Jumping Ship for Flickr?

[John West]

I don't know how Ron can possibly suggest that railfan discussion groups are full of BS. I mean here within just a few posts we have trashed the screeners, gotten in a little sex, and bashed the Quebecois. Talk about efficiency. In some places it would take multiple cocktail parties to accomplish all that.

[ACR_Ted]

Originally Posted by CSX1702

I don't remember giving my number to them. Try again and look for a skip button.

Flickr does now *require* a valid cell phone number so that they can text you a verification code. According to their help forum - no cell phone, no Flickr. Apparently it is a recent change.

I tried putting in my land line number and it was rejected as "not a valid/working cell phone number".

So be it....I'll see what other photo sharing sites are out there....

Ted

[CSX1702]

Originally Posted by ACR_Ted

Flickr does now *require* a valid cell phone number so that they can text you a verification code. According to their help forum - no cell phone, no Flickr. Apparently it is a recent change.

I tried putting in my land line number and it was rejected as "not a valid/working cell phone number".

So be it....I'll see what other photo sharing sites are out there....

Ted

Gotta hate this new era where nothings simple anymore.

[JimThias]

Originally Posted by ACR_Ted

Flickr does now *require* a valid cell phone number so that they can text you a verification code. According to their help forum - no cell phone, no Flickr. Apparently it is a recent change.

I tried putting in my land line number and it was rejected as "not a valid/working cell phone number".

So be it....I'll see what other photo sharing sites are out there....

Ted

What a load of crap that is. Whatever happened to "An email has been sent blah blah blah" for verification? Good thing I got in when I did. No way I'd give them my cell #.

[John West]

Seems to me my verification message came by email. I gave them my home (hard wired) phone not my cell phone and they did not challenge it. In any event my Flickr account seemed to get created with a minimum of issues. Have no idea why my experience was different than others. As a certified technodinosaur, I don't deal with computer and cell phone technical issues very well. Text messages? What are those?

[Ron Flanary]

Originally Posted by John West

I don't know how Ron can possibly suggest that railfan discussion groups are full of BS. I mean here within just a few posts we have trashed the screeners, gotten in a little sex, and bashed the Quebecois. Talk about efficiency. In some places it would take multiple cocktail parties to accomplish all that.

That's great, John!! You're right...all this was done without benefit of alcohol and chit-chat.

[jac_murphy]

Originally Posted by wds

There's bad drivers in Quebec? Shocking!!:twisted

At least we understand the concept of not pulling out in front of a car driving on the highway and forcing them to slam on the brakes while proceeding to drive at 10km/h under the speed limit.

-Jacques

[John West]

I have been on Flickr for several days now, and traffic on my account is picking up (and thanks Ron and some others for their favorites on some of my stuff). As mentioned earlier the Flickr graphics are great, it is easy to browse, and the enlarged versions show off great. But I am reminded of an old retailing rule, too much choice makes it difficult for consumers to choose, to much choice tends to paralyze the decision process. And that is probably Flickr's greatest disadvantage. Once you start browsing the shear volume is overwhelming. So you really have to be selective and learn a few posters to follow. But of course you never know what you are missing. This morning I discovered a Brit "inspiring images" who has some really gangbusters stuff. So it is good to browse occasionally.

The big advantage RP has is it tends to focus your attention on a few good images. They may not be the best or all the good images, but it is easy to enjoy a few at least good images on RP with little effort.

So while I am enjoying Flickr and thank the folks here for putting it on my radar screen, RP definitely has its place (as does my own site, trainorders, and a few others).

I do hope the RP management works to make RP better. For our part, we need to differentiate between endless bitching (which rarely makes anything change) and trying to influence and motivate the RP folks to do something. As an old boss once told me, there is a big difference between constant complaining and persistently trying to make something actually happen. We are talking about a sales pitch, convincing others that they should do something.

[Mgoldman]

Originally Posted by John West

I do hope the RP management works to make RP better.

I'll second that.

...the entire world wide web is much too large a place to check daily. It's a shame a share of some of the best contributors walked away, those with pics removed likely never to come back. Some have stayed however, and then there are new ones and even some who return, sporadically testing the waters.

Time will tell - though a similar thread on RP is celebrating it's one year anniversary.

/Mitch

See my pix here, here and possibly coming soon, yet another link.

[JRMDC]

Originally Posted by John West

I do hope the RP management works to make RP better. For our part, we need to differentiate between endless bitching (which rarely makes anything change) and trying to influence and motivate the RP folks to do something. As an old boss once told me, there is a big difference between constant complaining and persistently trying to make something actually happen. We are talking about a sales pitch, convincing others that they should do something.

