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Photobucket to stop allowing direct linking unless you pay.


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Just now, jrlx said:

 

You should still be able to access your account and your photos directly in PB's site. It's "only" the so called 3rd party hosting (i.e.: linking to the photos from other sites like BM) that is blocked.

No I can't. I get a 'access to your account has been restricted because you have exceeded your upload limit'. This is odd because you COULDN'T exceed your limit. PB wouldn't let you exceed it unless you paid for the extra capacity. The next message says 'to gain access please upgrade your account by choosing a payment option' Or words to that effect. I also saw another message which said I HAD to sign up to Twitter... no more signing in with FB.

 

 

 

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11 minutes ago, Badder said:

I'm going to get the wife to search for PB on her laptop and try to 'view' photos as a 'visitor'. I am thinking she might be able to. I can't do it because as I said, PB recognises my laptop and logs me in automatically. Funny how I used to have to log in with member name and password before this eh? If she can view photos as a visitor she can maybe visit my library and download the photos????? I dunno. Worth a try.

 

Badder

 

 

Good luck, hope it works!

 

Due to your experience I've made doubly sure that I successfully downloaded all my pictures off there earlier today, & have now deleted them all - despite my pics being worthless to them I'm not having Photof---it trying to ransom them back to me!!

 

K

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1 minute ago, Badder said:

No I can't. I get a 'access to your account has been restricted because you have exceeded your upload limit'. This is odd because you COULDN'T exceed your limit. PB wouldn't let you exceed it unless you paid for the extra capacity. The next message says 'to gain access please upgrade your account by choosing a payment option' Or words to that effect. I also saw another message which said I HAD to sign up to Twitter... no more signing in with FB.

 

 

 

 

That seems to be related to bandwidth limitations or something like that. If your wife can access your photos she may be able to download them. Just click on a picture and then hover the mouse cursor over the gear symbol in the menu that appears over the picture. then, in the drop down menu select "download".

 

Hope this helps

 

Cheers

 

Jaime

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What I am doing is leaving my PB account untouched for now..  Maybe they will see that everyone is unhappy and revise the TOS.. Or maybe not. If the latter I'll download my stuff once the dust settles a bit. 

 

In the mean time I've opened a flickr account,

 

untitled-2589

 

 

 

 

 

uploaded stuff to google images,

 

 

 

experimented with posting on here using Instagram as a source

 

 

 

 

and have had a go using blogger.

 

 

untitled-4313.jpg

 

 

 

in addition I have VP working in the background. So going forwards there is a lot of choice.  I'm unlikely to go back and repost ever thing I've ever used a PB image in. But I'll probably fix up the most recent stuff so it works...

 

Its a Huge PITA but I've used PB for ages uploaded 4.5k images and never paid them a cent for any of that. So while it is galling I'm also mindful that personally I'm a free user of a service they provided at a cost to them.  It is however an incredibly shabby way to treat a 'customer' base. 

 

Cheers

 

Plasto

 

 

 

 

Edited by Plasto
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Just now, jrlx said:

 

That seems to be related to bandwidth limitations or something like that. If your wife can access your photos she may be able to download them. Just click on a picture and then hover the mouse cursor over the gear symbol in the menu that appears over the picture. then, in the drop down menu select "download".

 

Hope this helps

 

Cheers

 

Jaime

nope the problem with that is i'd need to know the 'code' for the photos. I didn't give any of mine titles, and since they've been removed from BM I have no idea what the links/codes were. I don't think she's got the patience to wait for bus, let alone search through 12 billion photos looking for mine.:D

 

Edited by Badder
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to say this sucks a#*e is an understatement! I had initially thought this was just a bug when I noticed a couple of members post with the "ransomware" PB logo.......but as I can now see this isn't the case. 

 

I still seem to be online with "Photobas*#ds" :D but that's because I started paying a wee bit extra sometime back for extra band width, but I'll expect that to change shortly as well. Gosh knows how long it'll tale me to move all the images across and re-do all the links! I'll keep the PB account just incase they have a change of heart in that black heart of their's!

