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Alternative to Flickr?

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I have been using Flickr for the last year and I have found it to be a very good site. But today my free 3 month pro account ran out and I was surprised to see that I could only see 200 of my most recent items. So i was thinking about buying a years pro account but then I thought that Flickr was blackmailing me into paying to see my own photos. Now I am in the process of downloading all 450 photos from Flickr (using Bulkr) and I cant download the original photos from Flickr, again because I have a free account. And you have to get the paid version of Bulkr to select all of your photos to download them. So Flickr have got me into a trap to try to get me to spend money with them and I find this appauling that this is allowed as a buisness. (Rant Over!)

But what I want to ask is whether there is a website similar to Flickr as I liked the community and being able to post in groups and favourite other peoples photos. So is there something similar but for free and not scamming you like Flickr does.
Thanks
 
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455driver

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Are you telling me that you havent backed your photos up onto a computer or hard drive and rely on a hosting site to store them?

Bearing in mind what happened to photopic that is insane.

edit-

Why do you think hosting sites should be free anyway, it costs them to store your photos.
 

ash39

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It isn't blackmail, you are told when you buy a pro account that if it lapses you cannot access all your photos until you renew. If you could, what would be the point of the pro account?

Flickr is a great site if you are serious about your photography. You can share and save your photos as you will know from using it. However, as said above, it's not advisable to rely on the site as your sole backup source.
 

507 001

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I've been using Flickr for years and would go as far as saying there are no alternatives.
Sure there are other sites like behance but none of them have the same resources and huge community.


You say that you have been using Flickr for a year, so you surely must have known that you could only see 200 images?
It's not as if they don't tell you when you sign up!!
To be honest, you've tried the product and obviously liked it, so why not just cough up the £15?? Especially as its obviously your only way of accessing your photos (however daft that may be).
 

DaveNewcastle

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I have been using Flickr for the last year and I have found it to be a very good site.
Then perhaps you'll also find it worth paying the market value for the service.
But today my free 3 month pro account ran out and . . . .
Yes. That's what happens when products with a commercial cost reach the end of their period of 'free offer'
. . . . I thought that Flickr was blackmailing me into paying to see my own photos.
Wrong on both counts.
1. You may look at your own photos at no cost (unless you have destroyed the originals and have chosen, unwisely in my opinion, to be solely dependant on commercial services to access your own property).
2. 'Blackmail' has several specific features, not one of which apply to the situation you describe.
I cant download the original photos from Flickr, again because I have a free account.
why would you want to? Unless you had voluntarily given up your physical ownership - which would have been your choice.
So Flickr have got me into a trap to try to get me to spend money with them . . . .
Wrong. You have created the 'trap'. The Company is offering a commercial service at a realistic market rate.
They won't have given you a moment's thought - you had the introductory 'free offer' and decided that you didn't like it enough to pay the market rate for it. Your choice.
and I find this appauling that this is allowed as a buisness. (Rant Over!)
Indeed you do. But many others will accept a fair price for a fair service - and will retain copies of their own property.

. . . . is there something similar but for free and not scamming you like Flickr does.
How could any organisation offer a service which incurs real costs without recouping them?

Scamming? I don't think so.

Why do people blame others for their foolish choices? "I find this appauling".
 

DarloRich

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Why do people blame others for their foolish choices? "I find this appauling".

Because they are idiots!

Just pay for the pro account if you can afford it. It is worth it! You even get a discount for buying for 3 years. I dont think there is a decent alternative hosting site that offers as much as Flickr.

There is no blackmail. It clearly says you get x number of free pictures ( around 12 pages) on a non pro account. As soon as you pay all your pics come back. They state they dont delete any.
 

ATW Alex 101

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I see your point ExeterStDavids and I know this kind of thing does get annoying but web-hosting and stuff like that comes with a big cost. Running sites, forums whatever costs a lot of money.

There aren't really much alternatives you could try if you don't want to pay for Flickr. What I suggest is creating a Facebook page or profile called something like "ExeterStDavids' transport pics" or something like that and upload your photos to that. No limit (not a big one if there is one so you should be ok into the thousands) and then you could start adding different enthusiasts and promoting your page. You could also advertise that page through here and update when you get more photos in.
 

starrymarkb

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I see your point ExeterStDavids and I know this kind of thing does get annoying but web-hosting and stuff like that comes with a big cost. Running sites, forums whatever costs a lot of money.

There aren't really much alternatives you could try if you don't want to pay for Flickr. What I suggest is creating a Facebook page or profile called something like "ExeterStDavids' transport pics" or something like that and upload your photos to that. No limit (not a big one if there is one so you should be ok into the thousands) and then you could start adding different enthusiasts and promoting your page. You could also advertise that page through here and update when you get more photos in.

Bear in mind that Facebook will compress the hell out of your photos, and there is no way to retrieve the original.

Personally I think Flickr is well worth it (Mine is non transport), far cheaper and easier then hosting yourself. Groups are a great feature.

You won't find a free website that gives you unlimited hosting and access to the originals. IIRC I have about 10GB stored on Flickr (and 17GB on the PC and ExtHDD and on a USB and on Carbonite - I had a HDD failure a while ago and almost lost everything hence the multiple backups)

Picasa gives unlimited but you have to reduce the size of your images
 

Thewanderer

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Smugmug all he way for me. I can't stand the layout of Flickr.


