Photobucket (outrageous charges)....

[laurentide]

I am curious what people would be willing to pay for monthly PB 3rd party hosting. Is $20 fair? $30?

Netflix is $10 and that's a heck of a lot more bandwidth than a few hundred images. And storage gets cheaper every day.

 

[GA_Boater]

Listen folks, this has touched a lot of raw nerves with the way PB handled or mishandled this change to their TOS. As we express opinions, please try to remember that we are entitled to state our opinion, but no belittling of each other.

This issue was not caused by any forum member or any forum, including this iBoats forum. Recovery will not be easy or painless - Those of us using PB are all in the same boat.

Use this thread to research alternatives. There is are methods to store media and to make the media available. Please share ways to make up for the loss of PB.


Thank you

 

[Baylinerchuck]

I am curious what people would be willing to pay for monthly PB 3rd party hosting. Is $20 fair? $30?

I'm not going to pretend to know what's fair. In my opinion, that's in the eye of the beholder. Obviously PB believes $399 is fair. The beauty of a somewhat free market system is that PB will soon learn if their price is deemed fair to the public. As far as the whining, for many of the posts I've read, it was the way this situation was handled. The TOS was changed over night, with zero warning to even the paying customers. Obviously PB is not a charity, and is in business to make money. We shouldn't begrudge any business for that, obviously. Again, the nature of how this was handled is what many are scrutinizing......vocally and with their business. Who knows how this will turn out in the end, PB members ultimately get to decide whether or not $399 is a fair price.

 

[Rick Stephens]

I'm kind of a curmudgeon about the cloud. I refuse to put any of my data on a 'cloud' server. I want full control of data that I own. You do not own it if you don't control it.

Years ago I used to keep pictures for posting on Apple's iDisk. In fact I have a close relative who was one of the main architects for the iDisk and .Mac, which then became MobileMe and (with lots of warning mind you) took away your iDisk storage (which you could use for 3rd party posting) and then made it iCloud, which is in place through today. To use iCloud, you HAVE to store a bunch of your data, like your contacts, and always connect to your devices to use iCloud. I REFUSE. I want it off the internets and on my own storage.

I own a Mac based business that builds storage for photographers and videographers. My preference for controlling our own data has led to never ever falling for cloud storage, teaching that, and helping small and large businesses keep their stuff safe and locally stored.. If a cloud storage provider loses your data, what are they gonna say, Sorry? - You got it. They're gonna say: 'Sorry, it must have been your own fault. And oh, did you read the fine print?'

I like Chris's point that most ISP services give you some free storage. I also get along fine with iBoats forum posting rules. Most pictures taken are taken to print them - ie, a couple hundred pixels per inch. Resized to 72 DPI, kind of a standard for displaying on a computer, even a large photo is usually under 700k.

I don't know what's going to happen to all the fortune's worth of pictorials on this forum and all the others out there. Obviously PB thinks it's time to cash in. I feel for everyone.

Rick

 

[someone11]

You have no idea what the costs are for providing the bandwidth for 3rd party hosting. If you do, maybe you should share that info with us.

Lol I'm not saying it isn't expensive. But it sure as heck isn't so expensive to have to charge everyone $400 a year. Again, just a money grab from PB. Hopefully they aren't around for much longer. They'll realize the user base they've lost... hopefully.

 

[gm280]

What is so wrong with hosting your pictures on your own computer and posting them directly here on iboats? I mean I take tons of pictures and have them all on my laptop. And I haven't even come close to filling up my storage on my laptop. Not even close! And if you do backups, you have everything even if something goes belly up. Just a thought. And it cost you nothing, zero, NADA, Zip... :noidea:

 

[jasoutside]

So yesterday I get the email from PB that basically says they have flushed 8 years of my content/documentation down the toilet.

Then today they send me another email...

"Photobucket is excited to bring you, PBdeals, a website that offers unique, hand-selected products at amazing prices that we are sure you will love. It's just another way for us to show our appreciation for your continued support of Photobucket!"

And what is the deal of the day you ask? Shoe spray...

https://pbdeals.com/products/detrap...mail&utm_campaign=pdeals&utm_content=detrapel

Are we being punked right now???

 

[Rick Stephens]

What is so wrong with hosting your pictures on your own computer and posting them directly here on iboats? I mean I take tons of pictures and have them all on my laptop. And I haven't even come close to filling up my storage on my laptop. Not even close! And if you do backups, you have everything even if something goes belly up. Just a thought. And it cost you nothing, zero, NADA, Zip... :noidea:

I agree. However the issue currently be the thousands of PB photos that need to be both relocated and then relinked with an edit if they are ever to see the light of day again.

 

[gm280]

I agree. However the issue currently be the thousands of PB photos that need to be both relocated and then relinked with an edit if they are ever to see the light of day again.

I do understand what you are saying. I guess everybody uploaded their individual pictures and then deleted them from their computers thinking Photo Bucket would always have them if they needed them again. And while that is rue, it seems now PB is charging to get access to them again. I had other reasons for using my own computer to store my pictures.

