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Sweeping Changes at Flickr

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      Raichase Captain Rant!

    Location: Sydney, NSW
    Flickr has made some serious sweeping changes to how the site works (both visually and financially). Aside from the dramatically changed design, they are now offering free users 1TB of space, albeit with advertising. People can pay $50/year to remove advertising from their site (as viewed by others) as well as to block advertising when viewing other Flickr accounts.

    I'm very much not a fan of how Flickr has gone about these changes, and I'm now investigating new options for hosting my railway photography.

    Here's a good summary of the changes for Flickr Pro members:

    http://mashable.com/2013/05/20/flickr-pro-changes/

    I am personally considering ipernity as my new host:

    http://www.ipernity.com/club

    For those interested, my gallery only has four photos (at the time of writing), but it might give a bit of insight:

    http://www.ipernity.com/home/raichase

    They offer a similar free/paid deal that Flickr used to operate (albeit for slightly more money). I have had other people suggest Smugmug, 500px and various other image hosting sites to me also.

    Smugmug: http://www.smugmug.com
    500px: http://www.500px.com

    Be interested to see what other Flickr (pro or free) users think of the new layout and the changes. Obviously the lifting of almost all limits to free accounts is a huge boom for those who just want somewhere free to upload and share their photos, although it's a bit of a kick in the teeth to existing subscribed members.
    Posted: 21 May 2013 14:00

    Last edited by Raichase on 21 May 2013 14:07; edited 1 time in total

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      P2017 Chief Commissioner

    Location: Geraldton
    I'm Slowly going away from Flickr, have setup my own Gallery Site : http://trainsaustralia.net which is hosted on a server in Singapore.
    This is the hosting company that I am going through : http://www.siteground.com/
    Have not had any issues with it at all, you access Cpanel which is the backend system.
    I was adding photos to flickr and trainsaustralia and seem to have alot more hits on my trainsaustralia site. It is now 48000 where as flickr has just gone over 12000 and my site has just been running over a year. I have had my flickr account for a few years!
    In my opinion Gallery 3 displays photos alot better and compatible on Ipad's etc.

    Cheers
    David
    Posted: 21 May 2013 14:08
      Raichase Captain Rant!

    Location: Sydney, NSW
    I'm Slowly going away from Flickr, have setup my own Gallery Site : http://trainsaustralia.net which is hosted on a server in Singapore.
    This is the hosting company that I am going through : http://www.siteground.com/
    Have not had any issues with it at all, you access Cpanel which is the backend system.
    I was adding photos to flickr and trainsaustralia and seem to have alot more hits on my trainsaustralia site. It is now 48000 where as flickr has just gone over 12000 and my site has just been running over a year. I have had my flickr account for a few years!
    In my opinion Gallery 3 displays photos alot better and compatible on Ipad's etc.

    Cheers
    David
    P2017
    G'day David,

    Thanks for the positive feedback about personal galleries, and for the link.

    I guess one of the main things that has kept me away from personal gallery sites is that Flickr has always had the community right there, linked into the main site. If someone uploaded a new photo, it would be right there in my face, and I could run over and drool all over it. With personal websites, one must either subscribe to an update thread on Railpage, or remember to visit such sites every X days to see if someone has uploaded something new.

    I'd be interested as to how your hosting fees for your gallery compare to that of a subscription photo service?

    For the record, your gallery has some very pleasing images, and I'm not surprised you've received a high number of hits.
    Posted: 21 May 2013 14:16
      bevans Site Admin

    Location: Melbourne, Australia
    http://gallery.railpage.org is where some of the older Railpage images are now stored.
    Posted: 21 May 2013 14:32
      VRfan Moderator

    Location: In front of my computer :-p
    If you've got a pro account, you can just keep renewing. They are just saying they won't be selling new pro accounts.

    The $50 a year to remove the ads is a rip off if you already have a pro account.
    Posted: 21 May 2013 14:40
      bevans Site Admin

    Location: Melbourne, Australia
    If you've got a pro account, you can just keep renewing. They are just saying they won't be selling new pro accounts.

    The $50 a year to remove the ads is a rip off if you already have a pro account.
    VRfan

    Indeed. http://www.flickr.com/photos/Railpage is a pro account.  Does this mean you need to now pay over and above the pro rate to remove the ads?
    Posted: 21 May 2013 14:42
      Raichase Captain Rant!

    Location: Sydney, NSW
    If you've got a pro account, you can just keep renewing. They are just saying they won't be selling new pro accounts.

