GrogHeads Forum

IRL (In Real Life) => Tech Talk => Topic started by: JudgeDredd on June 07, 2017, 04:04:19 AM

Title: Photobucket
Post by: JudgeDredd on June 07, 2017, 04:04:19 AM
I've decided I'm going to drop Photobucket. I wished I had before "getting in deep". I do not like their pricing policy.

A while back, I paid to upgrade from their free 3GB service to get 10GB. I then had to pay a further £10 to go "ad free".

I've just been notified by them "my subscription has ran out". When I followed their link, it took me to a page to upgrade to 30GB or 50GB. It was clearly designed to make me think my 10GB "subscription" was running out and I had to buy one of these other ones. It didn't take me to a page to tell me my ad free subscription had ran out and that I needed to renew that. It took some head scratching - from a very computer literate person - to work this out and see what they were doing.

I do not like that kind of sales tactic.

I was pissed off that they took my money for space and wanted to charge more for going "as free" anyway - but I bit the bullet last year.

Since my ad-free subscription has ran out I've noticed
So I won't be using them anymore. So if you see any of my images I posted here disappear - apologies - it's probably because I deleted the account.[/list]
Title: Re: Photobucket
Post by: Staggerwing on June 07, 2017, 05:37:58 AM
Even if you go to a new image hosting service, can't you let your Photobucket account revert to 'Free' and keep some of your old pix linked to your posts? My guess is that they will only delete the 'overage' above the free limit, either the oldest or newest pix.
Title: Re: Photobucket
Post by: JudgeDredd on June 07, 2017, 06:12:57 AM
My 10gb account was bought and isn't subscription based. So I won't lose any pictures. They will remain and only disappear if I delete the account and I'll only do that if they keep annoying me with emails.

It's only the ad-free subscription that has ran out - and that has ended my love for uploading there...it's just a slow, messy nightmare...even worse than before.

Title: Re: Photobucket
Post by: bbmike on June 07, 2017, 06:14:43 AM
Mark the emails as spam so you won't see them.
Title: Re: Photobucket
Post by: JudgeDredd on June 07, 2017, 06:42:51 AM
Quote from: bbmike on June 07, 2017, 06:14:43 AM
Mark the emails as spam so you won't see them.
^ true dat  O0
Title: Re: Photobucket
Post by: Bison on June 07, 2017, 06:59:38 AM
Yeah photobucket has really turned into a shitshow. 
Title: Re: Photobucket
Post by: mirth on June 07, 2017, 07:59:10 AM
Quote from: Bison on June 07, 2017, 06:59:38 AM
Yeah photobucket has really turned into a shitshow. 

It's almost unusable now.
Title: Re: Photobucket
Post by: Greybriar on June 07, 2017, 08:47:05 AM
What is a good image hosting service?
Title: Re: Photobucket
Post by: bayonetbrant on June 07, 2017, 08:48:01 AM
I use Flickr, or just cross-post images from FaceBook
Title: Re: Photobucket
Post by: JudgeDredd on June 07, 2017, 09:02:50 AM
Quote from: mirth on June 07, 2017, 07:59:10 AM
Quote from: Bison on June 07, 2017, 06:59:38 AM
Yeah photobucket has really turned into a shitshow. 

It's almost unusable now.
Yes it is - hence my dismay at using it and forced exit
Title: Re: Photobucket
Post by: mirth on June 07, 2017, 09:04:03 AM
Quote from: bayonetbrant on June 07, 2017, 08:48:01 AM
I use Flickr, or just cross-post images from FaceBook

I probably have a Flickr account. Time to track it down.
Title: Re: Photobucket
Post by: bob48 on June 07, 2017, 02:57:13 PM
Quote from: Bison on June 07, 2017, 06:59:38 AM
Yeah photobucket has really turned into a shitshow.

Agreed. I need to find a decent alternative.
Title: Re: Photobucket
Post by: JudgeDredd on June 30, 2017, 04:57:27 AM
OMFG!!!

Photobucket have disabled ALL my images...basically removed them from "the internet" on every post I've ever made and replaced it with me having to buy a P500 upgrade - which costs $399!!!!!!

