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Photobucket is trying to get us back on board

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  • Member since
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  • From: Maryland
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Posted by ATLANTIC CENTRAL on Sunday, February 4, 2018 2:57 PM

rrinker

 

 
ATLANTIC CENTRAL

And so how much does it cost to have your own web site and host your own photos?

I ask because I know nothing about that sort of thing, and apparently a few of you do that?

Sheldon

 

 

 

It costs me $60 a year for my web hosting. But my provider has a plan for $30/yr that would easily fit most people's photo posting. At one point I actually was running two different web sites on mine which is why I even upgraded from their most basic plan which is only $12/yr. Now I only have my one site, so I suppose I could back it down. 

 Depending on what size photos you post, even the $12/yr plan might be sufficient.

 Domain names are about $10-$15 per year to register.

 I use an old version of Dreamweaver to maintain my site, so there is the content on my provider's server, a complete coppy of it on my local machine, which is backed up to my server, and all my pictures are also in the picture folder on my server which is replicated across at least 3 physical drives in the server plus backed up to an outside backup provider. Even if my web provider goes belly-up tomorrow (but I've been using them for at least 15 years now), my entire site won;t go away, and when I would re-establish it with another provider, all my broken images would be restored because the domain name is MINE.

                                     --Randy

 

 

But Randy, I can tell by that discription that it involves working knowledge of computers I don't have, and don't want to take the time to learn.

I don't want a blog, or to post all my business about my layout on the web, etc, etc.

Sheldon

    

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Posted by ROBERT PETRICK on Sunday, February 4, 2018 3:08 PM

ATLANTIC CENTRAL

I don't want a blog, or to post all my business about my layout on the web, etc, etc.

Sheldon

Hey Sheldon, 

I understand, but I'm hoping one day you'll relent and post a little something. And I don't think I'm the only one who's curious. Nothing personal or exploitative or anything, just basic layout stuff. 

Robert 

LINK to SNSR Blog


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Posted by AntonioFP45 on Sunday, February 4, 2018 6:37 PM

"Photobucket is trying to get us back on board"

 

"I like my Pullman Standards & Budds in Stainless Steel flavors, thank you!"

 


  • Member since
    February 2002
  • From: Reading, PA
  • 30,002 posts
Posted by rrinker on Monday, February 5, 2018 7:52 AM

ATLANTIC CENTRAL

 

 
rrinker

 

 
ATLANTIC CENTRAL

And so how much does it cost to have your own web site and host your own photos?

I ask because I know nothing about that sort of thing, and apparently a few of you do that?

Sheldon

 

 

 

It costs me $60 a year for my web hosting. But my provider has a plan for $30/yr that would easily fit most people's photo posting. At one point I actually was running two different web sites on mine which is why I even upgraded from their most basic plan which is only $12/yr. Now I only have my one site, so I suppose I could back it down. 

 Depending on what size photos you post, even the $12/yr plan might be sufficient.

 Domain names are about $10-$15 per year to register.

 I use an old version of Dreamweaver to maintain my site, so there is the content on my provider's server, a complete coppy of it on my local machine, which is backed up to my server, and all my pictures are also in the picture folder on my server which is replicated across at least 3 physical drives in the server plus backed up to an outside backup provider. Even if my web provider goes belly-up tomorrow (but I've been using them for at least 15 years now), my entire site won;t go away, and when I would re-establish it with another provider, all my broken images would be restored because the domain name is MINE.

                                     --Randy

 

 

 

 

But Randy, I can tell by that discription that it involves working knowledge of computers I don't have, and don't want to take the time to learn.

I don't want a blog, or to post all my business about my layout on the web, etc, etc.

Sheldon

 

You don't have to do any of that. And you can leave out the part about the server, although the server I used was DESIGNED for non-computer people. It's not like a server in a business. All that stuff it does - backing up my computers - it does automatically, I didn;t have to set anything. It doesn;t even have a keyboard and monitor attached to it. Too bad they discontinued it.

