Photobucket

[jackary]

Can anybody tell me what has happened to Photobucket. It used to be an informative site showing information about photos that have been uploaded, enabling comments and how many views etc. All that seems to have disappeared (At least from my photos). Now it seems to be just sales site omitting comments etc and allegiances to facebook, trending? and lots of things of that ilk. Makes one feel that they regard you as just another punter read mug. Am I doing something wrong or is it Photobucket thats changed.
Alan

[PStechPaul]

I don't use Photobucket and when I went to their site it does seem to push all sorts of "products". I entered a link to a picture in someone's "bucket" and I could see the image but an annoying "wiggling" popup claimed that I needed an "upgrade" to my media viewer. I usually recommend http://tinypic.com/ - it has a pop-up for a "PC cleaner", but at least the home page is directly related to uploading and resizing images.

Remember that these are all "free" and TANSTAAFL, and you get what you pay for and "free" usually means getting something useful (an asset) along with something you don't want (a debit, or liability) which may balance in your favor but usually more to the benefit of the service provider and their level of "greed". I prefer a paid hosting site, like www.1and1.com, where for about $5/month I have virtually unlimited storage and a unique domain name.

[Axkiker]

Im not real thrilled with PB either. Just doesnt seem that user friendly to me.

[J Tiers]

Seems to work OK if you are a long-time user.

[oldtiffie]

As a long-time user I have no problem either - so I agree with JTiers.

There are frequent changes but a bit of patience and perseverance usually sets me right.

[lakeside53]

I also have zero problem with it.

[Lew Hartswick]

I haven't use it in a whie but the last time I did it worked OK . When they make those major "updates"
it always takes me a while to re-figgure it out. :-)
...lew...

[jackary]

I consider myself to be a long time user but have to agree with PStechPaul. From now on I think I will become an ex long time user.
Alan

[Ed ke6bnl]

Can anybody tell me what has happened to Photobucket. It used to be an informative site showing information about photos that have been uploaded, enabling comments and how many views etc. All that seems to have disappeared (At least from my photos). Now it seems to be just sales site omitting comments etc and allegiances to facebook, trending? and lots of things of that ilk. Makes one feel that they regard you as just another punter read mug. Am I doing something wrong or is it Photobucket thats changed.
Alan

I just went to tinypic and realized I had already signed up for it. BUT what I like about photobucket is that I can have pic. from phone auto download to the app I do not see that for tinypic. But tinypic sure loads and works faster then photobucket

[RichR]

The Photobucket pages load a lot slower than Tinypic. It drives me a little nuts when forum members post a link to Photobucket rather use IMG tags
because of the slow response times when browsing pictures directly at the site.
Interestingly enough, this appears at the bottom of the Tinypic web page:

© 2004-2014 TinyPic®, a Photobucket Video & Photo Sharing Company

I hope they don't add any improvements to slow this site down.

[Barrington]

From the Tinypic FAQ page (http://tinypic.com/faq.php):-

Q: How long are images kept?
A: The images are kept until they have not been viewed for 90 days. After 90 days have elapsed, your image may be removed.

Archived threads might start looking a bit empty if a lot of people switch to it...

Cheers

.

[PStechPaul]

That's why it's a good idea for the forum to host the images. For important threads that are archived, they could be converted to PDF. I did that for some threads that were in a now discontinued dog forum. There are methods (such as wget) whereby the content of forums may be retrieved in their totality, but generally such methods only retrieve the HTML. However, there are ways to have it also download image links so that they won't be lost. There is a "Web Archive" format (MHT) that combines everything in a single (but sometimes huge) file.

This is a problem with forums that have valuable content that serves as a reference for various topics. There is no guarantee that the forum will be continued in perpetuity, as I saw with the Cesar Millan forum I mentioned, and a similar situation for image hosting sites like Photobucket and Tinypic. Using a private virtual server as I do for my images only guarantees retention and accessibility as long as I maintain it. I have been able to maintain the integrity of links by using my own domain name and maintaining the same directory structure when I switched from Dreamhost to 1and1 some time ago, but the content is secure only as long as I maintain the domains and the servers.

More info:
http://www.desktoppublishingforum.co...hp/t-7061.html (discusses MHTML web archive)
http://www.web2pdfconvert.com/ (converts web page directly to PDF)

Here is the result of using the web2pdfconvert on-line app:

http://enginuitysystems.com/files/bbs-homeshopmachinist-net_Photobucket.pdf

To see how it handles images from Photobucket:

http://enginuitysystems.com/files/bbs-homeshopmachinist-net_65149-1.pdf

[Lew Hartswick]

As to Tinypic someone should give them a hint. It's a real pita to try and sign up when the ads cover
the place to enter data. That's enough to quell any enthusiasm for the site. :-(
...lew...

[Seastar]

I've been using Imageshack for years with good results but now they have switched to a pay mode that is almost impossible to figure out.
If they wanted to go to pay why didn't they leave the rest of the site alone?
It worked fine.
I hate "upgrades".
Bill

[PStechPaul]

As a tip for Photobucket users, you can get the direct URL for the image by either right-clicking and selecting "Copy image location", or use their tool button on the right for "Direct". Then the image displays directly in the post and makes things easier to follow:

http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa294/oldtiffie/Lathe_misc/I-Fanger3.jpg