Anti-Video Sentiment Among Flickr Users Growing
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[I'm CEO of Zooomr]
On digg here.
With less than 24 hours behind Flickr's announcement yesterday of adding video to their service, the early sentiment from existing Flickr users appears to be largely negative.
A new group started on Flickr called
NO VIDEO ON FLICKR!!! has already seen over 3,000 Flickr members join the group. The group already has a petition going
with over 900 users signing a petition opposing video on Flickr. The petition language is below.
"We the undersigned members of Flickr, free and pro, agree that video has no place on Flickr. Other sites on the web accept video already, but do not accept photos. We all joined Flickr because of it's dedication to photography and photographers, and we want Flickr to remain true to this dedication. It is our request that this feature and addition to Flickr be removed."
If you agree with this statement, type /signed followed by your username/full name in a reply to this thread."
While there are some advocates for video and some Flickr defenders in
the official feedback forum on Flickr Video, here too the comments by many of Flickr's most active users are largely negative.
Some typical comments from the Flickr Help Forum:
Richard Carter: "It's frankly disgraceful that you have not allowed users the option of saying (by default) "I don't want to see videos". Especially in search results.
I know you've invested too much in this awful feature to turn it off, but PLEASE MAKE IT GO AWAY!! "
fofurasfelinas: "I just HATE having videos on flickr.
Flickr is a place for PHOTOS.
We pay for a photo service, if I want to see videos, I go to youtube.
I think Flickr is getting heavier everyday, and videos are going to make the connection busier."
skasper (off working on a project...be back soon): "Wow...check out all of the sentiment against this!!!! I too am opposed to video on Flickr....at least the Flickr that we currently know and usually love. While I acknowledge that many people use Flickr as a depository for their snapshots, many of us are here to improve our art. We are photographers! I also acknowledge that videography is an art....but give them their own space and don't muddy our waters!"
dadodedos: "Sorry, but i'm angry for this last news.......
I think this is a really bad move for Flickr, why video ??? there's a lot of sites that you can put video.......Please !! This is a photo site !!!
Put your video on youtube or others......
NO VIDEO ON FLICKR
NO VIDEO ON FLICKR
NO VIDEO ON FLICKR
NO VIDEO ON FLICKR
NO VIDEO ON FLICKR
NO VIDEO ON FLICKR
NO VIDEO ON FLICKR "
Fighting the criticism in the official help forum mostly seems to be being done by long-term Flickr member
Striatic and Flickr Community Manager
Heather Champ.
It will be interesting to see if the anti-video sentiment on Flickr continues to grow and gain momentum and if Flickr will actually take action on its community's largely negative reaction to the service thus far.
About a year ago Flickr made a decision
to cap Flickr contacts at 3,000 for users. After a lot of protesting from Flickr users over this decision Flickr reversed their decision and allowed unlimited reciprocal contacts.
Personally I don't see Flickr reversing their decision on adding video to the site. Video is a fast growing service on the web and certainly Yahoo wants a piece of this pie. With the huge user base that Flickr represents, the opportunity to promote video to this group from a dollars/cents standpoint probably means more to Yahoo! than how a small but vocal group of hardcore Flickr photographers feel about the service.
What's more, prior to their Yahoo takeover announcement,
Microsoft had indicated that they would be launching a photo/video combo site to compete with Flickr. If/when Microsoft takes over Flickr, I would assume that they would rather the site contain both video and photos rather than a photo only site.
Perhaps the simplest answer in the short-term for Flickr would be to offer filtering technology to filter video out of your Flickr experience. They already have filtering technology that allows users to opt out of seeing screenshot images, for instance, on Flickr. They also have filtering technology allowing people to opt out of adult content on Flickr. By creating an option to allow users to opt out of video on Flickr this would alleviate some of the concern from some of the early critics of this service.
On the other hand, if too many people opted out of the video experience on Flickr, it might lose momentum and not achieve the success that promoting it to the entire Flickrverse might have.
