Hi Friends,
When I first saw my blog and lack of photos, the emotions ranged from anger to shock to distress to outright sad and emotional. So I sat and cried. (I'm not blaming pregnancy hormones for that though.) :)
So I did a little research. I found out that this exact same thing has happened to MILLIONS of blogs and websites, as well as people who post their sales on Etsy and eBay and even Amazon. Some people who have posted motorcycle or car engine rebuilds on forums (with all the photos) have gotten the same stock message on their photos that I have.
Basically, when you use an HTML link from a photo on a image hosting website, it takes up their bandwith. If you have a site/blog/forum post with a lot of peer views, it takes up more and more bandwith. I'm guessing Photobucket didn't like it so much.
Needless to say, people are OUTRAGED. We had no warning to go in and edit our photos before this happened and Photobucket has declined any comment to their users. I understand this was a free service but those who actually paid for Photobucket services are still getting the shaft. I was considering paying for the service too so now I'm glad I didn't. They want you to pay $400 a year to get your 3rd party photo sharing back and it's not going over well. I can get my own domain, my own photo sharing for about $100 a year. People are finding this out real quick. Photobucket won't be around much longer. I also think that they are using this $400 tactic to scare people and make that rash decision to pay it and get their photos back on their blogs/forums. I hope people haven't fallen into that trap.
I had been using Photobucket for years and never had problems. I guess the ads on the page were intrusive which turned people away years ago but with my adblocker, I never had an issue so I kept on using it. Also, Google Blogger years ago stopped me from uploading more photos to the blog because my Picasa album was full. I see that they have since changed. I am a huge Google fan and use Google photos to its fullest intent so I am going to start posting photos from that. I get unlimited photos and I can post directly from my phone, to the blog, etc. without the so called "3rd party posting" using up their bandwith. I'm also guessing that Google has enough bandwith to go around as they are a Silicon Valley giant!
So, the state of the blog!
I have put too much time and cultivated too many relationships to let this go. I love all things dolly, it's my hobby and a large part of my life and so are all of you. So the blog is here to stay.
I am going to work on reposting all the photos starting with the newest blog posts first. This will also give me the chance to fix any broken links or photos that are not longer available like I did with my Barbie Hot Tub/Pool post. My goal is one post each evening.
I have almost 2000 pictures to repost. And all new posts will have solid photos that will not go away. If Google Blogger decides to go kaput and stop photo hosting, I will move this blog to wordpress and pay for a domain. As I said, I have invested too much time in this blog to just say "sorry!" The whole fun of dollys is the pictures right?
So bear with me, we'll be back up soon. And hopefully Photobucket will enable 3rd party file sharing with a time limit (to allow us more time to change links, etc.) But I'm not holding my breath.
So thanks friends for sticking with me. I do have a new post in the works and was going to post before I found out I was pregnant and starting feeling the 1st trimester icky-ness.
Love you all and many dolly hugs
Teresa
6 comments:
I was just coming here to answer yesterday's post and saw this update! So glad you found something that works, I'd hate to see you go away!
And congrats on baby #2!
I hope you get all your pictures taken care of! I do wonder why using a third party photo host is better than just using Blogger, though.
Thanks April for your support! I can't bear to stop the blog. It's too much fun!
Thanks Barb, They'll get there for sure! I basically had to start using a third party host to post pictures. Back when I started on Blogger, it was very primitive and at that time, I don't think it was owned by Google (or just in the beginning stages.) What happened, is when you uploaded photos, they got dumped into a Picasa album and then Blogger itself created a third-party link from that site to your blog. Well, when that Picasa album gets filled up, there was no way for me to post pics. Sometime along the way they changed and allowed you to upload files directly from your PC, phone or Google Photos (which makes it SO much easier.) Just wish I realized that a while ago. :) When my Picasa was filled up I started using my Flickr and then Photobucket. Might want to go update Flickr too. They were just bought by Verizon so who knows what the state of that site is going to be.
Wow, that must go way back! I've been on my namesake blog since 2005, and I've been putting pictures up since 2006. I'm glad that I missed all the issues about pictures.
Congratulations, by the way, on expecting your second child! I forgot to mention that in my first comment.
Thanks Barb! We are excited. The final addition to our family :)
Agh, this sucks! It's not fair at all, especially to the people that pay for it. I know you're a dedicated Google fan and all, but Wordpress is actually pretty damn good. If you were going to switch over, now wouldn't be a bad time.
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