Why Flickr Is Better (For You)

I recently made an ill-advised post about photoSIG on DPReview, and subsequently got stomped on by what felt like most of photoSIG, on DPReview but also at photoSIG. It wasn't fun, but it got me (re-)thinking about some of the social dynamics going on there and my reaction to them, and thanks to a gentleman (and very good photographer) called Stephen Schwartz I got into another type of photo sharing site. On balance, I benefitted from the experience. It seems it sparked another, more constructive discussion on photoSIG too, so everything turned out all right for everybody in the end. So I decided to write up some of it, even at the risk of getting stomped on again.

Flickr and photoSIG are both photo sharing sites. That is, websites where people can upload their photos, share them with other photo enthusiasts, and get feedback on their work. The former is a relatively new entrant on the photo sharing scene. The latter is one of the first that really made it big. On the surface, they're rather similar. Yet in terms of social dynamics, they're as different as night and day -- and the Flickr dynamic is much healthier than the photoSIG one. The reasons behind this lie in the toolset that each of the sites provides. PhotoSIG is top-down -- with strict terms of service, a clearly delimited and defined set of functionality, a hierarchy of users, and a single, well-defined mission. Flickr is bottom-up: unmoderated, horizontal, unhierarchical, networked, and open to just about any kind of use.

Pissing is fun, but it's not as much fun to be at the receiving end. I think I got a bit of both during this exchange...