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Re: Photobucket question
Posted: July 1st, 2017, 1:28 pm
by Stuart
ShaunW wrote:I'm still hopping mad about the way we have been treat by PB but that's business I'm afraid - sucker the punters in with "free" hosting and then when there's enough of them deeply tied up to the facility, hold them to ransom and charge 400 bucks as a release fee
I also fear that it's only a matter of time before other image hosting sites follow suit - I not opposed to the question paying
per se (depends how much, of course) and might have even considered paying PB had they gone about this differently and charged less - personally I think $400 is a bit steep.
And yes, potentially this issue will cause serious havoc with photos on the forum as I think PB is by far and away the most popular image host used on here.
And now probably the most hated company on internet.
Thankfully I dropped PB last year as their site so so slow it was unusable. But I think you're right - most places will end up charging. And that in it'self is fair enough - but $400 is extortion.
Personally I think I'll end up just using my wordpress site to host (and paying for that) - We'll see.
Re: Photobucket
Posted: July 1st, 2017, 1:47 pm
by PaulBradley
rob_van_riel wrote:I tried searching for Photobucket using the forum search engine, but the phrase was rejected as too common....
And doesn't that say something in itself!
Re: Photobucket question
Posted: July 1st, 2017, 4:26 pm
by chrism
rob_van_riel wrote:. Short of the owner of the posts in question manually editing them to point to new URLs .
At present, on this forum, all the posts which are made during a group build, are locked at the end, therefore this prohibits anyone from editing them if they wanted too.
Re: Photobucket
Posted: July 1st, 2017, 4:54 pm
by rob_van_riel
PaulBradley wrote:rob_van_riel wrote:I tried searching for Photobucket using the forum search engine, but the phrase was rejected as too common....
And doesn't that say something in itself!
Yup, and not just that the search engine isn't clever enough to (optionally) discount URLs when searching through posts..
Re: Photobucket question
Posted: July 1st, 2017, 5:04 pm
by rob_van_riel
iggie wrote:Not being computer literate to any great degree, how long is it until 'Postimage' does the same thing and what happens then?
This is simply a wakeup call to all that services we take for granted can be lost at a moment's notice. This is especially true of 'free' services, but nothing is completely immune. For me, the bare minimum in order not to permanently live on the edge of a nervous breakdown is to have my files hosted on a domain registered to myself, and backups on local hardware owned by myself (really not as hard as it sounds, but there is a price to pay). Any external dependency can, and in the long run likely will, bite you in the butt
Re: Photobucket question
Posted: July 1st, 2017, 5:11 pm
by rob_van_riel
chrism wrote:rob_van_riel wrote:. Short of the owner of the posts in question manually editing them to point to new URLs .
At present, on this forum, all the posts which are made during a group build, are locked at the end, therefore this prohibits anyone from editing them if they wanted too.
What the admins lock, they can unlock, no big deal.
That's not even considering that the admins could potentially manipulate the database with all the content directly. I'm not suggesting they should take measures as labour intensive and invasive as that, but such is the power of Admin.
Re: Photobucket question
Posted: July 1st, 2017, 5:24 pm
by JohnRatzenberger
Replacing images.
-- It would be technically possible but incredibly time-consuming (and potentially perilous) to implement scripts to make wholesale changes -- in short it more than likely won't be an option.
-- You can change your own images if you wish.
-- As for locked areas on UAMF, such as GB's, when you have compiled a list of from/to changes and are ready to start, I can temporarily unlock, or provide powers, to allow you to do so. This does not extend to our old Forumer/Yuku site which will be evaluated separately.
I have suggested before -- if you can, get your own website from a major player. Look at the business/commercial accounts for better features/options/costs than the private/home accounts. I have had an account of Yahoo (Aabacco) for years - about $125 (100GBP)/yr for more storage than I can count. It's my own cloud for images, reference material, documents, etc, of all sorts, not just hobby. It is not hard to use an FTP program and upload your data to your website as you wish it to be and available for posting in the forum. I have the freedom/space to upload originals and resized images and link to the ones best suited for online viewing.
