Author Topic: Photobucket changes of service terms (Read 2827 times)

Jeff Warden · « **on:** July 07, 2017, 02:44:30 PM »

I got a surprise today when I tried to share to the weekend thread. I've used Photobucket for years but today I got a message saying I had to upgrade my account in order to activate third party hosting. They want $40/month for this, which is a ridiculous price that I will not pay.

Unfortunately they made this change retroactive so every image I've shared here is now gone. What a pain. I can understand changing terms from this point onward if the dozens of advertisements I see on their site aren't profitable, but destroying old work is pretty lame.

http://www.filmwasters.com/forum/index.php?topic=4854.0

02Pilot · « **Reply #1 on:** July 07, 2017, 03:23:30 PM »

I've seen this causing havoc across the web. If Photobucket's objective was to alienate whatever loyal users it had left after years of making the site increasingly unpleasant to use, they've succeeded. Thankfully I was sufficiently annoyed by their changes that I stopped using it some years back, but lots of people are going to be looking for new hosting options.

Bryan · « **Reply #2 on:** July 07, 2017, 03:43:58 PM »

This really sucks and I'm afraid it may get worse as more photo sharing sites start doing the same thing. Flickr was just sold to Verizon through the Yahoo acquisition, who knows what they are going to do. It would be nice if there was a way to freeze the images onto the forum pages so we can see them when we reference an old thread. I know we can upload photos to Filmwasters but I'm not sure how the administrators will feel about having to handle a huge increase in data storage if we all start doing that.

Francois · « **Reply #3 on:** July 07, 2017, 05:52:51 PM »

That's why Ed put a small file size limit on attachments.
The only "safe" option nowadays would be to host you own images on a Raspberry Pi based server over your own internet connection using the NoIp service...
If you control your stuff, they can't shut you down...

SLVR · « **Reply #4 on:** July 07, 2017, 06:29:49 PM »

Yeah my avatar is a photobucket victim.

Nigel · « **Reply #5 on:** July 07, 2017, 06:47:00 PM »

I was wondering if I could share images from my Google drive? I've got masses of space there.

I've just tried a test. They give me a public link but it seems you can't embed it.

Late Developer · « **Reply #6 on:** July 07, 2017, 06:54:58 PM »

What are these numbnuts trying to do? If you post on their site (for free) and are prepared to put up with the (probably) very irritating adverts, why not leave you be? If you link to FW, those who look at your photos on FW might just go Botophucket and sign up. They may even be prepared to pay for their service. Win-win. This way; lose-lose....

Incidentally, I have a Squarespace website. Does anyone know if I can do a link from that to FW? My website - for which I pay some shekels a year - so I don't see why they shouldn't allow me to. Actually doing it is another matter as I know the square root of bugger all about anything tecchy.

Sandeha Lynch · « **Reply #7 on:** July 07, 2017, 08:37:19 PM »

Your webhost provider may offer hotlinking of images (which is what PhotoBucket and Flickr do) but I doubt you can fine tune the control so that only you can do it. I have hotlinking from my site switched off to protect my bandwidth - if someone were to link one of my images (maybe just to some innocent discussion forum) I'd be paying for their use of bandwidth, and that's not cool as one image downloaded a zillion times would bleed dry the monthly bandwidth you pay your host for.

Photobucket have always been a pain anyway since for some reason they disapprove of nudity. I'm one of their paying customers at £15 a year, but I think that will be stopping quite soon.

Edit: Actually I have so much stuff linked from there I probably will keep it for convenience, though that will disappear if they hike the price too much. Barrel, over, got me.

Pete_R · « **Reply #8 on:** July 07, 2017, 08:52:41 PM »

Quote from: Late Developer on July 07, 2017, 06:54:58 PM

Incidentally, I have a Squarespace website. Does anyone know if I can do a link from that to FW?

Seems you can. Voila...

Let me know if you want this removed Paul. If you're paying by the Mbyte you might.

Pete_R · « **Reply #9 on:** July 07, 2017, 09:14:19 PM »

Quote from: Nigel on July 07, 2017, 06:47:00 PM

I was wondering if I could share images from my Google drive? I've got masses of space there.

I've just tried a test. They give me a public link but it seems you can't embed it.

You can but the link you get is not to the image but to a page that displays the image. Only way I know is to use this website to convert the page link to an image link.

Here's one I did earlier...

Francois · « **Reply #10 on:** July 07, 2017, 10:00:24 PM »

Another option could be Google Photos...
AFAIK, they don't have financial problems and don't try and scam people out of their rights.

This is from Google Photos.
DOESN'T WORK

It's a friggin long link you get when you right click on the image and copy its location but it works.
And you get unlimited storage for images they resize with their algorithm and 16gb for the files you want to leave intact. All this is for free.

Nigel · « **Reply #11 on:** July 07, 2017, 10:33:38 PM »

Thanks Francois, Google images seems to be the way to go. I can't seem to do it on my iPad though.

Francois · « **Reply #12 on:** July 07, 2017, 11:17:31 PM »

They have an app in the appstore
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/google-photos/id962194608
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.apps.photos&referrer=utm_source%3Dphotos_apps_page

Late Developer · « **Reply #13 on:** July 07, 2017, 11:37:59 PM »

Quote from: PeterR on July 07, 2017, 08:52:41 PM

Quote from: Late Developer on July 07, 2017, 06:54:58 PM
Incidentally, I have a Squarespace website. Does anyone know if I can do a link from that to FW?

Seems you can. Voila...

