In another forum, I've just read how Photobucket has changed it's terms of use and no longer allows "third party hosting" or "image linking" which apparently means using "img" links are no longer allowed.
Under their revised terms, they say:
Free account : Each individual Member gets one free account that provides 2 GB of free storage or space available for your original photo files, or videos under 10min. The free account does not allow any image linking or 3rd party image hosting. If a free account Member exceeds their Content Limit, their account will be immediately suspended and they will need to become a “Paying Member” (defined below) in order to continue accessing their account. You can upgrade to a Plus account at any time.
so what is a Plus Account? Well for one thing, it costs $400 a year! As per below:
•Available Plus Account Plans : Photobucket offers the following Plus Account Plans:
o Plus 50 Plan: 52 GB of Storage for $59.99 / Year. The Plus 50 Plan does not allow any image linking or 3rd party image hosting.
o Plus 100 Plan: 102 GB of Storage for $99.99 / Year. The Plus 100 Plan allows for unlimited image linking but does not allow 3rd party image hosting.
o Plus 500 Plan: 500 GB of Storage and unlimited bandwidth for $399.99 / Year. The Plus 500 Plan allows for unlimited image linking and unlimited 3rd party image hosting.
You can read more here (although be prepared for adverts to be an issue when trying to read it):
http://photobucket.com/terms
I've checked some other forums I belong to and my pictures no longer appear and in place of them is a posting from PhotoBucket stating they need to upgrade their account.
Now, I have to state that using Photobucket has been next to impossible for at least a year. The constant adverts slow it down to a crawl and it can completely lock up at times (at least for me using Windows 7). So I'm going to try a different image host site.
After a brief effort researching what's available, Imgur looks the most promising:
http://imgur.com/
Although I think you can upload pictures directly to this site, I think it has limits. Besides, I need a image host that I can use for other forums I belong to.
So.... a little bit of info for you and I admit it sounds like such poor judgement from Photobucket that it may be reversed or I'm misinterpreting what they are trying to achieve. I suggest any of you wanting to use an image host to post in forums look into this on your own.
ps: some more info:
https://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/0..._3rdparty_pgs/