In a way 500px is trying to do what Yahoo tried with the internet: Use humans to “value” photos and curate it. An interesting idea I think, we’ll see if it goes anywhere.

this is why i’m uncomfortable with reddit’s reliance on imgr. could imgr turn down an n-million dolar buyout offer from yahoo? my guess is no.

this post made me realize that flickr might be holding some of my old photos that i dont have on this new computer, but when i search for myself i don’t show up,and i go to my old bookmark i get “this member is no longer active.”

What should happen?
- Should Yahoo sell them to Google so the site can be marginalized like Panoramio, be shoe-horned into the Picassa UI, or stuffed into Google+ to wither amongst the tumbleweeds?
- Should Yahoo sell them to Facebook, to be judged and picked over by family members and co-workers; to be used in Facebook ads; subjecting Flickr users to a crappy/crashy Facebook UI.
- Should Flickr try to follow trends, alienating more people than they please?
- Should Flickr try to be a meme-generator, so it becomes nothing but Dolan Duck images?

If it was up to me:
- Yahoo should sell Flickr off.
- They should focus on better apps.
- Allow users to follow people on Flickr, without the intimacy of being a “contact”.

I hope I didn’t contradict myself during this rant.

I’m not suggesting that digital storage will be around forever either, just wondering out loud if there’s a better solution to archiving shots other than printing them out and making a book like we did a hundred years ago.

In answer to your question, I can’t think of another service that would do as you describe.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/william_joseph_dunn/

I don’t do any social media stuff like Facebook or Twitter, so I don’t feel that Flickr is missing anything for me.

Flickr is primarily for photographers sharing with other photographers and checking in on the work of others I find interesting.  I find them because the photographer community tags and groups their photos or sets.  I have a Facebook page for my stuff but the community there honestly doesn’t seem as interested in viewing shots or commenting on them because it’s socially-based “nice” or “great stuff, you seeing Tim on the weekend?”  Flickr people at least take the time to tell you what is nice or what isn’t working or how a tweak could improve the shot.

Yes, Yahoo! missed the social networking boat.  Yes, they are not the mobile photo sharing site that Instagram is.  But they do have a vibrant community of photographers who use actual instant film.  And medium format.  And night photography.  And people who own and use more than an app on their iPhone. 

If it ends up being a niche the same way that small communities have always been niches, whether they be fans of obscure sports in their locality, hackerspaces, or blogs such as BoingBoing, isn’t that one of the things that people are looking for?  That such communities can exist and flourish in an era of increasing homogeneity is a pretty good thing.  If you’re going to be annoyed that Starbucks puts your local small coffee shop out of business, you can’t be annoyed that Flickr isn’t going to be turning into the be-all, end-all of photo sharing, networking, mobile phone apps.

Instagram and similar services will probably always be on top for grainy, effected snapshots, simply because I doubt people are taking their SLR pictures and passing them through Instagram. I’m OK with Flickr becoming more focused on serious photographers, because it means the community will be more focused.

It amazes me that you endorse an article that is FULL of anonymous sources while at the same time promote this story on the subject of anonymous sources on your home page: http://boingboing.net/2012/05/14/anodyne-anonymity.html

The context is a bit different but not at all far off. 

Who ARE these former Flickr people and who do they work for now? How do I know they aren’t people working for competitive start ups?

Very suspect. 

It’s still better than any other dedicated photo sharing/archiving site. Instagram? I enjoyed it for about a week until all the photos started looking the same.

Still loyal, but maybe my expectations have changed.

Also, I’m happy that Yahoo! is dying a slow, painful death.