So trivial, yet it really ticks you off.

[Zombie_61]

Well, I see Photo Bucket is trying to shake down a lot of us, for the right to post photos to this sight!

Funny, I was just going to post about that. I've been using Photobucket for a little over 10 years now; signed up on February 13th, 2007. And I have, according to them, 955 image files uploaded so far. It looks like I'll be spending a good part of the upcoming weekend downloading all of those files, closing my account, and finding another free photo hosting website because I refuse to pay their extortion price of $400 a year. I understand it costs money to maintain and operate their website, but paying to use their site isn't the deal I signed up for.

 

[Lean'n'mean]

. I understand it costs money to maintain and operate their website, but paying to use their site isn't the deal I signed up for.

I agree & it hasn't exactly been a picnic dealing with their chaotic adware, which supposedly, paid for the site. The worst though is, anyone who hasn't succumbed to the blackmail, will have all their photos they've posted online via PB, including on this forum, removed. It has already started which may be confusing for newcomers to this site hoping to glean invaluable pictoral info.

 

[BobHufford]

Well that will break a lot of links on this forum. I use Flickr and have no complaints.

 

[Fading Fast]

Hmm, I haven't noticed anything different at hateful Photobucket, but my "storage usage" is only at 33% - could that be why?

 

[Lean'n'mean]

I'm not sure storage percentage has much to do with it. It basically concerns what they call " 3rd party hosting " which refers to posting pics anywhere on the net......a major function of image hosting sites. I suppose it won't be long before they start charging users to consult their library.

 

[Fading Fast]

I'm not sure storage percentage has much to do with it. It basically concerns what they call " 3rd party hosting " which refers to posting pics anywhere on the net......a major function of image hosting sites. I suppose it won't be long before they start charging users to consult their library.

You're right. I notice that all of my Fedora Lounge posted picture are now blocked. Very nice of them.

 

[Zombie_61]

I agree & it hasn't exactly been a picnic dealing with their chaotic adware, which supposedly, paid for the site. The worst though is, anyone who hasn't succumbed to the blackmail, will have all their photos they've posted online via PB, including on this forum, removed. It has already started which may be confusing for newcomers to this site hoping to glean invaluable pictoral info.

Photobucket was pretty easy to use when I first signed up with them, which is why I chose them over the other photo hosting sites, but a few years later they changed the layout of the website (and presumably the software) and it has been problematic ever since.

Hmm, I haven't noticed anything different at hateful Photobucket, but my "storage usage" is only at 33% - could that be why?

After 10 years of use and approximately 960 image files, my "usage" was at only 8%.

I first noticed their "replacement" images on other forums a few days ago, and the next day someone mentioned they had received an e-mail from them explaining their new policy and extortion price. Everything seemed fine with my account until last night when I received the same e-mail, so I immediately began downloading all of my image files from Photobucket to my laptop in preparation for closing my account with them and finding a new host.

I feel bad about the situation because, as Bob mentioned above, this means that each and every image link I've posted in the last ten years will now be broken. But I have neither the time nor the desire to find each and every one of those posts and "fix" them after I find a new hosting site. It is what it is and I didn't create the situation, and it truly is one of those "first world" problems, but it's still one hell of an inconvenience for those of us who have been with Photobucket for so long.

I'm not sure storage percentage has much to do with it. It basically concerns what they call " 3rd party hosting " which refers to posting pics anywhere on the net......a major function of image hosting sites. I suppose it won't be long before they start charging users to consult their library.

I know very little about the workings of websites and the 'Net, but I'm guessing it's a bandwidth issue and they're no longer willing to pay for us "freeloaders". Or "freeuploaders", in this case.

My concern is that other "free" photo hosting sites will follow their lead and start doing the same thing, and that I/we will end up right back in the same spot before long--a string of downloading and uploading our files from one site to another until they've all gone the way of the Dodo. $400 a year might not be a huge sum for some people, but for my wife and I it's really not feasible right now.

 

[2jakes]

Photobucket was pretty easy to use when
I first signed up with them.
I know very little about the workings of websites and the 'Net, but I'm guessing it's a bandwidth issue and they're no longer willing to pay for us "freeloaders". Or "freeuploaders", in this case.

With PhotoBucket, there’s now a monthly charge of $2.49 to go “Ad Free”.
To go “Pro” it’s $$$$.
In the past, it was fast and easier to use.

On occasions, I will use imgur which is free, fast, easy
and I can edit the images.
: The most awesome images on the Internet


Any images that you delete from your primary folder will show
up as this on the forum.

