Photobucket war on us

[Garland Bayley]

Now that Photobucket has declared war on us and wants to exhort $400 a year from us to continue to get our pictures to appear here, you might want to try flickr.

I had some trouble figuring how to get pictures from flickr to appear here so I asked on the thread
http://www.golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,40551.0.html
and got some help that you might find useful.

[John Kavanaugh]

Here is a link to an article explaining the greatest thing ever done for personal memories and future conquests: http://geeknewscentral.com/2017/07/02/photobucket-charging-subscription-fee/

[Steve Lang]

   Yes, very unfortunate... I've used Photobucket for many years but I've only used 9% of my free space.. I think that's good and will definitely be moving to Flickr

... always like the edit function..
... seems first they try to extort $ to go add free, and they've made it a small pain with all the ads that pop up.  I almost went for that but on principle didn't
... its kinda like Hotel California Cloud Computing, luckily i have copies of everything
hang around long enough and you see a lot of things change, oh well, play on.

[Garland Bayley]

They originally provided the img bracketing already in place for posting. Eventually they changed that so that they embedded img bracketing in the url bracketing so that if you clicked on a picture you went to their website. I figured that was a good move, as it seemed to me it would provide them exposure, i.e., free advertising of sorts.

We make no money from using their website and providing this exposure. I could understand if people were using the 3rd party hosting for commercial gain. However, in essence we are providing a public service to people looking for golf information.

[Ben Malach]

I personally have found Imgur to be the best for creating albums and has no hosting fee.

[Sean_A]

I switched to Flickr recently because I couldn't cope with Photobucket.  It seems in the past year the site is incredibly slow and finicky.  The big problem with Flickr is no editing capability...I like to crop pix and that function has been down for yonks.  Still, slowly my pix will be leaving the Photobucket site and migrating.

Ciao

[Ulrich Mayring]

You have to be aware of the fact that any service that is provided for free today will cost money tomorrow. If you are not prepared to either pay for a service or move off it once it starts charging, then your best option is to self-host. Which is what I do for my pics. It costs me a few bucks per month to have my own server, which not only hosts photos, but also my email, website and everything else that I wouldn't trust anyone else with.

However, what I don't understand is people getting angry when a free service suddenly starts charging money. That step is inevitable and everyone, who charges money for their work, should know that!

Ulrich

[Jon Cavalier]

I switched to Flickr recently because I couldn't cope with Photobucket.  It seems in the past year the site is incredibly slow and finicky.  The big problem with Flickr is no editing capability...I like to crop pix and that function has been down for yonks.  Still, slowly my pix will be leaving the Photobucket site and migrating.

Ciao

Sean:

I don't use it often, and when I do, it's always for cropping tweaks like you, but the editing function works for me in both the official Flickr app and the third party Flickstackr app that I use. You may want to give that a try.

One note of caution - I'm a big fan of Flickr in general for its cost (free), space (1TB), functionality/easy embedding, and it's album and share capabilities, and I've been using it for a long time. But I'm somewhat concerned about its future in light of the Verizon acquisition. So if you use it, make sure that it's not your only backup.

Which gives me a chance to once again tout Google Photos and to again say that everyone who has more than a handful of photos should be using this excellent free service/app. I won't go through the long list of terrific features, but its only drawback is that it doesn't currently support direct embedding of photos like Flickr does. Eventually it will, and when that time comes, it will be the only online photo service you'll ever need.

[Sean_A]

I switched to Flickr recently because I couldn't cope with Photobucket.  It seems in the past year the site is incredibly slow and finicky.  The big problem with Flickr is no editing capability...I like to crop pix and that function has been down for yonks.  Still, slowly my pix will be leaving the Photobucket site and migrating.

Ciao

Sean:

I don't use it often, and when I do, it's always for cropping tweaks like you, but the editing function works for me in both the official Flickr app and the third party Flickstackr app that I use. You may want to give that a try.