When I started Photobucket, it was free for 3GB. I upgraded to 10GB for £25 and then upgraded for $15 to remove advertising which I did last year. I was always able to copy and paste the links from my images into posts. The whole point of it was that I could easily copy the link (a click of the mouse on the image URL and it's copied).

Now they're saying it's against their "Terms of Service" on my "account level" and I need to upgrade.

Basically every single picture I've ever linked to through Photobucket - which was THE WHOLE IDEA behind Photobucket - has disappeared from all my posts.

Just as annoying is the fact that I have absolutely no-one to contact to tell them how disgusted I am with their service and practice.

If they think my links across the web are more important to me than $400, they can think again!

I actually think what they've done is a disgrace. If my posting links to MY images hosted on their website was against their rules, then why are the links there? When I first started using Photobucket I'm sure I recall part of their marketing being how easy it was to share your images across the globe!

Fuming is not the word!
Title: Re: Photobucket
Post by: JudgeDredd on June 30, 2017, 05:07:49 AM
Seems like it might be a thing they started today - I certainly only noticed it today.

http://forum.tz-uk.com/showthread.php?401388-Photobucket-p500

They've effectively changed their business model and "stole" my pictures (as they're no use to me on there without the links) and the £25 I paid for 10GB of storage because under that 10GB agreement was the fact you could post your links - that was the advertised benefit of Photobucket when I started using it.

They've done this as a money grab on a Friday to get people (including businesses) to pay up!

Title: Re: Photobucket
Post by: Staggerwing on June 30, 2017, 06:03:34 AM
Hmm... that seems pretty bogus. I don't even have any of the paid level accounts but I've only used 3% of my allotted free hosting. Let me try posting a pic:


(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi747.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fxx120%2FStaggerwing%2Fescher_zps808c6ccf.jpg&hash=95a24a27a85e6039c5674c9bef5a1db3e685168b)




Seems to work. lets see what happens after it's been viewed a few times. Maybe there's a limit to how many hits the lower level accounts can have?
Title: Re: Photobucket
Post by: JudgeDredd on June 30, 2017, 07:00:18 AM
How did you post the image? If you post it with the URL, then the link can take you to Photobucket. If you strip the URL out, it's just the image.

I've seldom bothered to strip the URL out - because they provide it - and I imagined they wanted people to click the image and go to their website because it's advertising.
Title: Re: Photobucket
Post by: JudgeDredd on June 30, 2017, 07:27:15 AM
Well I logged into Photobucket and there's a banner at the top telling me my terms have been updated.

Looking through the terms, there's mention of a "free account" of 2GB. There's an ad free account for $2.50 a month and then there's paid options giving 50GB, 100GB or 500GB a year at $50, $100 and $400.

There's absolutely no mention of the 10GB storage plan I bought.

It is possible my purchase of 10GB didn't make it a paid account and was still free but with additional storage. However, when I was on 2GB and when I was on 10GB, I was able to post links to my images (so called 3rd Party Hosting)before today.

My account shows 2GB + 8GB "Reward" - I am certain I paid for my account to be upgraded to 10GB.

Oh well. I'll leave it. I was sick to death of the advertising and I've got to be honest with you - a company that provides a service whereby
does not deserve any money.

Moving on.
Title: Re: Photobucket
Post by: JudgeDredd on June 30, 2017, 07:34:29 AM
Well I was going to prove that they had removed "3rd Party Hosting" but the image below with the link in shows just as the one without the URL

Here's an image with the URL in place
(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi1160.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fq499%2Fwmar1967%2FSnap1_zpsci2oay7e.jpg&hash=4c512775ef4bf507f5c0921ea44392b182e5bfbc) (http://s1160.photobucket.com/user/wmar1967/media/Snap1_zpsci2oay7e.jpg.html)

And here it is without the URL in place
(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi1160.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fq499%2Fwmar1967%2FSnap1_zpsci2oay7e.jpg&hash=4c512775ef4bf507f5c0921ea44392b182e5bfbc)

Perhaps it'll disappear over a period? I don't know why that image is suddenly showing. Perhaps they have a scanner going around looking for images and then replacing the URL...I don't know. All I know is all my images have gone!

http://grogheads.com/forums/index.php?topic=15913.0

Title: Re: Photobucket
Post by: BanzaiCat on June 30, 2017, 07:48:35 AM
JD - let me preface by saying I hate ads. I know, I know - who likes 'em? The only ads I like are the ads around here (in all honesty), because I relate to them - board games and such. I have zero problems with that. But the stupid ads on Photobucket, or say YouTube or elsewhere, which advertise shite right out of left field that I neither know nor care about really piss me off. I get that it's part of the free-use experience, but some are far more obnoxious than others, and Photobucket has become one of the more egregious of the obnoxious sites out there.

