Photobucket - Holding the internet to "Ransom"

[.Joel]

Quick version of the story, after users have been utilising the photobucket service for years they did a quiet update to their terms & conditions a few days ago and then people woke up to find their hosted images replaced with a notice that their account had been restricted / features disabled.  Even if you were a paying customer, now unless you upgrade to the $399USD/year account you can no longer share your photos on 3rd party websites.  

And this is exactly what I was discussing previously here in a Blog post in our News section....
http://www.extremekites.com.au/blogs/entry/198-because-history-matters/

Here's the image in place...

 

You can read more here: http://www.aqueous-digital.co.uk/social-media/why-is-photobucket-holding-the-internet-to-ransom 

Quote

Over the past five days, people have been waking up to find images that were previously showing on blogs, bulletin boards, auction sites and so on, had disappeared to be replaced with the Photobucket ‘P500’ error image.

One of the biggest issues, however, was that it came out of the blue. No one knew about it. There were no announcements, no emails warning people that it was about to happen and more importantly, no explanation.

 

A lot, and I mean a lot of older content on old websites has just disappeared throughout the internet overnight.

[andy666]

Sharing pictures on forums was the only reason to use photo bucket. There will be a lot of angry and disappointed internet users across the globe.

Lets ts see if mine is still working?

 

%5BURL=http://s644.photobucket.com/user/venn_1983/media/C7E32B43-B9D6-4B63-9B2A-8978E96353D1.jpg.html%5D%5BIMG%5Dhttp://i644.photobucket.com/albums/uu164/venn_1983/C7E32B43-B9D6-4B63-9B2A-8978E96353D1.jpg%5B/IMG%5D%5B/URL%5D

%5BURL=http://s644.photobucket.com/user/venn_1983/media/Kiting/f-arc%2004.jpg.html%5D%5BIMG%5Dhttp://i644.photobucket.com/albums/uu164/venn_1983/Kiting/f-arc%2004.jpg%5B/IMG%5D%5B/URL%5D

%5BURL=http://s644.photobucket.com/user/venn_1983/media/Kiting/DSC_4144.jpg.html%5D%5BIMG%5Dhttp://i644.photobucket.com/albums/uu164/venn_1983/Kiting/DSC_4144.jpg%5B/IMG%5D%5B/URL%5D

Hmm, that's interesting. The only one that worked is the one I embedded as a link rather then just copy and pasting the image link from photo bucket?

Update: just tested on another forum that still uses the old [/IMG] code and works fine. Maybe they haven't got to restricting my account yet...

[Kamikuza]

Huh.

Just copied and pasted the "direct" link . . . after fighting through the ads  wow, they're feral!

Oh wait, can anyone else see that?

[andy666]

I can see the pic @Kamikuza, but my picture in the post above was working to start with, but it looks like it's now been restricted.

[Kamikuza]

How are you linking?

[Chook]

 

6 hours ago, Kamikuza said:

Shiiiiit!!!!!! ............Do you reckon you've done it up tight enough, looking at the poor old allen key and your blister.

[Kamikuza]

Har! The two aren't related...!

It was the tool for my foil board, and I thought I'd destroyed the threads for the fuselage bolts in the aluminum mast...just a soft as shite tool.

[andy666]

They would of made more money from placing a banner ad at the bottom of every 3rd party hosted image, then the few people who will actually sign up for $400 a year. 

[plummet]

17 hours ago, Kamikuza said:

Huh.

Just copied and pasted the "direct" link . . . after fighting through the ads  wow, they're feral!

Oh wait, can anyone else see that?

That is not a Bondhus allen key.

 

[Kamikuza]

I'm being called a gorilla, aren't I?

[andy666]

Photobucket has a hack, type ~original at the end of the link (before [/IMG]) and the image will appear. Working for now at least....

[SoutherlyBuster]

Perhaps it is time to vote with your feet, move all your content to somewhere else and boycot the site. They can not keep afloat with out people using the site, no look see, no ads, no money.

[ssayre]

That's what I like so well about this site. I don't use any third party for posting pictures here. Just click and drag images from my desk top. I had to use photobucket on pkf because I was never smart enough to embed pictures directly in the post without it. Either way, I could care less if I live on through my kite pictures posted and definitely won't pay photonucket. It was always awful to use.  The only other forum I post pictures to is weber kettle club and that's because i can post pictures direct from my phone using their app. 

Ha, just learned I can upload direct from my phone here.

[Kamikuza]

On 7/7/2017 at 5:51 PM, andy666 said:

I can see the pic @Kamikuza, but my picture in the post above was working to start with, but it looks like it's now been restricted.

Gone now.

Try the hack cos I can't edit:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v506/Kamikuza/Kite Stuff/B372E174-552A-4991-92D6-C1C08194A662_zps0fjo4jso.jpg~original[/img]

[andy666]

14 hours ago, Kamikuza said:

Gone now.

Try the hack cos I can't edit:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v506/Kamikuza/Kite Stuff/B372E174-552A-4991-92D6-C1C08194A662_zps0fjo4jso.jpg~original[/img]

yeah I can't get yours to work either. XK keeps converting it to a hyperlink.

[Kamikuza]

Oh well. Most people went to photobucket because so many other sites blocked hot linking images...

click this

It'll still work if you Link it, but then you've got to wait for ads to load. And everyone can just click through your gallery