Page 1 of 1

If you think things are bad on PBase...

PostPosted: Sat May 20, 2017 9:37 pm
by amoxtli
Several years ago I set up a site on 500px as a second site. In their subscription they offer a general photo site and a portfolio. Even though I did not opt for automatic renewal, they charged my credit card for the renewal AND removed the portfolio yesterday. I emailed them right way, and they answered right away:

"***Please be advised, our Customer Excellence team will be out of office to observe a holiday in Canada on Friday, May 19th and we will return on Tuesday, May 23rd. You may experience a delay in response to your request.***"

I've been on PBase over eleven years, I've never had my card charged without my authorization and have never had any images removed. I just wanted to let you all know in case you're thinking of moving to 500px.

Re: If you think things are bad on PBase...

PostPosted: Sun May 21, 2017 4:07 am
by akmc_in_au
amoxtli wrote:Several years ago I set up a site on 500px as a second site. In their subscription they offer a general photo site and a portfolio. Even though I did not opt for automatic renewal, they charged my credit card for the renewal AND removed the portfolio yesterday. I emailed them right way, and they answered right away:

"***Please be advised, our Customer Excellence team will be out of office to observe a holiday in Canada on Friday, May 19th and we will return on Tuesday, May 23rd. You may experience a delay in response to your request.***"

I've been on PBase over eleven years, I've never had my card charged without my authorization and have never had any images removed. I just wanted to let you all know in case you're thinking of moving to 500px.


Wow; that's bad. The auto-charge is bad enough, though at least that can be reversed. (In theory, though Symantec hit me with a second charge for Norton anti-virus once when I changed credit cards and refused to reverse it, taking the view "so sue us".) But with the work that goes into putting up galleries (not to mention any history) just removing them is something else. Although that said... just googling you on 500px I can see a gallery of 140 photos there. The history seems to be intact as well; "2,902 Affection 44,198 Photo Views 106 Followers 108 Following". Although 140 seems a bit low if you've been there for any length of time so it may not be everything. It does, however, suggest that maybe it was a screwup rather than intentional, not that that's any comfort.

I had a dalliance with SmugMug back in 2010 when things were bad here; I didn't find that the place suited me. Technically it was great but it was too much like a secret society; you can't even search for photos within the site unless you're a member, and the only way you get seen by anyone is if you're in a "scratch my back I'll scratch yours" circle. After my membership expired they started hitting me with near daily e-mails demanding cash lest my galleries be deleted. I ignored those and sure enough, a few months later my galleries were deleted. But it's not like they didn't give any warning.

I'm not sure what PBase's policy is; some ex-PBasers have gone and their galleries have been obliterated (it's not clear whether it was by them or PBase; PineMikey is one that I'm thinking of) while others who I know have not been members for years are still present.

Re: If you think things are bad on PBase...

PostPosted: Sun May 21, 2017 2:48 pm
by amoxtli
I should have been more precise when it came to my 500px galleries. When I signed up I set up the gallery which you found. Paid subscribers could also set up a portfolio with their "Awesome" membership level. It is this gallery that is missing http://www.wokoenig.net/. A pity too, because I spent quite a bit of time on it and it is the gallery I use to show potential clients for architectural images. I was sent a message by 500px that changes were afoot, but that I was grandfathered in with my portfolio.

As for PBase removing images, I have never heard that they have done so for any existing account. When it comes to ex-Pbasers, I do not know the policy either. I think galleries are generally left alone. An example are the galleries of my friend Kent Nelson who passed away in March, 2008: http://www.pbase.com/lion1934. Birgitte Ott has not been active since 2009 and her galleries are still there http://www.pbase.com/nikon_mama as are those of Norbert Baudisch who was last active 2011 http://www.pbase.com/norbibau.

It is my understanding that if you see this message "No Such User pinemikey", then the user deleted the account. This shows up for several ex-PBasers I know, but they deleted their accounts, not PBase.

Besides, 500px I have tried zenfolio, smugmug, flickr and did not like any of them. I did like 500px until last Friday, but there is no interaction between subscribers there.