I hadn't used Photobucket in a while to host images of my AARs because it had some issues several months back. Someone here recommended tinypic.com, and I've not had any trouble with them at all. It's a little less convenient than Photobucket's drag-and-drop method, but it's really not that big of a deal. I'd recommend that for your use moving forward.

I had gone back to Photobucket once a couple of weeks ago because tinypic was having issues, and man has that site changed in the months I wasn't using it. MUCH more annoying with MANY more ads intruding. I get that since it's a free service, but tinypic isn't nearly as obnoxious as PB is. It seems they've ramped up their intrusiveness to the next level.

JD, if you're using Chrome, try the 'Fair Adblocker' app. It's a free extension and it works VERY well for nuking intrusive ads, especially if you happen upon a clickbait site (which Photobucket is trying very hard to emulate). This app appears in your browser's menu bar to the left of the URL, and shows you at a glance how many ads it's blocking. I just now went and logged in to Photobucket and the app says it's blocked 55 ads on the page immediately after login. Count 'em - fifty-five. :( That's well and truly ridiculous, even for a free site.

I almost always ignore pop-ups; PB still had one that appeared, asking me to sign up, but it's a simple matter to click past it to get to my pics/the upload area. Then again I'm the guy that, when I see an ad coming up on YouTube, I mute it, scroll the page down so I only see the track bar, and can just see the bottom of the 'skip ad' button that appears in the lower right corner. When that appears I click it and I'm past the ad, without having to have seen, heard, or even know what the hell they're trying to sell. I know that sounds stupid but it makes me feel a splinter of glee every time I can do that.

It's gaein be awricht ance the pain has gane awa.'  \m/
Title: Re: Photobucket
Post by: JudgeDredd on June 30, 2017, 07:56:27 AM
Thanks for the tips BC.

Yes Photobucket has got VERY bad. It's considerably worse since before I bought their ad block. Even going to view my accoutn details, there were ads left, right and centre, a popup window came up (it took me a few minutes to work out where the soundw as coming from (I was watching a Youtube video and thought it had started playing again istelf) and a video came up right in the middle of the screen and wouldn't let me close it for 5 seconds.

This is an image from my "old" Flickr account...perhaps I'll use that now. Not a single ad in sight!
(https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7217/7250612336_fdf8ed7e74_b.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/c3Hhrw)

I'm just really annoyed they took all images in my posts away. That was definitely not tied to me buying their ad- free subscription because I was able to post images prior to buying that.
Title: Re: Photobucket
Post by: BanzaiCat on June 30, 2017, 08:05:08 AM
I'd be totally pissed too if they screwed up my library when I was a paying customer!

Which is why I'll never pay for an ad-free service, ever. I have SiriusXM (satellite radio) and am well and truly annoyed that there are several channels that are considered 'premium' and play commercials for ten minutes or so at a time. I'm paying $18 a month to listen to commercial-free content...ugh. Still, it's much better than terrestrial radio here, which is godawful and riddled with stupid ads.
Title: Re: Photobucket
Post by: Staggerwing on June 30, 2017, 05:48:54 PM
Quote from: JudgeDredd on June 30, 2017, 07:00:18 AM
How did you post the image? If you post it with the URL, then the link can take you to Photobucket. If you strip the URL out, it's just the image.

I've seldom bothered to strip the URL out - because they provide it - and I imagined they wanted people to click the image and go to their website because it's advertising.


