*** PHOTOBUCKET Is Now CHARGING For 3rd Party Hosting - $400 / yr ! ! !

[mo65]

I don't think Photobucket is going to delete all these pictures.

   Right...all the pics are still at photobucket...just the links to sites like this are being deleted. I'm opening a flickr account as we speak so I can start repairing my damages.

[sdlehr]

It might be that there is another solution for the time being. It's called "paying ransom". I've been trying to document this problem in my own posts and cannot. So far, anyway, all my posts and pictures seem to be fine - although I haven't checked them all. The message that appears in posts (in the photos that no longer appear) seem to all say "100% 3rd Party Hosting...". I placed a Christmas photo order with Photobucket last year (at 80% off I was pleased, and still spent almost $100), and my account seems not to have been affected. It's possible that all one need do is place an order for one photo and the problem may go away.... I don't know.... and I can't test it....and my order was a sizable one, but significantly less than $400. Someone needs to order a photo and see what happens to the pics in their posts afterward.... until we come up with a more permanent solution because I'm sure they'll catch on soon, and I may be OK with paying ransom for now, but not forever on an ongoing basis.


Sid

[sdlehr]

...just the links to sites like this are being deleted.

Maybe semantics, but the links are being blocked, not deleted. Important, because it implies they can be unblocked... by Photobucket if they wish to do so.

[mo65]

...just the links to sites like this are being deleted.

Maybe semantics, but the links are being blocked, not deleted. Important, because it implies they can be unblocked... by Photobucket if they wish to do so.

   Blocked, deleted, decapitated...whatever ya wanna call it...the forum already looks like a photobucket graveyard.    I'm Jumping ship, opened my flickr account and uploaded a few pics, seems to work very smooth. I guess I'll be busy reposting pics for a while, but at least my posts will be viewable/useable.

[biggiesmalls]

Funny how this went down, seems as bribery to me, unless they were already doomed. If not, they better wake up, they should be paying us.
Its bad for all of us, but what botherts me the most is my Tank.
Almost 120,000 visitors and 36 pages with no pictures ...worthless .
We all have the original pics, it will be a lot of work, but should be able to put them back through anothe source, unless Photobucket wakes up.

Sal

Didn't even realize the tank thread was down until you said something. That thread gave me a ton of ideas for my 9/0, sad to see the most important part of it go because of a company getting greedy.

[steelfish]

I was a loyal user of Phobucket and all my threads since many years ago on this forum and anothers I used PB, now all those threads look sad.
I will do my part and from time to time will re-do all my threads, later I will search posts I made on another threads with pics and re-do them too.

yep, you read right.. I WAS

[Alto Mare]

It might be that there is another solution for the time being. It's called "paying ransom". I've been trying to document this problem in my own posts and cannot. So far, anyway, all my posts and pictures seem to be fine - although I haven't checked them all. The message that appears in posts (in the photos that no longer appear) seem to all say "100% 3rd Party Hosting...". I placed a Christmas photo order with Photobucket last year (at 80% off I was pleased, and still spent almost $100), and my account seems not to have been affected. It's possible that all one need do is place an order for one photo and the problem may go away.... I don't know.... and I can't test it....and my order was a sizable one, but significantly less than $400. Someone needs to order a photo and see what happens to the pics in their posts afterward.... until we come up with a more permanent solution because I'm sure they'll catch on soon, and I may be OK with paying ransom for now, but not forever on an ongoing basis.


Sid

Maybe you won't mind paying ransom, but I do. They won't get a penny from me and I'm not cheap...
Obviously we're generating lots of interest, there are 465 guests checking in. We should all pull out at the same time instead of paying.
I'm wondering if flickr will do the same for when the time comes .

[steelfish]

I'm wondering if flickr will do the same for when the time comes .

i have the same feeling.

I was a the photo gallery member in this site but suddendly Im not able to upload pics in my gallery anymore.
I would gladly pay a fee to the Boss to have my pics here than pay Flickr in 3 years more when I might have tons uploaded

[mizmo67]

I assume PhotoBucket is using an program to pin down the 3rd party image loading.
Just a matter of time til they are all down, really. Probably getting queued up in a list as they are accessed here.

[gstours]

To All Readers;  This seems like a bad threat.  n it took me a very long time to figgure out how to post pictures.  I,m not computer nor phone savvy.  I,m not paying more money to them PB folks as I have expanded my library lately worth more storage and dont like their barmbardment of commercials.  As long as I can just do what i,m doing (little) I will watch you folks and try to move my files to another way. (server?)  GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!
 Thanks everyone for the heads up.   Thats what makes this a great site!!!!!

[sdlehr]

I doubt PB made this decision without careful thought. I can only imagine they are not doing well financially and are trying this before they go belly up; they knew it would be unpopular and cause a lot of people a lot of trouble, and I doubt very much that or greed was their motivating factor. I'm guessing we'll see Photobucket go the way of the Dodo in the next year or two. I saw that happen once before many years ago with my very first online photo storage website - they migrated their files over to someone else's server and went under. That was in the days of film cameras and they maintained a digital version of the file on their server until film went the way of the Dodo; they followed soon after. Seattle Filmworks was their name.

[Tiddlerbasher]

Most folks with a net connection have access to cloud storage (as part of the deal). The terms and conditions may vary but we could try and make use of this varied online storage facility. I'm currently checking my 'storage portals' to see if "3rd party hosting" is allowed

[Midway Tommy]

I'm wondering if flickr will do the same for when the time comes .

i have the same feeling.

I was a the photo gallery member in this site but suddendly Im not able to upload pics in my gallery anymore.
I would gladly pay a fee to the Boss to have my pics here than pay Flickr in 3 years more when I might have tons uploaded

I think reality is that many of the internet "freebies" we are all accustomed to will slowly, but surely, go by the wayside. Those internet gurus aren't stupid. Money talks and always ends up being the driving force. They're in business for a reason. Sometimes I think we lose track of that aspect since access to a lot of internet goodies has been free for the taking for so long. It's frustrating, but it's just business.   

[oc1]

I agree Tommy.  There's no free lunch even though it may seem free at the time.

I am curious to know.....  If you go to a previous post where you included a photobucket link that no longer works, will you be able to identify exactly which photo is was? If someone wanted to take the time to repair the damage, what would be involved?

-steve

[Shark Hunter]

I have had several photobucket accounts.
I downloaded my whole library off one of them and it only took a few minutes.
I now have them on my hard drive, without their tag on the end.
There is hope.
I just need to remember my other passwords.