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Photobucket stops third party hosting

Started by Overlord, June 30, 2017, 09:33:04 AM

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eurocoin

Even although my images have not been affected (yet), I am currently moving them to an image host of which I am certain that it does have a future, which is Flickr. Very very bad move of Photobucket but hopefully part of the damage can be undone with the help of the Waybackmachine and Google Cache.

eurocoin

Just read that the images of people who have paid do not re-appear on the websites where they have embedded them.. Unless Photobucket reverses this decision they will very soon be out of business. It seems to me that no copies of the lost images were made in the Webarchive and google cache is worthless too.

Update: Just found out that it is still possible to access the images, by right-clicking on the ransom banner and opening the image in a new tab. This means that no images are really lost but they do have to be uploaded to a new image host.

malj1

Malcolm
Have a look at  my tokens and my banknotes.

capnbirdseye

The photo's that disappear from WoC are still on Google images but will no doubt eventually disappear, I just spotted several of Overlords Mughal script overlays but clicking takes you to the WoC page with the Photobucket update messages
Vic

Figleaf

I would suggest that when you see the Photobucket ransom message, you warn the author of the post by PM, so they don't have to go hunting for all missing pictures. We'll have to live with the Photobucket action, but we can limit the damage.

Peter
An unidentified coin is a piece of metal. An identified coin is a piece of history.

eurocoin

#20
Quote from: Figleaf on July 04, 2017, 11:04:20 AM
I would suggest that when you see the Photobucket ransom message, you warn the author of the post by PM, so they don't have to go hunting for all missing pictures. We'll have to live with the Photobucket action, but we can limit the damage.

Peter

I have some serious doubts about the effectiveness of this suggested solution.

<k>

#21
Quote from: eurocoin on July 04, 2017, 11:26:23 AM
I have some serious doubts about the effectiveness of this suggested solution.

It's still useful, if you want to see which image you displayed at that point in your topic.

However, I would suggest you should also log into your photobucket account, select an album, then look at the right of the screen, where it says "Download album". I've downloaded all my albums now. You should too. We've no guarantee that they will be available for much longer - unless you pay, and assuming photobucket does not go bankrupt.

 
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See: The Royal Mint Museum.

<k>

Here's what I think is happening. In recent years, a lot of companies have provided free internet services. When you use them, they also target you with adverts, and they get paid for this. However, the internet adverts market is now becoming saturated. Many companies can no longer afford to provide free services in this way. Some of them will even go bankrupt. After all, plenty of people are expecting another big economic crash (world recession) in the next couple of years.

So, I would retrieve all your images from any and every free supplier. I imagine that even Google and Microsoft will start charging for their services soon. After all, many online newspapers are no longer free now. I expect that many currently "free" services will go down that route.
Visit the website of The Royal Mint Museum.

See: The Royal Mint Museum.

<k>

Why did I start using a host? Well, when you post on the forum, you typically post some text, then you attach a number of images at the bottom. The images then also show a paper clip icon at the bottom left. This can sometimes look crude, but mostly it doesn't matter.

Sometimes, however, I like to present a subject in a more ordered fashion - photo, then text, then photo, then text, all in a single post, like this:

http://www.worldofcoins.eu/forum/index.php/topic,33316.msg209934.html#msg209934

It's all on one subject so fits well in a single post.




However, now I find that a lot of my topics have been affected by Photobucket's actions. I have plenty of free time, so I have started repairing them, though this will still take me some weeks.

I have used a couple of strategies to make life easier for myself. I now post ALL my images on the forum, and if I need a neater presentation, as in my Syria topic, I post the images elsewhere on the forum. I deliberately created this topic:

Ruined buildings on coins

so that I could then link to the images in that topic and present them in a more order fashion in my Syria topic. I still think my "ruins" topic is a worthwhile one.

Otherwise, I can attach a single image in the thematics board, say in the "Penguins" topic, and then link to that image, so that I can present it more neatly in my big "Falkland Islands" topic: image then text, instead of "text, then image with paper clip". I suggest you could use the same tactic for similar purposes.




And with my "Milestone" topics, I have a related "comments" topic. To rescue my "Milestone" topics (missing images), I have gone to my old comments and attached images:

http://www.worldofcoins.eu/forum/index.php/topic,11471.msg199332.html#msg199332


They are not relevant to the old post, but it doesn't matter. However, it allows me to restore the image and presently it neatly in my main topic:

http://www.worldofcoins.eu/forum/index.php/topic,11469.msg224617.html#msg224617




So these are two methods that I have used to restore my old topics. However, you then get the « Last Edit: July 01, 2017, 01:07:21 PM by <k> » at the bottom of a corrected post, but that is a small price to pay.
Visit the website of The Royal Mint Museum.

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Figleaf

Here's another option: you can use this thread to get your pictures on the WoC site. They will be available for embedding elsewhere on the site.

Peter
An unidentified coin is a piece of metal. An identified coin is a piece of history.

<k>

When this first happened, I looked at an old topic of mine. I found it had had about 20 images, all now replaced by the Photobucket message below.

There were too many lost images. I looked at them all and couldn't face replacing them. Then I became curious about the first one. I right-clicked and opened it in another tab. It looked good, so I attached it to my first post and deleted the Photobucket message. My topic was coming to life again! I restored another 2 images, then the phone rang, then I had to go to the shops. In the afternoon, I restored another 5 or so images, before I grew tired. In the evening, I had more time, so I restored the rest (approximately 12). So, it's better if you take it in stages. A surfer will still look at a topic with some restored images, but if there is just a page of Photobucket messages, like the one below, then they will probably leave.




