13 INTERESTING HOSTINGS SITES alternative to the untrustworthy Photobucket *** COURTESY OF PRETTYMAL
PLEASE DROP PRETTYMAL A MESSAGE THANKING HER FOR ALL THE HARD WORK AND RESEARCH SHE DID FOR THIS.

THANKS PRETTYMAL


Hi there, fellows suffering Photobucket's BETRAYAL !!

As many people know, by now, Photobucket suddendly abandoned us in middle of problems, not supporting anymore links of our private photos or textures. PB got crazy: they demand about $ 400 yearly in order to maintain our files !!!! Incredible.....

There below a my helping research for new, possible, sites, hosting and giving CODE, showing different characteristcs.

TIP= If the site do not provide any ready button for your language, add an automatic translator as Extension/AddOn to your browser )

Note= In the list there are not both Photobucket (obviously) and TinyPic since this last is not anymore a trusted site (it brings Hijacks etc.)

1. http://www.xooimage.com Free
* It accepts even swf
* You can resize images, also
* Upload also from Internet: No

2. http://imgbox.com/ Free
* SSL-protected
* File formats: Jpg, Png, Gif
* Max size each image: 10 Mb
* Drag & Drop: supported
* Upload also from Internet: No
* Photo Gallery
* Time storage: No Limit

3. http://postimg.org/ Free
* SSL-protected
* Formats: Jpg, Png, Gif, Bmp, Tiff, Psd
* Max size each image: 8 Mb and 10k x 10k pixels for anonymous or free accounts, 16 Mb and 10k x 10k for Premium accounts
* Multiple images uploading: up to 100
* You can resize images
* You can organize Albums/Galleries
* Upload also from Internet: Yes
* Space storage: No Limit
* Time storage: your choice, even forever
* Others can view your photos only by the address

4. http://www.hostingpics.net/ Free
* Formats: jpg, jpeg, png, gif, bmp, tif, tiff
* Max size each image: 5 Mb
* Upload also from Internet: No
* Time storage: No Limit

5. http://imgur.com Free
* File formats: Jpg, Gif, Png, Tiff, Bmp, Pdf, Xcf. But, NOTICE= Tiff, Bmp, Pdf and Xcf get automatically converted to Png.
* Max size each image: 1 Mb, if it is larger then it get compressed
* Drag & Drop
* You can organize Albums and Gallery by a free account
* Upload also from Internet: Yes, and also by CTRL+V
* Public or Hidden Albums
* Upload also from Internet: No
* Time storage: ?

6. http://funkyimg.com/ Free
* File formats: Jpg, Gif, Png, Bmp, Tif, Tiff
* Max size each image: 4 Mb
* You can resize images
* Drag & Drop
* You can apply a Watermark and Description
* Upload also from Internet: Yes
* Time storage: ?

7. http://uploads.im/ Free
* File formats: Jpg, Png, Gif, Bmp, Psd, Pdf
* Max size each image: 10 Mb
* Multiple images uploading
* Upload also from Internet: Yes
* Time storage: No Limit

8. http://www.use.com/ Free
* File formats: Jpg, Gif, Png, Tif, Bmp
* Multiple images uploading: up to 100
* Max size each image: No Limit
* You can add title and tag
* Upload also from Internet: No
* Time storage: No Limit

9. http://www.imagevenue.com/ Free
* File formats: Jpg and Jpeg only
* Max size each image: 3 Mb
(album, solo jpg e jpeg)
* Multiple images uploading: up to 10
* You can organize Albums (by a free account)
* Upload also from Internet: No
* Space storage: No Limit
* Time storage: No Limit

10. http://www.ultraimg.com/ Free
* File formats: Jpg, Png, Gif, Bmp
* Max size each image: 10 Mb
* You can organize Albums (by an account)
* Extensions for Chrome and Firefox (direct upload)
* Upload also from Internet: Yes
* Space storage: No Limit
* Time storage: No Limit

