Problem With Photobucket...

mrrsm

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Ordinarily, when I want to bounce over to my Photobucket Account to sign in and add new images to my various Automotive Libraries ...many of which are linked here at GMTN … I just enter this text string and go to it:

60dgrzbelow0 Mr. RSM

...and then the search link floats to the top of the lists out there on “The Google” (I use Duckduckgo.com for better privacy and no tracking for my Search Engine, though). However… within the last week… whenever attempting this procedure… the only stuff that shows on screen is Blue Text on a White Background...with NO GRAPHICS in view at all. If anyone has experienced this problem and solved the issue… please advise on how you accomplished solving this puzzle. The attached image shows what the screen opening Photobucket presently looks like:

PHOTOBUCKETPAGE.jpg

Thanks In Advance… :>)
 

Blckshdw

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Nov 20, 2011
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I rarely go to the PB site anymore, unless I'm at work and need to download a pic to post on here. But I've seen the phenomenon you're experiencing a number of times. There was nothing I did, assumed it was an issue between the site and my browser, that caused it not to load properly, as after an undetermined period of time, it would go back to normal.
 

mrrsm

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Thanks... The problem I have with the direct post to GMTN method...which I also do regularly... is that I have over 5,000 Images and 55 videos on Photobucket (178,000 views since 2011) and it is easier to link to their sub-sets here than clog up the threads with so many images... I already do that with Words... LOL. I've already paid Photobucket for 50 Gigs of Storage and have only used 8% so far... so that cannot be the issue. I guess I'll just have to be patient with them online... and see what happens.
 

Mooseman

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Dec 4, 2011
25,262
Ottawa, ON
The issue with PB is:
1. Although at the moment, you're account allows access to your content, if for whatever reason your account closes, we're screwed with broken links.

2. PB for years allowed linking pics for free to forums and all of a sudden, asked for fees. Well, guess what happened, nobody paid (except you) and all those threads with pics in them got broken. Although there have been some workarounds to restore some links, PB actively works to kill them.

That's why we always recommend the pics be uploaded directly to the forum.
 

Blckshdw

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Nov 20, 2011
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Tampa Bay Area, FL
What's worse, I think Bob just paid for extra storage space, not the 3rd party hosting, so that's an extra kick in the crotch. :Banghead:
 

mrrsm

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Thanks for mentioning that, @Blckshdw ... Because it was only just this morning that I Turned Off the the Automatic Renewal Payment Feature on my Photobucket Account. When I ran out of Free Storage a while back ... I actually thought that by paying for the Annual Mid-Tier (50 Gigs) slot... I'd be getting the Third Party Hosting Feature at the very same time... My Bad. But... If nothing else... that 'Stop The Steady Money' response from me today should at the very least get their attention.

I'll wait a few days to see if it has any effect. What they do not realize is that by deprecating my account to a Blue Text On White Background approach... navigating to my account was sheer drudgery today... and their "Mokusatsu" - style of letting me know how much they disapprove of linking "My Bucket" to other Forums has been OBPITA to try and remedy by the usual DNS Server and Firefox Flushing Methods. (... the meaning of that Japanese expression translates into Plain English as, "To Kill... With Silent Contempt")

The absence of any direct communication from Photobucket leaves no information to this "Paying Customer" as to what other options are available. But before just giving up on my Photobucket altogether and seeking another option for an online Image Server... I'll give them a full week to see if anything changes it back to normal.

And speaking of such Alternatives...

Has anyone tried out this or any other Private On-Line Image Storage Site that supports Third Party Hosting ...mostly to support Forum use like that of GMT Nation? I could Give a Fig for any issues of Public Access ... it only matters to me when it comes to my GMTN contributions... as long as our Members can see and benefit from the imagery... I'm happy.

https://imgzeit.com/

I have all of my Old Automotive Project Images and Videos backed up on various USB Seagate and Western Digital 2-4 Terabyte Portable Hard Drives... so I have never, ever lost a single one of them. I do find it coincidental though... that as soon as I started installing my Old Videos over on my MRRSM Youtube Account as recently as a few months ago... my Photobucket access began to get a little bit sketchy.

Hmmmmm... They Play Their Games... And We Play Ours.... ;>)


"When You've Gottem By Their Short and Curlies... Their Hearts and Minds...and MONEY will Follow..."
 
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cornchip

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Jan 6, 2013
637
I found out my Xbox Live Gold account had 'Onedrive' included with it. I've been using it since loosing third party hosting with Photobucket. Allows up to 5 GB's of storage before any kind of service upgrade. I figure 5gb's is plenty considering I resize all images to save on filesize and uploading time. Overall, I can't complain about the service. Cost's me $70 CAD a year.
 
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Mooseman

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Dec 4, 2011
25,262
Ottawa, ON
That imgzeit looks interesting. Says that even if the account becomes inactive, the shared images are still available (ie: no "images are gone" messages). That's if the host itself doesn't vanish.
 
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mrrsm

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I don’t know why I didn’t remember this before … but I have a Yahoo Email Account that I seldom use for anything other than responding to some other forums when people need occasional help and they email me for other than the usual mechanical assistance that is available online. But the important part here is that since Yahoo bought out the Flickr On Line Image Storage Site... probably over a decade ago while I was napping ...or something… and instead of my having to pay out any more money through the nose for easy to access Online Storage… I can use the ready supply of a whopping, Free Terabyte of online space to facilitate my escape from this Photobucket Hell Hole I’ve fallen into.

