Flickr, paying, customer, product etc.
November 2, 2018 8:16 AM Subscribe
Flickr, hoster of amateur, professional and historic photographs since 2004, make some significant changes, the most noticeable being that in a few months all but the most recent 1,000 pictures in free accounts will be deleted. Some people are not happy, and some are backing up, but there's also an internet legacy issue. Other changes are enhancements to the Pro account, an increase in maximum picture resolution, and the removal of the requirement to sign in through a Yahoo! email. Flickr will eventually settle inside Amazon Web Services. (post title reference)
I think this is a positive step forward, actively planning to keep the service sustainable is a solid game plan.Smugmug seems to be willing to make actual changes, which I never heard any other potential buyers, over the years, offer up.
Having more than 1000 pix means I'm now a pro member again(can't trust myself to remember at the actual cut off), which I let lapse when storage went to 1 ter. My ~38,000 pics only take up 5% of that terabyte. Some of those 2004 pictures are really tiny.
Photography may not be as much of a focus for me now, but those early days were really engaging, here's hoping SM brings some of the magic back.
Having lots of pictures, and albums has made sorting, managing them much harder with the Organize browser tool. I'm interested how Smugmug will be improving the experience of managing photos and albums.
Will Organize be getting some of the new direction focus?
I don't like the idea of completely destroying all those extra images, I much preferred the way it used to work, the image would stay there until you went pro, or renewed, but weren't accessible.
I wonder if it would be possible to remove the images, but keep the metadata around, so a link would take you to a page that has all the comments/camera and date info, but not the file. Not ideal, perhaps, but at least leaving context around.
how far we've come from GNE, eh?
posted by dreamling at 8:27 AM on November 2, 2018 [6 favorites]
Having more than 1000 pix means I'm now a pro member again(can't trust myself to remember at the actual cut off), which I let lapse when storage went to 1 ter. My ~38,000 pics only take up 5% of that terabyte. Some of those 2004 pictures are really tiny.
Photography may not be as much of a focus for me now, but those early days were really engaging, here's hoping SM brings some of the magic back.
Having lots of pictures, and albums has made sorting, managing them much harder with the Organize browser tool. I'm interested how Smugmug will be improving the experience of managing photos and albums.
Will Organize be getting some of the new direction focus?
I don't like the idea of completely destroying all those extra images, I much preferred the way it used to work, the image would stay there until you went pro, or renewed, but weren't accessible.
I wonder if it would be possible to remove the images, but keep the metadata around, so a link would take you to a page that has all the comments/camera and date info, but not the file. Not ideal, perhaps, but at least leaving context around.
how far we've come from GNE, eh?
posted by dreamling at 8:27 AM on November 2, 2018 [6 favorites]
Jason Scott has his eyes on it.
He, and everyone else at the Internet Archive, are international treasures.
No Internet service lasts forever, but this is going to be one of the bigger single events in terms of public material just disappearing from the Web. It's sad that the only recourse we have for preserving it are rogue private archivists, but thank god we have them at least.
posted by Dysk at 8:36 AM on November 2, 2018 [13 favorites]
He, and everyone else at the Internet Archive, are international treasures.
No Internet service lasts forever, but this is going to be one of the bigger single events in terms of public material just disappearing from the Web. It's sad that the only recourse we have for preserving it are rogue private archivists, but thank god we have them at least.
posted by Dysk at 8:36 AM on November 2, 2018 [13 favorites]
Oh thank god, no more Yahoo sign-in. That pretty much killed Flickr for me.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 8:38 AM on November 2, 2018 [18 favorites]
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 8:38 AM on November 2, 2018 [18 favorites]
I'm glad I pulled all my stuff off Flickr back when Yahoo was busy fucking everything up. I have considered rejoining, and paying for it, once Smugmug fully divorces it from Yahoo's infrastructure, though.
It kinda sucks that they're _deleting_ anything over 1000 images for free accounts. I think it would be better to leave them, but say "No more uploads until you pay."
posted by SansPoint at 8:39 AM on November 2, 2018 [6 favorites]
It kinda sucks that they're _deleting_ anything over 1000 images for free accounts. I think it would be better to leave them, but say "No more uploads until you pay."
posted by SansPoint at 8:39 AM on November 2, 2018 [6 favorites]
Been a member since 2005 and - despite regular panics leading me to make panicky AskMeFi posts (2017, 2016) - am sticking with Pro, for now at least. Despite the payment on my account being ambiguous on whether they are going to bill me for one month, or three months, later in November.
Flickr is pretty much my backup actual memory for where I've been, what I've done, and (most importantly) what I've eaten. Though the recent price jump was (no pun intended) a little hard to swallow, compared to my other regular bills for various services it's still low. The two things that most annoy me - the low maximum size of pictures, and having to still use the damned Yahoo! email account I so want rid of - looks like they are on the way out, so am happy with those. Though, if a service comes along that offers similar or better functionality and metadata, and doesn't involve teccie faffing around, am not averse to jumping if I can resolve the legacy issue of my pictures being pulled from Flickr into many websites.
I do hope they can come to some kind of non-permanent loss arrangements with many of the legacy Flickr accounts with > 1,000 pictures though, especially the ones of historical importance or use. Permanent deletion of masses of pictures in a few months time doesn't seem great.
posted by Wordshore at 8:40 AM on November 2, 2018 [4 favorites]
Flickr is pretty much my backup actual memory for where I've been, what I've done, and (most importantly) what I've eaten. Though the recent price jump was (no pun intended) a little hard to swallow, compared to my other regular bills for various services it's still low. The two things that most annoy me - the low maximum size of pictures, and having to still use the damned Yahoo! email account I so want rid of - looks like they are on the way out, so am happy with those. Though, if a service comes along that offers similar or better functionality and metadata, and doesn't involve teccie faffing around, am not averse to jumping if I can resolve the legacy issue of my pictures being pulled from Flickr into many websites.
