RMweb Premium Torper Posted July 20, 2017 RMweb Premium Share Posted July 20, 2017 I have noticed Photobucket becoming increasingly desperate to attract funds recently by repeated emailing of new services such as print sales. That rang alarm bells with me some time back. It said "we need money and fast". Errrrr - no. Not from my wallet. Which perhaps sums up Photobucket's predicament. It initially offered a service that could be free to the user because they would attract revenue from elsewhere, eg advertisers. Then the users started to use Photobucket in such a way that advertising revenue began to dry up, but were not prepared to pay anything themselves.. I suspect that Photobuckets financial backers gave the company an ultimatum and that that is the reason for the sudden decision to charge for third party hosting, although the amount they want for it tends to suggest that they're now really only interested in large commercial users. DT Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gene Posted July 20, 2017 Share Posted July 20, 2017 I'm sure you're dead right. But we are human, and users feel they have been unreasonably - er - messed about with. Wanting to stick a few home truths and observations, probably couched in basic Anglo-Saxon, into the perpetrator's mailbox, would seem a normal response to me. It makes us feel better. So in that respect, it accomplishes something intangible - but rewarding. Dudders..I do agree with you and have been doing exactly that both through their webpage and their Facebook page...and on every forum I am a member of...venting can be healthy...I just keep in mind that it will probably actually accomplish nothing of substance. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold john new Posted July 20, 2017 RMweb Gold Share Posted July 20, 2017 (edited) Whatever the reason it is very annoying to come across all the blank spaces where in the past photos were showing. Not conducive to making those then annoyed people want to sign up to the service so further counter productive too! Edited July 20, 2017 by john new Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Ian J. Posted July 20, 2017 RMweb Premium Share Posted July 20, 2017 It strikes me as odd that PB didn't come up with some code to add a variable advertising watermark to all pictures being 3rd party hosted... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold john new Posted July 20, 2017 RMweb Gold Share Posted July 20, 2017 (edited) It strikes me as odd that PB didn't come up with some code to add a variable advertising watermark to all pictures being 3rd party hosted... Exactly. Surely that is what any prudent company would have done and the business model is quite common. Say sorry the market place has changed since we started, we can still host your pics but must advertise/carry adverts to stay in business, or you can pay x and and be advert free. I got stung by the Fotopic collapse, I now put all the pics I want to be on-line on my own site and link to those if the forum does not permit uploading. Edited July 20, 2017 by john new Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Torper Posted July 24, 2017 RMweb Premium Share Posted July 24, 2017 It strikes me as odd that PB didn't come up with some code to add a variable advertising watermark to all pictures being 3rd party hosted... Except that the third parties might not be at all happy about someone else's adverts being displayed on their site. DT Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold martin_wynne Posted July 24, 2017 RMweb Gold Share Posted July 24, 2017 Except that the third parties might not be at all happy about someone else's adverts being displayed on their site. And the advertiser may not be at all happy with the content of the image being associated with their product. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Ian J. Posted July 24, 2017 RMweb Premium Share Posted July 24, 2017 Many years ago I had one or two flash drives have problems, but (touch wood) I've not had any issues with the 'many' that I have, and that's been the case for a number of years now. You can currently get WD My Cloud drives of 6TB size for about £210 online (6TB is the 'sweet spot' for £/TB - there are 8TB ones but the price per TB goes up.). If you buy two (or more) of them, one can be used as a direct mirror copy of the other, allowing a basic back up for a 'live' My Cloud drive. Edit: price to 210 from 200, on amazon.co.uk I am really annoyed. I have just bought two of the single bay WD My Cloud 6TB drives, intending to use one to be the back up of the other, but it appears Western Digital have seen fit to remove that ability in their more recent firmware! Now the single bay units can only back up to more expensive multibay units! This is not made at all clear in their online documentation! Fortunately I think I can get them refunded as I got them through Amazon. This is a bad mark against WD, who up until now I've generally regarded as one of the better companies for IT stuff. This kind of deliberate limitation really is not on. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkC Posted July 24, 2017 Share Posted July 24, 2017 I got the "Pony up or lose access" email the other day. Fortunately all my photos were only put up on PB for posting on assorted forums, so no big loss. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rue_d_etropal Posted July 24, 2017 Share Posted July 24, 2017 (edited) My advice, pay a few pounds a month and have your own website. It really is that cheap. When the other photo sharing website (can't remember the name) collapsed it should have told people that you can not complely trust anythingwebspace that is free. Chances are that traffic to any pictures you upload won't be that high anyway, so make the plunge and get your own website, or more practically the space it gives you. Edited July 24, 2017 by rue_d_etropal Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Titan Posted August 23, 2017 Share Posted August 23, 2017 (edited) Dear fellow forum members, It seems someone wrote an app for google chrome that, when installed, will rid you of those damn photobucket P500 upgrade rectangles and will allow you to see the embedded photos again in older posts. How to use ? 0. Use google chrome as your browser 1. Go here: https://chrome.google.com/webstor...cpnnlofnnghnmfegnfnflicjjgj?hl=en 2. Install the plugin. 