Photobucket not supporting 3rd party hosting

[souffle]

Many of you may have noticed that Photobucket will no longer allow 3rd party hosting to the forums unless you subscribe to a very expensive package with them.
Unfortunately this does mean that many of the forum posts are without their photos anymore and may make no sense at all including my own.
It would be best to find an alternative source of hosting photos and not post photobucket links unless you have an upgraded account.
I am feeling rather sad about this as it has come with no warning and although I have all my photos backed up they can no longer be shared in the original threads.

[AprilPearl]

I feel the same way. Somehow, although all the pictures I have shared (up until yesterday, when I heard about the Photobucket thing) have been shared via Photobucket and I have a free account, I can still see all my photos on here. However, I have seen that other users' pictures have disappeared and I expect that will soon happen to mine, too.

I did contemplate paying for Photobucket, because I assumed it would only be a few quid a year to be able to share images. To my horror, I discovered it is $399.99!!!!! I am beyond disbelief. So, I'm now directly embedding my photos via the forum as I recently learnt how to do this (and also found an app to resize them first). Still, I am very annoyed and upset.

By the way, if anyone is having trouble working out how to embed photos directly on the forum, rather than via an image hosting website such as Photobucket, I made a guide:

http://www.hamstercentral.com/community/miscellaneous-chat/70570-how-embed-photos.html

[Pebbles82]

Thanks for letting us know Souffle. My photos still seem to be on Newt's thread although I haven't checked older ones. I paid the annual £10 thing to not have adverts, so don't know if that makes a difference, but if they are now charging that amount to be able to share photos! Goodness.

[souffle]

Mine were there earlier but have recently gone. You may get some leeway serendipity as you have paid something. I've heard of someone else who has paid that and is still showing their pics.

[Pebbles82]

Just checked my photobucket account and it seems empty! Nice of them to give you notice - not!

It does seem a bit strange it should just happen like that without warning. It's not ransomware by any chance is it? (ie Photobucket being hacked?)

[Cinnamon Bear]

I found that photobucket was always a hassle. Was very slow & almost an eternity to resize. That's pretty bad to do that to their customers. At the least they shouldn't have deleted past photos.

[barley]

I'm so sad about this, I have nearly 2000 photos on my Photobucket account - there are 100s here and on other forums. :( I've just signed up to Flickr but it is such a shame about all the forum pics that are going to be lost from PB :(

[souffle]

You can still look at the photos on your account but I'm same as you and I won't be going through all my posts and replacing them so that is kind of sad. I may do the most important ones. It's going to ruin a lot of people who use it for things like etsy

[barley]

You can still look at the photos on your account but I'm same as you and I won't be going through all my posts and replacing them so that is kind of sad. I may do the most important ones. It's going to ruin a lot of people who use it for things like etsy

There are reports on Facebook of Photobucket locking accounts that have more than 2gb of photos on, and you have to pay to regain access to them. I am trying to move all mine to Flickr before that happens, but my laptop & internet are both so slow!

[chesca_27]

That's a bit of a shame for its users and really not nice to delete all the photos without warning. I never bothered with Photobucket as I didn't like the ads and found it a hassle, hence why I rarely post photos on the forum, as it is still a big song and dance for me.

[Drago]

Very horrible and dishonest of them. Such a scam that they allow free sharing, then remove all photos- some very meaningful! I am upset that this has happened as I will not be going back to replace any photos unfortunately, I don't have the time. Perhaps it was a blessing in disguise, no more photobucket issues

[FelicityAnn]

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[AprilPearl]

Wish I could go back and replace some of the pictures in Quigley’s thread, but I don’t know how, as I can’t edit my posts after a few hours has passed. Can anyone help with that?

[souffle]

If you go in to your account the photos should still be there - they just cannot be shared.
You can click on the image and save the picture back to your PC so you shouldn't lose them. The mod team will not have the time to do this for everyone I'm afraid.

[AprilPearl]

Sorry, Souffle, that's not what I meant. I still have all my photos backed up on my phone, iPad and computer at home - as well as on my Photobucket account. What I meant to ask is: Is there any way that users can edit their old posts and put the pictures that Photobucket have taken down back in, by uploading them directly to the forum? It's just that if all the Photobucket pictures disappear from Quigley's thread, most of it isn't going to make sense anymore.

[souffle]

I'm afraid it is only mods who can do that after a certain time has passed AP. We are all volunteers and it won't be possible to do it for every thread. I think it will just have to be accepted that many threads will be in the same situation.
I will try and do the stickied threads that are important over time.

