Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Someone explain to me again...

Yes

http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=431676#Post431676

I tried it twice on post 1 and 2.

I get

[IMG]http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.ph...0913_093857.jpg[IMG]

Brian do you have images stored on your computer you would like to post directly into Pond Boss posts?

Use lowercase "img" around your link. Example with spaces below.

[img] http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.ph...0913_093857.jpg [/img]

Test

You have the last img wrong you forgot the slash ( / ) in front of it.

My daughter tells me that Photobucket is changing their policy and will now no longer allow posting of photos on 3rd party sites for non-paying users.

That is true and they want $ 400 a year to host. Problem is once you post a bunch of pics to a Forum if you break the links all the pics are gone and you would have to replaced the right pic in each post. I have probably 1000 pic posts here. Finding and correctly replacing them is next to impossible.

I just cancelled my paid account. If you want your pics back, then there's an option to download your entire album at once. It's downloaded as a .zip file, and it has to be unzipped to decompress the pics.

I was able to download 7 years of pics with one download.

I just told Photobucket that what they are doing is akin to ransom, and there was no way in he.. that I was paying what they asked.

Sorry guys, but the links to the photos in all of my posts will stay broken, there is ho way to go back and fix them - not enough hours in a day. Sorry. Right now even if I had 30 hours in a day there is no way that I can get caught up in what I have to do.

From a friend:

Photobucket has been bought out. The new proprietor just changed their Terms of Service and now no longer allows 3rd Party Hosting from their lower tier accounts. You have to have a $400 a year commercial account minimum now, otherwise they will block the 3rd party pictures (embedded photobucket pictures posted on web sites)

This means that millions of pictures on hundreds of thousands of forums will now show the image at the bottom of this post wherever a photobucket picture from a lower tier account was posted.

Photobucket has no idea of the excrement storm that is headed their way. I predict that they will soon become the new poster child for wildly popular services that went the way of the dodo bird when they finally figured out that they had no viable business plan.

I think they were losing ground already due to the slow and clunky way pictures now load. There are better alternatives and this will expedite folks moving to them. P.S. If that image really does appear in all the posts, I expect a class action lawsuit. This appears to hijack personal photos with an advertisement for their website. But am no lawyer, so maybe that is legal?

Every photo I've ever posted using photo bucket, still exists on my hard drive. But there's no way I'm going back and reposting all of them. We've talked before about repairing photo links, and the negative impact to a thread when photos disappear. Well, if there was ever a time when the forum needed to step up and take control of hosting their own pics, this is it.

I understand that it's expensive, so someone needs to weigh the pros and cons and decide what direction to take. My personal feeling is the same in this instance as it was when I was in business....the more you depend on someone else, the more control you give away.

As far as my photo bucket library, they can keep those pics. I still have em' elsewhere.

I have always used the file manager to load my pictures. There are two obvious disadvantages to doing it that way.

One is the pictures have to be clicked on to load rather than automatically pop up. But it appears that Shorty has a html fix for that (although using my Android TAB while on the road I'm having a glitch doing it althouh should work fine on home computer).

The other is I assume it eats up forum hard drive hosting space which I presume costs money. To offset this I always try to give a decent donation to the forum each year to help with my usage. Which reminds me I need to go look and see if I havd done that yet this year.

Edit: third limitation I thouht of is file size is limited with the internal file manager. My solution is to use my crappy old low resolution flip phone which has small file size but crappy pictures

Photobucket's actions have practically broken a lot of different web forums. Without the pictures, the content cannot really be understood on some threads.

I don't think it will stand. There was little if any warning at all.
PB may put themselves out of business. A couple weeks warning and $12 a year would have been reasonable. Not $399/yr. Very few will pay it. I understand it also disrupted some, if not many, EBay auctions in progress.

I personally have never used PhotoBucket. I use the Pond Boss forum's own way of uploading pics via file manager.

I agree sprkplug. I wonder if it would be practical to keep the forum free for users that do not want to post pictures or use an expernal picture host but have a fee associated for ones who wanted to post pictures directly on the forum server.

