Anyone have any solutions? I'm very nervous now. I have some priceless old photos that were on this site, and now all my memories are gone. I can't believe this is happening. I'm willing to donate if it means we can get access to our old photos, and back them up. I'm devastated.

Why does no one seem to help? I trusted this site because of their fair and open policies, noble mission, etc. And now they seem to be throwing everyone under the bus!

That's why TeddyTux, this site was not meant to be a back-up for your pics. For that, you should have saved them to DVD, flash-drive or an external hard-drive before relying on ANY site to be a form of storage or back-up.
Be this a caveat for future. Never, ever use any site as a way to store your prized and precious pictures, without backing them up to your own physical media.
In hind-sight, Zooomr was too good to be true, and made far too many promises, without delivering them. Whenever any site offers so much for so little, or for free, you know there will be a huge catch somewhere down the line.
And, here, is our catch... many have been duped by paying for a pro account, and many have lost their pictures.

Hello Don, Miketrevis and all...

Don, you did a good informative job informing
the community about what happened and happens presently at Zooomr.

I still cannot believe that Mr. Kris is not informing the community, nor giving the people in here time to save all they photos before an end of service.

I am just speechless. I asked per email in here
to delete the account.

Nevertheless there might be a wonder. But wonders are rare.

Feeling with you.

Fred

I'm totally speechless with Mr Kris, when I started this thread here there was not even the notice in Japanese. Now Mr Kris says there's no money, fine, business sometimes runs into trouble, but at least inform us in advance so at least we can save our photos. Don't tell me you are not tracking your company's finance.
There are responsible ways to do things, yet Mr Kris has chosen the most irresponsible one. I just can't imagine how Mr Kris could demand users to be "grateful" under this circumstance

Actually, we all should have seen this coming when Thomas Hawke bailed on Zooomr. He was the one who gave the site much lip service and was in many ways the PR guy.
When he bolted, we should have seen it as a HUGE warning sign that things were getting bad.
Then, of course, Kris' complete bolt off to Japan (no doubt with the money from the site).
This was a good site when it was in its heydays, but it all went whacko when Kris turned Japanese fanboy and tried to pander to his new overlords.

Oh well, I guess we could all return to Flickr and get ass-reamed for money by Yahoo! (there's another company on the verge of going tits up, in their constant attempts to get Microsoft to buy them.)

Perhaps Google may start something larger than Picassa...

Hello everyone

In Wikipedia there is a list of photo sites.
The name Zooomr is listed as well but as we know
not working well since some time.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_photo_sharing_websites

I checked some, some conditions have changed
so please read carefully.

Nice day!
FS

prydonian:
most people are not hard-core fanboys of this site, but rather just normal users. So we had no idea of the behind-the-scenes going-ons, we didn't know anything about the personal lives of those running the site, and we never had any indication that anything was happening.

kristopher@bluebridge.jp
ktate@sixapart.com
kristopher@connectfree.jp
findyourownpath3(Skype)
http://facebook.com/kristophertate

Maybe there are more.
By the way, what would competitors and people think about the behavior from Mr. Kris think.
Ohhh.... my g...ness

prydonian:
most people are not hard-core fanboys of this site, but rather just normal users. So we had no idea of the behind-the-scenes going-ons, we didn't know anything about the personal lives of those running the site, and we never had any indication that anything was happening.

I am, like you, not a fanboy of this site. The dust ups and fall-outs between Thomas and Kris, and others, didn't even get much of a comment on this site, but was more visible on other forums, especially those on Flickr and other photography sites.
Kris has spent well over a couple of years, now, keeping the members of this dying site, completely in the dark as to his growing lack of interest in Zooomr or the fact his most vocal supporters were departing.
He's made many excuses and now is saying how he has no money to keep the site maintained, even after the fact how last year he spoke greatly about making deals with backers in Japan.

As for seeing how this site was starting to fall apart, well, it was the growing rate that things were breaking down, members were getting annoyed at the lack of support of the site, and Kris' over-infatuation with trying to make this site so Japanese-friendly, to the point of alienating everyone else (notice how most announcements are only put online in Japanese, rather than English?)
Also, many were annoyed that there was no way to delete their accounts and take their images off the site. It all seemed pretty dubious.

I used this site as a way to host pictures I could use to show in other forums and on my old blogs. But, after awhile, it got tiresome to see those photos disappear without warning or reason.

crap , so the only solution is finding a new place? i mean uploading still works. really liked the zipline thing :(

uploading still works, but how long will it be before even they disappear?

