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Andy D

Smugmug acquires Flickr

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I've not seen this discussed here before. But I got an email about Smugmug acquiring Flickr. So far I have seen no additional information, but I am still wondering... Does anyone have any knowledge about what is going to happen to all those Flickr links. 

It could be devistating to forums like EB if all those links suddenly go dark. I know that even if the active members change their links, there are many inactive members who have some very good content that will just go away.

Does EB have a plan? Or am I worrying about something that may not occur!

Andy D

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There is no change at the moment to the fllckr domain and links.  I think Smugmug plan to keep two companies as separate entities.  But they are planning to move the images from Yahoo server infrastructure to Smugmug's in the future.  They just have to update the DNS records and nothing should be broken.

It is not quite the same as Photobucket going paid for deep linking.  Any way, there is always some risk hosting your data in the "cloud". 

 

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Photobucket going paid killed many of the old threads, perhaps someone should archive what we have? Does the wayback machine work for old reviews that got photobucketed?

I forsee a new dot-com crash on the horizon; companies like Flickr and Imgur can only go so long hosting pictures for free for other sites (like reddit, EB, etc).

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26 minutes ago, bombcar said:

Photobucket going paid killed many of the old threads, perhaps someone should archive what we have? Does the wayback machine work for old reviews that got photobucketed?

I forsee a new dot-com crash on the horizon; companies like Flickr and Imgur can only go so long hosting pictures for free for other sites (like reddit, EB, etc).

I hope it doesn't crash! :distressed: 

Flickr does have a paid pro version. However, I've got no idea how many people actually pay for this because it's only if you have over 1tb of pictures... Maybe if they adopted Microsoft's OneDrive system where you pay for extra storage after like 10gb or something? 

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I agree that it's very important to keep old pictures on these boards. Without them, many of the reviews would be useless, and a lot of old discussions would lose their meaning. There's gotta be a way to keep the pictures no matter what, right?

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I immediately read the details on what it means for Flickr after it was purchased by Smugmug since I have too many photos hosted in Flickr.

https://techcrunch.com/2018/04/20/smugmug-acquires-flickr/

This articled confirmed that the pictures in Flickr will stay there in Flickr and that there will always be a free plan.

They also put an FAQ about these concerns here: https://www.smugmug.com/together/faq

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Flickr posted a notice today saying that free memberships are now limited to 1000 photos, and if you have a free membership and more than 1000 photos you have until early 2019 to back them up before they're taken down.  I wonder how many AFOL accounts that will affect.  Maybe it's time to start thinking about migrating to a different standard photo platform?

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After February 5, 2019, free accounts that contain over 1,000 photos or videos will have content actively deleted -- starting from oldest to newest date uploaded -- to meet the new limit.

Hmmm

After February 5, 2019 a lot of content will disappear here on EB: reviews, MOCs, contests, etc....

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1 minute ago, Robert8 said:

Hmmm

After February 5, 2019 a lot of content will disappear here on EB: reviews, MOCs, contests, etc....

That's the main concern. This sounds like they have an issue with storage. However same announcement mentions the ability to store 5K photos for PRO's, which makes uploaded files much larger in storage space... So it doesn't make sense at all. Disabling the option to upload more  photos until you get the number of files reduced to 1K would make more sense. Their karma isn't going to look great if this condition won't be altered.

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I kinda see the writing on the wall when Smugmug bought Flickr.  True, they told everyone that there will always be a free plan, but it's very sly to reduce it to almost completely useless to long time users. I know that to make the business sustainable, the cash flow needs to be positive... but why make the user base suffer for the incompetence of the leadership that ran it previously? I have been on the fence in getting a pro account and with all the content that I have accumulated in there, I think that I have to bite the bullet at least for a year. Even if I shop around for other service, It's very difficult to match what Flick is already offering.

Maybe people who has experience in other service can recommend and suggest alternatives?

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A 'free' service is never free - someone, somewhere, is always paying for it.

I have about 4000 photos on Flickr, and as the person above says, there's simply no-one offering the amount of free space that Flickr currently does.

According to their posts explaining it, only about 3% of free members have more than 1000 photos. Our LUG (Brickish) has a Flickr group, and only about 10% of the members will be affected.

That said, having read the posts I can understand why they're doing it. $50 (£38) a year isn't that much in the grand scheme of things, and with 30% off it's even better. The time it'd take me to move all my photos to another service would be more costly (if I was being paid for that time!) than just upgrading, so that's what I've done.

