Worldwide forum images missing

   #1  

vreihen

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If a picture is worth a thousand words, lawyers will rake in *trillions* on a class-action suit for this one.

Photobucket, used by many people for hosting valuable forum images, unilaterally changed their terms of service with no notice a few days ago. Long story short, if you want the images that you posted links for to still be visible, it will cost you a minimum of $399.00 per year effective yesterday. (Not a typo, they want 400 bucks to share your images!) No grandfathered content, no grace period, images in forums all over the web are resolving with "this person is too cheap to pay the extortion fee" placeholder thumbnails where content once resided.

Long story short, if someone sees a post here of mine with a broken image, PM me with a link to the post and I'll send you a new link from a different hosting site.

In case anyone hasn't noticed, Photobucket started ratcheting up the obnoxiousness and quantity of the ads on their web site last fall, in an effort to push users into paying $2.99/month for an ad-free experience. An action like that tells me that they are short on venture cash, and investors want to see them monetize their service better. (They are also easily circumvented by ad-blockers.) This $399 bone-headed extortion makes me think that they don't have enough cash left to cover next week's payroll, and I suspect that their whole site will be 404 by the end of July.

If anyone else has images there that they need to save, I suggest batch downloading them now because it appears their fat lady is singing.....
 
   #2  

GaryM

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Yes, this has been posted across numerous forums with people up in arms, understandably. Some people have spent hours moving their images to imgur and then going back through all their old posts updating any embedded image links. Unfortunately you can't do that on some forums because editing gets disabled after a period of time so all those historic posts with Photobucket linked images in are are going to remain forever broken :cry:

I think Photobucket are going to start losing members in droves over this and the whole thing is going to backfire on them big time. Talk about shooting yourself in the foot! :facepalm:

I don't use Photobucket to host images that I embed in forum posts but instead I use Tinypic. And guess which company owns that site :eek:
 
   #3  

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I told them to delete mine and shove it up their arse.

It was the crappiest photo hosting site i ever used, and no way was it worth more than the free alternatives.

So somewhere out in the world, 12 of my pictures aren't showing up like they used to :thumbs:
 
   #4  

vreihen

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To spite them for ruining my weekend, I came up with the ultimate plan. To quote Kahn, revenge is a dish that's best served cold. :D

There appears to be an organized mass exodus from Photochuckit, with people deleting their content as well as their accounts. Fine for hurting them in eyeball/user counts, but not hitting them in the purse strings.

I'm in the process of writing a script to scrape all of their captcha images, which I will pipe to The GIMP to overlay a high-res picture of my middle finger. Since I have 89% of my PB space free, that's a lot of free space to store captcha pictures with my middle finger over them. :p Oh, and of course I will mark them all as private, in case they reverse course and decide to try and monetize images again through ads in the future. Let them pay to store/backup pictures of my middle finger..... :D
 
   #5  

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Interesting, 'cause imgur.com went the other way a few years ago. It was free for a limited number of photos, but if you wanted more than that number in your account, they charged an annual fee; I think it was $50 or so. I paid that for a couple of years, and then they announced they were going strictly ad-supported.
 
   #6  

vreihen

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I always had the feeling that PB's business model was to generate revenue by selling hard-copy prints to friends and family, which didn't really pan out since very few people print pictures any more. (Ask Kodak about film camera sales.) I actually dropped $250 on a large framed canvas print for a holiday gift last November, but I'm guessing that I am a rare exception. They let the external linking take place in the hopes of selling additional pictures, but made it difficult to *not* get a PB page trying to save/embed images. When that didn't work, they ratcheted the ads up to obnoxious levels, trying to get users to pay $2.99/month to stop the madness. Guess they never heard of an ad-blocker? ;)

You can tell that they have been gutted by brain drain, since up until just a few weeks ago major functions on their site still relied on Adobe Flash. It was downright painful to download my images this morning, as their crappy browser code kept failing in the middle of dialogs on multiple webkit-based browsers that I tried. It seriously took 3-4 page reloads to download a group of 23 photos, and doing more than that would break something on the server side. It's obvious that they don't even have a programmer available to perform routine maintenance and debugging, which is a sure sign that their fat lady is about to sing.

