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General Chat => Off Topic => Topic started by: Jim_Campbell on 10 July, 2017, 09:34:36 AM

Title: Broken Links: An Apology
Post by: Jim_Campbell on 10 July, 2017, 09:34:36 AM
Just an apology for the profusion of broken image links you'll find in my posts as of today, including a lot of the art comp stuff. I'd been using Photobucket but, as discussed elsewhere, they want you to upgrade your account for the privilege of being able to link to your own images and, better yet, if you don't then they will retroactively break the links to all your old images, too.

The cost of preserving your linked images? $400/yr.

You read that right.

So I deleted my Photobucket account this morning and told them why. Frankly, I hope they go bankrupt.

But I'm very sorry for the number of broken links this is going to cause in my posts here.
Title: Re: Broken Links: An Apology
Post by: Tjm86 on 10 July, 2017, 10:26:33 AM
Quote from: Jim_Campbell on 10 July, 2017, 09:34:36 AM

The cost of preserving your linked images? $400/yr.


That has to be the greatest concern about shifting everything to the cloud.  How long will it be before those cheap(ish) storage deals start to become more and more expensive?  Once the likes of Google, Apple and Microsoft have moved us all away from local storage they could well have us over a barrel. 

I'm a little concerned that I'm channelling my inner tin-foil hat wearer.  Then I remember the new paedo/stalker feature on snapchat and remind myself that I most likely can't imagine the worst that some of these guys can do.
Title: Re: Broken Links: An Apology
Post by: Spikes on 10 July, 2017, 01:28:23 PM
IMGUR is pretty good, Jim, if that's of any use to you? You can use their service without signing up as well.
Title: Re: Broken Links: An Apology
Post by: Jim_Campbell on 10 July, 2017, 02:03:47 PM
Quote from: Spikes on 10 July, 2017, 01:28:23 PM
IMGUR is pretty good, Jim, if that's of any use to you? You can use their service without signing up as well.

I have an account with them that I'd forgotten about, so I'll use them going forward. I don't have time to salvage the hundreds of images on Photobucket, sadly. In theory, I should still have copies of everything saved down locally, but in practise, I don't think I have...
Title: Re: Broken Links: An Apology
Post by: Eamonn Clarke on 11 July, 2017, 11:15:15 AM
Same here.
I had upgraded to the ad-free account because the adverts and the crashing shockwave plug in were driving me mad. So my image links will stay good until the end of 2018 apparently. But I'm not going to go from paying a couple of dollars a month to $400 a year.
So I am switching to Imgur as well.
Which sadly means that all the podcast cover images in my Mega City Book Club thread will eventually stop working which is annoying.
And they've lost another paying customer.
Title: Re: Broken Links: An Apology
Post by: Jim_Campbell on 11 July, 2017, 11:32:43 AM
Oh... that's cheered me up. I've just discovered the option to bulk download my Photobucket library, which is chugging away now, just ahead of the account's automated closure, so I can at least stick stuff back up at Imgur to provide a working link for stuff like my blog.

Sadly, I can't fix the links on this forum, because I can't edit old posts to amend the image link to a working one. If anyone finds a post they desperately need to see the image in, post a reply to it (so it comes to the top of the forum) and I'll see if a kindly mod will update the link for me.
Title: Re: Broken Links: An Apology
Post by: IndigoPrime on 11 July, 2017, 11:36:08 AM
Quote from: Tjm86 on 10 July, 2017, 10:26:33 AMThat has to be the greatest concern about shifting everything to the cloud.  How long will it be before those cheap(ish) storage deals start to become more and more expensive?  Once the likes of Google, Apple and Microsoft have moved us all away from local storage they could well have us over a barrel.
It depends on their motivation. With Apple, the aim is to get people to buy more shiny things, and add convenience, while also plumping up the services bottom line. So there's a balancing act there, and the company's recent knifing of pricing suggests they'll continue to be miserly at the low-end but reasonable elsewhere. Outside of Apple and the other majors, I suspect desperation will be what leads to Photobucket-like pricing. (Soundcloud is in a similar space. Its annual 'pro unlimited' pass is absurdly expensive, and yet there's no useful mid-point. The 'pro' option is basically an upsell combined with a joke.)
Title: Re: Broken Links: An Apology
Post by: von Boom on 11 July, 2017, 08:24:45 PM
Just deleted my account also. You want how much? Sod you photobucket, or maybe you want me to pronounce it photo-boukaaay.
Title: Re: Broken Links: An Apology
Post by: Krakajac on 12 July, 2017, 04:20:00 AM
"just ahead of the account's automated closure..."

Is this across the board - on just in relation to your own account?

I'm feverishly sorting out my PB account at present - I'm hoping I've got plenty of time to download everything, etc.
Title: Re: Broken Links: An Apology
Post by: Jim_Campbell on 12 July, 2017, 06:11:14 AM
Quote from: Krakajac on 12 July, 2017, 04:20:00 AM
"just ahead of the account's automated closure..."

Is this across the board - on just in relation to your own account?

Sorry for any alarm there -- when you ask to delete your account there's a 24-hr delay before it actually goes. If you haven't deleted the account, nothing should happen.
Title: Re: Broken Links: An Apology
Post by: Krakajac on 12 July, 2017, 11:03:24 AM
Ah, right you are.  Thanks for clarifying! :)
Title: Re: Broken Links: An Apology
Post by: Buttonman on 12 July, 2017, 02:22:47 PM
Is this a rolling change because mine still seems to be working as normal? Maybe they'll get to the 'W's soon! I have only used 28% of my bucket so is it only high volume users they are targeting? I appreciate they can't provide a service for free forever but $400 is a joke. The uptake ill be a small fraction of 1%.
Title: Re: Broken Links: An Apology
Post by: flip-r mk2 on 12 July, 2017, 02:28:58 PM
I've only used 4%, but I'm getting the upgrade message now :)

filippo
Title: Re: Broken Links: An Apology
Post by: Jim_Campbell on 12 July, 2017, 02:37:41 PM
Quote from: Buttonman on 12 July, 2017, 02:22:47 PM
Is this a rolling change because mine still seems to be working as normal? Maybe they'll get to the 'W's soon! I have only used 28% of my bucket so is it only high volume users they are targeting? I appreciate they can't provide a service for free forever but $400 is a joke. The uptake ill be a small fraction of 1%.

Can't be anything to do with usage — I was only on about 6%.
Title: Re: Broken Links: An Apology
Post by: Buttonman on 12 July, 2017, 03:21:05 PM
Maybe it's the low users they are after!
Title: Re: Broken Links: An Apology
Post by: Fungus on 14 July, 2017, 02:07:30 PM
It did seem very ad-heavy the last few times I've been in. Gotten silly now.
Title: Re: Broken Links: An Apology
Post by: Jim_Campbell on 14 July, 2017, 02:38:42 PM
Quote from: Fungus on 14 July, 2017, 02:07:30 PM
It did seem very ad-heavy the last few times I've been in. Gotten silly now.

Just $130 a year to kill the ads... but not be able to, y'know, actually share your images anywhere on the internet. Bargain.
Title: Re: Broken Links: An Apology
Post by: Buttonman on 30 August, 2017, 09:20:04 PM
I'm gone too - The $399 offer to stay didn't tempt. Their business model must have moved to looking after a select few and sod the masses.

Imigur seems good but like Jim and Eammon all my years of links to photos are now gone. It just demonstrates how transient everything will be now - future historians will have nothing to see - no physical images and a load of broken links. So much easier in the old days when you got 36 blurry prints for five quid.