This coincides with the date of the fire at the hosting company OVH in Strasbourg, France.Just been posted on the Fototime site, so at least we can stop thinking that it might come back again!
FotoTime
On March 10, due to circumstances beyond our control, FotoTime suffered a catastrophic outage. This outage effected both the infrastructure and data. Regretably, due to this outage, FotoTime has ceased operations.
We would like to thank all of our customers for supporting us all of these years. This difficult decision to cease operations was the only option available to us.
If you decide not to upgrade, you will need to immediately download and remove photos to get under the 250 image limit. |
Same to you roadwarrior. I'm fortunate to have a backup but for some, it's not just the images, but the time and history put in curating and commenting...including sharing history, etc. I've been a user pretty much since the site first started and shared it with others after discovering how user-friendly and serviceable it was. It's truly sad and even tragic for some.Thanks for the link Donna. Best of luck with your images.
I'm not sure if Fototime had any disclaimers up, but they can be helpful food for thought about having backups. Sometimes folks just don't think about it at the time.
example below:
"ImageEvent provides space for Member Albums but makes no implied or express warranties about the reliability of these albums. ImageEvent is not responsible for any damage caused by loss of access to, or deletion or alteration of Member albums; individual Members are responsible for monitoring and creating backups of their albums.
DISCLAIMER
YOUR USE OF THE ImageEvent SERVICE, INCLUDING ANY MATERIALS, DATA OR INFORMATION POSTED, SUBMITTED, DOWNLOADED OR OTHERWISE OBTAINED THROUGH THE ImageEvent SERVICE, IS AT YOUR OWN RISK. THE ImageEvent SERVICE IS NEITHER DESIGNED NOR INTENDED TO BE USED AS A DISASTER RECOVERY FACILITY OR AS AN EMERGENCY DATA STORAGE FACILITY. ALTHOUGH ImageEvent TAKES REASONABLE PRECAUTIONS TO PRESERVE AND PROTECT THE MATERIAL YOU MAY UPLOAD TO THE ImageEvent SERVICE, YOU SHOULD NOT RELY ON THE ImageEvent SERVICE AS YOUR ONLY SOURCE FOR THE MATERIAL YOU PROVIDE. YOU SHOULD KEEP YOUR OWN BACKUP COPIES OF ALL MATERIALS YOU MAY USE, OR ALLOW OTHERS TO USE, IN CONNECTION WITH THE ImageEvent SERVICE, INCLUDING MATERIALS POSTED OR SUBMITTED TO THE ImageEvent SERVICE.
THE OPERATION OF THE ImageEvent SERVICE MAY BE AFFECTED BY NUMEROUS FACTORS BEYOND ImageEvent'S CONTROL. THE OPERATION OF THE ImageEvent SERVICE MAY NOT BE CONTINUOUS OR UNINTERRUPTED OR SECURE. SECURITY AND PRIVACY RISKS CANNOT BE ELIMINATED. PASSWORD PROTECTION MAY NOT PREVENT UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS TO MATERIALS YOU MAY USE OR ALLOW OTHER PERSONS TO USE IN CONNECTION WITH THE ImageEvent SERVICE, INCLUDING MATERIALS POSTED OR SUBMITTED TO THE ImageEvent SERVICE.
THE ImageEvent SERVICE IS PROVIDED ON AN "AS IS" AND "AS AVAILABLE" BASIS, AND WITHOUT ANY REPRESENTATIONS, WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, WHETHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, AND INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF TITLE, NON-INFRINGEMENT, MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, PERFORMANCE, OR DURABILITY, ALL OF WHICH ARE HEREBY DISCLAIMED BY ImageEvent AND ITS SERVICE PROVIDERS TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW. "
Just because you have had no problem with your storage, doesn't mean it will be available or work forever..
Chances are, it too will eventually fall..
Maybe they thought it could be revived? I always thought of them as a photo hosting sight, not a place to store digital photos long term. At least legally you would be hard pressed to find them liable for what happened, letalone liable for any damages above your subscription fee, you incurred for not having backups. Everybody knows or should know to keep backups of everything important that they keep digitally and online. I think I found a good replacement at a sight called Photo Bucket. Easy to set up albums and to generate links to pictures you want to post online.It could have happened that way, but if it did why not acknowledge that is the cause when the issue arose. It also could just be taking advantage of a "happy accident" using an out for a convenient excuse. Their lack of consideration only breeds speculation and contempt.
Many of us left Photobucket when they suddenly started charging ridiculous fees for what was once free. We had to scramble quickly to get our pics downloaded or agree to the new sky high prices. Because of that, I won't be going back. Hopefully things work ok for your needs. I can't remember what the prices rose to, but I bet roadwarrior can.Maybe they thought it could be revived? I always thought of them as a photo hosting sight, not a place to store digital photos long term. At least legally you would be hard pressed to find them liable for what happened, letalone liable for any damages above your subscription fee, you incurred for not having backups. Everybody knows or should know to keep backups of everything important that they keep digitally and online. I think I found a good replacement at a sight called Photo Bucket. Easy to set up albums and to generate links to pictures you want to post online.
Thanks for the link. No way I'll return to pb.