Photobucket ToS changes

I was using postimage without problems for the last few months here (hot links for forums option), now the photos will not work here anymore. Anyone know why? I tried every other option they give for posting photos and none of them work now.

 

I went to postimage and there is a message that their site has been locked and they hope to resolve the problem. They gave another site but for existing links you may just wish to be patient for a bit.

 

Thank you for the head's up! I will wait it out since I liked using them and keep my fingers crossed they resolve the problem.

 

For people that are using Google Chrome!

I know not everyone uses Google Chrome as their default browser, but there is an extension that can be added to it, to fix all of the broken images caused by Photobucket and it works because I have it downloaded this very moment.

Photobucket Hotlink Fix

 

Neat, apparently there is one for Firefox as well. Don't know if it works just yet.

 

Oh nice! I hope it works for Firefox also! That would be great.

 

I was just fighting Flickr trying to fix the images in my box opening threads, but… now I can suddenly see my old images from Photobucket again. I have Microsoft Edge and they just did an update, so is it my browser or has Photobucket changed something? Can anyone else see the images in my thread?: /threads/after-six-months-dragondoll-che.748772/

 

Oh my goodness! I can see my images again too and I am using Google Chrome!
@moth....I can see your images too!

 

Well whaddaya know!?
Welcome to the New Photobucket!

I have no idea if this means that all previously-dead PB photos will now work again, but we will definitely be keeping an eye on things!

 

If you look back a bit, there are posts about browser add ons that can fix the problem. I deleted all my Photobucket pictures and closed the account, so it's too late for me!

 

Browser addons will only work for some people.
I personally do not use any addons for any browser, so they were always broken for me; I don't generally think of workarounds as terribly effective, as it doesn't actually address the real root issue.

But I also already cleared out my account/s as well, so I'm not planning to go back either!

 

I won't use add-ons either....I am very interested in this new move from Photobucket and am certainly interested in this new and much more competitive price point.

 

This is great news. I have been procrastinating about changing since my plan was good until December. I just hope they follow through on their promises.

 

Oh my gosh! That's great news.

 

I wonder how many of the customers, they lost, will be willing to go back. I already created account on Flickr, so no, thank you for your offer PB, but you are too late. I know there is no guarantee that Flickr will not change his policy as well, but till then I do not see any reason to go back to PB.

 

I think they will have lost a great deal of customers......but I will stick with them for a while longer and see what happens.

 

So...you have to pay first to see your photos?
When I log on I can't see my photos.

 

It may depend on the browser you are using.

 

It just happened without me knowing about it.
In fact @moth drew my attention to the fact it might have happened for me too, as their photos suddenly started showing again.
I wouldn't have had a clue otherwise.

 

Oh.. I was using Chrome....I'll keep trying.

 

Check post #304 above. It has a link to the fix for Chrome.

 

@nancy_schroeder_ca - Oooh thank you!!!

 

Oh my gosh! Photobucket must have felt the pain, for now they offer image-hosting etc for about $30/yr instead of $400!!! I'm happy to support them, for a reasonable rate. I subscribed, and my photos are back here!! I'm so incredibly happy.

Of course, I did that before checking here to see if they just magically reappeared, but according to their terms, they wouldn't. And no, I didn't do any add-ons or work-arounds.

 

I'm glad they finally came around but it's too late for me. Everything has been moved and I won't go back.

 

I never had the time to rebuild the stories. Furthest I got was copying the links and searching the images in my own files. I started a Flickr account but never got anywhere. I'm just so happy my stories are up on here again!! They need loads of work, but now at least I have a reference point, plus I can download the images to my laptop in case any of those missing photos can't be found.

 

This is fantastic news for me, because frankly, the hostage situation with Photobucket photos literally made me abandon the doll hobby and DOA entirely. I just didn't have the emotional reserves to deal with that. I was going through some major life changes, and replacing a hosting service and ALL my photos was just too much. While I did remove some of my items from PB, I haven't delete most of the albums, and looking at a couple of my threads, those photos are back, at least.

