Flickr pulling a Tumblr?

[Sean Gorham]

Looks like Flickr/Smugmug watched Tumblr shooting themselves in the foot and said, "yeah, we want some of that action!"

The tl;dr is that Flickr will now hold your Moderate and Restricted pictures hostage until you pay for the privilege of Flickr not deleting them.

My take? Either they're looking to sell the company or they're facing possible lawsuits related to (child) porn, so they're battening down the hatches. Better download all your pictures now, folks.

Flickr forever: Creating the safest, most inclusive photography community on the planet.

Today we’re announcing some upcoming changes to our Terms of Service that will help us continue to preserve the art, expression, history, stories, and memories of all Flickr members for the next hu…

blog.flickr.net

 

[Dragon]

It's very sad. The list of places that allow adult content in art is dwindling. Flickr was good for getting seen - and by inverse, finding other artists to enjoy - and I'm not sure that can be replicated nearly as well in a plurk or twitter-like setting.

 

[Aribeth Zelin]

Almost enough for me to cancel my pro - not because I make many restricted/moderate posts, outside of ads for body jewelry, but just because I really object to taking away things from free accounts, instead of beefing up reasons to sub.

 

[CronoCloud Creeggan]

Looks like Flickr/Smugmug watched Tumblr shooting themselves in the foot and said, "yeah, we want some of that action!"

Flickr is doing the

The tl;dr is that Flickr will now hold your Moderate and Restricted pictures hostage until you pay for the privilege of Flickr not deleting them.

It's not quite that bad, that's a slight misinterpretation. They're just restricting the ability to publicly display Moderate and Restricted pictures to Pro members, they're not deleting. Flickr NEVER deletes. But it is still a serious dick move, I mean seriously. Maybe they don't want people who use flickr for porn sharing as members, but they don't have to be dicks about it. I'm assuming this might affect "artistic" nudes and semi-nudes too. Restricting "non-public" pictures is also part of that. They don't want people just making their NSFW pictures private and then sharing directly.

One of the reasons flickr became popular was because the free offering was pleasant to use and provided reasonable features. Not only that but Pro was a really good deal, it was so much a good deal that I've been Pro for over a decade...since late 2007 I think. I used to recommend Flickr and Flickr Pro for years. Now I only recommend Flickr if you're willing to go Pro.

My take is that they probably don't see pr0n sharers whether RL or SL as "valued users" compared to the "SLR using photographer" demographic they obviously want to focus on. As Aribeth said, they should encourage people to go Pro other ways, not by adding restriction after restriction to free accounts.

 

[Sean Gorham]

It's not quite that bad, that's a slight misinterpretation. They're just restricting the ability to publicly display Moderate and Restricted pictures to Pro members, they're not deleting.

Maybe. If so, here's the part I'm confused about, emphasis Flickr's:

The above changes mean that for free accounts, photos over the 50 non-public photo limit or any moderate or restricted photos will be at risk of deletion.

To me that sounds like "pay for Pro or we just might delete your Moderate/Restricted stuff."

I want to emphasize that I don't have a problem with the idea of paying for Pro. Even on the monthly plan, $8.25 USD is reasonable for what they currently offer. The problem I have is Flickr restricting free accounts even more and providing no positive incentive to pay up. Throw us a bone here, Flickr. Give me a reason to pay other than "your money or your pictures."

That all said, I'm going to wait and see. It's too early to know how this will shake out.

 

[Caete]

Just a reminder,

Beginning May 1, 2022, Flickr will start enforcing our recently-announced Free account changes regarding Restricted and Moderate content.

What this means: Free accounts with Restricted or Moderate content will be considered in violation of our terms of service and subject to removal. Accounts found in violation of our terms will need to either subscribe to Flickr Pro or remove the content in violation.

These changes don’t affect your ability to view or hide moderate or restricted content. See our FAQ video for more details.

Flickr Free members who want to upload or continue to have Restricted or Moderate content will need to upgrade their accounts to Flickr Pro by May 1.

 

[Aribeth Zelin]

Just a reminder,

Beginning May 1, 2022, Flickr will start enforcing our recently-announced Free account changes regarding Restricted and Moderate content.

What this means: Free accounts with Restricted or Moderate content will be considered in violation of our terms of service and subject to removal. Accounts found in violation of our terms will need to either subscribe to Flickr Pro or remove the content in violation.

These changes don’t affect your ability to view or hide moderate or restricted content. See our FAQ video for more details.

Flickr Free members who want to upload or continue to have Restricted or Moderate content will need to upgrade their accounts to Flickr Pro by May 1.

And now, there is a song about first of may going through my brainspace

 

[Caete]

And now, there is a song about first of may going through my brainspace