I just went into my 'bucket' or whatever, found the pic I wanted and clicked on it. in the right of the image's own page there is a series of different urls that can be used for different things. I choose the one called 'direct', click on it and then copy it. In my gorgheads post composition window I then click on the monalisa icon and paste the copied bit between the tags.
Title: Re: Photobucket
Post by: mirth on July 05, 2017, 11:24:34 AM
Well, well....

http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-40492668
Title: Re: Photobucket
Post by: BanzaiCat on July 05, 2017, 11:40:19 AM
Screw Photobucket. Use Tinypic. There's plenty of free hosting sites out there, and if Photobucket wants to commit suicide by removing untold users from seeing their ads...whatever.  ::)
Title: Re: Photobucket
Post by: mirth on July 05, 2017, 11:48:26 AM
Seems like an incredibly bad move by Photobucket. I'll be moving to a different service.
Title: Re: Photobucket
Post by: JudgeDredd on July 05, 2017, 11:57:01 AM
Quote from: mirth on July 05, 2017, 11:24:34 AM
Well, well....

http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-40492668
Thank you. Not going mad then!  :notworthy:



Quote from: JudgeDredd on June 30, 2017, 07:34:29 AM
Well I was going to prove that they had removed "3rd Party Hosting" but the image below with the link in shows just as the one without the URL

Here's an image with the URL in place
(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi1160.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fq499%2Fwmar1967%2FSnap1_zpsci2oay7e.jpg&hash=4c512775ef4bf507f5c0921ea44392b182e5bfbc) (http://s1160.photobucket.com/user/wmar1967/media/Snap1_zpsci2oay7e.jpg.html)

And here it is without the URL in place
(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi1160.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fq499%2Fwmar1967%2FSnap1_zpsci2oay7e.jpg&hash=4c512775ef4bf507f5c0921ea44392b182e5bfbc)

Perhaps it'll disappear over a period? I don't know why that image is suddenly showing. Perhaps they have a scanner going around looking for images and then replacing the URL...I don't know. All I know is all my images have gone!

http://grogheads.com/forums/index.php?topic=15913.0


And my images are now gone. Oh well. Point proven.

I used the IMG links. Doesn't make a blind bit of difference. They promoted their service, changed the terms resulting in all my links to images gone.

What I wouldn't have minded - and I wouldn't have been overly harsh on the company - was if they had said they were changing their terms and that images posted before would not be affected - only images after. But what this smacks of is essentially a ransom note. "All your work (be it leisure or business) is gone unless you pay up." I won't be supporting that business model.

I actually cannot believe they can get away with it either. Like I said, saying "Going forward..." fine - but to affect previous stuff - done under a different "contract" must be against some law somewhere.

Goodbye Photobucket.  :2funny: Now you've pissed off your entire portfolio, good luck getting any money staying afloat.
Title: Re: Photobucket
Post by: mirth on July 05, 2017, 12:09:01 PM
Too bad they jacked your links like that, JD.

I have a bunch of images on Photobucket as well. So far they are okay.
Title: Re: Photobucket
Post by: BanzaiCat on July 05, 2017, 12:11:50 PM
A lot of my early AARs were done with PB...I imagine those threads now have the same ransom pics in them.  >:(
Title: Re: Photobucket
Post by: JudgeDredd on July 05, 2017, 12:12:52 PM
Ah well. No biggie. They're not getting a dime off me and as soon as I can, I'll be deleting my account. I'll hold out to see if there's a reversal on historical links. If not, I'll delete the account. That way they won't be able to tell advertising companies they've got x account holders.
Title: Re: Photobucket
Post by: OJsDad on July 05, 2017, 12:13:34 PM
Whats a good site to use now instead.
Title: Re: Photobucket
Post by: mirth on July 05, 2017, 12:14:16 PM
If the pics I currently have there go dead, I'll definitely be deleting my account.
Title: Re: Photobucket
Post by: JudgeDredd on July 05, 2017, 12:14:31 PM
Quote from: BanzaiCat on July 05, 2017, 12:11:50 PM
A lot of my early AARs were done with PB...I imagine those threads now have the same ransom pics in them.  >:(
I don't know. Staggerwings is still there. He used the DIRECT link whereas I always used the IMG links.

Quote from: OJsDad on July 05, 2017, 12:13:34 PM
Whats a good site to use now instead.
I'm currently using Flickr - I had an old account from way back.
Title: Re: Photobucket
Post by: mirth on July 05, 2017, 12:17:19 PM
Quote from: OJsDad on July 05, 2017, 12:13:34 PM
Whats a good site to use now instead.