Of course, now I need a new service to use again, as I would like to rejoin the hobby a bit. This is literally my first post in almost a year. I realized it was August, and that means DOA anniversary events. Reminded me that I wanted to try to come back!

 

When the change happened I didn't want Photobucket to be holding onto copies of my images anymore so I nuked the account completely and rehosted my "best" stuff on Flickr. I've been posting on DoA since 2007 so it was impossible to find everything that needed to be replaced. A good amount of the threads, informational posts, and database entries I made over the years are gone now. I don't blame the mods for cleaning up my posts that had broken images but I won't be going back to Photobucket ever again.

 

Yeah, Photobucket is not to be trusted, as far as I'm concerned. I did leave up my account, just in case I needed to save something... but have mostly swapped DoA photos to Flickr (although I'm worried about how long that will last!). I still have some really old posts on other forums that are linked to photobucket. It's impossible to fix them all, I agree!

 

Flickr is now owned by SmugMug so I have a better feeling about Flickr now!

 

JUST got an email today, from Photobucket, saying this:

“ Starting October 4th, you will see a discrete “Proudly hosted on Photobucket” watermark on any images you display on sites other than Photobucket.


This change will allow us to continue offering our image hosting service to you as a free user. If you don’t mind the watermark and wish to continue as a free user, you won’t need to do anything. “

I’m SO HAPPY

EDIT: From what I can tell, it looks like everything is working fine now. I looked at a few of my old threads that I know weren’t working and I can see my pictures again.

 

Today's news:

 

Oh joy. :/ Maybe I'll have to go back to Photobucket again......

 

Compared to Photobucket's original request for $299 or $399 per year (I can't recall which), and immediately taking down pics without warning, Flickr's $49.99 a year, and plenty of advance warning about the free accounts doesn't seem so bad. But, if you don't mind Photobucket's watermark, then Photobucket may be best for you.

I find it interesting that Photobucket seems to be making an effort to mend their ways; I wonder how sincere it is. At any rate, I hope they've learned from the trouble they caused and the ill will they generated.

 

1000 photos is plenty for me! I was under Photobucket's limit but choose the $10 a year option to avoid the relentless ads. I closed by Photobucket account and will NEVER trust them again!

 

Photobucket has lost my trust entirely. Plus, their site works terribly! --With lots of horrible ads. They made it difficult to get photos off their site when we wanted to! UGH!

I'd happily pay a fair price for a good photo host. If Flickr makes me pay, I won't mind if they don't start messing around with everyone later!

 

Found this in regard to the new Flickr update

*Free members with more than 1,000 photos or videos uploaded to Flickr have until Tuesday, January 8, 2019, to upgrade to Pro or download content over the limit. After January 8, 2019, members over the limit will no longer be able to upload new photos to Flickr. After February 5, 2019, free accounts that contain over 1,000 photos or videos will have content actively deleted -- starting from oldest to newest date uploaded -- to meet the new limit.

 

Guess I'll be having a looooot of Flickr accounts in the future. 1000 photos? New account. :'D I should look into my website hosting, see if I can link the photos to here. Hm.

I agree with @april , Photobucket has lost my trust as well. Luckily I deleted everything off it. The site was already not great before their big mistake but it is even worse now.

 

This is lovely... I have almost 7,000 photos and if I don’t want to pay for Flickr pro yearly, I have to remove most of them but I have nowhere to put them. Ugh... -_-

I almost worry that they’ll even crack down on the mass load of multiple accounts being made after this or make you use your phone number, so we can’t make multiples. :/

 

I'm debating what to do and in fact when you do the math, the amount is not that bad for Flicker. It's only $4.17 a month. and it's unlimited and no ads.

I do appreciate them letting people know ahead of time so they can decide what to do. I use to have dollpage and it was heartbreaking when they stop the service and everything was deleted and everywhere I had posted pictures were left with a annoying X square.

because of what Photobucket previously did with no warning and how they handled the whole mess, I personally would not want to have them as my picture host, just in case they decided to do that again.

I know I have over 1000 pics. and I guess it's about, do I want to redo everything again? Not sure I would want to.

For me, the small amount they are asking a month may be worth not having the aggravation of having to start all over again.