Good riddance, Photochuckit!!!!!
 
   #8  

vreihen

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I love this reader comment from the above article:

McMike @_McMike_
Anyone else surprised #photobucket isn't offering Bitcoin as the only method of payment?
4:15 PM - 29 Jun 2017

Personally, I could have bought 5" x 7" prints of the 600+ images that I was hosting with them for less than their $399/year ransom.....
 
   #9  

GaryM

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I've been desperately trying to download all my photo albums for most of the day which is turning out to be painfully slow sometimes with either no response (like I've not even clicked on the download button) or with an error message sometimes being displayed which only seems to be rectified by closing the browser window and loading the site again from scratch. It's turning out to be a real PITA. What a complete waste of a Sunday.

I have a feeling I'm not the only one doing this which means there is probably currently a huge amount of excessive traffic on the site which is killing the web interface experience.

Once I've got a copy of all my stuff I'll be deleting everything and it will then be good riddance to the clowns who came up with this new business model.
 
   #10  

vreihen

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Fill your former space with middle finger pictures, and make them pay to store them in perpetuity..... :D
 
   #11  

Mike R

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photobucket was painfully slow to begin with, I can't imagine how bad it is now. Does it take you back to the "good ol days" of dial up?

R.I.P.

Here lies photobucket

2003-2017
 
   #12  

vreihen

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photobucket was painfully slow to begin with, I can't imagine how bad it is now. Does it take you back to the "good ol days" of dial up?

You're too young to remember when this was a state-of-the-art online image, and took 20 minutes to download:

Code:
                                          MMMM
                                       MMMMMMMMMM
                                     MMMMMMMMMMMMMM
         MMMM                        MMMMMMMMMMMMMMM
      MMMMMMMMMM                    MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM
     MMMMMMMMMMMM                  MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM
   MMMMMMMMMMMMMMM                 MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM
  MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM                MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM
  MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM                MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM
 MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM               MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM
 MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM               MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM
 MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM                MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM
 MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM     MMMMMMM    MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM
 MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM   MMMMMMMMMMMMM MMMMMMMMMMMMMMM
 MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM  MMMMMMMMM----MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM
 MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM MMMMMMMMMM------MMMMMMMMMMMMMM
 MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM----MMM---/=\--MMMMMMMMMMMM
  MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM--==--MM------\--MMM MMMMMM
  MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM--/-----M-------\--MMM
   MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM--/-----------------MMM
     MMMMMMMMM  MMM--|------------------MMM
       MMMMM   MMM------/..\---/..\-----MMM
               MMM-----/....\-/....\----MMMM
              MMMM-----......-......----MMMM
              MMMM-----......-......----MMMM
              MMMM-----......-.MM...---MMMMM
              MMMMM----...MM.-.MMM..---MMMMM
              MMMMM----..MMM.-\MMM./---MMMMM
              MMMMMM---\.MMM.--\M./---/-----
              MMMMMM----\\M/=======\---------
              MM----M--/====-MMMMM------------
                -----------MMMMMMMM-----------
               ------------MMMMMMMM-----------
               ------------MMMMMMMM----X------
               ------_/----MMMMMMM-----/-\----
               -----/\------MMMMM------|-----
               ----/--\---------------/-----
                -------\-------------M-----
                --------=-----------MM----
                  -------\=========MMM---
                   ------MMMMMMMMMMMM---
                     -----MXXXXXXXXM---
                    MMMMM--XXXXXXXX--
                 MMMMMMMMM---XXXX---M
            MMMMMMMMMMMMMMM--------MMM
           MMMMMM:++MMMMMMMMM----MMMMM
          MMMMMM:MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM
          MMMMM:M////MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM
          MMMMM//////////MMMMMMMMMMMMMMM
          MMMM/////////////MMMMMMMMMMMMM
          MMM///////////////MMMMMMMMMMMM
           M///...////////////MMMMMMMMMMM
           ///....////..///////MMMMMMMMMM
           ///....///....///////MM  MMMMMM
           ///....///....////////M  MMMMMM
          ////...///.....///////// MMMMMMMM
          ////..////...../////////MMMMMMMMM
          //////////...../////////MMMMMMMMM
          //////////....//////////MMMMMMMM
          ///////////..///////////MMMMMMM
          ////////////////////////MMMMM
          ////////////////////////MMM
           ///////////////////////
           ///////////////////////
           ///////////////////////
           ///////////////////////
          ////////////////////////
          ////////////////////////
          //////X//////////////////
           //////XXX///////////////
             ///////V//////////////
                /////X//////////:::
                 MMMM/////MMMM::MM
                  MMMMM|MMMMMMM   MMM
                  MMMMMM|MMMMMM      MMMM____
                   MMMMM|MMMMMM              \------
                    MMMM\MMMMMM                     -_
                     MMMM|MMMMMM                      \
                     MMMM\MMMMMM                       \
                      MMMM\MMMMM                        |
                       MMM|MMMMMM                      /
        VVVVVVV      VVMMMM\MMMMM                     /
     VVVVVVVVVXVVVV  VVVMMMM|MMMM                   _-
     VVVVVVVVVVXVVVVVIVVVMMIIMMMMVV            -----
    VVVVVVVVVVVVVXXVVVIVVVVIIMMMMMVV
    VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVXXVVVVVVVIIVMMMVVVVVVV
    VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVXVXVVVVVIIVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV
    VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVXVXVVVVIVIVVVVVVVVVVVVXVVVVVV
    VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVXVXVVIVVVIVVVVVVVVVXVVXVVVVVVV
     VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVXVXVIVVVVVVVVVVVVXVVXVVVVVVVVV
     VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVXVVIVVVVVVVVVVVXVXVVVVVVVVVVVV
      VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVIVVVVVVVVVXVXVVVVVVVVVVVVV
       VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVIVVVVVVVVXVXVVVVVVVVVVVVVV
         VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV  VVVVVVVXXVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV
           VVVVVVVVVVVVVV     VVVXXXVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV
              VVVVVVVVV        VXVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV
                                 VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV
                                  VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV
                                   VVVVVVVVVVVVVV
                                     VVVVVVVVV

