if you use photobucket for image hosting you MUST READ THIS

[61_FL_Apache]

I think I will be moving pictures here.

https://www.picturetrail.com/webpage...ehosting.shtml

[saxart]

So, does anybody have thoughts as to what is now the best alternative to Photobucket? Who's to say Imgur and Flickr aren't going to do the same thing?

[Bomp]

Originally Posted by saxart

So, does anybody have thoughts as to what is now the best alternative to Photobucket? Who's to say Imgur and Flickr aren't going to do the same thing?

I thought about the same thing. If the pics are out of our hands(like pb) then we are at their mercy when they want to start charging.
I do save all my pics on a thumb drive.


I'm using the site.

[61_FL_Apache]

I haven't see much moderator input on this subject.

[LockDoc]

Originally Posted by 61_FL_Apache

I haven't see much moderator input on this subject.

I have been suggesting to post all pictures directly to the site for years. It really doesn't do any good, people are going to do what they want to do anyway. Most have no concept of what will happen when one or all of the image hosting sites disappears or blocks 3rd party use. I guess they do now. I don't have a problem with what PB did, they are after all a for profit business. How they implemented it was pretty low as far as I'm concerned....

I don't know what the Administrators of the board's feelings are though.

LockDoc

[kcsa75]

Originally Posted by 61_FL_Apache

I haven't see much moderator input on this subject.

Originally Posted by LockDoc

I have been suggesting to post all pictures directly to the site for years. It really doesn't do any good, people are going to do what they want to do anyway. Most have no concept of what will happen when one or all of the image hosting sites disappears or blocks 3rd party use. I guess they do now. I don't have a problem with what PB did, they are after all a for profit business. How they implemented it was pretty low as far as I'm concerned....

I don't know what the Administrators of the board's feelings are though.

LockDoc

I'm with Leon. It's a lot easier in my opinion to post photos directly instead of using a third-party. But C'est la vie.

Also, not sure what you're expecting the moderators to do about it. I read an article about this the other day. Apparently, a lot of commercial websites were using Photo Bucket's free service instead of paying for the premium service like they should. So just like in third grade, a few selfish (greedy) SOBs ruined it for everyone.

[daddyjeep]

The issue that I have with posting directly to the site is that I post using multiple devices. I post a lot on my lunch break at work, sometimes from the laptoo, sometimes from the phone.

[67Steven]

So basically since we cannot edit old posts or threads to fix the broken Photobucket links, we need to either start a new thread or add a bunch of pictures to the end of the original?

[crakarjax]

For a forum I host, about two weeks ago I started a process on my server that was crawling it's threads and downloading the photobucket pics. Then I disallowed photobucket image links and replaced the existing links to point to the images stored on my servers. 100% photobucket free and not a single post on my forum is affected. This new policy hurts forum owners as much as the members, but it was also an opportunity to grow membership for vigilant forum admins.

[special-K]

My pictures are only in PB's hands as far as sharing goes. I can still copy/paste them back to my computer files. I all but stopped using PB years ago due to it's poor performance. But, I have a zillion pictures to move now. I still used it for videos since attaching from folders never works. I transferred all the pictures from one show in '10 yesterday morning. It takes time, but that's what I'll slowly do. Then I'll deal with finding another safe place to store them. I have lost all pictures on two computer failures in the past and all the pics on PB remain through it all. I had bought an external drive to empty out the one broken computer when it was repaired. I viewed them once off the external drive, but when I went to put the pictures back in my computer the external drive was broken, so all those pictures were lost in the device I bought to save them with. So, I want my pictures on another hosting site, even if I never use their sharing features. I would just leave them on PB but I feel the need to punch back after this underhanded move. Yeah, I'm just this one guy with no power against these huge entities. But, that will never stop me from talking the actions that serve to satisfy myself. I win when I tell them to pound sand, whether it registers to them or not. Add a whole bunch of people like me up and it will register.

[Farm Shop]

Originally Posted by racecougar

That would be a good idea. Open up editing of posts to all members for a short while in an effort to save some of the informative photos PB is holding ransom.

This is exactly what I was thinking. Maybe send out an email to all members with a cliff notes explanation of what happened, and then open up the edit feature to everyone for a month or two so the users can update their threads. I hate to think of all the extremely informative threads that are now going to be crap.

With the trend shifting towards Facebook for "tech" advice, it was always nice to know the forums were there to be a solid archive of invaluable information from guys that have been there and done that... especially well established forums such as this one.

I know I would get bombarded by emails with all the forums I am on, but I'd be willing to update my threads. It helps the enthusiast community, and there's some satisfaction in sticking it to PB for this bull$hit stunt.

That's my $.02 and its non-refundable. Speaking of which, I just noticed my annual subscription ran out, so I'll go address that now.

