Flickr is a global community made up of many different kinds of people. What's OK in your back yard may not be OK in theirs. Each one of us bears the responsibility of categorizing our own content within this landscape. So, we've introduced some filters to help everyone try to get along.
There are 2 types of filters that you need to use for your content.
When you upload content to Flickr, you need to choose where it "fits" in these 2 categories. For example, if you want to upload a screenshot of a web page, you can, but you need to flag it as a screenshot.
Putting your content into these categories means that everyone can then apply filters to searches they do to make sure they're seeing what they want to see.
Note: If your Yahoo! ID is based in Singapore, Hong Kong or Korea you will only be able to view safe content based on your local Terms of Service so won’t be able to turn SafeSearch off. If your Yahoo! ID is based in Germany you are not able to view restricted content due to your local Terms of Service.
Bear in mind that all content you upload is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service and our Community Guidelines.
Here are the main links you'll need to set yourself up.
SafeSearch is a feature that allows you to control what turns up in your searches on Flickr, and it's on for everyone by default.
Note: If your Yahoo! ID is based in Singapore, Hong Kong or Korea you will only be able to view safe content based on your local Terms of Service so won’t be able to turn SafeSearch off. If your Yahoo! ID is based in Germany you are not able to view restricted content due to your local Terms of Service.
If you are a Flickr member, you have the option to configure the level of SafeSearch you'd like. Here's how it works:
You can set a default SafeSearch level that you'd like to use (if you're signed in).
You can also change this setting per search via Advanced Search page.
SafeSearch filters also apply when you're browsing around. For example, if you come across a photo that's outside your SafeSearch, you won't see the image. (If you're signed in, you will see an option to click through to see it, unless the content has been flagged as 'restricted' and you're under 18.
Having a "safe" account means that you are good at moderating your own content. Awesome!
If your account is also "NIPSA", you may be one of the people caught up in the transition between the old system of moderation (public, pending, private accounts etc) and the new way (safety level/content type filters). It's fairly likely that if your account is NIPSA, it's because your account was NIPSA pre-transition, and that it may require a review by staff. You can request a review if you wish. It's fairly unlikely that staff would flag an entire account in the new system, given that you have more fine-grained control over the images in your account.
Having a "moderate" flag on your account probably means that you are generally a good self-moderator, but occasionally things pop up in your photostream that may be in the wrong categories. Staff hear about this sort of thing because your fellow members can flag photos around the site if they feel that you have categorized things incorrectly, or they may even send a report to us that some of your content is offensive.
Remind yourself of our Community Guidelines to see what's OK and what's not on Flickr, and moderate your content accordingly. Once you've done done that - and not before - you can request a review.
If your account is also "NIPSA", you may be one of the people caught up in the transition between the old system of moderation (public, pending, private accounts etc) and the new way (safety level/content type filters). It's fairly likely that if your account is NIPSA, it's because your account was NIPSA pre-transition, and that it may require a review by staff. You can request a review if you wish. It's fairly unlikely that staff would flag an entire account in the new system, given that you have more fine-grained control over the images in your account.
An "unsafe" account is something we think of as a loose cannon. It's not clear to us that you're moderating your own content at all, or if you are, you're not bearing in mind that there are other people using Flickr and that it's up to you to not be overtly offensive.
Triggers to flagging an entire account as "unsafe" include staff receiving an unusual number of complaints about your photos, or photos in your stream receiving an unusual number of votes, or if there are an unusual number of blocks against your account. All of these factors can be remedied by you: you simply need to moderate your content using the Safety Level & Content Type categories, so people don't unexpectedly stumble upon content which they may find offensive or otherwise inappropriate.
You should re-read our Community Guidelines to see what's OK and what's not on Flickr, and moderate your content accordingly. Once you've done done that - and not before - you can request a review.
If your account is also "NIPSA", you may be one of the people caught up in the transition between the old system of moderation (public, pending, private accounts etc) and the new way (safety level/content type filters). It's fairly likely that if your account is NIPSA, it's because your account was NIPSA pre-transition, and that it may require a review by staff. You can request a review if you wish. It's fairly unlikely that staff would flag an entire account in the new system, given that you have more fine-grained control over the images in your account.