On 11/1/2018 at 3:37 PM, zux said:

That's the main concern. This sounds like they have an issue with storage. However same announcement mentions the ability to store 5K photos for PRO's, which makes uploaded files much larger in storage space... So it doesn't make sense at all. Disabling the option to upload more  photos until you get the number of files reduced to 1K would make more sense. Their karma isn't going to look great if this condition won't be altered.

It actually does make sense, because those who gain the ability to store 5K photos will be Pro members, who will be paying for it... :wink:

With only 3% of their free members affected, They will have calculated that this change won't do them any long-term harm.

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Our LUG has a Flickr group.  Most of our members with over 1000 photos are already PRO paying Flickr users.  The change isn't that big of an impact for us except I have 1096 photos.  UGH.

 

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I agree with @Paperballpark that it's inevitable that a service like Flickr will need paying for in the end. In many ways it's perfect for AFOLs to share MOCs - automatic image resizing for forum links, ability to upload full resolution images, on image notes (to highlight areas of a MOC), groups and comments. On the downside the mobile app (on Android anyway) is atrocious and some of the site is a bit dated.

I don't mind paying the $50 for Pro as long as the community doesn't abandon the site en mass, because if that happens there will be little Flickr community (and I've already seen a big reduction in the community over the last few years) and therefore little point in staying there. Hearing what everyone else is going to do will be a big part of my decision as to whether to stay or not.

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On 11/6/2018 at 10:50 AM, Basiliscus said:

Hearing what everyone else is going to do will be a big part of my decision as to whether to stay or not.

Yeah but also consider my point from the other thread: Flickr can hardly remain a repository of MOCs, with a yearly fee.

That is, if a MOCer enters another dark age / finds better things to do.. or simply proves he was a mortal... his stuff is gone.
It would have been more interesting to pay for additional pictures, *forever*. Like, you shell 100 bucks to host 1000 more pictures, forever. Of course, there's no forever if Flickr doesn't make money & dies... but generally such large websites don't die, they just get from one hand to another. It does not cost as much as video hosting, and I believe basic ad support is enough to keep it alive. The only way sites like Flickr really die is when all users abandon it, and that's the risk they take if they ask money.

Another ok possibility would be that if someone stops paying, his pictures get virtually removed from his gallery, but continue to live in other user's favorites. That way, Flickr can still be a huge repository of pretty much every MOC.

Edited by anothergol

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Sorry to bump an old topic, but I think this question is relevant - 

It seems to me that Flickr has become much less stable since the Smugmug deal.  Since that deal went through, I have frequently seen "Bad Panda" error notices when attempting to load pages on Flickr, and I don't remember any of those before Yahoo sold the site.  Of course, I haven't been keeping records of this, so my memory may be more at fault than Flickr, but I'd like to know if anyone else has had the same experience.

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It seems Flickr is really struggling because at this point they are pretty much begging

 

I got a very desperate email from them asking people to suscribe because they are losing money

 

 

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Dejavu again? Years ago, me and my wife were on another forum, having posted many photos via photobucket. Then one day, without warning, poof, all photos gone. It ruined that forum, and the admin seriously considered pulling the plug. So because of previous bad experiences, i decided not ot use Flickr. I saw their imposing adverting, and had a bad feeling about it.

Wouldn't it be better if the use of various picture hosting sites was encouraged, rather then just Flickr and brickshelf? And encouraging keeping backups, so that if Flickr dies, it doesn't ruin this forum aswell.

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If Flickr dies it would be a mess for Eurobricks

 

I myself have a thread with more than 400 pics posted using Flickr. I don't what I'm going to to :sad:

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It would be a huge mess for the LEGO community if Flickr went away, hope that doesn't happen.

I doubt it would go away overnight, but it doesn't hurt to make a backup of your images. You can cselect up to 500 photos and download as a zip file.

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I received that email too. I'm already paid member and I don't know anyone else that may want the service that aren't already paying members. I had over 1000 photos, so I had to pay. I've slowly been going through and deleting them to wittle it down, but I guess it won't matter in the long run.

I have them all backed up on my phone right now (which gets backed up to the apple cloud), but it was nice having flickr for when my phone goes caput.

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I got that email too.  I briefly considered buying Pro as a result, but decided not to until I need it: at 1000+ photos.  If Flickr goes under in the meantime, well, it won't be my fault alone for not paying up.

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Hmm...I first used Photobucket, then switched to Flickr hoping it would be a better, more stable, and more reliable service.

And then I got the desperate email. 

I totally understand a business wanting to make money. But the obviously desperate email just seemed like an unprofessional way to raise it. Plus, if they're doing this badly now, I have to wonder about their longevity for all members.

LegoFjotten is right, if Flickr goes under, Lego forums would be in a bad place. 

 

 

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