[hewittca]

Originally Posted by crakarjax

For a forum I host, about two weeks ago I started a process on my server that was crawling it's threads and downloading the photobucket pics. Then I disallowed photobucket image links and replaced the existing links to point to the images stored on my servers. 100% photobucket free and not a single post on my forum is affected. This new policy hurts forum owners as much as the members, but it was also an opportunity to grow membership for vigilant forum admins.

That's awesome! I sure wish/hope we can get that done here. I like the initiative some are showing here to work on and encourage others to go back and edit their own posts to update the photo source and link, but to be honest I think the vast majority of people are just going to let it go. In fact, many of the how-to threads and build threads are from members who have long since stopped visiting the site. Others who are still active, have hundreds of photos that they would have to replace. Heck, I only have about 40 photos in one thread that need to be updated and even that I keep putting off.

[daddyjeep]

I am testing a method from another forum using google drive. I am pretty sure google is going to be around for a long time.

https://drive.google.com/uc?id=0Bw2E...zN0bVZ1YnVraXc


looks like it failed

[daddyjeep]

test 2

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bw2...ew?usp=sharing

[daddyjeep]

test 3


https://goo.gl/photos/SJuv73viGwrzKds58


failed, and failed

[crakarjax]

I see your images from all 3 of those links. photos.google.com is a good place to store photos, and you can generate links to the photos which can then be used in forums. Google will never pull the same kind of BS that photobucket did.

[Farm Shop]

I'll give it a shot with your image:

[Farm Shop]

Your Test 2 link:






Your Test 3 link:





My test just expanding the image from your links:




Right click > Copy link address from Test 3 link





Right click > "Open image in new tab"

[spacedebris]

Originally Posted by Gotenntitans

I searched yesterday and found tinypic.com will allow free photo storage that you can post from. Set up a free account and tried it yesterday and works just as p-bucket did. GTT

It should work just like P-bucket but beware, it is OWNED and OPERATED by p-bucket. Bet it will not be long before it does the same thing.....After they get the people who dont know to switch. Likely they will wait until a great number switch from PB to TinyPic, get all their build threads and such rebuilt and then pull the same crap again in hopes that some will just throw up their hands in frustration and pay the ransom.

[GR8-68]

I am with Leon why not just post them directly to the forum ? I do not understand why people find the need to use a host, here anyway. he forums that I have joined that do not have a way to directly post pics I have found out they are less traveled as it is a pita.

[spacedebris]

If this was the only place the pic was going to be used, then it would be fine to host it here. But for me....about half the pics I show here I post in other locations as well. And it is much easier to host on a 3rd party host then simply link to it. Especially when you have a pitifully slow internet connection like me. My upload speed is barely above dialup speeds and it takes 5 minutes to upload a standard pic so the fewer times I have to upload the better. So 3rd party hosts make sense in some cases.

[daddyjeep]

Originally Posted by Farm Shop

Your Test 2 link:






Your Test 3 link:





My test just expanding the image from your links:




Right click > Copy link address from Test 3 link





Right click > "Open image in new tab"

Strange....I can see your repost of test 3, but can not see any of the others. I don't know how crakarjax can see them. I have viewed this today on my Mac at work, on my phone, and now on my PC laptop.

[special-K]

I have had P-bucket since '04. I have a zillion pictures in two accounts. The one has 3x as many pictures. Years ago P-bucket sent me a notice that I was close to exceeding my bandwidth for a free account, that I would lose all my shared photos if that happened, and to avoid that I'd need to subscribe... so I did. I let it lapse after a year and that's when I noticed my usage on that account was only about 33% and the other was about 11%. This was after several years of storage and at least as many years ago. That's around the time it got so slow and had so many pop-ups it was too annoying to use anyway. But they sure tried the scare tactics even back then, even on my 11% account.

I just read an e-mail from them saying they noticed I've used 3rd party posting and all that is changing, etc. It also says all pictures remain safe and sound and that they can be uploaded to a computer. This only messes up the threads that have those pictures... but that is what is so awful. I used to do some picture threads using P-bucket. Most of those really cool threads will be so worthless now it hurts. It sure feels they are being stolen unless I give in to the extortion attempt. I guess they started off wrong in a direction that couldn't be sustained. Or, they are greedy and want more than what they were happy with when it began. It functions as if their bandwidth is taxed and they need to buy more. Maybe the pay accounts are faster because they spare you the pop-ups. Or, those people are paying and not getting anything for their money except less pop-ups.

[Farm Shop]

I'm going to try a few things still using PB:

Using the "Direct" link:



Right click > "Open Image in New Tab"



Right click > "Copy image address"

[hewittca]

Originally Posted by Farm Shop

I'm going to try a few things still using PB:

PB has made sure that you cannot outsmart them and will succumb to paying $400, right? (I really wish one of those worked!)