[FishinMatt]

On a side note I noticed their site went from user friendly to choke full of ads and popups about a year ago. I had a very hard time navigating the site from my phone and the mobile app I had for Samsung phones would not let me upload pics or view my library anymore.

 

[RonG]

Yes! Some of the best fish pics ever hosted on Photobucket are still working.

 

[catchafew]

^^^ funny stuff Ron, must have been before my time or to fishing sites I don't frequent.

 

[RonG]

Chicagolandfshing.com, a blogger named Zombie Fish. Active from 2010 to 2013ish, then was abducted by aliens or something. Poof! gone... I had to go digging about 25 pages in their forums to find those pics.

The text, fishing reports, tales were odder than the pics. (Flying local species, levitating talking fish heads, water witches, aliens, lots of radiation and mutations and generalized paranoia of the paranormal.)

I was reminded of his/her signature line:

Read the Zombie Fish Chronicles. You will learn things you thought you never knew.

Just when I think I've made sense of that and that it's pure genius, I start to doubt if it makes any kind of sense at all.

 

[RonG]

Maybe ImageShack is the answer for now. Because of the PhotoSuckit debacle, they are offering annual photo hosting for 1/2 off ($18.99). Sure beats $399.99. No ads either. PhotoBucket has been horrible in recent years. The site is almost unnavigable with all the ads that pop up and cover the page and won't close. :evil: Also self-starting video ads that they say wont affect my upload speed. :roll: I've caught them trying to put adware and malware on my PC too. Disgusting!

 

[Woohoodude11]

I'm guessing this whole thing is for the more avid users of PB? I have 1% of my storage used on there (usually pretty good at deleting stuff I don't use on there). Seems like all my stuff is still up on here.

 

[joetrain]

Help an old man out here. Why would a person need to use Photobucket or any other image hosting site?
~JOE~

 

[WaterGuy]

Images moved and account deleted. Done and done.

On another note...I'm equal parts amused, impressed, and disturbed by those zombie fish photos. Gonna have to check out the "chronicles". Guess I've been away from CLF long enough to miss that.

 

[Woohoodude11]

Help an old man out here. Why would a person need to use Photobucket or any other image hosting site?
~JOE~

For when people want to directly share a picture on their posts, or in most cases our avatars.

**Edit** Photobucket doesn't require you to downsize the size or quality of an image to post it either, you can keep it at full resolution and still post to a forum without bogging down the forum's server.

Like my pet gar eating a Lee's Bait Shop minnow

 

[RonG]

Help an old man out here. Why would a person need to use Photobucket or any other image hosting site?
~JOE~

1) In the early days of most fishing forums, or forums for whatever, there was no storage on site for uploading your pics. It was too costly for the owner to have the storage and then the bandwidth for photos from many members. So you needed some place like PB to upload your photos, then embed them into your postings. Ebayers and craiglisters or others selling things use image sites for stuff they are selling. There's a bunch of ebayers now screwed with what PB just did to them.

2) Cross-sites postings. JMdog does it..I've done it. Sometimes you might put the same fishing report on 2 or 3 sites. It's easier to use a image site, upload those pics once, embed the links once, then cut and paste the completed report text from one site to another. I've done 10 or more pics per report. Imagine uploading all those pics separately onto 2 or 3 sites, then inserting all the links separately to make your report. :shock:

3) There's another Chi area site that won't let you use imaging sites. You only have the option of uploading your pics onto that site if you want to use pics. Sorry, but my pics are MY pics and not the property of some fishing site. I've had a site or two mess with me unfairly. If they are going to screw with me, I reserve the right to pack up my toys (pics) and go home with them. A long time ago, I posted some reports of me and my kids fishing. The wifey had a different idea about putting up the kids pics on the www, with all the weirdos out there, and asked me to remove them. Kind of hard to do when some forum now controls them.

Maybe you put up some pics that give away a spot and you realize it was a mistake to post them and want to alter or delete them. Unless, you control the pics by having them on your own image site account, you might be stuck.

4) I've seen a few Chicago fishing sites fold up. It would be better to have your pics on an image site (and your own hard drive) than to have them fold up with the defunct site.

5) Easy library-ing and access. I'm always resurrecting old pics and posting if appropriate to a current discussion.

Like my pet gar eating a Lee's Bait Shop minnow

Cool pic! But it's a proven fact that 4 out of 5 gars prefer 'gar-lick' bread over minnows.

 

[RonG]

Well, PhotoSuckit caught on and the hack I applied to make my blocked pics appear is not working after only a few days. I guess they are 100% committed to angering and alienating their long-time members.

