Photobucket 3rd party hosting?

mad_machine wrote: I recently started to pay photobucket for their services. What was sad is that it took me forever to sign in once I went to paid services due to all the damn popups the free services sends you. now that it is paid for, it's like the old photobucket it used to be

what are you paying per month?

PB kept sending emails for paid service but at only 12% full (<400 pics fwiw) I ignored them.

$399/ year is excessive I think for something only occasionally linked, but they do add up I 'spose.

It is $2.49 a month

Here's what really gets me: I hit the storage limit a long time ago during one of my build threads, either the Dirty 911 or the first Miata Wintercrosser, so I was kind of forced to pay up or re-do all of my photos. So I already pay an annual fee. I forget what it is, but it's either $49 or $99. Then today, I got hit with so many ads, I can't even see my own folders.

I think the solution for me is going to be "Berk my own Build Threads, I'm done with Photobucket".

Not only do I refuse to pay more, but I will no longer pay what they were already getting from me.

From my PB page:

Plus 50 offers 50GB of Storage and No Linking or 3rd Party Hosting at $60/ year.

Plus 100 offers 100GB of Storage, Unlimited Linking and No 3rd Party Hosting at $100/ year.

Plus 500 offers 500GB of Storage, Unlimited Linking and 3rd Party Hosting at $400/ year. (Photobucket reserves the right to limit excessive bandwidth usage.)

In reply to fasted58:

That's pretty rich since their entire existence is more or less thanks to allowing so-called 3rd Party Hosting.

This is a ransom situation.

Just for clarification of just Linking vs 3rd Party.

What Is 3rd Party Hosting? Photobucket defines 3rd party hosting as the action of embedding an image or photo onto another website.

For example, using the tag to embed or display a JPEG image from your Photobucket account on another website such as a forum, Etsy, eBay auction listings, blog, etc. is definitively 3rd party hosting.

I guess they just realized that you cannot make a profit from free.

Sucks. I wonder if there is a webhost with a nice app that allows mobile linking, viewing and uploading (like PB, but roll your own) rather than having to copy and paste from an FTP server.

...Suppose I should go see my website's control panel

Maybe skinnyG will chime in. His photos seem to be linked to WordPress on his own domain...

I wonder how easy it is to make those links..

OHSCrifle wrote: Maybe skinnyG will chime in. His photos seem to be linked to WordPress on his own domain... I wonder how easy it is to make those links..

I'm not skinnyG, but that's what I do.

I think I pay $50/year for my domain, 20GB hosting, and "support for 15k views per day".

Kind of annoying copying pictures from my Phone to the computer then to the website, but some hosting companies have apps to make it easier, and it looks to be a lot cheaper than photo bucket.

Flickr is $25 a year.

And ill pay it after losing several years of photos on imageshack

cmcgregor wrote: In reply to fasted58: That's pretty rich since their entire existence is more or less thanks to allowing so-called 3rd Party Hosting. This is a ransom situation.

I can understand why the need for pay site w/ bandwidth issues. Ads aside they can only make so much w/ prints, mugs and canvas bags.

There was no warning whatsoever of this coming... as in you'll lose all your build thread images till ya'll pay up. Sure, it was the Easy Button but how about a warning at least.

That is ransom then.

Lately I've been using Coppermine on my own site to host pictures. I've considered getting a cheap ($7 a month or so) unlimited site and offering it to others here since it's such a PITA for us. Would there be interest?

Mine are down as well. I was paying for one of the cheaper photobucket plans as well.

Just got the email this morning. I'm not paying them one red cent. The entire purpose of PB was to allow easy and free third party hosting. berkeley them.

I hate the other options as well. None of them work properly.

failboat wrote: Flickr is $25 a year. And ill pay it after losing several years of photos on imageshack

I also use Flickr, although I don't pay for it. What does the $25/year get you?

The one thing that annoys me about Flickr is I cannot for the life of me get links copied from my phone to post (which severely limits the idea of posting in a travel thread from the road). If I want to create a thread with pictures, I have to use a computer.

Honestly, I don't mind paying for a service if I feel I am getting something for my money. I understand it costs money to run this stuff and I don't begrudge these service providers making a profit.

Ditto. I guess they decided it was time to capitalize. I'm sure they'll lose some (non-paying) customers, but I was getting tired of the poor free service anyway. But with the crappy experience I've had and the lack of notice, it's doubtful PhotoBucket is getting any of my money.

Can we create our own solution?

In reply to Woody:

I replied to that thread to bring it to the top.

I got the dreaded Photobucket email this morning.

I've switched my hosting over to Imgur because Photobucket's websites tend to give computers Digital STD's these days, so that just sealed the deal for me. I'll be pulling everything off of there and closing my account.

Yeah, it was a free service, but I figured they were making a killing in advertising revenue based on the barrage of ads. Imgur prides itself in being free, so hopefully it stays that way.

smugmug. $60/year. Unlimited photos. High res upload, multiple output sizes to fit the requirements. Mobile app for direct uploads from phone. Import tools from a few free hosting sites including google/picasa.

Another option: Amazon. It's free if you have Prime.

cmcgregor wrote: In reply to fasted58: That's pretty rich since their entire existence is more or less thanks to allowing so-called 3rd Party Hosting. **This is a ransom situation.**

Yep, it totally is. It is the same thing as the WannaCry randomware: Cyber Terrorism.

I haven't looked into it yet but does anyone know if you can go get your photos after they shut you down? It would suck to lose all of my photos. I don't have them anywhere else.

Every user who ever accessed PB was told up front that they owned the content, and could hold it for ransom (profit) whenever they chose.

They do it, and everyone whines. Seriously?

I have a PB account. Haven't used it in years (because they were a PITA). Also have a Flickr account.

I switched to imgur, which was much easier to use.

But I now have my own WordPress blog, and it is MUCH easier to use, host, etc than any free site. Plus, I own my content. There is no way I'm gonna see an ad unless I put it there. Reasonable annual costs, and I can build the site I want at will. I have no idea about the bandwidth limits, because I kinda don't care. I like easy, this is easy.

I won't go back.

In reply to SVreX:

Good for you.