[Vectis Hamstery]

That's sad :( I moved from photobucket a few years ago after they 'upgraded' their way of uploading things and it really didn't suit me. I am a Flickr convert and rather like it. Though my forum signature still seems to be photobucket so I'd better move that over!

[souffle]

There is quite a lot of talk that other sites may well follow suite with this so I would advise everyone backs up their photos to a storage box or other means of keeping them safe for the future.

[AprilPearl]

That’s completely understandable, Souffle. I suspected as much. I never thought the mods would be able to go round replacing everyone’s pictures! I just hoped there might be a way of individual users doing it. But, I see that there’s not. Oh well, it’s a shame but not the end of the world!

[BorisPasha]

Sorry, Souffle, that's not what I meant. I still have all my photos backed up on my phone, iPad and computer at home - as well as on my Photobucket account. What I meant to ask is: Is there any way that users can edit their old posts and put the pictures that Photobucket have taken down back in, by uploading them directly to the forum? It's just that if all the Photobucket pictures disappear from Quigley's thread, most of it isn't going to make sense anymore.

I was wondering the same thing AP but you beat me to it. I keep hoping photobucket will change it's mind but I doubt that will happen.

[AprilPearl]

I was wondering the same thing AP but you beat me to it. I keep hoping photobucket will change it's mind but I doubt that will happen.

I think they will actually lose money as a result of this move, because lots of people who have been paying for the cheaper packages will move to a different image hosting site, as they won't want to pay $399.99 a year to share photos. And even with users who have been using free accounts leaving, Photobucket is going to lose money as fewer advertisers are going to pay to appear on their site as not enough people will see them. I can't see many people paying so much money to share images, when other sites are still free. So, maybe Photobucket will have to change its mind. I'm not holding my breath, though :(

[Pebbles82]

As an update - after all my photos disappeared in my photobucket account they came back again. I still haven't had anything about paying for an upgrade and my old photos in Charlie's thread are still there. I am just wondering if it is a bug or ransomware that is asking people to pay to keep their photos (although maybe third party hosting is a different thing?) Edit - Photobucket have announced it so it must be genuine. Still strange that my photos haven't been replaced with the icon to upgrade :confused:

[Pebbles82]

I also found a tip for backing up all your images in photobucket in one go - select library, then select "download album" link under "actions" (haven't tried it though).

[cypher]

I can't see it being a bug, with all the discussion & outcry all over the net something would have been done by now!
The new TOS doesn't mean you can't store your photos, they shouldn't be disappearing from accounts, third party hosting is different & that's what's no longer allowed without paying.
I don't quite get why mine are still visible here! Like you (I think) I did pay to go ad free but that shouldn't make a difference as far as I can see.

[Pebbles82]

Thanks Cypher - I edited my comment :-) Photobucket announced themselves about the charge so it is genuine (even though it looks like ransomware!). Maybe people who paid to go ad-free are the next in line for the process and it hasn't got there yet.

[AprilPearl]

I find it strange that my photos haven't been replaced with the upgrade icon yet, either. Very odd. I expect they are working their way round to me...

[BorisPasha]

This still makes me really annoyed. I noticed yesterday that all my photos were gone on Artie's thread :( Haven't looked at the others yet. I also came across an email yesterday from photobucket saying I was using it for 3rd party hosting which is against the ToS! They have such a nerve, making me feel like I'm doing something wrong when it was ok before they decided to change it and charge a ridiculous amount of money.

[Fluffagrams]

I don't quite get why mine are still visible here! Like you (I think) I did pay to go ad free but that shouldn't make a difference as far as I can see.

According to something I was reading on Photobucket's website, those that had a paid account, in good standing on 1st June will retain 3rd party hosting until 31st December 2018.

All my images disappeared from my threads about two days ago so I think they're getting around to revoking everyone's 3rd party hosting in time if you are not entitled to it.

[AprilPearl]

According to something I was reading on Photobucket's website, those that had a paid account, in good standing on 1st June will retain 3rd party hosting until 31st December 2018.

All my images disappeared from my threads about two days ago so I think they're getting around to revoking everyone's 3rd party hosting in time if you are not entitled to it.

I have never paid Photobucket for anything and yet all my pictures are still visible. Weird. Expect they will be gone soon.

[souffle]

Thanks for the tip on downloading Serendipity. I've started taking mine off now.
I think we will all understand that we have lost a lot of the pictures and some threads will look incomplete. If anyone wants a thread deleted so they can start anew please let me know with a link to that thread and I will do it.

[cypher]

Thanks Fluffagrams, I must admit I just kind of accepted it as a done deal & didn't bother reading what they put up on the site.