I just read that a lot of Amazon sellers just got screwed. They were all excited for their big Amazon Prime Day Sale and lost all the pics for their ads thanks to what PB did (again, without any prior warning) :evil:

 

[Rooger]

So what's the answer? It's been a while since I posted pics and when I did, I used snapfish (I know, old school, but it worked). It was so easy to just find the url in the pic properties and link it to a post on WCF. I just tried and I guess they've gone the same route. Is the only solution to pay for a hosting site?

 

[RonG]

Is the only solution to pay for a hosting site?

Probably. If everyone fleeing from PB goes to the remaining free sites, it's likely they will be eventually forced to do the same.

I'm still leaning towards ImageShack. Because of the PB crap, they are offering an annual at 1/2 off, $18.99. Unlimited storage. Unlimited bandwidth. Linking to forums and other places. I'd probably use it for ebay too so it sounds like a good deal. The site is so peaceful compared to PB with pop up ads and videos covering your entire screen, popping up faster than you can close them. (some deliberately made not to close when you click on the X)

 

[Rambler]

So what's the answer?

How's about the old school approach? Upload your digital pics to your PC. Edit them & post them to whatever you want. No fees. No risk. Permanent library of your stuff.

I'm so paranoid I have an off-line backup external drive that I update regularly. That way if my PC gets infected the chance of my off-line thing getting it are minimal.

 

[Lip_Yanker]

So what's the answer?

How's about the old school approach? Upload your digital pics to your PC. Edit them & post them to whatever you want. No fees. No risk. Permanent library of your stuff.

I'm so paranoid I have an off-line backup external drive that I update regularly. That way if my PC gets infected the chance of my off-line thing getting it are minimal.

Does this work on WCF? I thought you couldn't upload direct from a PC or flash drive/card to the site?

Will have to do some testing now I suppose.

ETA- It does work uploading direct from a flash/ sd card. Added pictures to my "Rods & Reels" thread in the Trading Post.

 

[RonG]

So what's the answer?

How's about the old school approach? Upload your digital pics to your PC. Edit them & post them to whatever you want. No fees. No risk. Permanent library of your stuff.

I'm so paranoid I have an off-line backup external drive that I update regularly. That way if my PC gets infected the chance of my off-line thing getting it are minimal.

Does this work on WCF? I thought you couldn't upload direct from a PC or flash drive/card to the site?

You can now and I know it's been available for awhile, probably not from the beginning of WCF. Just click on the "Upload attachment" button just below the box you are typing your post message into.

Well, I just finished downloading my 4000+ pics from my 3 PB accounts. What a beast! There were so many separate albums that had to be downloaded individually off the slow PB site. All the while playing whack-a-mole with the nonstop pop up ads that cover up your screen. I guess I'm lucky...I've been reading of many who have been unable to download their pics there.

I'm done. Photo Bucket you now can go out of business now. Even if you change your ways because of the backlash, your members hate and no longer have any trust in you. :thumbdown: :thumbdown:

 

[minstrel]

Agreed there Ron... they finally got around to me so I was downloading all my folders too and their process takes forrrreeeevvvverrrr! What a load of crap that place has become. I've never seen such invasive ads. Ads on top of adds, ads that hijack your screen while you are trying to do anything and that half the time don't dissappear! :evil: I'm glad to be done with that place now.

Talk about shooting a machine gun into your feet... I mean they could have gone with a different approach and still been rolling in money, as people would have paid to let their old photos live. A 'grandfather' account for a one time $14.95 payment would been a world of difference. But instead they go for the all or nothing with people fleeing their $399.99 ransom. It's unbelievable someone approved this was the way to go. What a nightmare.

 

[Lip_Yanker]

Welp, they finally caught up to me. Probably due to my last name beginning with W, just like me and Duane Z. back in high school, last in line for everything. lol Anyway, just got my official e-mail from photo slut that my account is now disabled for turd party hosting. I like so many others, will not be upgrading my membership.

Wonder if I can apply for a disabled parking permit now like my Dad has?

.

 

[Rambler]

Have to say (again) the cloud sucks for this sort of stuff. Much better off keeping your shots on an external drive & uploading them to sites when needed. Not as convenient but cheaper (certified by the AACB) and safer.

 

[Lip_Yanker]

Never tried it, but does fleabay let you upload pictures direct from a camera/card?

I've got a few things I'd like to list, but won't if I can't upload pictures direct. Maybe will give it a try and see if it works.

.