Comments
it should be photos only its diluting the
service
Posted 4 months ago.
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I'm not sure if the majority of (active)
Flickr users are against it or if those who
are against it like to make a lot of noise.
I've heard just as many enthousiastic
reactions from other Flickr contacts of mine.
I won't upload video myself but I actually
like seeing video of some of my contacts,
too.
Posted 4 months ago.
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it was only a matter of time... i am
indifferent
i would consider myself "old
skool" flickr and not one of
my contacts has a protest chot up in my
contacts page.
Posted 4 months ago.
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This is what happen when Flickr being bought
over by big corporate entity (i.e. Yahoo)....
Posted 4 months ago.
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I'm totally ok with it: I've seen a
smattering of the offerings and I really
think that the 90 sec limitation was
brilliant.
I think 90-second-and-less gems will come
out of this, by talented videographers, just
in the same way flickr has brought out so
many talented photographers
Posted 4 months ago.
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www.flickr.com/groups/no_video_on_flickr/disc
uss/72157604...
Posted 4 months ago.
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I wonder why they have decided to go down
this route ... they should at least allow
filtering (as has been said before) that way
I dont have to fill my screen up with babys
puking on themselves and semi-naked chicks ..
oh wait .. :)
Posted 4 months ago.
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Who cares if it is video or photos when it is
all self-expression.
People, please get a grip.
Posted 4 months ago.
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At first I really didn't like the sound of
it, but, if they stick to the 90 second
format then I think it'll be interesting. But
that doesn't mean I'll be posting videos
anytime soon.
And remember as with many things, there
could be a silent majority of users who are
quite happy to see videos on flickr, they
just can't be bothered to shout about it.
( I agree with plemeljr 100% )
Posted 4 months ago.
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Yawn. It's a non-issue, and I think it's
ridiculous to conclude that reaction is
"largely negative" based on your
Contacts page and on some forum whining.
People don't have to post or play videos if
they don't want to. And for those of us who
look at Flickr as a community and enjoy
getting glimpses into each other's worlds,
video provides two very rich new dimensions
-- motion and sound -- for doing so.
Me? I'm saying yes .
Posted 4 months ago.
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Thanks for raising awareness.
I joined & signed.
Posted 4 months ago.
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we should have been asked how we felt about
it
i think the deception that is so beautiful
is that some of us have seen each other's
worlds through still photos and will be
tempted to share some moving stuff
however, it is a total watering down of the
basic concept of still photography, which,
imo, is radically different than video
i heard a weird rumor yesterday right
before the video thing got added that
microsoft took over yahoo!
but nothing online confirmed it...
Posted 4 months ago.
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Posted 4 months ago.
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Non-issue. maybe a filter option. Let's
hear from the slient majority! ? !
Posted 4 months ago.
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I'm not really 100% either direction. I'd
probably prefer flickr to be video free, but
at the same time, flickr isn't the
be-all-end-all of photography for me.
Honestly, I wouldn't stop taking photos and
learning if flickr ceased to exist. I would
upload photos to flickr even if no one ever
saw them for the simple reason that it lets
me be expressive in some way. I was a
photographer before flickr, and i'll be a
photographer when flickr is gone.
Flickr is a service and a tool just like
everything else out there on the internet. If
they want to add video, it doesn't change my
life one bit. The flip-side of that is that
there are people here who got in to
photography because of flickr... and i can
imagine they are the most upset about this.
Posted 4 months ago.
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personally, I don't mind the whole video
thing so long as it does not turn into a
youtube kind of environment... where it is
filled with all kinds of tv show clips etc...
if these are "made by me" kind of
videos... like how I think of vimeo then it
might be a nice feature.
