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Flickr to be acquired by Smugmug

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  • 23-04-2018 11:41am
    #1
    5rtytry56
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,828 ✭✭✭


    Vote. Personally I don't like the deal, having going Flickr in September 2012. I may close down my Flickr profile.
    Mids feel free to move thread to another forum if need be

    "As a Flickr account holder how do I feelsmumug are taking Flickr over. 37 votes

    "this is Great!. "
    0%
    Neutral.
    16%
    OSiriSednwirelandCameramanDaireQuinlanvandriverOmegaGene 6 votes
    Unhappy.
    83%
    Paulwdr strangelovebren2002BacchusEKRIUQfixXxerrgfullerShinyBluefoamBalfey1972Lambsbreadrun_Forrest_runGBXhomerun_homerSabre ManechterEyeCakeIrishHomerAdrian.Sadliersdevine89 31 votes


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    #2
    awec
    Administrators Posts: 53,447 Admin ✭✭✭✭✭awec


    Never heard of smugmug til I got the email.


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    #3
    DaireQuinlan
    Registered Users Posts: 6,679 ✭✭✭DaireQuinlan


    Neutral.
    I've been on flickr since 2006. Yahoo never really knew what to do with it, and Verizon would likely have driven the entire thing into the ground, so SmugMug buying it out is probably a good thing. So long as I get to keep my grandfathered in pro account with my unlimited space I'm happy, though that, I suspect, might be the first thing to go. I'd say they're likely to start restricting the free accounts as well.


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    #4
    thebaz
    Registered Users Posts: 13,589 ✭✭✭✭thebaz


    DaireQuinlan wrote: »
    I've been on flickr since 2006. Yahoo never really knew what to do with it, and Verizon would likely have driven the entire thing into the ground, so SmugMug buying it out is probably a good thing. So long as I get to keep my grandfathered in pro account with my unlimited space I'm happy, though that, I suspect, might be the first thing to go. I'd say they're likely to start restricting the free accounts as well.

    think i started using flickr at the same time as boards way back in 2005 - Flickr seamed to have gone a bit stale lately , your probably right and they will restrict unlimited space with Pay accounts - - think they will be merging images to Smug Mug so hopefully images will continue to saved as they are , and they wont try and reduce size of images or something in the merge , to save space , there is a lot of images (and videos) on flickr !!!


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    #5
    uck51js9zml2yt
    Closed Accounts Posts: 18,268 ✭✭✭✭uck51js9zml2yt


    Unhappy.
    according to the faqs, they are being kept separate but the t&c's will be from smugmug


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    #6
    Bacchus
    Registered Users Posts: 4,699 ✭✭✭Bacchus


    Unhappy.
    I'm a SmugMug customer of about 3 years now and I think they're a fantastic service, and great value. I've never used Flickr so I've no idea how this will impact that service or how Flickr will improve SmugMug, so I'm neutral on this one. One thing I have gleaned though from what I've read is that SmugMug are a more suitable parent company for Flickr, as in they know the business and photography is there market, whereas Yahoo is... what is Yahoo anymore?


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    #7
    homerun_homer
    Registered Users Posts: 7,024 ✭✭✭homerun_homer


    Unhappy.
    I've never heard of them and I've not a clue what they do. I watched a video off of flickr and it didn't explain anything, just showed people taking pictures. Anyone able to enlighten me?:pac:


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    #8
    awec
    Administrators Posts: 53,447 Admin ✭✭✭✭✭awec


    homerun_homer wrote: »
    I've never heard of them and I've not a clue what they do. I watched a video off of flickr and it didn't explain anything, just showed people taking pictures. Anyone able to enlighten me?:pac:
    Seems to be some sort of photo management site that lets you build a portfolio website but also does printing.


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    #9
    5rtytry56
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,828 ✭✭✭5rtytry56


    homerun_homer wrote: »
    I've never heard of them and I've not a clue what they do. I watched a video off of flickr and it didn't explain anything, just showed people taking pictures. Anyone able to enlighten me?:pac:
    "I'm glad you asked me that question"
    I used Google Picasa and even installed the app on my windows 10 pc . Then Google killed Picasa. But in 2012
    as an insurance policy I joined Flickr.

