I have used Blogger for a while now. I had a blog when I was a teenager (it was a fad then; all my friends had blogs even though we had nothing unique or interesting to say), and I've had this blog for over a year. But then this week, as I was trying to make a new post, Blogger informed me that my Picasa web album was full, so I couldn't post new pictures. I don't use Picasa, but I found my Picasa page (even though I never created it) because now that Google owns everything, everything is interconnected. So, on my Picasa page (which again, I DID NOT CREATE) there were folders of all of the pictures I'd ever put on my blog. I thought, simple; I'll just delete them. But, then Picasa informed me that if I deleted any pictures, they would also disappear from anything else owned by Google. Which, is everything.
So, I had two options:
1) I could say, "Fine, Google! You win. I'll stop blogging."
2) I could say: "Fine, Google, you win! I'll pay $2.49 a month for more data."
I chose the latter, but now I am left wondering: if I stop paying, will my most recent blog posts disappear? I thought Google was the creator of free and amazing things, but not so anymore. Has anyone else hit the "out of space" problem? If so, did you pay, or is there another solution? I thought Blogger was free, so I haven't saved any of my student artwork photos anywhere else.
I ran into this issue last year (or the year before) and opted to pay for the storage space and I haven't had any issues with maxing out on that. On one hand, I see where you are coming from with Google originating a place that was a very free place of web basing yourself but on the other hand? Nothing in life is really all that free. Somehow, someway you end up paying other by your own volition or by finding out that you have a Picasa account that you never knew you had because that is how Google is doing it. You might have even agreed with it and not realized it because it was woven in with Blogger agreements or it was added later and communicate in such a way that it wasn't so obvious and loud (if you will) to the Blogger community. If you stop paying, your images will likely show themselves as broken image icons but your content - like your writing or external linking to other sites - will not disappear. The only way this would be negated would be if Blogger itself started charging you a service fee similar to what Wordpress does.
ReplyDeleteI had the same message, but as long as I go into Microsoft Photo Manager...and change the size..to web large(or small..forget?)...it still allows me upload new photos. If the images are a certain size...they "don't count".
ReplyDeleteGrrrr! Sorry you are in this situation. I was a little concerned about Blogger so I went with wordpress.org from the very beginning of my blog. If you are thinking of switching to wordpress.org (Deep Space Sparkle and Teach Kids Art use WP) it will cost more than $2.49/month, but you get unlimited storage and you own your blog. There are other pros and cons...
ReplyDeleteI went with the monthly fee to avoid the time commitment of reducing all my photos (besides, I like large high quality photos anyhow!) I figured it was worth the relatively small cost, compared to how much I pay for things like cable TV and Internet! I read a few Word Press blogs (such as DeepSpace Sparkle) and do not think they feel as warm and friendly. I liked DeepSpace Sparkle's 'feel' much more before she switched, but it works for her because her blog is a money-making activity.
ReplyDeletePay the fee, don't fret over it, and figure it in as a professional expense when you do your taxes.
Thanks for all of your helpful comments! I know the fee is not that much; however, what if they increase it? Do I have to make a choice of keeping my blog or paying more? Secondly, what if I quit blogging down the road, but I would like to keep my previously published posts available? Will I have to keep paying $2.49/month for the rest of my life? And then once I die, my blog dies too?
ReplyDeleteIt worries me that Google owns so much. They're at a point now that they can say, "pay $100 or we'll shut down your blog, and your email, etc."
I got a photobucket account for free and I am just using the "copy the URL" link to add photos. Sigh. Google is really taking over and this time, it is not in a good way.
ReplyDeleteThis is frightening! I haven't received ANY messages from Google about having to pay for Picasa. I set up my own Picasa account to be able to download photos to Blogger and haven't had any notices about too many photos or any limits. I'm so sorry you are having to deal with this and I think all of your questions are valid ones.
ReplyDelete:)Pat
[New reader :)] Love your blog! You should definitely make your photos small to post online! I am a photographer, so it's a no-brainer for me so that people can't drag and drop photos that are print quality. I've been blogging a long time too and post TONS of photos and haven't run into this yet, and I think it's because I resize all of my photos to 72 ppi and 650 pixels wide. This saves tons of storage space online and makes my blog load pretty fast. So if you have any photo software you could maybe delete some old posts or resize the photos at lease? Just a thought! [and possible solution???]
ReplyDeleteThanks, Ashley! But, I think I'm going to stick with the bigger photos since I ended up buying the extra storage, and also I don't save my photos anywhere else.
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