 

In the meantime I'm jumping to a paid hosting site SmugMug. it's semi Pro and it's reasonably cheap compared to PH. I think in the end a lot more of these free image hosting site will switch over to a paid model or they'll start to hammer you with adds....it's only a matter of time. I figure I'm now paying a few dollars a month to PB, so I may as well find a site that offers good features and unlimited storage. This one seems to be really simple to use, unlimited uploads with unlimited hosting, so no bandwidth issues, plus it's completely add free. 

 

Ok I do have one question to ask and I'm asking this as a host for a couple Group Builds, but this effects them all. This sudden change with PB is going to have a huge effect on everyones build while they sort out their future image hosting issues. Maybe we could give all the current GB & STGB's an extra week just so the members can sort out their image issues? Plus I think it is only fair as well to hold off any voting in GB's until all the images in the galleries can be viewed correctly as well, just to be fair to everyone.

 

This PB issues is really a serious pain in the a#*e, like a lot of members here I have thousands of images on PB with links to an awful lot of sites, which I just won't have the time to fix up.....unless I give up modelling for the next 3 or 4 months!!

 

PhotoBucket :fuyou_2:

 

 

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DEAR PEEPS,

 

Miracle of miracles, I've found my old and broken memory stick..... loose connection inside.... and I can't quite believe it but I DID save a load of photos from my previous diorama WIPs and RFIs!!!!!!

 

So Photoexpletive can expletive off.

I will upload all of the photos to the lovely Hostingpics and re-post them to the relevant threads. I may be gone some time!

 

Rearguards,

A very relieved Badder.

 

 

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What a disappointment.

I upgraded to a paid Photobucket account almost three years ago so I expect to get an email about the new Terms & Conditions in the next two months. However, paying 13 times as much for the same service is, in my opinion, unreasonable.

 

This should have been handled so much better by Photobucket.

  • Firstly, they should have allowed existing images on their service, i.e. prior to the change in Terms & Conditions, to retain their 3rd party image hosting rights. That would not have rendered the content shared on tens of thousands of small social communities as next to useless.
  • Secondly, Photobucket should have made some distinction between users that use the service for non-commercial social purposes and other purposes. A white-list of social communities could have been created by asking the domain owner to submit evidence that it was a non-profit social community. There should have been a phase-in period that allowed the relevant domain owner time to present certification that they were a non-profit social community.
  • Thirdly, in my opinion, it would have been reasonable for Photobucket to ask non-commercial social users to pay a small annual fee for 3rd party image hosting rights. For example, I paid AUD$30 per annum over the last few years, and I don't think that is unreasonable for the amount of storage that I was offered and unlimited bandwidth (i.e. calls on the service when Britmodeller.com displays an image that I posted). It is less than $1 per week. However, I appreciate that some users would consider that cost to be prohibitive. Perhaps even smaller plans could have been offered to social community users.

However, given that (a) Photobucket attracted users with offers of a free account with a reasonable amount of storage and limited bandwidth, and low-cost accounts such as the one I have, for many years, (b) understood how its users used its service, and (c) effectively rendered void the purpose for which users had used the service, in my opinion, Photobucket has acted in breach of the representations that it made to users in attracting them to their service. In any event, users will have to expend significant time (and time does have a value) and possibly expense, reinstating their images on social and commercial sites, using an alternate service.

 

Accordingly, in my opinion, Photobucket.com has a case to answer. Does anyone know a good class-action lawyer?

 

Sadly, I expect Photobucket's actions will eventually bring the era of free image hosting to an end. I expect Flickr will follow suit in due course, as will other image hosts, as their user base expands. It costs real money to host content on the Internet and with the increasing fragmentation of advertising (across more channels and more refined, smaller, target audiences), I can see why advertising revenues may not be the money-spinner people thought that it was in the past. Photobucket has set a price point, the question moving forward will be (a) what will be the competitive price amongst various image hosts, and (b) how long will it take to get there?

 

The best I am hoping for:

  • Photobucket reinstates 3rd party linking for images uploaded to its servers prior to the change in Terms & Conditions. We want Britmodeller back at its best!
  • A reasonably cost-effective (but not free) means of image hosting that will not leave me at the mercy of some capitalists future cash-grab. That probably means I have to look at hosting it myself somehow and I appreciate for many people the effort and expense is probably too much (as it has been for me to date).
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Well thought out & reasonable imho. Now how about copy & past the relevant sections into a response to PB? The more that do, maybe they'll get the idea its worth it to revisit this. Maybe it has been a ploy to lead towards something like this all along. :unsure:

Steve.

