Photobucket just broke billions of photos across the web-

[Cruizin]

Not to say I told ya so....
 
But, Since 2003, the popular photo hosting service Photobucket has been letting users upload and host images for free on their servers. They have over 10 billion images stored by 100 million registered users. But now they’re going to start charging, and that means billions of images around the Web are now broken.
 
Hotlinking (AKA inline linking) is when someone takes an image file hosted on a server and embeds it on a different webpage elsewhere. Since the new webpage continuously requests the file from the original source server, it saps the server owner’s bandwidth (and storage space).
 
Photobucket allowed hotlinking photos uploaded to and stored on its servers for a long time. This was their business model, and they made money from ads on their own site, which users would be exposed to when they went to upload content.
 
Now, Photobucket is charging $399 per year for those who want to hotlink images from photobucket to elsewhere, like to forums.
 
I saw this coming last year, and started warning people that 1. Photobucket is not secure and 2. please stop using their pics here and we created the "add image to post" button and connected with a company who allows us to upload photos and hotlink them here.
 
Now, the company we use could at any time go ahead and do the same as photobucket did, and if so we would lose out pics. But I dont see that happening anytime soon.
 
So, when you see this pic, it isn't us. It's photobucket blocking the hotlink.

 
Alot of forum admins dont know what in the hell to do right now.
 
I saw something I didn't like last year, and I got real lucky and found a solution for us months ago.
 
Can you imagine if all of our photos just disappeared?
 

[pegasus46]

All you have to do is to allow us to upload directly from our own computer or cell phone and then store it on YOUR server.
Simple and secure.
 

[mjh937]

I am fairly sure that is what the "Add image to post" button does.  @admin will correct me if I am wrong.  

[Cruizin]

All you have to do is to allow us to upload directly from our own computer or cell phone and then store it on YOUR server. Simple and secure.

 
No, I wont be storing images on my server. Simple for you, EXPENSIVE for me. I pay for this all out of pocket, and motorcyclists post a ton of pics.
 
Again, if you have read above, you would have noticed that we have a simple pic upload process. Just click the "add image to post" button. Its easy.

[Guru]

Dropbox did the same thing last year. I am still mopping up the mess such a decision leaves behind. I have used photobucket once or twice but I will stay away for it form now on. I also use Imgur, which still offers hotlinking, but I suspect they will be the next in line to make it a payed option.

[Guru]

I just deleted my Photobucket account. No sense in keeping these guys around. Who knows what the next step will be. Pay before you get access to your 'free' account?
 
Good job btw @admin for seeing this coming. Imagine the mess we would be in if all pictures in this forum were hot linked.

[faffi]

Nothing in this world is free. I have paid for my PB account for several years to avoid ads. I hate ads. We have a national TV-station that everybody with a TV-set must pay for - even if they do not watch the channel - and are ad free. A blessing. Non-pay TV have all the pesky ads, so I usually record what I want to see so that I can FFW past the ads.
 

 

[Allan]

I've been using imgur for other forums and haven't had an issue... Hopefully that doesn't go next...

[guylee]

Photobucket always seemed a little off to me. I was never very comfortable using them for some reason, and now I guess I was right to feel that way.

[r1limited]

Damn Russian born Chinese Nazi's