You're right Scot, Photobucket is a pain in the ******* arse. It used to be tricky but since its transfer of ownership it has become very money orientated also making it almost un-workable.
I tried Dropbox too but that seems to be somewhat similar and i found it impossible to get my head round as some of the basic functionality required seems not to be there. It appears to be heading toward professional users which are business based.
Listed below is a review page for ten or more (free) other alternatives, worryingly though they list PB and Dropbox fairly high in the lists and although they stress the highlights they completely miss any downsides like pop-ups, constant e-mails, adverts, begging letters, purchase suggestions etc etc etc.
https://www.lifewire.com/best-free-imag ... es-1171529
One other possibility exists; the sites own pinboard (top right of the page).
If you have one of the free accounts mentioned above, likely with the change over to a new version of the board software, they or their links will be lost where; pinboard images will likely be copied over.
No easy answers from me i'm afraid, and not knowing anything about computers, i find it impossible to give any guidance except the obvious,
to say; keep copies on youre own devices.
AL