I do hope they can come to some kind of non-permanent loss arrangements with many of the legacy Flickr accounts with > 1,000 pictures though, especially the ones of historical importance or use. Permanent deletion of masses of pictures in a few months time doesn't seem great.
posted by Wordshore at 8:40 AM on November 2, 2018 [4 favorites]
I am sad about elf changes but excited for a future where we acknowledge that things cost money! Maybe we'll be able to reach a future where the default assumption is no longer that you want to share things publicly...
posted by Going To Maine at 8:43 AM on November 2, 2018 [7 favorites]
posted by Going To Maine at 8:43 AM on November 2, 2018 [7 favorites]
I let my pro membership lapse, so I am now busy bulk downloading, because this looks like all stick and no carrot to me (bigger photo sizes for pro? Really? That all they’re bothering to offer?)
I have been using Google Photos rather than Flickr for my recent photo storage needs, but it is a bit crap - Google seem uninterested in adding any useful features like mapping, organising, community etc. which is sad.
posted by Jimbob at 8:51 AM on November 2, 2018 [2 favorites]
I have been using Google Photos rather than Flickr for my recent photo storage needs, but it is a bit crap - Google seem uninterested in adding any useful features like mapping, organising, community etc. which is sad.
posted by Jimbob at 8:51 AM on November 2, 2018 [2 favorites]
Not surprising given SmugMug’s history of focusing on paying customers rather than trying to monetize nonpaying users. To be honest I was almost expecting SmugMug to end free accounts altogether, but then Flickr has a history too. That said, I imagine that from SmugMug’s perspective a service that hosts 5.2 million images free of charge for one user is seriously messed up, so I don’t expect them to bend on that point; nor do I expect them to take seriously outrage sent their way from people who don’t pay them money.
One possible (albeit imperfect and interim) solution to link rot would be if people could sponsor legacy users’ Pro accounts. You used to be able to do that; I bought a few Pro accounts for friends back in the day. I’m not sure if you still can.
posted by mcwetboy at 8:59 AM on November 2, 2018 [2 favorites]
One possible (albeit imperfect and interim) solution to link rot would be if people could sponsor legacy users’ Pro accounts. You used to be able to do that; I bought a few Pro accounts for friends back in the day. I’m not sure if you still can.
posted by mcwetboy at 8:59 AM on November 2, 2018 [2 favorites]
I had a legacy pro account at $25 a year, and with the change to $50 a year it's not worth it for me, particularly because I haven't added any new pictures in over four years. Apparently I have 1004 images on flickr right now, so if I just find my four least favorite photos I'll be good with the non-paid option...
posted by that girl at 9:18 AM on November 2, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by that girl at 9:18 AM on November 2, 2018 [3 favorites]
A pro account costs $50 a year for unlimited space. Perhaps it's the principle for the Internet Archive, but that seems like a trivial amount to pay to protect 5.2 million photos. On a cost-per-photo basis that's practically free.
posted by me3dia at 9:18 AM on November 2, 2018 [6 favorites]
posted by me3dia at 9:18 AM on November 2, 2018 [6 favorites]
> Flickr is pretty much my backup actual memory for where I've been, what I've done
This is me as well. I had a friend introduce me to Flickr in April 2005 just before I really started photography as a hobby. The idea of tagging each photo intrigued me, and so I have tagged my photos since day 1. It's now 13.5 years later and every photo that I've ever taken that was worth sharing with anyone is on that site.
Not only that, but those tags? Those are how I find my photos. Not just on Flickr, but in general. In my life. If someone says "Hey remember that trip to X?" or "Can I get a print of that photo of Y?" I go search my Flickr tags to find it. I search my Flickr tags to find out what year or month I took a photo, or even where I was. I literally have a custom search string set up in Chrome so that I can just go to my address bar and type, for example, 'ft rabbit' to find all my photos with the tag rabbit.
Flickr is my MEMORY. This site has been my friend and faithful documentation source for years. Years and years.
Fortunately I have a Pro account at the moment and don't have to worry about everything disappearing. And to be clear I've been pondering for a few years now what will happen if Flickr ever goes away. I won't lose anything - I have my photos on my hard drive, and a backup drive, and a backup drive that lives off-site, and on an online backup site as well. I won't lose the photos.
I will, however, one day most likely lose the favorites and comments and the tags. Man. All those tags! I've been using different photo editors and whatnot for years. Even if I had started tagging in ... uh, I don't know, say Picasa? that wouldn't even be on my hard drive today. Lightroom didn't even exist when I first started tagging on Flickr. I've gone from being a Windows user to a Mac OS user in that time. There's just ... nothing else in my life that's persisted, photography-and-software-wise, for this entire stretch.
I guess my point here is that this move really upsets me. I've loved Flickr forever, have definitely had love-hate relationships with whoever owns it at the moment, but
anyway I've said enough. If you hear about some free or open-source solution to download all my pics PLUS my tags and get them into some webbable database you shoot me a MeMail because I'll want to know. I'll buy you a drink even. Maybe. I'll certainly tag a photo in your honor.
posted by komara at 9:32 AM on November 2, 2018 [6 favorites]
This is me as well. I had a friend introduce me to Flickr in April 2005 just before I really started photography as a hobby. The idea of tagging each photo intrigued me, and so I have tagged my photos since day 1. It's now 13.5 years later and every photo that I've ever taken that was worth sharing with anyone is on that site.
Not only that, but those tags? Those are how I find my photos. Not just on Flickr, but in general. In my life. If someone says "Hey remember that trip to X?" or "Can I get a print of that photo of Y?" I go search my Flickr tags to find it. I search my Flickr tags to find out what year or month I took a photo, or even where I was. I literally have a custom search string set up in Chrome so that I can just go to my address bar and type, for example, 'ft rabbit' to find all my photos with the tag rabbit.
Flickr is my MEMORY. This site has been my friend and faithful documentation source for years. Years and years.
