Yesterday our good friends at Flickr posted a link to their community guidelines on their blog. Not sure how many of the guidelines are actually new or have been modified recently, but it got me to read them for the first time. Apparently I'm breaking some rules. Actually, I think I've broken most of the rules. In the last week. A lot. For example:
Flickr is for photos. With some exceptions, it's OK to post other images, but if the majority of your photostream contains content other than photographs (like illustrations, screenshots, diagrams, etc.) it's very likely that your account will be marked Not in Public Site Areas...
First off, what are the exceptions?
Secondly, how much alteration can I do to a photo in Photoshop before it becomes an illustration?
Thirdly, and most importantly, it's pretty short-sighted to be telling your users that they are using your service WRONG. You are using it often, and paying for it, but you are using it WRONG. This reminds me of Jon Abrams arrogantly lambasting Friendster users for using THAT service incorrectly, only to watch MySpace eat his lunch and digest a nice moral for everyone to follow.
Don't tell your users they're using your service wrong. Watch HOW they use it. Adapt to it. Learn from it. We all know to pave the cowpaths by now.
| 
1 comments so far. Add yours below.
Byrne Reese says:
I completely see the reasoning to restrict free accounts, especially on a service like Flickr where free accounts are able to do so much. But you would think, given Flickr's revenue model that paid customers get the benefit of being able to do more and to do more freely.
You would *think* anyways.
February 10, 2006 2:30 PM