Changes to Photobucket picture hosting

[whole diary]

[JayMac]

I've just tried to post a Photobucket image again. Not working for me.

[Adelante_CCT]

Like Phil I have a free account, and looking back my pics on forum are still viewable (at present)

[grahame]

Not sure if I am missing something here. I guess I am one of the three as I have received a message from Graham. I have a free account with Photobucket, but my images are apparently still viewable here....

I've just tried to post a Photobucket image again. Not working for me.

Like Phil I have a free account, and looking back my pics on forum are still viewable (at present)

It sounds like the implementation of the rules for the lower an no cost accounts is being rolled out rather than globally applied across Photobucket.  Whether they plan to implement / apply software changes to every server or every account to enforce the new terms I wouldn't like to guess. If I were hosting there I would be making darned sure I had a backup of all my pictures - I wonder if they might make other changes as they further monetarise their investment in storing and serving your pictures.

[LiskeardRich]

I wonder if it's an attempt to make some quick money to avoid going under, following fotopics route. Some web hosts have commented elsewhere they've 1000s of photos hosted on photobucket and it will destroy their whole website, so feel paying up is the only way to avoid their websites going.

[grahame]

I wonder if it's an attempt to make some quick money to avoid going under, following fotopics route. Some web hosts have commented elsewhere they've 1000s of photos hosted on photobucket and it will destroy their whole website, so feel paying up is the only way to avoid their websites going.

There is a logic to building up a business and accepting a loss in the early days, then looking to recoup those losses when you have a base of customers who are committed to / reliant on you.  Should your business start as a small organisation and be swallowed into a bigger one, the metrics can adjust with the bigger organisation that has bought your requiring a return on its investment on its (the parent's) timescale even if that means a loss of the previous friendly approach.

[JayMac]

I see no logic in holding people's photos to ransom and ruining thousands of forums, blogs and websites.

I've now downloaded all my pictures from Photobucket and I believe this forum's Admins are looking at ways to get them back into the many ruined threads. Good luck bobm and grahame and thanks in advance for putting the work in.

[grahame]

I see no logic in holding people's photos to ransom and ruining thousands of forums, blogs and websites.

I've now downloaded all my pictures from Photobucket and I believe this forum's Admins are looking at ways to get them back into the many ruined threads. Good luck bobm and grahame and thanks in advance for putting the work in.

We are ... but we need a copy of the raw data from you, or links to alternative hosting and a pattern of how to map the old names to the new.

[JayMac]

I've sent bobm my Photobucket pictures.

[bobm]

All received and we are working on it now.

Just to help us it seems when downloaded from Photobucket the names of all the folders are changed from the URLs used to embed them.  The actual filename isn't changed but the rest of the path is so we are now trying to see of we can match the new folder name to the old path.

[grahame]

All received and we are working on it now.

Just to help us it seems when downloaded from Photobucket the names of all the folders are changed from the URLs used to embed them.  The actual filename isn't changed but the rest of the path is so we are now trying to see of we can match the new folder name to the old path.

Provided that the file name is the same and we can forecast the target directory, I expect I can write a script for the purpose to point to the new location for the handful of users who have the biggest problems (with their posts  ) . But I'm out of the door / travelling in an hour or two and not sure when I'll next have a connection good enough (and a time quiet enough) for remote coding.

[grahame]

More links to comments on the general story.

http://uk.pcmag.com/webcom/90124/news/photobucket-breaks-image-links-across-the-internet
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=5671481
https://forums.getpaint.net/index.php?/topic/111497-photobucket-and-third-party-hosting/

[JayMac]

Comments on their Facebook page since this change are almost entirely negative.

They have started replying to criticism but I see no acknowledgement of the damage they've caused to thousands of websites.

A change to Terms of Service is their prerogative but they really should have grandfathered the existing hotlinks. Not held them to ransom.

[grahame]

A timely reminder to us all to keep good backups / not be reliant on any single site / person / company.   And, yes, that means I encourage you to keep backups of important / significant posts you've made here too.

[chrisr_75]

No idea when Smartcard are being rolled out on the Severn Beach Line, but here's a picture of one of the readers:

Not sure about anyone else, but none of your recent pics are working for me...

[JayMac]

Using Apple product? I believe my hotlinks don't work on iOS browsers. I'm only temporarily using Google Drive to host images until I've got my own photo hosting website set up. Later this month after I've moved house.