Taps V13.2

Comments inline.

— On Fri, 11/14/08, Flickr Support <xxxxxx@support.flickr.com> wrote:

> Actually, we consider those to me more sexually explicit
> and they need to be flagged as “restricted”.

We apparently disagree on what is considered to be “Sexually Explicit”. But I am agreeing to abide by your definitions. I have no problem marking those as Restricted.

> With regards to changing your status, it’s not clear to
> me
> from our back and forth that you understand why filters are
> important in respecting the greater community. We’re
> happy
> to work with our members, to get them back to a
> “safe/public” status, but we need to get a sense
> that
> they’re more understanding of why it’s important.

Do not be confused. I understand perfectly why they are important. As a father of a pre-teen daughter, I am one of the first to jump on this. It just goes back to a difference in opinion. As I put it elsewhere, my personal interpretation of the guidelines follow 3 general rules of thumb:

1) If you cant see it on daytime TV, then mark it as moderated.

2) If you cant see it on Late Night premium cable, then mark it as restricted.

3) And if you cant see it in seedy porno theaters, or hiding in your closet with a web browser… then its probably illegal and you cant display it anywhere.

What I am requesting is that my newly renewed pro account be set back to safe. It was very disheartening to see that photos that had been posted as they were for over a year without complaint were suddenly deemed offensive. Especially when it is only 2 days after my account was renewed for a second year.

When all is said and done, we can debate the meaning of safe, moderated, and restricted all day. The fact that I disagree with your interpretation of those words is not under question here. The fact that I have agreed to comply with your definitions of those words is.

The images in question, as well as others have bee flagged accordingly. And will continue to be in the future. I would appreciate my account status being returned as soon as possible.

Chris Patterson
Taps7734

Dear Flickr/Yahoo….

A while back I posted a nice message in my journal here about whether or not I should renew my Flickr account. I thought about my options. I weighed the pros and cons. And I came to a fairly conclusive decision that I enjoyed having a Pro account on Flickr. So I ponied up my $25 and prepared for another year of the happiness I had come to know from Flickr. The warm fuzzy feelings that I got knowing that I had a lot of space and traffic on which to display my wonderful works of art.

And by Art, I mean the beautifully crafted images of boxes stacked up in my office that I have accumulated over the last couple of years.

Not to mention the friends of mine who I love. The ones who answer the question “Can I photograph you?” with “Can I be naked?” These are the best kind of friends to have.

Whatever it was, as long as I stayed within your guidelines, you proudly displayed my creations with the kind of love and devotion of a lioness proudly displaying her cubs. Even the retarded cub that keeps attacking its own shadow.

And those guidelines are pretty easy to follow. General rules of thumb: 1) If you cant see it on daytime TV, then mark it as moderated. 2) If you cant see it on Late Night premium cable, then mark it as restricted. 3) And if you cant see it in seedy porno theaters, or hiding in your closet with a web browser… then its probably illegal and you cant display it anywhere.

The last one I don’t ever have to worry about. The second one, maybe I have come across once or twice in my photos, but just on the side of caution. The first one I am familiar with. I have quite a few portraits and self portraits that would not be viewable on daytime TV. And of those, I mark them as moderated and move on.

Moderated is a touchy term used on Flickr. Basically, all it means is that when people search for a phrase, and they have their search parameters set to SAFE, any moderated photo will not show up. This also goes for any anonymous client.

Just to be sure, my default upload setting is moderated. And then I go back and change the ones that are safe after the fact. At least this is how I thought I had it set up. I don’t know right now…..

And that is because sometime this afternoon, Flickr found a very very large wooden dildo, complete with splinters, and anally raped me with it, foregoing any sort of lube or gentleness.

OK… Maybe not that bad… but they are pissing me off. Sometime around 2pm EST today, Flickr marked my entire account as moderated. And what a coincidence that it was only 2 days after I renewed my Pro Account…… grrrr….

I have made sure all my photos that need to be are marked as moderated, sent an email to their helpdesk, posted a request in their help forum (all of which things you are supposed to do in an event like this) and promptly been ignored.

Yea, I have other people in the forums telling me what to do. Most of which are the things I just listed that I already did…. “You should post a message in the help forum about this”….. That was a reply to my post in the help forum…… really? But I have yet to hear back from a Flickr staffer saying They had fixed it, it was a bug, or even a fuck off.

So I went back to the original email I had received from a support team member named Heather (I am not going to even go into my theory on Heathers. It would be counter productive), and replied to her via Flickr’s internal mail system. I did receive a response!!! It said she was sorry that she couldn’t deal with support issues via Flickr’s internal mail system. And I should start by posting a message in the help forum, or sending an e-mail to helpdesk….

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*blink*

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But….

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*sigh*