Looking through some threads on here there seem to be a lot of pictures not visible, with a photobucket message saying "upgrade your account to enable third party hosting".

I googled it to discover that photobucket now wants to be paid for these pics to be available, which has potentially dire consequences for the threads on here. This has happened without notice in the last couple of days. There is already lots of comment about this.

https://www.ghacks.net/2017/06/30/photobucket-now-charges-399-for-third-party-hosted-images/

"PhotoBucket now charges $399 for third-party hosted images

by Martin Brinkmann on June 30, 2017 in Internet - Last Update:June 30, 2017 3
If you have visited a website recently that displays images hosted on Photobucket, or are embedding images hosted on Photobucket on your own, you may have had a rather rude awakening one day as Photobucket decided to block these images from being displayed on third-party sites.

All Photobucket images hosted on third-party sites, at least from what we can tell, are replaced by a dummy image. It reads: Please update your account to enable 3rd party hosting. For important info, please go to https://www.photobucket.com/P500.

According to some users that we spoke with who are affected by this, this happened without prior notice or any form of warning on Photobucket's part."

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Cherry Rallye SOLD

the funny thing is the link they're advising you to go to is someone's own Photobucket account by the looks of it

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306 rallye reproduction decals (full sets/individual decals) | 306 b-pillar textured vinyl weatherstrips
306 slam panel esso stickers | 306 yellow / orange / pension fund red side door badges
gti6 inlet manifold badges | 306 rear boot badges (p2/p3)
winner of Extraction of toys from prams with outstanding vigour award 2009 [source: gti6 owners club]

Use Imgur or Flickr, let Photobucket die!

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Rallye Race Car

postimg.org is also an alternative I'm using without problems.

That's just made 90% of the forum useless all the project threads and FAQ s are fooked

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Old pugs don't die they just get faster

Correct, however you can click the dummy image and go to their PB account and see their library, so someone could theoretically save and re-upload them.

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61k miles Ph.1 Diablo '6 Project Thread

Such a shame this. Loads of folk discussing this on the interweb.. Seems a crazy move by PB.

Anyway, onward and upward. Just got going with Flickr for the first time. Seems alright once you get used to it.
Fortunately I still had thousands of photos on my phone, so by downloading the app as well, was easy to upload.
Also discovered you can use the 'share' function on photo bucket to stick them straight in Flickr.
Done about the last 5 of my posts now. Not easy to remember what went where, but it's a start..

Flickr is one hell of a lot quicker than photo bucket as well!

That move from photo bucket has just destroyed 1000s of hours work and probably ruined many forums

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Old pugs don't die they just get faster

Well done PB. You have broken the internet.

They would have made a fortune if they charged a reasonable and affordable fee but I don't think many will stump up $399.

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China D Turbo HDi daily charger
Black Rallye occassional toy

It seems history is repeating itself. I would say that the PB calculation that people will pay $399 to keep their images will backfire, and it will go the way of the others, at the collateral cost of forums everywhere being rendered almost useless for past content. See below, copied from another website...

https://www.msuk-forum.co.uk/forums/topic/224286-photobucket-wants-payment-for-3rd-party-hosting/?page=2

"Re posted from a popular general news website


Photobucket began as a 3rd party image host, now they have moved away from that and want $400 a year. They are monetizing your popular images, and they put ads on them so the viewers are paying too, making money on both ends.
you cant even begin to imagine what this will mean to internet forums and blogs. older internet users remember what a dumpster fire the internet was when angelfire, geocities, and tripod stopped offering free hosting, broken links everywhere and it was the exact same cause, they started out to give everyone free hosting, but they reached critical mass as more people signed up for the free than the paid. they switched everyone to paid thinking their customers would not let them get shut down over something as trivial as $150 a year. It only took one year for angelfire usage to drop by 75%, and they were defunct shortly after. for YEARS after, you would search for information and reach a dead angelfire/geocities/tripod link.
this is how its going to be with photobucket. if you have a free account and your images arent blocked, dont worry, they will be. the ToS is clear that NO 3rd party hosting is allowed with free accounts or even the first 3 tiers of paid hosting. right now its just the higher bandwidth accounts but looking at their ToS soon it will be everyone.
Regardless of your feelings about photobucket, yes they suck, yes you should have seen this coming, yes there are other image hosts, its all irrelevant. You will search google for a DIY how-to and the pictures from 2006 will be down. You will search a honda forum for how to repair a 2010 honda pilot power steering noise and the pictures will be down. you will look for a halloween pumpkin idea from a blog and it will be text only with a bunch of photobucket.com/p500 image links.
dont give them the satisfaction. if you use photobucket now, delete your images. image storage space is such a small concern these days, a 64GB memory stick is less than 20 bucks and a 256GB is less than 60. without the ability to share the images on message forums with an IMG tag, there is not a reason to store them on photobucket. delete your photobucket accounts and let them go the way of angelfire."

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Cherry Rallye SOLD

Great idea. That would be a lifesaver for the forum. Those FAQs are gold especially for those of us who are OK at DIY but not gifted mechanics.

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Cherry Rallye SOLD

Yeah, they've even helped me with jobs I was confident with a few times. I usually check them as a quick reference beforehand and sometimes it has reminded me I'll need to buy another seal/part that I'd forgotten, saving me the hassle of finding that out when it is already in bits.

IMO the FAQs are worth the fiver a year on their own.

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61k miles Ph.1 Diablo '6 Project Thread

I've attempted to download all my PB pics but the download did not complete - though this could be down to the dodgy internet connection where I am.

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Cherry Rallye SOLD