Why did they start doing it?
No freaking idea, to be honest. I saw it in a thread over at Flight Rising (and a lot of users have/had PB there).
"Free account : Each individual Member gets one free account that provides 2 GB of free storage or space available for your original photo files, or videos under 10min. The free account does not allow any image linking or 3rd party image hosting. If a free account Member exceeds their Content Limit, their account will be immediately suspended and they will need to become a “Paying Member” (defined below) in order to continue accessing their account. You can upgrade to a Plus account at any time."
So basically you are no longer allowed to upload your things there and then use them over the internet such as in signature. I guess you are still allowed to store them there though?
Really stupid if them though, what did they think people use that site for?! Seems Imgur is pretty much the same although I don't think they go after them as much unless you have an account?
Imgur:
"
"Also, don't use Imgur to host image libraries you link to from elsewhere, content for your website, advertising, avatars, or anything else that turns us into your content delivery network. If you do – and we will be the judge – or if you do anything illegal, in addition to any other legal rights we may have, we will ban you along with the site you're hotlinking from, delete all your images, report you to the authorities if necessary, and prevent you from viewing any images hosted on Imgur.com. We mean it."
yeah right how are they gonna ban billions of people and a lot not even having an account`:^)