Fortunately I have a Pro account at the moment and don't have to worry about everything disappearing. And to be clear I've been pondering for a few years now what will happen if Flickr ever goes away. I won't lose anything - I have my photos on my hard drive, and a backup drive, and a backup drive that lives off-site, and on an online backup site as well. I won't lose the photos.
I will, however, one day most likely lose the favorites and comments and the tags. Man. All those tags! I've been using different photo editors and whatnot for years. Even if I had started tagging in ... uh, I don't know, say Picasa? that wouldn't even be on my hard drive today. Lightroom didn't even exist when I first started tagging on Flickr. I've gone from being a Windows user to a Mac OS user in that time. There's just ... nothing else in my life that's persisted, photography-and-software-wise, for this entire stretch.
I guess my point here is that this move really upsets me. I've loved Flickr forever, have definitely had love-hate relationships with whoever owns it at the moment, but
anyway I've said enough. If you hear about some free or open-source solution to download all my pics PLUS my tags and get them into some webbable database you shoot me a MeMail because I'll want to know. I'll buy you a drink even. Maybe. I'll certainly tag a photo in your honor.
posted by komara at 9:32 AM on November 2, 2018 [6 favorites]
I want more life, flickr
posted by dng at 9:36 AM on November 2, 2018 [17 favorites]
posted by dng at 9:36 AM on November 2, 2018 [17 favorites]
Also, at least flickr now has an export function. For a long time, the only way to download photos once they were up there was to go through one at a time.
posted by me3dia at 9:43 AM on November 2, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by me3dia at 9:43 AM on November 2, 2018 [3 favorites]
> anyway I've said enough. If you hear about some free or open-source solution to download all my pics PLUS my tags and get them into some webbable database
oh hi, turns out there's an Ask about that very thing going on right now.
posted by komara at 9:46 AM on November 2, 2018
oh hi, turns out there's an Ask about that very thing going on right now.
posted by komara at 9:46 AM on November 2, 2018
Jason Scott has his eyes on it.
The ArchiveTeam already has an Archive tool for Flickr (linux and OSX); if you have some bandwidth and storage you can help.
posted by Lanark at 9:53 AM on November 2, 2018 [6 favorites]
The ArchiveTeam already has an Archive tool for Flickr (linux and OSX); if you have some bandwidth and storage you can help.
posted by Lanark at 9:53 AM on November 2, 2018 [6 favorites]
I have a pro account until August and then I guess I'll decide if it's worth keeping it.
posted by octothorpe at 9:59 AM on November 2, 2018
posted by octothorpe at 9:59 AM on November 2, 2018
I was a Flickr Pro member since 2006 but I let my account lapse years ago. I seem to be stuck in some kind of Pro limbo, as my account page still says "Pro" and I still have access to the Stats page which says "You are in danger of losing your Pro account". But my Account page says that I have a free account and I have the option to "Re-subscribe to Pro". So I have no idea what Flickr thinks my status is and whether I'm going to be losing my photos.
posted by Gortuk at 10:01 AM on November 2, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by Gortuk at 10:01 AM on November 2, 2018 [1 favorite]
I've had a pro account for a while but I use Flickr more as an online dump of everything as opposed to a place where I am sharing specific/curated photos with people and have found Google Drive/Photos to be pretty good for that.
Right now when I want to add photos to my Flickr I have to export them via Lightroom which is a bit of a pain whereas for uploading to Google Drive I just copy it to a folder on my NAS and then it does it in the background. $50 a year isn't all that much so I could afford to pay but between Google Drive and OneDrive which I am already paying for I already have places to easily dump and access my photos so maybe this'll be the thing that gets me off Flickr (All my photos are also on at least 2 drives at home and 1 at work so I'm not using the cloud as a backup).
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 10:04 AM on November 2, 2018
Right now when I want to add photos to my Flickr I have to export them via Lightroom which is a bit of a pain whereas for uploading to Google Drive I just copy it to a folder on my NAS and then it does it in the background. $50 a year isn't all that much so I could afford to pay but between Google Drive and OneDrive which I am already paying for I already have places to easily dump and access my photos so maybe this'll be the thing that gets me off Flickr (All my photos are also on at least 2 drives at home and 1 at work so I'm not using the cloud as a backup).
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 10:04 AM on November 2, 2018
I used to use Flickr to host photos for our Blogger blog about our years in Australia - something our extended families could follow along. And then life happened and we let the blog lapse, although I still get comment spam to moderate every few weeks. That use case has been entirely superseded by our Photostream for close family and Facebook for wider circles of friends. And maybe Instagram for the public stuff.
Flickr had everything it needed to be Instagram - maybe even Facebook - except that they utterly missed the boat on mobile. It was almost wilful obtuseness on their part. Oh well.
Is there an easy way to know how many pictures I actually have on Flickr? They don't provide an obvious way to get the specific number when I'm logged in...
posted by RedOrGreen at 10:05 AM on November 2, 2018
Flickr had everything it needed to be Instagram - maybe even Facebook - except that they utterly missed the boat on mobile. It was almost wilful obtuseness on their part. Oh well.
Is there an easy way to know how many pictures I actually have on Flickr? They don't provide an obvious way to get the specific number when I'm logged in...
posted by RedOrGreen at 10:05 AM on November 2, 2018
Flickr had everything it needed to be Instagram - maybe even Facebook - except that they utterly missed the boat on mobile. It was almost wilful obtuseness on their part. Oh well.
