Photobucket is Changing

[Seabody]

Hey friends,

We know that a lot of people use Photobucket for hosting images, so we just want to make y'all aware of this. Photobucket's Terms are changing, and they no longer allow third-party image hosting unless you pay $400 USD per year.

Some people are reporting that Photobucket is also deleting their files since they are not premium users. What we suggest, just in case, is that you download your images from Photobucket, and reupload them to something like Imgur, ctrlq.org, or Google Drive. Then you'll have to comb through your posts and change the links wherever they appear. It'll be arduous, but it's always better to be safe than sorry.

Updated 8th July: The last paragraph here may be inaccurate. In Photobucket's Blog Post, they have implied they will not delete images. Regardless, unless you upgrade to premium, you will probably have to download and reupload them somewhere.

Photobucket Support / FAQs
http://www.carls-sims-4-guide.com/forum/index.php?topic=28694.msg468528#msg468528

[sdhoey]

Well, I guess my completed dynasty will lose all it's pics. But I will see about getting my newer ones redone. I hate this. Photobuxket was so easy to use. 

[MarianT]

As far as I can tell, I haven't lost any pictures. That could be because I write my stories in a file on my computer, then post the file to the forum. I just tried that with my current chapter, and it seems to work okay.

[Magz from Oz]

As far as I can tell, I haven't lost any pictures. That could be because I write my stories in a file on my computer, then post the file to the forum. I just tried that with my current chapter, and it seems to work okay.

How exactly does that work?  I'm not technically minded but I would love to hear how that is done.

[Playalot]

@MarianT  I have an upgraded plan on photobucket as I needed more storage. This plan does not renew it's subscription until this September at which point I will lose all the links etc unless I upgrade to their $400 plan. Maybe you are on an existing plan/subscription?

[MrsFlynn]

For those of you worried about Photobucket, you can attach and insert photos into posts for your stories and such. It's free!!

How To: Attach and Insert Photos into Posts
http://www.carls-sims-4-guide.com/forum/index.php?topic=26583.msg443597#msg443597

Also, like others have suggested Imgur.com is an alternative. 

Photo Sharing Using Imgur.com (How to Use Imgur)
http://www.carls-sims-4-guide.com/forum/index.php?topic=22892.msg403214#msg403214

Their service is free, and it sounds like there is no storage limit per user. There are limits to size of files uploaded.

Still images cannot be larger than 20MB
GIF's images cannot be larger than 200MB

It maybe worth considering using a blog site to store and share your images. Blogs can be free, or if you want to add a domain name for $3. a month up to $25 a month. - See link below for more pricing details:

All WordPress.com blogs come with 3 GB of space for uploaded files and images (free)
https://wordpress.com/pricing/

Google's blogger.com (Free) has unlimited storage with photos on Blogger if you choose the "Unlimited High Quality Picture" option. It doesn't count towards your 15GB!
https://www.blogger.com

Google Drive has 15GB storage limit, however it's shared storage. Meaning that the 15GB of space can include space for photos, Music, video, other files, etc.
https://www.google.com/drive/

I've put this post together in hopes that it helps members know there's cheaper alternatives out there.

I'm sorry that it won't help backup the photos from Photobucket, but the suggestions above may help going forward.

[MarianT]

@MarianT  I have an upgraded plan on photobucket as I needed more storage. This plan does not renew it's subscription until this September at which point I will lose all the links etc unless I upgrade to their $400 plan. Maybe you are on an existing plan/subscription?

My plan won't renew until January, so possibly that's why my pictures are still there.

I downloaded Google Drive (15GB free space), and I'm moving my Photobucket pictures for my current story there. My previous dynasty attempts are just going to have to lose their pictures. I'm going to miss Photobucket, but I'm certainly not going to pay $400.

[MrsFlynn]

I have read that some Photobucket users are worried that PB has deleted or will be deleting their photos. This may not be true. According to their blog:

Please review the latest changes at Photobucket.
http://blog.photobucket.com/please-review-latest-changes-photobucket/

Photos are still available the only thing that has been restricted is the ability to link your photos to forums and other websites.

You should still be able to log into your account as long as it is in good standing and download all your photos to your computer.

Read more details in the link above.

[LivvieLove]

@MrsFlynn Google actually has unlimited storage with photos on Blogger if you choose the "Unlimited High Quality Picture" option. It doesn't count towards your 15GB!

Happy simming everyone!

[Metropolis Man]

So, I see my Man Dynasty screenshots are now gone. I guess I'll foot the bill and upgrade my Photobucket account -- that would be simplest. But, which one would be cheapest? I guess the Plus-100 because I need linking to this site.

