redelk
Moderator
Please... speak to the hand.
Posts: 3212
|
posted December 30, 2001 01:59 PM
Now that PhotoPoint is "gone"... (and other bitchin')
...and left 1.25 million customers wodering if they will ever get access to their pictures again, does anyone have a site they can suggest as a replacement? A site that won't put a big banner on top of a posted pic?
PhotoPoint went down on 12/17, with little to no warning. The PhotoPoint site and the site of their parent company have been down ever since. Their phone number has been disconnected and there has been no press releases from PhotoPoint or their parent company. PhotoPoint basically gave no warning that they were going to just drop of the face of the net. This does not boad well for a return of the site.
I'm not one for suing folks over little stuff, but do I smell "class action" here? I'd sign on. Just for the shear irresponsibility of how they have handled this. I see little difference between what they did and having your bank suddenly close and you not have ANY access to your money. As a matter of fact, if it was exactly like this, odds are you'd never see your money again!
I believe it was last summer when they started charging $4.95 a month for their "service". I'm no rocket scientist (as almost everyone knows), but by doin' a little math...
1.25 million customers X $4.95 = $6,187,500... EACH MONTH!
So, someone can't run a "storage house" for folks' photos for a little over SIX MILLION A MONTH? Yeah, what ever! When I make a monthly payment to some business, I think it'd be safe to assume that we have entered into some form of contractual agreement. Simply put, I pay for a service, I get said service. I don't pay, I violate the contract. I do pay and not get the service, THEY violate the contract.
Fortunatly, I didn't loose too many photos. When I got hit with the Melissa virus, the only JPEGs I had left were the ones on their site. Most of them were irreplaceable. I re-downloaded most of them back onto my computer (at a much lower resolution), but not all of them. What is really a bummer is that I have posts all over the net that are linked to these unattainable photos. Even if I do find another place to store my linked photos at, I really don't want to hunt them down and re-link all of them to the new site.
Like I said, my loses are small, but they are still loses. At over 6 million dollars a month, I want someone's (or ones') head(s) on a platter and I sure as hell don't want to have to get answers by reading C-Net's news site!
MORE BAD NEWS! (not picture related... but even more depressing)
My kids gave me SBK 2001 for Christmas. That's not bad news, of course, but this is. I have rudely found out that SBK 2001 is NOT compatable with W2K! ARGH! I have gone to several gaming sites and some claim that they have got it to work with a "no CD" patch and running it in W98 compatability mode. Doesn't work for me! Double ARGH! Also, EA has no plans on releasing a SBK 2002, nor creating patches for earlier SBKversions that would make it compatable with any of the current NT platforms (i.e. any of the 2K or XP operating systems).
This is so frustrating. Especially since the SBK games are widely recognized as the most realistic and graphically packed simulation games out there. BAR NONE! I almost think it's a conspiracy between PhotoPoint and Electronic Arts, against me. I am not a "gamer" by any stretch of the imagination and I play SBK about the same way I ride ("rookie" mode).
I so looked forward to playing SBK on the new system. The combination of a 19" Tritron flat screen, a GeoForce2 Pro video card with 64 MB, 756 MB of system RAM and the killer Altec Lansing ACS48 speaker system with a 40W subwoofer and 20W satellites (next best thing to a Klipsch 5.1 surround sound at 1/4 the price), should have made game playing the best riding experience that didn't require putting my leathers on.
I even passed over a force feedback joystick for a "tilt" pad. It's a game pad that you just physically tilt the whole unit in the direction you want. On the brighter side, at least the new system recognized the USB gamepad right off the bat. Still, all for naught.
IT GETS EVEN WORSE!
Even the weather SUCKS! Admittedly, Little Rock, Arkansas isn't Buffalo, NY with it's 7 feet of snow... IT'S WORSE! How can that be? Arkansas doesn't have any snow. See, that's the whole POINT! While some of ya'll look out the window and see snow, it's not to hard to anyone understand that today would not be a very good day to go ride.
How would you like to look out your window and be blinded by the bright sun? Not a cloud in the sky. The road conditions are perfect since the rains of the prior week has washed most of the debris and fluids off the even most rural of back roads. Well, I should say "ALMOST" perfect road conditions. It's kinda hard to get the tires warmed up when the road's surface measures a balmy 27~34 degrees! Ambient temps of around 31 degrees (at 3 pm CST). Wind chill factor while riding at 50 mph would put it somewhere around MINUS 5 degrees. Hell, the tires on the truck, an hour after a 12 mile interstate drive, measured a toasty 22 degrees (having way too much fun with a temp gun)!
So, you see, when there's snow everywhere or it's raining, it's a "given" that one would likely forgo a day of riding. All one would have to say is "Have you looked outside, lately?" and it would be understood. In my case, I have to avoid looking out the window... AT ALL COSTS! I'm sure that most of us here flip our "collective finger" at those in Florida (and Austrailia), BUT... I also do the SAME to those who have snow covering everything as well! Having a bright sunny day that is sub-freezing might as well be the same as having a nice day at 70 degrees and you can't find the keys to the bike!
____________
There are only three sports: bullfighting, motor racing, and mountaineering; all the rest are merely games.