 

[l0fielectronic]

Yes, Flickr currently offers a lot of free space as does Google, but they aren't quite as user-friendly as Photobucket in so far as links and automated resizing goes. That said the future of Flickr continues to be questionable as that site fails to make anyone any money either.

It is interesting that they chose such a seemingly high figure for this today and its certainly questionable that they did this with no warning and retroactively edited their terms of service. That said I'm surprised how many complaints I've seen today from actual business' who've been using photobucket to host their website images - so I guess those people may be 'forced' to pay for at least the short term.

 

[Lean'n'mean]

I joined Photobucket in 2012 as it was really the best photo hosting site around at the time but as Zombie mentioned above, they changed their interface & software about a year later & ever since there has been nothing but problems. It was as if they didn't want people to use it & now this latest scam appears to add insult to injury in that we now have to pay a considerable ransom for a very crappy service. The brutality & lack of warning of this new manoeuvre, suggests there may be other motivations behind it other than simple profit. I also wonder if it's even legal to remove all images posted by users online whilst the service was free & encouraged by PB......that there will now be a charge for all future pics posted on various sites, OK, but can there be a retroactive charge & an immediate removal of all photos if you fail to comply within a few days of receiving the ransom note, err.... I mean the email, informing us of their policy change ?
Legalities aside, it seems kinda counterproductive for an image hosting site to punish it's users in such a way, there are plenty of other user friendly image hosting sites around & PB is undoubtedly going to lose a large part of their user base but that is prehaps their aim.

 

[Fading Fast]

Interestingly (or maybe not), Photobucket's site is down right now. Taking the sum of the above smart comments, I think something else is going on at PB. Maybe they are on the brink of failing and this is a Hail Mary / maybe they want to sell out to someone and need to show a spike in revenue (not that this move wouldn't come up in due diligence) / maybe the terms of some prior funding require a move toward profitability in some time period and they are getting close to the date / etc.

I clearly don't know and only marginally care because it disrupted our fun little forum here. But it does feel as if something behind the scenes sparked this seemingly poorly executed business model change. My guess is PB will either be gone, have new ownership or be back to offering free services in a few weeks or so. When the site is back up, I'm going to check if there are any pictures I really care about and then will download those - otherwise, I'm just going to hang out and see the outcome of this stupidity.

 

[2jakes]

^^^^^
I just checked in on PB and so far it's
still working for me. (Free)
The major differences between before
and now are the "pop-up" ads which are more frequent and it's slower today to upload your images in the "free user"
account.

PB has options of "no-ads" for $2.49 a month or go with the Pro-acct. which
costs $$$$.

Also any images that you have posted
on that site are now property of PB.

Here's part of their terms when you
use their site:

Terms & Conditions:

" If you remove your Content from the Site or mark Content as "private" that was previously public, Photobucket will promptly hide it from search results on the Site; however, we might still have it stored in backup files or on servers, and we may retain it as needed. We are not responsible for sites that it was shared to before it was marked.
When you make your Content public, you grant us a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free, non-revocable, right and license to copy, sell, convey, distribute, stream, post, publicly display (e.g. post it elsewhere), reproduce and create derivative works from it (meaning things based on it), whether in print or any kind of electronic version that exists now or is later developed, for any purpose, including a commercial purpose with the right to sublicense such rights to others.

By making your content public, you are also giving other Members on Photobucket the right to copy, distribute, publicly perform, publicly display, reproduce and create derivative works from it via the Site, third party websites or applications (for example, via services allowing Members to order prints of Content or t-shirts and similar items containing Content, and via social media websites), provided such use is not for a commercial purpose."

 

[Fading Fast]

^^^^^
I just checked in on PB and so far it's
still working for me. (Free)
The major differences between before
and now are the "pop-up" ads which are more frequent and it's slower today to upload your images in the "free user"
account.

PB has options of "no-ads" for $2.49 a month or go with the Pro-acct. which
costs $$$$.

Also any images that you have posted
on that site are now property of PB.

Here's part of their terms when you
use their site:

Terms & Conditions:

" If you remove your Content from the Site or mark Content as "private" that was previously public, Photobucket will promptly hide it from search results on the Site; however, we might still have it stored in backup files or on servers, and we may retain it as needed. We are not responsible for sites that it was shared to before it was marked.
When you make your Content public, you grant us a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free, non-revocable, right and license to copy, sell, convey, distribute, stream, post, publicly display (e.g. post it elsewhere), reproduce and create derivative works from it (meaning things based on it), whether in print or any kind of electronic version that exists now or is later developed, for any purpose, including a commercial purpose with the right to sublicense such rights to others.