Flickr, imgur, Google photos

https://www.flickr.com/

https://imgur.com/

https://www.google.com/photos/about/
Title: Re: Photobucket
Post by: BanzaiCat on July 05, 2017, 12:24:13 PM
http://tinypic.com/

I'm using it now to host images for my AARs.
Title: Re: Photobucket
Post by: mirth on July 05, 2017, 12:29:30 PM
I think I'm going to start using imgur. Fortunately I don't have a ton of pics in Photobucket and I do have copies of everything I've added there.
Title: Re: Photobucket
Post by: DoctorQuest on July 05, 2017, 12:47:47 PM
Quote from: bayonetbrant on June 07, 2017, 08:48:01 AM
......cross-post images from FaceBook

BB, how does one do that?
Title: Re: Photobucket
Post by: bayonetbrant on July 05, 2017, 12:49:49 PM
You have to get the pic in "theater" view, then right-click on the image to "copy image address"


The danger of using FB URLs is that FB regularly and programatically updates their URL links, which internally updates just fine, but breaks the external links on a regular basis.  I don't think they're trying to screw with external sites, but they really don't give a crap if htey do or not.
Title: Re: Photobucket
Post by: DoctorQuest on July 05, 2017, 01:13:39 PM
Quote from: bayonetbrant on July 05, 2017, 12:49:49 PM
You have to get the pic in "theater" view, then right-click on the image to "copy image address"


The danger of using FB URLs is that FB regularly and programatically updates their URL links, which internally updates just fine, but breaks the external links on a regular basis.  I don't think they're trying to screw with external sites, but they really don't give a crap if htey do or not.

Awesome. Thanks!
Title: Re: Photobucket
Post by: Staggerwing on July 05, 2017, 06:15:31 PM
Quote from: mirth on July 05, 2017, 12:17:19 PM
Quote from: OJsDad on July 05, 2017, 12:13:34 PM
Whats a good site to use now instead.

Flickr, imgur, Google photos

https://www.flickr.com/

https://imgur.com/

https://www.google.com/photos/about/

Which one is easiest to use at after 11PM and several many beers and/or scotches?
Title: Re: Photobucket
Post by: mirth on July 05, 2017, 06:20:44 PM
Quote from: Staggerwing on July 05, 2017, 06:15:31 PM
Quote from: mirth on July 05, 2017, 12:17:19 PM
Quote from: OJsDad on July 05, 2017, 12:13:34 PM
Whats a good site to use now instead.

Flickr, imgur, Google photos

https://www.flickr.com/

https://imgur.com/

https://www.google.com/photos/about/

Which one is easiest to use at after 11PM and several many beers and/or scotches?

I'll let you know Friday night around 11:30.
Title: Re: Photobucket
Post by: bbmike on July 05, 2017, 06:37:34 PM
Quote from: mirth on July 05, 2017, 06:20:44 PM
Quote from: Staggerwing on July 05, 2017, 06:15:31 PM
Quote from: mirth on July 05, 2017, 12:17:19 PM
Quote from: OJsDad on July 05, 2017, 12:13:34 PM
Whats a good site to use now instead.

Flickr, imgur, Google photos

https://www.flickr.com/

https://imgur.com/

https://www.google.com/photos/about/

Which one is easiest to use at after 11PM and several many beers and/or scotches?

I'll let you know Friday night around 11:30.

Why limit yourself to Friday night?
Title: Re: Photobucket
Post by: mirth on July 05, 2017, 06:50:52 PM
I usually don't.
Title: Re: Photobucket
Post by: Con on July 06, 2017, 06:26:30 PM
I am on the anti photobucket bandwagon as well.

Plenty of anger and venom at the photobucket crowd about their stealth ransom approach to business.

My reply to their ransom note was below for all that they care

I am happy to have you delete my account.  Your service is not appreciated nor tolerated for the following reasons

1. Advertising excessive
2. speed slow
3. Poor service and functionality on website

I am glad your approach has made me actively look at other options for photo hosting than photobucket and to pursue them. 

Continue doing small things well
Title: Re: Photobucket
Post by: Bison on July 07, 2017, 11:49:45 AM
I like it.  Do you think they are scratching their heads trying figure out the small things they do well?
Title: Re: Photobucket
Post by: Con on July 07, 2017, 01:31:13 PM
I actually stole it as a quote from someone who flamed out at a small company I was working at.  It sums up the petty and feeble minded approach business have and the fear of being bold.

