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Posts Tagged ‘Photobox’

Photobox Pulls ftp uploads

March 11th, 2008 8 comments

PhotoboxFurther to my last post, I now have email confirmation from Photobox that they have removed ftp upload capability (despite still accepting logins on the ftp server and having instructions on ftp uploads on the help section):

…to be honest i’m not to sure when or why it was stopped.
I think its something to do with the new uploader software.

I will look into the FTP servers openness and have the information from the website. [Ed:I presume the word ‘removed’ is missing here]

again my apologies for the inconvenience.

FTP capability was one of the benefits of Photobox. I don’t want to have to install Photobox’s own upload software, I have a perfectly capable one of my own – it’s called a standard ftp client. When I have tried their software in the past it is slow and clunky, whereas I can just type ‘mput *.JPG’ at the ftp command line.

I wonder how many others have suddenly found this not to be working without warning.

So what does something to do with the new uploader software mean? Come on Photobox, I understand that some people like to have their hand held with an uploader applet, but why stop others from using ftp as well?

Categories: Photography Tags: ,

Photobox ftp down again

March 10th, 2008 No comments

PhotoboxPhotobox’s ftp upload service seems to be screwed again. It still lets you upload files, but whereas it normally creates a directory named ‘ftp uploads – dd_mm_yyyy’, it is not doing this and simply dumps the files in the root area, which does not appear in ‘My Albums’ and cannot be deleted either. These files also do not get logged in the photobox ‘uploads log’ .

A few hours later, the files in the root area disappear, presumably cleared out by some automatic script, but do not get moved into a sub folder as they should.

The same thing happened last November and was reported to Photobox, but took several days to get sorted.

Update (11/3)

I have just received a reply from Photobox:

Thanks for your email.
I’m afraid that we no longer offer uploads via FTP

What!!?? Since when? When did that happen? Why wasn’t I warned about this?

Strange then that their help pages still detail how to upload using ftp, even detailing which software to use. *

Also why is the ftp server (ftp.photobox.co.uk) still live and accepting logins?

It would appear that either: Photobox have pulled ftp uploads without warning, without closing down the server and without removing the associated webpages, in which case they are incompetent, or the email came from someone who doesn’t understand what ftp is. I’m hoping it is the latter.

* although they wrongly say that Mac users need to download a client when Mac OS X already has a perfectly workable ftp client built in.

Categories: Photography Tags:

Royal Mail – Again!

September 8th, 2004 No comments

Royal MailOrder from photobox.co.uk sent by Royal Mail ‘First Class’ on Monday afternoon.

It was daft to expect it on Tuesday I suppose, but it’s still not arrived today (Wednesday).

Royal Mail shouldn’t be allowed to call their service ‘First Class’ – I’m sure it contravenes the Trades Description Act.

UPDATE: it is now Thursday and still no sign.

UPDATE: Friday, and still no photos. This means that if they actually do turn up on Monday, it’ll be a week for supposed ‘First Class’ – watch this space.
Royal Mail are you listening? – You do not deserve to run a monopoly.

UPDATE: Not surprisingly, the photos didn’t arrive on Monday. I emailed Photobox, who apologised, and said they would reprint the order and despatch the same day.
Photobox shouldn’t have to apologise for Royal Mail. The reprinted order arrived today (Wednesday). The original order still hasn’t shown up.

Top marks for Photobox.
Minus 100 for Royal Mail.

UPDATE: The original order finally arrived on 1st October, almost a month late!