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Dropbox ending public folder support
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andi*pandi
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Dec 16, 2016, 12:23 AM
 
In addition to my 12 GB of files that I share between work and home... I use that feature for online posts, sigs, etc. So, is it back to imageshack for image hosting? imgur? google cloud?

https://www.dropboxforum.com/t5/Shar...er/td-p/197906
     
OreoCookie
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Dec 16, 2016, 12:38 AM
 
WTF? That's one of the Dropbox features I use, e. g. when I want to host images for a forum post or send photos to friends and family. Why would Dropbox do that?
I don't suffer from insanity, I enjoy every minute of it.
     
andi*pandi  (op)
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Dec 16, 2016, 10:00 AM
 
They want you to share links instead, which results in a link landing you on a page with a comment interface for "team sharing" or some such. So, they want to be like Basecamp. Which for me, isn't useful at all. If they want to implement new features, they should find a way without breaking old features!
     
Laminar
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Dec 16, 2016, 10:53 AM
 
Shit. I have 9 years of forum posts using DropBox-hosted images that are all about to disappear. That blows. I guess DropBox got tired of paying for bandwidth. Imgur figured it out much quicker and began blocking popular forums this year. There's no money to be made in free hosting for forum images. I guess I have my own website hosting now, maybe I'll have to start using that.
     
Spheric Harlot
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Dec 16, 2016, 11:15 AM
 
Well, ****.
     
P
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Dec 16, 2016, 11:39 AM
 
Originally Posted by Laminar View Post
I guess DropBox got tired of paying for bandwidth. Imgur figured it out much quicker and began blocking popular forums this year. There's no money to be made in free hosting for forum images.
Yes, that is my read on situation as well. Dropbox is running the free sharing features off of money from the for-pay bigger dropboxes. It has been my suspicion for some time that the equation isn't quite working out for them. They started automatically uploading all photos from iPhones by default, which had the effect of filling up the free storage with things that were rarely accessed. The idea was probably to get people to start paying for more storage, but at least in my case they only offered expensive 1TB plans which were quite expensive.

It sucks though, I really use them at work.
The new Mac Pro has up to 30 MB of cache inside the processor itself. That's more than the HD in my first Mac. Somehow I'm still running out of space.
     
subego
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Dec 16, 2016, 11:45 AM
 
Keeping it live as a paid feature was obviously one of their options. I wonder why they didn't take it.
     
andi*pandi  (op)
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Dec 16, 2016, 11:52 AM
 
I would probably pay a modest fee to keep using it the way I have been, just for the convenience. I could FTP all my images up to my web host dreamhost, or put them in icloud somehow, but there's no desktop integration that makes it super useful. I put files I want to access from both work and home in that shared space, makes it easy to work on things here and there.
     
Laminar
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Dec 16, 2016, 12:43 PM
 
Yep, I have 10GB of free storage so I haven't paid, but if they made the Public folder a paid feature I'd grumble a ton but pony up. Now I'll be looking for an alternative.
     
ort888
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Dec 16, 2016, 12:49 PM
 
Well that sucks big time.

My sig is 1 pixel too big.
     
osiris
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Dec 19, 2016, 01:40 PM
 
well this sucks.

I imagine a public folder is a bit of a security risk, rather than not have one.
"Faster, faster! 'Till the thrill of speed overcomes the fear of death." - HST
     
andi*pandi  (op)
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Dec 19, 2016, 01:52 PM
 
I suspect it's more of a bandwidth issue than security... but this is happening even for paid users.
     
subego
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Dec 19, 2016, 02:20 PM
 
Though by no means ideal solutions to the myriad problems this is causing, I thought I'd pass along these two bits of info.

This doesn't take care of any previously linked images, but you can hotlink to an image on Dropbox. The sharing link Dropbox generates ends in "?dl=0". Change that to "?raw=1".

For photo sharing, they have an option to put photos in an album and then share the album. It's not very good, but it functions.
     
osiris
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Dec 19, 2016, 02:38 PM
 
Originally Posted by andi*pandi View Post
I suspect it's more of a bandwidth issue than security... but this is happening even for paid users.
Ah, yes bandwidth. Seems plentiful these days, but cost cutting is cost cutting.
"Faster, faster! 'Till the thrill of speed overcomes the fear of death." - HST
     
P
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Dec 20, 2016, 04:25 AM
 
Originally Posted by osiris View Post
Ah, yes bandwidth. Seems plentiful these days, but cost cutting is cost cutting.
Bandwidth prices are going up. It was cheap for a long time, because there was a rush of putting down lots of fiber back in the late nineties and we have lived on that capacity for a long time, just adding more transceivers which is cheap. Now we are running out of fiber capacity, and prices are slowly ticking up.
The new Mac Pro has up to 30 MB of cache inside the processor itself. That's more than the HD in my first Mac. Somehow I'm still running out of space.
     
kiana mckylie
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Jan 13, 2017, 05:34 AM
 
I wondered the same too, they had obviously the option of trying to turn it into a paid feature, but no, they just didn't. This still remains a puzzle to me!
     
