Photobucket Broke My Blog! aka 'Why My Tutorials Don't Have Photos'
Hey lovelies,
I've agonised about writing this post for the last few weeks in the hope it was all a bad dream and I'd wake up and all would be well.
Unfortunately this is no dream but a blogging nightmare I'm going to have to confront...
In case you haven't noticed, all my blog posts except my most recent ones no longer have photographs... arghhhhhhh! All that hard work, all those lovely photographs I spent hours on, all gone.
Until very recently I used Photobucket to host all the photographs for my blog, known as '3rd party hosting'. When I began blogging in the early days this was the standard method of sharing photographs on the internet, indeed some forums and sites still require users to do this. But last month I received an email from Photobucket (aka a ransom note) to say their free 3rd party hosting service, the basis of their business, was no longer free.
I almost dismissed the email as spam, but not being sure if it was genuine I rushed to my blog and was horrified to find all my photographs gone and replaced by this image....
Photobucket stated in the email if I wanted to have my blog photographs back, I'd have to pay for their most expensive package at $399 annually. No warning, no chance to move my photographs elsewhere, just all gone in the blink of an eye. Let me stress this, I've only ever used my own images on my blog, these are my photographs, taken by me and edited by me. Photobucket are demanding money to get my own work back! 10 years of time and effort...gone.
Technically my blog photographs are still there in Photobucket's clammy grasp, but myself along with thousands of other bloggers, forum members, web owners, Amazon and Ebay sellers are being held to ransom to release our own work.
For many bloggers this is their livelihood and their income has been decimated, they've been forced to pay up. For other like myself who consider blogging a hobby, we do this to share our ideas, thoughts and advice freely. My tutorial are free, nobody has to pay to access them, and so I don't make any money from them. I do this because I love it, but I cannot justify paying such a high price for my hobby.
So what to do? I'm aware some of those affected have launched a legal challenge, in that a sudden change to the Terms of Service without warning and then demanding money is tantamount to extortion. Despite the all pleas from users and all the negative press, Photobucket don't care and have not shifted their position.
Some have had no choice but to pay up, still others like myself flatly refuse to give in. I'm stubborn and I don't have money to throw around, so I won't be paying Photobucket's ransom.
Thankfully I still have most of my photographs backed up on a hard drive, so basically I am going to have to go through the laborious task of replacing each and every photo link with an uploaded photo, thousands of links, thousands of photographs. It's going to take a looooong time.
I'll start with my most popular posts - the tutorials and recipes. and just slog my way through it. Please bare with me while I fit this in around family, full-time work and all the other demands on my time. And if you're in the same situation as me, I feel your pain and good luck. Please comment if you're affected by the Photobucket scandal and if by some miracle you've discovered a workaround please let me know! xx
I've agonised about writing this post for the last few weeks in the hope it was all a bad dream and I'd wake up and all would be well.
Unfortunately this is no dream but a blogging nightmare I'm going to have to confront...
Photobucket broke my blog!
In case you haven't noticed, all my blog posts except my most recent ones no longer have photographs... arghhhhhhh! All that hard work, all those lovely photographs I spent hours on, all gone.
Until very recently I used Photobucket to host all the photographs for my blog, known as '3rd party hosting'. When I began blogging in the early days this was the standard method of sharing photographs on the internet, indeed some forums and sites still require users to do this. But last month I received an email from Photobucket (aka a ransom note) to say their free 3rd party hosting service, the basis of their business, was no longer free.
I almost dismissed the email as spam, but not being sure if it was genuine I rushed to my blog and was horrified to find all my photographs gone and replaced by this image....
Photobucket stated in the email if I wanted to have my blog photographs back, I'd have to pay for their most expensive package at $399 annually. No warning, no chance to move my photographs elsewhere, just all gone in the blink of an eye. Let me stress this, I've only ever used my own images on my blog, these are my photographs, taken by me and edited by me. Photobucket are demanding money to get my own work back! 10 years of time and effort...gone.
Technically my blog photographs are still there in Photobucket's clammy grasp, but myself along with thousands of other bloggers, forum members, web owners, Amazon and Ebay sellers are being held to ransom to release our own work.
For many bloggers this is their livelihood and their income has been decimated, they've been forced to pay up. For other like myself who consider blogging a hobby, we do this to share our ideas, thoughts and advice freely. My tutorial are free, nobody has to pay to access them, and so I don't make any money from them. I do this because I love it, but I cannot justify paying such a high price for my hobby.
So what to do? I'm aware some of those affected have launched a legal challenge, in that a sudden change to the Terms of Service without warning and then demanding money is tantamount to extortion. Despite the all pleas from users and all the negative press, Photobucket don't care and have not shifted their position.
Some have had no choice but to pay up, still others like myself flatly refuse to give in. I'm stubborn and I don't have money to throw around, so I won't be paying Photobucket's ransom.
Thankfully I still have most of my photographs backed up on a hard drive, so basically I am going to have to go through the laborious task of replacing each and every photo link with an uploaded photo, thousands of links, thousands of photographs. It's going to take a looooong time.
I'll start with my most popular posts - the tutorials and recipes. and just slog my way through it. Please bare with me while I fit this in around family, full-time work and all the other demands on my time. And if you're in the same situation as me, I feel your pain and good luck. Please comment if you're affected by the Photobucket scandal and if by some miracle you've discovered a workaround please let me know! xx
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