11. http://www.imagebam.com/ Free
* It accepts even videos
* File formats: Jpg, Png, Gif
* Max size each image: 10 Mb
* Multiple images uploading: up to 30
* You can upload images in a Zip file, less than 250 Mb. They will get automatically extracted.
* You can organize Photo Gallery
* You can add title and description
* Upload also from Internet: No
* Space storage: No Limit
* Time storage: No Limit

12. http://imageupper.com/ Free
* File formats: Jpg, Png, Gif
* Max size each image: 3 Mb
* Multiple images uploading
* Gallery
* Upload also from Internet: No
* Time storage: No Limit

13. http://ge.tt/ Free and Paid
* Audio-video files accepted
* Drag & Drop
* Multiple images uploading, a folder is created
* File formats: ???? it seems just ALL
* You can create Folders (no subfolder, anyway)
Other features are depending on types of account:
a) Anonymous= Max size image: 250 Mb, Limit archive: 250 Mb, Time storage: only 30 days
b) Free= Max size image: ??, Limit archive: 2 GB, Time storage: No Limit unless the account is inactive for long period. However, before deleting, they send a warning email
c) Premium ($1.99/month)= Max size image: 1 GB, Limit archive: 50 GB, Time storage: No Limit
d) Premium+($3.99/month)= Max size image: 200 GB, Limit archive: 1000 GB, Time storage: No Limit
* Upload also from Internet: No


MY PERSONAL CHOICE
* is http://postimg.org/ because it has just ALL we need, and more: SLLprotected, large size admitted (8Mb), also format Psd (Photoshop) accepted, no limit for time and storage, upload your files directly from web by url (e.g. from your Photobucket), multiple upload, and finally you can have your albums.
* about video (swf), I will use http://www.xooimage.com either http://www.imagebam.com/
* for to convert 24bit Png to lighter 8bit Png, I use www.tinypng.com

I would like if this my research might help you : ))

Prettymal

Ok, I'm back!

I too have been doing research and have a few bits of information that may help, and hopefully not muddy the waters...too much.

Dropbox: I started moving my files to Dropbox when Photobucket started getting so unstable. The bulk of my builds are currently linked there and the only thing that I got the nasty pic on was a few links I missed. Now I find the Dropbox will not allow hotlinking after 9/1/2017 so I am moving files...again.

Finding a new free site to host: Sounded good, but then a bit of common sense reasoning hit me up side the head. Photobucket for whatever reason, decided they were done with 3rd party hosting. They have always been the leader, the go to site. I expect the other free sites to follow along within a year. Of course the other issue here is READ THE TOS. Most of these sites do not allow porn, and THEY decide what porn is. Then there is the issue of hosting swf files.

Hosting from home: This was my method of choice. I have a WIN8 machine that I am literally using for a foot rest. I was excited, ran down the software I needed, read up on what I needed to do. Was even more excited cause I knew I could do it. Then WHAM! Seems my IP was not too enthused when I spoke to them. Was actually checking on something else when it came up, seems they consider that kind of bandwidth usage COMMERCIAL and that is much more than what I am paying now. (For those of you who do not know my tale of woe, I moved to the country and didn't think about net access. My choices are VERY limited and cannot get any speed. I am currently on my IPs Platinum Package, paying more than most of you could dream and I get 11 down and 2.75 up!!) After that conversation, this option was out.

Microsoft Onedrive: Most of us are now on WIN10 and you get 5 gb free! It works, a friend here tested it. I was happy about this then realized it probably wouldn't be too long before MS jumped on the pay me bandwagon also. You know the old 'too good to be true' thing Ann Landers warned us about.

So I was left with using an outside server to host. Works for me! I have relinked my textures once, going to have to do it a second time, have no plans to do it a third time.

Obviously there there are a lot of variables, different things are important to different people. I can quickly load files on the server with FTP. Move them around, size doesn't matter (I do have some HUGE files), I can have swf files and porn and no one will bother me They also keep the virus scanner up to date, the software up to date and do a daily backup...

