Flickr and Video

Damn and blast!

Just as I’d started to get comfortable with Flickr (and actually begin to really like using it) they have to go and do that damned irritating web trick of introducing a change that affects every user, across the board.

Now don’t get me wrong. Whilst some acquaintances may (based on superficial observation) regard me as something of a stick-in-the-mud, a Luddite, I’m not necessarily averse to change, or technological innovation.

But what I’d really like is for the change to happen at my pace, not to have it thrust upon me whether I want it or not, whether I’m ready for it or not.
Sure, a lot of resistance to change consists in the having to get used to something new. Aside from the fact that anything new frequently contains a few unanticipated bugs that require sorting (which entire process is calculated to irritate even further), resentfulness of the change will also frequently manifest in being hyper-critical… an unreasonable intolerance of anything that doesn’t quite conform to how one thinks something should work.
These issues can be, and usually are, overcome in time. We get used to something, then get comfortable with it, then bang!…. another across-the-board change is introduced. And the entire process starts all over again. The resentfulness, the griping, the learning-curve, the growing familiarity… and so on, and so on.

I’m well aware of all of this, but still stand firmly by my initial moan. Why the hell can’t these web-developers simply provide us with a button we can click when we’re ready to implement the new feature or whatever, when we get bored with the existing interface, when we’re starting to look for some fun new feature, rather than at their whim when they think fit to thrust it upon us. Surely that can’t be too difficult to do in these days of Web 2.0
A bit like having user-definable skins for an interface really.

Two cases in point… a few weeks ago my principal hosting provider introduced a new (global, of course!) interface for their hosting control panel. Sure, it looks prettier, more swish and colourful, and I don’t doubt that (once I get used to it!) it’ll prove easier to find things than with the older version.
But dammit, I liked the older version! I had no criticisms of it and I didn’t want a new all-bells-and-whistles control panel.

Second example is this new wordpress.com dashboard. I don’t doubt that in time I’ll get used to it. But I resent the need to have to get used to it. I liked the old dashboard, it was easy to understand and use, and I don’t welcome the change.

So now the same thing with this new Flickr video feature (which they call “long pictures”… that is to say, max permitted size for a video clip is 90 seconds).
Oddly, its the max size that they’re permitting for these clips that I find to be the most attractive feature. Lends itself perfectly to the sort of thing that’d come straight off a mobile phone or point & shoot digicam with video facility. And practically ideal for the sort of usage to which I’d likely put it… newsworthy “incidents” at protests and demos for example.
No need for editing. Just upload the raw clip straight as it comes off the device, already in the right format. Superb.

However… its a feature I wasn’t looking for, didn’t ask for, and don’t want.
If I want to do anything with video then I’ll use my (practically un-used) YouTube account. The fact that its practically un-used should speak volumes!
For me, Flickr is a photo site. I don’t want videos integrated with it, and I resent having them thrust upon me with no choice on my part.

Wouldn’t have been quite as bad if the Flickr staff had not just recently managed to sort out a few long-standing bugs that were causing problems even without video clips!
Now this, and the potential buy-out of Yahoo by Microsoft (with precisely what impact on Flickr users I wonder?) is beginning to make me question my choice of photo-sharing site. Pity, really.

So having said all that, don’t be surprised to find masses of video clips populating my photostream in a coupla years’ time (assuming I’m still alive and kicking then of course, and haven’t simply expired from the stresses caused by change-overload!).