2 posts tagged “yahoo”

Lolceoz

Found on Flickr here
Original source UserFriendly

The most wonderful fight is occurring in Flickr land right now as I type. Flickr have decided to make a few changes to how the system works, in a nutshell (Austin Powers imitators will be hunted down) these are...

• A maximum cap on the number of contacts to 3000 contacts
• A maximum cap on the number of phototags to 75
• Mandatory requirement to use a Yahoo ID instead of the old Flickr mail ID's

Back? OK then; there are a couple of things that I find really interesting. First up is that I'm wondering whether the Flickr team had any inclination of the depth of anti-Yahoo feeling in the Flickr community. Everyone has a pet 'hate' company, I mean, who hasn't diss'd Microsoft at one time or another. The Flickr community is verhment though, there is a real sense of HATE and distrust towards Yahoo and dissappointment with the Flickr guardians. Did the Flickr team have any idea of this depth of feeling, does Yahoo KNOW their brand is held in such low esteem by the users of the communities that they support? Surely they would have approached things differently if they had an inkling of how much the community disliked Yahoo?

The other really interesting thing in this little bruhaha is the role being played by Thomas Hawk, this one really has me intrigued. Thomas (a pen name) if you have never heard the name before wears several public hats, among them he is a popular blogger and also an avid photographer with a VERY active Flickr photostream. He has over 5000 contacts associated with his Flickr account, so it's fair to say he will be impacted significantly by the change. Thomas has weighed into the discussions with very strong opinions (as is his right) against the Flickr changes. That said, Thomas is also the the CEO for the start up, ZooomR, another photo sharing site in competition to, or perhaps an alternative to Flickr. TH is very clear and upfront about his Zooomr association in his Flickr posts and I guess this is for the sake of full disclosure. However what intrigues me most is how Yahoo/Flickr must react to this in private, it must really chafe them to have the CEO of the upstart 'new-kid' offering as a PowerUser on their own services publically getting stuck into them. I would pay to be a fly on the wall in the Yahoo offices to hear what they are saying:

{The scene: An angry mob gather outside Yahoo central. The camera pans across the crowd, picks out the handsome Mr Hawk, played by Pierce Brosnan perhaps, who weilds the bullhorn and the crowd rallies to his cry...}
The Mob : Yahoo sucks! Flickr rules! We wont use your bloody tools!
{The camera pans up to the 101st floor of the Yahoo golden tower where two dangerous looking men discuss dark deeds...}
Yahooligan 1: SO...this Hawk character, do we send the boys around to break his fingers?
Yahooligan 2: May be concrete shoes...
{In the distance...} Flickr Staff: Wow look at the kitten...
The Mob: 1.....2.....3....4.....We wont log in any more.......
Yahooligan 1: I'm packing the lead pipe
Yahooligan 2: Cool, I've sent his email address to Yahoo Shopping, Yahoo Groups and the Nigerian Spammers
The Mob: 5....6....7....8....'cos Yahoo's service aint so great
Yahooligan 1:  Oh you dirty bastard, I like the way you think
{Camera fades to black, the two evil looking men exit stage left laughing their Dick Darstardly laughs}
Flickr Staff : Ooooo,  Looook!  Another Flower! Its the Intrestingness page for you.

In all seriousness though, the dynamics that this change are kicking up are really interesting to watch and I cant help but think that the poor Flickr staff are stuck in the middle between the corporate owner and the irate users. They do a great job and provide a brilliant service (yes! I am a huge Flickr fanboy) but stuck between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea where can they go?

Good Luck Flickr.