You might see that the Dropbox Community team have been busy working on some major updates to the Community itself! So, here is some info on what’s changed, what’s staying the same and what you can expect from the Dropbox Community overall.
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 Public folder until
September 1, 2017. After that date the files in your Public folder will become private, and links to these files will be deactivated. Your files will remain safe in Dropbox.
If you’d like to keep sharing files in your Public folder, you can create new shared links. Just make sure to send the new URLs to your collaborators.
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It is one of the most useful features of the service for me as I use it to get links to single files that I can send to people without setting up shared folders and requiring them to have dropbox accounts.
(Save file to my public folder locally, syncs, right click, get publick link, paste. Doesn't get any easier than that.)
It's also useful for bb style forum posts where you can link to images with an easy tag.
With the public folder support being removed, is there going to be an alternative solution to allow easy public sharing of single files?
- 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!
Please consider joining me in a Class Action suit against dropbox.
While they have every right to cancel future public folder entries, they do NOT have the right to make all public folder files private.
Case in point.
As a professor I have made cousre documents. tutorials, course documents and paid for advertisement forms available on my public folder.
Once these links become private noone will have access from any of the advertising hyperlinks on various sites to my files.
This will cause me irreperable financial harm, negatively impact registration and close down a college program.
Please comment below.
Dropbox....Are you listening????????????????????
abriteguy wrote:
Please consider joining me in a Class Action suit against dropbox.
While they have every right to cancel future public folder entries, they do NOT have the right to make all public folder files private.
Case in point.
As a professor I have made cousre documents. tutorials, course documents and paid for advertisement forms available on my public folder.
Once these links become private noone will have access from any of the advertising hyperlinks on various sites to my files.
This will cause me irreperable financial harm, negatively impact registration and close down a college program.
Please comment below.
Dropbox....Are you listening????????????????????
No go. This is from dropboxs own terms of service, which everyone agreed to when they started using the service.
TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, EXCEPT FOR ANY LIABILITY FOR DROPBOX’S OR ITS AFFILIATES’ FRAUD, FRAUDULENT MISREPRESENTATION OR GROSS NEGLIGENCE, IN NO EVENT WILL DROPBOX, ITS AFFILIATES, SUPPLIERS OR DISTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE FOR:
(A) ANY INDIRECT, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, PUNITIVE, EXEMPLARY OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES, OR
(B) ANY LOSS OF USE, DATA, BUSINESS OR PROFITS, REGARDLESS OF LEGAL THEORY.
THIS WILL BE REGARDLESS OF WHETHER OR NOT DROPBOX OR ANY OF ITS AFFILIATES HAS BEEN WARNED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES, AND EVEN IF A REMEDY FAILS OF ITS ESSENTIAL PURPOSE.
ADDITIONALLY, DROPBOX, ITS AFFILIATES, SUPPLIERS AND DISTRIBUTORS WILL NOT BE LIABLE FOR AGGREGATE LIABILITY FOR ALL CLAIMS RELATING TO THE SERVICES FOR MORE THAN THE GREATER OF $20 OR THE AMOUNTS PAID BY YOU TO DROPBOX FOR THE PAST 12 MONTHS OF THE SERVICES IN QUESTION.
Some places don't allow the types of limitations in this paragraph, so they may not apply to you.
https://www.dropbox.com/privacy#terms
Updated version for 2017:
WE DON'T EXCLUDE OR LIMIT OUR LIABILITY TO YOU WHERE IT WOULD BE ILLEGAL TO DO SO—THIS INCLUDES ANY LIABILITY FOR DROPBOX'S OR ITS AFFILIATES' FRAUD OR FRAUDULENT MISREPRESENTATION IN PROVIDING THE SERVICES. IN COUNTRIES WHERE THE FOLLOWING TYPES OF EXCLUSIONS AREN'T ALLOWED, WE'RE RESPONSIBLE TO YOU ONLY FOR LOSSES AND DAMAGES THAT ARE A REASONABLY FORESEEABLE RESULT OF OUR FAILURE TO USE REASONABLE CARE AND SKILL OR OUR BREACH OF OUR CONTRACT WITH YOU. THIS PARAGRAPH DOESN'T AFFECT CONSUMER RIGHTS THAT CAN'T BE WAIVED OR LIMITED BY ANY CONTRACT OR AGREEMENT.