That would still keep the forum a free forum. But for those that did not want to use a seperate picture hosting site, perhaps have a ten or twenty dollar a year fee. Just add another line to the donation program to have a place for both a donation and payment for picture hosting.

I don't have any idea the problems involved setting up two different class of users and programming/costs involved in making such a change.

I personally would have no problem paying a reasonable fee for being able to post my pictures directly on the PBF server.

The storm has hit them already, and hard. The mob is running with pitchforks, torches, tar and feathers. Just check the social media sites. My bet is that they will back down, at least restore existing links, or they will be out of business by the first of August.

Some are saying that this has almost broken the internet, so many how to sites have lost pictures, etc.

I love this forum and unlike some don't get heartburn over losing the linked pics. I think what Photobucket is doing is lousy, but pics can be reposted as the same questions are asked again and we discuss familiar topics. I see this like a class. Most teachers continue to teach much of the same material along with updates, and few classes are taught from the same videotapes from years past. The world will not stop and this forum will still be a great place for those interested in ponds. I need to find my IMGUR account info though!

I'm also not angry with photobucket. Business is business, and profit is the name of the game. If I had stored my photos with them only, and not on my personal computer, then that would still be my fault for depending upon someone else to take care of something I deemed valuable. It's up to me to protect my stuff, not them.

If they had simply gone out of business, the end result would still be the same as we have now...lost photos. But when they want to charge for providing a service, folks get mad? Do I think 400 bucks is too high, yes I do. But I'm not angry at them for trying to get all they can. I don't have to pay it.

While I understand, I do not give them the same deference as you do. The implications of what they did in the past was that the photos would be available as long as they were in business. I do not think it is right to change the rules after offering the service in exchange for viewing adds. This is like giving away a drug (like coffee) until folks are addicted and then saying all new cups of coffee will be $10 each. I will personally boycott their business. If they think their service is worth the money, then they could grandfather in old photos. They clearly did a bait and switch. Next year they could demand $1,000. Better to get out now.

I see what you're saying, but boycotting a service that has been available free for many years, then gets bought out and the new ownership decides to begin charging, seems unrealistic to me. As far as the coffee example, it doesn't make the coffee shop owners evil, it makes me weak for allowing myself to become addicted in the first place. I'm responsible, not them.

Maybe it's the ex- business owner in me, but making money IS the name of the game. Look at the recent push here on the forum to attend the upcoming conference, and the recent hiring of an individual to try and boost the numbers. Both are efforts to bolster the bottom line.

If Bob decides to begin charging a membership fee for use of the forum, I won't be angry...I recognize the potential that is currently not being utilized. I am free to choose whether or not I want to pay to play. I'm not addicted to PB anymore than I am photobucket or Folgers.

Folks seem to think it is OK for business to forgo morals if they can legally increase profits. I do not. Money is made from advertisers on Photobucket. PondBoss deciding to charge for the forum does not affect other web sites. I see this as holding folks ransom. It may be legal, but I do not think it is right. Time will tell if their strategy is successful. I hope that it is not. BTW - My wife has operated a small truck farm for over 25 years, so I understand that a business must be profitable. We would never treat our customers like this. Some things just get my ire up!

But our photos are not being held hostage. Photobucket is not the only game in town, there are other options available. Why not simply move your photos elsewhere? BTW, I paid photobucket an annual fee to be able to use their service, as I felt it was the right thing to do. It wasn't mandatory for me to do so, but it was the right thing to do.

They charge advertisers and make money just like regular TV does. I already moved to Imgur. When my kids watched PBS, I also sent them money, because I wanted to support them, not because they tried to sell the inconvenience that they created. Understand that I am not advocating government intervention. I just will not support businesses that behave in this manner.

I think I pay Photobucket $2.99 a month. I've got thousands of pics there. I haven't heard anything from them about a change in policy. If they go to $500 a year, all my old posts will lose their picture links. I might go as high as $5 a month, but that's it.
Going to retire in a couple of years. Practicing some budget restraint now..

Same reason I sent photobucket some money. I was utilizing their service.