Gary Austin's Photobucket Account

[JDK]

G'day all,
I've just had a thought concerning out much missed poster Gary Austin. From a couple of other user's sites I've come across, it appears that if a photobucket account is inactive for (it seems to be) 90 days, then the pictures are removed / blocked / hidden by the photobucket robot.

I'm no expert, but if this works (I presume 'inactive' means no intervention by the account holder, rather than 'no views' of the pictures) then Gary's wonderful and generous sharing of photos, particularly in the Ol 927 and What's in Big Springs threads may disappear which would be a tragedy.

Anyone got any better knowledge or suggestions before we lose the photos?

Don't want to cry wolf, but...

Regards,

[cg51]

Here is an idea! since you can right click on the photos and save them to your computer why don't we do that and then put them on cd's, it's alot to do for one person however if we split it up it would not be that bad, i would be willing to take the time and do all the pic's in the 927 tread,then there not lost and anybody that wants a disc can have one.??

[engguy]

All the more reason to have a website software that will allow pictures to be stored here.
The whole photobucket deal is a joke. In the old days the websites allowed pictures, what happened? Technology regression?

[Jack Cook]

Brad might have the password or know someone who does just to keep it active.
Gary gave me the password a while back but I can't for the life of me remember

[JDK]

All the more reason to have a website software that will allow pictures to be stored here.
The whole photobucket deal is a joke. In the old days the websites allowed pictures, what happened? Technology regression?

Don't hold back now!

As far as I'm concerned, photobucket does a good job for me - given I pay nothing for it.

If WIX was to host people's images the cost to run the website would be exponentially larger - and given that most of the cost is borne by Scott, a few sponsors and generous members, that option isn't going to happen unless someone wants to donate big cash or a big server.


Jack - any chance it's recoverable - in an e-mail or something? Anyone in touch with Brad? Brad? Bueller?

[Jack Cook]

Believe me I've been trying to remember.
I've tried everything from colmossie to austinacres
I've got 7000 photos on Photobucket. Many burned in out housefire.
without Photobucket they'd be all gone forever

[JDK]

Believe me I've been trying to remember.
I've tried everything from colmossie to austinacres

Been there. It's no fun trying. Thanks!

I've got 7000 photos on Photobucket. Many burned in out housefire.

So when are you going to start getting serious about it then?

[Robbie Stuart]

I have P. M. Jack with a link to Gary's Photobucket Account.
Regards
Robbie

[JDK]

So does that mean Jack can keep it 'active' (if he doesn't mind)? That's great.

Thanks all.

[Jack Cook]

need password

[Ztex]

I don't have a pass word but...I have been doing the right click and save thing on his Photobucket for a while now...I have a bunch of it saved...

Z

[JDK]

It's good if people can or have saved copies, but I reckon that's a good backup plan rather than counting on it, as it's certain some stuff will get missed. And I suspect threads like Ol 927 won't make a lot of sense if the pics aren't in situ.

Thinking about it, if someone who's a next of kin or close friend could get in touch with photobucket they *might* be able to help. Probably another one for Brad, I'd guess. Sorry, Brad!

[Dave Homewood]

James, if someone like family as you mentioned contact Photobucket they might be able to upgrade his account for the US$25 to Professional and then the photos won't disappear so long as the bill is paid annually.

I believe it is 80 days of inactivity they send you an email saying you haven't visited your account, and then if another 10 days pass without you logging in they switch the photos off till you log in again.

[k5083]

I am a little surprised by the premise here, since it seems to me I've left my pb account idle for much more than 3 months without any of these consequences at times. Maybe I don't ignore it quite as much as I think, however.

Anyway, here is a simple and not too time-consuming way to scrape Gary's account. By my count, his account has 18 albums in it. In each one, there is a link on the left under "Share this album" which says "Download this album." Click that and follow the directions and you can download a zip file of all the full-size pics in each album. I just tried it with the Sea Fury album; it works. So 18 fairly quick operations gets you the whole account. Jot down the names of the albums and you could replicate the account in somebody else's account. Yes, this would throw off the links in Gary's threads, but at least the pics are preserved, and someone with access to the past threads might be able to do a global replace on the image tags to redirect them to the URL of the new album.

Anyway, just some thoughts.

August

[JDK]

Thanks August.

I'm not sure of the 'close' criteria, I just came across a couple of threads elsewhere referring to missing photos with a standard photobucket icon saying the account was inactive for x period - I thought three months - I may mis-remember. It may include no hits, of course, in which case Gary's will stay active for years yet!

The download option is a good one to note.