Photobucket Changes Terms of Service

[bonanzadriver]

I just noticed that all of the images I've posted since being here (all hosted by photobucket) are now not available.
They've discontinued and 3rd party image sharing for the free accounts and now demand $100 a year for such a service.
So, here's my gripe and frustration with this entire process.
It seems as though most all of the pipe forums all require such an arrangement in order to post a picture on their site. (pictures only postable from a company like photobucket, imujr or wherever.)
The other forums, like the aviation one I'm on, allow you to upload a picture directly from you computer, tablet or phone. Easy Peasy Lemon Squeezy.
Back to the photobucket bitchin, I'm pretty disappointed that they decided to change their terms of service and make em retroactive, meaning that instead of on a "go forward" basis they stopped it entirely and now have basically made what is most likely hundreds of photo's posted, a complete waste of time.
Rant off.
Back to work

 

[dmcmtk]

Never use those sites, just upload from my local drive. The same can be done here at pipemag, more info is here,
http://pipesmagazine.com/forums/topic/how-to-upload-to-and-post-pictures-on-the-pipes-magazine-site

 

[cshubhra]

EDIT - Forget what i said below. Dropbox does not work!

--------------------------------------------------------
If you do plan to pay for a service, a more generic service like Dropbox or Google drive may be the way to go. I pay for Dropbox, and it keeps my important documents in order across multiple devices.
I was not sure if I can host a picture in Dropbox - So, here is a test

 

[jpmcwjr]

The site's album is a good option, though I still like Imgur.com- Photofuckit has been shite for a long time.
Images hosted here can be full sized if you remove the pixel limitation, -600x360 or whatever numbers appear, but keep the .jpg, making sure you're not leaving any spaces in the URL.

 

[pruss]

Interesting.
My images, hosted on photobucket, are still visible. I'm not paying them a dime. This is bizarre.
-- Pat

 

[didache]

Mine have gone *sigh*

 

[paulfg]

why is posting photos here so difficult?

on other forums there is a tab add photograph ,you click on it select upload from pc or url ,select required photo .upload job done

on here its a PITA it puts me off adding photos to any post.I just post that one elsewhere

 

[JimInks]

My photos are still there, but I dislike the site.

 

[nevadablue]

Testing to see if my free account still works.

I see it, can you guys? I am not sure what they mean by 'third party linking'. Odd...

 

[woodsroad]

OK, I'll be curmudgeon: You get what you pay for.
The business model for free photo hosting has always been wobbly. If you have photos on a "free" site, please be sure that you have them backed up on physical media. Online (now called "cloud") storage is nice for convenience, but it isn't backup and it isn't an archive. It's safety is subject to the whims of someone else.
I have untold TB's of photos and videos stored online for my clients. I pay for that storage, but I still don't trust it as the sole repository of my work. Everything is backed up on site in duplicate.
So FWIW, I have all of my forum photos on a service called Fotki. They have a number of plans, mine runs about $50 a year. Fotki has been reliable. My client's work is on PhotoShelter, that runs me $50 a month, but it's a much more robust, feature-laden service.

 

[ashdigger]

Interesting. I've been using a server the Russians have been using...... it's in a friend's closet

 

[ssjones]

Well, now it looks like images are showing. But, that was a big enough warning shot for me that I'm shutting down my Photobucket. This morning, every photo showed the warning instead of the picture. I have over 2,000 images hosted there, but that format is way too glichy to pay for the service.
I'm sure Photobucket will be a memory in short order. Does anyone remember "Webshots". Back in the early 2000's, they were the chosen photo hosting sites. They dropped the free service and went fee only. Now, no one mentions them.

 

[jpmcwjr]

Here's another from Nevada Blue's album. It is relevant as the hydraulics would make a good tobacco press.
I simply copied the URL obtained by the Control click, Mac, or Right click Windows method.

 

[nevadablue]

Isn't that a neat pic? The fellow sold the old machine recently. I am glad I got the pics.
I use Flickr now, but again, it it a free site and subject to disappearing. I too have multiple backups onsite here. My poor iPad has 23,000 pics on it now.

 

[randelli]

My account is being held hostage as well!

 

[pappymac]

I deleted my photobucket account because it got to be a hassle just to view what I had on there. Too many ads randomly popping up.

 

[ssjones]

I just deleted 2,100 photos and my account. Adios Photobucket.

 

[deathmetal]

Glad to see people waking up to life.
If you do not own the hosting, you have zero control, no matter what the initial contract says.
Of course, Google will ignore you, because they want total control.
The best strategy is to bail on the internet entirely and to denigrate it and mainstream programming in general.

 

[mawnansmiff]

I use an external hard drive to work in tandem with the one built into my PC so theoretically I should never lose any pictures or documents.
As far as this site is concerned I always use the 'My Album' feature that comes with membership of the forum. Once sussed out it's a breeze to use.
Regards,
Jay.

 

[jpmcwjr]

I also like Imgur. And it gives me an excuse to re-post this photo of one of my favorite smokers....

And, yes, if you don't have your photos on drives you control, you don't really have 'em.