Please don't delete your photobucket!

[gograntgo10]

Guys, Please don't delete your photobuckets! I totally understand if you want to stop using them but don't delete them.
The new policy only stops third party hosting, this means that all of the photos that you have in photobucket are still in your photobucket for anyone to view, they just can't be viewed on other websites. If you right click the "update 3rd party hosting..." picture on any post and click "open image in new tab" it will take you to photobucket to view the picture. If you delete your bucket all the links in past articles will just go dead.
I am begging you as someone who relies on some of the information in old build alongs, please don't delete those pictures.

[Shadowhnter]

I don't have many folks could gleen from....and it's too late for a lot of us...its already a done deal. I guess maybe folks could do more new build alongs and such.....

Besides, I know it sounds mean but I hope PB goes out of buisness over this.

[Bud B.]

I won't delete my account, but it sure is aggravating.

[Rob DiStefano]

photobucket should be rename SCUMBUCKET for taking their tens of thousands (millions?) of users and holding their images hostage and totally screwing up tens of thousands (millions?) of worldwide forums, blogs and other online social media outlets in an effort to squeeze a ridiculous amount of extortion dollars to line their coffers.

$400 a year to host images????  I THINK NOT!  there are FAR BETTER online image archive services to use for FREE.

i left them over a decade ago because i saw their unscrupulous handwriting on the cyber wall.  and since they went "social media" viewing images on scumbucket is slow, full of ads, and very very restrictive.  there is no need for any of that, no need to put up with it at all.  

if you made the huge mistake of putting your images up in their cloud and didn't save them on your computer, start downloading them now and LEAVE THOSE CRIMINALS ASAP!

you can transfer yer images to any free online image archive service and get FAR better service to boot ... FOR FREE.

There it is in a nutshell!  

Its a big mess and we'll be scrambling for a while.  I have never relied on any external service to host images that I could not replace.  I keep them all on redundant drives...too much at stake.

We'll get though it and perhaps learn a hard lesson.

[Bud B.]

Originally posted by Rob DiStefano:
photobucket should be rename SCUMBUCKET for taking their tens of thousands (millions?) of users and holding their images hostage and totally screwing up tens of thousands (millions?) of worldwide forums, blogs and other online social media outlets in an effort to squeeze a ridiculous amount of extortion dollars to line their coffers.

$400 a year to host images????  I THINK NOT!  there are FAR BETTER online image archive services to use for FREE.

i left them over a decade ago because i saw their unscrupulous handwriting on the cyber wall.  and since they went "social media" viewing images on scumbucket is slow, full of ads, and very very restrictive.  there is no need for any of that, no need to put up with it at all.  

if you made the huge mistake of putting your images up in their cloud and didn't save them on your computer, start downloading them now and LEAVE THOSE CRIMINALS ASAP!

you can transfer yer images to any free online image archive service and get FAR better service to boot ... FOR FREE.

Is Imgur a good one? suggestions?

Bud,

I suspect Rob may have some good input on that tomorrow. I'm all ears.  

I really like Imgur.  Their PC format is clean and easy.  Their mobile (android) offering stinks!

It seems that Imgur would be a good choice at this point. You never know what they will be like years down the road.  The key to survival here (and ongoing)is to secure your images.  

Its distressing to me to see years of pic-heavy threads stripped bare of precious memories, replaced by the that awful ransom image.

[Rob DiStefano]

there are more than a few good 'n' free online image archive services, i use  www.imgur.com  and i've reported about it in a sticky thread right here in this forum over 4 years ago, give it a go ...

 http://tradgang.com/noncgi/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=129;t=000254

r.

[Bud B.]

Thanks Rob.

[skeaterbait]

Can someone educate me on IMGUR, it looks to me like anything you upload is automatically out there for anyone to see? Is that correct?

If that is the case I will not be using it, I only want my photos shared where I chose to share them.

[Rob DiStefano]

Originally posted by skeaterbait:
Can someone educate me on IMGUR, it looks to me like anything you upload is automatically out there for anyone to see? Is that correct?

If that is the case I will not be using it, I only want my photos shared where I chose to share them.

yes and no.

there are two settings for the images you upload - public or hidden.  this is true for almost all online image archive sites.  The scoop about those setting from the imgur folks ...


Post, Album and Image Privacy

Album privacy can be changed from your settings in a desktop browser by going to your account settings page. There are two options to choose from - Public and Hidden.

The default setting for all new accounts is Hidden; if you want to change it use the drop down menu and be sure to hit "save" when you're done.


Things to note:

    All images uploaded to Imgur are available via direct URL at any time, which means they can never be completely private. Take care when sharing your image URLs anywhere on the web.
    Unless the album is submitted publicly to the gallery, search engines will not be able to see the content, and therefore the content is not searchable by other people.
    There is no way to prevent viewers from downloading your images.
    Anonymously uploaded images cannot be found without their URLs, so remember to save the links.
    Due to privacy concerns, EXIF data/metadata is removed on upload. There is no setting available to retain the data.

[skeaterbait]

Thank you much.

[jonwilson]

It truly is aggravating when a company does this type of thing and leaves its end users stranded. Actually "aggravating" is too nice of a word.

Instead of trusting a third party provider, I'll be posting images to my own server/web hosting account and copying the link from there.

[nineworlds9]

I just don't understand why so many people who are probably conservatives on here think they are entitled to a service perpetually for free???!!!  Photobucket has been blocking people from hosting pics on sites once they reach a certain GB capacity for years.  Once you reach that capacity you upgrade to an actual membership at several different levels.  I myself use the $29 a year level so that I can share hundreds of pics with family who live scattered across the country via password protected encrypted albums and it let's me avoid posting my cherished family photos on damn Facebook or Instagram.  

I just don't get this mentality at all.

[Rob DiStefano]

Originally posted by nineworlds9:
I just don't understand why so many people who are probably conservatives on here think they are entitled to a service perpetually for free???!!!  Photobucket has been blocking people from hosting pics on sites once they reach a certain GB capacity for years.  Once you reach that capacity you upgrade to an actual membership at several different levels.  I myself use the $29 a year level so that I can share hundreds of pics with family who live scattered across the country via password protected encrypted albums and it let's me avoid posting my cherished family photos on damn Facebook or Instagram.  

I just don't get this mentality at all.

chuck, in the same vein as you've posted above, i don't understand why anyone would pay for a service that is offered for free, has no ads, no links, is secure, and is faster than chumbucket.

i will add, i hope you're storing copies of your family images over at chumbucket.

[nineworlds9]

I hear you Rob, I joined them years ago and at this point have not alloted any time to download all my thousands of images/upload to another service.  
IMHO it's only a matter of time before Imgur or the like reach a critical mass just like PB did and begin asking for a modest fee.  And don't even get me started on Google, I'm not having them keep my pics for me since they are in cahoots with the govt and also pushing AI with a questionable ethical agenda.  
Anyway, capitalism ain't it grand.  Choices!

[Rob DiStefano]

for those really concerned about "cloud storage" (a terrible dumbing-down name) of their images with an online image archive vendor, it's time to get yer own cloud.  in the coming decades, that will be the norm.  the millenniums know all this stuff as they grew up with it and it comes to them naturally.

getting yer own "cloud land" is relatively easy.  register a domain name for $15/annual.  get some server space for $100/annual or less.  use a simple FTP app to send images to yer domain and post online or share in social media.