# Photo Image Cleanup after PB debacle in the Slot Cars Forum Sections



## Milton Fox Racing (May 27, 2014)

You guys are pretty self sufficient, but this PB situation may require some additional help over time.

We know that some of you have already deleted your photos and accounts with PB. So that means those links are no longer there, but do you have plans to go back and replace any of those images from their new location or plans to upload them directly to HobbyTalk? This is not a requirement, but we dont want to delete post references if that is your plan down the road.

Some of you are just sitting tight and waiting to see what happens. We are fine with this as well. It has been years with all the old missing photos being there anyway, so a few more weeks, months or a year shouldnt matter. I am less hopeful that PB will reverse their actions and reinstate the images, but there is still a bit of hope in that regard. The only question is how long are we (you) willing to wait it out.

A few of you have already replaced your images with new links - kudos to them! And there are a few who are still working on theirs. I know it would take me months to go back and do that myself.

So, if you would - would you let us know what your plans are and if we should go ahead and delete those old links and or posts that are just blank now?

How much time do you need to replace your image posts if that is what you are going to do?

Or if you want to leave things as the are until we find out what PB is willing to do to fix their/save their site.

We are just gathering information for now so now worries or hurries if you are still deciding what you want or will do.


----------



## Rich Dumas (Sep 3, 2008)

I have pictures on both Flickr and Photobucket, I believe that my Photobucket pictures will be good until the end of 2018. I am now only putting new pictures on Flickr. I was hoping that Photobucket would reconsider their policy and offer third party hosting at a reasonable price. If my pictures go dead I plan on editing at least some of my posts to replace the dead links. Going back to fix posts that are several years old would probably be a waste of time. If someone requests it I will fix specific posts.


----------



## Hilltop Raceway (Feb 12, 2006)

Just waiting to see what happens...replacing pics since 2008, would take some time, not to mention trying to replace the correct pic in the right spot!!! RM


----------



## Rich Dumas (Sep 3, 2008)

My experience has been that many readers do not go back to look at old posts. On a more active site threads can have over a hundred pages and readers that have recently started looking at one of those often ask questions or want pictures that have already been posted. Since few people are likely to look at my older posts I am not going to update them. With respect to old posts there is another side to that issue. I do have some threads bookmarked because they have a lot of valuable information. On some rainy day I will have to review those and convert them to something that I can store on my computer, maybe it is already too late for some of those.


----------



## MSwaterlogged (Feb 5, 2014)

I don't have that many of any significance. I agree with Rich, trying to match things up would be a pain. Doubt if I would bother.


----------



## DadsCoronet (Mar 22, 2006)

I was grateful to the powers that be at HT when they stickied my Moko Lesney thread. My hope was that when I created it, collectors could use it for reference. I spent much of my time putting that thread together. As it is currently with all images from my PB account. the thread is virtually useless. I have no intention of being "held hostage" by PB and forced to pay a ransom. ($100 - $400 a year??? Are you nuts??)
So, I welcome suggestions. Fortunately, most or all pics from that thread are also on my computer. I'll need some guidance on how to replace MY images from PB with MY images on my computer. I am most willing to go through that entire thread and replace each image origin. Thank you.


----------



## Milton Fox Racing (May 27, 2014)

Since the photos are on your computor still the easiest and most direct way is to upload them directly to HobbyTalk. This thread has more detailed instruction on how to do that - 

http://www.hobbytalk.com/bbs1/361-h...oading-directly-hobbytalk-how-tos-issues.html

- the key factor is the image size has to be less than 500k in size. This process currently creates the thumbnails you are seeing in some threads now.

If you want bigger images you will need to upload them to another hosting site (like you did for PB) and then link them back to HobbyTalk.

Thanks for keeping us updated on your plans. :cheers2:


----------



## Rich Dumas (Sep 3, 2008)

It is more likely that newer readers will see pictures that are included in a sticky rather than in an older post that is part of a long thread. Updating the pictures in a sticky should therefore have priority. I can't think of any easy way to replace the pictures in a post, you have to find the right pictures, upload those to a new provider, determine the URLs and replace the old ones with the new ones. That would be a slow and rather painful process. If you are doing a how-to article with a lot of pictures it is easier to compose that in Word using the actual pictures and not links. The finished Word document can be saved as a PDF. I put PDFs on Google Drive and link to them there. If people can't use Google Drive I can e-mail them a copy of the PDF.
I have a database that has the links to many of the pictures that I have posted. It is easier to get the links from the database than to root through dozens of pages in Photobucket.
If I was really ambitious I could create a new database that included all of my posts with pictures. That would include the name of the BB, the date of the post, the thread name and a link to the location of the picture(s) on my computer. If you were not aware of it you can include clickable links in Word, Excel and PDF documents. Another plus is that an Excel database can be sorted. All of that would still be a lot of work, but I might just start a database for newer pictures.