Honestly, why bother wasting time uploading stuff that will vanish, due to Kris supposedly paying for server space, that keeps wiping everyone's pictures?

Zooomr has had it's day, it's creator/owner doesn't give a flying toss, and those of us left, are left holding a dead baby.

Plus, we can't just close our accounts and walk away, as Kris never gave us a delete account option or confirmation that his servers won't still keep copies of our photos, even after we've left.

I would suggest Google's Picasa. While it doesn't have a photo stream, Smart Sets or a Zipline, it is stable, displays photos well and is connected to a good social network. And the number of photos is unlimited if you don't mind downsizing them.

same here :(

so should i say good bye to those photos??

In a post that Kris made, it would suggest that the old photos could be recovered by simply sending someone to the datacenter to fix the server...
But, maybe that will never happen. Who knows :\
I'm still KINDA holding out and hoping that they will return some day.

In other words, baclontz, Kris is saying that he can't be arsed to send someone, or even, and don't let me give anyone heart-attacks, do it himself?
Yep, face it folks, Kris just doesn't give a shit. He got bored of this toy of his and now all he wants to do is play with his new "friends" in Asia, or wherever he's now hiding.

And, please don't hold out, baclontz, this problem has been ongoing for well over a year now, and there's no sign of that ever changing.

I'm just going through the loooooooooooooooooooooong-ass process of deleting the blank photos, on my account, one by one, by freaking one, all because there's no working java program to do it in batch.
That and to see if, like, everyone else on here, can get my account closed, or banned for baiting/ calling-out Kris on his BS, whichever comes first.

Prydonian,

You can get the userscript Zooomr Organizer, which will let you do batch deletions. That what I used when I purged my blanks and replaced them.

Any updates since then?

The same problem, which disappoints me a lot.

Don, tried that userscript and it didn't work. I guess it doesn't work with the newer versions of Firefox.

His email:

kris.tate@gmail.com


I'm backing up the rest of my photos and getting the hell outta here... hope you understand.

I had almost 2000images and whatever I can recover I'm off to flickr.

What's really funny is that despite Zooomr being in decline, I'm getting more views on my pictures here than on Flickr or Picasa. Go figure.

Something I'm not getting here : Is Kris Tate still CEO ? If not, who's in charge ?
On FB, all I see is Tate bragging about BlueBridge and ConnectFree, but nothing's refering to Zooomr.

If he has left the boat, I'd be happy to contact the japanese staff (since I live in Tokyo, I'm even willing to stalk people :-P ) but I need e-mail adresses.
Can anybody help ?

According to http://www.zooomr.com/about/ , THOMAS HAWK is the CEO of zooomr, here is the about page of his blog: http://thomashawk.com/about-thomas-hawk

Happen to got a chance to talk with Kristopher Tate on Facebook, I paste the log below:

Leira Hua
hello~
you have been on my fb for a long time, but we haven't talked~
just want to ask what's going on with zooomr now~
when will you at least bring the database back so we can backup our photos?!

Kristopher Tate
dude
don't comment on people's videos

Leira Hua
well, I just did find other ways to reach you~

Kristopher Tate
you have no right to reach me
I am not the point of contact for zooomr anymore

Leira Hua
you have no right to screw people's photos
so who we should contact?

Kristopher Tate
I understand your concern, but please respect other's privacy.

Leira Hua
well, I think you should have an anounce to let people know that you are not responsed for zoomr any more, and who we need to contact~

Kristopher Tate
That is your opinion.

Leira Hua
lots of people just mad with you~

Kristopher Tate
Mad that I provided a free service for 6 years?

Leira Hua
cause we don't know who to contact~
and you are the only genius we know behind zooomr~

Kristopher Tate
I appreciate the concern, but there is nothing I can do for you

Leira Hua
I appreciate the 6 years service~

Kristopher Tate
If there was, I would take care of it.

Leira Hua
if you are not the responsed one, I think you don't deserve all the blame about zoomr
I think u should clear the air about this mess~ to let people know who's really responded~ rather than taking all the blame on yourself~

Kristopher Tate
I have bigger projects to worry about than zooomr.
There is nothing to clear. Zooomr is a free service, use it or do not use it.

Leira Hua
It's not like that, to provide a service is a responsibility. It's not like, I got a free service, you should all thank me. you got all the photos we entrusted you, you have the responsibility to make them safe~
If u r now in charge of zooomr anymore, and some other guy is, as you claimed, you should let us know who he is, rather than taking all the blame on yourself~

Kristopher Tate
Have you ever run a free service on the Internet?
If people paid me money, than I would respect that contract

Leira Hua
Let me ask you, is there any paid pro account ever exist on zooomr?