One note of caution - I'm a big fan of Flickr in general for its cost (free), space (1TB), functionality/easy embedding, and it's album and share capabilities, and I've been using it for a long time. But I'm somewhat concerned about its future in light of the Verizon acquisition. So if you use it, make sure that it's not your only backup.

Which gives me a chance to once again tout Google Photos and to again say that everyone who has more than a handful of photos should be using this excellent free service/app. I won't go through the long list of terrific features, but its only drawback is that it doesn't currently support direct embedding of photos like Flickr does. Eventually it will, and when that time comes, it will be the only online photo service you'll ever need.

Jon

This is the message I see when I try to edit.

Photo Editor Upgrade
The edit photo feature on the Flickr photo page is currently disabled pending an upgrade.Very shortly, you’ll have access to a more stable, more feature rich photo editor to complement your Flickr experience!Sorry for the inconvenience of this unexpected upgrade, but we’re confident it will be worth the wait.
I am eagerly awaiting embedding from Google!

Ciao

[Keith Grande]

+1 on Google Photo

[Garland Bayley]

...

However, what I don't understand is people getting angry when a free service suddenly starts charging money. That step is inevitable and everyone, who charges money for their work, should know that!

...

It seems to me that there is a long history of free software packages that have never charged money. Often times the free packages had limitations. The trade off is usually limited quality for free vs. better quality with a charge. Photobucket has been awful for years (see Sean's comments above). Why would anyone pay for something so bad. If they were willing to pay, they would get something better.

[Michael Whitaker]

Jon - Google Photos does allow direct embedding. Open a photo, right-click on photo and select "copy image location", paste location into image link on GCA post. Voila! I only use Google Photos to post on GCA. Has never failed.

Whit

PS - you can get 100GB of extra storage for your Google Drive for $1.99 per month! I store all photos and video there. Super easy.

[Kalen Braley]

...

However, what I don't understand is people getting angry when a free service suddenly starts charging money. That step is inevitable and everyone, who charges money for their work, should know that!

...

It seems to me that there is a long history of free software packages that have never charged money. Often times the free packages had limitations. The trade off is usually limited quality for free vs. better quality with a charge. Photobucket has been awful for years (see Sean's comments above). Why would anyone pay for something so bad. If they were willing to pay, they would get something better.

Photobucket has chosen the "crack dealer on your local corner" route.  Got its users hooked and then charged them an arm and a leg when they thought it customers are vulnerable.


Except the difference is there are other free/low cost options, so they're really just shooting themselves in the foot.  Sure some may pay for one month to retrieve their photos if needs be, but I suspect its a desperation move by Photobucket, the proverbial last gasp of air to get some extortion money before they close shop. As has been said, their site has been lousy for a couple of years now... agonizingly slow and a clunky user interface.


P.S.  I have no trouble with going to a pay model mid-stream, but to go from $0 to $400 per year is just dumb.  If they went to something cheaper like $50/year that allowed 3rd party hosting, they would have have probably survived this. Bye Felicia!

[Jon Cavalier]

Michael: Thanks, that's good to know. Hopefully they'll add support for direct BBCode embedding, but your method is certainly an easy workaround. Great tip.


Kalen: Well said. I can't image what else Photobucket's strategy could be other than wringing a few bucks out of people who need to pull down their photos. After all, why would anyone pay $400 a year for a mediocre service that Google, Flickr, and Amazon do better and for free, and Apple also does better and with impressive integration and synchronization across devices for a fraction of the cost.


I use Google photos with autoupload for free as my backup, Flickr for sharing albums and images here, and I pay Apple $9.99 a month for 5TB of iCloud photo storage. Normal people could certainly get by with only one of these. But I have no clue why anyone would pay $33/mo. for a lesser, antiquated service with mediocre functionality and minimal support when these other options exist. 

[Marty Bonnar]

Jon - Google Photos does allow direct embedding. Open a photo, right-click on photo and select "copy image location", paste location into image link on GCA post. Voila! I only use Google Photos to post on GCA. Has never failed.

Whit

PS - you can get 100GB of extra storage for your Google Drive for $1.99 per month! I store all photos and video there. Super easy.

