Photobucket last updated their TOS / blog on July 6. Using the following sort of image test post from http://blog.photobucket.com/pl...-changes-photobucket :



This seems to indicate that if you were any paying subscriber (i.e., had any Plus account) as of June 1, 2017, then you can still use Photobucket for third party hosting until December 31, 2018 but that 3rd party hosting is now allowed for the free plan or the other two Plus plans for anyone who signed up after June 1, 2017.

Earlier, I posted that I was checking avatar hosts to see who Photobucket was still hosting. I was mostly curious about how Photbucket was unraveling their business, but soon noticed that 12131's photos of the SIG P228 prototype are being hosted by Photobucket. (His photos begin here: https://sigforum.com/eve/forums...870003214#7870003214) So if 12131 was a paying subscriber before June 2, then he has plenty of time to edit those posts using another photo hosting service. Otherwise those photos are subject to being blocked at anytime.

P.S. I used the wording "sort of image test post" because that image above was my first post using https://imgbb.com Registration seems to be required. I'm going to bed now and can continue discussion later.

It worked!

I'm ditching my Photobucket. What a shit show that has become.

Amazon photos apparently is not the perfect fix after all. As someone mentioned earlier, it'll work for a time but then seemingly expire. I've already had to reattach my avatar a couple of times. Doing that after not so long will definitely get old.

Gonna have to search out a more permanent solution still.

I was a photobucket member since 2005 but this was the last straw for me. I removed all my photo's and deleted my account.

I'm using imgur and it seems to work fine for hosting on sites.

I'm leaving my account open. Might even upload more useless stuff. They can store my pics on their networks for as long as they want.

I got the email today as well. Time to get off PB.

I created an account at Igmur a week ago and it is working great and is much faster than Photobucket.

I just logged into Photobucket and WTF, almost none of my photos are showing now. I only have about 150 pics there and have them on PC but it was convenient to grab them from PB but right now that is not even working for me. What a fucked up operation.

I notice there is no 'contact us' tab to select. So I C and P'd their 'advertise with us' email advertise@photobucket.com and asked, "Why would anyone in their right mind advertise on this knuckleheaded site?"

I'm sure someone will read it since advertising seems to be their focus. Not expecting a response but enjoy the idea that the advert dept is getting flooded with similar negative feedback.

An interview with Photobucket's CEO. Apparently, times are really hard for them.

Denver Post: Behind Denver-based Photobucket’s unpopular decision to go from free to $399

quote:

A visit to Photobucket’s Blake Street headquarters in downtown Denver last week showed a shell of the company it once was. The loft-like space with exposed brick walls and wood-beam ceilings looked bleak with only a half-dozen employees milling around. The company employs 20 people, including a few in the Bay Area.

Just two years ago, there were about 60 people in the same space. Its website was attracting 60 million unique visitors a month.

Also, Imgur may not be the solution everyone is looking for.

quote:

Online image hosting is a different beast. None of the popular photo-sharing sites stepped up to take in wary Photobucket users. SmugMug allows it, starting at $3.99 a month. Yahoo’s Flickr also has a free plan, with ads. And while Imgur is a popular third-party hosting platform, its terms of service forbid the practice.

Flickr®'s TOS allows 3rd party posting, but only under their rules--the image must be accompanied by a link back to Flickr® and the photo owner. They make this easy by providing a tool that prepares a link for you, but failure to follow their guidelines can cause your account to be closed. I don't think their provided link would work for an avatar.

I'm currently paying $50/year for my Flickr® account--to host 41,000 pictures in a handy organization, that's cheap.

flashguy

This message has been edited. Last edited by: flashguy,

You know, I'd gladly pay a reasonable amount to have the old photobucket service. I mean before 2010. Perhaps an enterprising individual could create such a beast and name it a spoonerism of photobucket. Boto......something or other. According to the above linked article, the new CEO came on in 2015 about when PB started having seizures. They went from 60 employees to now 13. Clearly this young bay area CEO is toxic. When asked if he expected the kind of backlash he's getting, he paused for 12 seconds and finally answered, "no." No? really? what world does your puny millennial mind live in? Where does one find a scatacephallic like this to run a company into the ground? Were I to take the reins, I'd instinctively know that free hosting is unsustainable and extortion level rates are untenable. The answer would need to be some where in the middle with graduated rates for increasingly pleasant levels of service. Advertisements could be revolving and at the perimeter but not to the point of slowing function. No advertising for upper tier service. PB could work, but not if a 28 yr old pea brain is running it. I hope he at least is cheap.

quote:

Originally posted by flashguy:
Flickr®'s TOS allows 3rd party posting, but only under their rules--the image must be accompanied by a link back to Flickr® and the photo owner. They make this easy by providing a tool that prepares a link for you, but failure to follow their guidelines can cause your account to be closed. I don't think their provided link would work for an avatar.

flashguy

Photobucket finally got to me, and shut off my 3rd party hosting. I moved my avatar over to TinyPic for the moment. It's a solution, that's perhaps only temporary. Well see.