But I think it will be difficult to police
the kinds of stuff on here... much like how
we currently have scads of photos taken from
other sites... videos may well water down the
whole photo aspect - shame they just did not
create a sister site and have a way for
people to connect them that wanted to
participate in the two.
well, we all know they will do as they
please... so it is just a wait and see and if
the whole thing craps out and turns into
youtube then people will just end up
migrating to other sites to enjoy and share
photography.
Sites, like people, do come and go.
Posted 4 months ago.
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er, um, is the silent majority STILL
silent?!?!?!
damn, is that why they call them the silent
majority?
i like the filter idea, cuz i don't want to
have slough through a bunch of video image
holders to look at photographs...
i think a major point is that flickr's
mission statement was to be a public and
private PHOTO share site.
is that your peanut butter in my chocolate?
oh, and once again, th, thanks for taking
the time to address these kinds of issues.
people seem to fail to realize the importance
of these kinds of shifts, regardless of
whether we can do anything about them
remember those goofy red ribbons and the
taped mouths??!!?! hahaha, talk therapy is
for shit!
Posted 4 months ago.
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Indifferent. This feels no different than
the "uproar" over the acquisition
by Yahoo! I saw a lot of the same threads
back then as I'm seeing now: "Which
site should we jump to now that this ship is
sinking?" "When will you cancel
your pro membership?" etc.
The sky was certainly falling.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but since Yahoo!
acquired Flickr they (Flickr) have
experienced exponential growth, have they
not? If you've developed your own community
here on Flickr, you're not going anywhere,
there in lies the rub of all successful
social networks. Until something truly
better comes along, there is no mass
migration (But when there is something
better, the users they are a fickle bunch are
they not? Does anybody remember Friendster?
I didn't think so.) As of today, there's
still no photos site with better
functionality, better ways to share/showcase
photos with like-minded photographers, better
groups, better depth of tagged searchable
content, etc. Flickr has a lead in so many
areas it's a tough switch right now.
A filtering option would be nice for the
vocal minority, and that's what I believe it
is, a vocal minority. There are always those
who fear change and who want to rage against
the machine for something. I have a feeling
(the standard bearer for all accurate
statistical comparisons) these are the types
of people who fill up message boards.
I love Flickr, I really really do. I spend
an inordinate amount of my time here, but
people need to get some perspective. If you
see a video here and there, which I assume
you won't click on, and it "ruins"
your experience, then you have a lot more
emotionally invested in a $25 dollar online
service than I do.
And one last note, what's with the timing
of these protests? Flickr Video has been in
the hopper for over a year since mentioned as
"coming soon" by Stewart
Butterfield. And as recently as last month
it was publicized on various web sites as
"coming in April." Where were the
petitions, etc. during that time leading up
to the launch? It's just curious to me that
it's a reactive response instead of a
proactive response.
Posted 4 months ago.
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Who needs just another video hosting site?
Don't know if it is good or bad yet. I still
find the possible hostile Microsoft takeover
more worrying and a reason to leave Flickr if
it happens.
Posted 4 months ago.
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We obviously live in a "Me too"
world! You can hardly claim Yahoo!s
integration of video clips into Flickr is
pushing boundaries and whilst I can
understand that Yahoo! might want a
"piece of the pie" why does it have
to pollute what was, until this week, a great
photo sharing site.
Its interesting to note that since Yahoo!
took over Flickr has all sorts of bugs and
periods when it has fallen over or becomes
unusably slow. The worry is, that if video is
added things are only going to get worse.
At the end of the day I too think that
there is little chance of them removing the
feature now its been launched. Especially
when you consider how long they've been
talking about doing this. However they need
to add an "Opt me out of video"
preference to the account settings pretty
sharp.
--
Seen on my Flickr home page. (? )
Posted 4 months ago.
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I don't mind the videos, but I strongly agree
that if they remain, there should be various
filtering options so that members can screen
them out of searches, groups, sets, etc.
Posted 4 months ago.
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People over react much. Months ago when I
heard people talk about video on flickr I
thought it was a bad idea, but I was going to
hold my judgment until it actually happened.
