Originally published at: http://boingboing.net/2016/07/26/yahoo-sale-are-flickr-and-tum.html
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Verizon will change both to work more with “their” system. Which will kill both off in no time. I’m on Tumblr and I’m pretty sure I’ll be deleting my accounts.
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“What next, boss?”
“Punch cards, Harry. The future’s in punch cards!”
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Both of these places have three key qualities that has raised important questions about their survival: 1) they’re both oldschool platforms locked in time because they were bought by Yahoo, 2) both still have vast, dedicated communities, 3) will their unique cultures even survive acquisiation by a buttoned-down telco dominated by legendarily stupid middle managers.
This brought out my inner gramma nazi. When it comes to structuring statements like “they’re both old platforms with big communities, and it’s an open question whether they’ll survive being acquired”, it might not be a bad idea to (1) forgo inline list numbering when (2) the number of items being enumerated isn’t (D) really large enough to warrant it, and then (8) finishing previous declaratives with a question (starting with “will”) but without question-ending punctuation (1) really is awkward ;
(While I sincerely believe in the critique I levy above, I offer it in the spirit of good-natured ribbing. Nuthin’ but love, Rob.) 
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“Tumblr, meanwhile, is neck-deep in smut and self-absorbed blather”
The smut I’ll grant you, there are accounts that seem to be nothing but a steady stream of porno GIFs.
But “self-absorbed blather”? That’s what Tumblr is FOR.
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I actually figured these were the primary uses to which most people seem to put the internet in general. Tumblr hardly has a monopoly…
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Shit, I hope not. Flickr is pretty easy for me to host pics to share on places such as this forum.
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That’s sort of what MOST blogging is about…,to be perfectly blunt about it.
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flickr survives under its own momentum and for no other reason… it’s the place everyone who aspires to be a photographer uploads their work in an attempt to develop some reputation in the craft. It’s astonishingly massive too… I guarantee any quirky obsession you have, there’s someone out there already uploading hundreds of photos for you to enjoy.
It’s also a rarity on the internet in the sense that almost all feedback is positive. It never really develops the raging arguments that places like facebook and twitter generate. Granted, if you want to grow as a photographer unrelenting positive comments aren’t actually beneficial but I’d still rather that than nonstop flaming.
I think modernizing flickr would destroy it because there’s no way it could catch up to and replace the current giants. Probably better if they just let it have its niche and try to make do with what they have.
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No one tell them about the fanfic poop babies!!
I actually edited it before I read your critique, for just these reasons!
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[quote=“SomeDude, post:4, topic:82139”]
This brought out my inner gramma nazi.
[/quote]And in the first sentence alone we find an excellent example of Muprhy’s Law. Astonishing.
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I certainly hope they leave both alone, especially Tumblr. The social network for introverts. The linked article hits it on the head:
Usually your real-life friends are the same as your Facebook or Instagram friends and the interactions are sort of the same. Tumblr is different. It’s usually where you reveal more about yourself than what most people around you know, where you can often ‘reveal’ your tastes and habits, which is why it’s home to such a different community, and it’s harder to get that, and to nurture it, and drive it forward.
There’s only one person I follow there that I know IRL, and I did so really hoping they wouldn’t find it an imposition. It helps that we are only acquaintances who very rarely see each other. Tumblr is where you can let your freak flag fly and connect with anonymous friends, ignore haters, and find support and common interest. In some ways kinda like what the old networks used to be (e.g. GEnie).
Sharing my Tumblr blog with an IRL friend would take a big amount of trust. Sharing what Tumblr users I follow, even more so. And sharing my Likes there, whoa…
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‘gramma’ was intentional.
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Seriously - that should be “grandma nazi.”
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So… any recommendations for a replacement for flickr? I’ve not used it, but I keep meaning to put online some color slides a family member took in the Pacific during the second world war, which I thought might make a nice addition to the creative commons. When flickr started going downhill, I figured it might not be the most lasting place to put things like that…
I like 500PX.
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I use Imgr myself. Signed up when I was on Reddit. Dropped the Reddit account, but kept Imgr going.
I’m sure flickr will survive somehow due to sheer massiveness, though this is worrying. At this point 500px is starting to make inroads into being the place aspiring photographers go. I can’t cope with 500px since it’s too gamified, but there are a lot of high profile photogs that have ditched flickr for 500px.
flickr really is awesome in that way, it’s a great way to learn to improve in photography without all the bitter sniping, gear snobbery, Canon/Nikon partisanship, and “I could have done that better” crap most forums are beleaguered with. I hope this merger doesn’t mangle it, since it’s a real gem on the internet that way.
Also every time they make any tweak there’s a massive backlash from change-averse old-school users who angrily vent for a few weeks and announce their plans to leave.
The biggies for hosting photos in nice galleries are flickr, 500px, and smugmug.
flickr isn’t likely to go anywhere soon, since it’s a behemoth, if things get rocky as a fit for Verizon it’ll probably be sold off to someone else.
500px will get random people visiting playing the dumb game of trying to get reciprocal likes/comments, but so long as you ignore that it’s very pretty and really easy to work with.
smugmug’s a little easier on the eyes IMO, though they’re more limited in how much you can upload and really work to get you to sign up for a paid account. They’re more geared towards aspiring photographers who want to create nice portfolios. Easy to use, really pretty, though, and there’s no BS with games of users trying to score faves/comments on photos.
There’s also the straight image hosting options like imgur, though these are not there to showcase images so much as get crap uploaded so you can link to it elsewhere. Their albums/in site image viewing are aesthetic abominations.
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