[Playalot]

@Metropolis Man  I may be wrong in this but from what I understand it is only the highest price that includes the ability to link to forums/sites etc. (I hope I'm wrong and you're right!)

[MrsFlynn]

Play, you are unfortunately correct. It's the Plus 500 plan ($400. yearly) only that allows for linking photos to forums and websites.

More details in the link below:
http://photobucket.com/pricing

[Metropolis Man]

Yes, unfortunately, you guys are right. It's the most expensive one I would need. $400. Yuck. I might pull the trigger and do it. Not sure. If it was a one time charge I would probably do it in a heartbeat, but the fact I'd have to shell out $400 every year just to keep those screenshots for a 7 year old story....decisions, decisions.

[Playalot]

I know what you mean Metro. I'm still undecided as well. Loath to lose all the links but do not want to spend the time redoing them all. ugh 

Yeah, thought it was the $400 MrsFlynn, just had a desperate ray of hope ignited by Metro!

[Metropolis Man]

Yeah, what confused me is if you look at the blue check mark descriptions on the left-hand side...

http://photobucket.com/pricing

...I paid no attention to 3rd party hosting. I only looked at the "linking" part and was thinking that was what I needed.

[MrsFlynn]

Photobucket Support / FAQs
http://support.photobucket.com/hc/en-us
https://twitter.com/photobucket

What is 3rd party hosting? (Link here)

Photobucket defines 3rd party hosting as the action of embedding an image or photo onto another website.

- Basically, being able to share/link photos to forums and websites.

What plans offer 3rd Party Hosting? (Link here)

It's the Plus 500 plan ($400. yearly) only that allows for linking photos to forums and websites. - Aka the only plan that supports what Photobucket calls 3rd party hosting.

What do I get with the Plus 500 Plan? (Link here)

Plus 500 offers 500GB of Storage, Unlimited Linking, Unlimited Bandwidth, and Unlimited 3rd Party Hosting.

What is linking? (Link here)

According to Photobucket they define it as use of an image link from your account. More specifically, the action of sharing or posting only the link (not image) to a forum or website that redirects back to Photobucket when clicked.

An example of linking is sharing a link to a photo with your friends to view on Photobucket. to your image with friends to view on Photobucket.

Are my pictures still safe? (Link Here) - See #4

Yes! All your photos are still available by logging into your Photobucket Account. Photobucket has only restricted the ability to view your photos on 3rd party sites.

Can I download my Photos? (Link Here) - See #5

Absolutely, at any time. It is an easy four step process:

Step 1. Login to your Photobucket Account

Step 2. Navigate to your library page

Step 3. View a photo and click the download button

Step 4. The picture will be saved to your computer

[MarianT]

I've been gradually moving my screenshots out of Photobucket and into Google Drive. I go chapter by chapter, backwards. Here's my method, if anyone's interested:

1. View screenshots in Photobucket on slideshow setting.
2. Move screenshot to desktop.
3. When I have a whole chapter's worth, I close Photobucket and open up my story.
4. Going by the story, I rename each photo, e.g. 5801, 5802, etc.
5. Then I go to Modify the post.
6. I erase each link and then use the attachment feature to add my renamed photos.
7. Make a folder with the chapter name and move the folder to Google Drive.
8. Erase screenshots from Photobucket.

It takes me about 45 minutes to do a full 25-screenshot chapter.

[Beezy]

Oh wow, this is very upsetting. I was checking here today and all of my Singh screenshots are gone. I would reupload to another site, but there's maybe 800+ pictures on that thread and honestly, I don't know if I'm mentally capable of converting everything (especially when it takes 45 minutes per 25 screenshots). Don't get me started on the $400 fee either.

Oh well, I guess I'll have to reupload periodically or just pay the fee..I don't want to do either of those.

However, I really do appreciate people offering solutions, it just goes to show how supportive this forum is.

[Magz from Oz]

@Beezy I feel your pain.  I too am in this situation.  I simply cannot afford the US$400 fee which is about A$500.  So I've used the forum's own image attachment system to redo the images for my current story.  And yes it did take about 30-45 minutes per chapter.  I don't have the health or heart to try to redo my other stories just yet.  The task is just too daunting.

[sdhoey]

I'm slowly moving my photo's from Colt completed story over to my external hard drive and then using the "attach" method here to reload my pics for his story. That is a side project in its self. 

[Beezy]

@Magz from Oz I agree, the task is very intimidating and just plain discouraging. I don't have the money either..I honestly can't imagine paying over $1k every three years in order to keep my pictures up.