Well, you say, that's just one topic, and it all takes time. OK, you can't do everything at once, so you should prioritise.

Which topics do you most want to restore? Your own favourite topics? Or the topics that get most views? The choice is yours. You must make your own priorities.

Realistically, accept that you may not be able to restore all your topics, so just concentrate on your priorities. Then, you have at least rescued something, even if it takes a few weeks or months. Some of my topics took several hours to prepare and write. However, restoring the images took only a few minutes - it was much quicker. That's the good thing about it.

Another advantage was that I re-visited some old topics. Some of the images were around 8 years old, small, and of poor quality. In the meantime I had maybe found a bigger image of much better quality, so I posted that instead, and my topic looked much better.




If a topic is full of lost images, but you don't want to lose it, yet you don't want surfers to see it in that state, move it to the Test board, until you have time to repair it. Then you can release the restored topic. I know some of you work in teams, so that will speed things up.

As for me, I still have to restore a few of my "coin designer" topics, but also a lot more of my "unrealised designs" topics. Then there are even more "Thematics" topics. I can't do them all at once, but by the end of the year, I will have restored most of them. I have already achieved a lot in a week - I have restored most of my African, Asian, UK and Continental European topics. By the end of July, I will have restored many more topics. But I will never use a host for images again, and in fact I had moved away from that practice from around 2015 - I still have a "legacy" problem, though, but slowly I am solving it.
Visit the website of The Royal Mint Museum.

See: The Royal Mint Museum.

constanius

  Started to re-image my posts and because I often use the same images on more than one site I am hosting my own pics on constanius.com, which is its sole purpose and have taken steps for it to be maintained in the event of my demise as I appreciate this site and the sterling work performed by everyone who contributes to its success and do not wish to undermined that in anyway.
 
  I have started with what I considered the most important posts, obviously they have multiple images ::) Sod's Law.  I will plug away as I do not wish to leave any post held hostage or to pay the ransom so abruptly required by "you know who" to rectify the loss of images.

Pat

malj1

Apparently this is the message being sent out by Photobucket, I haven't had it myself as they have yet to discover my account as I rarely use it.

Moss (Photobucket Support)
Jul 5, 9:13 AM MDT

Hello,
Photobucket continues to have the distinct pleasure of hosting 15 billion photos from 100 million unique users since inception fourteen years ago. In recent months, management has made some changes that will enable Photobucket to continue providing excellent services to our user base while maintaining an economically stable position.

In the past we’ve had solutions for everyone. From free users to paid subscriptions, there’s been an option for all types of people that care about their memories, blogs, or businesses. We continue to commit to offering free services as well as enterprise support, but we’ve needed to reinforce standards we’ve been historically lenient on.

It is our business to serve our users with valuable benefits that are otherwise very costly for us to support compared to our competitors, especially as it relates to third party image hosting. Starting several weeks ago, we began telling our users that the nature of how we work with them will be changing with the tide of the photo hosting environment via messaging in email, on site, etc. In staying true to our word, we’re asking that customers using our service as an image serving facility buy a subscription to continue with that level of service that has historically been overlooked for free users. This feature is a costly one, and we are asking our patrons to help support our infrastructure. We aren’t deleting photos or holding any photos at arm’s length for download; we are simply asking our non-paying users to join our subscription service to continue enjoying benefits of our site.

The subscriptions we are offering are price competitive for the greater photo hosting landscape, and we hope to bring additional functionality in the upcoming months to further delight our users that support their businesses with our service. We are continually evaluating our subscriptions, committing to the needs, feedback, and desires of our valued user base.

If you are seeing the "3rd Party Hosting Usage" image on your site, it means that your Photobucket account has been restricted for 3rd party hosting. Our Terms of Service does not allow 3rd party hosting for your current account level. Due to this, we have disabled linking for your account.

We ask that you upgrade to our Plus 500 subscription to continue using us to host your images. This subscription is the only option for off-site photo hosting at this time.

To upgrade to a Plus 500 account, click here. Once you've completed your purchase, please clear your browser's cache and cookies to update your pages.

Thank you.
Malcolm
Have a look at  my tokens and my banknotes.

capnbirdseye

#28
On the BBC news website it says there are a huge surge of complaints from professional sellers on Ebay & Amazon who's images have all gone, '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."

Vic

Figleaf

I am appalled by the difference between the tone and content in the Photobucket message above and reality. This may be the time of alternative facts, post-truth and fake news, but do they really think people will fall for their brutal spins when they are confronted with the destructive reality of what amounts to attempted blackmail? The lesson of this episode is that stocking your information on the net is risky, unless you have a local back-up.

I would like to take stock of the consequences for WoC. For me personally, there are none, because I didn't embed. For <k>, it means a lot of work. Others are working on a new solution, like constanius, or somewhere in-between, like overlord. I am most interested in highly interesting threads, active members who are particularly affected and ideas to help them.

Meanwhile, I would like to commend eurocoin, who has been replacing pictures quietly for some time. :applause: :applause: :applause: We are also making progress for malj1, a victim of policy changes at Google. Call it The Resistance ;)

Peter
An unidentified coin is a piece of metal. An identified coin is a piece of history.