The Scottish Military Research Group - Commemorations Project

Kenneth Morrison · Posted: Thu Jun 29, 2017 7:37 am Post subject: Photobucket disabled

Can anyone tell me what's going on with photobucket?
Many of our photos are not showing.
Instead there is a message that "3rd party hosting has been temporarily disabled"
I've had a quick look at the link but ............ does this mean that payment is now required??????
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Ken

apanderson · Posted: Thu Jun 29, 2017 8:18 am Post subject:

I might be wrong, but I think that if someone's account remains inactive for whatever period of time, it becomes 'not available' and photos are replaced with either a broken link icon or something similar.

This might not be the same issue - just guessing!

Anne

dhubthaigh · Posted: Thu Jun 29, 2017 1:12 pm Post subject:

Had a look, some of my photos are there, others not...

Kenneth Morrison · Posted: Thu Jun 29, 2017 1:42 pm Post subject:

I have uploaded photos recently, so I don't think it's that Anne.

This is from http://photobucket.com/p500/

*What is 3rd Party Hosting?

Alternatively refered to as inline linking, "hotlinking" is the action of linking to an image or object on another server. An example of hotlinking would be using an <img> tag to display a JPEG image that you uploaded to your Photobucket account so it will appear on a different website like Etsy, eBay auction listings, blogs, forum messages, etc.

If you click on "Upgrade Now" they seem to be asking for $399!
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Ken

apanderson · Posted: Thu Jun 29, 2017 4:34 pm Post subject:

Really none the wiser then Ken?

That would be a disaster if 'upgrading' was required - I can't imagine how we would EVER recoup all the photos.

Hopefully it's a glitch.

Anne

David McNay · Posted: Fri Jun 30, 2017 5:28 am Post subject:

It doesn't appear to be a glitch.

I've not had a chance to look into this but I'll see if I can find out more.

Mike Morley · Posted: Fri Jun 30, 2017 8:03 am Post subject:

There seems to be some on-line discussion to the effect that Photobucket have done an upgrade and now want you to pay to have an account.

This is on their terms and conditions page now:

Types of Accounts, Pricing and Limits

Visiting : There is no cost to visit the Site or to register as a Member.
Free account : Each individual Member gets one free account that provides 2 GB of free storage or space available for your original photo files, or videos under 10min. The free account does not allow any image linking or 3rd party image hosting. If a free account Member exceeds their Content Limit, their account will be immediately suspended and they will need to become a “Paying Member” (defined below) in order to continue accessing their account. You can upgrade to a Plus account at any time.
Ad-free Account : The Ad-free Account offers Members the ability to use the Site without seeing any third party banner advertisements when logged into your Ad-free Account (note, viewers of your images within Photobucket will see ads unless they, too, have Plus accounts and you will continue to see Photobucket offers and announcements). This account level is available for $2.49 / month, payable by the Member on a monthly recurring basis.
Plus Account : The Plus Account offers several paid options that may give the Paying Member more storage, bandwidth, 3rd party image hosting, image linking and/or other services as outlined below. Once and during such period of time in which you subscribe to and pay for a Plus Account, we will consider you a "Paying Member." Please note that all Plus Account subscriptions are billed annually at the commencement of the service. Photobucket may also offer a monthly billing option for its Plus Accounts (see terms and restrictions, below).

Available Plus Account Plans : Photobucket offers the following Plus Account Plans:

o Plus 50 Plan: 52 GB of Storage for $59.99 / Year. The Plus 50 Plan does not allow any image linking or 3rd party image hosting.

o Plus 100 Plan: 102 GB of Storage for $99.99 / Year. The Plus 100 Plan allows for unlimited image linking but does not allow 3rd party image hosting.

o Plus 500 Plan: 500 GB of Storage and unlimited bandwidth for $399.99 / Year. The Plus 500 Plan allows for unlimited image linking and unlimited 3rd party image hosting.

DelBoy · Posted: Fri Jun 30, 2017 1:31 pm Post subject:

I suppose it was only a matter of time.

Are there other image hosting sites that do it for free?
It would be a pain, but in time many could be reuploaded.

Derek.

David McNay · Posted: Fri Jun 30, 2017 6:11 pm Post subject:

There are lots of photo hosting websites, but I think Flickr is probably the most suitable.

I've not used it before, but I'm currently having a look just now. There are options to save into specific albums, and you can make your photos public and post them on here. Plus you have 1TB of storage space, which is much more than Photobucket.

One other thing to bear in mind - if you uploaded your photos to photobucket, and then deleted the originals from your PC, you CAN still access your photos and you can download them from Photobucket. So...nothing has been lost, we just can't access them - for now.

This will take a lot of work, but we WILL recover from this.

spoons · Posted: Sat Jul 01, 2017 10:32 am Post subject:

Oh what an annoyance. Lots of work to be done in the coming days and weeks. If photobucket hadn't been so greedy, I would have paid $15 to $20 per year but not $399.

