Holy shit, MediaFire is terrible now

[Blastfrog]

I haven't really logged into my MediaFire account in a long while (years). So, I just did, and holy fuck what happened? What is this script heavy, bandwidth heavy, "social media" useless trite garbage-up-the-ass web 3.0 puke? Why can't it be as simple as it used to be?

The interface is cumbersome, unintuitive, and gets in the way so much with its current social media focus. I just want a place to put my files in a manageable place for free. I can still work around its interface, and it does give me quite a bit of room for not charging a dime, but goddamn, this interface is awful. There don't seem to be many decent alternatives for how much space is offered for free. Not exactly a great OP for a thread, I know, but I wanted to vent about this. I literally did not know that it got this bad. I'm completely flabbergasted by it.

Aside from my rant, I intend to start a discussion in this thread on file hosting and social media integration poisoning otherwise decent services. What services did you used to find useful before they were ruined in some way? I'm sure we can all name Wikia as one of them.

[Clonehunter]

Yah, WIkia has been biting the dust for a while. Some of the older wikis, like the Star Wars one, have at least tried to preserve some of the old setups, as they seem to have a handle on the code to ignore a lot of the new wiki features, but a lot of others appeared to have been screwed over by stupid "Social Network" design decisions. Even editing a page on some wikis is hazardous to one's sanity.

What's funny is that on the SW Wikia there's usually someone once a month or so walking into the forums demanding that they won't use the site until features like "Commenting" are added to the site. There's "demands" go over as well as anyone could expect them too. Doom Wiki was more or less right to move to where it is now.

[Megalyth]

I used to like that DoomWorld place before it was flooded with trolls.

[Linkrulezall]

This is why I migrated to 2shared a couple of years ago.

[Cupboard]

How about Dropbox? Granted, it's probably going to be creeping and occasionally crawling with many of the problems you already mentioned, but it's some place to start.

[Tango]

I use mediafire on a regular basis and haven't had any problems with it. could it be because I'm using adblock or?

[betabox]

Yeah probably the adblock. I get no problems from Mediafire for the same reason (+noscript). But I stopped using mediafire "openly" a few years ago when on 2 separate occasions, that fake antivirus bullshit was attempted.

It's indeed getting progressively worse with this upload sites. I remember when speedyshare was the next best thing. I have adblock & noscript, so I was completely unaware of how much it changed over time until everybody else complained after falling for that fake download button. Those things plague way too many file sharing sites, getting so many people.

[Grazza]

Skype started to go for social-media dogshit and take the non-optional-updates path some time back. Version 4.2.0.187 seems to be the last version that had neither the dogshit nor the enforced updating, so I use that if possible. However, on certain operating systems, that version doesn't seem to work, so before long there will be no choice.

It's especially vexing since this is a service that you pay to use (well, beyond the most basic features), so you'd expect a little more user-control.

[Blastfrog]

I do use AdBlock Plus and NoScript, but I still hate MediaFire's current interface. I forgot that I have a Dropbox account, but have been reminded by its mention. Time to start using it again, I suppose.

Linkrulezall said:

This is why I migrated to 2shared a couple of years ago.

Didn't think of that, I'll check it out.

[GreyGhost]

buttspit said:

Yeah probably the adblock. I get no problems from Mediafire for the same reason (+noscript).

Ditto, though I can sympathize with Sodaholic's plight. MediaFire have added a lot of cruft to their user interface.

eBay is headed down the same road. I recently discovered I have an "eBay feed", which seems to be some sort of public page where I can showcase the sort of stuff I like, as well as letting the world know what sellers and item searches I'm "following". Fuck that for a joke, whoever dreamed up that nonsense can stick my feed page up their ass!

[CorSair]

TheCupboard said:

How about Dropbox? Granted, it's probably going to be creeping and occasionally crawling with many of the problems you already mentioned, but it's some place to start.

I prefer it. I like that I can put my file in the folder, then make quick link to it without visiting their site.

Oh yeah, and Skype mentioned by Grazza. I have no goddamn clue why, or how, but it keeps stealing my bandwidth. I almost first thought I had problems with cables, and when that didn't hold true, thought virus has gotten in my system. It stopped for few days, then in second week after getting it, I had issues again with slow sites and very limited download. Dunno if they were updates, but I don't like when my bandwidth is limited without permission.

[dew]

CorSair said:

Oh yeah, and Skype mentioned by Grazza. I have no goddamn clue why, or how, but it keeps stealing my bandwidth.

