There is *NO* law in Germany that is compatible to the braindead wholesale blocking that flickr enacts.

Again: flickr is blocking *all* pictures tagged “moderate” and up for *all* german-speaking users (including users from Austria, Switzerland etc.), and you can’t disable “safe search”.

It is not “nudity” or something like this, it is “moderate”, and if one of your pics is not tagged, this pic or even all your pics will be treated as if at least tagged “moderate”.

Lots of german users even can’t see their own pictures any longer.

Please remember also cultural differences – what’s “moderate” for you may be completely harmless for me or absolutely shocking – depends. I.e. something like “Nipplegate” would be inconceivable here in Germany and was filed under “those wacky Americans again”, our legal drinking age is 16, but for our driving license you have to do a lot of lessons (theory and practice) and usually you have to be at least 18, swastikas are not considered “free speech”, and so on…

Even better is the e-mail Nico Zorn got from Yahoo!’s german customer support: http://www.nicozorn.com/2007/06/18/flickr-dann-loesch-doch-deinen-account/

On this particular matter, it’s clear to me that Flickr took the safe route by removing access to all possibly objectionable content – one of the downsides of being part of Yahoo! is that Flickr is seen as having deep pockets for potential lawsuits and that makes them very conservative about taking risks. I can’t say I blame them for this, but the PR machine at Y! should loosen the clampdown and let the founders be more candid about the issues and what is being done to address them. As a Yahoo! employee myself for many years, I can say that I think Y! needs to take more risks. Easy for me to say since I’m not a corporate lawyer, but sometimes you have to ride (or even cross) a fine legal line in order to support your users, especially when your service depends on a strong community.

That’s the last resort of someone with no point. I’ll take it as high praise.

Go post your insignificant thoughts (and rants) in your own space, douchebag.

Kind Regards,

Staying Anon ‘Cause it Bugs You

Thomas was a member of Flickr BEFORE ZOOOMR EXISTED.

Thomas continued to post to Flickr, contribute to the community, and maintain contacts on Flickr AFTER ZOOOMR EXISTED.

Thomas also has said on numerous occasions that he stays on Flickr because he loves it and loves the community there, and that their recent actions hurt that and made him feel badly about something he once loved dearly.

You write anonymously because you don’t have the balls to post an actual name with your comments. That’s fine. If I wrote the baseless crap you’re writing, I wouldn’t sign my name to it either.

Why is this so hard for people like you to understand?

Anonymous = coward. Put some bass in your voice and a name on your posts if you’re gonna criticize someone. Anonymous criticism isn’t worth the toilet paper it’s written on.

You don’t see the CEO of RC Cola running a public campaign about how Coca Cola needs to get it together, do you?

TH is in a unique position cuz he wants to compete against Flickr, and his constant harping on them demonstrates a true weakness. Ethical businesspeople promote and evangelize for their brands and their business models; they don’t spend their energies publicly finger pointing at others.

TH knows better. Build a better service, and promote it. If the marketplace agrees with him, success will follow.

Only a fool wants to be the first result when you Google for Drunken CEO.

(And, he can disable anonymous commenting anytime he wants to…I guess it doesn’t bother him.)