----------



## RjAFX (Oct 26, 2014)

I "might" replace a few pictures but to go back 6/8 months or years to replace them is nonsense. It's also nonsense for HT to go hunt down old posts that had a photo in it. FB is done over it's not coming back, unless someone with deep pockets buys and returns third party hosing.


----------



## Milton Fox Racing (May 27, 2014)

Rich Dumas said:


> It is more likely that newer readers will see pictures that are included in a sticky rather than in an older post that is part of a long thread. Updating the pictures in a sticky should therefore have priority. I can't think of any easy way to replace the pictures in a post, you have to find the right pictures, upload those to a new provider, determine the URLs and replace the old ones with the new ones. That would be a slow and rather painful process. If you are doing a how-to article with a lot of pictures it is easier to compose that in Word using the actual pictures and not links. The finished Word document can be saved as a PDF. I put PDFs on Google Drive and link to them there. If people can't use Google Drive I can e-mail them a copy of the PDF.
> I have a database that has the links to many of the pictures that I have posted. It is easier to get the links from the database than to root through dozens of pages in Photobucket.
> If I was really ambitious I could create a new database that included all of my posts with pictures. That would include the name of the BB, the date of the post, the thread name and a link to the location of the picture(s) on my computer. If you were not aware of it you can include clickable links in Word, Excel and PDF documents. Another plus is that an Excel database can be sorted. All of that would still be a lot of work, but I might just start a database for newer pictures.


You are right - there is no easy process to salvage what has already been posted and lost with PB in particular. Maybe that is what PB was counting on to force people to meet their listed price and terms. Doesnt seem to have worked out that way for them though.

I have maintained an excel database for quite awhile now and have started adding link backs to photo locations as well.

In the end, it seems that the individual HobbyTalk member is going to be the only person who will be able to fix their portion of the mess that PB has created for everyone.


----------



## Milton Fox Racing (May 27, 2014)

RjAFX said:


> I "might" replace a few pictures but to go back 6/8 months or years to replace them is nonsense. It's also nonsense for HT to go hunt down old posts that had a photo in it. FB is done over it's not coming back, unless someone with deep pockets buys and returns third party hosing.


Whatever you are able or want to do - would be great. And appreciated. :cheers2:


----------



## slotking (May 27, 2008)

what happened? I have photos there, and when I log on, I get no info saying anything except pay to avoid ads.

Trying to down load all my pics now, but no response.

I have unlimited storage on my ho tips site, but I gave to figure out how I want to store photos


----------



## RjAFX (Oct 26, 2014)

No more third party hosting. All photos you have placed on web pages via your Photobucket account will disappear it they haven't already.


----------



## slotking (May 27, 2008)

thanks

I guess I have to look and see


----------



## RjAFX (Oct 26, 2014)

Unless they changed things back, they made it very difficult to download your pictures back onto your device. Took me a bit but I dl'd all, of our pictures, and closed my two accounts, Wife's account, and GrandDaughter's account.


----------



## alpink (Aug 22, 2010)

not passing judgement so don't anyone get their bowels in an uproar!!!

an old saying goes something like "nothing in this world is free."
if more people would have subscribed to the minimum type account before this came to be, they would have privileges through Dec 2018.
I don't like that PB is asking a kings ransom for it's previously free services. I certainly don't like that there was no notice, they solicit many of their features through emails but couldn't be bothered to advise us of the upcoming change. which is now upon us.

as I was saying, if more people had subscribed before this occurred, maybe, just maybe, they wouldn't have had to get so drastic with the new pricing.

I have read news reports stating that so many people use ad-blockers now (I certainly do) and that has lead to a decline in revenue due to lack of advertising that PB and other sites rely on.
so, if they are to continue providing service, someone has to pay.

I get pop-ups on some sites, like Nitro slots, that freeze my usage advising me to disable my ad/pop-up blocker to continue use.
so, there are other sites reacting to their loss of revenue in this way.

long winded you say?
yes, but I felt a need to present the factual reasons PB might have changed..

again, I don't , at all, like the way PB went about their new policy and I certainly am not going to pay $400 per year for third party hosting.
I can build my web site and maintain it for far less than that.

so, I will try to download my albums from PB, most of which I already have stored on disc anyway, and open another account elsewhere to use.

time consuming and no fun for sure.
but apparently necessary.

again, nothing is free and to expect something that currently is free to continue indefinitely is fool hardy.