Edited by stevehnz
freaking punctuation!
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Here's what I submitted at the link provided by Mike http://support.photobucket.com/hc/en-us/requests/new :

Quote

RE: CLASS-ACTION LAWSUIT REGARDING 3RD PARTY IMAGE HOSTING?

  • Avatar
    Air-to-AirToday at 13:25

    I refer to the recent change in the Terms and Conditions and, in particular, the retroactive cancellation of 3rd party image hosting.

    It is likely that your company will lose tens of thousands of paid users, and possibly hundreds of thousands of free users (who nonetheless drove advertising revenues), as a result of the recent change.

    In addition, it is likely that you have exposed the company to a class-action lawsuit for the following reasons: 
    - For many years, Photobucket has attracted users with offers of a free account with a reasonable amount of storage and limited bandwidth, and low-cost accounts such as the one I have (AUD$30 per annum). 
    - Photobucket has understood how its users used the service it offered, including as a host for images posted on non-profit social communities. 
    - Photobucket’s recent actions, i.e. the change in the Terms and Conditions, is likely to have rendered the content shared on tens of thousands of small social communities as next to useless. The devaluation of that content may force many social communities to close down as the decline in the usefulness of historical content will impact future site visits and the advertising revenues that may have been used to support the site’s ongoing operation (I am talking about non-profit social communities here). 
    - Furthermore, Photobucket’s recent actions have effectively rendered void the purpose for which users had originally used the service.

    In my opinion, Photobucket’s actions have breached the representations you made when attracting users to use your service.

    In order to maintain what users had prior to the change in Terms and Conditions, users would have to expend significant time (and time does have a value) and possibly expense, reinstating their images on social sites, using an alternate service. Many users will not bother to do so. Their social community will suffer as a result.

    In my opinion, Photobucket could have adopted a more reasonable approach such as the following: 
    - Firstly, Photobucket should have allowed existing images on their service, i.e. prior to the change in Terms & Conditions, to retain their 3rd party image hosting rights. That would not have rendered the content shared on tens of thousands of small social communities as next to useless. 
    - Secondly, if Photobucket wished to retain it social community user base, Photobucket should have made some distinction between users that use the service for non-commercial social purposes and other purposes. A white-list of social communities could have been created by asking the domain owner to submit evidence that it was a non-profit social community. There should have been a phase-in period that allowed the relevant domain owner time to present certification that they were a non-profit social community. 
    - Thirdly, in my opinion, it would have been reasonable for Photobucket to ask non-commercial social users to pay a small annual fee for 3rd party image hosting rights. For example, I paid AUD$30 per annum over the last few years, and I don't think that is unreasonable for the amount of storage that I was offered and unlimited bandwidth. Perhaps even smaller plans could have been offered to social community users as some, e.g. the retired, are very cost sensitive.

    Photobucket could have enhanced its shareholder value by segmenting users and then working with social communities to provide very low cost, but reliable, image hosting service. This would have also allowed Photobucket to develop more targeted advertising (based on the 3rd party linking) for the images hosted on its site.

    As things are at the moment, I expect Photobucket will lose a lot of small account holders such as myself in due course, and hundreds of thousands of users that drove advertising displays and hits.

    Please reconsider the irreparable damage you will cause thousands of small social communities and your own business as a result of the recent, retroactive, change to the Terms and Conditions.

Feel free to adapt it for your own submission.

I wish these big companies would pay attention to their users but if history teaches us anything, it is that they will not.

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I bet if BM had its own service the subscriptions and funding would be here.

It would help members like me post alla my work here and solve the headache.

I know I would $$ out to BM before some bucket crew.

Prolly been thought of and discarded by way smarter peeps than me.....

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I doubt a lawsuit would do any good. Trump would 'put America first' and protect Photobucket's 'innovative' business plan.:poop:

 

Badder

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On 6/30/2017 at 2:28 AM, John Laidlaw said:

I am beginning to form the opinion they're trying to put themselves out of business, simply because no-one in their right mind would do this to make money.

It did cross my mind that they are intentionally forcing folk away as they've either set up a new Company and want folk to migrate or want to close PB down without all their customers trying to take legal action against them.

