Flickr Limiting Adult Images To Paid Accounts, Limits on Private Images

A number of Second Life residents, notably content creators, have plenty of images on the Flickr photo service. So some may be affected by a couple changes last week, announced in the Flickr blog.

Today we’re announcing some upcoming changes to our Terms of Service that will help us continue to preserve the art, expression, history, stories, and memories of all Flickr members for the next hundred years. These changes fall into two distinct buckets, and will affect Flickr free members.

The first change is that adult images, or "restricted or moderate content," will be limited to paid accounts, or Flickr Pro members. And those with free accounts can no longer upload them without risk of deletion. "Moderate" is defined as partial nudity, such as bare breasts and bottoms. "Restricted" is defined as full-frontal nudity and sexual acts. It's up to users to label pictures as such. If a Flickr moderator finds a picture they see as incorrectly labeled, an account 's rating may be changed so it's not defined as safe.

The second change has to deal with pictures that can't be seen by just anyone, but are restricted in who can view them, or "non-public photos." Flickr is now limiting free accounts to fifty pictures with restrictions on who can see them. Those who have more without upgrading to a paid account risk having pictures deleted.

We love being entrusted with your photos—but we love seeing them get discovered, added to groups, and submitted to photo competitions even more. We’d never turn you away if you just want a safe place to store a lifetime’s worth of images, you’ll just need a Pro membership to do so.

Flickr Pro costs $8.25 USD per month, or $6 a month when billed annually ($72 a year), or $5.54 a month with a two year plan ($132.96 for two years).

Bixyl Shuftan
 

Reader Submitted: Game Review - Star Wars The Old Republic - Free vs Paid Accounts

Nydia Tungsten is back with another reader submitted article. Having played the Multiplayer Online Game "Star Wars The Old Republic," she wrote a review about the game. The game is noted for Jedi characters having two choices to go: Light Side and Dark Side. But to Nydia, that wasn't the division that truly separated players.

Read Nydia's article in Extra.

The Return of "There?"

Longtime users of virtual worlds may remember “There.” Founded about the same time as Second Life, it didn’t do quite as well despite promoting itself as family friendly and full of games. In March 2010, “There” closed down citing lack of funds due to the lasting recession. A year later, the company behind it Makena Technologies is considering relaunching the virtual world as “There2.” On the website, one can find a link to a survey.


This is just a survey to see if there's enough interest, financially, to re-open what we're calling for now, "There2". ... "There2" would be a PAID service. There would be monthly charge for everyone, except people with lifetime beta accounts. ... "There2" must be an 18+ site. One of the biggest expenses was supporting a PG-13 environment. This does not mean we would allow pornography, hate speeches, or copyrighted materials-- we just won't be responsible for people under 18 using the service.


Makena CEO Michael Wilson published the survey results on his blog “I Am So There,” and about 80% of the 2400 who answered were willing to pay at least $10 a month to be able to get to There2. He also answered a few questions. Asked about avatars with corporate brands on them, they would come back as ordinary as the sponsorships were gone.

It should be mentioned that Second Life began without the option of free accounts, those coming about later when the Lindens wanted to expand their population. And of course it was officially adults only until a few months ago. It’s interesting that returning as “There2,” the virtual world is making a big departure from it's days as being teen-friendly, and going to policies Second Life put aside.

Source: New World Notes

Bixyl Shuftan