Photobucket Just Broke Billions of Photos Across the Web

Where are all the free enterprise supporters?

Many have taken advantage of the "free" lunch and the free aspects are disappearing. Now. Youtube is getting more and more commercials.
 
The solution is simple have all forums and websites ban Photobucket links on their website. Photobucket has made millions of posts useless with their ransom fee. If nobody can use Photobucket to psot on 3rd party sites it wil die. Even the ones that pay will not be able to use it if all the sites ban them.
 
theamcguy said:
The solution is simple have all forums and websites ban Photobucket links on their website. Photobucket has made millions of posts useless with their ransom fee. If nobody can use Photobucket to psot on 3rd party sites it wil die. Even the ones that pay will not be able to use it if all the sites ban them.
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gee thanks
 
Did not realize how many photos I had on there. Been downloading pictures that aren`t on my computer still. Tried downloading albums, but that is no bueno. Doing it all picture by picture. Dang you Photobucket!
 
I can download small albums, not large like main or mobile uploads.. :(


But my pics still work. So I wonder if it`s just "business" related accounts.
 
Ronkh said:
I can download small albums, not large like main or mobile uploads.. :(


But my pics still work. So I wonder if it`s just "business" related accounts.
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I don`t know, Ron. I have about 40 pictures there, and none of the links works.

(Sent via my mobile device...)
 
Seems to be traffic related, I believe PB is going after the higher traffic image accounts first and working their way down.

I had lots of photos posted in a couple vette forums for various topics, mainly "how-to" posts showing step-by-step processes for rebuilding different parts and others answering different questions about how something looks or went together. All blocked now.

Deleted all the photos (originals are all on my HDs) and canceled the subscription to PB, not going to look for a substitute, mainly because they might pull the same stunt down the road anyway. Maybe something massive like google images where they are large enough that the money comes from elsewhere

I really feel for lots of new people who will be searching for help on lots of forums (cars, bikes, detailing, models, fishing, hobbies in general etc etc etc) and many of the answers are gone now.

M
 
rlmccarty2000 said:
I`ve been using Tapatalk for awhile now. I never could figure out PGMB or Photobucket. Tapatalk is too easy.
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Question? Do you use Tapatalk (free version) or did you purchase Tapatalk Pro?
In other words, did you spend the few dollars to help support the Tapatalk folks?
 
Probably gonna jinx myself here..........

I wonder if they leave me alone since I pay for more storage........?
 
Yes, PB has the right to change its business model. This is not the issue. I understand the 10 billion images stored by 100 million registered users.
It is not why...massive drive space, bandwidth etc. The issue is how they went about it. A quiet (almost hidden) blog post then bam instant decapitation.

Many photo/video sharing services have an free (ad based) or subscriber (ad free) business model. This has been Photobucket`s model since 2003.
I must admit that recently, the free (ad based) model of PB has become impossible to use due to the overwhelming amount of annoying pop-up ads.
For this reason, I recently created a second subscriber (ad free) account. This acts and behaves like PB did before the recent pop-up ad madness.

Many of us have seen changes in the business models of such software companies as Adobe and Microsoft where they now "lease" software products.
Almost all of the Adobe products are "lease" and Microsoft followed with Office 365 etc. The software companies would much rather "lease" than "sell".
BTW-I can`t remember the last time an auto dealer ad on television said a vehicle purchase price. All I see is "lease" from only $289 per month etc.

Yes, many other on-line companies are now following...YouTube is starting a subscriber pay-to-play model sneak peak-> https://www.youtube.com/new
So back to PB, IIRC If you purchased even an ad-free account for $2.49 per month prior to the hijack/ransom you can still 3rd party host until Dec. 2018.

What PB did was whack ALL the "free" accounts from using any 3rd party hosting. IMHO forums are a very small part of the PB bandwidth costs issue.
I`m pretty sure that by doing this their bandwidth cost fell like a rock. The "free" folks are now scrambling for another "free" place to serve their pics.

I can visualize the PB board meeting now. It`s time to make some money! To hell with all the "free" folks. Let`s teach those freeloaders a lesson!
What they did...IMHO is a wake-up-call to product end users and a grand example of what not to do...for the other software/product service providers.

What Photobucket did is not illegal but IMHO it was fundamentally wrong. "If they are not already a paid subscriber then chop them off at the knees!"
It`s now too late to be a subscriber under the prior cost structure. Now it`s RANSOM time! What PB is going to do in the future as anybody`s guess.
 
JSFM35X said:
How much do you pay?

Perhaps ill do that if its reasonable ands see if that bring my pics back?
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Now it`s too late. It`s $399 per year RANSOM time! (end of sentence) "That will separate the wheat from the chaff"
From what I understand...Your pics are still there but can not be 3rd party hosted unless you pay PB $399 per year.

Merlin said:
It is now too late to be a subscriber under the prior cost structure.
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My guess, if you are a current paid customer then you get a reprieve (for now). Who knows what`s next from PB?

My guess, is PB`s position is: "If your pics and 3rd party hosting is important to you, then pay us the money!"
Again, my guess is they are going after the big dog PB service users like eBay, Etsy and shopping businesses.
At this point no one knows what the future of PB is going to be. PB costs are high. This could cause a collapse.
 
As far as forum hosting and using Photobucket.

Image Size - I never use a image size larger the 1024x768
1) On some forums it throws the formatting way off
2) Many forums use a image formatter and display a smaller image

File Size - I try to keep the pic file size to around 100k
1) If the file takes a long time to load folks don`t wait.
2) yes, it reduces the quality a bit. It`s a forum not a giant poster.
3) I use my phone for pics. The lens is the size of a pinhead.
4) Even a good DSLR never does the (in person) work justice.

Like lots of folks, I am now looking for an alternative to PB
Sadly, it will be missed.
 
Merlin said:
I just did my first post using a different hosting source. Your thoughts?

2013 Jaguar XK Coupe - A Miracle Detailing - CQuartz Professional

Now I have the task of downloading over 4,200 images from Photobucket.
Then uploading them to the new host. Then trying to go back and edit posts.
I hope Autopia will enable post editing (for a while) so folks could revise image paths.
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Please keep me updated as I want to migrate away from photob as well.
 
So how does this affect me if I`m currently a premium member? I have almost 10,000 pics loaded to photobucket and it what I`ve always used.
 
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