Why do I see an error message that says "update your setting, etc." instead of a picture wherever someone posts photobucket pics? Is problem on my end or ?

Photobucket changed their policies.

Try looking at this discussion on this forum,
http://forums.accuratereloadin...0106691/m/7431083332

So unless a user on the P.B. site pays, their pics are not visible here by anyone?

Seems that way.

There are other sites people have started using.

Try the Imgur site, free joining, free hosting and third party accessing of photos. Very easy and simple to use too, much better than PB ever was. Only thing to watch is that your photos are not too large when uploading as they will appear too big on forums. I think you can resize on Imgur but I usually just resize before importing to my album on Imgur as I did for PB.