As an alternative to Flickr

3rd Party Hosting of Photographs – IMGUR
Our forum currently requires photographs to be 3rd Party Hosted and up until now most have chosen to use Photobucket but unfortunately they now block 3rd Party Hosting.
Other hosting sites are available but if you wish to use Imgur, this is how to do it for windows users………….
1. Create an account – go to imgur.com, sign up, add username, email and password (twice) – you will need to verify your email later when asked
2. Create an album - when you are signed in, click on the small arrow at top right (next to your user name) and select albums from the dropdown, click on new album, give it a name and save – then I suggest save again, which takes you back to all of your albums
3. Add Photos to your album – click on the album you wish to add to, add another image, then just drag images from the folder on your computer to the album window – you can even use shift/click or ctrl/click to select multiple photos to drag and drop in one go
4. Get image link to post on forum – move the mouse cursor on to the photo, hover over the down arrow at top right of the picture, get share links, BBCode (forums), click on copy, the code you need is now on the windows clipboard
5. Post your photo to the forum - In your forum post (either a new one, or edit a previous one, put the cursor where you want the picture to go and right click/paste – or ctrl/v if you prefer) – job done
For an example, I have done this to edit a photo in at the beginning of http://warmemscot.s4.bizhat.com/viewtopic.php?p=1422

\Paul

Kenneth Morrison · Posted: Sat Jul 01, 2017 6:44 pm Post subject:

Thanks for that Paul.
Looking thro the various sites and forums (just Google Photobucket 3rd party hosting) IMGUR does seem to be the preferred alternative.
It also interesting to see the almost total condemnation of Photobucket's policy and the backlash this may create.
(am I the only one who thinks of "ransom-ware")

I have e-mailed Photobucket the following:
For the past 10 years I have been using Photobucket to host my photographs of War Memorials, commemorating those who died in two World Wars and in other conflicts.
During that time I have been associated with a group of volunteers who have been documenting and photographing War Memorials and War Graves throughout Scotland.
Most of us use Photobucket and link our photographs to our Internet based forum, known as the Scottish War Memorials Project or, more recently, as the Scottish Military Research Group – Commemorations Project.
Can you begin to imagine the dismay you have caused by, with little warning, your decision to withdraw 3rd Party Hosting?
At a stroke a decade of research work has disappeared. Our forum threads are now full of your “100% dials” instead of our photographs.
I am aware that we can resolve this by each of us paying $400 each year, but as I have said, we are volunteers who do what we do not for any financial gain but in memory of those from our communities who gave their lives for our future.
Will you please reconsider this decision or perhaps grant us an exemption from these charges?
Kenneth Morrison

What this does highlight is our continued dependence on photo-hosting.
When are we going to deal with protecting our images??????

I will not be adding any images or re-posting images until this is sorted.
_________________
Ken

apanderson · Posted: Sat Jul 01, 2017 7:40 pm Post subject:

Ken - You're certainly not the only one who thinks it's like paying a ransom!!

Could you let us know if and when you get a response please?

Anne

Kenneth Morrison · Posted: Tue Jul 04, 2017 8:05 am Post subject:

I had my suspicions that I wasn't going to get very far when on Saturday 1 July I got this:
This is an auto-response from Robert, the Photobucket robot, regarding the most commonly asked questions at Photobucket.

Yesterday I got this (from a human?)

Moss (Photobucket Support)
Jul 3, 1:37 PM MDT
Hello,
Photobucket continues to have the distinct pleasure of hosting 15 billion photos from 100 million unique users since inception fourteen years ago. In recent months, management has made some changes that will enable Photobucket to continue providing excellent services to our user base while maintaining an economically stable position.
In the past we’ve had solutions for everyone. From free users to paid subscriptions, there’s been an option for all types of people that care about their memories, blogs, or businesses. We continue to commit to offering free services as well as enterprise support, but we’ve needed to reinforce standards we’ve been historically lenient on.
It is our business to serve our users with valuable benefits that are otherwise very costly for us to support compared to our competitors, especially as it relates to third party image hosting. Starting several weeks ago, we began telling our users that the nature of how we work with them will be changing with the tide of the photo hosting environment via messaging in email, on site, etc. In staying true to our word, we’re asking that customers using our service as an image serving facility buy a subscription to continue with that level of service that has historically been overlooked for free users. This feature is a costly one, and we are asking our patrons to help support our infrastructure. We aren’t deleting photos or holding any photos at arm’s length for download; we are simply asking our non-paying users to join our subscription service to continue enjoying benefits of our site.
The subscriptions we are offering are price competitive for the greater photo hosting landscape, and we hope to bring additional functionality in the upcoming months to further delight our users that support their businesses with our service. We are continually evaluating our subscriptions, committing to the needs, feedback, and desires of our valued user base.
Sincerely,
________________________________________
Moss@Photobucket Support

So that's alright then Rolling Eyes

Now can we get on with the plans to host our own photographs, please?
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Ken

apanderson · Posted: Tue Jul 04, 2017 3:07 pm Post subject:

Blah, blah, blah .......

In other words - no chance?

I'm guessing that the reply is a standard response hoping to cover any queries - it's certainly not personalised and answers none of your questions!

Anne Rolling Eyes

Kenneth Morrison · Posted: Tue Jul 04, 2017 4:46 pm Post subject:

Yes indeed Anne.
I gather that they are also very keen on Mom and apple pies Razz

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Ken