    The $50 a year to remove the ads is a rip off if you already have a pro account.
    VRfan
    Not entirely.

    As it stands at the time of writing, there are two types of "Pro" users. The former are the ones who purchased their subscriptions before a certain date. Those people have a "your pro subscription will expire on the" description. The other type of Pro user has a "your subscription will renew on the" description. The latter user can continue to renew their subscription until the cows come home, and get exactly what they used to get (in theory), but subject to the same limitations of the old Pro account (they get unlimited storage, but file size is limited to 50mb, for example). The former user will NOT get the chance to continue to be Pro, and can choose to become a free member, or pay $50 to become an ad-free-free member.

    Brian, it depends on what the wording is in regards to the pro account as to what your options are.

    Flickr did mention that they are investigating extending the "be pro forever" option to ALL existing Pro members, although it seems like this is something they should have thought out BEFORE implementing such large changes.
    Posted: 21 May 2013 15:07
      bevans Site Admin
    Posted: 21 May 2013 15:17

    Last edited by bevans on 21 May 2013 15:20; edited 3 times in total
      Raichase Captain Rant!

    Location: Sydney, NSW
    Brian, as I understand it, as long as you continue to renew your "pro subscription", Flickr will continue to honor the terms of the original deal. Aside from the new page layout, everything will continue "as it was".
    Posted: 21 May 2013 15:20
      bevans Site Admin

    Location: Melbourne, Australia
    Brian, as I understand it, as long as you continue to renew your "pro subscription", Flickr will continue to honor the terms of the original deal. Aside from the new page layout, everything will continue "as it was".
    Raichase

    For the railcams and video I am going to continue by research into the new DAM system.  This will be hosted locally and be able to accommodate all the camera data.  I am close to making some recommendations to Michael and the Team.  I stress this would ONLY be for RP generated digital assets.

    For those users who need some gallery space, PM me and I can make some available at http://gallery.railpage.org

    Regards
    Brian
    Posted: 21 May 2013 15:24
      michaelgreenhill Administrator That's Numberwang!

    Location: Melbourne
    Indeed. http://www.flickr.com/photos/Railpage is a pro account.  Does this mean you need to now pay over and above the pro rate to remove the ads?
    bevans
    Or don't pay - nobody needs to look there now that we have the Railcams module.

    If you don't like the new Flickr UI, don't despair. You can upload to Flickr through Adobe Lightroom or through any other off-site uploader, and manage your tags through our photostream manager.
    Posted: 21 May 2013 16:01
      bevans Site Admin

    Location: Melbourne, Australia
    This is true.  The railcams module will ensure most issues are non-issues.

    Regards
    Brian
    Posted: 21 May 2013 16:06
      VRfan Moderator

    Location: In front of my computer :-p
    Except, on the railcams module, when you go to this view, the timestamp dissappears from the photos:

    http://www.railpage.com.au/flickr/tag/Railpage:railcam=1/

    It also seems to lack the ability at the moment to search for photos taken or uploaded on a particular date.
    Posted: 21 May 2013 16:30
      bevans Site Admin

    Location: Melbourne, Australia
    A search function would be excellent.

    Regards
    Brian
    Posted: 21 May 2013 16:35
      bingley hall Minister for Railways

    Location: Last train to Skaville
    Personally the visual side of things is a total stuff up and I'm outta there as soon as I can.
    Posted: 21 May 2013 16:40
      VRfan Moderator

    Location: In front of my computer :-p
    I think the main photostream page is much better now as it just auto-loads as you scroll down and it shows the thumbnails at a decent size.

    The individual photo pages are a bit confused now, but it just needs some tweaking.
    Posted: 21 May 2013 16:44
      speedemon08 Mary

    Location: I think by now you should have figured it out
    Enjoy the 8700 comments (and counting!) of hate.

    http://www.flickr.com/help/forum/en-us/72157633547442506
    Posted: 21 May 2013 21:26
      bevans Site Admin

    Location: Melbourne, Australia
    Flickr appears to have a major issue this morning.  We are sending updates from Bunbury Street to the photostream however they are not appearing in the stream.   Issue has been around since 04:26 this morning. 22-5-2013.

    Regards
    Brian
    Posted: 22 May 2013 08:31
      bevans Site Admin

    Location: Melbourne, Australia
    Flickr appears to have a major issue this morning.  We are sending updates from Bunbury Street to the photostream however they are not appearing in the stream.   Issue has been around since 04:26 this morning. 22-5-2013.

