Smugmug Acquired Flickr

[Ron Scubadiver]

I just signed on to Flickr and found this out.  For me it could spell disaster.  I haven't seen the new TOS, but historically Smugmug has been hostile to street photographers requiring that all photos of people be published with their consent.  That's how things are in France, Germany, Norway, Hungary, Denmark and the Province of Quebec, but not the rest of the world and especially the US where freedom of speech trumps privacy.

Just waiting for doom.  I know some people don't like what I do, but the images are incredibly popular.  Most days I get over 40,000 image views.  No money, unfortunately.

That's not all.  Verizon sent out a revised TOS just a few days ago to allow sharing of data with other Verizon companies.  It probably gave them additional indemnities regarding their sale to Smugmug.  Oh yes, I just paid $50 for another year of flickr pro.

[pluton]

I felt certain that Verizon wasn't interested in keeping Flickr. 
I wonder if Smugmug is going to jack up the rates as they apparently did on their own platform.  **
I'm thinking one would be better off with one's own website.
My mistake:  It was Photobucket that jacked up their rates and wiped out probably millions of posted photos on fora around the world. Another argument against relying on Flickr-type hosting for forum posts.  Why not let the forum have it and not rely on the whims of Silicon Valley business types?

[gryphon1911]

I'll be watching this closely.   I may need to shift my images to another service if Smugmug gets too crazy with shifting things around.

[Ron Scubadiver]

I have a site on wordpress.com, but despite having over 8000 following it, views are nothing like flickr.  I am considering Instagram.  Unfortunately, I think the party is over.

[Ann]

I have used iPower for more than ten years to host my own website and handle my domain registrations.

Their fees are moderate and I have always had excellent service from them.

I find their Site management tools are easy to use for uploading Galleries etc so, if you feel able to build a web site for yourselves, that may make it worthwhile to take a look at iPower.

[Akira]

I rarely log in or even visit Flickr anymore.  It has been very clumsy to use, especially since it was purchased by Verizon.

I've always wanted to delete my account, but there are some members with whom I'm in contact through Flickr, which is the problem...

[Fons Baerken]

At present i have 8442 images from 11 years going, adding new ones every day on a free account.
The amount of views is not spectacular, but i dont care to push them through groups.
(It makes a difference if you recieve likes, this adds to the amount of views i noticed).
What to do? with all these legal technicalities coming your way.
When matters get out of hand i will delete my account .

[Frank Fremerey]

I cancelled my pro subscription just because I do not use Flickr anymore. I had the pro status since 2005.

Next to ~6600 shots online, ~1600 public.

When I was sorting my pictures one day I made everything private and the reopened 500 shots to the public. I lost all of my favorites and all addresses changed at one.

There was no warning about that whatsoever. Since then my love for flicker is very small.

[Jack Dahlgren]

People often said that once something is on the internet it is there forever. Now we are seeing that this is not true at all, and digital assets stored on cloud services are just as temporary as a box of negatives in a rental storage locker. 

[Frank Fremerey]

People often said that once something is on the internet it is there forever. Now we are seeing that this is not true at all, and digital assets stored on cloud services are just as temporary as a box of negatives in a rental storage locker. 

+1

BUT it does not matter because none of us will be here forever

[pluton]

People often said that once something is on the internet it is there forever. Now we are seeing that this is not true at all, and digital assets stored on cloud services are just as temporary as a box of negatives in a rental storage locker.

An adjunct corollary: There is no control as to whether the digital assets are saved, lost, or copied and exploited.

[Ron Scubadiver]

It appalls me that some think flickr is a backup of their digital photos.  For a while they were deleting accounts for offenses such as taking pictures of impoverished Indian children playing in a dump.  At the time there was no way to restore a deleted account.  Although there was no clear guideline, someone on staff did not like street photos of women or children.  Eventually, she and all of her staff were let go.  By late 2012 complaints about accounts deleted for "unacceptable" street photography stopped and I started posting again.

I don't know for certain, but I believe the reason I get so many views is the developer of an Android app which shows selected parts of flickr likes my feed and features it regularly.  Getting a lot of views is fun, but it doesn't refill my checking account.  It's in bad shape after buying a house to replace the one I lost to Harvey's flooding.