Now that is has happened, I think it is still
too early to judge.
I think people are having a knee jerk
reaction to video. I think that is it hard
to say what this will do to flickr. Being
worried that the sight is not a good reason
to stop the growth of the site.
So far Flickr has done a good job not
making this a YouTube clone. Lets see what
it does to the community.
The important thing here is that Flickr
cannot stay the same. If it stays the same
it will not grow. a lack of growth is death.
Just staying in the same place will not
sever flickr users well in the end.
BTW, not seeing videos by default is a
silly feature request. You need to click on
the videos to see them. They are not playing
as thumb nails or on the photo
Posted 4 months ago.
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i wonder if all these people who are outraged
at the inclusion of video on flickr are the
same ones that climbed a tree when yahoo
bought flickr and threatened to leave?!? :-)
...just wait unitl the microsoft takeover
is complete!! hehe.
Posted 4 months ago.
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me again : ) [deleted] says:
i think its cool. ipernity allows it all...
music, video and photos. if you are not into
videos... do not watch them, but i bet their
will be some some great ones.
Posted 4 months ago.
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In the Forum thread I suggested that they
make it a standalone site or give Flickr
photographers the ability to opt out of
video. On the other hand, one can simply
ignore them, provided that the Flickr
experience (download times, hiccups, etc.) is
not adversely affected by the additional
bandwidth required for the videos.
--
Seen in my contacts' photos. (? )
Posted 4 months ago.
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there's already enough junk accounts on
flickr where people are posting porn, this is
going to make the problem *much* worse.
Posted 4 months ago.
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I'm WAY too busy not doing my job and surfing
Flickr to care about this.
Posted 4 months ago.
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I have no issue with people wanting to create
and share videos, or any other media type for
that matter. But what I do object to is that
I specifically joined and paid for my account
as it provides me with a forum to display my
photography and to look at others
photographic work. If I want to see video
content then I use my uTube account to do
that. I also feel that as a collective group
of paying individuals we should have some
consultation in to how Flickr works and
operates.
I thought that the ethos behind Flickr was
original, unique and something to be part of
away from the rest of the
"done-to-death" social network
sites on the internet - it appears not.......
Posted 4 months ago.
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I say no... if you want video go to youtube..
Flickr hhas always been about photos... !
--
Seen in my contacts' photos. (? )
Posted 4 months ago.
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No videos on Flickr!!
First Microsoft, now this!? C'mon!!
Digg this bad news!
Posted 4 months ago.
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Video fits in nicely so far. I'll be making
use of it. The 90 sec limit and pro only
restriction ensures that Flickr won't turn
into YouTube.
People are complaining even though it
hasn't become an issue.
Everybody loves a bandwagon.
Posted 4 months ago.
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One more step closer to Flickr becoming like
any other website...
Posted 4 months ago.
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Heh, my daughter agrees!
Posted 4 months ago.
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With the recent drops in views and comments
over the last months, who cares about
video....photos barely get hits! By not
renewing pro accounts, perhaps they may feel
something, but they'll do whatever the hell
they want.
Posted 4 months ago.
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I think it's very nice to be able to put a video about making my synthetic focus photos in same set with the photos in question It'll make
commenting and things a lot easer.
I understand we don't want this becoming
another vast wasteland of youtube pirated
videos, and I think the 90 second rule will
do most of that work for us.
I like the videos, and I think they should
stay. It's just going to take some getting
used to, is all.
--Mike--
Posted 4 months ago.
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I my opinion the photography can really
represent a shape of art expression and not
simply a technical process. In Flickr we have
many examples of authors who realize with
technical means true art works. I think that
something of similar can be obtained also
with a video but the two "artistic
products", even if artistic, are
however extremely different and it is
inopportune to accommodate them in the same
atmosphere. Why not launch a new site with
the same characteristics (evidently winning
on the economic plan) of Flickr that could
call VideoFlickr or something of similar? I
suspect the actual operation reflect a
precise economic calculation fruit exclusive
of the concept "business is business”.
