Now I loves me some Flickr; really, I do. But today was a day I had rued for a long time. Today was the day Flickr decided to have all the old members merge their accounts with the Yahoo! ID system.
Like both Owen and Bryan, I don’t care much for this. First of all I can’t get ‘Heilemann’ as a Yahoo ID, since it’s already taken, so I have to fall back on another ID I made back when the dinosaurs walked the earth or make a new one. I know, it seems like a small thing, but that sensation of having been an early adopter of Flickr seems to have been stamped away with this merger…
Now before I launch into my second point, let me just say that I think Yahoo does do some things very well. Their image search for instance is — oddly — way beyond Google image search, and so I use it quite a lot.
Another thing is, I just don’t trust Yahoo as much as I trust Flickr. Yes, Flickr is owned by Yahoo, but I’ll bet you it is a hell of a lot harder for Flickr to touch the Yahoo ID user database than it is for them to touch the Flickr user database. And with 3500 images with accompanying metadata and comments tied up in Flickr, I really don’t want to feel insecure about my connection with Flickr.
And then of course there’s the fact that Yahoo just feels like a web 0.9 site. And that’s fine since I use it so very rarely. But juxtapose that with Flickr’s slickness and you have a problem. Now I move around on Flickr’s site while working with their tools, and when I want to edit my profile, what happens? That’s right, Yahoo interface hell. NOOoooooo… Also, I saw an option in my Yahoo ID interface which said ‘Ask for password’ and then I could choose between 10 minutes or so and 2 weeks… That had better not be what I think it is. Gamespot is already doing this, and it drives me crazy! (Andy, whom I trust to have his facts straight, says it ain’t so)
All in all, it’s seemingly a small thing, and I’m sure the benefits for Flickr as a company are great. But I nonetheless feel that not only have I lost some of my personal connection to Flickr, but the new Web also lost some of its youth power.
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I completely agree with you Michael. I’m an “old skool” user and I also feel I’ll miss something using a Yahoo Id.
Probably Yahoo is trying to get his missing Web 1.1
And exactly for the very same reasons Michael… I will be saying goodbye to flickr. If they cannot honour the same Ids… i will take back my pictures elsewhere… far better to my own domain… which doesnt need ‘having a massage’ as often as flickr does. Besides, I DONOT want another email. Business models should be made to aid users instead this is just the other way around…
I feel the same…the Flickr interface is GREAT, and the Yahoo! one….not so much ;-) I hope Flickr influences Yahoo!, rather than the other way around
A few notes: 1. You still keep your Flickr screenname on the site, and nobody ever sees your Yahoo! username. It’s just for authentication. 2. Editing your Flickr profile is all in the Flickr UI, not Yahoo. 3. Your Flickr cookie is permanent, and you won’t be asked to log in every couple weeks.
I just don’t want to lose that flickr feel, I know that they are owned by Yahoo but moving over to a yahoo id makes me feel like I am owned too….
ahhh man… have a sh*t load of space and dreamhost, might just move everything over to zenphoto…
man this sucks..
Michael: tell me about it. I didn’t have a Yahoo! ID before; never needed one, never wanted one. I knew this was coming — they mentioned it ages ago — but that doesn’t make it any easier to swallow. Obviously when I signed up the name I wanted (my usual ‘ionfish’; a handle from the old days) wasn’t available; I had to take the rather pedestrian ‘b_eastaugh’ instead.
I signed up to Flickr, not Yahoo!. Just because the latter bought the former doesn’t mean they had to integrate in this fashion, to the detriment of those only interested in the Flickr portion of Yahoo!‘s services. I have no doubt there would have been ways round the supposed issues, if they had wanted to work round them. Which, obviously, they didn’t, which just goes to reinforce the impression that they don’t care about their users as much as they did before the buyout. Not unexpected, but not pleasant nonetheless.
It sucks indeed.
I was reminded that Flickr is Yahoo, and that I dislike Yahoo for their unsimple designs. I’ll be leaving Flickr as soon as ZenPhoto gets upgraded enough.
I just got the same message on Flickr as you did. You did a great job of summing up pretty much all of the same problems that I do with the merge.