That was Yahoo. They missed all the boats. They almost single handedly killed off the promise of the Web2.0 movement and enabled the rise of the walled gardens/jails that we have today.
posted by srboisvert at 10:14 AM on November 2, 2018 [7 favorites]
That was Yahoo. They missed all the boats. They almost single handedly killed off the promise of the Web2.0 movement and enabled the rise of the walled gardens/jails that we have today.
posted by srboisvert at 10:14 AM on November 2, 2018 [7 favorites]
@RedOrGreen
If you're logged in and click on the albums tab it should appear on the top right. For example:
"7,234 Photos, London, Joined 2007"
The count may be out though, for example photos that are private or uploaded from your camera roll by the app.
posted by diziet at 10:17 AM on November 2, 2018 [1 favorite]
If you're logged in and click on the albums tab it should appear on the top right. For example:
"7,234 Photos, London, Joined 2007"
The count may be out though, for example photos that are private or uploaded from your camera roll by the app.
posted by diziet at 10:17 AM on November 2, 2018 [1 favorite]
I am sad about elf changes but excited for a future where we acknowledge that things cost money! Maybe we'll be able to reach a future where the default assumption is no longer that you want to share things publicly...
That's about where I am with this. 1000 photos per user, at the sizes Flickr permits, is extremely generous for free users. Sucks that they couldn't find a reasonable way to grandfather people in, though.
posted by tobascodagama at 10:24 AM on November 2, 2018 [1 favorite]
That's about where I am with this. 1000 photos per user, at the sizes Flickr permits, is extremely generous for free users. Sucks that they couldn't find a reasonable way to grandfather people in, though.
posted by tobascodagama at 10:24 AM on November 2, 2018 [1 favorite]
>> Flickr had everything it needed to be Instagram - maybe even Facebook - except that they utterly missed the boat on mobile. It was almost wilful obtuseness on their part. Oh well.
> That was Yahoo. They missed all the boats.
Yes, sorry, that's the ultimately responsible party, of course. It really is a shame though - and then not even Verizon ("Oath") could monetize the carcass, so they toss it out.
> If you're logged in and click on the albums tab it should appear on the top right.
I apparently have no albums. And the only way to put photos into albums is to go ahead and select them all, date by date, which ... sorry. How can there not be a default "All photos" album?
posted by RedOrGreen at 10:25 AM on November 2, 2018
> That was Yahoo. They missed all the boats.
Yes, sorry, that's the ultimately responsible party, of course. It really is a shame though - and then not even Verizon ("Oath") could monetize the carcass, so they toss it out.
> If you're logged in and click on the albums tab it should appear on the top right.
I apparently have no albums. And the only way to put photos into albums is to go ahead and select them all, date by date, which ... sorry. How can there not be a default "All photos" album?
posted by RedOrGreen at 10:25 AM on November 2, 2018
And the only way to put photos into albums is to go ahead and select them all, date by date, which ... sorry. How can there not be a default
I think Camera Roll is all of your pictures. Organizr (yes) will let you select all photos not in an Album and then let you add them all to an album at one time.
posted by soelo at 10:27 AM on November 2, 2018 [2 favorites]
I think Camera Roll is all of your pictures. Organizr (yes) will let you select all photos not in an Album and then let you add them all to an album at one time.
posted by soelo at 10:27 AM on November 2, 2018 [2 favorites]
I've had a Pro account for 16 years. All I've ever needed was a place I could put organized groups/albums of photos so that I can share them with a relatively small group of people. I have no use for "social media" features, tagging, and so on. Unless there's somewhere else (that isn't Google, I'm already far too invested in them already) that can do that for less than $50/year, or unless Flickr/Smugmug does something egregiously terrible, I'll stand pat.
posted by Greg_Ace at 10:47 AM on November 2, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by Greg_Ace at 10:47 AM on November 2, 2018 [1 favorite]
And the only way to put photos into albums is to go ahead and select them all, date by date
You can shift-click to select photos across multiple dates. Select a photo, then hold shift and select another photo (even from a different date). All of the photos in between will be selected.
posted by cmchap at 10:49 AM on November 2, 2018 [1 favorite]
You can shift-click to select photos across multiple dates. Select a photo, then hold shift and select another photo (even from a different date). All of the photos in between will be selected.
posted by cmchap at 10:49 AM on November 2, 2018 [1 favorite]
I've been waiting for the dust to settle and for someone to come up with a simple, hassle-free way to export my Flickr photos cleanly and with all metadata intact. These days I'd like to store the photos in Google Photos but their schema has alarmingly little support for metadata. Like no tags at all. Not sure how to reconcile that.
BTW I think SmugMug's statement here is extraordinary:
posted by Nelson at 11:10 AM on November 2, 2018 [3 favorites]
BTW I think SmugMug's statement here is extraordinary:
In 2013, Yahoo lost sight of what makes Flickr truly special and responded to a changing landscape in online photo sharing by giving every Flickr user a staggering terabyte of free storage. This, and numerous related changes to the Flickr product during that time, had strongly negative consequences.That 1TB plan was one of Marissa Mayer's big things she did when taking over Yahoo. Along with buying Tumblr. SmugMug didn't quite say her name out loud but it is funny to read them being so directly critical of the change.
posted by Nelson at 11:10 AM on November 2, 2018 [3 favorites]
The metadata for the old pop-out notes is gone and cannot be recovered. I used the hell out of that. Yahoo killed it.
posted by scruss at 11:32 AM on November 2, 2018 [6 favorites]
posted by scruss at 11:32 AM on November 2, 2018 [6 favorites]
The Yahoo sign-in is why I ultimately stopped using Flickr. I only had it for Flickr, and most things I had set up to remember the password. But any time I needed to get into it and couldn't, because I couldn't remember the stupid-ass Yahoo bullshit login, I mostly just gave up. When I would have needed to pay for the additional storage, I didn't, and I've gone to Google Photos now instead. Time to pull all my shit off Flickr and not look back.
posted by fiercecupcake at 11:41 AM on November 2, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by fiercecupcake at 11:41 AM on November 2, 2018 [3 favorites]
My friend and I were discussing this on Twitter, including all the Creative Commons images, and Flickr popped in to say that they're working with CC (or vice-versa) which led to this Creative Commons blog post about their efforts to preserve everything. Unfortunately it's currently pretty devoid of detail but at least it's being addressed immediately.
posted by komara at 12:10 PM on November 2, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by komara at 12:10 PM on November 2, 2018 [1 favorite]
That's about where I am with this. 1000 photos per user, at the sizes Flickr permits, is extremely generous for free users.
