Urgent - updates to flickr and new account limits!

Let’s be candid.


Flickr are updating their terms and conditions and its not all good news.

Free accounts are going to be limited to 1000 photos only, now here is the kicker:

So unlike in the past where they would just restrict access it seems that they are using this to have a huge clean house approach to accounts. Granted there probably are a lot of defunct accounts that don't do anything on flickr, but it basically is forcing any active user to upgrade to pro accounts. The new pro features are mostly "so so" in features - general enhancements plus video jumps up to 10mins - however anyone serious on video likely uses other services anyway.

Instead its more a case of a stick instead of a carrot as if you fail to update byebye photos. Now granted that just means losing them on flickr (I hope you' keep things local) however it will break any website that heavily uses flickr as its image host.


Personally I don't know about this one, I might have to just be forced to pro upgrade and then possibly hunt around for another service. Change like this are a huge pain, esp since flickr has always been generally safe and good for photographers in terms of the service that they offer and the attitude they have toward rights. I'll also say that whilst I don't like this I can see their point of view and also respect that its nothing like the disaster that Photobucket tried a year or two back.

 

Funny thing is years ago I had the old pro account without any issues. I kind of wish they'd made the pro "more" interesting rather than make the free less interesting - though having just checked (went into organise which shows how many photos you've uploaded) I'm at 1300 odd photos - I really need to take more photos!

 

I don't see it a writing on the wall so much as them doing what several other big image hosts have done which is to clear house on old accounts that are either defunct or massively full of free use. 1TB is a lot of data not accounting for all those who account hop to get multiple free accounts.

I can see justification from them, not forgetting that in the past many signed up to flickr pro without issue and then they went through a phase where pro was basically worthless and they encouraged everyone to go free (which even at the time most people considered very odd). I guess their original plan was to make up for it with adverts, however I honestly saw so few appear on flickr I wonder if it was such a soft approach that it failed to generate enough revenue hence the desire from them to go back to a culture where everyone is signed up for pro (or at least the majority of major users).

I think my main issue is their attitude and approach toward deleting data and only having a 1 month window between the limit being imposed and the deletion starting - I'd have preferred a longer window of the old system of just blocking access/display of those photos.

 

After reading about this, I was originally going to cut back on my use and just keep free status but, the more I think about it, with the recent Prime price hike, the more I’m leaning toward the Pro option and uploading all my back ups from Prime. $50 year is pretty cheap for unlimited high res storage and hosting plus I enjoy the Flickr groups and community.

I currently have 2 additional Flickr accounts. One that I use only for family photos and one for sharing photos from the few shoots I do for groups. I would need to consolidate and have to figure out how to give limited access for the family and group stuff.