Goodbye, “Old Skool” status :-(
I’m also an old skool member and I don’t like Yahoo. But I do like Flickr and that’s why I stay. For me Flickr offers a great service, a great community and that’s why I don’t care about a stupid Yahoo! login (which I’ll have already forgotten by tomorrow). Flickr is not Yahoo.
I just had that same feeling of dread about having to switch to a yahoo ID. Luckily I’ve already switched to using zooomr to store my photos and have just been clinging on to some of the groups in flickr. This gives me the perfect chance to switch away completely and not have to remember to maintain both. Farewell flickr, it was good while it lasted.
Perhaps the “several large projects launching this year” mentioned by flickr will make it worth it. Unless it involves making flickr ‘yahoo photos’.
not sure whats going to happen all I know is that i just takes away a little more from the nice feeling that you were dealing with flickr and not yahoo.
mmm i started receiving spam in my “alternate” account registered in yahoo…
or it’s a really big coincidence or yahoo sucks…
Has anybody else noticed that when you do sign in through Yahoo! that you get the choice of sending your password over either a secure or unsecure link, and that the default is set UNSECURE
I’d already hit submit before I realised that my password was being sent out on a standard http connection. That’s poor.
And before anybody else says it: I usually check that the connection is secure, but well, you’d expect that a company the size of Y! would know better.
I don’t usually disagree with you Michael (or you Joen), but really, what’s the problem? The only thing that’ll change is the username – the rest, the whole experience, is the same.
Also, do you really need a seperate login page to feel special?
Amit: You don’t get Yahoo email automatically when you sign up for an account. You actually have to sign up for it especially.
I merged about 5 minutes ago, which is a shame because was always proud of being an old skool user every time I had to sign in.
Thats exacty what I meant James John Malcolm. I am not going to get a Yahoo account just to stay connected to flickr.
Amit: You said you don’t want another email (implying that one gets an account when one signs up for a Yahoo account).
I said, you don’t get another email (when you sign up for a Yahoo account).
So how can I have said exactly what you meant?
Plus, you got a Flickr account especially for Flickr, so what’s the big deal with getting a Yahoo one (for Flickr, and has no impact other than changing the username you log in with) ?
For me it is not such a big step. I switched to YID a few months ago, but I’m also an early user of Flickr. I like it and I like my screenname. But heck, I don’t care which login form I use to get into flickr beautifulness. And you have to admit that everyone of us has got an old, dusty YID somewhere, don’t you? ;-)
sigh
Just few days ago I deleted my Yahoo! account. Bad timing :(
I have a yahoo id (I think). Of course, I never used it, and got it years ago. No wonder I can’t remember the password. I don’t even know if I used an external email in the registration, and if I did is it one I can still access?
Personally? .. this is a pain in the ass.
I don’t want a Yahoo ID. I have far too many ID’s as it is and having to get yet another, just to access flickr, is really a turn off.
Sure, Yahoo are no doubt trying to ‘streamline’ by being all attracted by the ‘single sigon on’ mantra and attempting to make it easier to access multiple systems.
I also don’t use any of Yahoo’s other services – so I’d be changing accounts, “just because”.
I don’t like it, but it won’t keep me from using Flickr.
BBC has something on this too…. man funny
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6316761.stm
I changed account today to yahoo id. I didnt get my nick too .( dont like it, but I love flickr, sooo …
Not using a Yahoo ID was the last freedom from Yahoo lameness.
C’est la vie, it’ll work until Google builds a flickr killer.
So how long until del.icio.us goes the same way?
I merged mine, but I’m not happy. I’m actively looking for a self-hosted alternative; ideally one which can handle user registration, groups and the like. Or I could get pro-active and build one.
I’ve been with flickr since the beginning, but find myself using twango (http://www.twango.com/) more and more.
I don’t have a Flickr account and it always annoyed me that I had to have an account to comment on a Photo on Flickr. And now I will have to have a Yahoo account to comment? I am sorry – but I don’t think so.
I use 23hq.com for my photo-sharing – and what is really nice is that friends and family don’t have to have an account or to login in order to comment (it is more like a blog) – and I will quickly admit that I know the people who developed the service – so I am not unbiased here :-)
But in general I am really tired of everybody (newspapers, browsers, blogging-services) trying to lock me up – when all I want is to take part in a conversation that is going on across sites and services and platforms – please make it easier – not more difficult!