Oh yeah, before I forget, GET OFF MY LAWN!!!!! :D
 
   #13  

Sebastian

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...this is why a forum owner should always self-host content like that.
 
   #14  

vreihen

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cross-thread.jpg

You mean like this forum, where it posts thumbnails in threads when you use the included image posting feature?????
 
   #15  

Sebastian

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It's been a while since I worked with vB4 and I vaguely remember a setting in the admin panel. Either way, vB5 has been out for some time and should address that. Plenty of other forum software out there to choose from as well - if that's the killer argument. ;)
 
   #16  

Uwe

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...this is why a forum owner should always self-host content like that.
When you host something, you become responsible for enforcing copyright issues associated with the content you're hosting. When it comes to images, I say: No thanks.
 
   #17  

Sebastian

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Once an image is embedded by a user, you're also responsible - so I'm not seeing the difference to be honest. Removing a linked/embedded image vs. a hosted one is pretty much the same effort.
 
   #18  

vreihen

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Actually, the site hosting the linked image is responsible for the copyright problems. If they remove the violating image from their host, the link on your site breaks.

In case there's any doubt, I wholeheartedly agree with Uwe's sound logic on this issue.....
 
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   #19  

Sebastian

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Hmm... Maybe I am misinterpreting the legal situation, so feel free to let me know where I am on a wrong train of thought here... Based on my experience and internal rules set in one of Germany's biggest forums, the European laws are pretty clear on framing/embedding copyrighted material in cases where the original rights holder had NOT authorized the original/source upload/distribution. Looking at the statements applying to the US, the situation is fine (fair use etc.) on legal content, yet on illegal content the framing seems to be problematic as well.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright_aspects_of_hyperlinking_and_framing
 
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   #20  

Uwe

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Looking at the statements applying to the US, the situation is fine (fair use etc.) on legal content
Yep, the Court's ruling seems quite clear to me:
"Because Google's computers do not store the photographic images, Google does not have a copy of the images for purposes of the Copyright Act."

yet on illegal content the framing seems to be problematic as well.
What do you mean by "illegal content"? We have this thing in the US called the First Amendment. It means there's very little "content" that can be illegal in and of itself.
 
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