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scarfitup - View my most interesting photos on Flickriver

Tuesday, May 28, 2013

The flickr Fiasco!


"Why Fix What Ain't Broke?"

Why is it that some things change for the better and others regress?  Why is it that big business (Yahoo) had to mess with a product that met the needs of so many?  Based on the forums on flickr, Facebook comments, and public outcries, it would seem that the flickr gods have made a decision that has angered so many of its previous users.  I am one of them!

I am NOT a professional photographer!  Not by any stretch of the imagination.  But I am a fiber artist who has struggled to take good photos of my work for use on flickr to show the range of my designs.  I do NOT sell on flickr.  However, my purpose for using flickr has been primarily to manage my inventory, give people an idea of what I can do, follow my stats, join various groups, and build a base of contacts.  The most important for me was the use of sets to organize my work by style.  They are no longer even easily visible in the "new" format!

I had JUST paid for another year on flickr!  So that has allowed me to migrate all my photos to another photo-sharing website that seems to offer some of the features that the old flickr had - at least for me.

This is what my flickr sets page look like now - and they are not visible from my homepage.  I can't show you what it looked like before, but it was streamlined and offered a far more desirable design on white background with lots of white space between them (and all the photos!)  The photos are actually too large and too close together to appreciate.


Here is a view of my albums on ipernity (similar to sets on the old flickr):


Here is what my landing page looks like now on the "new" flickr:


And here is my landing page on ipernity:



My eye and my sense of layout design opts for the "less is more" philosophy.  I LIKE white space around my photos.  I hate jumbled messes.  So I have spent the better part of this entire long weekend migrating ALL my photos from flickr to ipernity, paid for a year of ipernity, and am in the process of developing my "albums" and exploring the site.  I'll be reporting on this as I proceed.  It's a learning process, and it takes time.  

But flickr made all these changes without consulting anyone or even giving a heads-up - except to a small group of testers, who apparently voiced their concerns and displeasure, but it was not heeded.  Hence the emotional and ANGRY outcries from former flickr aficionados like me who cannot abide the changes.  I would rather spend my time learning ipernity and its strengths and weaknesses than bother with a site that seems to have screwed with their loyal supporters.  

It appears that stats on flickr will be phased out, and that was a draw for me.  My lookers have dropped significantly, so it will take time and work to regain my followers on ipernity.  If you are reading this, please go see what's happening on my ipernity page.

THANKS FOR LETTING ME VENT!

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