I mean, I might agree with this, if not for the fact that it was an entire TERRABYTE before this change.
I let my pro account lapse just this past month, after they raised the annual rate from $25 to $50, with no improvement to service that I could find. I could live with ads and not seeing stats, and still have TB of storage space, LIKE THEY SAID FREE ACCOUNTS WOULD STILL HAVE. I have about 3000 photos on there, and using far less than 5% of the TB limit.
THEN they go and pull this bullshit months later.
I agree that a Terrabyte is beyond excessive. I certainly do not agree with the way in which they've pulled the rug out from under everyone. Once again.
RIP Flickr...
posted by wats at 12:10 PM on November 2, 2018 [4 favorites]
I mean, I might agree with this, if not for the fact that it was an entire TERRABYTE before this change.
I let my pro account lapse just this past month, after they raised the annual rate from $25 to $50, with no improvement to service that I could find. I could live with ads and not seeing stats, and still have TB of storage space, LIKE THEY SAID FREE ACCOUNTS WOULD STILL HAVE. I have about 3000 photos on there, and using far less than 5% of the TB limit.
THEN they go and pull this bullshit months later.
I agree that a Terrabyte is beyond excessive. I certainly do not agree with the way in which they've pulled the rug out from under everyone. Once again.
RIP Flickr...
posted by wats at 12:10 PM on November 2, 2018 [4 favorites]
Some people are not happy
I don't think I've heard of a happy Flickr user in ten years. But they are all unhappy in different ways, at least.
posted by thelonius at 12:15 PM on November 2, 2018 [10 favorites]
I don't think I've heard of a happy Flickr user in ten years. But they are all unhappy in different ways, at least.
posted by thelonius at 12:15 PM on November 2, 2018 [10 favorites]
Okay I haven’t used Flickr in a serious sense in a very long time but what the fuck? I know I probably should have backed up my photos forever ago, but I literally have almost every photo I’ve taken since I was a teenager on there, of which all the physical media was taken from me in an illegal eviction. How do I backup 1000+ photos?
posted by gucci mane at 12:19 PM on November 2, 2018
posted by gucci mane at 12:19 PM on November 2, 2018
If you are looking for plain old backup and have Amazon Prime, they offer unlimited photo storage. They even have a family option which I have not tried, but seems to let other accounts use your storage if they are linked to your Prime membership. I haven't tried anything but uploading, but the iOS app works like Flickr and Google where you can set up auto uploads.
Also, lots of places that sell prints will store your pics as long as you buy something periodically.
posted by soelo at 12:24 PM on November 2, 2018 [3 favorites]
Also, lots of places that sell prints will store your pics as long as you buy something periodically.
posted by soelo at 12:24 PM on November 2, 2018 [3 favorites]
I guess I mean how do I mass-download 1000+ Flickr photos so that they don’t get deleted forever?
posted by gucci mane at 1:06 PM on November 2, 2018
posted by gucci mane at 1:06 PM on November 2, 2018
I guess I'm in the camp where this is fine. I've been pro since 2005 and I have almost 20K items. It's going to be more than double what I've been paying ($45 every two years) but I've always thought I was getting a huge discount. I can spare $50 a year to back up my ridiculous number of photos (on top of also Google Photos, which I haven't sent everything to yet).
posted by numaner at 1:15 PM on November 2, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by numaner at 1:15 PM on November 2, 2018 [2 favorites]
I guess I mean how do I mass-download 1000+ Flickr photos so that they don’t get deleted forever?
One of the links in the post is this tweet, which shows you how you can download all your data from Flickr.
I've used Flick and Share successfully in the past, but it's really more for individual albums that are not thousands of photos.
posted by numaner at 1:18 PM on November 2, 2018 [2 favorites]
One of the links in the post is this tweet, which shows you how you can download all your data from Flickr.
I've used Flick and Share successfully in the past, but it's really more for individual albums that are not thousands of photos.
posted by numaner at 1:18 PM on November 2, 2018 [2 favorites]
This is now the 3rd service I've been using to share photos with friends and family that's been killed. I just want a simple web gallery with captions for the photos and URL-based security (can't see photos if you don't have the link to the album). First I was using Picassa - now dead. Then I was using Dropbox Albums - now dead. And now Flickr is dead to me, because I'm not paying 50$/year to show family photos to 10 people and I'm not jumping through hoops and deleting old photos every year to stay below the 1000 limit.
Soooo... What (cheap/free) website will give me a photo gallery with captions and links for sharing the albums, but keep the photos hidden if you don't have the link?
posted by gakiko at 1:30 PM on November 2, 2018
Soooo... What (cheap/free) website will give me a photo gallery with captions and links for sharing the albums, but keep the photos hidden if you don't have the link?
posted by gakiko at 1:30 PM on November 2, 2018
And for a bonus round, which one will my grandmother be able to use? She still mourns the death of Picasa Web Albums.
posted by BungaDunga at 1:42 PM on November 2, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by BungaDunga at 1:42 PM on November 2, 2018 [1 favorite]
As an individual, the best thing you can do if you use Flickr and don't want it to go away, is to pony up the fifty bucks. I'd imagine whether Flickr remains an independent site, or gets rolled into Smugmug's other offerings, probably depends significantly on whether they can get cashflow sufficient to cover operational expenses.
I mean, seriously, the "unlimited uploads for free" thing was a gimmick. It was never sustainable, and neither is any other service promising the same thing. When Yahoo got rid of the original Pro tier and went to that for everyone, it was pretty clearly a cash-fueled bonfire, an attempt to grow themselves back into relevance. It was a desperate move and I'm honestly surprised it took them as long to admit defeat and sell the site to someone else as it did. I guess they had a lot of cash to burn.
