did photobucket finally die? update - seems to be back up now (read thread)

[Kali]

Last edited Fri Oct 5, 2018, 11:06 PM - Edit history (1)

in 2017 they made a huge mistake and instituted an insane new policy requiring a $400/year subscription and consequently lost most of their members/users. then this spring came back with a chance to use your account for free until some later date but were then going to implement a much more reasonable $30 or 40 fee.

I had been linking to some of my old posts and pix from there the last few months since they were working again, but tonight I can't get their page to load at all. anybody know anything?

[Miles Archer]

1. I got an email from them several days ago that I ignored

What they did to me was restore my account, but I couldn't link to any of my photos without a paid account, so it was useless to me. I have no intention of paying for a Photobucket account. There are other methods available.

[Kali]

3. a couple days ago?

that recent?

[Miles Archer]

23. Yes, it went into my junk mail folder, which I check regularly...

...and I deleted it without reading it. I have "Spam Bully" in Outlook...there is a button you can click to view the raw code of a message, including full headers, to make sure it's legit (without opening the email itself and exposing yourself to risks).

It was a "real" email from Photobucket. I don't remember anything else because I've developed such a state of contempt for them that I deleted it on the spot. It was a marketing email, and it came in maybe Tuesday or Wednesday last week.

Too bad...back in my Amerigo Vespucci days, I relied on it heavily. But their little "stunt" turned me off permanently.

[highplainsdem]

2. Did a Twitter search after seeing your post. Tweets saying Photobucket's been down for nearly 24 hrs

so far.

One tweet, posted 12 hours ago, had an image of a reply that person got from Photobucket support

Link to tweet

saying their engineering team was troubleshooting the problem.


Editing to add that I just checked the Photobucket and Photobucket Support accounts on Twitter. No new messages from either in nearly 5 months.

[Kali]

5. thanks!

I wonder if that is real or a last gasp...

[pintobean]

4. Oh no

The Dewsh selfie may be lost forever.

[Kali]

7. LOL

[FakeNoose]

6. I can't get on either- maybe their server is down

It could be temporary, so try again tomorrow.

[Kali]

8. could be - check reply #2

[highplainsdem]

9. TinyPic (saw a tweet about it) is down as well. That site's owned by Photobucket.

[vercetti2021]

10. Wait they started charging?

Wtf...can I not access my old pictures anymore?

[Kali]

11. yes

here is my post about it with soem good alternatives in the replies https://www.democraticunderground.com/1018965067

[vercetti2021]

12. What the hell?

I had like a hundred photos that I lost on my old hard drive on there. I didn't use it for sharing, just saving them

[Kali]

14. check back in a day or two they might come back up

I think you could always access your photos, just couldn't link to them anymore unless you paid up. I downloaded a lot of mine at first but I am pretty sure I never finished that job then this spring they were letting the links show again and I was considering paying for an account if it was going to be a reasonable amount (and no obnoxious auto play adds!) maybe the crash was because they are trying to implement that now (see first reply above).

[Grasswire2]

13. wait.....so photobucket is no longer available? nt

[Kali]

15. not sure

read through the thread

[Grasswire2]

16. the last email I got from them was May 2017!

I sure hope it's just temporarily down. I need to retrieve some family photos that are precious.

[highplainsdem]

17. Just checked some old (2015) threads in Photography forum. Photobucket images still showing up in

the ones I checked.

[Kali]

18. ha, my broken links just started showing up too

must have fixed whatever went wrong. thanks for the heads up and other info!

[highplainsdem]

19. Yep, the site is back. Just checked their home page.

[Grasswire2]

20. yeah, working fine for me....

...but I think I will copy all the pics to a thumb drive to be safe.

[tavernier]

21. I always wondered why we can't post pics

on DU as easily as on Facebook or in texts, etc. I’m sure there is some obvious technical reason that I’m too computer challenged to understand, but it would be nice.

[dalton99a]

22. I wouldn't trust them with a pixel

Their extortion scheme backfired big time. Greedy bastards