Sounds like you're a supernode. I thought MS moved them to central servers when they took over Skype, but maybe it's still used to an extent on a local scale.
I only have Skype running when I'm making calls or expecting them, I've learned to never let it idle for this exact reason. Just because I'm on fibre doesn't mean other people can use it. :P

[FireFish]

Dropbox has a clean uncluttered straight forward website, and the
software they optionally provide is also clean and simple.
i could advice this service if you hate the modern web version 'whatever' from now crap.

[ETTiNGRiNDER]

I wrote off MediaFire as crap after someone recommended I use it, I uploaded something without an account, it successfully uploaded, and then gave me a message along the lines of "Yay! Your file is uploaded, now sign up for an account to get a link to share it."

F. that.

[flubbernugget]

On a similar note, Spybot tried to change its interface too, and shit the bed as a result.

[GreyGhost]

Meh - Spybot has attempted to re-invent itself as a broad spectrum anti-malware product, and according to a review I read recently is now almost useless.

ETTiNGRiNDER said:

I wrote off MediaFire as crap after someone recommended I use it, I uploaded something without an account, it successfully uploaded, and then gave me a message along the lines of "Yay! Your file is uploaded, now sign up for an account to get a link to share it."

That must be a relatively recent change, since they used to provide links for anonymous uploads.

[Reisal]

That's why I still use version 1.6.2 of Spybot, GreyGhost.

[BlueFeena]

I feel your pain. I had a similar experience with ImageShack -- and I've been using ImageShack since 2004! Social media pay-for-use bullshit ruined it.

Ironically, stuff like this has been reason why I've been investigating actual web hosting, although it is a somewhat expensive alternative and many web hosts have retarded restrictions on what you can upload (ie, no running software, media restrictions, etc.)

[Breezeep]

Quite surprised that I am using Mediafire and it seems to be working fine for me.

[GreyGhost]

BlueFeena said:

Ironically, stuff like this has been reason why I've been investigating actual web hosting, although it is a somewhat expensive alternative and many web hosts have retarded restrictions on what you can upload (ie, no running software, media restrictions, etc.)

Best way to sidestep web host restrictions is to self-host, if you have a suitably fast connection and don't mind learning how to setup and run a small server.

[Pencil of Doom]

MediaFire isn't the only one, 2shared and 4shared suck because now you must have an account if you want to download files from there.
And i hate every upload site that limits you to 1 download per file and that premium bullshit.

[clamgor]

This is why I hate Social Media. It's just a stupid trend.

Almost all the other websites are doing it. It's not good for the system. There's just too much heavy code and other meaningless bullshit that ruins the once lite and nice services. (Google+ and YouTube, Wikia, MediaFire, lots more...)

I don't have too much of a problem with MediaFire, because I don't quite care. I host files there and I do agree it takes too long to load. But I just wait for it to.

[GreyGhost]

J.B.R said:

2shared and 4shared suck because now you must have an account if you want to download files from there.

That's an odd way to run a file sharing site, I doubt they'll last long.

[joe-ilya]

What's social media? Never saw it.

[Tylerisepic1]

https://mega.co.nz/

Seriously, even if it is based in New Zealand, this has to be the best.

[minigunner]

Re: Mediafire
It's been crap for a while... on the downloader's side. I'm okay with the account interface, and they don't delete my files if they aren't popular enough and I have a significant amount of storage space. As for the "downloader's side," it's awful. You basically have a popup-sized interface surrounded by banner ad after banner ad. That wouldn't be much of a problem if you have an adblocker, but you know what? They circumvent that by introducing a satanic ad technology called Ad-Captcha, where you have to watch an ad in order to get a phrase relevant to the ad that you have to type in. Nothing says "intrusive" more than ad-captcha.
Before Mediafire I used GameFront, which was FileFront at the time. One day, they made it so that your files must have a certain number of downloads per week to stay up. It wasn't long until all my files on there were gone.
I've used Imageshack for a long time and had few problems with it. That is, until they switched to a subscription service. Hell, even then, they're not as bad as Photobucket (forcing redirect and image bandwidth cap anyone?).

[Marnetmar]

I don't see the problem with this thread guys. Mediafire sucks balls now.

[Nomad]

Logged in to MF for the first time in a while last night and I immediately didn't like it. Too busy and seemingly resource intensive.

[printz]

I don't care about social media alone. It's just that MediaFire has become a horribly nag-ad-bloated piece of shit site, and I prefer not to use it.

[Jaxxoon R]

Tylerisepic1 said:

Seriously, even if it is based in New Zealand, this has to be the best.

New Zealand is fucking awesome, man. There are penguins in the forests there. But Mediafire? That shit's a mess, whenever I download something from there I have to have ads jammed into my eyes, just doesn't look safe and probably isn't. Some of the other download sites, like Speedyshare, are even worse with those fake download buttons and all.