Kristopher Tate
no
not for the last 3 years
It is almost 3am here in Japan and I must rest.
Again, I appreciate your contact, but please refrain from contacting me again regarding this matter.

Leira Hua
well, I hope I can talk to u later~
last one~
if you are really that busy, to give me a contact name, is much easier than these words we talked~
good night~

It seems Mr. Tate think as long as it's a free service, there is no responsibility in it. But remember, zooomr was intended to become a commercial service in the first place, you cannot simply claim it's a "responsibility-free" service just when you failed make money from it.

And I don't really understand why Mr. Tate don't want to give me a contact name to blame~

Wondering, is it possible to sue zooomr to get the photos back?

Thank you Leira, that was very enlightning (and brave).
I'll try to troll Mr. Tate on FB to get the name of the present boss.
BTW, who owns the domain name ? If it's BlueBridge / CrossBorder, I guess legal action can be taken.

edit 1 :

Or at least, I don't mind going there to ask a few questions...it's a 10 minute trip from my home.

edit 2: it looks like it is till Blue Bridge...

>quote from whois.net :
Registrant:
BlueBridge Technologies Group

But does BlueBridge still exist or has it change for CrossBoarders ?

edit 3 :
Akira Murakami seems to be CEO of both companies anyway, and he is/was involved in zooomr...

Well, there we have it folks.
Kris Tate has officially, by what Leira found out (nice work, btw), abandoned Zooomr and left it to rot.
Of course, the "new" owners are not bothered to hire someone to maintain this site, so its a given that the site is defunct/ obsolete/ forgotten about/ delete where applicable.

We're still stuck here, with no way to successfully remove our photos from the vultures that will now come looking for stuff to take, and we can't delete our accounts.
Our stuff is stuck within a zombie site.

Lets say a nice big warm rounded "Fuck You" to Kristopher Tate and how he thinks we should be grateful to him for shitting on us from a great height, as he swans about being a weeaboo fucktard in Japan.

How do we persuade Kristopher or his buddies in Japan to sell Zooomr to Google? I think it would make a great base for an overhauled Picasa. Anybody know anyone in the Googleplex who could look into this?

Kris and his weeaboo crowd don't give two shits about Zooomr and after all this crap going on in the forums, and the rising anti-Zooomr sentiment amongst members, I don't think Google would be interested in buying a zombie site.
If Kris was smart enough to sell this "site" to anyone like Google, he would have fixed everything, sorted out the issues and done something with this place rather than run off with all the pro account money to Japan, where he thinks class-action lawsuits cannot reach him (you know he did once he fleeced enough money out of pro account signees.)
I'm sure given time, now they've launched Google+, I'm sure they may turn their focus onto improving and growing Picasa.

Free service means no responsibility? Speechless.
I really like this site and use it to show photos on my blog or other forum. But as it cannot keep stable service I may have to consider other alternatives.

Suing Zooomr is a good option, but it may make Kris to shut this site, what a tragedy.

The only word I can say: fuck. fuck fuck fuck can't I make any fucking backup/download of my photos? !!!

I just... can't fucking believe

Anyone know where the server is physically located, or if its possible to get in contact with them?
I'm just wondering if the data still exists anywhere.

The servers are in Japan. The only people to contact are Kris Tate or contact his financial paymasters, listed on the main page.
People have tried contacting all parties, who have a hand in Zooomr, and none of them give two shits.

So, take this as gospel: If you used this site as your sole photo storage, instead of putting them onto an external HD, then sadly you are FUCKED! Sorry, just can't sweeten the truth.

If you didn't back up your photos, then they are gone. Most sane minds only used this site as something to host copies of their pictures, to share with others.

Thats why I always tell people never to trust those online data storage or "cloud" sites. You never know when a company goes belly-up or the owners just get bored and run off with the membership money.

I'm actually going to Japan next month, and I certainly wouldn't mind stopping by a datacenter and trying to have a talk with whoever is there, to try and figure out what happened with the server that's down, and if it can be possible to do anything.
If anyone could get me some info that would be great.

How was the trip to Japan? Did you ever check on Kristopher and his datacenter?

Nah, I didn't get any info on it :\

Posting the warning in Japanese is suuuuuper shady. Why not send an email to all the members warning that all your old photos might suddenly disappear for ever? My photo backup was lost and now all those photos are gone for me.