I'm slightly bummed that Flickr didn't go back to the pre-Yahoo pricing, which was $30/year or so if memory serves, just because I think that would help to cement the stance that "yeah, mistakes were made, we're rolling back the clock"; it has a sort of nice symmetry to it.
The justification for the current pricing is that it's less than what Google or Apple charge you a similar service (well, "similar" is debatable; Apple charges by capacity, and Google has an "unlimited" tier but they re-compress your photos aggressively)... but I've never used Flickr in the same way, nor have I really seen it positioned in the same way, as Apple / Google Photos. The latter services and their accompanying apps are definitely designed to upload—typically in the background—everything you take on a cameraphone. The ability to upload postprocessed images from a desktop computer is a very, very minor afterthought and rather clunky. (From Lightroom, I have to manually export to a folder, then drag-and-drop the images into a browser window, to put them into Google Photos. Total crapass, compared to the sort of integration Flickr has long had with Aperture and LR.) At least IMO, Flickr seemed designed for stuff you wanted to, and were ready to, show to the world, not just a backup service for your snapshots. I'm curious if they see that changing.
posted by Kadin2048 at 2:08 PM on November 2, 2018 [7 favorites]
I mean, seriously, the "unlimited uploads for free" thing was a gimmick. It was never sustainable, and neither is any other service promising the same thing. When Yahoo got rid of the original Pro tier and went to that for everyone, it was pretty clearly a cash-fueled bonfire, an attempt to grow themselves back into relevance. It was a desperate move and I'm honestly surprised it took them as long to admit defeat and sell the site to someone else as it did. I guess they had a lot of cash to burn.
I'm slightly bummed that Flickr didn't go back to the pre-Yahoo pricing, which was $30/year or so if memory serves, just because I think that would help to cement the stance that "yeah, mistakes were made, we're rolling back the clock"; it has a sort of nice symmetry to it.
The justification for the current pricing is that it's less than what Google or Apple charge you a similar service (well, "similar" is debatable; Apple charges by capacity, and Google has an "unlimited" tier but they re-compress your photos aggressively)... but I've never used Flickr in the same way, nor have I really seen it positioned in the same way, as Apple / Google Photos. The latter services and their accompanying apps are definitely designed to upload—typically in the background—everything you take on a cameraphone. The ability to upload postprocessed images from a desktop computer is a very, very minor afterthought and rather clunky. (From Lightroom, I have to manually export to a folder, then drag-and-drop the images into a browser window, to put them into Google Photos. Total crapass, compared to the sort of integration Flickr has long had with Aperture and LR.) At least IMO, Flickr seemed designed for stuff you wanted to, and were ready to, show to the world, not just a backup service for your snapshots. I'm curious if they see that changing.
posted by Kadin2048 at 2:08 PM on November 2, 2018 [7 favorites]
Huh. This has prompted me to get back into flickr, weirdly enough. I've coughed up the cash, enjoyed looking at my old photos from another lifetime, and figuring out how to start uploading more recent photos, since I now have NBN (better internet.) Thanks Metafilter!
posted by freethefeet at 3:22 PM on November 2, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by freethefeet at 3:22 PM on November 2, 2018 [1 favorite]
All these changes don't seem unreasonable and I think they are just another sign the web has moved from "information's free, it's all free, everything should be free" thinking to the acceptance it costs money to run webservers, run develop websites, pay for storage. Hopefully the bonus from this will be the ad-free part - if I'm already paying you I don't get to see (or try to block) those terrible banner ads.
Don't forget even here at the mighty Metafilter there were recent funding issues, the community was asked to help, and it did.
You don't get anything for free in this world.
posted by eddieddieddie at 3:24 PM on November 2, 2018 [7 favorites]
Don't forget even here at the mighty Metafilter there were recent funding issues, the community was asked to help, and it did.
You don't get anything for free in this world.
posted by eddieddieddie at 3:24 PM on November 2, 2018 [7 favorites]
Yeah, back in the oughts, before Facebook went big in 2007, Flickr was my main social media outlet (I have been a paid / pro member from when I started in 2006 or so). I met my wife and some of my closest friends through it, and loved sharing aspects of my visual passions with others and expanding my knowledge and tastes through others eyes. By 2011-12 the service was falling behind and I spent much less time there. By 2013 I was only there on a monthly basis and had removed most of my content. Now it's once or twice a year to clean up the groups I take care of.
So I canceled my subscription today. Sad, but I still have my wife, my friends, and copies of my photos stored elsewhere. So... thanks to the Flickr-that-was for enriching my life in so many ways. R.I.P.
posted by acroyear at 3:29 PM on November 2, 2018 [1 favorite]
So I canceled my subscription today. Sad, but I still have my wife, my friends, and copies of my photos stored elsewhere. So... thanks to the Flickr-that-was for enriching my life in so many ways. R.I.P.
posted by acroyear at 3:29 PM on November 2, 2018 [1 favorite]
I guess I mean how do I mass-download 1000+ Flickr photos so that they don’t get deleted forever?
Go to settings by clicking on your buddy icon at the upper right of a Flickr page. Scroll down and look for the big blue "Request my Flickr data" button. Click on that and Flickr will generate zip files of your photos, videos, comments, metadata, etc. that you can then download. Note that the process may take a while (like hours or even a couple of days).
posted by plastic_animals at 5:28 PM on November 2, 2018 [2 favorites]
Go to settings by clicking on your buddy icon at the upper right of a Flickr page. Scroll down and look for the big blue "Request my Flickr data" button. Click on that and Flickr will generate zip files of your photos, videos, comments, metadata, etc. that you can then download. Note that the process may take a while (like hours or even a couple of days).
posted by plastic_animals at 5:28 PM on November 2, 2018 [2 favorites]
aargh, Flickr has been the backbone of my imagesharing as I scan my parents entire lifetime of slides.
posted by mwhybark at 6:00 PM on November 2, 2018
posted by mwhybark at 6:00 PM on November 2, 2018
Just paid for a year. There isn't another product in this area that I like as much. Honestly, I'm pleased to just pay for a product and not provide content to some octopus tendril of Facebook.
