Photobucket
Posted: Sun Jul 02, 2017 9:31 am
For years I have used Photobucket as a link for adding pictures onto forums etc , but now no longer ! I copy the following from Stampboards it may have bearing for some members
URGENT WARNING* if you use, or have ever used, photobucket on stampboards
Most stampboarders show their images via them being hosted on
www.photobucket.com
They are huge. Operating for 14 years, (once owned by News Corp)
Photobucket hosts more than 15 **BILLION** images, from 100 million unique
global registered members - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photobucket
This week photobucket pulled off the largest global Corporate Ransom Demand
that anyone can remember.
With no email warning of any kind to users, BILLIONS of picture links on
forums and Twitter, etc, were deliberately removed and broken, and replaced
with a "Please update your account to enable 3rd party hosting" Ransom
Demand message.
From zero a year cost, Photobucket now demands EACH user pays them
$US399.99 ($A525 pa!) in order for ANY of your images saved here for years
to be displayed to others.
This has caused global outcry of course, as 100 MILLION unique folks
globally use them to display images on Bulletin Boards, blogs, ebay,
Craig’s list, and Twitter (photobucket were their official image site!) and
other social media etc.
This thought bubble was rolled out by a trained chip it appears, with no
system whatever - region, country, continents, amount of images etc are not
part of it - a total and unfathomable mess.
As there are other well established, totally free, or very low cost image
hosting alternatives out there, it was the dumbest Corporate move since the
"New Coke" fiasco!
There are legal and all kinds of Consumer Affairs actions and so on
occurring in the USA of course, but for stampboards, in the here and now,
it has caused an issue, as for a million other hobby and special interest
boards.
We are advising 6 things
1. Despite them acting exactly like Ukrainian "WannaCry" Ransom Gangsters,
instead of a huge American Corporation, do NOT delete your account in anger
as I was first inclined to do. Do not move around files or folders. It is
possible someone in there might come to their senses this week, and
backtrack on this on the global outrage cuts in. Their income now all comes
from the barrage of annoying pop-up ads and videos on their site, and the
advertisers will have pulled out in droves I am sure. No-one legit company
wants to be connected to Gangsters.
2. As we have urged for years, sign up NOW for a free www.IMGUR.com
account, and add new images to there, and if you wish, save your important
photobucket ones there. Even if by chance your PB images still show NOW,
they may well vanish tomorrow, if they go bust in a month, kiss them
goodbye. So do that NOW. Imgur is easy to use, totally free, and has been
far better and more stable than photobucket for years anyway simple
tutorial here - www.stampboards.com/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=53532
3. Download a copy of all your images right now stored in photobucket. As
I type they ALL are downloadable even if the Ransom Clock icon shows on
stampboards - again easy and simple to do, and you can then access/replace
them in future - www.stampboards.com/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=77822
4. stampboards as always, is fast and decisive to act, and we have set up
a place where those interested can swap over old images going back years if
you wish - you can do it for your own favourite threads and you can access
other member images too if you want, and help out - stampboards is a true
COMMUNITY and Gangsters will not prevail over Team Spirit -
www.stampboards.com/viewtopic.php?f=65&t=77850 - if you have spare time to
volunteer some time to assist let me know, and I'll arrange full access for
you.
5. Do not bother wasting energy emailing photobucket about it etc. Their
Facebook and Twitter accounts and their own blogs are overwhelmed with
global screeching, most of which they are deleting as it is posted it
seems, and they are ignoring the complaints of their 15 Million members, so
use your time to transfer and safeguard your images instead.
6. DO visit your account at www.photobucket.com and add SOMETHING to your
account. Just uploading many random image keeps your account "active". It
may be that photobucket deletes or closes accounts with no notice, they
deem "inactive" to solve their storage issue costs, so keep one step ahead
of them, by sidestepping that ASAP.
URGENT WARNING* if you use, or have ever used, photobucket on stampboards
Most stampboarders show their images via them being hosted on
www.photobucket.com
They are huge. Operating for 14 years, (once owned by News Corp)
Photobucket hosts more than 15 **BILLION** images, from 100 million unique
global registered members - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photobucket
This week photobucket pulled off the largest global Corporate Ransom Demand
that anyone can remember.
With no email warning of any kind to users, BILLIONS of picture links on
forums and Twitter, etc, were deliberately removed and broken, and replaced
with a "Please update your account to enable 3rd party hosting" Ransom
Demand message.
From zero a year cost, Photobucket now demands EACH user pays them
$US399.99 ($A525 pa!) in order for ANY of your images saved here for years
to be displayed to others.
This has caused global outcry of course, as 100 MILLION unique folks
globally use them to display images on Bulletin Boards, blogs, ebay,
Craig’s list, and Twitter (photobucket were their official image site!) and
other social media etc.
This thought bubble was rolled out by a trained chip it appears, with no
system whatever - region, country, continents, amount of images etc are not
part of it - a total and unfathomable mess.
As there are other well established, totally free, or very low cost image
hosting alternatives out there, it was the dumbest Corporate move since the
"New Coke" fiasco!
There are legal and all kinds of Consumer Affairs actions and so on
occurring in the USA of course, but for stampboards, in the here and now,
it has caused an issue, as for a million other hobby and special interest
boards.
We are advising 6 things
1. Despite them acting exactly like Ukrainian "WannaCry" Ransom Gangsters,
instead of a huge American Corporation, do NOT delete your account in anger
as I was first inclined to do. Do not move around files or folders. It is
possible someone in there might come to their senses this week, and
backtrack on this on the global outrage cuts in. Their income now all comes
from the barrage of annoying pop-up ads and videos on their site, and the
advertisers will have pulled out in droves I am sure. No-one legit company
wants to be connected to Gangsters.
2. As we have urged for years, sign up NOW for a free www.IMGUR.com
account, and add new images to there, and if you wish, save your important
photobucket ones there. Even if by chance your PB images still show NOW,
they may well vanish tomorrow, if they go bust in a month, kiss them
goodbye. So do that NOW. Imgur is easy to use, totally free, and has been
far better and more stable than photobucket for years anyway simple
tutorial here - www.stampboards.com/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=53532
3. Download a copy of all your images right now stored in photobucket. As
I type they ALL are downloadable even if the Ransom Clock icon shows on
stampboards - again easy and simple to do, and you can then access/replace
them in future - www.stampboards.com/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=77822
4. stampboards as always, is fast and decisive to act, and we have set up
a place where those interested can swap over old images going back years if
you wish - you can do it for your own favourite threads and you can access
other member images too if you want, and help out - stampboards is a true
COMMUNITY and Gangsters will not prevail over Team Spirit -
www.stampboards.com/viewtopic.php?f=65&t=77850 - if you have spare time to
volunteer some time to assist let me know, and I'll arrange full access for
you.
5. Do not bother wasting energy emailing photobucket about it etc. Their
Facebook and Twitter accounts and their own blogs are overwhelmed with
global screeching, most of which they are deleting as it is posted it
seems, and they are ignoring the complaints of their 15 Million members, so
use your time to transfer and safeguard your images instead.
6. DO visit your account at www.photobucket.com and add SOMETHING to your
account. Just uploading many random image keeps your account "active". It
may be that photobucket deletes or closes accounts with no notice, they
deem "inactive" to solve their storage issue costs, so keep one step ahead
of them, by sidestepping that ASAP.