----------



## RjAFX (Oct 26, 2014)

For me ... Paying for a PB upgrade didn't make lick of sense. The two accounts in my name had less than 1% of space used. As far as having a working account for a bit longer doesn't change the fact that we need to recapture our photos if we want them. Either way we do what we have to do go on our way. For me it's not a BIG deal.


----------



## Bubba 123 (Sep 10, 2010)

Hi ;-)

Just delete mine...
I was able to "Rescue" all my pics (only about 200-ish) back to my PC....

Bubba 123 (The Senile) ;-)


----------



## Milton Fox Racing (May 27, 2014)

Thanks for all the current feedback. HobbyTalk doesnt intend to clean up the entire site of broken links. And we are not requiring anything of anyone - as to going back and fixing their previouse broken posted image links. But, we do want to allow those members. Who do want to do that. The time to do so - if they want.

We have ways to identify the most freguently visited and posted in threads. And most of those visits come from non registered members as visitors. The slot car boards dont have as many of those type threads as the diecast and modeling blogs do. These type threads are the ones of primary interest as a historical or archival information thread. Think - how tos, member collection threads and old brand product topics.

So keep letting us know if want to replace your posts over time or if you have already deleted them.

As others have noted maintaining a copy of your photos in your own system or another storage device is a good ideal.

And a reminder that you can directly upload your images to HobbyTalk as you post them here as well. The only current limitation is a file size of less than 500k in size per image.


----------



## RjAFX (Oct 26, 2014)

can't seem to get any picture to post via my tablet


----------



## Milton Fox Racing (May 27, 2014)

RjAFX said:


> can't seem to get any picture to post via my tablet


Are you trying to upload an image directly from your tablet photo albums or a hosting site?

Using what system/process?


----------



## RjAFX (Oct 26, 2014)

testing hosting apps. I've tried imgur, and Flickr so far.


----------



## Milton Fox Racing (May 27, 2014)

I use flickr and havent found a way to upload photos from flickr to here using my andriod tablet either.

I have read other people are able to do it in imgur though.


----------



## RjAFX (Oct 26, 2014)

Milton Fox Racing said:


> I use flickr and havent found a way to upload photos from flickr to here using my andriod tablet either.
> 
> I have read other people are able to do it in imgur though.


No luck with imgur here. 

The way I feel about is.....If it doesn't work on my tablet I must not need it. My laptop 's old and I wouldn't spend $50 on the best new one. I am 100% fed up with computers.


----------



## SpeedyNH (Sep 13, 2014)

aw, gee, RJ, I ain't no stinkin' no computer nerd either (I'm just an analog/rf engineer), but I find a decent laptop invaluable (win7, Not 10). I buy mine refurb'ed. 
this lets me get on email and forums and other websites without excessive delay, and I also watch racing online because my schedule rarely lines up with when they're running. got a nice big second monitor hooked up to the one on my desk or bench to do that with. I'd hate to part with it. matter of fact, I usually have two or three running at once- one for home stuff, one for vpn'd work email when I'm home or on the road and another to scan things in with. computers, for me, it ain't rocket science and it doesn't break the bank either. but you'd have to pry my gold dead fingers off 'em. 
speeder


----------



## RjAFX (Oct 26, 2014)

OK Speedy


----------



## Rich Dumas (Sep 3, 2008)

Photobucket has an app for uploading pictures from a smartphone or tablet, you might search the app stores to see if another hosting site has an app as well.


----------



## RjAFX (Oct 26, 2014)

Yep.....The first thing ya do is download an app from the play store.

Snapfish, imgur, Flickr have an app, pictures don't appear on the page.


----------



## Dslot (Sep 2, 2007)

I've now gone back and replaced all or most of my significant images in the HT archives that Photobucket blocked.

I'm using IMGUR now. I liked Photobucket better, but Imgur's not bad. A couple of things I don't like -

Imgur doesn't store the image file under the image's file name. If I upload a file called "Nardi-Bridge.jpg", it gets stored on Imgur as "IXvGE6L - imgur.jpg" and anyone who downloads it gets a file called that. Bah. And Why?

It takes 3 clicks to copy a photo's share address for putting in forum posts and get back to your album. It took only one on PB.

Imgur uses a black page color, so any image with a transparent background shows up with a black background on Imgur. That sometimes makes it hard to find or identify in your Imgur album, and you aren't getting any cues from its name (see above). It downloads as clear, though.