Friends, we express our disappointment and
dissent but I fear some thousand "Not
Video!" will not serve to change mind to
who has sure already calculated the economic
advantages. I hope myself to make a mistake.
Posted 4 months ago.
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Article and group now on CNET ! Great article and post again Thomas!
www.news.com/8301-13580_3-9915424-39.html?par
t=rss&su...
Posted 4 months ago.
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Seldon72 [deleted] says:
Posted 4 months ago.
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"the early sentiment from existing
Flickr users appears to be largely
negative"
i'd think you'd know better than to
simplify things like this
as if you don't know how these things go
the ones with big mouths of course will get
up in arms.
personally -- i think those who are anti
video are being silly and reactionary
let's ban digital photography. and all
these illustrations with their "no
flickr video" handwaving.
i'll do my part and mark them as non-photos
each time i come across them.
j.
Posted 4 months ago.
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i agree with you jon...
the anti-video crowd should be tagging
their protest images as non-photos, thereby
living up to their demanded standard of
flickr.
the whole thing is silly. if you don't
like the video feature no one is forcing you
to post one. if your contacts are all posting
videos that look like youtube ripoffs, then
maybe they shouldn't be your contact?!? the
flickr universe is already full of photos and
images that i have no interest in looking
at...how is video any different? don't like,
don't look at it.
Posted 4 months ago.
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if it doesn't effect the site's performance,
i really don't care -- I'll still be here for
photos (i've weathered the Yahoo transition
and the labeling of my account unsafe -- it's
a great community here) and I'll still use
my youtube account for videos (which are few
and far between)..... do we really need
another way to waste our time.... go
outside.... spend some time in the sun....
if you don't like the videos, don't look at
them -- that's freedom....
Posted 4 months ago.
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I don't feel 'threatened' by videos but if
allowed to freely mix (and not isolated as a
totally separate option / subsite at the very
start of a navigation tree) will
significantly dilute the value most true
flickerites receive here, which will drive
many of us away from the platform.
And away we will go together, in numbers -
because you can't destroy communities, only
the platforms where they used to meet.
Potential shot-in-the-foot for Yahoo, showing
they don't 'get' 2.0 at all .
(I never expected Microsoft to be 'getting
it', but am disappointed about Yahoo).
Posted 4 months ago.
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okay, so i got some scoop:
money.cnn.com/2008/04/09/technology/moritz_ya
hoo_google.f...
this one is for all of you who have little
ideas about how corporate warfare works, so
go check it out
and, on the topic of increasing hand-held
surveillance, i think it would do a lot of
people a lot of good to understand that any
push that increases the use of video
surveillance attention is a benefit to
policing activities and also privacy losses
-- all of these are direct and anti-patriotic
strategies for corporate takeover of national
identities. so if any of you really actually
give a shit about your national identity,
take some time to educate yourselves!!! this
isn't about entertainment
sure, one can say that 25$ a year is the
issue, but at a deeper level, as corporations
compete for your buying dollar, oops, i mean
CREDIT, these issues are so much further
beyond your little "fee" for
storing photos and now videos
i guess americans aren't just fat,
medicated and naive these days, they're just
plain ignorant of what is happening to their
"country". and they obviously
don't understand the dark underbelly of
illegal sales, tax evasion and illicit
pornography that is hidden by fake privacy
options on sites like flickr. but hey, most
americans only know the phrase "patriot
act" and have never bothered to read the
damn thing...
Posted 4 months ago.
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Posted 4 months ago.
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Εσείς θέλετε βιντεο στο Flickr;
Posted 4 months ago.
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Hi, I'm an admin for a group called we say YES and NO to video! , and we'd love to have this added to the
group!
Posted 4 months ago.
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Posted 3 months ago.
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