    Regards
    Brian
    Posted: 22 May 2013 08:31
      speedemon08 Mary

    Location: I think by now you should have figured it out
    Well here is my rant:

    Well, I can live with the new sets arrangement, and the search which is just like google. But the fact there is a cover photo (kinda pointless) and they decided to use the Justified layout on the images on your home page is stupid, they need space to "breathe" otherwise it is a sensory overload.

    The new home page is just stupid. They should have kept the old one and just changed the contacts photos slightly larger. Also feels cluttered.

    The actual photo page is half black half white, pointless (and looks stupid). You've also lost the handy information about the photo under a tab, which is quite pointless

    And you've lost pro (once your pro expires or whenever they feel like it) and you now have to pay $50 a YEAR to remove advertising.

    Another point is that they have alienated all the people who used the site from a laptop (not a tablet) and treated the site as a gallery, and a neat place to showcase photos in a neat aligned format.

    'Nuff said?
    Posted: 22 May 2013 09:22
      Gavin J Junior Train Controller

    Location: Stawell
    Stawell Webcam has suffered a similar fate, with nothing being uploaded since just after 0400.

    I tried a 'manual' upload, using the default uploader, but it didn't work.

    I then tried the 'old uploader' and it worked OK.

    I assume the email uploads have stopped working.


    When I discovered the horrible new look yesterday,
    I was still able to get the old format in the photostream in 'edit' mode.
    Last time used was 0400 this morning.

    Now, all I get is a jumbled page of photos, links and texts.

    Not happy !!

    Gavin.
    Posted: 22 May 2013 10:14
      VRfan Moderator

    Location: In front of my computer :-p
    After more of a chance to look at it, I still think the main photo stream page is good, You can get to the sets quite easily through the menu.

    What I don't like are the individual photo pages. It used to show the photo in the bulk of the screen with the caption at the bottom and things such as the camera, photo stream and other info to the right. Now, this information is at the bottom with alot of wasted space either side of the photo in that black bit at the top.
    Posted: 22 May 2013 11:38
      Raichase Captain Rant!

    Location: Sydney, NSW
    I'm willing to work with Flickr and see what the changes they make may be. I'm sure that once they iron out any bugs and the like, then they'll be able to start tweaking their new design to suit.

    At the end of the day, I am willing to deal with changes like this. It's THEIR website, and I get zero say in how it appears. If I wanted a gallery to look the way I want it to look, I should get my own webspace and do it myself. For ages, Flickr users were on a great wicket, for a minimal cost, unlimited storage. Try finding another hosting company that offers such good terms. So yeah, if they change the layout, I'll adapt to it, or leave without complaint. As I said, it's their site. It's the same with Facebook making changes to their layout and everyone getting up in arms. I always suggest to those people that if they don't like it, they should ask Facebook for a refund...

    The thing I'm railing against (haha, pun) in this thread is that they're changing how the site WORKS without any community consultation. I'm seriously considering just dropping to a free account (because I'm sure as big as my collection gets, there will always be photos I can remove to stay under a freakin' terabyte), and I've installed adblocker to block the ads. Problem solved.

    EDIT: As for comments that the top/cover image is "stupid", that's an opinion, and one I disagree with. I quite like it. Incidentally, have a look at the top of the current page. Railpage has had a cover image for a while...
    Posted: 22 May 2013 13:18

    Last edited by Raichase on 22 May 2013 13:28; edited 1 time in total
      speedemon08 Mary

    Location: I think by now you should have figured it out
    that they're changing how the site WORKS without any community consultation.
    Raichase
    That is a big clincher in the case. I and many others had no knowledge of another format was going to be released, let alone this radical from previous. Overall, the code is really buggy and incomplete, and there were certainly a few comments from the beta testers how how much they didn't like it.

    But from what I read on that Flickr Help thread is that no matter if you like the new coding or not, the front page is over the top.

    I bet the Staff team are having fun looking at the 15000 comments too.
    Posted: 22 May 2013 15:41
      Raichase Captain Rant!

    Location: Sydney, NSW
    I notice you quoted one specific part of my post and not another.

    As I said, it's THEIR site, adapt to the new design, or leave. I don't get the point of all the whinging and namecalling on the official forums... I have little doubt that, like the previous site before it, they will continue to refine it.

    There are other options out there for photo hosting, some of which I detailed in my original post. Given that Flickr have come to their senses and offered me the previous Pro deal with the new filesizes and continued unlimited storage, it's a no brainer for me. If you don't want to continue on, just move on.
    Posted: 22 May 2013 15:59

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