Pretty sure this happened because of warez. Lately lots of warez sites where uploading in there.
Dropbox accounts created after Oct. 2012 won't have a public folder
111–120 of 133 posts
Re: Dropbox accounts created after Oct. 2012 won't have a public folder
#112I really have the feeling that DropBox will die. They don't do anything Google Drive, Microsoft OneDrive or Apple iCloud doesn't do, and these companies all have much more money / talent / infrastructure / synergy with other products.
For some reason I still only instinctively trust Dropbox to reliably sync my files. I'm always worried I'm going to lose something if I put it into my Google Drive or iCloud folder, though I'm sure by this point it is probably just as good/reliable. My concerns have less to do with individual files being manually added to a Google Drive or iCloud folder and more to do with how well it handles starting entire new proj…
In the case of Google, and to a lesser extent Microsoft, I don't have enough trust they'll keep their offering around to ever start using and relying on it.
Google and to a slightly lesser degree Microsoft have horrible histories of simply turning off successful services. Or "improving" them by replacing with something objectively worse.
Re: Dropbox accounts created after Oct. 2012 won't have a public folder
#113Earlier quoted context omitted.
Although it involves a redirect, so it's not, per se, direct , appending ?dl=1 to a Dropbox link does at least trigger a file download.
This is not useful for hotlinking pictures, for example for embedding them in a forum.
I believe that's an intentional limitation.
Re: Dropbox accounts created after Oct. 2012 won't have a public folder
#114Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's not that it should be free. It's just that it used to be . Unfortunately, I don't think that "if it matters so much to you, you can pay $X" is a useful position. More helpful would be "beware free services that cause vendor lock-in and may stop being free at any time". Do you use a free Gmail account? If so, how important is it for you?
and not only did it used to be free, but when they took it away, they refused to give people an option to pay for it. they really botched an opportunity to get people to upgrade. further, they hurt their integrity in the process, and their integrity is one of their most important assets. so, overall, it was a tremendously bad mistake. it's also puzzling they never gave any credible explanation for it. in the meantime…
So just like Google Wave/Buzz/Knol/Answers/every-other-20%-time-project-that-wasn't-email-maps-or-ads?
I'm with you on the outrage, just perhaps a bit more pragmatic about the inevitability. (And I'm a paying customer too. Or at least will be until my current billing cycle ends...)
Re: Dropbox accounts created after Oct. 2012 won't have a public folder
#115Earlier quoted context omitted.
For me, this was the most-used feature. "a folder that syncs" was a nice side effect. (I know - I'm clearly not "their most valuable customer segment" - if I was them I'd probably be breaking my irrelevant-to-them shit too...)
The Public folder is what dragged me in fully and made me stay with Dropbox. I am their paying customer now, and this very moment, I'm considering whether I'm pissed off about the thing enough to move those few gigs of data I have with Dropbox to some self-hosted solution.
Yeah - I've got an AWS account which in months where I don't use anything except my S3 storage costs me around 90c/month - and I have a licence for Transmit which gives me almost identical folder-sync like behaviour from Mac OS. There's some useful-to-me stuff the iOS Dropbox app does, but for 90-100/year I suspect I can solve or ignore that problem...
Re: Dropbox accounts created after Oct. 2012 won't have a public folder
#116Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yes, I probably missed the notifications somehow. They probably should have had some warning on the app itself when putting or sharing files from that folder. It's a free service, so my bad for using it without a good backup, but I had used programs for a long long time that produce screenshots with one keystroke and copy the URL to the clipboard, saving time. I figured this was relatively low overhead for them and a…
I got the same email as the GP, but also saw a message on the web page. However, how frequently does anyone log in to the web page? Disclaimer: I've been fed delicious lamb chops and duck at the DB office, so my view might be tainted. Edit: I also received another email about it on March 1st
I got a notification about ToS change on Dec 21st, but it doesn't mention any features going away, mostly changes to which profile information will be displayed in various situations.
Looking over the past 6 months, I don't have anything else but "Hey, you added a new device to Dropbox!"
Re: Dropbox accounts created after Oct. 2012 won't have a public folder
#117Earlier quoted context omitted.
and not only did it used to be free, but when they took it away, they refused to give people an option to pay for it. they really botched an opportunity to get people to upgrade. further, they hurt their integrity in the process, and their integrity is one of their most important assets. so, overall, it was a tremendously bad mistake. it's also puzzling they never gave any credible explanation for it. in the meantime…
So just like Google Wave/Buzz/Knol/Answers/every-other-20%-time-project-that-wasn't-email-maps-or-ads? I'm with you on the outrage, just perhaps a bit more pragmatic about the inevitability. (And I'm a paying customer too. Or at least will be until my current billing cycle ends...)
i'm not outraged. i'm not even affected by it, except in the most tangential way. i would describe myself as "perplexed". by the change itself (although maybe it's to protect themselves against black-hat hackers, for some reason they've opted not to explain), but even more so by the oafish way they enacted it. (although, as some consolation, they did give plenty of warning to [most] users.)
Re: Dropbox accounts created after Oct. 2012 won't have a public folder
#118Dropbox has been becoming increasingly user-hostile for a great while now, and it all centers around the deprecation of the Public folder. I think this change primarily serves to funnel downstream content viewers to the shared file "landing page". That landing page is filled with valuable screen real-estate that Dropbox can use to promote itself. That page is a usability nightmare, too. Photos can't be zoomed to full…
This drives me bananas every time someone links me through DropBox. I actively dislike people sharing stuff to me with DropBox.
Would make sense to make for a free product but if people are paying and this is still broken, seems a bit stupid.
Actually... now that I think about it; what annoys me most is the fact that it pops up a login box. If it was just on the side not covering the content I probably wouldn't dislike it so much.
Re: Dropbox accounts created after Oct. 2012 won't have a public folder
#119Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is not useful for hotlinking pictures, for example for embedding them in a forum.
I believe that's an intentional limitation.
I know it's intentional. I'm just saying it results in something that is definitely not direct and noticeably less useful. That it can be made to trigger a download is not particularly useful.
Re: Dropbox accounts created after Oct. 2012 won't have a public folder
#120Pretty sure this happened because of warez. Lately lots of warez sites where uploading in there.
How would this help? They still allow sharing links even for free accounts. It's just that it's not direct linking and instead you're forced to go to a Dropbox page.
No, it probably has to do with making downloaders go to Dropbox and tempt them to subscribe.