Con
PS that person who left started their own competing company and retired a multi millionaire 10 years later
Title: Re: Photobucket
Post by: BanzaiCat on July 08, 2017, 10:41:22 AM
I deleted mine and told them what a wonderful job they've done at ham-fisting their way to a happy customer base.
Title: Re: Photobucket
Post by: Con on July 08, 2017, 12:53:00 PM
Quote from: BanzaiCat on July 08, 2017, 10:41:22 AM
I deleted mine and told them what a wonderful job they've done at ham-fisting their way to a happy customer base.
For sure one thing photobucket excels at is fisting their customers.
Title: Re: Photobucket
Post by: Toonces on July 11, 2017, 09:54:08 AM
Not sure who their director is, but man alive was this a stupid thing to do.  Pure and utter business suicide.

#covfefe
Title: Re: Photobucket
Post by: BanzaiCat on July 11, 2017, 10:06:43 AM
Botofucket kinda did screw the pooch. They shouldn't have been quite so draconian.
Title: Re: Photobucket
Post by: Toonces on July 11, 2017, 10:11:25 AM
Thing is, this is the easiest decision evar.  Just move to another free site.  Flickr must be jumping for mother-loving joy today.

$400?  YGTBSM.
Title: Re: Photobucket
Post by: Silent Disapproval Robot on July 11, 2017, 10:17:14 AM
No idea what their business model is now.  I was busy deleting all my photos from the Bucket when I started getting pop up ads from them offering some kind of lame mail order products.   Do they really think they're going to compete with Amazon?
Title: Re: Photobucket
Post by: mirth on July 11, 2017, 10:25:19 AM
This is their business model now.

https://www.bizjournals.com/denver/news/2017/07/07/free-service-isunsustainable-in-an-age-of-online.html
Title: Re: Photobucket
Post by: bayonetbrant on July 11, 2017, 10:36:31 AM
you're going to start seeing more and more of this on the web

services weren't ever really "free" - you were the product to be sold to the advertisers
But as the advertisers start to realize the ROI just isn't there, are people really going to be willing to pay for services that were previously "free" (ie, paid for by someone else)

That's a much bigger discussion for elsewhere, but over the next 15 years, there's a lot of media consumption decisions that will come down to "are you willing to pay for it?"
Title: Re: Photobucket
Post by: Toonces on July 11, 2017, 10:39:09 AM
I totally get where they're coming from.  But $400 is simply ridiculous.  I mean, if you're going to start charging for something that was previously free, start small.  I probably would have been willing to pony up $10 a year.  That's almost trivial.  But $400 is going to drive every single casual user away.  I can't believe early results are "encouraging."  My bet: photobucket either rolls back to its earlier model, or completely folds, within a year.
Title: Re: Photobucket
Post by: BanzaiCat on July 11, 2017, 10:44:07 AM
I agree, I completely understand where they're coming from but they really could have approached this from a much better standpoint than the whole 'ransom demand' thing.

The rise of ad blockers is a vicious cycle with advertising...more ads and more ad versatility in getting around ad blockers, then more sophisticated ad blockers, then more ads, and on and on and on. I'm now using Fair Ad blocker on Chrome, and it works brilliantly...when I last logged into Photobucket it blocked 50 or so ads. I mean, Jesus Christ, people. 50?!? Phuck you and your ads.

I totally get advertising and how it works, but I absolutely and utterly despise it in all forms with few exceptions (gaming being one of them that I am all about of course).
Title: Re: Photobucket
Post by: bayonetbrant on July 11, 2017, 10:45:24 AM
I agree that the price is crazy.
$10/yr reasonable?  Probably.

But where's the dropoff in between those numbers?
$20/yr?
$5/mo?
One-time fee of $200?

there's a lot of ways to juggle those numbers, but where are people's thresholds going to be?
And I suspect the thresholds will slowly rise over the next 5 years.
Title: Re: Photobucket
Post by: BanzaiCat on July 11, 2017, 10:49:43 AM
Since there are so many free services out there, I'm going to jump around and partake of them as long as I can. As will, I imagine, a few million other pissed-off PB users. Ex-users, I should say.