(I mean, not actively, I'm sure their AIs are tracking me through the matrix or whatever the fuck)
posted by selfnoise at 6:01 PM on November 2, 2018 [1 favorite]
(I mean, not actively, I'm sure their AIs are tracking me through the matrix or whatever the fuck)
posted by selfnoise at 6:01 PM on November 2, 2018 [1 favorite]
I believe my imagebase there in total exceeds 30,000 images. They aren't uniquely there, thank the daemons of bitrot wariness, but scheeze.
posted by mwhybark at 6:05 PM on November 2, 2018
posted by mwhybark at 6:05 PM on November 2, 2018
Maybe it's the "octopus tendril of Facebook" line (FB: where bad programmers go to die) but... does anyone know how/if there's a similar way to back up one's Instagram account?
posted by aurelian at 6:05 PM on November 2, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by aurelian at 6:05 PM on November 2, 2018 [1 favorite]
See, I'm paranoid, so my phone uploads to private folders/albums on both Flickr and Dropbox (as well as Google, I think) because I believe in lots of backups. My Flickr upload album is >1700 images by itself. Fortunately, I'm already Pro.
posted by aurelian at 6:12 PM on November 2, 2018
posted by aurelian at 6:12 PM on November 2, 2018
Jesus Christ I just had to go through a million steps of "verify your account!!!" just to be able to log into Flickr. haven't used it in a long time so off it goes!
posted by divabat at 6:50 PM on November 2, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by divabat at 6:50 PM on November 2, 2018 [2 favorites]
See, I'm paranoid, so my phone uploads to private folders/albums on both Flickr and Dropbox (as well as Google, I think) because I believe in lots of backups.
Yeah, my solution to the "Instagram backup" problem is to take photos exclusively through my phone's camera app and then upload them to Instagram via the "Gallery" feature. Also, at least on Android, Google Photos can pull from the Instagram folder on your phone and back those up for you to Google's cloud storage.
posted by tobascodagama at 7:00 PM on November 2, 2018 [2 favorites]
Yeah, my solution to the "Instagram backup" problem is to take photos exclusively through my phone's camera app and then upload them to Instagram via the "Gallery" feature. Also, at least on Android, Google Photos can pull from the Instagram folder on your phone and back those up for you to Google's cloud storage.
posted by tobascodagama at 7:00 PM on November 2, 2018 [2 favorites]
Looks like Internet Archive got a reprieve
posted by 922257033c4a0f3cecdbd819a46d626999d1af4a at 7:02 PM on November 2, 2018 [8 favorites]
posted by 922257033c4a0f3cecdbd819a46d626999d1af4a at 7:02 PM on November 2, 2018 [8 favorites]
They are supposed to be excising the Yahoo Login crap sometime soon, although I'd imagine that's not trivial. I'm curious how it will work... I presume they just can't switch it off tomorrow, or everyone would get locked out of their accounts. It'll have to be some sort of gradual thing, where as people log into their accounts they're prompted to create new passwords (or hopefully, some more modern authentication mechanism) rather than depending on Yahoo.
I'm surprised that people are leaving Flickr. Getting divorced from Yahoo, even if took being acquired by SmugMug, is—bar none—the best thing that's happened to the service since 2005. I'm honestly excited to start using it again, just because there's some hope that it might get some attention by owners who give a shit. The slow decade-long decline was just depressing.
posted by Kadin2048 at 9:05 PM on November 2, 2018 [5 favorites]
I'm surprised that people are leaving Flickr. Getting divorced from Yahoo, even if took being acquired by SmugMug, is—bar none—the best thing that's happened to the service since 2005. I'm honestly excited to start using it again, just because there's some hope that it might get some attention by owners who give a shit. The slow decade-long decline was just depressing.
posted by Kadin2048 at 9:05 PM on November 2, 2018 [5 favorites]
Tobasco: Yeah, I usually do that... but usually will get you every time.
Kadin: Yeah, same here. Which is why I'm asking. I'm tempted to at least greatly reduce my IG, instead.
posted by aurelian at 9:18 PM on November 2, 2018
Kadin: Yeah, same here. Which is why I'm asking. I'm tempted to at least greatly reduce my IG, instead.
posted by aurelian at 9:18 PM on November 2, 2018
Verizon ("Oath")
I got subsidiaried into Verizon and then "Oath", and part of the reason I knew I had to leave was that I couldn't and can't say "Oath" without sarcastic air quotes. Or, you know, typographic ones.
posted by flaterik at 10:43 PM on November 2, 2018
I got subsidiaried into Verizon and then "Oath", and part of the reason I knew I had to leave was that I couldn't and can't say "Oath" without sarcastic air quotes. Or, you know, typographic ones.
posted by flaterik at 10:43 PM on November 2, 2018
I used to run a Linux service called Gallery on a private server, but the creator stopped supporting it in 2014. I'm looking at Piwigo. Anyone have an experience with it? Or TinyWebGallery?
posted by M-x shell at 10:46 PM on November 2, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by M-x shell at 10:46 PM on November 2, 2018 [1 favorite]
"I am altering the deal. Pray I don't alter it any further."
posted by bryon at 11:18 PM on November 2, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by bryon at 11:18 PM on November 2, 2018 [1 favorite]
@ M-x shell - I still the latest Gallery on some sites, and more recently set up a Piwigo gallery. I think it's pretty good and basically the best alternative to Gallery I could find.
posted by rmmcclay at 4:32 AM on November 3, 2018
posted by rmmcclay at 4:32 AM on November 3, 2018
I've had a Flickr account since 2004 and have about 18,000 photos there with a pro account. The most important feature I think is the community and groups. I think going from 1T free storage to 1000 photos is a bit drastic. When Snapchat bought Flickr I had a feeling things would go this way.
posted by rmmcclay at 4:35 AM on November 3, 2018
posted by rmmcclay at 4:35 AM on November 3, 2018
Let’s hope they fix the mobile app to allow you to upload images with full Flickr metadata (or at least title, description and tags; bonus points for albums and groups), rather than the current dumbed-down I-can’t-believe-it’s-not-Instagram title-only uploads that you have to manually go back to if you wish to add actual Flickr metadata to.