3. Clear your browser image cache (click the three dots at the top right in your browser bar - then click advanced, go to the "privacy and security" bit, "clear browser data" should be the last item in the window, then select "cached images and files" and clear the cache) Just to be clear - this is something YOU have to do if YOU want to see the pictures - for everyone else who surfs to the topic and uses a different browser or doesn't have the app installed, it will still show the photobucket upgrade mess. The original posters of the topics can do nothing about it. I can only say that for me it works splendid ! Edited August 23, 2017 by Titan Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rockershovel Posted August 25, 2017 Share Posted August 25, 2017 (edited) Xx Edited August 26, 2017 by rockershovel Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rockershovel Posted August 26, 2017 Share Posted August 26, 2017 (edited) xx Edited August 26, 2017 by rockershovel Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ben Alder Posted August 30, 2017 Share Posted August 30, 2017 I came across this add on for Firefox to restore pics on an Airfix site. Haven't been following the whole PB saga closely so don't know if has already been mentioned... Firefox extension Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Gwiwer Posted September 9, 2017 RMweb Premium Share Posted September 9, 2017 Having received the message "demanding" money in return for third-party hosting rights I have today attempted to close my Photobucket account. I have been paying them for some years to host above the data permitted on a free account. I cannot. I get a message that I must email pro@photobucket in order to close a paid account. That link generates a CAPTCHA which refuses to work; it simply reappears every time I tick the "I am not a robot" box. I found another link plus@photobucket which also suggests it handles requests to close accounts. This is the text of my email:TAKE NOTICE that I will not be held to ransom by Photobucket over fees applied without warning for third-party hosting rights. Due notice of change has not been given, the fees are considered by my legal department to grossly exceed fair and reasonable for the service and I have no intention of paying them. Accordingly I REQUIRE that this account be closed forthwith failing which my legal team has instructions to recover from Photobucket any and all costs arising from this matter. Let's see what (if anything) happens. The bank account used to pay them will close in October anyway so they will have to come begging if they still want their money. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold big jim Posted September 9, 2017 RMweb Gold Share Posted September 9, 2017 I now pay for my Photobucket account through Apple, (plus 50) renewing on a monthly basis, the payments are managed from there via my Apple account, I changed it via my mobile phone app If you have access to an Apple account might it be possible to switch to that as a payment method and simply not renew it when the month is up and just leave the account open but dormant Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Gwiwer Posted September 9, 2017 RMweb Premium Share Posted September 9, 2017 I now pay for my Photobucket account through Apple, (plus 50) renewing on a monthly basis, the payments are managed from there via my Apple account, I changed it via my mobile phone app If you have access to an Apple account might it be possible to switch to that as a payment method and simply not renew it when the month is up and just leave the account open but dormant As I use(d) the account almost exclusively for third-party hosting that isn't an option in my case. But thanks. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold big jim Posted September 9, 2017 RMweb Gold Share Posted September 9, 2017 My paid account is also just for 3rd party hosting too, (almost exclusively on rmweb) I switched to monthly payments so If they pull the rug from under me early and prevent my photos from being viewed (supposedly at the end of 2018 unless I pay the £400 a year)) I can just stop paying them, would be just my luck I'd pay them for the year (£39) as I had been doing from my bank and they'd stop showing my pics via 3rd party hosting Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert Posted September 14, 2017 Share Posted September 14, 2017 Their download album option is broken (along with pretty much everything else on the site now). I do have backups, but I wanted to download my bucket to prevent having to fish everything out of the archives. Fortunately, I have now managed to achieve that with the help of some Linux shell scripts. Needless to say, I have closed my Photobucket account. I'd happily pay 39 quid a year, but 400 is plain ridiculous. Good riddance Photobucket! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Gwiwer Posted September 14, 2017 RMweb Premium Share Posted September 14, 2017 Botophucket emailed me in reply to my ticket to confirm they have cancelled the payment arrangements for the account. As this is on an annual basis I don't get a refund but I wasn't after one anyway. I have to stop the payments before I can close the account. Now I find I still cannot close the account because it has the remainder of this year's credit applied. What sort of business are they running, exactly, when a customer cannot simply say "No thanks" and leave? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold big jim Posted September 14, 2017 RMweb Gold Share Posted September 14, 2017 Botophucket emailed me in reply to my ticket to confirm they have cancelled the payment arrangements for the account. As this is on an annual basis I don't get a refund but I wasn't after one anyway. I have to stop the payments before I can close the account. Now I find I still cannot close the account because it has the remainder of this year's credit applied. What sort of business are they running, exactly, when a customer cannot simply say "No thanks" and leave? thats why ive switched to paying through apple, when ive hed enough or they cant provide me with the service i need i can simply stop paying them without 'losing' X munber of months of pre paid membership Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold big jim Posted January 26, 2018 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 26, 2018 Had an email from puotobucket this morning offering a new price plan which is far more realistic in my opinion for what I want to use it for, $99 a year (so a bit cheaper in £) allowing me to still embed my pics into posts on here, only designed for non commercial users I think maybe photobucket have found their big business shake up didn’t go quite as planned Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
F-UnitMad Posted January 26, 2018 Share Posted January 26, 2018 The words "horse", "bolt", "stable" & "door" come to mind. Having done quite nicely without Photobucket for a while, now, for me they can shove their offer up their .... 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold big jim Posted January 26, 2018 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 26, 2018 Well I’ve bitten the bullet and upgraded to the above plan, with the exchange rate it worked out at £72 so less than £1 a week which is far more realistic, iirc before they did the huge revamp/price change I was paying £59 a year for the same service so it’s not that much more expensive and my storage used has gone from 48% down to 13% as I have more to use So that means my blogs on here are visually safe for at least another 12 months (provided something else major doesn’t go wrong with photobucket) 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gene Posted January 27, 2018 Share Posted January 27, 2018 (edited) Big Jim....I have a viaduct that I would like to sell you. But seriously, if Photobucket suddenly goes belly-up in the next year I certainly hope you have all your photos backed up somewhere else. Edited January 28, 2018 by Gene Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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