Laminar
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Mar 17, 2017, 11:30 AM
 
Dead. Everyone update your sigs.
     
andi*pandi  (op)
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Mar 17, 2017, 12:03 PM
 
jerks.

thank you subego for the ?raw=1 suffix to fix. I doubt I'll go thru and fix all my images, but at least my sig is no longer 404.
( Last edited by andi*pandi; Mar 17, 2017 at 12:16 PM. )
     
subego
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Mar 17, 2017, 01:55 PM
 
My pleasure! I'm glad it helped!
     
Laminar
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May 9, 2018, 12:37 PM
 
As of today, Dropbox will only do auto photo uploads if you use the paid subscription version of the app. I think it's time to find something else. Dropbox used to be fantastic because it would auto-upload my photos and they'd instantly be available to link online. They took away the public folder sharing, so I had to copy photos from my Dropbox to my own file hosting. Now that all photo uploads are manual, they've introduced another barrier to usefulness.

Any suggestions on auto photo syncing apps that make photos available on iOS, Android, OS X, and Windows? Maybe I'll just use iCloud?
     
andi*pandi  (op)
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May 9, 2018, 01:04 PM
 
I never used their photo service because it used up all my space and I had photostream.
     
ghporter
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May 9, 2018, 05:44 PM
 
I used to use shared Dropbox folders for a number of tasks. But once I stepped down from a chair position in my state professional association, (about 2 1/2 years ago), I haven't needed it for those tasks - and I haven't bothered even looking at those shared folders in about that long.

Because I had issues with Imageshack quite a while ago, I just set up a web presence (with 1 and 1 as the host), and all of my online photos are there. I haven't bothered to make that "presence" anything even modestly interesting. I have a "site" but meh... But with all of the current "popular" image hosts now going, one by one, to either "pay or your photos are history" or "nope, not playing at all," I'm very glad I went that way such a long time ago.

Glenn -----OTR/L, MOT, Tx
     
andi*pandi  (op)
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Sep 11, 2019, 01:50 PM
 
Just got a new computer for work. Install 1password, it reminds me to install dropbox so the hashcode can be sync'd.

Go to install Dropbox. Sorry, you are only allowed 3 devices on the free plan, pony up $10/month for more users and 2TB storage!

I have 12GB of space due to promoting the heck out of them in their early days, don't really need 2TB. I do need more devices, as I have work, home, ipad, iphone. But $10/mo? Maybe $50/year.

Maybe I move ipassword hash to icloud? argh.

When things just work, don't eff with them.
     
ghporter
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Sep 11, 2019, 05:17 PM
 
1Password supports iCloud. That's probably the best choice if Dropbox gets to be too chintzy on you. And one I'll probably go with the moment Dropbox gives me any trouble.

Glenn -----OTR/L, MOT, Tx
     
Laminar
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Sep 12, 2019, 10:19 AM
 
I have ~10 GB for free with DropBox. I have more than 3 devices installed right now. Is it going to limit me from adding one if I get a new phone/computer?
     
andi*pandi  (op)
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Sep 12, 2019, 11:08 AM
 
Yes, when installing the app, it's going to ask you to deactivate one device. Until you do, you may be grandfathered in. I think I am currently.
     
OreoCookie
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Sep 13, 2019, 12:34 AM
 
Dropbox is really tightening those thumb screws, ugh. I'd be willing to spend ~$2/month or so for, say, 50-100 GB, but that's not an option at the moment, just 1 TB for $12/month (I live in Japan, so this is the conversion of the Japanese price).
I don't suffer from insanity, I enjoy every minute of it.
     
andi*pandi  (op)
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Sep 13, 2019, 01:48 PM
 
I would pay $50/year for them not to change anything.
     
Laminar
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Sep 13, 2019, 02:05 PM
 
When they cancelled public folders they lost me, they won't get any of my money. If they'd offered a paid plan that would keep public folders, they would have had a chance.

And I should probably admit that I've been using Dropbox for over 11 years and I haven't given them a single cent, so it's pretty petty of me to complain. But...well...this is the internet, and complaining is what we do here.
     
subego
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Sep 13, 2019, 02:10 PM
 
Ehh... I was going to bitch about everyone being cheapskates, but there really does need to be a at least a couple price points between $120 and $0.
     
andi*pandi  (op)
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Sep 13, 2019, 02:12 PM
 
I paid for dropbox plus for a few months when I was taking a class that required humungous files to be shared among a team. Plus, I did a ton of referral.
     
subego
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Sep 13, 2019, 03:16 PM
 
I started paying because in ye olden days, when YouTube had 20 minute limits, I used to put the “game tapes” from band performances on Dropbox for the band to access.

The irony is, that was so much of a pain in the ass for people to figure out, I switched to a CDN.
     
   
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