Anyhow I'll be moving all my photos somewhere else so it's 'worked' for me.

 

Duncan B

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I've heard some folk (cough) suggesting maxing out your PB account limit with pointless pictures. Say of a piece of A4 paper, then just ignoring your account forever.

That'll actually hit them in their pocket (under their current T&C's), using their data farm space and bandwidth.

I couldn't condone such a thing myself of course.

 

Rick.

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Hi Disgruntled BMer's,

 

For what it's worth I've just fired off an ammended copy of Jaime's letter to PB; as someone says at least it might snarl their system up :winkgrin:

 

As a way forward perhaps we should go for using the free hosting that you sort of 'pick-up' as you go along...........I'm talking about BT cloud, One Drive, Dropbox, Irista and Google Drive etc.

This way no one outfit could hold the monopoly on 3rd party hosting. Problem is I'm not sure if these sites offer 3rd party hosting or, if they do, 'how to do it'. From previous posts it looks like One Drive is an option.

Something to think about anyway :think:

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There is a lot of good sense in that article, but I suspect to it has been written with an agenda in mind. Curious it was written about 15 months ago but I had no trouble uploading some photos from my computer onto my newly created Flickr account direct from my computer & posting in the Gallery for the recent De Havilland GB. I'm surely not committing all my eggs to one basket just yet & I'm waiting it see how it all plays out.

Steve.

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18 hours ago, Alan P said:

I've posted this elsewhere but I'm still REALLY PO'd by this. I've posted here for 10 years, started dozens of threads, WIPs, RFIs, pearls of wisdom and some great top tips. 

 

Sadly this means I'll have to spam the site with loads of new threads of old models. :rofl:

 

Al

 

Well I am getting on with life. Seems my package of £70 a year with PB, 9 months to live, is saving me from PB distinction on all my photos.

I am speculating they cannot apply new conditions for the old which I subscribed under. So far all is normal (? normal).

 

Joined Image Shack for which you pay a subscription of just over £30. Their regulations say link as much as you want and use as much space as required.

Very nice clean simple layout. Opens quickly. No adverts to swish out of the way. Nice friendly way of putting all your needs and what they have for their

customer.

 

Interesting. It seems the 2 month rule of locking topics, ie no editing after that period, does not apply in BM. Tried another two forums and after two months

the topics are locked.

 

 

 

Edited by LaurieS
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Here goes my tests:

 

Onedrive: no idea what to do?

dropbox: don't seem to work.

Google Drive: don't work

However:

 

Google photos: !!!!!(sorry about the content): Right click on photo, choose copy link location, then in post click 'insert other media' and paste the link into the box. Voila!

Problem sorted.:D

Gogle photos:y4UfbgfK_C76LDk3fjOwJp4grhGTDSelJzS6zZbK

 

 

 

 

 

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11 hours ago, Badder said:

I will upload all of the photos to the lovely Hostingpics and re-post them to the relevant threads. I may be gone some time!

 

That's one public spirited Britmodeller :clap2:

 

1 hour ago, LaurieS said:

Interesting. It seems the 2 month rule of locking topics, ie no editing after that period, does not apply in BM. Tried another two forums and after two months

the topics are locked.

 

It's never occurred to us, and off the top of my head I can't see the value.  A older topic is either interesting enough to post on, or it isn't.  We don't see why we should make your minds up for you ;)

 

As to their site outage, I wouldn't be surprised if it has crashed due to the sheer weight of people removing or copying their images.  It's hit an awful lot of people in one go, but the people with a paid account won't be affected until their current subscription runs out, so at least they've "bought" themselves some time. :shrug:

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I should imagine that other photo-hosting companies will follow, especially when they get a sudden surge of images eating into their available bandwidth as everyone migrates thousands of images over to them.  Most of those people will be looking for free hosting sites; however, it's not free to those site owners and they made need to invest in more servers and storage space to accomodate this influx.  It is important to have your images and data on your own storage (HDD's, SDD's, memory sticks and or CD/DVDs etc.) as well as on the hosting sites.  I think this has been a salutary lesson to us all, to keep our own control of what is ours.

 

As an aside, it is not just our small modelling fraternaties that have been impacted by this;  I'm of the understanding that institutes, charities and other social areas use these facilities and have also lost their stuff.

 

Mike

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