Photobucket Third Party woes as described by Nicodemus

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Breaking News.

I propose that the good members of this forum knock their heads together and initiates an image salvage operation to save the very best Photobucket-hosted pictures from inactive members. The works of old masters are in danger of being lost forever, courtesy of Photobucket! See more here for Chaos Dwarf Online's unfolding initiative on the issue:

IuoZiwq.jpg


We risk an almost complete breakdown of continuity in images

With the recent Photobucket trouble we'll have to ask ourselves what legends of old should be targeted for photo backup? This is a disaster to continuity and it seems we have scarce time to act before the old photos go completely unavailable. As of now, it is possible to right-click pictures under lockdown, choose view image in new tab and copy it from there.

Remember that Imageshack has already robbed us of archive material, and the Photobucket strike is much larger in scope. We risk losing almost everything old which new members have stumbled upon through the years, taking inspiration from old masters.

I know I'll not have much time to contribute with in the coming weeks. I must fix some Golden Hat entries today and maybe tomorrow, but I could help some after that, within limitations. If many of us could help some, it would add up. This is not drudgery which anyone wish to do during the summer, but it is now or never, unless Photobucket come to their senses and change direction completely.

Volunteers?

Can we please gather links to the logs and work of inactive members which we'd particularly like to see saved from the looming disaster? Then we could chew through the threads one at a time and avoid redundant double-work by advancing which thread/member we each pick. An all-out manual trawl of the whole log section could maybe be possible, but it would be true slave labour. Realistically, we should target worthy pictures in particular.

If we can establish a link list, then some volunteers could possibly wade through it to save backup copies on their own computer, to be transferred to some free and currently stable photohosting site such as Imgur. From there, we could re-upload some stuff in big chunks with lots of photos.

Please remember that artwork should be saved along with miniature photos.

_____________________________

Let's take tjub as an example. His stuff is particularly easy to find and save for backup, since he has both a compilation of picture links in his market thread and moreover an index in his monster of an army log. On the other hand, there is a lot of stuff to wade through! But it can be done.

We might wish to target long-since inactive members first and foremost, but this wrecking ball strikes at everyone's Photobucket album, active or inactive.

Also, I suppose it could be good if we tried to name the image file after its creator (e.g. "Snotling 01" or "Snotling Ballista 02" ), just so it's tagged straight away.

Attention

Saving your own pictures is quite straightforward and should probably be possible even after the changes have been fully implemented. However, saving others' of long since inactive members is a window that will soon close. If you know of anything specatcular and old you'd rather not be unable to see in the future, then head to that log and grab it.

There is one saving grace before Photobucket goes utterly dark. You can apparently download others' albums, if their privacy lets you see the album:

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So some speed is won that way.

I just realized that I for a long time saved links to outstanding works of various kinds much more often than actual pictures. This might turn into a headache...
 
CDO is well into manually salvaging massive amounts of surviving pictures from olden days. Lots more to do, of course. An organized volunteer effort will carry you far.

This is doable if a few members voluntarily sacrifice some days or a week of sparetime. Such a brief but intensive salvage sweep of old worthy pictures can save years and years of accumulated forum content!

Please think of the very best logs you have, and consider saving their images if their owners are inactive at the moment.

Worst of all? This Photobucket mess strikes in the middle of summer! Wanted to spend these hours outside. But long-term it will be worth it.

PS. Tech-savvy admins of this forum might wish to contact The Red Devil on Lustria Online right away. He might have found a loop-hole to automatically download Photobucket images and transform them into attachments. DS.
 

Plaiecivile

Member
Wow that will become a real problem!

In my thread for the Bestiary of the Exalted and Unfortunate, There is already a couple of account which the pictures does not appear anymore. I do not know how Photobucket proceed, my pictures are still displaying although I guess it is only a matter of time before the links cant be shared. $60 per year to maintain my "3rd party links" online seems like a rip off when I compare to my full proof anti virus that is 90 CAD$ per year.

Anyway I really like this forum and even if I did not contribute much in the past year I still lurk around very often. I will do my part and come up with something very soon.

wargamingmontreal.com was the main local reference for wargaming in my corner of the world and after a major rework of the forum architecture, which lead to the break of most picture links and many issues with the admin, the forum never went back to its original popularity.
 
Indeed, break of continuity can break a forum. This is a crucial problem and needs to be addressed at once.

Please, anyone that reads this: Search out your favourite logs, dioramas, pictures of whatever that others have posted, and save copies of the best of the best. Particularly images from inactive members!

Then repost them yourselves when Photobucket shuts the window completely. Our collective treasure of hobby inspiration risks annihilation, like the arts and learning of ancient times did.

Carry the torch, or leave it in ashes.

Otherwise most images will be lost... unless a clever technical solution can be reached.

Admins, please respond.
 

administrator

Administrator
I'm sad to hear Photobucket is shutting down its third party services. Dropbox did the same recently with its public folder feature.

As for the forum. I simply do not have the time to salvage the resources. Those who have threads with external references to Photobucket will have to relocate and update the threads themselfs. I can when asked for supply information that's available in our database. A list with all threads containing references to Photobucket for example. PM and I'll try to help out.

The forum takes responsibility for all content on our server. We cannot guarantee longevity to external resources nor give support to it. We can only supply the information that's available in our database.

Please think carefully when choosing another hosting service for hosting your images. Free services give no guaranty for a long term solution.

In the meantime we will try to find a better solution for hosting images on our server. That way everything posted on the forum will stay on the forum.

Kind regards,
Admin
 

Viruz

Member
Since this morning, I am also affected by the lock.
This is a reason to say goodbye.

The consideration is available.
The blocking of Photobucket destroyed my forum. :oops:
I have been a member of Photobucket for 10 years.
 

Willmark

Member
One one hand I get it, we're (me included) freeloading off their servers.

On the other hand, no warning other than a change of terms and conditions 2 days before and an asinine price of $400? What the Hell are the smoking? Then again, they are based in Colorado so there you go.
 
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