There are some things you don’t mess with. You don’t mess with Texas. You don’t mess with a man’s family, food, wallet, or dog, and recently it has become apparent you don’t mess with a man’s Flickr.
As BBC News reports, fans of the online photo sharing service are extraordinarily peeved at Yahoo’s takeover of the company and the possibility that Flickr members, beginning in 2006, will need a Yahoo! account to login.
Dubbing themselves, Flick Off, the group has amassed 1,000 members to fend off being “Yahooised,” especially after the Vancouver-based company moved its operation to California to be nearer to its new family-an act referred to as “neo-colonialism” by detractors.
Reminiscent of European accusations against Google’s master plan for the “omnigooglization” of the world, Flickr founders indicate half of Flick Off is bogus. A majority of dissenters were found to come from rival photo sharing services.
Nevertheless the purist original Flickr lovers fear that Yahoo! will swallow up the photos, using them without user intent.
“The only thing that *really* worries me … is the idea of Yahoo using *my own* stuff for any of their purposes without my consent or without paying any due rights,” BBC quotes ale2000, posting on the Flick Off group.
Other members don’t like the idea seemingly out of sheer defiance, reiterating that Flickr, not Yahoo!, was the service they chose.
While the boo-hooing continues, the plight of Flick Off could be overshadowed by the media hype surrounding Hurricane Katrina, and oh what a shame that would be.
