Flickr is so dead for me

[jyc860923]

I've been a Flickr "Pro" for a few years now and luckily I still have that cheap subscription running. In case some didn't know, Flickr now has been acquired by a competition and the free 1TB for everyone is gone, and "Pro" membership price has doubled.

None of that would be my problem if it works. About half month ago I deleted everything from my Flickr and was thinking that I could use the Flickr Uploadr to automatically backup all my photos online, there are other options for backup but there's nothing I like more than Flickr for backup and sharing for the price I'm paying.

The Flickr Uploadr has this function that it fetches your photo identification data from the server and skips those already in the cloud to avoid duplication. I knew this before deleting everything from my Flickr and I decided to make a fresh start. The problem is, even after the deletion Flickr Uploadr still skips those photos previously uploaded and deleted.

I tried everything, unnecessarily re-installed Windows and I asked the "Pro" customer service about this issue, clearly I can find others reporting the same thing all over their forum but their email reply is like "have you cleared the browser cache?" and "are you using VPNs?" and even "are you seeing this problem on your phone?"

The latest Uploadr version was released in 2016, still has "beta" label on it, I don't know if there's any point communicating with Flickr any more but I sent an email reply anyway. The only solution I can think of is registering a new Flickr user and start paying the doubled fee, how dumb will that be.

 

[muzee]

How does Flickr manage their photo ID data? Just filename or some sort of exif match? It may be worth a shot to do some manipulation (mass rename? mass add exif info) and see if they're still blocked.

 

[muzee]

This may be interesting:
Flickr: The Help Forum: Uploadr - criteria for duplicates

(45 months ago - so quite dated):

Copy and pasted text below -

jeffbargmann says:
Oops! I posted from a test account. Here we go

--

Hi matt,

Our uploaders dedup exclusively based on a file's data. If a file's data exactly matches one that's already been uploaded, it won't go up (Though, we are adding ability to re-upload in a coming version.)

If you think you're seeing dups, please be sure to check the file itself. It's very likely the image is either a different size (i.e. downscaled), rotated (check the dimensions of the originals on Flickr... you may see they do not match), or otherwise recompressed. To test this, download the original file from Flickr for both images and see if their file sizes are the same! If you do see that there's a duplicate with identical file data (not just looks similar but literally identical data) please let us know. The "similar" part we're building tools to solve coming up ​

 

[Kevin]

For a purely backup usage, would something like Dropbox be a better solution? These days Google (Drive and Photos), Microsoft (OneDrive), and Amazon (Photos) all offer products for storing images but a service like Dropbox still seems like a good solution for being able to store untouched files of any type with a cloud based provider.

 

[Tim Williams]

Smugmug acquired Flickr did they not?

 

[jyc860923]

How does Flickr manage their photo ID data? Just filename or some sort of exif match? It may be worth a shot to do some manipulation (mass rename? mass add exif info) and see if they're still blocked.

As far as I can tell it's not file name, it has to be actual content of the file, changing exif may do the trick since it'll change the bytes.

If the quote from their forum post is true, then not even similar photos will be uploaded, without giving user the option which was coming 45 months ago, I don't know what to expect from them.

 

[jyc860923]

For a purely backup usage, would something like Dropbox be a better solution? These days Google (Drive and Photos), Microsoft (OneDrive), and Amazon (Photos) all offer products for storing images but a service like Dropbox still seems like a good solution for being able to store untouched files of any type with a cloud based provider.

Yes, those would make a lot of sense for a private backup, but not quite for sharing, especially none offers bbcode embedding, didn't try Dropbox but G/M/A don't do it.

Smugmug acquired Flickr did they not?

I wonder if they're going to do something good with their purchase, I have my membership until late May, with Flickr Pro a first year 50% off is offered for a new Smugmug user, but I'm not sure if Smugmug does automatic backup.

 

[Tim Williams]

I have started making plans to move my photos. The thing was I hated Flickr, It was linked to Yahoo and I hate Yahoo. I have never used Flickr but I have an account with Smugmug that I am looking to transfer. Put a few on Zenfolio as a test or as others I could go Square Space or Wix. Not desperate at the moment. Not a top priority. Smugmug has really been fairy good but Yahoo website is crap.

