WARNING: Photobucket users please read this.

Where is Rod? I miss him.

I'm wondering if there is a random element in play here.  Immediately after the Photobucket issue cropped up, I could still see all of Rod's images, but almost all of the images for tomiseksj and I.L.S. gave me the ransom note image.  A few days ago, images from rod222 went blank but I never saw a ransom note, just the little square with a red X inside it like you get with a 404 / File Not Found error (although right-clicking on that X and opening the image in a new tab would give me the image, so the file was still in fact there).  At the same time, images from vasia and zipper disappeared for me and were replaced by ransom notes.  Today, Photobucket images are back for Rodney, still gone for Vasia but Steve has manually replaced some of them to the new image host, Zipper has replaced a bunch of images on her own, and a page I had opened before setting the computer to sleep overnight which had images functioning for alanl now has the ransom note today after my computer woke up again.  I wonder if the images hosted on Photobucket will continue to oscillate back and forth between various states of access for some people.

Ryan

I just think the CEO was looking for some quick money (think Epipen) Look at the math, if they get even 10% takers they will have a lot more money than they had before.

I am assuming the 10% is not voluntary. They have to do since their pics are being held hostage. The following year many will then drop as they move off PB.

It appears that Admin is the latest victim in this ongoing saga...I'll be releasing information regarding our own TSF image host shortly so those of you that have blocked images in need of replacement may wish to delay looking for another image host.

When you are trying to determine if any of your posts have been impacted by the PB action, using the forum's search function will make the process much simpler. To isolate all of your posts, do the following:

I have just replaced 5 images on the Cinderella Blackprint thread (Page 2). It took a little while but it will be much easier next time when I have worked out the system. It was actually quite easy.

I did not go the route suggested by tomisekj, but instead took the pictures from my computer direct, I found it easier. Deleting the old PB links proved a bit difficult at first but it will be easier next time.


Bit time-consuming but it was never going to be that quick. I'll get there in the end !!

Well, I am sad to report that PB has finally gotten around to blocking my account, too. I had been checking every couple of days on TSF to see if images from older posts (pre-PostImage days) were still there, and they have been until today.

So, when I get home, which will be later today, I will begin the project of fixing my images, too.

Steve (tomiseksj), is there still a reason to leave my PB account in place? I have all of the images on my computer as well, so I won't be losing anything by closing the account, but I noted that you had stated previously that it would be better if we did not close our accounts.

Good points, all.  I will leave my PB account in place then, and get to work on replacing the blocked images.  I am glad now that I stopped using PB a while ago (thanks to @falshung!) so there won't be as much to do as there could have been.

I will also upgrade some of the images to higher quality ones, too, I think, as I learned more about scanning as my time on TSF has progressed.  Some of my early photo posts were not all that good.

For the better part of the past week, it seems the only forum activity I've been involved in has been replacing the blocked images in deceased member I.L.S.'s posts.

As I neared completion, I saw that Jeff had made the below assertion at the beginning of a post on August 4, 2013:

His comment was pertinent at that time because we were debating whether or not to continue hosting images on Proboards' servers and, if so, how could we afford to pay for that service. One of the main points of contention was the durability of the images in forum posts but cost ultimately drove us to 3rd party image hosts.

Today, 1,384 of Jeff's Photobucket images now reside in my TSF Image Host account and another 150 to 200 are in my Postimage account.

While there is no guarantee that at some future time the TSF Image Host won't become cost-prohibitive, we're good for the next three years.

A I can do on PB now is view my images. All other buttons and clicks are dead.

I have been uploading to the TSF Image Host for some hours and it is heavy going with lots of guessing and backtracking. But slowly they are coming along. When I have some years ready I will start to replace the images on the forum. Time is a key factor here and it will be a long process.

Hopefully it will get quicker as I get used to it.

There will be some images I can never replace because I have 'lost' about 1500 at PB. But not all are on the forum here. I will cross that bridge when I come to it.

In the meantime.......plodding on !

Londonbus1

Hi

Just to document how I updated my TSF threads.  Maybe it will help someone.

I updated my posts by using WORD.

1. From TSF, I copied the post, or thread, BB code to a WORD document.

2. Since I had all the images needed on my disk, I copied them to the new TSF image site and copied the BB Full URL's for the images.  

3. In the BB document, I pasted the URL's and converted them to a WORD table.  

4. Since the new images seem to be in random order, I clicked each URL  to insure which image I was working with.

5. The BB code URL, from PhotoBucket has the image name embedded. Each of the URL's was assigned a number (could also use the file name).

6. I then inserted the number or name into a new column 1 of new image site URL table.

7. I then sorted the image table on the image number or name. 

8. I the inserted the new URL below the PB URL.

9. When completed one just copies the new BB code and pastes into the post or thread. 
Note:  It is recommended to test the new code in the Test forum, just in case. 

It sounds like a lot of work but I created a WORD toolbar which did almost 90% of the work.

Note:  Toolbar can only be used if WORD version contains VBA.

Jerry B

YES !!!!!!

I couldn't do anything at PB but I have just returned to see what gives and I find that while all other 'clicks' are closed, I can right click on the images ! So I will go through those that are pre-2010 and save them too. Hopefully now I can replace all my images in time.

LB1