WARNING: Photobucket users please read this.

I have maybe 5% older stuff on PB - are past images blocked from viewing or just posting new ones.

Their recently posted Terms of Service

Photobucket.com Terms of Use
Last revised June 28, 2017
Free account : Each individual Member gets one free account that provides 2 GB of free storage or space available for your original photo files, or videos under 10min.

Available Plus Account Plans

Plus 50 Plan: 52 GB of Storage for $59.99 / Year. The Plus 50 Plan does not allow any image linking or 3rd party image hosting.
Plus 100 Plan: 102 GB of Storage for $99.99 / Year. The Plus 100 Plan allows for unlimited image linking but does not allow 3rd party image hosting.
Plus 500 Plan: 500 GB of Storage and unlimited bandwidth for $399.99

The issue may be image linking which is only allowed completely in the $399 plan

Time to review having our own hosting? The wizard at Stampboards urged members to go to Imgur, they have a non linking policy also but never really enforced it (might change now).

Anyway I think I mentioned it before - there are many free sites around - spread your resources.

There are ways to have hosting quite reasonably.

I have a suggestion for those who are willing to be a little adventurous.

There are numerous sites out there that target those who want to create their own websites. Several do this by offering free webhosting with unlimited storage and bandwidth. You could sign up for a free account, then use your free unlimited server space to store your images. I use basically the same solution for storing all the images I use across various stamp forums -- I store them on the server which hosts my websites.

If anyone is interested in trying this solution, I'd be glad to walk you through the setup and basics of how to make it work.

tomiseksj,

Let me create a new thread, as it has the potential to derail this thread.

Users of Photobucket who have uploaded images there but have not retained copies in their own 'pictures' library or elsewhere, might consider downloading their PB albums as a contingency measure.

I have just this minute tried this Photobucket option. This was straight-forward for me as I only had 475 images (37.5mb) hosted.

Once I had selected the download option, an email was sent to me to initiate the download by clicking on a download button. The resulting download was in the form of a zipped file.

I tried downloading one of my PB albums (My Bucket), but was not allowed to do so. All of my other albums pictures are on my computer. About 800 pics I am trying to download but have given up for now. My patience is wearing thin to be honest and it's so hot here !! My account is still normal otherwise but I am not using PB until problems are solved.
So no pics from me for a while.

Thousands of images promoting goods sold on Amazon and other shopping sites have been removed after a photo-sharing service changed its terms.

Ebay and Etsy have also been affected, in addition to many forums and blogs.

The problem has been caused by Photobucket introducing a charge for allowing images hosted on its platform to be embedded into third-party sites.

The company caught many of its members unaware with the change, prompting some to accuse it of holding them to ransom.

Denver-based Photobucket is now seeking a $399 (£309) annual fee from those who wish to continue using it for "third-party hosting" and is facing a social media backlash as a consequence.
The BBC received an automated response when it tried to contact the company and is still seeking comment.

Policy switch
Photobucket has been online since 2003 and says it has more than 100 million customers and more than 15 billion images on its servers.

Part of its attraction with small retailers was the fact that its ad-supported "free" accounts could be used to upload images of goods to a single destination from where they could be pushed to multiple outlets.



On 26 June, however, the company published a brief note advising users to "take a moment to review our updated terms and policies".

About 500 words into the linked document was a declaration that free accounts would no longer permit image-linking to third-party sites.

Many users realised the change only when their embedded images were replaced by graphics saying their Photobucket accounts needed to be updated.

Devon-based seller vintage store Retro 2 Go, which sells its goods on eBay, was one of those affected.

"I have quite a bit of editing to do," the store's owner, Gigha Klinkenborg, told the BBC.

"A bit of notice would not have been unreasonable to expect. I have deleted my accounts and would not use [Photobucket] again."

'Held to ransom'
Some sellers unwilling to pay the fee have handled the change by uploading their product photos to a rival service.


But the new policy has also affected historical social media posts, blogs and forums that were reliant on Photobucket.

One of those affected is Stampboards, a forum with more than 17,000 members who discuss postage stamps and share images of them.

Many of its pages are now filled with Photobucket's upgrade demands instead of the photos of stamps it once showed.