IN COUNTRIES WHERE EXCLUSIONS OR LIMITATIONS OF LIABILITY ARE ALLOWED, DROPBOX, ITS AFFILIATES, SUPPLIERS OR DISTRIBUTORS WON'T BE LIABLE FOR:
i. ANY INDIRECT, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, PUNITIVE, EXEMPLARY OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES, OR
ii. ANY LOSS OF USE, DATA, BUSINESS, OR PROFITS, REGARDLESS OF LEGAL THEORY.
THESE EXCLUSIONS OR LIMITATIONS WILL APPLY REGARDLESS OF WHETHER OR NOT DROPBOX OR ANY OF ITS AFFILIATES HAS BEEN WARNED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.
IF YOU USE THE SERVICES FOR ANY COMMERCIAL, BUSINESS OR RE-SALE PURPOSE, DROPBOX, ITS AFFILIATES, SUPPLIERS OR DISTRIBUTORS WILL HAVE NO LIABILITY TO YOU FOR ANY LOSS OF PROFIT, LOSS OF BUSINESS, BUSINESS INTERUPTION, OR LOSS OF BUSINESS OPPORTUNITY. DROPBOX AND ITS AFFILIATES AREN'T RESPONSIBLE FOR THE CONDUCT, WHETHER ONLINE OR OFFLINE, OF ANY USER OF THE SERVICES.
OTHER THAN FOR THE TYPES OF LIABILITY WE CANNOT LIMIT BY LAW (AS DESCRIBED IN THIS SECTION), WE LIMIT OUR LIABILITY TO YOU TO THE GREATER OF $20 USD OR 100% OF ANY AMOUNT YOU'VE PAID UNDER YOUR CURRENT SERVICE PLAN WITH DROPBOX.
What bothers me the most is the lie they told us about why they're taking it away.
They say they are always looking for ways to improve dropbox, however taking this grandfathered feature away from the few who still use it is not an improvement in any way. Literally, taking something away when it wasn't an issue isn't an improvement.
Everyone knows this is about control. They don't like the way we're using something that they made, and so they are going to show us who's boss by just turning it off in exchange for an extremely guided method of sharing which is not what i just bought a year of.
Good thing i can use it for 9.5 months of the 12 i paid for, at which point i'll have figured something else out. They will never get another dollar or recommendation from me, and i'll make sure and let everyone know that they shouldn't invest time in a product that will randomly change their mind.
**** you dropbox. Seriously.
This is completely ridiculous.
Dropbox, please reconsider.
Or else it's time to consider leaving Dropbox.
Maybe instead of killing the links to files in the public folder you ad small ads on them and make money off them ? That way they could pay for your hosting of them and millions of websites don't lose valuable content.
- They already have customers paying for their service. Even if it was possible to put ads on public, direct links (it's not) it'd look terrible in every way possible. Not even companies looking to advertise would want it, because with no way of controlling the content or where it's posted, they could end up being associated with literally anything. Ads has no place in this at all.
- This would be a good idea, but there are many services I use that can't see a shared Dropbox link and can only see files I put in a public folder.
These services include website backup systems, csv table importers for Tablepress etc.
Getting rid of the shared folder will break all of these services, causing me considerable extra work and meaning that I will not be able to use Dropbox for many things I use it for now.
Are there any option to keep the shared folder? If not I will have to look for other options. - BTW, my husband and I are commercial realtors and we establish public folders for our clients all the time, as a way to provide information on prospective properties. This is a HUGE reason we decided to use pay for the upgraded version. Unless DB recants this decision, we'll definitely be looking for another site.
