I was determined not to let Flickr create two classes of Pornstar. I also worked to ensure the future of The Sexiest Photo Group for 'All'. As it was created for. The Photo group, The Blog, and The In-World Group have all been intertwined since the beginning. It was a cornerstone of The Pornstars, and is for The Sexiest Pornstars today.
Now i'm sitting back after doing all that and i'm pretty unhappy with Flickr. I'm a Porn producer in Second Life. But of course like many of you, i am a Porn Fan and a porn consumer in the wider on-line world too. I'm very familiar with the concept of pay to view porn. Seeing the options to buy memberships to a favourite Porn Star's web site. Or on Twitter seeing the subscription prices for 'OnlyFans' to get more intimate with the Porn Star of your choosing. But to have to pay to have your Porn work be seen by the public? 'Going Pro' to provide a web site with content they can attract an audience with? That's crazy to me! And pretty insulting.
I have a following of around 3,000 on Flickr. I'm sure i'm not alone in getting those empty Flickr Stream Followers who never upload, or create, they just want to browse and see yours and others naughty pics. We all must have had hundreds of them visit our streams and follow us over the years. They are moving around Flickr generating revenue for them via the advertising. We are providing the Porn Content for them to see. Which was ok, when we were not being charged for the privelidge. But now we are. Flickr Pro Members now pay Flickr for that privelidge. I guess it was worth alienating a few of us who were not going Pro in order to do so.
If times are hard and they 'Need' to generate more funds. Be honest don't pretend this enforced payment to share your work is making the site better. We're talking people who have generated revenue for their site for over a decade, where's the loyalty? I'm sure we'd have put up with more ads thrown at us, quantity caps on uploads per week, 500 images rather than 1,000. Anything in between "Pay us or stop what you're doing completely." Would have been nice. With these new TOS applying to 'New Members' only maybe? Lesser restrictions for long time, loyal users like us. Who entertained the masses at their Flickr site for years and years could have operated under a less drastic restriction.
I'm also probably not alone in Flickr setting my account to 'Moderate'. Which means the mininum safety level i can upload a Photo with is 'Moderate'. I am not allowed to Upload 'Moderate' images now. So my account is unusable. Unless i pay? I have written to Flickr to resolve this. But i'm not holding my breath. I'd like to continue to use the site with 'Safe' images. But at the moment they are holding my account to ransom.
I won't go Pro. I'm the Co-Owner of a group of over 3,000 plus, many of them content producers or Photographers who cannot, or maybe won't pay. I'm anxious that none of them feel second class Pornstars. As a result of this sharing ban. So i'm staying within their ranks and i'm operating with them out of alternative homes for our work.
I've found some fantastic sites as alternatives to Flickr. If function, and image quality, is your priority. Then we have homes even better than Flickr. And if you can live without paying Flickr for the convenience, familiarity, or for holding onto your following and 'likes'. Then i can reassure you there is life after Flickr. as a Non Flickr Pro Pornstar.
Serenity. x
No comments:
Post a Comment