THIS MAY HAPPEN TO YOU IF YOU DON'T USE ZEALOT'S IMAGE HOSTER! - A reminder of some sorts...

Revell-Fan

Co-Administrator
Staff member
Administrator
Moderator
I often save build threads and tutorials to have an offline copy in case the site or parts thereof (pictures) disappear. To do so I use the File > Save function of my browser. This works very well - unless Photobucket is involved. Then (and only then) the pictures are not saved. This is very frustrating and forces me to switch to other ways to achieve my goal. So I make a screenshot of the page in question or print it as a *.pdf file. For this reason alone I am no PB fan at all and it annoys me VERY MUCH when I have to take that route.

A few days ago Photobucket has succeeded not only to upset me BUT their own clients a big deal: They changed their politics and now charges for the ability to have images embedded in web sites. The images are not gone but no-one can see them reading a thread any longer. If you don't upgrade to a new status your images can only be seen on PB's web page. This upgrade "only" costs about 40 bucks a month - or, if you need that feature for a longer term, 399 squids a year. YAY. Here is a link to the news article:

http://uk.pcmag.com/webcom/90124/news/photobucket-breaks-image-links-across-the-internet

Apparently their clients have not been informed about that crucial change, however, I can't confirm that because I am not using PB. Maybe they did contact their clients and the mail just went straight into the junk mail folder, who knows. :/ If they really did not inform their clients the decision of theirs to change their policy is very questionable.

People are worried and changing to other free hosting sites like imgur. However:

https://neosmart.net/blog/2017/what-happens-when-imgur-goes-out-of-business/

As you can see, there is no safe alternative - unless you store your images at the forum where they are supposed to be displayed.

THANK GOODNESS Zealot has a great picture hosting service. Despite the recent trouble caused by 3rd party attacks I cannot stress enough to use our picture service. It is free and your pics are save. Major kudos go to our tech team, @cg admin and the people at Crowdgather who provide and maintain this great functionality and service. THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH FOR THAT!!! ClaphandsClaphandsClaphands
 

zathros

*****SENIOR ADMINISTRATOR*****
Staff member
Administrator
Moderator
Thank you for this write up. Yes, we have had problems. The forum is free though, and so it is really just an inconvenience, as we know eventually any problems will be fixed. This ransomware has destroyed many forums, and I think they are doomed unless they start hosting the pictures directly. That takes a a lot of memory, which is why they want picture hosting sites, but they risk destruction doing this. We got hit, and hit hard, but due to Sanjay's extreme effort, he saved the forum, and we did not lose any pictures or data.

That they (Photobucket) would charge $40 dollars a month is ridiculous. They already state they have the right to use any photo you post for any purpose (read the fine print) now they want to charge you for that asset? That's ridiculous. Some pencil pusher just destroyed that company.
 
Last edited:

dirkpitt289

Active Member
I was on many forums for years and had hosted all my photos via Photobucket. That footprint is now gone.... That was what killed forums for me. This is the first I've joined since then.
 
Top