Dropbox won't back down; they never do. The best thing to do is simply cancel your subscription.
- Has anyone settled on an alternative service provider? If I have to go back and change ALL of those links, I want to do it only once, and to a provider I can depend on...
edm81363 wrote:
Has anyone settled on an alternative service provider? If I have to go back and change ALL of those links, I want to do it only once, and to a provider I can depend on...
Microsoft isnt going anywhere anytime soon, Neither is Google so depending on if you use MS Office, or like Google I would pick between those two. I am a MS user ( I am even one of the 1%, the 1% with Windows Phone ) so I am going to move to OneDrive.Also I am pretty sure new members see the public folder in Win10. I could be wrong.. but a friend got a new laptop and setup an account and asked me what it was for. At least I thought it was a new account.
I have years of important documents, some legal, many published, that have hundreds of tinyurl links the 99% of which are to DropBox links to supporting references without which the documents are irreparably damaged.
Tinyurl guarantees the perminence of their links which gives me the confidence that future, past and present possessors of my literary and legal work product will still be able to click those links.
As you may know tinyurl links are customizable which facilitates easy identification. so even if I endeavored to repair spoiled links the new links would lose the * identity customized to be associated with them.
If Dropbox breaks those links they will cripple literally every document I have created since I first subscribed to DropBox.
Many people have in their possession souvenir items with Tinyurl/dropbox links which will be rendered inoperable if links are broken by dropbox. Example: http://tinyurl.com/JMad5G http://tinyurl.com/RiderSouvenir
Please open and examine for yourselves a few of hundreds of examples and please assure me that DropBox will not break and destroy the integrity of years of work product in its March transition.
I will begin creating and linking all new documents outside the Public folder, but even my new work product will frequently, if not always, refer to my extensive established dossier behind tinyurl's permanent links which are permanently and *unchangeably associated with established Public folder dropbox links.
Wayne Harropson
Examples:
http://tinyurl.com/EastEggEpiph
http://tinyurl.com/grtseal
http://tinyurl.com/HarropWrite
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.
Having used drop box for years using links for documents that can be viewed on any server, no way can I waste the rest of my life redoing all the links. Dropbox just screwed up about 5 years worth of work for no real reason.
You seriously need a rethink on this :-(
Over 5 years I have worked with the public links in Dropbox and praised them for it to everyone I knew.
Now they tell me I have to change over 25000 links .....
How on earth am I going to do that ?
And much more, what happens in the mean time ?
September 1, that's the date the axe is going to fall .... yeah, right, so what do I do in the mean time then ?
Asking support doesnt bring any answers. I'm left in the dark here with only an execution of my work in the near future.
Sure, I can still create stuff and set out public links, but what is the use of working with Dropbox now ?
I wish someone could help me here, for I am lost and feeling **bleep** crappy about it.
Hugs to you all !
If Dropbox does not change its current path of killing all Public folders / Public links and goes forward with that ridiculous plan, I will review my other cloud options. I am already paying for Office 365 so I already got an almost illimited (1000 GB!) Onedrive at no additional cost... why should I stick with Dropbox if they start killing all of their most useful features one by one?
I would also like to point out if Dropbox goes forward and keeps shooting themselves in the foot, I will stop recommending Dropbox to friends and family and move to other options like Onedrive.
Dropbox, please reconsider: your reputation, your revenue, your business and your users are at stake here. Do you seriously expect to be successful on the stock markets when millions of users complain about you killing off the best feature of your only product? How good does that sound for future revenue?
hey Dropbox-Team
thanks for that step. I moved now to my own hosted cloud-storage on my NAS.
I have full control what get's shared and whats not and almost unlimited space.
It's very hard to understand why you've choosen that step and why are you not even trying to explain.
Good bye!