(I was thinking of writing my own iOS Flickr uploading app, but have had other things on my plate, and it never became a priority.)
posted by acb at 10:09 AM on November 3, 2018 [1 favorite]
(I was thinking of writing my own iOS Flickr uploading app, but have had other things on my plate, and it never became a priority.)
posted by acb at 10:09 AM on November 3, 2018 [1 favorite]
They are supposed to be excising the Yahoo Login crap sometime soon, although I'd imagine that's not trivial.
IIRC, the date they gave for this is January something. The same date as the start of the "grace period" for non-pro accounts.
posted by tobascodagama at 10:13 AM on November 3, 2018 [1 favorite]
IIRC, the date they gave for this is January something. The same date as the start of the "grace period" for non-pro accounts.
posted by tobascodagama at 10:13 AM on November 3, 2018 [1 favorite]
Been on there since 2006, have about 200k photos and have a pro account. I need to do some intense downloading and backing things up. I’ll stay with Flickr so long as it continues to make sense for me.
posted by sciencegeek at 10:59 AM on November 3, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by sciencegeek at 10:59 AM on November 3, 2018 [2 favorites]
When Snapchat bought Flickr I had a feeling things would go this way.
SmugMug, not Snapchat.
posted by fabius at 1:48 PM on November 3, 2018 [3 favorites]
SmugMug, not Snapchat.
posted by fabius at 1:48 PM on November 3, 2018 [3 favorites]
I went ahead and signed up for pro again. Divorcing from Yahoo is a plus, but also I have five thousand photos there and I like the place, and I'd end up paying elsewhere anyway.
posted by PussKillian at 1:07 PM on November 5, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by PussKillian at 1:07 PM on November 5, 2018 [1 favorite]
→ The metadata for the old pop-out notes is gone and cannot be recovered. I used the hell out of that. Yahoo killed it.
Hey, I'd like to apologize for putting this out in the universe. It is, in fact, wrong. By some magic the notes have been restored. See example here: Black & Decker Power Monitor: Meter Transmitter board | Flickr
When these notes went away, someone initially said that they'd been lost and I believed them.
posted by scruss at 6:52 AM on November 7, 2018 [2 favorites]
Hey, I'd like to apologize for putting this out in the universe. It is, in fact, wrong. By some magic the notes have been restored. See example here: Black & Decker Power Monitor: Meter Transmitter board | Flickr
When these notes went away, someone initially said that they'd been lost and I believed them.
posted by scruss at 6:52 AM on November 7, 2018 [2 favorites]
Flickr doing some damage control. Anyone know whether the "will not delete" thing for CC images applies to consumer accounts? It isn't clear to me. All mys stuff is CC-Attrib-Non-commercial and it would be really nice if I didn't have to move my archive.
plastic_animals: "Go to settings by clicking on your buddy icon at the upper right of a Flickr page. Scroll down and look for the big blue "Request my Flickr data" button."
My request has been pending for two days now so if you decide to go this route best not to leave it to the last minute.
posted by Mitheral at 1:11 PM on November 7, 2018
plastic_animals: "Go to settings by clicking on your buddy icon at the upper right of a Flickr page. Scroll down and look for the big blue "Request my Flickr data" button."
My request has been pending for two days now so if you decide to go this route best not to leave it to the last minute.
posted by Mitheral at 1:11 PM on November 7, 2018
Mitheral, your link says:
Photos that were Creative Commons licensed before our announcement are also safe. We won’t be deleting anything that was uploaded with a CC license before November 1, 2018. Even if you had more than 1,000 photos or videos with a CC license. However, if you do have more than 1,000 photos or videos uploaded, you’ll be unable to upload additional photos after January 8, 2019...
So I don't think your photos will be deleted.
posted by soelo at 3:00 PM on November 7, 2018
Photos that were Creative Commons licensed before our announcement are also safe. We won’t be deleting anything that was uploaded with a CC license before November 1, 2018. Even if you had more than 1,000 photos or videos with a CC license. However, if you do have more than 1,000 photos or videos uploaded, you’ll be unable to upload additional photos after January 8, 2019...
So I don't think your photos will be deleted.
posted by soelo at 3:00 PM on November 7, 2018
Flickr doing some damage control
Ugh, onethumb has been around long enough to be able to anticipate all this. Weird.
posted by rhizome at 11:32 AM on November 8, 2018
Ugh, onethumb has been around long enough to be able to anticipate all this. Weird.
posted by rhizome at 11:32 AM on November 8, 2018
Cynically I often feel companies intentionally go past the boundaries of what they actually want in order to pull back and appear accommodating in the days after.
posted by Mitheral at 12:36 PM on November 9, 2018
posted by Mitheral at 12:36 PM on November 9, 2018
Sure, "ask for double what you want and accept at least half of it." It's not cynical, it's a standard negotiating strategy.
posted by rhizome at 12:59 PM on November 9, 2018
posted by rhizome at 12:59 PM on November 9, 2018
I've got about 14,000 photos on Flickr, most of which are backed up. When they announced the price increase for the Pro account, I was going to let mine lapse, but now I think I'll pay up. Given how much of the internet I get for free, I think I can afford less than $1 a week to keep my photos there. I particularly like the automatic upload from my phone via the app, which is in itself a backup from what is now my main camera.
posted by essexjan at 9:33 AM on November 14, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by essexjan at 9:33 AM on November 14, 2018 [3 favorites]
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Jason Scott has his eyes on it. Apparently he's found one non-Pro project on Flickr with 5.2 million images
posted by BungaDunga at 8:22 AM on November 2, 2018 [16 favorites]