Well, until recent presence in this forum, we haven't had the access to RP folks to try our shot at influencing! And think of Mitch's two threads collecting ideas for a better RP (mostly at the nuts and bolts level, which is also important). As far as anyone knows, ignored. Yes there is endless bitching here at times but that is driven by lack of listening by admin. We could have had those conversations with Chris and Chase years ago (and I mean years so, no, it does not seem to be just a server upgrade that limits communication).

John, what else could we have done over the last, say, two years?

[Ron Flanary]

Originally Posted by John West

...But I am reminded of an old retailing rule, too much choice makes it difficult for consumers to choose, to much choice tends to paralyze the decision process. And that is probably Flickr's greatest disadvantage....

Isn't that also true of RP.net? Some of the best of my images (albeit not good scans) were posted eight to ten years ago. No one sees them unless they make a concerted effort to do so. So, I just post a few shots to Flickr (now that I have over 200 on there as "pump primers").

Also---never assume that our discussions here are not heard by RP.net management. We're their customers, and the customer is (eventually) always right.

[bigbassloyd]

Not exactly germane to this situation, but "The Customer is always right" is a flawed logic that is finally beginning to be disproved by several large companies.



Loyd L.

[John West]

Originally Posted by Ron Flanary

Some of the best of my images (albeit not good scans) were posted eight to ten years ago. No one sees them unless they make a concerted effort to do so. So, I just post a few shots to Flickr (now that I have over 200 on there as "pump primers").

That is my absolute favorite part of Flickr, I get to recycle all those old pictures that I posted on RP years ago. On my hard drive and ready to go. That is truly NEAT. Mitch raised the issue of recycling the older RP images a long time ago....would be a nice. We all tend to post our best stuff first, they get some attention, and then they disappear into the archives and are largely forgotten. Multiple venues is one way to solve that little problem. It is also a great opportunity to improve on some of the rather primitive scanning and processing I did back then.

Originally Posted by JRMDC

John, what else could we have done over the last, say, two years?

Janusz, wish I had a good answer. How do you motivate folks to do the things you think they should. If I knew that I could probably be making millions using it to do something remunerative. But I know from personal experience that continual "bitching" rarely accomplishes that, it primarily irritates folks which is counterproductive. Ultimately we have the option of voting with our feet. If it is really all that important, maybe RP or some other individual or group will develop a better alternative. I know others that are trying. Maybe it would be an interesting project for the CRRFA. Personally, I have neither the motivation nor technical skills. Net net, I think RP is good enough for a lot of folks.

There are alternatives as suggested by the two links in my signature here that are not to RP.

[troy12n]

Originally Posted by bigbassloyd

Not exactly germane to this situation, but "The Customer is always right" is a flawed logic that is finally beginning to be disproved by several large companies.

Like Sears and KMart http://money.cnn.com/2014/05/15/news...l?iid=HP_River

Or Blockbuster http://www.ibtimes.com/sad-end-block...-online-giants

[hoydie17]

Originally Posted by bigbassloyd

Not exactly germane to this situation, but "The Customer is always right" is a flawed logic that is finally beginning to be disproved by several large companies.



Loyd L.

Most notably Google, their mantra; "The customer doesn't know what they want until you show them what they want."

[Ween]

Originally Posted by bigbassloyd

Not exactly germane to this situation...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cyWVP...youtu.be&t=15s

[CSX1702]

Originally Posted by Ween

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cyWVP...youtu.be&t=15s

I guess I'm not the only one who thinks of that scene when I hear the word "germane".

[bigbassloyd]

Originally Posted by Ween

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cyWVP...youtu.be&t=15s

I can't click the link here at work, but I bet Buford T. Justice is involved..

Loyd L.

[Ween]

Originally Posted by bigbassloyd

I can't click the link here at work, but I bet Buford T. Justice is involved..

Loyd L.

You know it!

[John West]

I have been on Flickr for about two weeks and have 90 pix posted, mostly recycled RP stuff since they were ready to go on my hard drive. I like Flickr but do not feel it is a replacement for RP, at least not for me. But it is a very enjoyable alternative, supplemental venue to RP and my website. Each of the three serves slightly different needs.

I think RP is a good site for getting a lot of feed back. Despite its shortcomings it is still has the most critical "audience", between the screeners, the "hit" count (because the thumbnails are so small), PCA's, and the discussion in the forums

Flickr is fun because it is so user friendly and both the thumbnails and full size images show so well. For the enlargements the black background seems to work better than the gray that RP uses. But that is just personal preference. Flickr provides some "feedback", but nowhere near the volume that RP does.

And of course my own site is great since I can warehouse anything I want in an organized manner.

[Hatchetman]

Originally Posted by John West

Flickr provides some "feedback", but nowhere near the volume that RP does.

You will get more feedback as more people "follow" you. Add your photos to a few groups so people will see them (maybe you have).