I have received a lot of interesting commentary, and support from the bone I had to pick with flickr about a new pro account being designated not public due to the imagery being all snapshots taken in Second Life. The response I did not get, sadly, was from Ana at case88575@support.flickr.com whom I had last asked an appeal.
Most interesting, and useful as ammo, was the comment from Tao, who actually shared a smoking gun URL to flickr’s own blog where it refers to a Second Life images as a “photo”. That should be very clear where flickr stands on these images, eh?
Well, here is the latest appeal fired off into the black void of the flickr help system. I have little faith it will do much, but I gotta try.
I am writing after failing to get a response to case88575@support.flickr.com
in regard to the arbitrary attachment of NIPSA to a flickr Pro account I set up for an educational project. I call your attention to my blog entry, and the string of comments at:
http://cogdogblog.com/2006/05/23/i-have-a-bone-to-pick-with-flickr/it comes down to a disagreement as to what constitutes a photograph versus a screenshot. I still maintain that the images in the account (http://www.flickr.com/photos/nmc-campus/), taken with a virtual camera inside Second Life are NOT screenshots.
Photography is evolving as a medium, and a fixed definition might bounce make to requiring silver oxides. If the person reading this has never taken a snapshot in Second Life, I urge you to check with someone who has the experience.The act, the process is most certainly *not* a screen grab.
To back my position, I refer to the February 24, 2005 entry on the flickr blog, with an image from Second Life- it is identified not as a screenshot, but as a “photo”:
http://blog.flickr.com/flickrblog/2005/02/the_gates.htmlAll I am requesting is a thought out response- I am not trying to make money, explot anyone, just aiming to support the educational projects of my non-profit organization. I have been a rampant flickr praiser (http://cogdogblog.com/category/foto-graphic/) via my own Pro account (http://flickr.com/photos/cogdog) back to March 2004.
It is after all your site, service, and company, but I (and numerous other flickr users who spend time in Second Life) respectfully request an appeal.
Pending that, I very well may be looking at alternative services. C’mon, flickr, where is your compassion, understanding, humanity? hello? hallo……………
It would be really great if flickr would roll out the *long* promised “not a photo” checkbox so that we can safely use screenshots and illustrations and slides without the (often arbitrary) NIPSA-ing of accounts. I know flickr is a big operation in terms of DB size (the reasoning that was given to me when I asked how long it was going to be to get that simple, promised feature), but it’s kind of ridiculous.
Particularly when flickr founders and employees themselves lead various groups that are focused on things other than photos!