If anybody now can get to their pictures and move or copy them to their computer, who cares what PB does then. I realize that is going to be a lot harder to do then say. But I don't see any other way around it. Maybe pay one fee for one month (or year whatever the case may be), move or copy your pictures and close your accounts with them. :noidea:

 

[GA_Boater]

It's a good thing PB is selling THIS because they know where PB is going.

Not helpful. just an opinion.

 

[jbcurt00]

I choose to use PB because it would always be available, no matter where in the US I was and no matter what device I was using.

I've pulled the drives from 4 different computers/laptops that have been recycled, so I should have all the pix, but even if only 10% of my posts had pix and only half were from PB, thats still over 1000 posts of mine that need redone..... I can find all my topics I started, but what about someone elses topics I posted to? Doesnt the view all posts only go back 200posts?

Even w restored edit privileges, for members, we can only go back 200 recent posts....

So only 15-20% of my pix posts can be restored, max....

The topics and pix affected by the forum crashes were a loss, a bad one, but this is worse, much worse......

 

[GA_Boater]

You can play with the post view to find all your posts. But if I get the speedo, only my threads will re-populated if I decide to do it. Saying that, I don't have threads that go back years like jasonoutside or Woodonglass and others.

 

[Pusher]

I can honestly say I saw this coming. With the recent issues we had posting photos last fall it seemed aparent they weren't worried about customer service. I decided it was silly uploading photos to PB just to then take the second step of uploading them to this forum.

I take the pic at high res for my own personal use, then use the phone app "Photo & Picture Resizer" to cut it down to size. That second step replaced the PB step.

I appreciate that iBoats offers the option and hosts the server to upload to. That said, it would be nice if the uploader could auto-resize for us and cut out the app step.... First world problems as they say.

Sorry everyone's threads were hosed over. I suggest everyone leave their accounts dormant for now in case PB changes tune and makes this a go-forward change instead of a retrospective one. Your old photos might be reactivated if PB has ANY kind of brains.

Good luck

 

[Baylinerchuck]

I can honestly say I saw this coming. With the recent issues we had posting photos last fall it seemed aparent they weren't worried about customer service. I decided it was silly uploading photos to PB just to then take the second step of uploading them to this forum.

I take the pic at high res for my own personal use, then use the phone app "Photo & Picture Resizer" to cut it down to size. That second step replaced the PB step.

I appreciate that iBoats offers the option and hosts the server to upload to. That said, it would be nice if the uploader could auto-resize for us and cut out the app step.... First world problems as they say.

Sorry everyone's threads were hosed over. I suggest everyone leave their accounts dormant for now in case PB changes tune and makes this a go-forward change instead of a retrospective one. Your old photos might be reactivated if PB has ANY kind of brains.

Good luck

I was also using an image resizing App, but liked how the full size photo could be linked in the post. I don't own a PC, so PB seemed like a great idea. I guess I'm back to ye ole' image Resizer.

 

[bruceb58]

Netflix is $10 and that's a heck of a lot more bandwidth than a few hundred images. And storage gets cheaper every day.

Netflix is a $60 Billion public company with $8 Billion in revenue. Photobucket has estimates of maybe $50 Million revenue and they do not turn a profit. Pretty poor comparison.

 

[Fed]

Did photobucket change their terms or simply enforce what was already in place?

 

[jbcurt00]

TOS changed

 

[Tnstratofam]

I'm in the process of downloading my albums from photobucket to my laptop. I still have all my photos on my phone, and have used both photobucket to post pictures as well as upload them directly to forums from my laptop. Photobucket was more convenient but I had almost decided to stop using them or any other photo hosting site because like others I want control of my data on my own terms. Not terms of service decided by others. Photobucket's actions have simply speed up my decision to keep my pictures on my laptop and upload them.

I hate that so many people are now faced with allot of work to either restore their pics to websites and forums, or pay to continue to use photobucket as they had been. Photobucket really dropped the ball on letting people know this was coming, although I feel some people would still cry and whine even with a months notice.

I feel everyone's pain this is not going to be fun. Good luck and hope everyone can at least get their photo's back if they don't have them stored somewhere else.

 

[Pusher]

Netflix is a $60 Billion public company with $8 Billion in revenue. Photobucket has estimates of maybe $50 Million revenue and they do not turn a profit. Pretty poor comparison.

I feel you Bayliner chuck. Resizing definitely ruins the final product but then my thread is mostly in tact so I'll be putting little to no effort in after PB's ultra capitalist maneuver. They're free to kill themselves I say.

Bruce, as an accountant I approve of your observation at the end of the day, PB is not a Charity.
Maybe by retaining 10% of their accounts they can boost profits 20%.... who knows.

 

[laurentide]

Netflix is a $60 Billion public company with $8 Billion in revenue. Photobucket has estimates of maybe $50 Million revenue and they do not turn a profit. Pretty poor comparison.

From a consumer standpoint that makes no difference. The question you asked was "what would be fair?" I'm asking myself why would I pay $40 to host some photos when fully fledged, cutting edge video streaming services are $10/month, or $100/year for amazon prime (which includes free two day shipping for other products they sell). Google Photos/Drive hosts 17GB of anything for free, and its a vastly superior product to photobucket.

What they're currently offering is a terrible value.

Edit: BTW, I'm not disagreeing with your broader point. Nothing worth anything is free. I just think that PB jumped the shark here.