Hmm, seems to still work. I wonder if there's a cookie here that lets PB know it's my pic.

edit: No, just checked from a browser I've never used to come here or to photobucket and didn't log in, and I could see it.
At least it works with 10 year old photos LOL

 

I just got this email message from photobucket about half an hour ago. My pictures are all gone now. It looks like they are gradually disabling everyone who isn't upgraded.


photobucket
WE NOTICED THAT YOU HAVE BEEN USING
PHOTOBUCKET FOR 3RD PARTY HOSTING*

PLEASE UPGRADE TO A PLUS 500 PLAN.

Our Terms of Service does not allow 3rd party hosting with your current account level.
UPGRADE NOW
*What is 3rd Party Hosting?
Photobucket defines 3rd party hosting as the action of embedding an image or photo onto another website. For example, using the <img> tag to embed or display a JPEG image from your Photobucket account on another website such as a forum, Etsy, eBay auction listings, a blog, etc. is definitively 3rd party hosting.
Why Photobucket?
Photobucket is the global destination for linking and 3rd party hosting. In Photobucket’s 14-year history, the Company amassed over 100 million registered users, over 15 billion images stored, 2 million daily uploads and 10 billion photos accessed monthly.
Easy to Use – Upload a photo from any device and copy the embed code with one click to host a photo with no development or technical knowledge required
Competitive, fixed pricing Offers the only unlimited 3rd party hosting plan (Commercial and Personal Use)
Are my pictures still safe?
Yes! All your photos are still available by logging into your Photobucket Account. Photobucket has only restricted the ability to view your photos on 3rd party sites.
Can I download my Photos?
Absolutely, at any time. It is an easy four step process:
Step 1. Login to your Photobucket Account
Step 2. Navigate to your library page
Step 3. View a photo and click the download button
Step 4. The picture will be saved to your computer
photobucket | for the love of photos.

 

Wow, so they don't have a way to download all your photos at once? Or even a group/number of them? Sounds painful.

 

You shouldn't be storing your only copy of pictures on a server you don't own. Photobucket can delete my account and pictures and it won't affect me any different than just blocking links.

I only have 4 GB of pictures on there. I found a possible alternative to a full mini ITX computer, it looks like I can create additional websites on the Apache install on my WD MyCloud EX2. Very limited processing power, but should be plenty to host pictures and I have a few TB free on that, scheduled backups, etc...

I may try that for a free option. Or if it's too much of a PITA I'll go with a $200 mini-ITX passively cooled system that will cost pennies in electric and can just sit and do it's thing. I like the convenience of Photobucket, no worries about power outages, automatic resize, can upload from phone while out and about or computer for pics on good camera... But realistically I'm sure there is software available to auto resize and manage an album, or just doing it manually really isn't much work.

Bottom line is after they complete the process of killing links from other sites and destroy a wealth of knowledge on forums I won't even pay them a penny a year. I don't monetize anything I put on there. I'll continue to use their service until they cut me off (only a matter of time it seems) or I get a proper replacement in place.

 

Raspberry Pie.

Something like this: Build a Raspberry Pi-Powered Linux Laptop That Fits in Your Pocket | Make:

 

We may still be able to just put a link in the post and people just have to click on it.

 

That won't help all the pics in old posts that are/will be no longer viewable. And most of those posts are old enough that the poster can't edit them.

In my opinion Photobucket is a worthless outfit that just signed its own death warrant. If I had pics out there I would start backing them up elsewhere for the day when they go under.

 

Perhaps we can put our photos on the "Cloud" and then link to them there. I know Windows and Apple provide some free cloud storage.

I'm not sure how all this ether space stuff works - but if we can "link" to our own cloud stored photos, there will be no need for the Photobucket type sharing services.

 

Just testing - my Windows10 machine has the free "OneDrive" feature. So I copied some photos to it, and then click the "share button" which creates a link.
If this works, then this will be my new method for sharing files. Not sure if this photo will display here - or if one needs to click the link (which would not really be desirable).

https://1drv.ms/i/s!AtvAXw_lfqbTlmQ5umly9DAIr5J8


EDIT: Bummer, its a link. If there is a way to display the photo without needed to click on the link to open it, that would be great. If not, I'll keep looking.

 

Google provides something like 15 Gb of free storage, which is a LOT of pictures. In fact, most of the pics on my web site as well as the ones I post here are on my free Google drive. I have an app on this iPad as well as my iPhone and Windows-based machines that makes the Google drive look like part of the device I'm using. So posting one of those pictures on here is easy. Just click the yellow post card icon, choose Browse The Device, choose the Google drive, find the pic and click OK. No need to copy links and paste them in. And, if I'm on someone else's computer I can just log in to my Google account. So, anywhere in the world I can get to my pics regardless of the machine I'm using.

I routinely take pics of my day's efforts and put them on my Google drive while I'm in the shop. Then I go to the house and settle in for the evening and post the pics to one of my many threads using this iPad or my laptop. And, it is very easy to manage those pics as you can have as many folders as you want and drag/drop between folders - magic stuff that IB/FTE doesn't know how to do.

So, I see no reason to have pics or albums on FTE. Nor a Photobucket account.

 

That OneDrive feature works until you go on vacation and turn your local machine off.....

I don't bother organizing albums/galleries on the forum. I just attach the pic right from my hard drive to the thread I'm posting to. Behind the scenes, IB/FTE puts them in a "My Post Pics" album. But how they're organized (or un-organized in this case) behind the scenes is irrelevant. Pics appear in-line in the post right where they should.

"Cloud" is just a layman's term for "somewhere on the Internet". Photobucket is _a_ "cloud". ANY place online where you store ANYTHING "free", they could turn around and start charging you. "First one's free", eh?......

See above. You don't need to build your own monster computer. Shoot, there are laptop-size drives well over 1TB these days.

 

I see problems with creating your own server - unless you really know what you are doing. If it is behind your firewall you have to poke a hole in the firewall, which is a security risk. If it is outside of your firewall it is going to get hammered by those looking for a way to exploit it.

I'd rather leave the security issues to someone that is in the business, like Google or Apple or Microsoft. I say that because I have seen and read about the hacking that is going on, and there are MANY entities out there who are actively looking for holes in firewalls. They have proven that once in they can plant code on almost any web-enabled device, including DVR's, TV's, thermostats, and even coffee makers. So a server with access from the internet via a hole in the firewall isn't something I want on my network.

 

So windows cloud does have an "embed" feature. Perhaps this is what I'm looking for.
But its not working here. I need to continue researching this.

 

Mike - That didn't work either. But, see my post about Google Drive. You are doing it the hard way.

 

I never said anything about building a server. Security? Turn your computer off when you're not using it. Or turn your router off anyway.

This is way simpler than people are making it out to be. You keep your photos, like all your private data, on your local hard drive. You want other people to see a photo, as it pertains to a post? Attach it to that post. The photo gets COPIED to the forum site and displayed on that post. Use simple personal firewall software, and your local hard drive is never visible to the Internet.