Don't seem to be able to do that 'copy image location' thang on the IPad. Any thoughts anyone? Bueller? Bueller?


F.

[David Davis]

I'm using Imageshack.


They started charging a while back and I imagine it's where they all are going. It's hard to run an online business these days. It's not good if Google takes over the world, just wait to see what will happen then once they have run everyone else out of business.


I think it costs like 30 bucks a year or something for Imageshack and seems functional enough.


I guess the others must be the same. If figure it's worth the investment to share photos with the great people of this site!

[Tommy Williamsen]

Jon - Google Photos does allow direct embedding. Open a photo, right-click on photo and select "copy image location", paste location into image link on GCA post. Voila! I only use Google Photos to post on GCA. Has never failed.

Whit

PS - you can get 100GB of extra storage for your Google Drive for $1.99 per month! I store all photos and video there. Super easy.

Don't seem to be able to do that 'copy image location' thang on the IPad. Any thoughts anyone? Bueller? Bueller?


F.

I can't seem to figure it out on my iPad either.

[Garland Bayley]

It seems they have escalated the war on us. I have been downloading my albums to move them on to flickr. Today my downloads began to be defective with pictures that will not display correctly on my computer. Anyone else experiencing such a problem?

[Eric Smith]

Not sure about this war.


I have used Photobucket since I joined this site in 2007 and have no issues with them. I pay 2.99 per month and my pics are in my posts as they always have been.

[Michael Whitaker]

Jon - Google Photos does allow direct embedding. Open a photo, right-click on photo and select "copy image location", paste location into image link on GCA post. Voila! I only use Google Photos to post on GCA. Has never failed.

Whit

PS - you can get 100GB of extra storage for your Google Drive for $1.99 per month! I store all photos and video there. Super easy.

Don't seem to be able to do that 'copy image location' thang on the IPad. Any thoughts anyone? Bueller? Bueller?


F.

I can't seem to figure it out on my iPad either.

Martin and Tommy,


I can't make it work on my iPad, either... as I described. It works on a laptop, but can't figure it out on the iPad. I have an old app called "Web Albums" by Pixite that organizes my Google photos. That app will give me a link to a Google photo that works on GCA, but that app no longer appears to be available in the App Store. This app allows me to post photos on GCA using my Google photos. For some reason the Google Photos app does not provide that link. I can't find another app that will provide the proper link, so I guess this will only work with a desktop or laptop until the Google app starts providing a sharing link that will work.

[Garland Bayley]

Not sure about this war.


I have used Photobucket since I joined this site in 2007 and have no issues with them. I pay 2.99 per month and my pics are in my posts as they always have been.

They just haven't sniffed you out for using them as a 3rd party host yet.

[Kalen Braley]

Not sure about this war.


I have used Photobucket since I joined this site in 2007 and have no issues with them. I pay 2.99 per month and my pics are in my posts as they always have been.

They just haven't sniffed you out for using them as a 3rd party host yet.

Or he could be grand fathered in given he's been a paying customer for what I would assume has been several years...

[Garland Bayley]

Not sure about this war.


I have used Photobucket since I joined this site in 2007 and have no issues with them. I pay 2.99 per month and my pics are in my posts as they always have been.

They just haven't sniffed you out for using them as a 3rd party host yet.

Or he could be grand fathered in given he's been a paying customer for what I would assume has been several years...

Or, they could be waiting until they have hit all the freeloaders like you before turning their attention to the ad-free third party hosting.

[Tommy Williamsen]

I tried to post a photo using Google photos but no luck. When I right click I don't see "copy image location." I do see "copy image address" but when I paste the link no picture comes up just a long series of letters and numbers.

[Mike Sweeney]

I tried to post a photo using Google photos but no luck. When I right click I don't see "copy image location." I do see "copy image address" but when I paste the link no picture comes up just a long series of letters and numbers.

You have to move it to your G+ account, make it public and post as before. The default image is smaller, so change the initial block  to "img width=800" (don't use the quotes,  use [ and ] - I have to use the quotes here so you see them).