Image and Filehosts - The good and the bad

[Inglorious]

Suggested that a thread be started

These days we have a lot of reported posts concerning bad/untrusty hosts.

I, admit there are some I dont dont touch. Who wont you download from and who do you think are the best.

Discuss the good and the bad here, and ones to avoid at all costs.

[DTravel]

ImageVenue:
Pluses: allows adult material, generally reliable, good speed downloads
Minuses: adds 15-20 characters to file names, has been getting less reliable over the last year


ImageBam:
Pluses: allows adult material, reliable, high speed downloads
Minuses: not entirely compatible with download managers


Everything Else - Ads, Pop-ups, Malware, highly restricted downloads either in speed or compatibility with DL managers. I won't bother.

[3light]

@DTravel,
the question was for filehosts, not picturehosts ;)

reliable filehosts
(1) Rapidshare, They are still the number 1 hoster and they are globally available. even when they treat their free downloaders now with very poor download speed during rush-hour

(2) Megaupload
I am a free- registered user and I get download speeds up to 1950 KByte/sec. It rocks ;)
And as a megaupload-uploader: the new interface and the new functionaliy is great.

(3) netload: is probably only in Europe a reliable hoster

(4) letit_bit: is banned here, but it's a good hoster for Russia and Western europe. Kill me, but that's my opinion

(5) easyshare, depostfiles, filefactory
they have some limitations, but overall they are ok.
----------------------
Those suck:
**************
Ok, they are new and they have to pay money to attack the market-leader. But with this high payment they attrack the scum of all uploaders, greedy penny-cutters who care a rat ass about the quality of their post. This host is not acceptable due to the combination of low hosting quality, spam and the majority of the uploaders. BAN BAN BAN

uploadbox
low quality and low speed

vipfile
extreme low speed for the majority of the hosted files

[Inglorious]

@DTravel,
the question was for filehosts, not picturehosts ;)


My fault, changed the thread title now. Its for all hosts.

[Futuro]

I use:
4Shared. com
Mediafire. com

Both work ok, and are good alternative when downloading as "free user", there`s no long waiting periods between downloads. 4Shared has 5Gb of free space and you can upload multiple files in row. For me It`s perfect because I only upload pictures.

Depositfiles. com

Quite popular now because of "Free Gold Account"-program, It`s ok filehost but if you download multiple files as a free user It`s painfully slow and limited.

SendSpace
************
Uploading. com
Odsiebe. com
L e t I t B i t. com
Are all nightmarish/crap, these "offer" whole spectrum of all kind minor and major problems: Malware, Tracking cookies , low speed etc. I just try to avoid these, and definitely will not upload to any of those! I have only negative experiences from these.

I`ll give my vote for ban those five!

For Imagehost I only "trust" ImageVenue. ImageBam was very good,Zip-upload was superb! But because now many people, including me, have problems to download from ImageBam with ImageHostGrabber, I only use ImageVenue, it works fine.

I usually post with three preview-pictures and download-link, nice and simple.

Everyone uploads where he/she wants, but for free users It`s nice if you don`t make all your uploads to ONLY one filehost.

[kiwi]

I only use one.

ImageVenue

It serves me perfectly as a poster.

Kiwi

[zab79]

Personally i'd be happy if people either used imagevenue or imagebam for pics and rapidshare/megaupload or mediafire for anything else - would make dowloading stuff a bit easier imo

I used to use imagevenue for posting pic sets but I noticed it was missing pictures from the bb-code, happened a few times so now I use imagebam. Theres a thread on this forum somewhere which shows you how to configure imagegrabber so it grabs from imagebam.

Not a fan of easyshare or depositfiles etc, seem to have a really low download limit for free users

[Futuro]

Theres a thread on this forum somewhere which shows you how to configure imagegrabber so it grabs from imagebam.


It`s just that it doesn`t work for everyone. I have tried it many times, doing everything 100% right. I don`t know if it has something to do with that I`m a Mac user, maybe, maybe not. As long as this problem seems to be alive and kickin` I use ImageVenue.

Sorry, this was a bit off-topic!

[DTravel]

@SpirosXTC: What? Images aren't files? Picky, picky, picky. :p

@zab79: I use ImageGrabber and while you can download the pictures from ImageBam you get a string of gibberish for the file name rather than the "real" file name.


File Hosts

RapidShare:
Pluses: It is the 800 lb gorilla in the room of file hosting sites, premium accounts are cheap and can be extended for free relatively easily, reliable high-speed downloads, account holder files have very long retention.
Minuses: It is the 800 lb gorilla in the room of file hosting sites, apparently blocked or restricted by some ISPs as some people claim to not be able to use it, conflicting claims about files being deleted for copyright violations

MegaUpload(/MegaErotic):
Pluses: The next biggest (after RS), good file retention, reliable good speed downloads
Minuses: Premium accounts are more expensive and not as easily extended,

I can't be bothered to write up more right now but personally I much prefer RapidShare over all others. I can deal with MegaUpload but am not particularly thrilled with it.