Let me know if you want this removed Paul. If you're paying by the Mbyte you might.

Hi Peter,

That's pretty cool, mate. Nope, it's a fixed price per annum and I get to load up as much as I want. You'll have to show me how to do that as I really want to get rid of Flickr and Tumblr accounts as they're superfluous to requirement if I'm already paying for the privilege.

Regards, Paul.

chris667 · « **Reply #14 on:** July 08, 2017, 06:52:15 AM »

Quote from: Francois on July 07, 2017, 10:00:24 PM

Another option could be Google Photos...
AFAIK, they don't have financial problems and don't try and scam people out of their rights.

It's a friggin long link you get when you right click on the image and copy its location but it works.
And you get unlimited storage for images they resize with their algorithm and 16gb for the files you want to leave intact. All this is for free.

That image doesn't work for me. Just a blank line in the middle of your post.

Google is collecting information about you to sell to people. And there is no reassurance that they won't start charging money for their services in the future, or simply remove them. It would just be a strategic decision.

It's the same with all online services. Nothing is ever free, really.

The best solution is probably a self-hosted Wordpress or similar, using hosting you pay for. Running your own server is fine, but it's a lot of messing about, and probably won't save you any money.

Pete_R · « **Reply #15 on:** July 08, 2017, 02:06:21 PM »

Quote from: Francois on July 07, 2017, 10:00:24 PM

This is from Google Photos.

I think Google photos and Google drive have the same issues. Your image doesn't show for me Francois.

Pete_R · « **Reply #16 on:** July 08, 2017, 02:18:55 PM »

Quote from: Late Developer on July 07, 2017, 11:37:59 PM

You'll have to show me how to do that

Go to your website and right click on the image you want to link to and click on 'Copy image address'.

In your post on FW, click the insert image icon and you'll get

Code: [Select]

[img][/img]
then click between the two img tags and insert the image address you copied earlier.

So you'll get

Code: [Select]

[img]https://static1.squarespace.com/static/572e2e0a2fe131e2fe84d499/58b2b36f15d5dbf879c8a396/58b2b473f7e0ab0baa088bbe/1497720816521/Bologna-9.jpg?format=1000w[/img]

Late Developer · « **Reply #17 on:** July 08, 2017, 02:47:22 PM »

Fantastic - much easier than I imagined. Thanks for your help, Peter.

Francois · « **Reply #18 on:** July 08, 2017, 03:05:24 PM »

Quote from: PeterR on July 08, 2017, 02:06:21 PM

Quote from: Francois on July 07, 2017, 10:00:24 PM
This is from Google Photos.

I think Google photos and Google drive have the same issues. Your image doesn't show for me Francois.

That's really weird since I can see it on both my Android tablet and my windows box... Maybe they are running some up tracking magic.... I'll have to investigate some more.

Pete_R · « **Reply #19 on:** July 08, 2017, 05:38:46 PM »

Quote from: Francois on July 08, 2017, 03:05:24 PM

Quote from: PeterR on July 08, 2017, 02:06:21 PM
Quote from: Francois on July 07, 2017, 10:00:24 PM
This is from Google Photos.

I think Google photos and Google drive have the same issues. Your image doesn't show for me Francois.
That's really weird since I can see it on both my Android tablet and my windows box... Maybe they are running some up tracking magic.... I'll have to investigate some more.

If you have those devices registered with Google then it probably recognises you and allows you to see your own images.

Francois · « **Reply #20 on:** July 08, 2017, 07:42:05 PM »

Yeah, you're right...
There must be a way to share them....

Francois · « **Reply #21 on:** July 08, 2017, 07:44:18 PM »

OK, upload the photo, insert it in a public album making sure you set the rights so you're the only one who can add content, copy the super long image URL using the right click and paste it here between img tags.
DOESN'T WORK EITHER

Tadah!

Late Developer · « **Reply #22 on:** July 08, 2017, 08:47:43 PM »

Quote from: Francois on July 08, 2017, 07:44:18 PM

OK, upload the photo, insert it in a public album making sure you set the rights so you're the only one who can add content, copy the super long image URL using the right click and paste it here between img tags.

Tadah!

Nope - can't see it.....

Francois · « **Reply #23 on:** July 08, 2017, 08:59:39 PM »

Bummer... I tried using TOR and it worked.... maybe it was a glitch because Firefox was open at the same time.
how about this?

Nigel · « **Reply #24 on:** July 09, 2017, 03:21:56 PM »

Quote from: Francois on July 08, 2017, 08:59:39 PM

Bummer... I tried using TOR and it worked.... maybe it was a glitch because Firefox was open at the same time.
how about this?

Works for me - very yellow!

Late Developer · « **Reply #25 on:** July 09, 2017, 04:55:23 PM »

Yep - can see it now, Francois. If Picasso had designed the Cybermen for Dr Who, I reckon that's what they'd look like...

Francois · « **Reply #26 on:** July 09, 2017, 10:32:53 PM »

OK, now for the recipe.
This is based on an undocumented feature of Google Photos, so it might work only for some time... though it's said to have been working for quite some time now.
1. upload the photo to Google Photo.
2. create a shared album and put your photo in it.
3. make sure only you can modify the album, this is not the default behavior.
4. right click on the image when it's in full screen mode and copy the very long link
5. paste the url in between img tags
6. just after the no at the end, add -tmp.jpg

there are also other switches for fixing the display size
check out this page
https://sites.google.com/site/picasaresources/Home/Picasa-FAQ/google-photos-1/how-to/how-to-get-a-direct-link-to-an-image