    So yes, I will be crawling back with the tail between my legs to Google Photos. Google, All is forgiven. :P


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    #10
    uck51js9zml2yt
    Closed Accounts Posts: 18,268 ✭✭✭✭uck51js9zml2yt


    Unhappy.
    90 posts on this forum over the years on smugmug

    https://www.boards.ie/search/submit/?query=smugmug&forum=27


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    #11
    LimeFruitGum
    Registered Users Posts: 1,002 ✭✭✭LimeFruitGum


    Unhappy.
    I couldn’t find much useful or practical information in Flickr about the merger. I sent Flickr some follow up questions, but not a peep off them so far.
    Hard to say how it will go. I had never heard of Smugmug either. My Flickr is a private photo archive, I don’t want to be forced into making them public, sharing and liking. I have Instagram for the fancy show-off social stuff. :)


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    #12
    Bacchus
    Registered Users Posts: 4,699 ✭✭✭Bacchus


    Unhappy.
    My guess would be that SmugMug won't rock the Flickr boat. What would be the point in paying all that money to acquire Flickr's services and (probably more importantly) community of photographers, to then piss every off by changing the T&Cs. I reckon SmugMug will be looking to tap into the Flickr community to drive more business into SmugMug and maybe expand the services SmugMug can offer.


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    #13
    thebaz
    Registered Users Posts: 13,589 ✭✭✭✭thebaz


    so , unlimited storage is gone today - 1,000 photos limit -

    Pro is 49 dollars annually , on offer for November - i will probaly go with it - what do others think ? - unlimited storage for free was nevergoing to stay forever - as per Pix.ie story.


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    #14
    Alanstrainor
    Moderators, Motoring & Transport Moderators Posts: 23,157 Mod ✭✭✭✭Alanstrainor


    thebaz wrote: »
    so , unlimited storage is gone today - 1,000 photos limit -

    Pro is 49 dollars annually , on offer for November - i will probaly go with it - what do others think ? - unlimited storage for free was nevergoing to stay forever - as per Pix.ie story.

    1TB storage with Amazon is 59 dollars a year. I'd rather go with amazon for security, I doubt amazon will go bust in the next while but this other crowd might.


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    #15
    DaireQuinlan
    Registered Users Posts: 6,679 ✭✭✭DaireQuinlan


    Neutral.
    thebaz wrote: »
    so , unlimited storage is gone today - 1,000 photos limit -

    Pro is 49 dollars annually , on offer for November - i will probaly go with it - what do others think ? - unlimited storage for free was nevergoing to stay forever - as per Pix.ie story.

    well, unlimited storage is still there for Pro users, the 1TB limit is gone for free accounts though, replaced with that 1000 photo limit. I'm not surprised to be honest, Flickr under Meyers was very obviously a numbers game, Smugmug look as though they're pivoting, hoping for quality & community over quantity. A 100% price hike is a bit much though, and the new pro 'incentives' aren't up to much.

    -edit- yeah just checking, they've positioned themselves on the same price bracket as 500PX which is probably what people would think of as the logical replacement for flickr.


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    #16
    mrpdap
    Registered Users Posts: 221 ✭✭mrpdap


    Evening Folks,
    I’ve a flickr account since 2014 but haven’t received any notification from flickr.
    When were you informed?
    Thanks


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    #17
    thebaz
    Registered Users Posts: 13,589 ✭✭✭✭thebaz


    DaireQuinlan wrote: »
    well, unlimited storage is still there for Pro users, the 1TB limit is gone for free accounts though, replaced with that 1000 photo limit. I'm not surprised to be honest, Flickr under Meyers was very obviously a numbers game, Smugmug look as though they're pivoting, hoping for quality & community over quantity. A 100% price hike is a bit much though, and the new pro 'incentives' aren't up to much.

    -edit- yeah just checking, they've positioned themselves on the same price bracket as 500PX which is probably what people would think of as the logical replacement for flickr.

    since the end of pix.ie i use 500px awesome , as well as free version of flickr - will probably upgrade, been with flickr so long , do not think one is better than the other , both have good points (and bad


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    #18
    Irish Guitarist
    Closed Accounts Posts: 5,736 ✭✭✭Irish Guitarist


    There's no way I can justify paying the kind of money they're asking. I'm the furthest thing from a professional photographer that you can get. I think I've occasionally taken some pretty decent photos but they're few and far between and they're not going to stand up to critical analysis.

    I don't make any money from photography and barely anyone looks at what I've uploaded to Flickr. I didn't think of it as somewhere to just store my photos though but there's no way anyone is going to convince me something that was free yesterday is now suddenly €40 plus is a great bargain.

