Yahoo is For Sale

[Jan Anne]

What kind of groups would you be referring to?

Just check one of Ron's images, this image is linked to 57 groups where people subscribe to to view and comment
https://www.flickr.com/photos/57349111@N08/25568997673/in/photostream/

[elsa hoffmann]

Just check one of Ron's images, this image is linked to 57 groups where people subscribe to to view and comment
https://www.flickr.com/photos/57349111@N08/25568997673/in/photostream/

ta

[Ron Scubadiver]

Just check one of Ron's images, this image is linked to 57 groups where people subscribe to to view and comment
https://www.flickr.com/photos/57349111@N08/25568997673/in/photostream/

Yes, I use groups as they are an integral feature of flickr.  It takes about 2 minutes to add a photo to 60 groups.  It isn't much effort and that is why I like flickr.  You reach lots of people with very little effort.  By the way, 80% of the views are not from groups, which is why I am gradually reducing the number of groups that I am a member of.  Overall group activity does not show in your activity feed.  One must navigate there to view the images.  There is a relatively short half life as things move pages back.  I have images that were posted months ago and in only a few groups getting 40 views every day.

[Ron Scubadiver]

US mobile phone carrier Verizon is said to be readying a bid for "all of Yahoo's web properties."  It is speculated they would be the successful bidder because of their wider scope than the others who are investment companies without the ability to achieve synergies without other properties.  Verizon presently owns AOL.  If "all" has its usual meaning, flickr will wind up under AOL.

[Ron Scubadiver]

The bids are in and Verizon is rumored to be the winner.  Verizon owns AOL so the two businesses are likely to be combined.  There are no specifics about the fate of flickr or Yahoo Mail although Verizon offers a premium version of Yahoo Mail to its internet subscribers.  Verizon's main business is wireless phone service.  It uses CDMA which is incompatible with most networks outside the US.  Even so, it is one of the largest providers here and is considered the best for subscribers in rural areas.

[pluton]

I came to computers and internet too late for AOL and Yahoo...both were already passé.  Hopefully Verizon has some purpose in mind, beyond an unexplainable nostalgia for annoying things from 20 years ago.

[Ron Scubadiver]

Verizon is the winning bidder.  They will acquire all of the operating assets of Yahoo leaving behind Yahoo Japan, a stake in AliBaba and a  portfolio of patents.  No specific mention was made of flickr.  My only concern would be changes in policy.  Some photo sharing sites do not allow non consensual photographs of people, in effect banning street photography.  For me, things got better after Marissa Mayer came in. 

[Akira]

Ron, Yahoo Japan (SoftBank) bought ARM instead, using the capital they gathered by selling the stocks of Alibaba and some other companies.

[Ron Scubadiver]

Ron, Yahoo Japan (SoftBank) bought ARM instead, using the capital they gathered by selling the stocks of Alibaba and some other companies.

This is one of the things driving the deal.  By removing Yahoo's business what remains is a proxy for Alibaba and ARM.  I am a bit nervous that flickr could change for the worse, or I would have to change my Yahoo mail address.

[Akira]

I had been skeptical about Yahoo's security even before it was bought by Softbank.  I do have a Yahoo account, but its mail address is only used as my ID to sign in flickr.

[Jørgen Ramskov]

It's not so much the mail address, there's only so much you can do with that. Your email address and your password is what's interesting as many people reuse their passwords. That's why it's a good idea to use a password tool and use that to create strong, individual passwords for each site.

[Ron Scubadiver]

Verizon's acquisition of Yahoo is moving forward with a $350 million price reduction on account of the data breeches.

https://techcrunch.com/2017/02/21/verizon-knocks-350m-off-yahoo-sale-after-data-breaches-now-valued-at-4-48b/

There is no word on any changes at Flickr yet.  Things over there definitely improved after Marissa Mayer came in.

[John G]

As for flickr,
                In my mind, it one of the best portals due to the amount of visits it receives, it must be one of the most vital tools to keeping our hobby alive.
It might even be a coal on the fire that is keeping some of our chosen camera brands burning brightly in the commercial world.
Masses of people expressing a interest in viewing images captured by others, novices having a sneaky peak at exif data, looking to learn a little more.
A place where you can see many different presentations a certain piece of equipment can offer.
It was a stepping stone, to my finding NG. It is also a extension to investigate some of the ideas presented to me on NG.
I might visit flickr for 30 minutes a month, but I will always see something to keep me interested.
My latest viewing is the D500+Sigma 500mm f4 HDSM.
"If it aint broke, don't fix it" .

[Jan Anne]

Stopped paying for my Flickr Pro account, getting really bored with all strange authorization schemes they try to enforce.

Time to move on I guess....

[David H. Hartman]

I am more interested in people, exchange, learning than in dumping shots to any site...

The Flickr groups (forums) have been loosing participation. They are only a shadow of what they were. They have lost the critical number of active participants to be health. I miss the active groups but I haven't been there much myself. The people and exchange of ideas was my reason for sighing up back in 2006 when "The Majestic Green One" returned to PHOTO.net hell bent on destroying his creation.

Dave Hartman