Dropbox full because of shared folder

[Michele A.]

Hi, i have a dropbox account and the free space that i have is full because of the files inside the shared folder that i have with some friends.
Is there a way to avoid that the shared folder that uses the free space of my account without cancelling those folder?
Because i have no more space and i haven't uploaded any files

Excuse me for my english but i found problem on trying to traduce this message from my language

[Shawn B.4]

Yeah... just going to chime in here with this being only PART of the reason I went to a self-hosted ownCloud instance on my dedi. 🙂

--Cheers guys, it was "fun" while it lasted... except not so much.

[DaveC2]

Ben L.  : Hey I can see your examples as feasible and real, and Im In no way said there are not ways to smart the system or produce huge traffic volumes on one account. Im just expressing what and why Db do what they do.

If one user has 500 machines all syncing a nice big 100GB file that completely changes each day they will use huge volumes of traffic, and DB will eat the hat on that one, but most dont so they have set themselves up where they think they get the best deal.

[Ben L.26]

Dave: What your comments don't seem to address is the reason many of us in this thread are complaining. It is never made clear to the user during the process of sharing or joining a folder that its contents will count against all users with access. From signup, (free) users are told that they have "2 GB of space." Well within that limit, a user accepts an invite to a folder belonging to someone else, and suddenly that 2 GB of storage they were promised is gone.

Sure, you can explain why exactly it works this way every time someone posts a thread like this, but as it stands the whole thing feels dishonest. One of Dropbox's largest advertising points is the ability to share files, and yet as soon as a user tries to take advantage of this feature it looks like it comes at the cost of storage capacity.

Don't tell people you're giving them "2 GB of space" and "simple file sharing," only to turn around and take away some of that space as soon as they join a shared folder. It's misleading, it's deceptive, and it's why I'm leaving.

[DaveC2]

My comments dont address why your complaining as that would be a opinion on the user and thus trolling (imo), only what your complaining about.

If your making unhappy about the lack of info DB project about the use of space when sharing, this I dont disagree, Db on many items dont project accurate information (I'm standing just off the line of calling some of their website claims LIES by the way, And some of their biz customer sales claims I cant even stand there they were well over the porkypig line)

I will remind you that I like you am a user, I have never given people 2GB of space IN THEIR DROPBOX, yet if I had, and I did a count on all the files people have IN THEIR DROPBOX and its more than 2GB then I would stop syncing stuff, since thats more space than I allowed them to have. 

Misleading yes, deceptive, nope, leaving sorry to see you go (unless you are not a paying customer then it makes no difference to me. We are paying, so help support the free customers of DB, one more or less wont phase me)

[Ben L.26]

You keep saying the same things over and over again, as if it will suddenly explain away the problem. And let me be perfectly clear, here: there is a problem.

If your service is marketed by storage capacity per user (and Dropbox is), you can't explain away users' complaints about how sharing affects their storage quotas by citing additional throughput cost. Throughput and storage capacity are two entirely different things, and to limit one on the basis of the other is deceptive when you are promising a certain amount of space at signup.

I also acknowledge that you're just a user, and that you're not the one with whom I should be arguing this point. I was a Dropbox Pro customer until a few months ago when I realized that the space I was using did not exceed the capacity I would still have had as a free user.

You stated earlier in the thread that you aren't here to defend Dropbox, but rather the pricing scheme they use to "make money and survive." Promising users two things (storage and file sharing), and then telling them they may have to pay more to use both of them at the same time, sounds an awful lot like a scam to me.

You seem to think that simply because you are paying for the service, our complaints as free users don't carry weight. You can argue that the only thing they do is storage, and that they might go under unless they boost profits in this very specific, dishonest way. You can argue that as a business, paying customers' voices matter more. I can only hope that enough people realize how incredibly sleazy it is for Dropbox to operate this way. I'll hope that when confronted with the choice between paying for more space and not joining the shared folder they were just invited to, that they'll instead drop the service altogether and move to a solution that doesn't lie to them.

I'd make a comment about what you and the pompous, elitist, "I'm a paying customer so your complaints are less significant" high horse you rode in on can go do in private, but that would be rather vulgar.

[DaveC2]

Well BEN L : there are always problems, just those that affect profit and those that do not.

I dont feel like arguing your points since, you strategy of first complaining about how I market MY service and then acknowledging its not mine is pretty wack. 

All Ill mention is check the volume of files in your dropbox before saying you dont have that volume of files in your dropbox, because you do, that access to those files is shared with others so you can collaborate on content changes, is a bonus in itself, not something that should also give you additional storage space.

I offer you 2 hours of free viewing of our streamed video content, additional to that users can now also share their own videos they upload. And someone shares one with you, and now you want 18 hours for free? HA!

