Photobucket

[Don Coatney]

I just got my annual renewal notice and I am not a happy camper. I sent them the following and I wonder if they will responde.

I have been a member beginning on February 17th, 2004. I have paid my annual $25.00 fee timely every year. Now I see the fee has almost doubled to forty bucks annually and my renewal date has shortened by a month as my account will expire on January 20th, 2009. What happened to my original expiration date?

You have added several unwanted "features" to my account over the past 5 years. My album list used to be on top but now sits to the top left of my screen. Formatted this way I now must scroll to the right to see all my photos then scroll back to the left to change albums. This was a step backwards in my opinion. Also the "view all" key stroke is now at the bottom of the 40 thumbnails and it used to be at the top. When I hit the view all it returns to the top of the page and I must scroll down past the already viewed 40 thumbnails to see the additional pictures. This is another step backwards in my opinion.

There is now a dropdown that I cannot get rid of every time I log into my account. This dropdown "rearrange files in your album" is not something I am interested in doing. Why does this dropdown remain on my screen?

So now you want me to pay more money for a program that is no longer user friendly. I await your response.

[BobT-47P15]

I'm with you, Don. The inventors of the site sold out to whoever now owns

it....some large company. Ever since that time, they have been monkeying

with things. Of course, if you ask them, these will surely be described as

"improvements". Now, even with the large number of subscribers, they

seem to be wanting an increased annual fee. Good ol greed must have

finally hit the bucket.

I think mine renewed a month or two ago still at $25.

[RobertKB]

I use the free photobucket with no problems. I don't have a lot of pictures on it and maybe that is the difference. I personally like photobucket and the free service.

[Norm's Coupe]

Well.........anyone who is not happy with photobucket can always switch to some other photo sharing place. There is another option too. You could always set up your own web site. It's not that hard to do. If you can upload onto photobucket, you have the knowledge to upload onto a web site. Many of you could also set up your own web site FREE. That's because most web access companies give you so much space to set up a personal web site. They also make it easy for you to upload stuff onto it and manage it. Then you can put anything up there you want (except porn, etc.). If the free site isn't enough for what you want to put on the web, then a regular small web site can be had for not much more than $40 per year and you again control that. Of course, you would then need a domain name. However, you can buy domain names for as little as about $5 or $6 per year.

That said, you can even become a reseller of web space for people to put up their own sites. In fact, my web account allows me to do that if I wanted to get into that. Then you have unlimited space available. No, don't want to sell space. That's not my thing.

[PatS....]

Mine went up at renewal as well. With all they have done, that I don't use, I expected it. Still not a happy camper when you add in the exchange rate.

At $25 bucks it was a great deal and one I didn't mind spending but next year I'll have to rethink it. It is quite a luxury item and I'll have to drop it or use it a whole bunch more.

If they increase again, it's gone.

[Don Coatney]

Then you can put anything up there you want (except porn' date=' etc.). [/quote']

Where can I post porn for free? With your internet knowledge you must know the answer to my question:cool:

[Norm's Coupe]

Where can I post porn for free? With your internet knowledge you must know the answer to my question:cool:

Sorry, I have no idea, never looked for something like that. Maybe some Russian web hosting site will let you do that. I'm sure if you look hard enough you'll find a place for that.

But........like I said you can usually get free web space for a personal site through your access host. Same people who host your email address. For some of those you do not always have to buy a domain name either. In addition, they supply you with templates to set up your personal site, and also have it set up so you don't need any additional computer programs like FTP to do it with. Just make up your page using their templates and upload it to your site. You can also use MS word to make up your own pages, or use your own template and upload it onto the site. Since you've already paid for your internet access service, there is no additional cost, so that makes it FREE. It's better than using something like photobucket.

[Captain Neon]

http://www.geocities.com also offers free webspace. I find their interface to be quite user-friendly.