-Ernest Hemingway
   
|
Ninjaman12R
Needs a job
as a Deal's Gap tour guide.
Posts: 4767
|
posted December 30, 2001 02:31 PM
WHOA!!!!!!
Calm down redelk.  I feel your pain bro, I am pissed that I bought into photopoint when it stopped being "Free" and now I'm figuring that was a BAD mistake. I know there are more image hosting sites out there, but the only other one I have tried, and still use, is printroom.com , it's better than nothing I guess.
As far as your gaming issue is concerned.........I feel that somebody will more than likely come up with a "Patch" or sometype of update to make game functional with your version of windows.
____________
What we're dealin' with here is a complete lack of respect for the law.
Sheriff Buford T. Justice of TEXAS
|
harryzx-12
Needs a job
Posts: 3643
|
posted December 30, 2001 03:53 PM
Imagestation.com
I told photobone to HUG A ROOT when they started charging! 
____________
"Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways- Body thoroughly used up, totally worn out...Screaming "WOO HOO, What a Ride !!!"
|
WARBIRD
Needs a job
Posts: 2739
|
posted December 30, 2001 03:56 PM
To eliminate the pesky banner across your pictures with Printroom.com......don't copy the url they show you under the picture. Instead, right click on the picture,left click on properties and copy the address there. No more pesky banner.
____________
I'd Rather Be Roadracing.
|
slantzilla
Novice Class
Posts: 99
|
posted December 30, 2001 07:51 PM
http://www.imagestation.com/ Saw this on one of the Mopar boards yesterday. 
____________
"It takes a big dog to weigh a ton"
|
zxlnt
Needs a job
Kawpuke Extraordinare
Posts: 2853
|
posted December 30, 2001 11:10 PM
www.imagestation.com is the way to go.
|
ZX12Girl
Pro
Adrenaline Junkie
Posts: 1740
|
posted December 30, 2001 11:50 PM
 Edited By: ZX12Girl on 30 Dec 2001 23:51
I just joined imagestation......pretty cool...Thanks guys!
Oh and I agree Red....Photopoint sucks ass for that move.
____________
Life is an adventure. Are you driving?
|
jimp
Expert Class
Posts: 291
|
posted December 31, 2001 04:24 AM
Photopoint email - yea BS
Recived from photopoint on 12/6/01
=================================================================
Please note, this email is being sent to inform you of
important changes to your PhotoPoint account. Even if you have
opted out of promotional messages, we are required to contact
you regarding this important change.
=================================================================
Dear member:
We have encountered some technical difficulties and hope to have
prints, framed prints and photo gifts back online as soon as
possible.
We realize that you, our loyal customers, would like to order
prints and photo merchandise for the Holiday Season. In order to
provide this service to you, and ensure you get the same great
quality, we ask that you go to:
http://www.ezprints.com
EZ Prints is a trusted partner and we are confident that they
will handle all your photo ordering needs, giving us time to get
our service operational again.
EZ Prints is a FREE service. You can join EZ Prints, upload your
photos and order photo merchandise quickly and easily. We realize
this may cause some inconvenience and frustration, as it does for
us. We sincerely apologize for this and assure you EZ Prints will
do their utmost to make your holiday photo gift-giving a reality.
Sincerely,
The PhotoPoint Family
|
EastBayDave
Needs a job
Posts: 2245
|
posted December 31, 2001 06:48 AM
Edited By: EastBayDave on 31 Dec 2001 06:50
well lets see if ezprints works:
(me falling off GPz11 @ Sears ~90+ mph in 84')
SBK 2001 not compatible? Shew glad I didn't upgrade from 98'!  :
Seems we are having a weird year for weather. Hr in CA where we typically ride a lot until the rainy season Jan-Feb, it started raining in Nov. & has not stopped since. One storm after another after another. Man, all the good twisties now have landslides, mud, rocks, etc. Homes, roads, etc. are now sliding down hills. They say it's the third worst winter EVER! (almost beating previous records of 1955' & 1885!)
They won't get the roads cleared up for at least 4-5 months...sux...
____________
Enjoy the ride!
02' ZRX1200
00' ZX12R sold
|
djZX12
Expert Class
Posts: 131
|
posted January 01, 2002 04:31 AM
Thanks Redelk!!
I wondered what happened to one of the pictures I posted on another site. I guess I didn't have the high dollar package at Photo Point. Seems like I paid $20.00 bucks for the first year. I would have dropped them anyway when the time ran out.
I keep most of my pictures on a Homestead website. It was free until last year too. I think this year I will have to pay 30 bucks to keep it. Last year it too was 20 bucks.
I am glad I had the back up, I didn't lose any pictures. The picture that was gone on the other site, I just replaced with the same one from my website.
____________
Have a Nice Day !!
|
zx12zx11
Expert Class
Posts: 471
|
posted January 01, 2002 12:39 PM
If anyone knows if their is any legal issues against Photopoint let me know. I did get burned by them. I lost quite a few photos that I no longer have access to, and would like them back. If do not get them back I deserve some kind of compensation for the loss. If you guys remember all of the pics that I took from the Bonneville Salt Flats, well they are gone as well as some other pics that I would like to have back.
|
|
|
|
|
HOME
NEW TOPIC