Ever since I began creating art, once I began to feel a little stronger in this illness, I have posted my completed pieces on Flickr. I made contacts there with other artists, belonged to over 70 groups and enjoyed the community and seeing what others are doing. Many of the thousands of subscribers were photographers, and many of the photos were stunning. There was a copyright in place, which made you feel a little bit better about putting things out in the open, but the truth is if someone wants something bad enough, they will find a way to take it. It was easy to upload your work, organize it and share it.
Then on May 20, the folks who run Flickr (Yahoo.com) dropped a huge bombshell. Without warning they completely changed the site and everything that made it work well flew out the window. The user interface is horrible, it takes a great deal of trouble to track down your contacts, and the sense of community is gone. There were over 125 pages of complaints, begging for the return of the old Flickr or at least a choice for how you wanted to set up your page, and more. They made polite noises, but have not/will not do anything to accommodate users. Their goal is to attract a younger user base (their words).
After studying the situation, and waiting to calm down, I have decided that I will no longer use Flickr to post pictures of my art. I had a Pro account (which meant I paid for unlimited access) and they are going to double that amount. I am slowly taking down the pictures I have there and will not add more. They have already lost many of the photographers who have found sites elsewhere. And they are adding ads to the pages of those who do not want to pay and even if you have ad-blocking software, the viewers will still see the ads. I am heading in another direction, one I'll talk about tomorrow. It was time for a change, and I think the change I'm making is a good one! I'm just sad that I will be leaving friends I've made behind.
It will take sometime before it sifts out enough to see if Flickr pulled a boner like Netflix. But this just goes to show you that online nothing is ever good enough and can always be made better to attract more people who will give you more money - or so the thinking goes. You know the old saying, if it's not broke-don't fix it. That old maxim seems to have fallen in the dust in recent years!
Then on May 20, the folks who run Flickr (Yahoo.com) dropped a huge bombshell. Without warning they completely changed the site and everything that made it work well flew out the window. The user interface is horrible, it takes a great deal of trouble to track down your contacts, and the sense of community is gone. There were over 125 pages of complaints, begging for the return of the old Flickr or at least a choice for how you wanted to set up your page, and more. They made polite noises, but have not/will not do anything to accommodate users. Their goal is to attract a younger user base (their words).
After studying the situation, and waiting to calm down, I have decided that I will no longer use Flickr to post pictures of my art. I had a Pro account (which meant I paid for unlimited access) and they are going to double that amount. I am slowly taking down the pictures I have there and will not add more. They have already lost many of the photographers who have found sites elsewhere. And they are adding ads to the pages of those who do not want to pay and even if you have ad-blocking software, the viewers will still see the ads. I am heading in another direction, one I'll talk about tomorrow. It was time for a change, and I think the change I'm making is a good one! I'm just sad that I will be leaving friends I've made behind.
It will take sometime before it sifts out enough to see if Flickr pulled a boner like Netflix. But this just goes to show you that online nothing is ever good enough and can always be made better to attract more people who will give you more money - or so the thinking goes. You know the old saying, if it's not broke-don't fix it. That old maxim seems to have fallen in the dust in recent years!
Come see my latest postcards I've received on Postcards Buffet!
No comments:
Post a Comment
Hi! Please leave a comment - they mean a lot.
Thanks for coming by to visit!