Spending money to store zillions of people's images forever and ever, just so the people can link to them in a forum once and then forget them, is an ever-increasing storage/bandwith cost that it's tough for Imgur to make anything back from. Unlike the viewers that go to Imgur to see your graduation photo album, third-party users (forum readers) don't see Imgur's ads (or however else it plans to make its money from your pictures), or even know that the file is stored on Imgur. Therefore, expect that at some point Imgur will terminate third-party sharing, like Photobucket did. That seems unsustainable to me, so I'm considering Imgur only a temporary refuge and keeping copies of anything important on my computer.​
-- D


----------



## RjAFX (Oct 26, 2014)

Forums have been the life blood of collecting way back to the days of BulletinBoards. Not just collecting, but Auto, Camera, and everything else you can think of. That's why I hate saying what I'm about to say. I give up on forums, third party hosting and the lot of it. It's just to much of a pain to mess with. Even before Photobucket did what they did it was a glitching pile bandwidth. There were many, many days I couldn't get get it to open. Many days that it didn't like my password. Many days I couldn't upload a photo. Many days of control alt delete or reboot. I have been using FB not because I wanted to, but because even with it's glitching it works better than forums and third party hosting. Forum operaters don't seem to have any desire to keep me. They don't seem to have any desire to change.


----------



## Milton Fox Racing (May 27, 2014)

I agree with you about many of the recent ownership and in general board ownership across the net - but particularly here at HobbyTalk. Vertical Scope though is a different company. Fortunately for us diecasters, slot car and modeling guys - they are also primarily car guys. 90% of their other forums are all about cars.

VerticalScope.com


They have also made a verbal and written commitments to both KITT and I - not to abandon us (or the site) down the road like the last 3 owners have done. 

They have also been attentive to our input, suggestions and comments.

It doesnt do very much progressively to lament about the past, but we do want to hear about the future and want your input about it. So post it up where you are now. In the help and issues section. PM either KITT or I directly. You can also contact VS_Adm directly via the contact us button below.

I cant guarentee that everything you ask for will be implemented or allowed, but they want that input and they are listening (and reading your posts). :thumbsup:

The for sale boards are on there way back - without PANJO. :woohoo:

Most of the 'glitchiness' has been resolved. (If something remains let us know about it.)

Vertical Scope has a lot more resources than a one man owned board could every dream of (or affford) for capacity and speed.

We have a chance to build HobbyTalk back up eventually - to maybe as good as it was? But hopefully; even better. (I found 3 old sub forums buried within the JL and AW subforums that just went away at individual time points without notice or apparent member input during my research for the restructure and within the thread migration to the archival type subforums alone.)

The PB debacle was indeed an unfortunate set back for HobbyTalk (and the entire internet community), but you have always been able to upload photos directly into HobbyTalk and both the capacity to store images and the image size limit has been increased in the past 6 months or so to make that a better procss for our membership.

If your lurking about - come back in! Or come join us. Those who have recently rejoined - thanks! But, the biggest thanks needs to go to those of you who have stuck it out over the past 4 or 5 years. KITT opened the door with VS and I drug the rest of the diecast section and membership thru it when they asked for our input. We are and will be looking at other board subforums and want your input about them as well.

We have a ways to go still yet, but we have an oppurtunity to rebuild, add on and mostly - just keep it going. :cheers2:


----------



## alpink (Aug 22, 2010)

I'll be watching.
.
.
LOL


----------



## Milton Fox Racing (May 27, 2014)

:nerd: That what I do, too!




(Well, mostly I read a lot of stuff....)


----------



## alpink (Aug 22, 2010)

*PB work around*

found this on another baord and thought you might like to try it

They are a fix to allow you to see the
pictures in threads that Photo Bucket broke the links to. So far from what I read
they are only for Chrome and Firefox.

Links for Chrome

https://github.com/kzahel/photobucket-embed-fix
or
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/...ed-fix/naolkcpnnlofnnghnmfegnfnflicjjgj?hl=en

Link for Firefox

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/photobucket-embedded-fix/?src=ss

.


----------



## Milton Fox Racing (May 27, 2014)

Super! I was hoping that someone would create a work around. I am sure more will start surfacing soon. 

:cheers2:


----------



## Milton Fox Racing (May 27, 2014)

VS_Adm has looked at each of these and they do work. 

The thing is each individual member will need to load them onto their Firefox or Chrome browser individually.

They also noted that PB is actively working to block even these add ons from working and against other fixes that they have identified or other web developers have put out there.


I have chrome and it works for me! :cheers2:


----------



## alpink (Aug 22, 2010)

well, I'll take the advantge for as long as it lasts


----------



## Rich Dumas (Sep 3, 2008)

If you still have a Photobucket account you should still be able to post a link to your album. That would get people to all of your pictures, so that is not a perfect solution, but it is better than nothing. You could put all of your slot related stuff in its own album if you have not done that already.