"They are holding you to ransom," the site's administrator, Glen Stephens, told members, advising them not to pay the fee.

"You have no guarantee they will be in business... in a month the way this disaster is rolling out."


One British digital marketing company said it was understandable that Photobucket had wanted to become less reliant on ads, but criticised the service for both the sums it was seeking and the way it had gone about the move.

"It came out of the blue," blogged Runcorn's Aqueous Digital.

"There were no announcements, no emails warning people that it was about to happen and more importantly, no explanation.

"Bulletin boards across the globe are being crippled as previously vibrant threads with detailed images are disappearing.

"People who have used Photobucket for hosting these images successfully for over 10 years are finding that they will have to literally start again with what for some, amounts to a lifetime's work."

But one expert said the public needed to be aware of the risks of relying on any free image service.

"There's a lot of websites out there looking for advertising, and there's a finite amount of advertising spending to go round," said Nigel Atherton, editor of Amateur Photographer magazine.

"And any photo gallery and storage site like this that relies on ads to offer a free service can only continue to do so if they have enough money coming in.

"So, if you put all your photos into any site or app like this where it's not clear how they are going to continue financing their business, then it could come back and bite you at some point in the future."


Perhaps the geniuses at Photobucket might have the courage to respond to the backlash. But I get the impression everyone there is hiding under their desks!

To be REALLY honest, I never thought it was a good idea for any internet forum to rely solely on 3rd party image hosting, and have mentioned it before. Things change so often on the internet and you cannot rely on ANY free service. I have a small amount of photos and images on Photobucket, and so far (at least the ones in my Tuvalu threads) still link. I can also download from my account. But I don't have to download because when I upload, I have copies on my computer. I never store anything solely on a "Free" service.

More often I link the PostmasterGS way, I have several domains and a good hosting service that allows 3rd party links Bravenet.com. The amount is about $10 a month, or even less if you pay by the year. I have been with them for over 10 years.

And to be REALLY honest again, I find a forum that host there own images to be the best model. Two of the most popular are Stamp Community Family and Stamporama. Of course there are expenses involved, but the internet is moving forward with less and less free services. I don't see any point in members switching to another free image hosting service as the same thing will happen.

Having said this, what Photobucket is doing is to the extreme. $400 per year is a ridiculous amount.

I have noticed that the "right click / open image in a new tab" trick to view these images doesn't always work.  I was looking at some posts from early 2014 on the Postmark Calendar thread and posts from vasia are affected by the Photobucket problem.  Sometimes when I would right click and open the image in a new tab it would work fine, but other times it would replace that image in the new tab with another copy of the ransom note image.  I found that if I chose "open link in incognito window" after right clicking, I would again be able to see the image.  Perhaps there's a cookie set that allows you to only look at so many pictures by right-clicking - the incognito window doesn't allow any cookies, so maybe that's why it's working for me to do it that way.

Ryan

And I've since noticed something else.  I've been able to use the "right click / open image in a new tab" trick even when that gives the ransom note image - if I then repeat the "right click / open image in a new tab" trick a second time on that second ransom note image, I get the original image.  Odd behavior, but it's working.  It means closing two tabs afterwards instead of one but that's easy enough.  Still a bit of a pain in my neck, though ....

Ryan

jamesw,

You shouldn't have deleted your images/closed your account as the images were still there and recoverable. I've added the Simple Image Upload plugin to the forum (loads images to imgBB.com) and am working on a permanent solution that I am testing now.

FOR OTHER READING THIS POST, PLEASE DO NOT DELETE YOUR PHOTOBUCKET ACCOUNT OR ANY OF THE IMAGES STORED THERE.

They are but the images are still on PB and can be replaced -- I'll work on his over time as it is a slow and somewhat tedious process.

I can't emphasize enough that members who have images blocked by PB should not delete their accounts as the images are recoverable.

I've purchased a hosting plan and image hosting software and hope to make it available to members as soon as I can.

I am a babe-in-the-woods when it comes to websites and I want to make sure all is functional before opening it up to the membership.

Perhaps Photobucket could name them. It shouldn't take too long!

I found my email notice in my spam folder so you might want to check yours.