I cant seem to get my avatar hosted on any of these hosting sites. Not sure what I am doing wrong but it must be on my end.

Test using Amazon Prime, Thx, Rod
https://www.amazon.com/photos/...0R-WZw-fLP8jwSQ?sf=1

Signed up for Amazon prime. That isn't going to work, as their Amazon photos isn't ideal for forum posting. I need to find a solution and fast. As noted above imgur and flickr do not seem to be solid solutions.

quote:

Originally posted by Prefontaine:
Signed up for Amazon prime. That isn't going to work, as their Amazon photos isn't ideal for forum posting. I need to find a solution and fast. As noted above imgur and flickr do not seem to be solid solutions.

Right now I am using Tinypic. You just have to put up with lots of ads. I hope to find something better soon, but I really don't feel like paying for a service as I only use it for posting pictures here.

For avatar hosting, these free image hosting sites are known to work on SIG forum:

http://imgur.com
http://tinypic.com
http://www.picturetrail.com


For avatar hosting, these free image hosting sites are known NOT to work for everyone:

https://imgbb.com
https://postimages.org


For non-avatar 3rd party image hosting, these free sites are either known to work or should work:

http://imgur.com
http://tinypic.com
http://www.picturetrail.com
https://imgbb.com
https://postimages.org

Notes:

• imgur's TOS prohibits avatar hosting. However, after studying that section, I have concluded that the wording "avatars, or anything else that turns us into your content delivery network." was meant to apply to something like a website's software rather than an individual on a forum like this, especially if you also use imgur for hosting your photos. Regardless, small avatars use a tiny amount of bandwidth before entering a browser's cache.
  
  
• I declare that article in the Denver Post which states that using imgur for 3rd party hosting is against their TOS to be FAKE NEWS! 3rd party hosting is explicitly allowed. In exchange, imgur owns a copyright of your image and your image may be featured in their gallery.
  
  
• From the FAQ about TinyPic, a Photobucket company: "Q: How long are images kept? A: The images are kept until they have not been viewed for 90 days. After 90 days have elapsed, your image may be removed." Also, all images can be publicly viewed.
  
  
• picturetrail converts PNGs and GIFs to JPGs.
  
  
• While not obvious, imgbb seems to require registration before their URLs work.
  
  
• postimages seems like the best solution, but they were having financial difficulty paying their bandwidth bills. (Updated to add that the postimage blog link is now a dead link.) I am hesitant to use them only slightly out of concern of them suddenly not existing, but mostly because I don't want to add to their bandwidth problems which are being exacerbated by Photobucket refugees.
  
  
• Amazon Prime Photos will not currently work for 3rd party hosting. However, if enough SIG forum Prime members made suggestions to Amazon requesting permanent 3rd party links, Amazon might implement that feature. You'll be even more hooked on Amazon Prime, and if the membership fee increases to $129 / year, you'll pay $129 / year.
  

This message has been edited. Last edited by: rh,

Just moved my avatar to tinypic.

Now to move all my pictures on Photobucket somewhere else.

quote:

Originally posted by rh:

3) tinypic is owned by Photobucket. I posted the details earlier, but your photos may be removed if they have not been viewed before or after a specified time period has elapsed.

Just an FYI, I've been using tinypic almost exclusively for generic image hosting and posting for a number of years now. I keep a file of the urls of all the images I've uploaded there, so I can reuse them if I need to. To the best of my knowledge none of those images have been removed or deleted.

All the map images in the "Hunting With Suppressors" thread in the "Suppressed Weapons" forum are hosted on tinypic and they are all still there. Some of them were uploaded three or more years ago.

"details posted earlier" involve the Wikipedia page about Tinypic

"Criticism:

One of the main criticisms people have with TinyPic is that uploaded images usually get deleted within a few days or weeks reference _5_ resulting in any post or website that has used TinyPic to display a picture not found error message."

I've never used TinyPic and so, wouldn't know if that is accurate information. I did check the revision history on Wikipedia. That criticism was written before Photobucket's foul up, so it wasn't a "retribution edit".

I am trying to construct information suitable for the SIG Forum Office to replace the now deprecated and useless Posting from Photobucket topic. Any additional feedback like this, amendments, or corrections would be helpful.