 

It seems like there are fewer and fewer photo-hosts to choose from. And no good free ones (since there is a chance that they will change their terms of service or stop business).

I moved some of my photos from Photobucket over to Flickr. Not sure how many... I'll THINK about paying them, since I don't want to move photos again.

I was also using Imgur... but they are doing some odd things... Being a photo-host doesn't seem to be the direction they are heading at the moment.

 

It’s sad that there aren’t many places to host photos. Flickr was honestly the best one. I have to think about it, too, but the thought of paying just to store my photos online kind of sucks, haha. I only use it to post sale stuff here and that’s about it, other than storage and it’s nice to have a place I can easily get access to them on my phone.

 

My chief concern with the change in Flickr is not the price, but what might result from the shift to Pro being "necessary" again for many people. The reason I quit using it as a photo site some years ago was that the distinction between Pro and Free resulted in quite a bit of nastiness in photography groups I was part of. My concern is that their hopes of "bringing back the old Flickr!" means bringing back that same elitism and level of snark I often encountered. I had a Pro account for some time previously for the sake of networking, but terminated the account and completely avoided the community for some years when it proved ineffective.

I re-joined after it had changed to the 1TB model that was being used prior to the SmugMug acquisition, and found the communities I joined to be much more open and friendly (admittedly, I joined mostly doll, toy and fashion groups, instead of hardcore photographers' or designers' groups). I'm concerned that they're going to sacrifice those friendlier, hobby-based communities to revert to the more hardcore base of photographers. I know a lot of people who have already decided to just move to Instagram rather than bother with a paid account.

 

Flickr is starting to tick me off, I have well over 1000 pics, so now I have to go thru and see which ones to delete and which to keep or pay for their Pro account, I got rid of Photobucket for the same crap and now I might just do the same with Flickr, so annoying!

 

Back when Photobucket turned the photohosting world upside down, I looked around for alternatives and information. The bandwidth needed to host photos appears to be expensive and i decided that all the free site would eventually be charging, at least for larger accounts, so I choose a service with what I felt was a reasonable cost.

 

I agree SO MUCH. I just went through my almost 7,000 pictures, to make it 1,000. Had to make sure I had originals on my external first, before I did it all. It was an annoying process, to say the least... I already made a second account to keep a few pictures on and it’s already at a little over 500 pictures. xD;

 

I had a feeling something like this would be coming with the Smugmug acquisition of Flickr.
I refuse to pay Flickr anything. I had a pro account years ago and they've just pissed me off too many times with policy and service changes to ever trust them or any other entity that owns them. Unfortunately, having tried several other photo hosting/sharing sites, I really haven't found an adequate replacement for Flickr, despite it's problems.
I've been thinking a lot about how to deal with this and think my solution will be to focus my current account to BJD only, which is what I started it for initially and what I plan to focus most of my content on going forward anyway, and purge/move everything else. My account will just have to be only currently owned dolls and more recent meets/events. I've only got about 200 or so public photos that fit into that category right now, so I think it'll work for a while at least.

I'll either have to make new alternate flickr accounts for my other types of pics or just remove them altogether. These are mostly pics of collectibles that I no longer actively collect but would like to archive, or personal pics of my cats, everyday life and non-bjd events. The personal pics are largely private anyway and no one seems care much about the ones that are public for most part anyway but there are some pics that I'd hate to loose and want backed up online. I feel bad removing pics that people have fave'd. I myself fave pics that evoke feelings and that I'd like to go back and look at or reference later,and I'd hate to see my own fave page thin out ,but I just can't justify paying for an account again.

It's really kinda messed up to have the model the past years encouraging uploading tons of photos (terabyte storage) then limiting to only 1000 pics, pretty sheisty.

 

When I first joined Flickr, they made it clear that they didn't want you to link to photos on their site. They wanted to be a destiation and social site. So I never used Flickr much.