FOr the web host, you can simply upload pictures and post links to them in forums. You don;t need to create a web site like mine in order to host pictures there. There are other easy, drag and drop programs to get pictures from your computer to your "web site" that are strictly for file copying, unlike Dreamweaver which is also (mainly) for actually creating web content. WHich BTW works like any word processor, you just type text and you can set colors and font sizes and so forth, it's not like these ridiculously complex content managers like Wordpress and Drupal. Since I haven't actually updated my web content in ages, I mostly just use it as a file transfer - I put the picture in my images folder, open Dreamweaver, and hit the sync button, and the file is uploaded t the remote server. That's it.

 In the days when Home Server was still a going thing, you actually could just share pictures right off it, didn;t even have to upload them anywhere. But it was mainly for sharing entire folders with family and friends - you could give Grandma a login to see the latest pics of the grandkids, for example. No need to try to email pictures.

 I built my own server, because I build all my own computers, most of the ones you buy at the store already made are overpriced junk. But when Home Server was a going thing, you could go to a store and buy, off the shelf, a system ready to go - take it out of th ebox, plug it in, answer a few questions similar to any new computer, and you were off. None of that server management stuff. It only supports 10 computers connected to it, so it was targeted specifically to home users with one or two. Cynical side says they discontinuted it because small businesses, the types that can;t afford a dedicate computer person, were buying it as a simple way to hook up all the PCs, back them up, and share files. 

                                           --Randy

 


Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's

 

Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.

  • Member since
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Posted by SeeYou190 on Monday, February 5, 2018 8:11 AM

IMGUR is still working well for me after a year.

.

I hope it stays that way.

.

-Kevin

.

Living the dream.

  • Member since
    February 2017
  • 282 posts
Posted by NYBW-John on Monday, February 5, 2018 9:16 AM

hon30critter

Hi gang:

Yesterday I got an email from Photobucket offering to host pictures for 3rd party use for $99.99/year. That is $8.33 per month as opposed to the $39.99/month fee that they were demanding to continue to host 3rd party access when they first dropped their free service. That is an 80% drop in price. Ya don't suppose they have figured out that they shot themselves in the foot with the original price hike do ya? I asked specifically if that included restoring the old photos and they said yes.

So, my question: Is getting your Photobucket pictures back onto the forums worth $100 per year. I'm pretty sure I'm going to see a predominantly negative response. IMHO it is still a rip off.

Cheers!!

Dave

 

Absolutley not. They are dead to me.

  • Member since
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Posted by ATLANTIC CENTRAL on Monday, February 5, 2018 9:31 AM

rrinker

 

 
ATLANTIC CENTRAL

 

 
rrinker

 

 
ATLANTIC CENTRAL

And so how much does it cost to have your own web site and host your own photos?

I ask because I know nothing about that sort of thing, and apparently a few of you do that?

Sheldon

 

 

 

It costs me $60 a year for my web hosting. But my provider has a plan for $30/yr that would easily fit most people's photo posting. At one point I actually was running two different web sites on mine which is why I even upgraded from their most basic plan which is only $12/yr. Now I only have my one site, so I suppose I could back it down. 

 Depending on what size photos you post, even the $12/yr plan might be sufficient.

 Domain names are about $10-$15 per year to register.

 I use an old version of Dreamweaver to maintain my site, so there is the content on my provider's server, a complete coppy of it on my local machine, which is backed up to my server, and all my pictures are also in the picture folder on my server which is replicated across at least 3 physical drives in the server plus backed up to an outside backup provider. Even if my web provider goes belly-up tomorrow (but I've been using them for at least 15 years now), my entire site won;t go away, and when I would re-establish it with another provider, all my broken images would be restored because the domain name is MINE.

                                     --Randy

 

 

 

 

But Randy, I can tell by that discription that it involves working knowledge of computers I don't have, and don't want to take the time to learn.

I don't want a blog, or to post all my business about my layout on the web, etc, etc.

