Photobucket's Updated Terms of Service

Offer suggestions for making this forum the one you want to visit every day! Maybe even twice a day!!
Post Reply
User avatar
sseebart
Posts: 1686
Joined: Sun Jan 22, 2012 1:45 am
Location: Northern California
Contact:

Photobucket's Updated Terms of Service

Post by sseebart »

Looks like I'm not the first, but today I got an email from Photobucket saying that they had updated their terms of service. As a result, they no longer allow free "third-party hosting" (that is, hosting photos on their server for display in this forum). I understand their decision: third-party hosting costs them money and doesn't bring in revenue; it's a lose-lose scenario for them.

When I joined this site, some years back, I was encouraged specifically to load my photos to Photobucket. They service was free, easy to use links for third party hosting were provided and it was relatively simple to use. Since then, I've been a pretty active member here, working through some challenging issues--both mine and others--in 1300+ posts. Soon, the photos that make those posts worthwhile will disappear, as they have already for hitman and others (http://www.vintagethunderbirdclub.net/p ... 25&t=13636). Those who search older posts to answer common questions will soon be telling us, "I found a thread with the answers, but the photos were missing."

These days, we're directing people to postimage.org. Some use imgur, google and other hosting sites with varying degrees of success. It's confusing for new users, and I suspect a great many Thunderbird owners leave the site in frustration over this issue. It's also a fair bet that these new hosts will be no more reliable or stable than the old; our club's memory is at the mercy of services we don't control.

A little further down this forum, there's a suggestion from 2008 asking that we directly host photos, just as most other forums do. At the time, Terri said it was just too expensive. Well, it's been almost 10 years. The cost of storage has come down and most large web hosting providers have reasonably priced packages that allow for unlimited data storage and bandwidth. It's time we hosted our own pictures. Not only would it make the forums easier to use, it would ensure that our collective knowledge remains intact.

~Steve
User avatar
redstangbob
Posts: 3604
Joined: Fri May 02, 2008 4:06 pm
Location: 40 miles east of Wixom

Re: Photobucket's Updated Terms of Service

Post by redstangbob »

I've contacted the powers that be, now let's see what happens.
It's gonna be cool when it's done
And now it's really cool !!



59 convertible
58 convertible
65 hardtop
User avatar
paulr
Posts: 1800
Joined: Mon Nov 05, 2012 12:03 pm
Location: Seattle

Re: Photobucket's Updated Terms of Service

Post by paulr »

It would not bother me one iota to see advertising and/or notice of financial support on this forum, especially coming from our Tbird vendors, Ford Motor Co., Ford dealers, and possibly from member-owned businesses.
Paul
VTCI 12014
Registry 45122
'64 Landau HT
"Beer, now there's a temporary solution!" ~Homer Simpson
User avatar
sseebart
Posts: 1686
Joined: Sun Jan 22, 2012 1:45 am
Location: Northern California
Contact:

Re: Photobucket's Updated Terms of Service

Post by sseebart »

The Ford Truck Enthusiasts Site (https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/index.php) is is sponsored but users can pay a fee to remove the advertising. They are huge compared to us, with over a 1000 people browsing the forums at any given time. I suspect they have a paid staff to maintain the site and the sponsor relationships.

I can understand that our volunteer forum moderators may not want to be in the business of selling ad space, but a quick search indicates that inserting a Google-driven ad banner into the phpBB3 framework is a relatively simple endeavor--no sales required. If we went in that direction, perhaps we could even encourage membership by giving VTCI card holders an ad-free experience.

~Steve
User avatar
redstangbob
Posts: 3604
Joined: Fri May 02, 2008 4:06 pm
Location: 40 miles east of Wixom

Re: Photobucket's Updated Terms of Service

Post by redstangbob »

Hang on, there may be a solution soon.
It's gonna be cool when it's done
And now it's really cool !!



59 convertible
58 convertible
65 hardtop
Post Reply