[David Maxwell]

...and I won't be happy at all!! Geez! You would think that with the recession and all, and all the falling prices we keep hearing about, that this would be the last thing to expect. Still, several local restaurants have nearly doubled their prices, grocery prices keep going up and among other things, this!!!!!!! I don't get it. Their cost structure should be somewhat lower right now and this will cause many people to jump ship. Bad move in my opinion, but of course I realize that's just my opinion

[Young Ed]

Do you think the photobucket rate hike could be an attempt to get users to revert to non paying accounts which are then subject to advertising. Maybe their advertising piece is suffering.

[Normspeed]

I use the free service. Haven't hit my limit, whatever it is.

Too bad they are getting greedy. That's a big rate hike.

[greg g]

I recently put some pics up on Fotki, and still ue imageshack on a refular basis for quick posts of a pic or two.

[moparalltheway]

Impressionable as in Bill Clinton? Now that you know your "strict filtering" works! I would suggest you turn it off for a moment in time. Just a thought. If you look at the sun for ten minutes you could go blind.

[Norm's Coupe]

Well.........retail prices have gone up primarily because shipping rates went up. That increase starts at the manufacturer and works it's way to the the retailer, causing all items to go up that we purchase. When prices go up, the people ask for and may receive increases in pay to help pay those increases. It's a vicious circle and that even affects the people who do not ship anything such as people who work for places like photobucket. They have to pay the higher prices just like we do, so they increase their rates to increase their staff's wages to live. So........if we are to blame any one concern, it's probably the price of oil that really jumped this past year. Luckily that seems to be going back down now, so hopefully prices will stabilize and things will get back to normal soon.

Also, don't forget the increases in the cost of heating and cooling. Even if they rent their workspace, they still have to pay to heat or cool it. If not directly, then to their landlords. Plus the energy cost of running their equipment.

[David Maxwell]

Uuhhh..., not sure what's happening in Wisconsin, but here in CA, fuel prices have dropped 60%. Since we were told that fuel costs were the reason for shipping prices going up so much last year, I sorta feel like a 60% drop in fuel prices should be reflected in lower shipping costs, not higher. Therefore, the high cost of shipping produce, should have dropped and restaurant prices should have at least some downward pressure. Instead they nearly double! Sorry I still don't get it.

Well.........retail prices have gone up primarily because shipping rates went up. That increase starts at the manufacturer and works it's way to the the retailer' date=' causing all items to go up that we purchase. When prices go up, the people ask for and may receive increases in pay to help pay those increases. It's a vicious circle and that even affects the people who do not ship anything such as people who work for places like photobucket. They have to pay the higher prices just like we do, so they increase their rates to increase their staff's wages to live. So........if we are to blame any one concern, it's probably the price of oil that really jumped this past year. Luckily that seems to be going back down now, so hopefully prices will stabilize and things will get back to normal soon.

Also, don't forget the increases in the cost of heating and cooling. Even if they rent their workspace, they still have to pay to heat or cool it. If not directly, then to their landlords. Plus the energy cost of running their equipment.[/quote']

[BobT-47P15]

That old saying "what goes up, must come down" doesn't seem to

apply to prices these days.

[Captain Neon]

It's all really quite simple. Supply and demand. As more US dollars are printed/produced, their purchasing power goes down. It now takes more US dollars to purchase the same items. The Continental Congress, the German Weimar Republic, the Confederate States, Mexico, and now the Federal Reserve are all examples of a plummeting currency value. As more and more foreign governments that had backed their currency with US dollars continue to dump US dollars for euros, yen, drachmas, and gold bullion, the purchasing power of the US dollar will only continue to decrease. This and bailout dollars coming into existence from out of thin air, the purchasing power of the US dollar is only going to continue to fall and price of goods and services will only go up. This is inevitable any time a hard currency (backed by precious finite commodities) are replaced with a fiat currency.

[PatS....]

The Creature from Jekyll Island - A Second Look at the Federal Reserve...

http://video.google.ca/videoplay?docid=-8484911570371055528&ei=laRdSfPbLqHaqAOWiozxCg&q=the+creature+from+jekyll+island&hl=en

[Don Coatney]

Be gentle. If it were not for the Federal Reserve Banking system cash department I would not be employed.