----------



## 69ch (May 30, 2015)

alpink said:


> an old saying goes something like "nothing in this world is free."
> 
> again, nothing is free and to expect something that currently is free to continue indefinitely is fool hardy.


This ^^^ 

I paid the 15 dollar admission fee back when I could knowing that nothing is free. 

One of my PB accounts was not paid for although they must have made the connection and are still displaying those images. As for how long ... Who knows. 

Eric


----------



## Rich Dumas (Sep 3, 2008)

*Watermark*

I got an e-mail from Photobucket a couple of days ago saying that the pictures would have a watermark "Proudly hosted on Photobucket" on them unless I got a premium account. I am already paying for ad free, I guess that doesn't count. I have not put any new pictures on Photobucket since they started in with this sort of hokey pokey. I don't mind paying for the service, but the cost of an account that includes 3rd party linking is much too high. I will have to check some of my old posts that include pictures from Photobucket to see if the watermark has appeared. Since I doubt that many people would view a thread that is over a year old it is probably not worth fussing with moving the pictures to another site and editing my posts to include new links.


----------



## Milton Fox Racing (May 27, 2014)

It really is a mixed bag. How much of the image is the watermark going to cover? Is it adjusted by the image size as well?


As to moving things around - it really is up to each member and their prefences. We lost a bunch of images when members abandoned (deleted) their previous images and accounts with photobucket the first time around. Hopefully; members will give it a few days before they do that again and see what is going to happen or if PB reconsiders (again). :thumbsup:


We do have a lot of visitor viewers, searches and lurking members who do visit old sites and threads as an archival history of past builds and older products. If they dont bump a thread or post otherwise it goes unnoticed for the most part.


----------



## wheelszk (Jul 8, 2006)

I have no idea how to get into my PB acct.


----------



## Milton Fox Racing (May 27, 2014)

wheelszk said:


> I have no idea how to get into my PB acct.


Not that you want to or I would recommend doing it. But just like here at HobbyTalk if you have problems logging (and still use the same email address that you set up your account with or kept it up to date if you changed email servers) you can ask to have your password reset or select forgot my password and voilà you are back in!

:cheers2:


----------



## Rich Dumas (Sep 3, 2008)

Today I was looking at a post that I did on another BB last week that included a picture from Photobucket. Although the picture was OK yesterday it was dead today. I tried to go to Photobucket but could not connect, possibly that is because they are putting the watermark thing in effect. Since the post was very recent I put the picture on Imgur and edited my post to include the new link.
It does not make sense to me to spend much money on a service that is not reliable.
Photobucket says that the watermark will be discrete, however one man's discrete might be another man's gross defacement. I take some pride in the pictures that I post and I would not welcome any sort of watermark. From time to time I post a picture using hosting provided by a slot BB and those include a watermark. Those images are not photos, they are screen shots of spread sheets with race results and have little artistic merit. I always size those so the watermark will not cover anything.


----------



## A/FX Nut (May 28, 2004)

Hi Everyone,

I've been out of the loop for awhile now. Is there a way to post photos on Hobby Talk without going through Photobucket?


----------



## Dyno Dom (May 26, 2007)

A/FX Nut said:


> Hi Everyone,
> 
> I've been out of the loop for awhile now. Is there a way to post photos on Hobby Talk without going through Photobucket?


Good question, AFX. The usual answer is Imgur or something similar but unfortunately I have not found those options to be as easy to work with as PB.


----------



## Rich Dumas (Sep 3, 2008)

Photobucket was down all day yesterday, it is working today. Since I have been unwilling to pay the huge fee to get 3rd party linking the pictures in my older posts will go dead sooner or later. If you come across a post like that drop me a PM and I will fix it.
Try this method with Imgur. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Qj7HKRDMpW9SgtW1a60pYSrEcxi1BL1H/view?usp=sharing


----------



## A/FX Nut (May 28, 2004)

Thanks for the help and reply Dyno Dom and Rich. It's much appreciated.

Randy.


----------



## Milton Fox Racing (May 27, 2014)

Flickr was recently bought by another company, but seems to still be an independent photo hosting site. I cant find a reference to SmugMug anywhere on their site now. I am still recommending it as a photo hosting site if you want to check it out.

:cheers2:


----------



## Rich Dumas (Sep 3, 2008)

I also use Flickr from time to time, mostly to post race results. For me the hitch with Flickr is that you don't get the IMG code by itself, it includes other stuff that needs to be edited to remove things like your e-mail address. Here is how I use Flickr: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1jkC895Ew4ia_vDzHLTyw8wc3PuPxBhTF/view?usp=sharing


----------

