Photobucket problem

[LadyKestrel]

I noticed that my avatar, a direct link from Photobucket, was missing over at GB, but I haven't been able to log on to their site to investigate. I have a paid account with unlimited links on other websites, so that shouldn't be the problem. Is anyone else having trouble with their site?

[draclvr]

Yes. A lot of people who use Photobucket had issues when they changed their policies in November concerning third party hosting of images such as Avatars. I would contact them or see if they have anything new in their FAQs addressing it. Everyone I know who posted about it at GB said the one day their avatars just disappeared or were all blurry. Don't know if this link will address it, but there is some info in it. Some people got an email telling them if they wanted their avatars back, they had to upgrade their accounts to a Plus500 membership subscription that costs $400 a year!

https://www.technewsworld.com/story/84688.html

[LadyKestrel]

I just paid them $123.98 to upgrade my account, which was supposed to allow me the 3rd party postings. Now everything I've posted that was linked to them, including numerous quizzes, avatars, tournament graphics, and photos, are now gone. I also can't get onto their website. I get a bunch of ads instead, which says to me that their site may have been hacked.

[draclvr]

I just went to the website and didn't see anything amiss. But then I didn't try to log in because I don't have an account.

[LadyKestrel]

Finally, I was able to get onto the site. Most of my pics are there, but I guess I wasn't the only one concerned:

**SERVICE DISRUPTION UPDATE 12/21: The majority of Photobucket Members are back online. We continue to work on getting all Members’ fully functional. We will report back as progress continues.**

We apologize for the recent service disruption that you have been experiencing these last few days.

We deeply regret that this happened and we are working around the clock to bring photobucket.com back online.

First and foremost, your images are safe. Our number one priority is to ensure that your images are secure and we have several systems in place to make sure nothing is compromised.

We will provide ongoing updates as we make progress to finding the full solution.
What happened?

On Wednesday, December 18th we experienced a total power outage at our primary data center. Due to the abrupt nature of the outage the equipment that runs the site shutdown unexpectedly. The immediate shutdown resulted in systematic issues when the power was restored. Unfortunately, due to this unexpected shutdown, we were also not able to rely on our backup data center resources.
What are we doing right now?

The process is taking longer than expected because the security we have in place requires additional processing time. Most importantly, our primary focus is to ensure your photos are safe and secure!
What are we doing to prevent these situations going forward?

We are in the process of migrating Photobucket to a more reliable environment. The environment will give us more stability and help us reduce these issues in the future. Once service is restored, our primary focus will be on moving your beloved images to this environment.

We understand your frustration and sincerely apologize for the inconvenience.

Thank you for your ongoing support,

Ted
CEO

[draclvr]

My goodness! That was really a major crash! This on top of all the bad press they are getting for trying to force people into a $400 a year subscription!

At least it sounds like all your photos are safe and secure.

I use Carbonite on-line backup for all my data and then use my free OneDrive storage space for hosting avatars etc.