Sheldon

 

 

 

You don't have to do any of that. And you can leave out the part about the server, although the server I used was DESIGNED for non-computer people. It's not like a server in a business. All that stuff it does - backing up my computers - it does automatically, I didn;t have to set anything. It doesn;t even have a keyboard and monitor attached to it. Too bad they discontinued it.

FOr the web host, you can simply upload pictures and post links to them in forums. You don;t need to create a web site like mine in order to host pictures there. There are other easy, drag and drop programs to get pictures from your computer to your "web site" that are strictly for file copying, unlike Dreamweaver which is also (mainly) for actually creating web content. WHich BTW works like any word processor, you just type text and you can set colors and font sizes and so forth, it's not like these ridiculously complex content managers like Wordpress and Drupal. Since I haven't actually updated my web content in ages, I mostly just use it as a file transfer - I put the picture in my images folder, open Dreamweaver, and hit the sync button, and the file is uploaded t the remote server. That's it.

 In the days when Home Server was still a going thing, you actually could just share pictures right off it, didn;t even have to upload them anywhere. But it was mainly for sharing entire folders with family and friends - you could give Grandma a login to see the latest pics of the grandkids, for example. No need to try to email pictures.

 I built my own server, because I build all my own computers, most of the ones you buy at the store already made are overpriced junk. But when Home Server was a going thing, you could go to a store and buy, off the shelf, a system ready to go - take it out of th ebox, plug it in, answer a few questions similar to any new computer, and you were off. None of that server management stuff. It only supports 10 computers connected to it, so it was targeted specifically to home users with one or two. Cynical side says they discontinuted it because small businesses, the types that can;t afford a dedicate computer person, were buying it as a simple way to hook up all the PCs, back them up, and share files. 

                                           --Randy

 

 

Randy, no matter how "easy", it still requires, time, money and has a learning curve.

Do you realize how close I am to not spending any time on this forum anyway?

And this and the one tractor forum are my ONLY online activities of this sort.

It was worth $400 to keep the tractor thread intact, that has earned me $15,000 in "spare time money" over the last 6 years. Keeping the train pictures up here was a free bonus.

Sheldon

    

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Posted by rrebell on Monday, February 5, 2018 10:31 AM

Don't go away Sheldon, you are one of the bright spots on this forum, whether we agree on an item or not, I mean that.

  • Member since
    December 2004
  • From: Pa.
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Posted by DigitalGriffin on Monday, February 5, 2018 10:34 AM

ATLANTIC CENTRAL
 
DigitalGriffin

Sheldon,

We are getting a bit off topic and I'm not going to argue your contribution to the work back then.  But today's backbone providers and major companies are extremely sensitive to operating cost.  They will upgrade networking equipment and servers if it delivers better efficiency.  And the total estimated power draw hasn't increased that much with the exception of a few outliers which are now stablizing. Now that company growth has moderated.  Intel makes most of their money selling chips that consume a lot less power to companies even though they aren't really faster.

 

And setting up your own server is a trivial task for a computer engineer like me.  Install Windows.  Set up port forwarding on the router.  Install is and then choose among the home brews for image web servers.  The hardest part is getting the site certificate and dns.  Like I said it's a half days work.

 

 

 

Don, I said in that post that I realize that improved hardware has offset increases in power needs - but it all had to be built in the first place, and it requires maintenance.

And if I wanted a web site I would pay someone like you, not struggle through it on my own.

I have a great IT guy.

But I don't need or want that in my life. I have no desire to put my life, or my business on the web.

My business would not benefit from a web page, and I will repeat, I have no interest in having a personal site.

So, even at $400, it sounds like I am both TIME and money ahead with Photobucket.......my time being much more important......

Sheldon

 


$400 is your initial outlay for the first year.  After that it's just bandwidth cost and doman registration with a static IP.  So it's substancially cheaper.

That said, maintenance is easier this day.  Most decent grade RAID systems are hot swap RAID 5 or Raid 0+1.  If a drive is in failure, a red light blinks on the panel telling you which drive to pull.  When you insert the replacement drive, the RAID array rebuilds itself.  Offline NAS and tape backup are just as easy.