Smugmug is pricey..but worth it.
 

507 001

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Because they are idiots!

Just pay for the pro account if you can afford it. It is worth it! You even get a discount for buying for 3 years.

I'd say it was almost a bargain!
Especially for the likes of me as it has provided a hell of a lot of inspiration and has allowed me to build up a fairly large amount of regular viewers, some of whom are from some very far flung places!


Now I am in the process of downloading all 450 photos from Flickr (using Bulkr) and I cant download the original photos from Flickr, again because I have a free account. And you have to get the paid version of Bulkr to select all of your photos to download them. So Flickr have got me into a trap to try to get me to spend money with them and I find this appauling that this is allowed as a buisness. (Rant Over!).........
.........So is there something similar but for free and not scamming you like Flickr does.
Thanks


AFAIK Bulkr is a 3rd party app, and is nothing to do with Flickr itself, rather like apple's or Android's apps, do you think they are scamming you too?? :roll:
 

ATW Alex 101

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Bear in mind that Facebook will compress the hell out of your photos, and there is no way to retrieve the original.

Yes that is true and I do say that's probably the only free alternative to Flickr really. But then you should make a hard copy of your pictures first and not just upload them to Facebook and delete it from the computer. Others have pointed this out too. :)
 

507 001

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Well majority of people paid faithfully £5 to fotopic didn't they

Yes and look where that got them.....

Look at Flickr-very basic in my opinion
Neil

Pray tell how you have come to that conclusion?

If you mean that the interface is very basic then yes, you would be right, however have you not considered that basic is better when viewing photos?
The fewer distractions around the image the better.
Now I admit that might not bother you if your just looking at pictures of 142s, but if your using flickr for what it was designed for, a serious place to view serious photography, then it is a god send.

The fact of the matter is is that it has a much larger community and far more features and ways to share your images than probably all the other sites out there. Its also very cheap.
 

33056

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Flickr is probably the cheapest place for hosting photos, as others have pointed out hosting photos on-line does cost money. It depends what you want out of a site, Flickr has some good features but it is not for me - you could do worse than try Zenfolio , their basic plan is £25 a year.
 

neildimmer

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Yes and look where that got them.....



Pray tell how you have come to that conclusion?

If you mean that the interface is very basic then yes, you would be right, however have you not considered that basic is better when viewing photos?
The fewer distractions around the image the better.
Now I admit that might not bother you if your just looking at pictures of 142s, but if your using flickr for what it was designed for, a serious place to view serious photography, then it is a god send.

The fact of the matter is is that it has a much larger community and far more features and ways to share your images than probably all the other sites out there. Its also very cheap.



Everyone to there own then


Neil
 
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JoeH

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Something that's not really advertised is that BT Broadband customers get a Flickr Pro account for free.

That information could possibly be quite useful to some of the posters in this thread.
 

Johnny_w

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I know I'm not a regular poster, but I also vote for Flickr.

As a BT customer I get it free, but if I read correctly for £15 a year it's a steal. The ability to upload originals is brilliant.

I would hazard a guess that I have over 50Gb of stuff on there. Might not be the best, but I wouldn't be without.

Along with my 5 different hard drive backups it's a perfect way to share photos.

JW
 

507 001

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Everyone to there own then
But i must point out i have more than just 142's as you sarcastically put it on my site, there are a lot of rare photos to view

Neil

That comment was not aimed at your site? Re-Read what I said.

I mean that if your just looking at railway photos then a minimalist simple interface might not bother you, but if your looking for "proper photography" then a cluttered interface can be a pain in the proverbial.
 

neildimmer

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That comment was not aimed at your site? Re-Read what I said.

I mean that if your just looking at railway photos then a minimalist simple interface might not bother you, but if your looking for "proper photography" then a cluttered interface can be a pain in the proverbial.



comment removed

Neil
 

Harlesden

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I am amazed by the OP's view that Flickr is trying to "scam" him.
Does he/she really believe that web domains are totally free and site developers are free?
Of course sites charge - they have to make back what they have paid and continue to pay for the domain as well as making money on it which is the primary reason for creating a website for the public to use.
 

starrymarkb

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Something that's not really advertised is that BT Broadband customers get a Flickr Pro account for free.

That information could possibly be quite useful to some of the posters in this thread.

Thats annoying, I've just renewed my Pro and am in the process of moving to BT Broadband (existing ISP is closing - they will be missed given the hassle I'm getting with BT!)
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
I am amazed by the OP's view that Flickr is trying to "scam" him.
Does he/she really believe that web domains are totally free and site developers are free?
Of course sites charge - they have to make back what they have paid and continue to pay for the domain as well as making money on it which is the primary reason for creating a website for the public to use.

Domains are actually pretty cheap - £15 per yer in registration. The biggest cost is accommodating the traffic that 8 billion photos generate and serving it in a timely manner (retrieving and rendering the page in 100ms or less). IIRC Youtube in 2007 (pre HD) was spending $1m per day on Bandwidth alone! That's one reason why YT now has pre-video ads
 
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