[danso]

Flickr's main feature is being a service that prioritizes photography as a portfolio, rather than photos as a visual social blogfeed. Limiting free users to 1,000 photos effectively kills the ability to use it as a clunkier Instagram. As long as there's enough revenue from ads and the pro accounts, this may be the best way forward for Flickr as a long-term service.

I've been a pro user for awhile. I guess the downside of this is that I now feel locked in, having well over 1,000 photos. I think previously, had I downgraded to the free version, I'd be able to keep all my photos but no longer provide them as full-size downloads. I don't have a particular complaint with Flickr as a service, it's just I don't do a lot of photography other than casual uploading to Instagram these days. That said, that Smugmug is committed to taking a different, coherent direction provides me with a lot more confidence than the years of Yahoo doing virtually nothing.

edit: maybe I'm grandfathered in for unlimited photos, if I were to downgrade to Free? The wording in the announcement is unclear.

[TarpitCarnivore]

It's still far more generous that what Vimeo is offering: 5GB total storage & 500MB uploads a _week_.

1000 photos can go a long way if used in the way Flickr was originally intended, which as you noted was a portfolio of sorts.

[ValentineC]

> edit: maybe I'm grandfathered in for unlimited photos, if I were to downgrade to Free? The wording in the announcement is unclear.

That's not how I'm reading it. It seems like it'll affect all Flickr users across the board.

[afterburner]

> Flickr's main feature is being a service that prioritizes photography as a portfolio

I mean, that's what they want it to be now, but I don't feel like that's what it was under Yahoo...

[zimpenfish]

It might have been intended that way originally (although I joined in 2005 and I don't remember this ever being a thing) but once they forced Yahoo!Photos into there, it pretty much just became a huge porn stash. Presumably once the 1000 photo limit kicks in, it'll be a much less huge porn stash.

[mnsc]

Do you have more than 1000 photos that are portfolio level quality?

[danso]

No, I probably have a 100 if even that. But the other ~9,900 are a nice archive of living in New York, and I get occasional requests from people (who can't find the buried download button) to use or copy a photo from some random street.

[onethumb]

Importantly, they don't have to be portfolio level quality. Flickr is a fantastic place for photographers of all ability levels, and is especially great for those looking to learn & grow in their craft. All that's really required is a love of photography. If you care, we care.