NIPSA stands for Not In Public Site Areas. This is a flag that staff used before we released filters to stop photos that were going against the Community Guidelines from showing up in searches on the site.
Now that we have the new filtering system in place, we're seeing "NIPSA" as more of a member-controlled switch, where you can decide yourself whether or not you'd like to opt out of having your photos turn up in searches on flickr.com, or not. (We've had an opt-out switch like this for 3rd party applications that use the Flickr API for some time now.)
If you see that your account is NIPSA (here), it's probably an artifact of the old system. Make sure that all your content is categorized correctly (photos flagged as photos, screenshots as screenshots etc), and then you can request a review.
You can set a default safety level for photos you upload, on a page in Your Account. Whatever you set here will carry through to any/all upload methods you use.
You can also change whatever default you've set per photo or batch as you upload, and after your content is uploaded. There are batch editing tools available in the Organizr, and on the page where you see one of your photos, there's a "Flag your photo" link under the Additional Information heading where you can also change the safety level.
Given that Flickr is primarily a site for sharing photos, we always encourage people to upload photos they've taken themselves. That said, if you'd like to post the odd screenshot here or there that's fine, as long as you flag it as such.
When you upload content to Flickr, we'll use whatever default you've set for the normal type of content you upload (photo, art/illustration or screenshot). If, say, you normally upload photos, you can tweak your Content Type setting from 'photo' to 'screenshot' as you upload.
You can also change the Content Type after you've uploaded your screenshot, either using the "Flag your photo" link under Additional Information on a photo page, or in the Organizr.
Note that if staff ever need to review an individual image of yours, and change the way you’ve moderated it yourself, you can't change the Content Type or Safety Level any more.
What an excellent question.
Flickr will never be able to provide a comprehensive list of what content should fall in which bucket. This is simply impossible to do on a global scale.
That's why we wrote the Community Guidelines, to give you a sense of the sort of things that are allowed or not, and what will happen if you publish content that doesn't follow those guidelines.
The most important thing for you to remember when you're moderating your own content is that Flickr is used by millions of people of all ages from all over the world. We're relying on you to use your best judgement about whether or not you think the content you publish would be offensive to anyone in this enormous public space. If you even have a hint of a doubt, you should use a different safety level.
The other simple question is whether or not you'd feel comfortable showing the content you publish to a child, or your mother, or someone you're sitting next to on a bus. If the answer is no, the content should be restricted.
If it turns out that you judge "the right thing" poorly, the community will probably speak out. If we receive complaints about your content, we will take action, in line with the Community Guidelines. You really should take a moment to read them.
Yes, you can, but only if you're signed in. Just click on the "Advanced Search" link, and you'll see your SafeSearch and Content Type options there.
If you aren't signed in, you can include different types of content in your search results, and SafeSearch is always on.
Note: If your Yahoo! ID is from Singapore, Hong Kong or Korea, this feature is unavailable. If your Yahoo! ID is from Germany, searching restricted content is not available.
If you're signed in, when you look at an individual photo page, you'll see a link labelled "Flag this photo" under the Additional Information heading. If you click on that, you can check the box labelled "Please review". That flag will alert Flickr staff and we'll review the photo in question.
You can also suggest that you think the image is in the wrong Content Type category. For example, if you're looking at a screenshot that's marked by the owner as a photo, you can let us know you think it should be marked as a different Content Type.
If you come across content that you think might be illegal or prohibited, you should use the Report Abuse system instead. (Go to the photo, and then click on the Report Abuse link at the bottom of the page.)
Flickr knows everything, all the time. When you sign up for a Yahoo! account, you're asked to specify your age as a part of the account creation process. Flickr is able to grab that information when you sign in to your Flickr account.
As of March 20 2007, age has been removed from Flickr profiles, and isn't displayed on the site anywhere. We simply use age to determine whether or not members can have access to content that's been placed in the 'restricted' category.
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