[PatS....]

Be gentle. If it were not for the Federal Reserve Banking system cash department I would not be employed.

Don, the speech is quite old, so I'm sure the job is OK.

Highly unlikely the Fed is going anywhere despite this expose'.

Must be a very cool, interesting place to work!

[Norm's Coupe]

It's all really quite simple. Supply and demand. As more US dollars are printed/produced, their purchasing power goes down. It now takes more US dollars to purchase the same items. The Continental Congress, the German Weimar Republic, the Confederate States, Mexico, and now the Federal Reserve are all examples of a plummeting currency value. As more and more foreign governments that had backed their currency with US dollars continue to dump US dollars for euros, yen, drachmas, and gold bullion, the purchasing power of the US dollar will only continue to decrease. This and bailout dollars coming into existence from out of thin air, the purchasing power of the US dollar is only going to continue to fall and price of goods and services will only go up. This is inevitable any time a hard currency (backed by precious finite commodities) are replaced with a fiat currency.

How true this is. The more dollars printed and put into circulation, the less the value of that dollar. All that extra money only serves to increase inflation, and that's why you don't see a lot of prices dropping now since the oil prices are lower.

[David Maxwell]

Though your basic premise is true; that the value of the dollar is falling, this would only cause inflation if people were spending those additional worthless dollars. All economic indicators point to the opposite. People are spending much less and general prices are falling. It seems that only certain industries are increasing their prices: food services, internet services etc. I really haven't researched what else is happening with farmers and other industries in the food service sector. I suppose there must be something more to it. Perhaps bad weather has hurt crops greater than usual. Got to go run some errands, but I'm going to have to read some economic reports to see what's really going on.

[Norm's Coupe]

David,

I'll agree people aren't spending freely like they were a year or so ago. But...that's not all that causes inflation. Printing those extra dollars will do the same. Granted, you and I won't be spending those extra dollars being printed. They are being printed to pay the government bills and for the bailouts the government is making to the banks and auto industries. That's also adding to the national debt. And that's where the inflation will come in. Somebody is going to have to pay that money back, and that somebody is the government, i.e., you and I and everyone else through higher tax dollars. That means our bills will go up through inflation of higher taxes primarily. Taxes that a business pays will also go up, and to make up their lost profits, they raise their prices causing more inflation. When that happens, you'll want a bigger paycheck and ask for a raise in pay, causing more inflation. So..........like I said before, it's a vicious circle where nobody wins. We just keep getting deeper in the hole. What government should be doing is reducing it's size. It was never supposed to pay for anything other than national security and infrastructure. Not all these other bills that pay for everything from soup to nuts, and telling people what they can and can't do in their own homes and with their own business'. If a good portion of our people in congress were running a business, most of them would fall flat on their face, because they've never done it and never had a real job. As a prime example of poor economics just look at our new Vice President Elect. I read an article saying that he's had to refinance his own house several times over the years he's owned it. That was when he was a Senator. If he can't keep his own finances in order, how's he going to help keep the country's finances in order. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not picking on him. He just happens to be the one who had an article published about it because of his new position. I'm sure there are a lot more in congress that have had to do the same in both political parties.

In hard times, we all sacrifice something because we can't use our neighbor's money to live on. Yet, the government doesn't seem to care how much they spend. They will just print more money, raise taxes or both to pay the bills and that's not good economics.

[Captain Neon]

"Now since man is naturally inclined to avoid pain- and since labor is pain in itself- it follows that men will resort to plunder whenever plunder is easier than work. History shows this quite clearly. And under these conditions, neither religion nor morality can stop it. When, then, does plunder stop? It stops when it becomes more painful and more dangerous than labor. It is evident, then, that the proper purpose of law is to use the power of its collective force to stop this fatal tendency to plunder instead of to work. All the measures of the law should protect property and punish plunder." --Frederic Bastiat

[Tom Skinner]

"Here we go again" (Ronald Reagan)

How about let us get back to: how to fix our old cars -

Please?

Politics and Finances for another Forum.

Tom Skinner