I've begun the process of converting everything and just successfully fixed the first chapter of my story that was affected by Photobucket's new policy. Like everyone else, it took me around 40–45 minutes to complete (however most of it was the learning curve/experimenting & Photobucket lagging). I used Imgur instead of attachments because the forum finds my screenshots saved onto my desktop "Invalid Attachments" (I think it's more of an issue with my computer). Luckily, it was still very easy to convert everything through Imgur, but it is a tedious process.

Here's my personal method I did in case anyone's curious:

1) Go to Photobucket's website
2) Find the photos you need, and download them (there's a download button above each photo when you click on it).
3) Like everyone else did, rename the screenshots to match the order they appear in the chapter (Riverview1, Riverview2, etc.).
4) Create a Folder for Screenshots on your desktop and place your screenshots in it.
5) Go to Imgur.com
6) From here I simply followed MrsFlynn's instructions in regards to using Imgur – Click here
7) After the images have been uploaded, I click the modify button on the post containing the chapter I want to fix and replace all of the Photobucket links with the BBC Code Imgur links.

[CuriousSim]

Just curious: I noticed that the new terms mentioned something about "Legacy Accounts", but it doesn't say anything about how the term applies. As far as I know, I haven't paid $500, but I haven't seen my pictures turned off yet. Is it possible that older accounts might be grandfathered in? Just wondering. I am apprehensive about all the pictures disappearing. If they do, I won't be back. P-Bucket is an absolute mess, right now. When you log in, you are completely bombarded with ads, from all directions.

[MarianT]

Just curious: I noticed that the new terms mentioned something about "Legacy Accounts", but it doesn't say anything about how the term applies. As far as I know, I haven't paid $500, but I haven't seen my pictures turned off yet. Is it possible that older accounts might be grandfathered in? Just wondering. I am apprehensive about all the pictures disappearing. If they do, I won't be back. P-Bucket is an absolute mess, right now. When you log in, you are completely bombarded with ads, from all directions.

If you have a current account (i.e., are paying money), your screenshots will continue to be linked until your account is due for renewal. I don't think the pictures disappear from Photobucket in any event; they'll just disappear from your stories. And yes, I agree about the ads. My personal opinion is that Photobucket has shot itself in the foot, but that's just my take.

[Magz from Oz]

If you have a current account (i.e., are paying money), your screenshots will continue to be linked until your account is due for renewal. I don't think the pictures disappear from Photobucket in any event; they'll just disappear from your stories. And yes, I agree about the ads. My personal opinion is that Photobucket has shot itself in the foot, but that's just my take.

Totally agree MarianT.  The new owners of Photobucket must be crazy to come up with such an extortionist strategy.  People and businesses might pay that ransom once (because it happened so suddenly and with no grandfather clause) while they move their business elsewhere.  When I think of all the times I recommended Photobucket to others, I feel sick.

[coolsim9999999]

I wish you guys didn't have to deal with what Photobucket has done.  I use imgur, but so many of you have been affected.  I feel really sad that you're all having to deal with this .

[Playalot]

Thank you so much to those of you who have posted your methods of changing over your links. It's rather a daunting task for sure. 

[Beezy]

The ads and lagging on Photobucket's website are so annoying.

I know Photobucket said that they were not deleting pictures, but I've noticed that three of my photos were missing from my account as I was fixing my story. I looked everywhere and couldn't find them. Is this a glitch? Is anyone else having this problem, or is it just me?

If you have a current account (i.e., are paying money), your screenshots will continue to be linked until your account is due for renewal. I don't think the pictures disappear from Photobucket in any event; they'll just disappear from your stories. And yes, I agree about the ads. My personal opinion is that Photobucket has shot itself in the foot, but that's just my take.

Totally agree MarianT.  The new owners of Photobucket must be crazy to come up with such an extortionist strategy.  People and businesses might pay that ransom once (because it happened so suddenly and with no grandfather clause) while they move their business elsewhere.  When I think of all the times I recommended Photobucket to others, I feel sick.

Same here. What upsets me the most about their new "policy" is that it hit the internet with no warning at all. Photobucket could have at least posted a notice on their site months prior to alert us that this was coming, it would have given everyone plenty of time to move their photos to a different site instead of doing everything at once. Alternatively, they could have imposed this restriction solely on new uploads instead of all uploads. This is super frustrating and makes me want to stop writing my story.

[MrsFlynn]

I've been noticing some blurry Photobucket photos in some of the older threads in the forum, mostly in the Sims 3 section. I wondered what happened. It turns out that Photobucket has new hosting limits for those who use their free image hosting plan.

New Hosting Limits
https://support.photobucket.com/hc/en-us/articles/360022822393-New-Hosting-Limits

I wanted to post this, just in case some of you were wondering as well.