[Al C Atraz]

kick out '**************' this host sucks for free AND for premium users. Just check out which kind of greedy dumbasses are uploading to this host. This is their internal forum:
http://www.sharemasters.com/viewforum.php?f=13

also bad filehosts are: ********.net, **************, *************

for the picture hosts: just shortlist 5 or 6 reliable hosts like imagebam, imagevenue, ***********, imagesocket and *********** Ban ALL others.

[Futuro]

kick out '**************' this host sucks for free AND for premium users. Just check out which kind of greedy dumbasses are uploading to this host. This is their internal forum:
http://www.sharemasters.com/viewforum.php?f=13

I agree 100% with you Al C Atraz. I really recommend people to check that
link. And this special one too:
http://www.sharemasters.com/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=612

For those guys It`s same shit what they post, it has nothing to do with passion for vintage erotica, or anything else. It`s just for money. There`s not YET ************** links on "Vintage-side" of this forum but there`s plenty on "Other Stuff" and "Models".
Many other forums have already banned ************** among other crap-hosts. I don`t see any reason why we should think different, just ban it!

[Devius]

Quick question - is imagesocket on the VEF "unsuitable" list?

I just edited an old picture post of mine because the original imagesocket link was replaced by **********

[scoundrel]

Quick question - is imagesocket on the VEF "unsuitable" list?

I just edited an old picture post of mine because the original imagesocket link was replaced by **********There isnt room in the VEF Forum Rules for a comprehensive list because there are an awful lot of bad image hosts out there. Many of them are just way too spammy, and some are vehicles for spyware and malware. Whenever VEF encounters an imagehost which is untrustworthy it is banned and all banned hosts are starred out.

So: the short answer is ''yes''. If the link is starred out then the imagehost is now banned.

[cardinalcary]

Does anyone know if imagebam is dead or what's going on with them? :confused:

Been unable to access them for two days now :(

(Apologies to mods if I posted this in the wrong place - if you move it please tell me where - thx :thumbsup: )

[rotobott]

Still seems to work.

http://thumbnails26.imagebam.com/12038/42d65d120378155.jpg (http://www.imagebam.com/image/42d65d120378155)

[cardinalcary]

Still seems to work.

You're having no trouble? :confused:

I can't get anything there including your pic :confused:

[rotobott]

Worked fine for me, although Videobam has been down for a while, maybe there servers are overloaded.


http://img221.imagevenue.com/loc768/th_22315_imagebam_123_768lo.jpg (http://img221.imagevenue.com/img.php?image=22315_imagebam_123_768lo.jpg)

[botogames]

Works on for me -- LA Region

[cardinalcary]

Well, I don't get it - I'm in Toronto and for two days I've been getting...

"The connection has timed out
The server at www.imagebam.com is taking too long to respond."

I've tried many different files/links and none work :( :confused:

Thx for your replies, guys :thumbsup:

[rotobott]

Maybe you should post your problem in this thread, looking at the size of it there are a lot of problems with image hosts.

http://www.vintage-erotica-forum.com/t114275-problems-with-imagehosts-imagebam-imagevenue-pimpandhost-merged.html

[grossnex]

Imagebam changed their layout recently Brother CC. For a few days before the change, I was having problems with their server. I was having some issues loading all of my pics over there. Recently it's been better. I really have no idea why it isn't working at all for you. I use them a lot, but I don't have an account. I would email the admins for you if I did. Sorry I couldn't be of more help to you.

[scoundrel]

I spoke to the admins of Imagebam and got an answer of sorts.

Re: Access problems in Canada?
Hello,
this forum (support.imagebam.com) and the actual ImageBam service reside on different servers. So this is not a connection problem per se.

I suspect that this is an issue with the resolution of the domain itself. On the 17th I had to remove one of the DNS-servers and all DNS-queries are run over a single server. I have not received any other complaints so far.

Please ask him to open up the command line and ping imagebam.com - most likely there will be an error stating that the domain can not be resolved.

In the command line enter:
Code:
ping imagebam.com


What might resolve the issue is clearing the DNS-cache on his machine. In order to do that he needs to start the command line in administration mode (here is a visual guide: http://www.addictivetips.com/windows-tips/clear-windows-7-cache/) and use following command:

ipconfig /flushdns

Of course he might be getting bad DNS-results from his provider or from a router in between.

If the issue continues he can get in touch directly by mailing me: Mod Edit - if you need the email address cardinalcary, PM me and I'll let you know.

[scoundrel]

While I'm here, I just want to make a more general comment. Our "Do Not Use At All" and "Advised Not To Use" filehost lists aren't comprehensive. When you check you post and see **** that means it's a banned host, whether it's named in the forum rules as banned or not.

On a different tack, I use ImageVenue for over 99% of what I post here; it's an excellent service for VEF and similar boards. Beware of the basic uploader though, because the thumbnail sizes are unpredictable and can exceed 180x180, the standard thumbnail size, which is also the maximum VEF allows. Use the Bulk Uploader rather than the Basic Uploader. It's just as user-friendly and you get control over the size of your images.