By making your content public, you are also giving other Members on Photobucket the right to copy, distribute, publicly perform, publicly display, reproduce and create derivative works from it via the Site, third party websites or applications (for example, via services allowing Members to order prints of Content or t-shirts and similar items containing Content, and via social media websites), provided such use is not for a commercial purpose."

Did you post pictures here at Fedora from Photobucket and, if so, are they showing here now or are you getting the "update your account" message that I am on the pictures from PG I post here at FL?

 

[2jakes]

Did you post pictures here at Fedora from Photobucket and, if so, are they showing here now or are you getting the "update your account" message that I am on the pictures from PG I post here at FL?

I haven't received an "update your account" message...... yet!

But I haven't posted pictures recently from PB.
I have used it in the past but switched
to another site when PB "ads" became
too frequent and the uploading was slow.

I used Tiny-Pic for years, but now the
pop-up ads are annoyingly frequent and
the system will shutdown and I have to
log in serveral times.

As of now, I'm using the Fedora Lounge
to upload which is fast.

I use my built-in apps on Mac to
edit or "photobomb" images!

 

[Fading Fast]

I haven't received an "update your account" message...... yet!

But I haven't posted pictures recently from PB.
I have used it in the past but switched
to another site when PB "ads" became
too frequent and the uploading was slow.

I used Tiny-Pic for years, but now the
pop-up ads are annoyingly frequent and
the system will shutdown and I have to
log in serveral times.

As of now, I'm using the Fedora Lounge
to upload which is fast.

I use my built-in apps on Mac to
edit or "photobomb" images!

I just started using the FL upload and, overall, it's easy, but one picture I uploaded came in with its orientation rotated 90 degrees and I can't find a way to rotate it back - all the others I've uploaded using FL's feature have been fine.

The one that rotates on FL is fine on my Mac, but rotates every time I upload it to FL (I've tried it several times and, also, haven't found a rotate feature on FL to adjust). Do you have any suggestions / have you had this with the FL upload? Thank you, FF

 

[2jakes]

I just started using the FL upload and, overall, it's easy, but one picture I uploaded came in with its orientation rotated 90 degrees and I can't find a way to rotate it back - all the others I've uploaded using FL's feature have been fine.

The one that rotates on FL is fine on my Mac, but rotates every time I upload it to FL (I've tried it several times and, also, haven't found a rotate feature on FL to adjust). Do you have any suggestions / have you had this with the FL upload? Thank you, FF

Try and rotate the picture before you
use FL upload and use the preview
to see how it's coming up.

Years ago, I bought "iPhoto" for
Mac. I believe it was on sale for $20.

I rely on that to rotate,re-edit or
down size the picture when Fedora
upload tells me that the "image"
is too large .

One thing I've noticed is that when
I'm checking on a product like for
example,"tennis shoes" whether from
eBay or online tennis shop....
that specific "product" will follow me
even on to the Fedora Lounge.
Interesting!

 

[Fading Fast]

Try and rotate the picture before you
use FL upload and use the preview
to see how it's coming up.

Years ago, I bought "iPhoto" for
Mac. I believe it was on sale for $20.

I rely on that to rotate,re-edit or
down size the picture when Fedora
upload tells me that the "image"
is too large .

One thing I've noticed is that when
I'm checking on a product like for
example,"tennis shoes" whether from
eBay or online tennis shop....
that specific "product" will follow me
even on to the Fedora Lounge.
Interesting!

Tried it - using the basic photo rotating on Mac - and FL told me the file (which is the exact same photo that it loaded without a problem before - just rotated 90 degrees) is too large to load - grr. But appreciate the suggestion.

 

[2jakes]

Tried it - using the basic photo rotating on Mac - and FL told me the file (which is the exact same photo that it loaded without a problem before - just rotated 90 degrees) is too large to load - grr. But appreciate the suggestion.

When FL tells me that the "image" is
too large.... I use an image that was
accepted by FL .
I'll make a quick duplicate of the photo
that is acceptable to load.
I insert the photo on top and I am
able to upload fast.
The other option is to go to another
site to resize or re-edit so that it is
accepted by FL.


(samples)

"thumbnail"



"Full Image"

 

[ChrisB]

I change the size of images by emailing it to myself, I then have the option of selecting the file size.

 

[2jakes]

I change the size of images by emailing it to myself, I then have the option of selecting the file size.

That works for me !

Although one time, I was not careful.

I have "auto fill-in” on my send to location email.

As soon as I click to send....I realized that I had sent the image
to my doctor!
I had to explain to her that it was a mistake!
She understood.
My doctor has a sense of humor!