I'm not trying to tell you to setup a home server.  I'm just saying it's not hard to set up a image web server.  Any smoe could do it IF they are willing to deal with the potential legal issues, bandwidth cost, and occasional drive replacement. 

And it's truly absurd the fees photobucket charges given the ease of it.

Don - Specializing in layout DC->DCC conversions

Modeling C&O transition era and steel industries There's Nothing Like Big Steam!

  • Member since
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Posted by ATLANTIC CENTRAL on Monday, February 5, 2018 2:19 PM

Well Don, building a kitchen, or a whole house, or restoring a 1901 porch is easy for me, but my clients are happy to pay me lots of money.

Just like I'm happy to pay my IT guy when he is needed.

I was writing code for early plc's in the early 1980's, I manage a lot of stuff on my computer just fine. But I don't have the time, need or interest to get deeper into it.

It simply does not interest me. For me a computer is a tool, not a toy, hobby or occupation.

And I am no longer in that occupation that had me programing plc's in the 80's........

Sheldon

    

  • Member since
    April 2003
  • From: Clinton, MO, US
  • 4,261 posts
Posted by Medina1128 on Tuesday, February 6, 2018 8:30 AM

richhotrain

I'm not going to bother to go back to Photobucket. I am happy with imgbb.com

Rich

 

I'm with Rich...

  • Member since
    February 2004
  • From: Elyria, OH
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Posted by BRVRR on Wednesday, February 7, 2018 11:11 AM

Atlantic Central/Sheldon

I had a problem with my old internet provider who also hosted my BRVRR website. For whatever reason after they changed hands their organization fell apart and my website was only available intermittently.

I changed providers and went to BlueHost as my website host. I have been with them for 3-4 years now and never a problem. All of my photos and the pages for my website are on their servers.

BlueHost costs about $100 dollars a year but they assume most of the headache stuff and provide site security as well.

Here is a link to their website: https://www.bluehost.com/contact

 

Tags: BRVRR

Remember its your railroad

Allan

  Track to the BRVRR Website:  http://www.brvrr.com/

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Posted by SpaceMouse on Wednesday, February 7, 2018 11:25 AM

ATLANTIC CENTRAL
But Randy, I can tell by that discription that it involves working knowledge of computers I don't have, and don't want to take the time to learn.

Actually it is pretty easy. 

Edit: I just read further and can see you are not interested. Nevermind. I'm leaving the details for others though.

 

Setting things up just requires you to make the purchase. The site will marry your domain name to your host. 

After that you just have to log on to your control panel. No harder than logging on to Amazon or eBay.

Then you just select your file manager from the control panel, and drag and drop the pictures you want to post here. If you want to get fancy, you can create a directory like images or pictures.

Next it's just a matter of using the insert image function and putting in http://www.sheldonspictures.com/images/mycoollocomotive01.jpg

 

Chip

Building the Rock Ridge Railroad with the slowest construction crew west of the Pecos.

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Posted by ATLANTIC CENTRAL on Wednesday, February 7, 2018 11:37 AM

SpaceMouse

 

 
ATLANTIC CENTRAL
But Randy, I can tell by that discription that it involves working knowledge of computers I don't have, and don't want to take the time to learn.

 

Actually it is pretty easy. 

Edit: I just read further and can see you are not interested. Nevermind. I'm leaving the details for others though.

 

Setting things up just requires you to make the purchase. The site will marry your domain name to your host. 

After that you just have to log on to your control panel. No harder than logging on to Amazon or eBay.

Then you just select your file manager from the control panel, and drag and drop the pictures you want to post here. If you want to get fancy, you can create a directory like images or pictures.

Next it's just a matter of using the insert image function and putting in http://www.sheldonspictures.com/images/mycoollocomotive01.jpg

 

 

Asked and answered several times, I'm just not interested. And it would be VERY TIME CONSUMING to reconstruct the picture links for my postings on the garden tractor forum as they do not allow user editing of posts after the first hour.

Sheldon

    

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