That is my personal analysis, take it or leave it, please no rotten tomatoes!!

~Coug

BTW I am not sure where to put this, but all of my builds are whole, if you need a replacement, please inbox me!

I went with Imageshack.com, they are currently having a half-off sale so I got a year for about 19 bucks. I really don't want to move everything twice but this buys me some time to look into doing my own server if I don't like imageshack.
Imageshack doesn't allow direct linking for free accounts but I thought their lowest-end paid package was pretty reasonable. It will go up to 40 bucks next year and that's still ok to me even if I don't have a self-hosted cloud server situation set up by then.

I don't know if they do swf files, but honestly if they don't I'll do something with a static image for whatever that object is. I'm tired of dealing with the weirdness that comes with specialized files like that and if I'm having to redo everything I'm going to keep it simple and still make it nice.

I don't trust free ones anymore, honestly. I also do not like Imgurs interface at all. I am restoring for a few friends who use that who don't want to pay for hosting so I've used it and "blech" . I will not deal with hosting for anyone but myself but will help restore for friends if they have some place to put the pictures.

I do think that there is something bandwidth-related in the Photobucket free account situation, at least for direct links. Yesterday I ran a repair and cleared my cache and went back into the places where I have my own deco coming from PB and its all still there. I have a free account with PB but I am a VERY low bandwidth user - its mostly a few plants and some portraits, and one VictorG restoration (see below).
I don't expect it to stay alive but for now it still is.

I also noticed that when this all started happening my VicG home had about 75% of its images missing but the other 25% were still there. I fixed the missing 75% (unfortunately I used my own PB for that as I thought it was the Victor G account finally having issues , not all of PB). Then the other 25% went blank a week later.
I realized that the first 75% and the 2nd 25% were on 2 different PB accounts - his original and his 2nd one, judging by the links. I think #2 ran out of bandwidth slower than the first one.
For now that first 75% I rehosted on my own free PB is still alive even after the cache clear.
I have no idea what the free account bandwidth limit is , the bastards removed the meter sometime last week.
I think when you finally go over it is when they freeze the account and you start getting the P500 message. That would explain why it seems like this has been happening on a rolling basis.

Meanwhile any profile pic hotlinks went dead I posted from PB right after this all happened, even while the inworld stuff stayed put. Those are all html links, not direct ones, and may be handled a different way.

A tip for you restorers out there: Don't get rid of or modify the original layout, save a copy of it. Some of these image sites change the name of the pic and once you replace the link you won't know the name of what should go there anymore. This will make it tougher if you have to redo it again. Imageshack retains the name of the image but the link doesn't have it in there, which I don't love but at least the pic name can be used as a cross-reference.
I have saved the original layouts and also saved all the pics to a local backup under their original names before reuploading them.

And another tip: keep any of your questionable images (i.e. porn) OFF your main deco account, paid or not paid. Better to have the "burner" porn account locked/banned/removed and have to redo 20 or 30 images than your entire account locked/banned/removed and have to redo all those links.

Cel

Yeah, I gotta admit. This is ultimately the only viable solution in the long run. This isn't a problem I've run into on other 3d social networks before because they all (from my experience, I haven't played in a lot) allow for on-site hosting.

Can't Brian just buy Photobucket and lead us to the promised land?
Like he did with Curio... more or less..

It also provides a free website on all the paid plans.

Is that storage only? What about bandwidth usage and protecting yourself form other people hotlinking your links?

can you share links from pics in server to RLC?

PhotoBucket just shut the door on trying to get your textures saved. It's now showing up as a 3rd party error on their site when you go and try and get the textures.... They want their money bad it looks like...

Photobucket still fucking arseholes not getting cent from me

i now have a paid plan with smugmug with 3rd party hosting and am very happy

oh and unlike those arseholes at Photobucket i have option of pay by month or annual.

as far as im concerned Photobucket can burn

burn mother fucker burn