    The way the staff member is responding to people asking questions isn't doing them any favours. Terrible decision made worse by terrible PR.

    https://www.flickr.com/help/forum/en-us/72157702923034264/


    Anyone know of a similar site? It doesn't have to be exactly like Flickr. Reduced file size wouldn't be a problem. I wouldn't even mind paying something, just not what Flick are asking. I'd like to download everything I have on Flickr and put them somewhere else.


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    #19
    Bacchus
    Registered Users Posts: 4,699 ✭✭✭Bacchus


    Unhappy.
    Irish Guitarist wrote: »
    There's no way I can justify paying the kind of money they're asking. I'm the furthest thing from a professional photographer that you can get. I think I've occasionally taken some pretty decent photos but they're few and far between and they're not going to stand up to critical analysis.

    I don't make any money from photography and barely anyone looks at what I've uploaded to Flickr. I didn't think of it as somewhere to just store my photos though but there's no way anyone is going to convince me something that was free yesterday is now suddenly €40 plus is a great bargain.

    The way the staff member is responding to people asking questions isn't doing them any favours. Terrible decision made worse by terrible PR.

    https://www.flickr.com/help/forum/en-us/72157702923034264/


    Anyone know of a similar site? It doesn't have to be exactly like Flickr. Reduced file size wouldn't be a problem. I wouldn't even mind paying something, just not what Flick are asking. I'd like to download everything I have on Flickr and put them somewhere else.

    Just use Google photos so. Unlimited free storage with the condition that the images are compressed by Google.


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    #20
    DaireQuinlan
    Registered Users Posts: 6,679 ✭✭✭DaireQuinlan


    Neutral.
    Irish Guitarist wrote: »
    I don't make any money from photography and barely anyone looks at what I've uploaded to Flickr. I didn't think of it as somewhere to just store my photos though but there's no way anyone is going to convince me something that was free yesterday is now suddenly €40 plus is a great bargain.

    you're probably not the target market so, of more concern to them is the people who were paying €40 yesterday and are now being asked to fork up twice as much for the year. They're banking on the majority shelling out. I have a feeling, along with these concerns about advertising/tracking/privacy, that paid services are going to become more and more common going forward. But there are people who literally will not pay for something that they previously got for free. For them ? Data mining :-D
    The way the staff member is responding to people asking questions isn't doing them any favours. Terrible decision made worse by terrible PR.

    That's the Owner/CEO of smugmug, so the message is on brand and probably pretty deliberate.


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    #21
    thebaz
    Registered Users Posts: 13,589 ✭✭✭✭thebaz


    DaireQuinlan wrote: »
    you're probably not the target market so, of more concern to them is the people who were paying €40 yesterday and are now being asked to fork up twice as much for the year. They're banking on the majority shelling out.

    will old pro users not be able to use the November discount ? which keeps price around 40 euros

    ps the banner page offering this discount and overall changes is now not being being displayed - maybe they are making further amendments


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    #22
    DaireQuinlan
    Registered Users Posts: 6,679 ✭✭✭DaireQuinlan


    Neutral.
    thebaz wrote: »
    will old pro users not be able to use the November discount ? which keeps price around 40 euros

    ps the banner page offering this discount and overall changes is now not being being displayed - maybe they are making further amendments

    Apparently not, justification being that they've kept the price the same for 3 years or something, which predates their takeover by about 2 years of course but whatevs


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    #23
    Bacchus
    Registered Users Posts: 4,699 ✭✭✭Bacchus


    Unhappy.
    DaireQuinlan wrote: »
    I have a feeling, along with these concerns about advertising/tracking/privacy, that paid services are going to become more and more common going forward. But there are people who literally will not pay for something that they previously got for free. For them ? Data mining :-D

    100%

    This is the way industries have been moving for the past 5 years now thanks to the adoption of cloud services. Everything is now "pay as you go"... in the music industry you have Spotify, Google Play, iTunes, Amazon Music and a host of others... film media you have Netflix, Hulu, Amazon TV, Disney are bringing out their own streaming platform, HBO have theirs, and so on. Adobe only sell their photo editing tools on a subscription basis and are even trying to move you completely to the cloud. HP have a service you subscribe to and you getting ink shipped to you when you're running low. Smugmug/Flickr is no different, they're offering a service that you subscribe to.