Then you, and no one else, are in control of your data.
One more point. The "WannaCry" (& other recent) folks only wanted $300 to return your data.
Re: Photobucket question
Posted: July 2nd, 2017, 4:40 am
by Chuck Finley
There are other sites available. I switched to PictureTrail that does allow pictures to be linked to other sites. I deleted my photobucket account and when the box asking why, I referred to the $399 extortion with a fair number of expletives and 'strong letter to follow'. I was a little perturbed at that time.
Re: Photobucket question
Posted: July 2nd, 2017, 1:02 pm
by ShaunW
Chuck Finley wrote:There are other sites available. I switched to PictureTrail that does allow pictures to be linked to other sites. I deleted my photobucket account and when the box asking why, I referred to the $399 extortion with a fair number of expletives and 'strong letter to follow'. I was a little perturbed at that time.
It might be a waste of your time writing to them, Chuck. I have a strong feeling that PB won't give a damn.....
Re: Photobucket question
Posted: July 2nd, 2017, 2:01 pm
by Chuck Finley
ShaunW wrote:Chuck Finley wrote:There are other sites available. I switched to PictureTrail that does allow pictures to be linked to other sites. I deleted my photobucket account and when the box asking why, I referred to the $399 extortion with a fair number of expletives and 'strong letter to follow'. I was a little perturbed at that time.
It might be a waste of your time writing to them, Chuck. I have a strong feeling that PB won't give a damn.....
It probably was a waste of time but when deactivating your PB account, there is a box for you to state your reason why you are dropping them. You cannot delete the account until you write something there. So, as requested, I told them exactly why I was dropping them and used some colorful language to do so.
After checking their facebook page and the postings, I have a feeling that there will be a lot fewer users of photobucket. Somebody suggested that the sudden change was a money grab before they file bankruptcy. I wonder if that is the case.
Re: Photobucket question
Posted: July 2nd, 2017, 4:27 pm
by JamesPerrin
I'm waiting to see what happens I wouldn't be surprised it's a ploy. Get everyone riled up over $400 and then act conciliatory when they reduce the lowest fee for 3rd party to $100. If they started at $100 the same same outcry would have happened but they would be letting you have it for 50 in the end. Of course I could be completely wrong.
Re: Photobucket question
Posted: July 2nd, 2017, 4:56 pm
by general rocket
JamesPerrin wrote:I'm waiting to see what happens I wouldn't be surprised it's a ploy. Get everyone riled up over $400 and then act conciliatory when they reduce the lowest fee for 3rd party to $100. If they started at $100 the same same outcry would have happened but they would be letting you have it for 50 in the end. Of course I could be
completely wrong.
I'm not cynical, I'm experienced!
Re: Photobucket question
Posted: July 2nd, 2017, 6:04 pm
by MarkyM607
general rocket wrote:JamesPerrin wrote:I'm waiting to see what happens I wouldn't be surprised it's a ploy. Get everyone riled up over $400 and then act conciliatory when they reduce the lowest fee for 3rd party to $100. If they started at $100 the same same outcry would have happened but they would be letting you have it for 50 in the end. Of course I could be
completely wrong.
I'm not cynical, I'm experienced!
Which is worse!?
Re: Photobucket question
Posted: July 3rd, 2017, 6:05 am
by fredk
This 'ransom' idea is spreading; I was doing a part-time occasional course with FutureLearn. All courses are free; but this a.m. I get an email, I have free access to the course until July 12th, to conitinue getting access I have to 'upgrade' at a cost of £49!
Re: Photobucket question
Posted: July 3rd, 2017, 12:44 pm
by general rocket
MarkyM607 wrote:general rocket wrote:JamesPerrin wrote:I'm waiting to see what happens I wouldn't be surprised it's a ploy. Get everyone riled up over $400 and then act conciliatory when they reduce the lowest fee for 3rd party to $100. If they started at $100 the same same outcry would have happened but they would be letting you have it for 50 in the end. Of course I could be
completely wrong.
I'm not cynical, I'm experienced!
Which is worse!?