 

[JoeLopez]

For a purely backup usage, would something like Dropbox be a better solution? These days Google (Drive and Photos), Microsoft (OneDrive), and Amazon (Photos) all offer products for storing images but a service like Dropbox still seems like a good solution for being able to store untouched files of any type with a cloud based provider.

I use backblaze as my online backup solution - works great!

 

[Tim Williams]

I use backblaze as my online backup solution - works great!

Sounds good. My daughter just stores them in her computer files then processes them and sends them out. She does have CC but doesn't waist a cent elsewhere. I guess I just need a place to look at mine lol.

 

[jyc860923]

I have started making plans to move my photos. The thing was I hated Flickr, It was linked to Yahoo and I hate Yahoo. I have never used Flickr but I have an account with Smugmug that I am looking to transfer. Put a few on Zenfolio as a test or as others I could go Square Space or Wix. Not desperate at the moment. Not a top priority. Smugmug has really been fairy good but Yahoo website is crap.

Zenfolio looks nice, tried squarespace and I don't like it. These site builders are probably for those who want to share their best works instead of doing auto backup I guess? Flickr tries to be both but really isn't that great for backup either.

 

[TraamisVOS]

luckily I still have that cheap subscription running. ..... The only solution I can think of is registering a new Flickr user and start paying the doubled fee, how dumb will that be.

I was under the impression that long term pro subscribers would have to pay the increased fee too, when it's time for the next payment.

 

[Tim Williams]

Square Space sure is sponsoring a lot of you tubers, but your right I didn't care for it that much.

 

[jyc860923]

I was under the impression that long term pro subscribers would have to pay the increased fee too, when it's time for the next payment.

It's not like with Netflix (price hike eh?) which if you decide to cancel you can't unseen what you've watched; Flickr actually will delete your data if a, you stop paying whatever price they ask or b, they die, I'd rather go self-hosted for that price.

 

[TraamisVOS]

It's not like with Netflix (price hike eh?) which if you decide to cancel you can't unseen what you've watched; Flickr actually will delete your data if a, you stop paying whatever price they ask or b, they die, I'd rather go self-hosted for that price.

I don't know what you mean. It is my understanding that all existing pro members pay the increased subscription.

 

[christilou]

I don't know what you mean. It is my understanding that all existing pro members pay the increased subscription.

Mine's due for renewal this month $49.99

 

[kyteflyer]

I've been looking about for an alternative and really, none do quite what Flickr or iPernity do. Its the social aspects that I quite enjoy, as well as seeing such a wide variety of photography all in one place. If one moves to Zenfolio or Smugmug, yes, you get the backup but you lose the rest. Photobucket isnt even on the radar, and those photo sharing sites like imgur and tinypic really arent even in the running unless all you want to do is share the odd photo.

Its Flickr or ipernity or nothing for me. And I can't afford either of them because the Aussie dollar is not worth much and the exchange rate makes it way to expensive for me. eg, today, xe.com tells me I'd be having to pay $70AUD for Flickr, and $66AUD for ipernity (then there are bank fees to shuffle the digits about). Even $50 would be more than I would want to pay. so I'll be pruning my content as I go. I've never been over 1000 pics anyway so its probably not an issue for me, but for some, it will be.

 

[jyc860923]

I don't know what you mean. It is my understanding that all existing pro members pay the increased subscription.

I didn't know that, have to check their website, thanks for the heads up.

 

[TraamisVOS]

Mine's due for renewal this month $49.99

Mine is due some time in the 4th quarter this year, I haven't checked for the specifics but I'm expecting to be hit with the increased subscription fee too.

 

[TraamisVOS]

I've been looking about for an alternative and really, none do quite what Flickr or iPernity do. Its the social aspects that I quite enjoy, as well as seeing such a wide variety of photography all in one place. If one moves to Zenfolio or Smugmug, yes, you get the backup but you lose the rest. Photobucket isnt even on the radar, and those photo sharing sites like imgur and tinypic really arent even in the running unless all you want to do is share the odd photo.

Hi Sue, don't forget Google Photos as an option.

I'm not 100% happy with Flickr but it's still the one I'd rather have when compared with the others. But I've been with Flickr for so long, I'm not sure if it's because I am complacent.