So what does Photobucket do when their photo policy is challenged? They stick their head in the sand of course...

So a while ago I had a Photobucket account where I decided to post some "artistic" photos. Some of these photos contained nudity, some didn't, some were black and white, some were colour, but all these photos had one thing in common... they were marked "private". So what does "private" mean? Simple, it means that if anyone went to Photobucket and searched.... they could NOT see my photos. Only people that I allowed access to could see them. Ok, so let me just make this straight... these were NOT what people would consider porno pics, they did not show sexual acts, they did not show anything questionable (all subjects were adults), and they were... great shots.

So one day, I get an email from PhotoBucket telling me my account has been suspended due to a violation in their terms of use. So I respond to that email asking them for clarification as to why my account was suspended. In addition I sent them direct links to examples of PUBLIC (yes this means anyone can just do a simple search in Photobucket, as I did to prove it) showing death, murder, racial hatred, sex, nudity, and other very disturbing images. I only asked them to explain to me what I did wrong, and why wasn't I even warned that I was doing something wrong. Instead my account was locked without any explanation and that is it.

Now I understand that this is a private company and they have every right to make their own rules about anything. The only thing I would like to have is an explanation of those rules and what they consider acceptable and what not... I would hope they don't just randomly pull accounts without any sort of benchmark. Is that really too much to ask? Apparently so, as I have never gotten a response back from them. The email was very professional and courteous. There was no name calling or insulting.

It really greaves me that a company's, as popular as Photobucket, best answer would be.... nothing. It also amazes me that a law does not exist which states "You may set any rules you would like on your service, as long as you list those rules clearly."

I guess I'm just asking too much... so for now I've moved to Zooomr and have labeled the pictures "art" so far so good.