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Forum Discussion
Ending support of public folder
Just heard from dropbox that support for the public folder is ending.
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As a result, we’ll soon be ending support for the Public folder. Dropbox Pro users will be able to use the Publ...
- LGM - the issue is that people are abusing it and causing issues for everybody by getting the Dropbox domains blacklisted which cause emails to fail and downloads to be blocked by firewalls etc.
In terms of changing the extension, sorry, no idea how you would do that!
Just adding my disdain.
I'd like to be able to share a whole folder of .WAV files of something I recorded. Will I now have to make an individual link to each file? Way too much work!
I think DropBox is one of the cleanest, most user-friendly, and most well-functioning pieces of software ever developed for the PC. On average, I would guess that I have been sitting behind a keyboard for several hours a day for the last 20 or so years. It is rare that a program is as functional and streamlined as Dropbox.
With this post I am adding my voice to those who are displeased that this will no longer be completely true for DropBox. I am sure I will continue using and recommending your product, but I would be lying if I said I wasn't hugely discouraged by this change.
Finally, I think it would benefit your company more if you just told the truth about why you are nixing the Public folder. While I am sure the real reason might be harmful to your firm if disclosed, I doubt it can be any worse than the speculation and accusational environment you have created by being vague about it and hiding it behind corporate newspeak.
Grunker wrote:...I think it would benefit your company more if you just told the truth about why you are nixing the Public folder. While I am sure the real reason might be harmful to your firm if disclosed, I doubt it can be any worse than the speculation and accusational environment you have created by being vague about it and hiding it behind corporate newspeak.
Hear, hear. Why won't you tell us? What are you hiding? Why won't you protect the sections of the Internet that will die unless you do something so easy as preserve the links that are already out there?
Seems the Public Folders are to go! Without comment or concern by DropBox Central. Sad!
So what are the alternatives?
Ideally there is a folder on my computer somewhere that is auto-synched to the cloud, and which is then accessible from the cloud by anyone.
One should be able to create a single shortened url to that folder via tiny.cc (which is I think the only url shortener providing access at folder level). For example my public folder would have a full url (in the DropBox case) of "https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/1234567/" which I might shorten to "https://tiny.cc/Jordan/"
Now when needing to put a kml/pdf/jpg or other file into the public domain as part of a forum entry (ie providing the wider community with some details of a bug/feature/technique as part of my responsibility to the world), I just need to put that file (say "example.jpg") into my public folder and publicise the name as "https://tiny.cc/Jordan/example.jpg".
In theory it is now available to that forum's readers in perpetuity.
This can (or could) be done with ease with DropBox.
I so wish I had been sufficiently diligent to start this years ago because my tiny.cc account allows me to redirect the location of that folder using a simple edit as part of the tiny.cc user service. If I had taken that step I could point the whole box and caboodle soemwhere else!
Alas it is too late and those many links will now be broken. Worse, I cannot find another way of doing this other than to create and maintain my own domain.
Security of public files they say - What? I place files there to be publically available. If the content is sensitive they will not go in that place. So I look after the files in there because I know they may be visited at any time by a concerned user who finds my forum entry.
How many times has my skin been saved by the work of others who have done similar things. We are a community!!!
Are readers aware of a suitable alternative?
The key features are the auto synching of the folder (dump a file in and it goes public), and the simplicity (no need to ftp those files to some strange place or maintain a complex list of obscure link names).
But now I also question my susceptibility to a policy change by tiny.cc and of any alternative provider that I use in the future.
Oh woe is me.
What do I do Dr DropBox? Please, what do I do?
Bob Jordan
DropBox user since 2009
Now a Pro user (ie payer)
Soon - dumped!
You and I are in the same boat. We need an injunctive order filed to preserve all existing links in perpetuity.
- DB have had security problems in the past, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dropbox_(service).
They say this is not the problem. So what could it be? Maybe they are going out of business and cutting back on functionality to save money. Whatever the reason, they can't be trusted anymore.