Giving a 400/year option kind of sucks. They should have tiered it to something more digestible - say a lower-end plan for five bucks a month, with options for other tiers that cost a tad more for each one. On top of everything, they should have started warning their user base months in advance of doing so. Unless I/we missed something somewhere?
Title: Re: Photobucket
Post by: JudgeDredd on July 11, 2017, 11:00:27 AM
My beef is not that they're charging. It's not even how much they are charging (by the way that P500 link is not the only offer - I believe you can go Ad-Free and be able to get 3rd party hosting).

My beef is with them pretty much deleting my posting history when I made those posts on the basis that I was able to do so. That MUST be illegal?

Anyway - they can f*** off. I wouldn't pay them a cent and even if they were to do this as a quick money grab and reverse their decision, I'd still dump them like a hot brick.
Title: Re: Photobucket
Post by: bbmike on July 11, 2017, 11:01:29 AM
Wait until they start requiring dongles.  :-"
Title: Re: Photobucket
Post by: mirth on July 11, 2017, 11:01:41 AM
They're really targeting the people who are using the service to post lots of pics to eBay, etsy, and so forth. Those people are running businesses and getting free image hosting. Those are the users who can afford the $400 per year. And even if they get a small percentage of the total user base to pay, that could be some serious cash.

I don't think they care about the casual users who can't afford the $400/yr. Stay or go, they're not going to be revenue generating for Photobucket.

I don't agree with how Photobucket has handled it, but I do understand it. They are spending lots of money on free image hosting and not making more than a fraction of it back from advertising. They either need to come up with new revenue streams or close the company.
Title: Re: Photobucket
Post by: JudgeDredd on July 11, 2017, 11:10:08 AM
Quote from: mirth on July 11, 2017, 11:01:41 AM
They're really targeting the people who are using the service to post lots of pics to eBay, etsy, and so forth. Those people are running businesses and getting free image hosting. Those are the users who can afford the $400 per year. And even if they get a small percentage of the total user base to pay, that could be some serious cash.

I don't think they care about the casual users who can't afford the $400/yr. Stay or go, they're not going to be revenue generating for Photobucket.

I don't agree with how Photobucket has handled it, but I do understand it. They are spending lots of money on free image hosting and not making more than a fraction of it back from advertising. They either need to come up with new revenue streams or close the company.
My bold - they could've had both. How many millions of people will just drop them because of their small minded, narrow view of their revenue? If 1m people leave and they could've charged $10 per year per person - that's $10m. That's some serious money for a few hard drives and servers.

Again - had they said I needed to go ad-free or pay $10 a year for third party hosting AND left my historical posts intact, I'd have likely stayed and paid. Likely. The fact they thought it was a good idea to tell me everything I had done with them up to now was of no interest to them and I can go cry means I would leave them regardless of what they were offering.
Title: Re: Photobucket
Post by: Bison on July 11, 2017, 06:59:09 PM
Well photobucket finally sent me the email of "fuck you dear customer" and I just checked my AARs here and elsewhere images are gone.  I guess its time I write them a note back with similar sentiments.
Title: Re: Photobucket
Post by: bayonetbrant on July 12, 2017, 05:29:32 AM
Quote from: bayonetbrant on July 11, 2017, 10:36:31 AM
services weren't ever really "free" - you were the product to be sold to the advertisers
But as the advertisers start to realize the ROI just isn't there, are people really going to be willing to pay for services that were previously "free" (ie, paid for by someone else)

That's a much bigger discussion for elsewhere, but over the next 15 years, there's a lot of media consumption decisions that will come down to "are you willing to pay for it?"

https://hackernoon.com/how-google-collapsed-b6ffa82198ee
Title: Re: Photobucket
Post by: mirth on July 12, 2017, 09:39:58 AM
Quote from: bayonetbrant on July 12, 2017, 05:29:32 AM
Quote from: bayonetbrant on July 11, 2017, 10:36:31 AM
services weren't ever really "free" - you were the product to be sold to the advertisers
But as the advertisers start to realize the ROI just isn't there, are people really going to be willing to pay for services that were previously "free" (ie, paid for by someone else)

That's a much bigger discussion for elsewhere, but over the next 15 years, there's a lot of media consumption decisions that will come down to "are you willing to pay for it?"