And since Flickr has the free cell phone apps and other tools that I never use… other GMTN Members who DO use their Cell Phones for multimedia up and downloading, etc., will benefit with those being available. I have no Facebook or Twitter accounts because… I could care less about what other people are thinking of ...moment by moment … without them doing any real thinking prior to posting their gibberish and drivel. But ...that’s just me… :>)

However… for our present purposes of accessing all of my original images that Photobucket has mysteriously been preventing me from accessing ... for GMTN Facebook Members … Using Flckr might make the process a lot easier. Now what I will need to do is go to the account… and figure out the best way to set up the various, specific topic Image Albums to be as close to what I have had working on my Photobucket Account...and then upload about 5,000 images from my Portable Legacy USB Hard Drives.

Stay Tuned…:>)

PS

I think this Yahoo Video shows some very cool features at Yahoo’s Flickr; some of which include their use of a Google-Like Image Search AI Algorithm (Agent) to seek out and find the best possible images based upon what is IN the images themselves, rather than by relying upon either File Names or Image Tags to find the related photos in each album ...visually… and much faster, too. (...a Scary Good Demo of this technique is on this video) :

 
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Blckshdw

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Nov 20, 2011
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I forgot about Flikr, I used to use them back in the day before PB. Don't recall exactly, but there were some features/issues that made me look for an alternative. :undecided:
 

Sparky

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Dec 4, 2011
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I've started using imgbb
 

mrrsm

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Okay... For anyone who is heavily invested in using their Photobucket Account and are having difficulty in accessing their account... this is the only functional means I have discovered as the method to communicate personal complaint issues to their Support Staff.If this message ends up with them solving these issues... then the link below will be worth a Solid Bar of 22 Kt Gold:

https://support.photobucket.com/hc/en-us/requests/new

This Message was what I sent along to them:

Last year... I upgraded to the mid-tier (Paid Account) for 50 Gigs of Photobucket storage ...and prior to the last several weeks... I had been able to log in to add images and new folders to my libraries. But now I cannot see anything other than Blue Text on a White Background. I have tried all of the conventional things such as clearing all caches, etc in Firefox. I even purchased a new 2 TB Laptop hard drive and after installing the latest version of Linux Mint 19 (Tara) with all of the proper system updates... this problem with not being able to use my Photobucket Account still persists.

Trust me ...it is NOT a problem with ANY flavor of the Linux OS... as I have been using it in various generations for decades... and this has never been the source of the problem, What gives? After wrangling my way through that clunky text screen... I was able to do the only thing that makes any sense at this point... and that meant turning off the "Automatic Payment" Feature. It just makes no sense for this to persist as a problem while having to pay Photobucket for this misery. If you cannot find any solutions soon... I'll have to move on...

This RFH to Photobucket seems to have gone through their "Fence":

PHOTOBUCKETISSUE.jpg
 
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mrrsm

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Well... I suspect that I must have worn down the Staff at Photobucket.com after they expected me to throw even more money at their shenanigans of shutting down access to my Images and Videos until I purchase "Third Party Access". THAT nonsense was just NOT going to happen. Within the last few days though ... these Photobucket Images and Folders have all magically re-appeared.

The only thing they've succeeded in doing is making me mad enough to shift the whole ball of wax over to my newly established Flickr.com account ...and turn off the automatic payments to them for their meager offer of 50 Gigs of "Mid-Tier" online storage. WTF? Why should I subsidize these capricious Bozos who can so arbitrarily block my access on a whim?

Now I get One Terabyte of FREE Storage at Flickr.com with Better Quality Layouts and Better Tools for Organizing and Defining the various image sub-sets for my Bulk Uploads that so far have worked out so beautifully. The only thing for me to do now is to download ALL of the remaining Folders from my Photobucket Library and try to swap out the most critical links to my Posts that have been ruined over this three week period by their "Bravo Sierra". When that process is complete... Photobucket ...Can Go Pound Salt.
 

mrrsm

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So… In the continuing Saga of my having a “Phailed Photobucket Account” ... Since I have been able to visit that account and see that my Old Links to GMT Nation Posts were working again… Today I decided to Download my Albums ‘en masse’ and grab as many of them as possible before the Dirt Bags running Photobucket can stop me from doing so. Sadly ...I discovered that the original option to “Download an Entire Album” has disappeared from the Member Menu… and my only option left is to download them all...individually.

Unfortunately… I was only able to Download (7) Images from my Libraries concerning the “CPAS”…. When suddenly… the entire screen LOCKED UP. No matter which button I clicked on all over the Firefox Browser Page… I was unable to get it to either refresh… or close. Period. I suspect that for those of us who refuse to play their “Photobucket Monetizing Game via Hostage Memberships”… Their staff and engineers have introduced an algorithm that senses any time a Member begins to Download their OWN imagery… and somehow that activity triggers the drop of a “Ban Hammer”… BOOM! After I re-booted the Machine and tried to open the link afresh… THIS is what the Opening Page looked Like. My guess is that I will have to wait at least 24 Hours before being able to sign in to the account and ‘Try... Try... Again...':

PHOTOBUCKETPHAIL.jpg

So… if anyone out there is still holding any or all of their images on the Photobucket site… I imagine that you can expect a similar treatment. Oh… and by the way… there IS no Option to Purchase Access for a Single Month in order to accomplish this transfer in BULK. All this “Bravo Sierra” is doing ...is delaying my opportunity to get rid of each and every Album and Image from their site ...with a vengeance... so these Idiots will not be able to keep making money off of my labors AND take away the control I once had over all of those images and videos. In the mean time ...they can all KMA and Go Straight To Hell!
 
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