On Flickr: Skin Wins or Sex Sells

Ok, this isn’t really anything new necessarily, but it was really interesting thing to see. A picture, good or bad, put a sexy girl in it and people will probably like it, or at least look at it a lot. This can be seen subtly in photo contests, where you have two magnificent photos going head to head, but the winner is probably the one with the attractive girl in it (I see this the most in DPChallenge). This is kind of a massively broad and general statement- but I’m just speaking on what I see often.

Like right now, I’m refilling my Flickr account (after having it deleted for unknown reasons) and posted this picture.

Within a minute of posting, it had 6 views and now, within 3 minutes from post has another ten for a total of 16. I don’t really have a popular stream, all my other photos are still at 0 views, even the ones right before and after it in the stream. It’s not in any groups/pools and doesn’t have any leading tags. I’m not complaining really, just thought it was an interesting observation.

Maybe it’s not that our culture hasn’t evolved, maybe its just the contrast of content. When you’re looking through the public stream of sunset after sunset, rivers, fields, some cool lighting, peoples cousins and kids, then BAM! a white girls ass on a stark black background. The feeling of risk, like something shouldn’t be there. Oooo, this is kind of risque, lets click on it… I don’t know exactly- I just think the occurrence overall is worth noting.

This happened before too, and this photo is nothing spectacular, but on my old stream this exact photo had the most views and most frequent views on my stats (I had a Pro account) and was one of the photos with the most comments. But the comments weren’t “sexy girl”, “oh, I’ll fap to this”… They were “great photo!”, “beautiful shot”… people trying to disguise the fact that, hey, this photo is of a hot ass, I like it!

What are your thoughts?

So you may or may not have read my previ…

So you may or may not have read my previous entry about my long and ongoing issue with Flickr, Yahoo! and both of their Customer Service/Abuse departments. The short of it: My Y! ID/Flickr account was deleted over a month ago, I tried to find out why I was booted and what I could do about it and basically have been getting the cold shoulder from both Yahoo! and Flickr for weeks. So I stumbled on Heather Champ, the Flickr Community Manager’s personal email on her website. I emailed her and finally found out that my account was deleted for something else- she replied via the Flickr case number I referenced in the original message:

Adam,

Your Y! ID was deactivated elsewhere on the Yahoo! network
for abuse. When this happens, it results in the termination
of all of all your activity across the Yahoo! network.

We’re not privy to the reasons for the original Y! ID
deactivation. You’ll need to contact Yahoo! directly.

Heather

I find this kind of odd, because I only used my Y! ID for Flickr- so either, this isn’t true, or someone hacked my account. Either way, it’s an actual answer, so I can move on.

Taking back your Ex

But now, I can start to understand drug addicts, abusive relationships and terrible marriages. Even after weeks of running me in circles, outright ignoring me, and the fact that I didn’t get a response until I directly contacted a staff member. (I also have still not heard from regular Yahoo! support.) I want to go back. I mean, I’ll cut Flickr some slack, I did get an answer. Even if the answer opens up even more questions, it’s an answer. Yet, I feel like such a sellout. But still, I really like Flickr. I like the concept and it’s snazzy interface, API, web 2.0ness and community features. In fact, I’m reregistering and opening up a new Flickr account in another tab while I am writing this. But I’m not doing it without internal conflict.
Now, I’m not going straight back to a Pro account, but it’s only a matter of time. I’ll ease back into it, become comfortable again. My hurt and hesitations will fade away. But part of me feels like this is comparable to taking back an ex who cheated on me, which I’ve never done. It feels cheap and wrong. They violated my trust and showed me their true colors- but I still need them. I really do love Flickr. However, how many times can I waste my money and time. What if this happens again?
But I also believe in forgiveness. So consider this it. Only time will tell if this turns out to be more like a rocking spot in an otherwise good relationship or the tell tale signs of more to come. Right now it just feels like a drug addiction, but we’ll see. I just hope things go better this time around.

Whr has my Flickr gone? [10/30/08]

I’ve had it- this is it, I’ve got to do something- because this is ridiculous. The thing is- I’m actually really sad about this whole fiasco because I really did love Flickr, but every day of this BS makes me more and more adverse to wanting to ever go back.

If you want to read about all that’s gone down- check after the jump.

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