 

I think it might be time to consider that free photo hosting is no longer a viable business model for companies, and that consequently, any service offering free photo hosting is going to either increase the ads to an annoying level (Tumblr, Instagram, Imgur), or start making money off of selling your data (Facebook). Flickr has had some annoying traits in the past around some of their features (Explore, the timeline changes). But I liked them enough to get a Pro account years ago, and I've kept it. I've never felt like I wasn't getting my money's worth, and my photos never disappeared from where I linked them, or from Flickr itself. My opinion would change if Flickr took more active measures to stop inline linking, but otherwise, I'm pretty satisfied with it.

 

I do agree that it seems that free photo hosting is dying out ("no longer a viable business model" being correct). I wouldn't mind if photo hosts made a gradual and sensible switch to a payment system that would allow them to keep existing. Photobucket totally shows what NOT to do! And many others who have suddenly shut down causing people to lose photos.

I do hope Flickr will do the right thing (since I now have a lot of my photos on it!). I don't mind paying a reasonable amount for photo hosting. I was even paying on Photobucket, but they starting spamming adverts everywhere and slowing service down so it was non-existent... and suddenly replacing free accounts with the Coercion icon. That was just a nasty thing to do.

 

I’ve been a Flickr pro user for several years and always thought $25 was a good deal (I think when I first joined there was a photo limit so I did pro to get around it). So for me, the part that sticks out is the price doubling without getting really anything different about the service. 200% price jacks and no tangible additional benefits. Sure it was better than what photo bucket did, but that doesn’t make it right either.

 

$25?! Now that is WAY more reasonable. I’d definitely keep my account, if it were that price and not the $70(I think?) that it will be once the first year(30% off) has passed. Why can’t they just keep it $25? T^T

 

Actually it is my understanding that they are charging 49.99 and they are giving 30 % for the first year if you buy it before Nov 30 So it would only be 35.00 instead of the 50.00.

 

It already says save 30%, but if you add up the $4.17 for 12 months, you get $50. Well, $50.04. I don't know. Either way, $25 a year sounds way better... haha.

 

This is a portion of their notice. I hope it clears up the confusion. And yes, 25.00 Does sound better than 50.00.

Flickr Pro is better than ever. For only $49.99 per year, get unlimited storage, ad-free browsing, advanced stats, an unmatched community, and more.


Hands down the best deal in photos.

Unlimited storage, ad-free browsing, and a global community of over 100 million photographers for less than half the cost of Apple, Amazon, or Google. Sign up today and get 30% off the first year. Discount available through November 30.


Free accounts will soon be limited to 1,000 photos or videos. Flickr isn’t Flickr without the contributions and participation of our free members, and we remain committed to a vibrant free offering.



If you are a free member with more than 1,000 photos or videos, you will have ample time to upgrade to Pro (for 30% off your first year) or download your photos and videos.* Read more about this decision.

 

Wonder why it still shows $49.99 then, if it’s supposed to be 30% off.

 

I just figured out how to reformat Instagram posts to BBcode. I figure this is sort of relevant as free image hosting sites seem to be going under. I understand this isn't everyone's cup of tea, but I figure here's another alternative:

This only works for a single photo, and will not link the whole set

1. Login to Instagram and go on your page
2. Click on the SINGLE photo you are interested in converting
3. Copy the URL from the internet browser bar
4. Follow the format:

https ://www.instagram.com/p/BqRE-ObA58O/ [copied link]

Correct Format:
[IMG ]COPY LINK HEREmedia/?size=m[/ IMG][/ URL]

End Result:
https://www.instagram.com/p/BqRE-ObA58O/media/?size=m[/ IMG][/ URL]

5. Delete the spaces (it wants to format my directions into BBcode)
6. Paste into a forum
7. You did it!

 

Here’s a tutorial

Spoiler: Tutorial

And a [poorly made] tool to format the BBcode for you: Instagram BBcode Formater

 

It seems the bb code from Flickr isn’t working now? And it’s not just me, as I scroll through updates I can see a lot of different users posting photos that link to Flickr that are just the little red X image in the post.

What is going on?

 

I wonder if it's not related to the change of policy Flickr announced some time ago - users who have over 1000 pictures on their account have to buy PRO account or they won't be able to share the pictures anymore?

 

I just tried and it doesn't work. I have very few pictures so maybe it is just a temporary glitch.