A word of advice on ImageVenue: for VEF and similar, it's great. For "family friendly" use, avoid it like syphilis biscuits. "Family friendly" doesn't mean a thing to ImageVenue, except possibly to guide their moderators when reviewing uploads. "Family friendly" uploads still collect LiveJasmin and all the other shitty pornographic spam you can possibly imagine. It might be quite startling to your grandmother when you send her photos of her great grandchildren on ImageVenue and she finds herself in a live chat with one of the LiveJasmin girls.:rolleyes:

[Grundemann]

imagebam is the first image/file host I have used (mainly because I saw that others on this forum were using it) but it seems that they are randomly deleting some of the images I have shared with VE. This is strange as all the images I have uploaded are in no way graphic.

Grundemann

[Fatvanbelly]

I hate imagebam! Lots of guys on VEF have uploaded great pics but if I try to view them on imagebam it drives me crazy!

One minute it works perfectly, then a moment later it just says "loading" - forever. All the advertising works every time but the actual pic only works about 25% of the time.

[Xxphd]

Have been trying so sign up at Filepost (http://anonym.to/?http://filepost.com/) for 30 days, but their billing provider's (PayPro) system has been generating the same 'we have technical problems' error message since at least 24h. Possibly the technicians aren't available in the weekends..

:confused: :(

[JRay]

A number of members swear by FileFactory while others are not so sure. As a "free" or ("Anon") user, I for one have had enough of their slow service, their sometimes impossible to read captchas, their wait times and their bombing out about every other download I try.

I keep hearing their excuse that they have been swamped with new business since the demise of MegaUpload and FileSonic and are working to keep up with demand. Well, that excuse won't wash anymore - they have had plenty of time. Besides, other file hosts don't seem to have all these problems.

So, sadly, I will miss a lot of great posts with FF links.

Other comments/observations about FF will be appreciated.

[Biggerone]

2 issues.

1.) FF browser doesn't resave the files downloaded from imagevenue to the last folder, Imagebam does.

2.) Rapidshare has instituted a new speed scheme for the free users, whereby you can download a file after another, but has consistent pauses every few seconds that great throttle the download speeds to like 6KBps or worse. These things independently have been confirmed elsewhere on the net.

[buttsie]

As bad as Rapidshares download speed is for free users its stable
10 x 550mb files over 6 days proves that

The likes of file factory reminds me of rapidshare mark 1
Its simply swamped and more servers simply mean more capacity for those posting to earn to gobble up...a no win situation except for those with premium access

As a free user I dont even bother when I see the name as I once did for 2 months with rapidshare years ago...content isnt worth losing sleep over or even getting irritated over
because you cant get access to it.

I think some of us are getting a bit hot under the collar because we're used to getting everything before the mid afternoon nap instead of the Sunday roast next week.


As for the bad imagehosts start your browser without the add-ons
Their a bastard for causing conflicts...no script and ad-block plus are the usual culprits
followed very closely by your anti-virus software & your firewall

[cardinalcary]

A number of members swear by FileFactory while others are not so sure. As a "free" or ("Anon") user, I for one have had enough of their slow service, their sometimes impossible to read captchas, their wait times and their bombing out about every other download I try.

I keep hearing their excuse that they have been swamped with new business since the demise of MegaUpload and FileSonic and are working to keep up with demand. Well, that excuse won't wash anymore - they have had plenty of time. Besides, other file hosts don't seem to have all these problems.

So, sadly, I will miss a lot of great posts with FF links.

Other comments/observations about FF will be appreciated.
As a free user I am no longer able to down anything from filefactory

"All free download slots are in use. You can download this file immediately by upgrading to FileFactory Premium. Otherwise, please feel free to try again shortly."

I get that message every time ... one file I've been trying for about a week with no luck and I've tried several other links over the past while and cannot get any of them :(

If other VEF members are having the same problem and it persists, I hope VEF will consider banning them.


1.) FF browser doesn't resave the files downloaded from imagevenue to the last folder, Imagebam does.

Thanks for that :thumbsup: ... I was wondering if there was a prob with my computer and/or my browser

[Jeff Vader]

As a free user I am no longer able to down anything from filefactory

"All free download slots are in use. You can download this file immediately by upgrading to FileFactory Premium. Otherwise, please feel free to try again shortly."

I get that message every time ... one file I've been trying for about a week with no luck and I've tried several other links over the past while and cannot get any of them :(

If other VEF members are having the same problem and it persists, I hope VEF will consider banning them.


Thanks for that :thumbsup: ... I was wondering if there was a prob with my computer and/or my browser

Yeah, I have one half of a file the other half is stuck on FF for a few days now. Really annoying. I still have a RS account, had it for years now and I tend to use imagebam for pictures.

FS dying has really been a pain - I use a file downloader and currently I have 355 files queued... most DF files.

[buttsie]

Rapidgator

3 files day as a free user

Its captcha via solve media hates no script - if you disable it - what follows

The chance to catch some malware in the form of their download manager that
occasionally masquerades as the download button - thats if you can guess which button it is

My only advice if your must use this host put your browser inside a sandbox like sandboxie

If your thinking wisely you'll try and find the file on files tube via another host until this malware issue is gone