Flick Off..!..?..!

Ever since Yahoo! bought the company behind Flickr in 2005 a revolt has been growing in the Flick community. In a clause in Flickr's FAQ, Yahoo said it will "migrate" all independent account holders to its own network, requiring them to create a Yahoo ID, members must migrate before March 15th. A suprisingly huge number of Flickr members have stated that "If Flickr really forces me to join Yahoo in order to still use my account, I will quit 24 hours before the deadline". A "Flick off" group has been been formed which is basically a Flickr Accounts Mass Suicide Countdown group all stating that they will close their account with the message "Flick off" in the days leading up to the merge. Ok, so Yahoo! is imposing a few new rules, limiting users to 3000 contacts and 75 tags per picture which isn't great, especially for those who have over 3000 contacts and somehow feel that a single photo can merit over 75 descripters (where do they find the time!!?). As a web developer I understand the reasons behind streamling systems like this and merging user ids, it's annoying to begin with but you get over it and it may make life easier in the long term so that everything can 'mash'. But behind the technicalities I do feel that the dissension here in part is a resistance to change and a deep-rooted distrust of mega-corporations possessed with wallet assaulting tentacles. Flickr began as grass-roots and now it is seen to be turning into a corporate giant possessing a team of marketing droids with acute data mining capabilities. I have to say I don't really care - I was a Yahoo! user and signed up with a Yahoo! ID, I love Flickr, I'll be sad if I loose any of my contacts who want to flick off. But, old Flickr schoolies, the only thing that can be permenant in this world is change, try some deep breathing exercisies!

Links
Read Flickr's announcement on the 30th January