As to your complaints, Im a user, Im allowed to think what I like, just as you are, I did due diligence before purchasing this service, and new exactly what I was and was not getting, it was all out there for quick reading, and or sample testing with free accounts. Failure to pay attention cant be blamed on others when it appears to be you who failed to notice.

And my elitist comment comes from the number of free users who repeatedly tell everyone how they are leaving and then post over and over, your one of millions, DB make money to survive not by supplying you things over me (which they do do by the way), but by hearing problems I have first. 

PS: get of your high horse dude, I didn't come riding on in commenting on your post first. Trolling me got you a reply. If you dont like others opinions then don't mention them in your posts.

[Ben L.26]

• I dont feel like arguing your points since, you strategy of first complaining about how I market MY service and then acknowledging its not mine is pretty wack.

I never once said I was commenting on "your" service. These are the Dropbox forums. We're talking about Dropbox.

• All Ill mention is check the volume of files in your dropbox before saying you dont have that volume of files in your dropbox, because you do, that access to those files is shared with others so you can collaborate on content changes, is a bonus in itself, not something that should also give you additional storage space.

I don't even know what you're trying to say here. If anything, it looks like maybe you're just arguing your same old point about users' "amount of data accessible." I thought I had made it clear, but I'll try again.

"Data access" is not what Dropbox is marketing and promising you when you sign up. They offer users a capacity of storage. You can simply change up the wording to address this by saying that when joining a shared folder, you're getting a copy of those files placed in your own Dropbox.

This, however, is not the case. At no point during the sharing or joining process for these folders is the user alerted to the fact that its contents will count against ALL users' quotas, not just the owner. The only exception to this is when there is more data in the shared folder than the joining user has capacity available.

• I offer you 2 hours of free viewing of our streamed video content, additional to that users can now also share their own videos they upload. And someone shares one with you, and now you want 18 hours for free? HA!

"2 hours of free viewing" is equatable to throughput, not storage capacity. Your example would be relevant if Dropbox accounts had transfer caps. As Dropbox has no such cap, your example is irrelevant.

• As to your complaints, Im a user, Im allowed to think what I like, just as you are, I did due diligence before purchasing this service, and new exactly what I was and was not getting, it was all out there for quick reading, and or sample testing with free accounts. Failure to pay attention cant be blamed on others when it appears to be you who failed to notice.

Really? RTFM? We're not installing Gentoo here. We're synchronizing files with a piece of software that is designed for use by the general public. Such a critical piece of information about how a main feature of the service affects a user's storage quota should be up-front and directly available to the user. They should not have to research or dig around for this information.

• And my elitist comment comes from the number of free users who repeatedly tell everyone how they are leaving and then post over and over, your one of millions, DB make money to survive not by supplying you things over me (which they do do by the way), but by hearing problems I have first.

Dropbox is perfectly free to internally prioritize your feedback over mine. After all, you are contributing to their income directly and I am not. That isn't in question here. At the end of the day, the only differences between the two of us as far as our relationships with Dropbox as a company are concerned, is that you've handed them money. Both of us have entered into an agreement with Dropbox that we will respect the terms of service, in return for said service. Just because someone isn't paying you doesn't suddenly mean you should be able to go back on your agreements with them.

• PS: get of your high horse dude, I didn't come riding on in commenting on your post first. Trolling me got you a reply. If you dont like others opinions then don't mention them in your posts.

(Emphasis mine.) That word, it does not mean what you think it means.

I am here because there is something legitimately wrong, and you are seemingly blind to it. The very fact that this thread even exists is proof enough that there is a fundamental lack of understanding among users about how shared folders affect storage quotas. Since sharing is one of the main features that Dropbox uses to market its service, this should be unacceptable. That you seem to think it's fine is mind-boggling.

[Geoffrey Metal]

If I am correct you don't have to install that desktop client to make dropbox working for you.  Files are really stored in centralized Dropbox's servers.  However, I believe the problem still exists about the shared quota issue in this situation.

I guess those understand the problem will realize it is not a database or traffic issue.  It just makes no sense about what sharing means to common non-tech people.

[Steve F.23]

Seems to me Dave is: 1) an employee of DB, 2) a paid troll or 3) An unpaid troll, sadly doing this for free. No one else could possibly defend this shady, opaque sales tactic, regardless of the technical gibberish behind his logic. I'm done with DB. Disconnecting this account. Dave, enjoy!!

[DaveC2]

Nope, nope,nope, and nope.

Feel good about yourself there Steve, hope that little show made you feel like a big man.

So bye now, just one thing, go look up what troll means, and then examine your post for similarities. I think you will be surprised (actually that's sarcasm, I doubt you would get it).

🙂