https://hackernoon.com/how-google-collapsed-b6ffa82198ee

Interesting read.
Title: Re: Photobucket
Post by: BanzaiCat on July 12, 2017, 08:08:54 PM
Nerd!
Title: Re: Photobucket
Post by: Barthheart on July 12, 2017, 08:40:31 PM
Yeah just got my FU letter from them tonight. Just deleted my account. FU right back.  >:(
Title: Re: Photobucket
Post by: Silent Disapproval Robot on July 12, 2017, 08:55:16 PM
I can't even delete my account.  When I set it up, you could use passwords shorter than 8 characters so I did.  When they upgraded their security, I couldn't make a password change because it would ask for my old one and then inform me that it was lot of required length and shut the process down.  I could still log in, I just couldn't change my password.  Now it won't let me delete my account for the same reason.  I just went through and deleted every pic.  All 44 pages worth, one page at a time.

Title: Re: Photobucket
Post by: BanzaiCat on July 12, 2017, 08:57:26 PM
Quote from: Silent Disapproval Robot on July 12, 2017, 08:55:16 PM
I can't even delete my account.  When I set it up, you could use passwords shorter than 8 characters so I did.  When they upgraded their security, I couldn't make a password change because it would ask for my old one and then inform me that it was lot of required length and shut the process down.  I could still log in, I just couldn't change my password.  Now it won't let me delete my account for the same reason.  I just went through and deleted every pic.  All 44 pages worth, one page at a time.

Couldn't you have emailed them?

Not that they would have helped without asking you for money, probably...
Title: Re: Photobucket
Post by: Silent Disapproval Robot on July 12, 2017, 09:30:41 PM
I tried but in order to go through their support system, you have to enter your password so....same issue.  I could have gone down the rabbit hole and eventually got in touch with them, I'm sure but I just didn't care enough to do so.
Title: Re: Photobucket
Post by: BanzaiCat on July 13, 2017, 07:38:01 AM
Quote from: Silent Disapproval Robot on July 12, 2017, 09:30:41 PM
I just didn't care enough to do so.

Yeah, if you have other options, it's not worth the time.

Besides, you have six new games coming in a week, don't you? You have plenty of AAR fodder to choose from.  O0
Title: Re: Photobucket
Post by: JudgeDredd on July 14, 2017, 06:44:07 AM
Can you bulk download or bulk delete photos?

I'm not overly fussed - but I'd rather not delete my account and leave my images for PB to use for whatever they like - especially promotion of inflating their figures (and ego)
Title: Re: Photobucket
Post by: Silent Disapproval Robot on July 16, 2017, 04:07:13 PM
I couldn't find the option to bulk delete so I had to do it page by page.
Title: Re: Photobucket
Post by: mirth on July 16, 2017, 04:22:42 PM
I don't believe there is a bulk delete option. Unless it's an upsell feature :P
Title: Re: Photobucket
Post by: Staggerwing on July 16, 2017, 04:37:46 PM
I believe that if you delete your pix Photobucket may retain copies anyway as they say that anything you upload becomes theirs to do with as they please, even per the old TOS.
Title: Re: Photobucket
Post by: mirth on July 16, 2017, 04:38:58 PM
That sounds about right.
Title: Re: Photobucket
Post by: BanzaiCat on July 17, 2017, 07:24:53 AM
Even Goatfury's furry pr0n?
Title: Re: Photobucket
Post by: mirth on July 17, 2017, 07:46:53 AM
They're turning that over to PETA.
Title: Re: Photobucket
Post by: BanzaiCat on July 17, 2017, 08:24:58 AM
Better than NAMBLA, I guess.
Title: Re: Photobucket
Post by: mirth on July 17, 2017, 08:39:03 AM
NAMGLA
Title: Re: Photobucket
Post by: BanzaiCat on July 17, 2017, 09:11:46 AM
You have just singlehandedly unleashed a new horror upon the Internet. And created a new department in Homeland Security.

#keepthemgovernmentjobscoming
Title: Re: Photobucket
Post by: mirth on July 17, 2017, 09:12:58 AM
I'm a Jobs Creator.
Title: Re: Photobucket
Post by: BanzaiCat on July 17, 2017, 09:15:14 AM
We at GrogHeadsTM are all about growth in the...observatory sectors.

Nothing to see here, NSA!