PHOTOBUCKET (THE BASTARDS!) MONEY GRAB THREATENS THIS FORUM
Jul 4, 2017 6:08:47 GMT 8
Karl Welteke and beirutvet like this
Post by EXO on Jul 4, 2017 6:08:47 GMT 8
As of June 30, 2017, Photobucket requires a $99 annual subscription to allow external linking to hosted images and a $399 annual subscription to allow the embedding of images on third-party websites, such as personal blogs and forums. This policy change, enacted with no advance warning, has been highly controversial.
Refer to : Photobucket Breaks Image Links Across the Internet
Photobucket users, and those who relied on it to provide free, educational and historic materials (without pestering advertisements) or recommended it to their users, were given no warning of the change. The bastards!
I have just received the following message from FOTS2 (John Moffitt), who is one of our most outstanding members, and whose contributions to this forum, and to the study of Corregidor's History and Geography have been exceptional. John's images, along with those of Karl Welteke's, are a bedrock of the study of Corregidor:
I have replied to John as follows (Edited for clarity):
Managing extensive photo collections on the internet isn't easy. It is I cannot underplay the great value that John Moffitt has been to the study of Corregidor. His images are magnificent and his collection exceptional. The FIELD NOTES feature is built around him, and it is just but one of several major contributions made by John. If members want to write him directly (but do not have his address) I suggest they use the personal message system of the Forum. Ditto for me.
There's more than a little importance to this, because it does bring to mind issues that I have been concerned about for some years - namely the role of the several websites and this forum into the future, and that at present there is no plan for succession. Some time back, Richard Johnsen died before his time, and his website Concrete Battleship was about to disappear. With the direct help and moral support of a 'Few Good Men', I was able to rescue it, and it continues its historic and educational role today. Websites are fragile things, they can disappear in a heartbeat (or lack of one), and in this regard, the approach by Mr. Roderick Hall is most apt.
Paul Whitman
Refer to : Photobucket Breaks Image Links Across the Internet
Photobucket users, and those who relied on it to provide free, educational and historic materials (without pestering advertisements) or recommended it to their users, were given no warning of the change. The bastards!
I have just received the following message from FOTS2 (John Moffitt), who is one of our most outstanding members, and whose contributions to this forum, and to the study of Corregidor's History and Geography have been exceptional. John's images, along with those of Karl Welteke's, are a bedrock of the study of Corregidor:
Chad Hill sent me a message to say my photos on the forums are not being displayed anymore by Photobucket. I checked it out a few minutes ago and it appears Photobucket has changed their policy regarding 3rd party hosting. The cost for me to continue this is $399/year. I use three accounts for all my photos so I assume that would be $399 x 3 which I surely am not going to pay. I will collect more information from Photobucket but I cannot do that at the moment as I am at work. (Monday morning here)
I do not have the time or desire to re-host hundreds of photos elsewhere so this may be the end of my photos on your website. Dead photo links are not a good thing either, perhaps it would be best to delete the threads.
I do not have the time or desire to re-host hundreds of photos elsewhere so this may be the end of my photos on your website. Dead photo links are not a good thing either, perhaps it would be best to delete the threads.
I have replied to John as follows (Edited for clarity):
This is terrible news. I am trying to think how l can assist.
All of my Corregidor.Org websites are hosted on GoDaddy.com , which is a very reasonable cost and offers huge storage and bandwidth for not a lot, particularly if it is under one of their hosted domains. Perhaps you might park them there for the moment to maintain control.
Perhaps we might then have the time to work out a solution to editing new links into your posts. Perhaps make a working group, each with Forum editing powers, to change the addresses of the image links.
Another possibility might be that you list the job (of editing the links to your new place of storage) on one of those computer work on offer sites, as I understand that they aren't always expensive. Programmers out of India and the Philippines earn livings from them.
I might even give you login details of my account hosting, and allow you to host them there.
I have lately been asked to consider transferring my websites (all of them) under the auspices of the Roderick Hall Foundation, so they might be given some longevity or permanence. The forum has become the most visited area, it is akin to a Wiki.
Your images, along with those of Karl Welteke's, are a bedrock of the study of Corregidor, and I intend for this problem itself to be made into a thread of its own so that everyone can be aware of it, and each have an opportunity to put forward a solution. Perhaps there is a solution there.
All of my Corregidor.Org websites are hosted on GoDaddy.com , which is a very reasonable cost and offers huge storage and bandwidth for not a lot, particularly if it is under one of their hosted domains. Perhaps you might park them there for the moment to maintain control.
Perhaps we might then have the time to work out a solution to editing new links into your posts. Perhaps make a working group, each with Forum editing powers, to change the addresses of the image links.
Another possibility might be that you list the job (of editing the links to your new place of storage) on one of those computer work on offer sites, as I understand that they aren't always expensive. Programmers out of India and the Philippines earn livings from them.
I might even give you login details of my account hosting, and allow you to host them there.
I have lately been asked to consider transferring my websites (all of them) under the auspices of the Roderick Hall Foundation, so they might be given some longevity or permanence. The forum has become the most visited area, it is akin to a Wiki.
Your images, along with those of Karl Welteke's, are a bedrock of the study of Corregidor, and I intend for this problem itself to be made into a thread of its own so that everyone can be aware of it, and each have an opportunity to put forward a solution. Perhaps there is a solution there.
There's more than a little importance to this, because it does bring to mind issues that I have been concerned about for some years - namely the role of the several websites and this forum into the future, and that at present there is no plan for succession. Some time back, Richard Johnsen died before his time, and his website Concrete Battleship was about to disappear. With the direct help and moral support of a 'Few Good Men', I was able to rescue it, and it continues its historic and educational role today. Websites are fragile things, they can disappear in a heartbeat (or lack of one), and in this regard, the approach by Mr. Roderick Hall is most apt.
Paul Whitman