What best alternative to Photobucket?

[Lonestar]

Ok - enough is enough. I've used photobucket since way into the last decade, but performance has dropped so badly over the last couple of years that it's actually become totally useless. Uploading anything takes forever, linking is dog-slow, ads are getting more and more intrusive, downloading don't even think about it, etc...

What free image hoster that offers reasonable performance, enough storage space, as well as some "folder" organization and sport a user-friendly smartphone app are you guys recommending?

Thanks,
Paul

[RC10th]

Maybe give Fotki a try? I cant comment but a few friends from early internet days still use it.

http://www.fotki.com/

[uniquenamehere]

I use flickr...you might want to check them out if you haven't already.

[CruzinCustomz]

I have used Flickr for years and have been very happy with them.

[Asso_man!]

I fully concur Paul, Photobucket has become a real awful nightmare. There was a moment were I couldn't even use it for like 10 days in a row because of their free ads blocking everything. I then installed ad and script blockers on my browser to see how it would react. The counters were going mad and reported more than 40 ads and scrypts detected in a a few seconds! It was ridiculous. It seems it is a bit better right now though. It is very ironic to have a website that is no more functioning because the owners decided to add a maximum of advertising to get a maximum return on investment. Silly internet...
Flickr is a nice alternative but I'm not sure it allows you to organize your stuff in different albums and folders. More like a bulk gallery.

[Lonestar]

thanks guys - found this while investigating flickr:


Flickr has several types of containers for images, each with a different purpose.

Photostream: All images on Flickr exist only in photostreams. Anywhere else is just a pictorial link back to the photostream. Your photostream is only for images you have created.
Your Photostream
FAQ about Photostreams

Sets: Sets are also only for your images. Sets can help you organize your photostream into categories. (In reality, sets only contain pictorial links back to your photostream; however, it will appear the images are "in" the sets.) You can organize your sets here.
Your Sets
There is no FAQ on Sets (that I could find)

Collections: Collections are only for pro account holders. They can be used to organize sets and/or other collections. A collection can contain sets *or* collections, but not both in the same collection.
Your Collections
FAQs about Collections

Galleries: Galleries are for other people's images and cannot contain any of your own images. They are currently limited to 18 images per gallery, but you can create as many galleries as you want. Other users can choose whether their images can be added to galleries.
Your Galleries
FAQs about Galleries

Groups: Groups can contain your own images and other people's images. Group administrators can set limits on how many images members can add, can set up a moderation queue for the group, and can issue invitations for images to be added to the group (invites will bypass limits and queues).
Groups to Which You Belong
FAQs about Groups

Albums: Flickr doesn't have a container called "albums," though one part of the FAQ uses the word "album" to refer to "sets."


Net - no proper "foldering" in flickr, at least not in the free version - which is one of my key requirements.

Other proposals?

Thanks,
Paul

[uniquenamehere]

You can create Albums in Flickr that contain photos from your photostream. That's how I organize stuff there.

[Coelacanth]

Up until about a year ago, I was using ImageShack. But those idiots got greedy and implemented a new policy; in order to share your images, you had to "upgrade" to a paid account. So essentially, you had to pay to do something you'd been doing for free for years before. F*** that sh!t. I promptly deleted my ImageShack account.

I recently looked into various image-hosting sites and chose http://imgur.com, it looked user-friendly and wasn't polluted with ads...at least not as bad as others I looked into.

[yellowdatsun]

How has it become useless?? I use it constantly. Easy uploads from the phone, easy to get links, what more do you need?

[EvolutionRevolution]

I recently looked into various image-hosting sites and chose http://imgur.com, it looked user-friendly and wasn't polluted with ads...at least not as bad as others I looked into.

Apparently the problem with imgur.com is that images are deleted automatically after a while.

[Lonestar]

thanks all.

actually, I will stick to PB... found the magic fix. It's AdBlock...

and voila, PB back to Pre-2014 performance levels.

Amazing the amount of crap they had bolted on to their site to the point of rendering it totally ineffective... I guess as an incentive to upgrade to commercial-free (but not free at all...) Pro version.

I understand there's no free lunch, but c'mon...

Anyways, problem fixed. For now.

Thanks!

[Coelacanth]

It ain't Kim Kardashian breaking the internet...it's advertising.

[THEYTOOKMYTHUMB]

I agree it has really gone downhill lately. At home I have no issues since using all the blockers, but at work it's pop-up city. After using it for so long I feel like I have too much invested in it to switch. It would be a lot of work trying to build a new photo library on another site. I have all my important builds saved in there!

[Lonestar]

After using it for so long I feel like I have too much invested in it to switch. It would be a lot of work trying to build a new photo library on another site. I have all my important builds saved in there!

my dilemma exactly... hence why I'm super happy to have found a "fix"

[Coelacanth]

It would be a lot of work trying to build a new photo library on another site. I have all my important builds saved in there!

That's why I upload all my pictures to HERE. That way, as long as this site exists, and the server never dies without a backup, anybody visiting this site will see all the images I uploaded. I can't count the number of times I got fed up and annoyed viewing dated forum topics (on this and many other forums) and all you see is "Missing Image" placeholders. It usually happens when there's an image or tutorial I REALLY need to see.