Photobucket - thieves and extortionists!!!!

[Roget]

In order to post pictures to a forum from PhotoBucket in the future, one must upgrade to the Plus 500 plan @ $39.99 per month.

All my pictures that I posted on all forums in the past are no longer visible.

If they want to start charging for the ability to post to a forum (in the future) they have a perfect right, but I am totally P^%*#d that they had the b*#^s to do this.

[teesquare]

I will say this again.....

It has been my experience that ANY "free" service will wind up costing you more than it potentially saved you.  I learned this - like all of you here - the hard way. and with great personal frustration.

You are FAR better off to use a service that specializes in photo storage. Why not Google? Well...let's' look at Google's  track record for your privacy - and our government. Or That Google has had other features that folks really liked, so they were using them....then Google decided to discontinue those add-ons.

What you really want is secure, dependable storage. Something you pay a little for will empower you and all the other users of such a service should they default. But - because they derive their income from photo storage and sales of prints...that is highly unlikely...Think about it. If it their main business, they are invested in the success of it whereas Google or Amazon offer it for "free"....but at any time can drop that "feature' - AND you will be back at square one.

I found - after much research - Smugmug. I know High On Smoke is using Smugmug as well. Lots of reasons they are trusted by professional photographers for photo storage. But they have several plans. From very reasonable to very expensive - depending on what your needs are.

[bamabob]

My photos are still on photobucket, they didn't delete them, just broke the links to forums like this one.  This isn't about storage, for me it's about having a way to link an image to forums such as this since they can't be posted direct.

As far as for storage I prefer to use a backup drive that I have complete control over for photos and important documents, that way they are on my computer as well as a remote drive.  Some photos I'll also put on One Drive, and Amazon.
The only reason I used photobucket was for linking images to forums like this.  For them to break all those links was just wrong.  I wouldn't have a problem with them notifying me and wanting money for any future uploads, I may very well have agreed to that.  but for them to wipe out 7 years of effort with no warning is just wrong.
Photobucket is done. 

[HighOnSmoke]

I too used to use Photobucket until all the web problems they were having. When it worked it was okay but it was down more than up, so I went looking for another site that I could use to upload my photos and videos. I found Smugmug. Yes it costs, but I was also paying on Photobucket. For me Smugmug is a lot simpler to use for posting on forums than Photobucket. I can upload a full photo and pick the size I want to put on a forum. I also have 3 external drives where all my original photos are stored. So, if something happens to Smugmug or to any other place I store my photos I still have my original ones.  I might add that the majority of my original files are in the raw format. The ones uploaded are all JPEG.

I don't work for Smugmug and have no interest in it other than a reliable option to store photos and upload them to forums.

[bamabob]

For a free service to just use for posting on forums try imgur.  you can also upload a full size photo and pick the size for a forum.
But with my pitiful slow internet I finally learned that it's much quicker for me to resize first and then upload.

http://www.letstalkbbq.com/index.php?topic=20764.msg267995#new

[DWard51]

In order to post pictures to a forum from PhotoBucket in the future, one must upgrade to the Plus 500 plan @ $39.99 per month.

All my pictures that I posted on all forums in the past are no longer visible.

If they want to start charging for the ability to post to a forum (in the future) they have a perfect right, but I am totally P^%*#d that they had the b*#^s to do this.

And more importantly, they should not be surprised when all those pissed off former users (including the ones who "had" been paying at the less than top account level) will beat feet and take they business and money elsewhere........   We have a perfect right also.

I believe the backlash from this is going to be the end of photobucket as a company.  Trust lost is hard if not impossible to regain. 

[DWard51]

I did have one thought about photobucket today.   A lot of people are talking about moving their images elsewhere and deleting their PB account?   Well, why (delete the account)?  If you copy the images to another service and start using the alternative, that's great.  But why free up space on PB server by deleting your account?  The bastard's have given all of us the finger and said pay up, so just say nope and give them the finger back by leaving your images there to hog storage space......   Meanwhile, they are no longer collecting any per click revenue on the adds as no one is clicking on those images just sitting there taking up space.

I suspect the calls to the images from the old forum posts will also be enough activity to keep the accounts open, just non-revenue generating on multiple levels.

So take that PB!!!!!

[RG]

I did have one thought about photobucket today.   A lot of people are talking about moving their images elsewhere and deleting their PB account?   Well, why (delete the account)?  If you copy the images to another service and start using the alternative, that's great.  But why free up space on PB server by deleting your account?  The bastard's have given all of us the finger and said pay up, so just say nope and give them the finger back by leaving your images there to hog storage space......   Meanwhile, they are no longer collecting any per click revenue on the adds as no one is clicking on those images just sitting there taking up space.

I suspect the calls to the images from the old forum posts will also be enough activity to keep the accounts open, just non-revenue generating on multiple levels.

So take that PB!!!!!

My thoughts EXACTLY! I have very few pics on PB, maybe less than 50 and I haven't linked to them in eons but guess what? I'm leavin'em there

[Smokin Don]

I had a slide show at the top of my blog and it was replaced with the PB saying I needed to up date. I just figured the pics were gone too and never checked. Well the slide show came back and I checked and all my pics are there. Maybe my blog is considered 2nd party, does anyone know? Never the less I will not use PB again, I am happy with Smug Mug. Don

[bamabob]

I have 1600 high res photos there, see no reason to close account or delete them.  May even keep uploading more just for the heck of it.  LOL
Heck, maybe even some videos.

[Smokin Don]

I had a slide show at the top of my blog and it was replaced with the PB saying I needed to up date. I just figured the pics were gone too and never checked. Well the slide show came back and I checked and all my pics are there. Maybe my blog is considered 2nd party, does anyone know? Never the less I will not use PB again, I am happy with Smug Mug. Don

I was a little mixed up on this, google blogs hosts their own photos. I must have made my slide show in PB . It disappeared for a while but is back mow. Don

[Jaxon]

I downloaded the smugmug app. 
it won't accept my email / password combo and it doesn't have a place to register as a new user.