    If you want free stuff, you have to ask what the provider gets out of that arrangement. Simply put, you are the product. Just look at Facebook as a prime example of this. Google too, you think they host your email, photos, calendar, etc. etc. for free out of the kindness of their hearts. Nope.

    Personally, I much prefer this model of offering services. I have regular (predictable) payments that go out every month (or year if I bill annually) for exactly the service I want. If I decide in the morning I no longer want a specific service I can just cancel it without penalty (unless of course it's an annual bill I opted to pay for it of course).

    As for Smugmug itself (I can't speak to Flikr), I love that service... €4 a month for unlimited photo storage is great. The website is easy to use, the mobile app makes browsing through your photos as easy as if they were on your phone.


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    #24
    ED E
    Registered Users Posts: 36,166 ✭✭✭✭ED E


    Not quite Photobucket bad, but effin close.

    Ciaoooooo.


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    #25
    Irish Guitarist
    Closed Accounts Posts: 5,736 ✭✭✭Irish Guitarist


    This is the first time Flickr will actually be deleting photos en masse. Even when you could only see your latest 200 photos on your page they were still stored on the site, just not readily available.

    I give Flickr a couple of years at most before it's finished. Free users will be the first to go but they'll also lose people with pro accounts who don't log in for a few months then see thousands of their photos deleted. In the end it will be just a few pro users left getting no views because everyone who used to look at their photos has moved on.


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    #26
    TomSweeney
    Registered Users Posts: 3,194 ✭✭✭TomSweeney


    Unhappy.
    What ??? They are going to be deleting photos ??!!!


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    #27
    Irish Guitarist
    Closed Accounts Posts: 5,736 ✭✭✭Irish Guitarist


    TomSweeney wrote: »
    What ??? They are going to be deleting photos ??!!!


    If you have more than 1,000 photos they'll delete the oldest ones unless you either manually delete some yourself or pay for a pro account.


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    #28
    DaireQuinlan
    Registered Users Posts: 6,679 ✭✭✭DaireQuinlan


    Neutral.
    Irish Guitarist wrote: »
    This is the first time Flickr will actually be deleting photos en masse. Even when you could only see your latest 200 photos on your page they were still stored on the site, just not readily available.

    I give Flickr a couple of years at most before it's finished. Free users will be the first to go but they'll also lose people with pro accounts who don't log in for a few months then see thousands of their photos deleted. In the end it will be just a few pro users left getting no views because everyone who used to look at their photos has moved on.

    I don't know that they will. Smugmug isn't free, 500px isn't free (well, has a crappy free tier but it's an upsell). The most damaging thing is ex-pro accounts who gave up their pro membership when Flick started offering the 1TB free storage and are now being asked to renew their pro accounts at twice the price as their previous pro accounts. They may or may not lose a bunch of them but I suspect they're counting on them still being engaged and willing to renew their accounts. Any alternative is roughly the same price or more expensive.


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    #29
    DaireQuinlan
    Registered Users Posts: 6,679 ✭✭✭DaireQuinlan


    Neutral.
    Actually, just to add to this ...
    Irish Guitarist wrote: »
    Free users will be the first to go...

    They WANT free users to go. That's pretty much the bottom line. The basic free user tier will be kept to onboard potentially interested newbies and persuade them that a paid account is the way to go. They're not interested in long term free users. The reason that the hybrid paid/ad model is a failure is because you're essentially doing something that doesn't make any sense, you have a bunch of users with money, but they pay for the service. Then you serve ads to the users without money or without any desire to pay for stuff. This is not a particularly valuable demographic. And Flickr was giving those users 1TB of space. It was never going to pay off.


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    #30
    thebaz
    Registered Users Posts: 13,589 ✭✭✭✭thebaz


    DaireQuinlan wrote: »
    The most damaging thing is ex-pro accounts who gave up their pro membership when Flick started offering the 1TB free storage and are now being asked to renew their pro accounts at twice the price as their previous pro accounts.

    are you sure about that ??

    My understanding from a quick read yesterday , was anyone can become a Pro member at the discount rate for November - which is about 40 euros - didnt see anything about exPro account holders excluded. or was Flick pro - 20 euros for a year ??


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    #31
    5rtytry56
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,828 ✭✭✭5rtytry56


    Wonder what the 17.65 percent of voters who thought "It's great" that smugmug was taking over have to say :-p


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