down due to a new terms of service notice dated 6/27/17, that eliminates 3rd party hosting from their free and paid accounts, unless you pony up $400. When asked to "upgrade" my previously free account, the charge they listed was $399.99! Guess their ad revenues weren't cutting it so they changed the rules so, Bye Bye Photobucket. Holding my pics hostage with no prior warning is just pure BS!

 

[SacramentoMike]

Interesting, and disheartening. I'm assuming it's not just personal against you, John, so sounds like maybe all of us will lose our pics that are stored there. What it makes me wonder is, will pics on the forum (or similar sites) that were hosted on PB disappear if PB closes our accounts because we won't pay the ransom? Since I believe pics here have always had to be backed up by the original staying posted on PB, and no longer show here if they get deleted on PB.

So if they close your account because you don't want to pay this new fee, ALL our pictures originally posted through our Photobucket accounts could disappear from the forum. We might be looking at a lot of blank old ride reports around here soon--at least the pictures. BS? I sure agree.

 

[08FJR4ME]

I haven't logged into PB this week so this will really suck. Second time around with photo sharing website.

Dave

 

[RossKean]

From the "Terms and Conditions" (below the photo)

Free account says 2GB maximum and no image linking! (Does image linking mean something different from what I thought - the image below is linked from Photobucket.)



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 3rd party 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: 50 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.

Read more: https://photobucket.com/terms#ixzz4lOD9fpCI

 

[Laser Dude]

So if they close your account because you don't want to pay this new fee, ALL our pictures originally posted through our Photobucket accounts could disappear from the forum. We might be looking at a lot of blank old ride reports around here soon--at least the pictures. BS? I sure agree.

That's why I have mentioned before that making people use sites like PB is a bad idea for the long term health of any forum. The hard part that forum owners generally resist is the bandwidth to display, and the storage to store the photos on their server(s). The sites I have seen that allow you to upload your photos to their site put caps on the sizes, typically in the 150kb area, which is plenty big enough to display properly. Then the issue becomes everyone has to resize their photos prior to uploading them, which can be confusing for people who don't do it a lot. There are great programs that are free that do it easy with a click or two, but that's a side note.

Having anything hosted by someone else is always a risk one takes when running a forum. The best sites I have seen allow no outside linking at all on photos. If you want to show something, you need to upload it to the site. Once it's there, it's there. That way no 3rd party can trash your entire site.

But, that takes bandwidth and storage, which cost money. It's nearly impossible to host photos on your site without charging people money somewhere along the line, whether it's advertising or membership fees, and the vast majority of people would walk away from the entire community if you asked them to spend $10 a year to support the forum. Personally, I'd pay $5 a month to be on a site that was clean and free of broken links.

 

[FJR Flyer]

Since I signed up on the forum I've used Photobucket for free. A while back I saw it said I was reaching the limit for free hosting. Then all of a sudden I was at 100%. I deleted several hundred photos, still at 100%. They must have lowered their data limit. Could never delete enough without keeping what I wanted so I just quit using it.
Now I tried to get on and it says my account is "Restricted." This with maybe 200 less pics than a few years ago when it wasn't restricted. Finally, now all of the photos I've ever posted up this site for 7+ years won't appear. I won't complain too bad b/c I never paid but their retroactively shutting **** down is pretty frustrating.

I had the exact same thing happen to me. Fortunately, I got a Samsung Galaxy Tab tablet for Father's Day, and it comes with Samsung sponsored unrestricted photobucket access. I logged into my restricted account had full access.

 

[RossKean]

I think the "free" unlimited Samsung storage/access is only for six months. The site says an additional 12 months with any print purchase. I don't think Samsung users are getting anything for free.

I hope that existing Photobucket linked photos don't disappear. It would pretty effectively ruin thousands of ride reports and "how-to" postings on this site.

 

[CAJW]

My pics are aparently all gone. Sadly it looks like this is what we now have to look forward to with previously PB hosted ride reports. https://www.fjrforum.com/forum//index.php/topic/148867-fall-colors-part-deux/?hl=cajw&do=findComment&comment=1009342

 

[RossKean]

I expect that Photobucket will see a pretty good revenue spike as a result of this. Soon to be followed by a complete crash as people leave the site in disgust and no new members sign up after reading the terms. I had pretty much stopped using Photobucket for anything new because it was getting to be a major pain in the *** with the ads, downtime and speed (or lack thereof).

I hope that Flickr doesn't do the same thing...

 

[Uncle Hud]

Thanks for the warning. I have copied any useful photos from Photobucket, and am holding them on my hard drive. If necessary, I can move them to another photo hosting site.

 

[eflyguy]

I had pretty much stopped using Photobucket for anything new because it was getting to be a major pain in the *** with the ads, downtime and speed (or lack thereof).
I hope that Flickr doesn't do the same thing...

Ditto.. With the exception - I came to PB from Flickr for similar reasons!

I have literally dozens, if not hundreds, of tutorials, build articles, etc. that are now going to lose their images - across a ton of interests - radio control, various automobiles, golf cart customization, home appliance repair, and multiple motorcycle forums - both bike-specific and general, local groups.

That said, I've deleted my account with them. It's been virtually impossible to use for over a year, and this latest change makes it useless...

 

[Spud]

Wow, I was just getting ready to buy the cheapest plan specifically so I could get my photos back I've posted on this forum and post new ones. No one but a business will pay $500/year. That really sucks!!!!

 

[escapefjrtist]

Got the dreaded PB email today. I'm not a heavy user so figured (hoped?) I was safe...NOT.

Checked a couple of my older threads and my account and pics are held hostage. *******s!

Thanks for the warning. I have copied any useful photos from Photobucket, and am holding them on my hard drive. If necessary, I can move them to another photo hosting site.

@Hud - Were you able to copy in bulk? How much trouble was this?

--G

 

[Bounce]

Odd. Maybe it's because I don't use it much and the photos are mostly throw aways. No warnings and no problems with links. I host my own web site/domain through 1&1 and post all my important stuff (FJR-Tips.org, etc.) there.

 

[RossKean]

Photobucket is not the "home" for any of my photos so I am not going to lose anything. I only copy stuff there if I am going to post on a forum or if I want to share a bunch of pics with friends. Thinking I might use Dropbox to share photos and another hosting service to link to future forum posts (Flickr or Imgur, for example). I understand that these may go the way of Photobucket eventually. There will be just a few dead image links from some of my posts but it is going to be a devastating loss for many ride reports and technical posts here. I assume FJR Forum, being a "free" (to the members) site, can't justify storage space or band-width to host photos.

 

[TomInPA]

I have a lot of photos on the Bucket. They are still there for now. If linking is no longer an option, the loss is to the forums, not me. I have many years of photos there, but have never relinquished the full resolution images from my hard drive and several backups. Everythng on PB can be recreated, but who to trust? Imgur?

 

[Tyler]

I have a lot of photos on the Bucket. They are still there for now. If linking is no longer an option, the loss is to the forums, not me. I have many years of photos there, but have never relinquished the full resolution images from my hard drive and several backups. Everythng on PB can be recreated, but who to trust? Imgur?

Smugmug ftw imo. I've used them for years. YMMV

 

[puppychow]

Downloading now. Album by album. I have hard copies of all photos backed up, but downloading the PB ones - one album at a time and organizing to make it easier to upload and replace links on the blog, once the PB ransom demand comes along. Wait it is already here. F**K! I don't have time for this, but it gotta be done!