Ending support of public folder

[ae2rigc]

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?

[floris]

[edit] Never mind, they don't listen to us anyway .. no more cloud hard drive for me. For the first time since 2011, I don't feel comfortable giving money to @dropbox. A consequence to their actions. Strike 1, Mrs Rice, Strike 2, 70m db leak, Strike 3, /public/. You're out. Sorry.

[Chris R.]

Mrs Rice?

[awolff]

Whenever your data is on someone else's computer, it is subject to their rules. To get better control over your data and any links you might make to it, you have to at minimum rent your own server. This is the equivalent to renting your own apartment, rather than sleeping on somebody's couch. All users of cloud providers are not much different than someone sleeping on someone else's couch. They can show you the door anytime for any reason or no reason. Landlords usually won't throw you out if you pay your rent and otherwise behave yourself. That is what I did. I rented my own server. It turns out that this does not cost much more than a paying Dropbox account. Then you can make your own websites on your own domains and make that information public to the world. All the links you make will always work unless you screw them up yourself.

[narikaa]

http://tech.thaivisa.com/dropbox-targets-deep-pocketed-businesses-to-increase-revenue/19617/?utm_sou...

[ngoanrazor]

I'm afraid. Dont waste three years my work, i had include direct link in my android app product, all features will don't work. Please..............

[gbm]

Just thinking about all the bad links that will start to occur after March 15th. Each time one of those is reported, we should make it our business to publicise the cause and why Dropbox cannot be trusted. This could happen many thousands of times. Imagine how much negative advertising Dropbox will get. It won't of course do us any good. But perhaps if Dropbox just considers this, perhaps they might re-think their stupid policy. If not, in the long run, when the company falters, heads will roll. So Dropbox Management - dust off those resumes before it's too late!

[cdgoin]

Use #deadlinks to @Dropboxsupport on Twitter.. that may get more notice. WE have less than 2 months till the screw us all.

[Chris R.]

Here is the entire transcript of my email conversation with Dropbox (I don't give a sh*t if this breaks confidentiality, but as you will see, the Dropbox droid assigned to my ticket said nothing meaningful anyway):

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Jay, Jan 9, 3:32 AM PST:
Hi Chris,

The Public folder was the first sharing method that Dropbox introduced and laid the groundwork for us to develop the sharing experience we have today.

We’ve come a long way since then to make the process of sharing your files as easy and secure as possible. Shared folders, shared links, read-only shared links, file requests, albums, and other features have been developed and introduced since that initial sharing experience.

These new sharing methods became core to the Dropbox experience, because they gave users and recipients more options for control and collaboration. As a result, we decided to end support for the Public folder, so we can better focus on building and maintaining our core sharing experience. We understand that this may cause both inconvenience and frustration, and we are committed to making this transition as seamless as possible.

The files in your Public folder will become private on March 15, 2017 for Basic accounts, and on September 1, 2017 for Pro and Business accounts. The files will still be safe in Dropbox, and no action is needed on your part. If you’d like to share them again, we’d be more than happy to help you use any of our available methods to continue sharing and collaborating.

For example, one of the ways to share securely and easily is to create a shared link. To read more about this sharing feature, please follow the instruction in the link below to ‘Create a shared link’:

https://www.dropbox.com/help/167

This was not an easy decision and we want to assist in any way we can while this transition occurs. Please let us know if you have any further questions or concerns and we’d be more than happy to help.

Regards,
Jay

We have just launched a brand new Dropbox community! You can find immediate answers 24/7. Check it out http://dropboxforum.com

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Chris xxxxx, Jan 10, 3:49 AM PST:

I am getting quite angry. You don't reply, you simply repeat the same thing over and over again, without saying anything meaningful. This is my question, and PLEASE respond to it SPECIFICALLY:

“We, your users, now understand that you are ending support for the Public Folder and most of us have accepted that. But WHY are you not prepared to ‘grandfather' (i.e. protect, preserve) the links that are already ‘out there’ which originally came from our Public Folders? You can do this quite easily. If you are not prepared to answer, I will begin to investigate legal torts compelling you to answer this question directly.”

Sincerely

Chris xxxxx

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Jay, Jan 13, 9:20 AM PST:

Hi Chris,

We are not just ending the support for public folder the service also is not going to be available. There was a decision to not carry on with this feature and not to keep the existing one.

I hope this clarifies now.

Regards,
Jay

We have just launched a brand new Dropbox community! You can find immediate answers 24/7. Check it out http://dropboxforum.com

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Chris xxxxx, Jan 13, 11:08 AM PST:

NO - YOU STILL HAVEN'T ANSWERED MY QUESTION.

I'M NOT TALKING ABOUT PUBLIC FOLDERS PAST PRESENT OR FUTURE, AS I THINK YOU KNOW PERFECTLY WELL.

I'M TALKING ABOUT THE L-I-N-K-S (millions of them?) WHICH HAVE BEEN GENERATED FROM USERS’ PUBLIC FOLDERS IN THE PAST. WHY ARE YOU

A) NOT PRESERVING THESE

B) EXPLAINING WHY YOU ARE NOT PRESERVING THEM?

AND ALSO NOTE - THE NEW CLAUSE TO NEW USERS ABOUT NOT TAKING OUT ‘CLASS ACTION’ LAWSUITS AGAINST DROPBOX CANNOT APPLY RETROSPECTIVELY TO EXISTING USERS. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

NOW FOR CxxxxT’S SAKE, BEFORE WE LOSE IT COMPLETELY, EXPLAIN YOURSELVES.

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Jay, Jan 24, 8:14 AM PST:

Hi Chris,

As we are not following with the service of Public folder any more we cannot keep the links avaialble. That is also why we let the user early enough know that the option won't be available after a specific time so the can adjust.

Thanks,
Jay

We have just launched a brand new Dropbox community! You can find immediate answers 24/7. Check it out http://dropboxforum.com

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Chris xxxxx, Jan 24, 2:45 PM PST:
> As we are not following with the service of Public folder any more we cannot keep the links avaialble
>

That is a non-sequitur. What you need to do - and you know this perfectly well as you MUST have discussed it (if not, then you are an

incompetent IT company) - is to
MAKE THE PUBLIC FOLDER READ ONLY.
DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME?
READ ONLY.
THAT WILL...
1) PREVENT FUTURE LINKS BEING ADDED FROM IT
2) PRESERVE EXISTING LINKS.
Now. For the very last time, EXPLAIN WHY YOU WILL NOT TAKE THIS SIMPLE STEP. Do not simply regurgitate company policy as if you have no mind of your own. EXPLAIN - in detail if necessary - WHY you cannot take the simple step of making existing Public folders “read only”.

If you are incompetent to answer this question, please pass the email on to your programming team and have a SYSTEMS ANALYST reply to me and explain WHY it cannot be done (it can, of course..).

Sincerely

Chris xxxxx

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Jay, Feb 2, 9:14 AM PST:

Hi Chris,

Thank you for writing again and really appreciate your feedback!

I will pass your feedback to our responsible team so they can consider this and eventually allow this function, but as mentioned previously currently there is not such a plan to keep public folder.

Thank you for your understanding.

Regards,
Jay

We have just launched a brand new Dropbox community! You can find immediate answers 24/7. Check it out http://dropboxforum.com

[narikaa]

Or to paraphrase in the vernacular

"Oh you misunderstand, that's merely a light shower of rainfall you're experiencing. Whatever made you think we were pissing up your back"

[kiaz h.]

The tests for new methods to replace dropbox public folder are succeeded for me, so at March, maybe earlier i'm going to close my dropbox account after ten years 🙂