I'm feeling for the Flickr team right now—the recent annoucement of a manditory Yahoo! ID merge has caused panic, insanity and hatred to rain down on them in the form of a (currently) 1,800+ post forum thread. People are, quite literally, freaking the fuck out about this whole thing and it's getting a little out of hand.
Earlier today, despite Flickr's "absolutely no refunds" policy, Heather Powazek Champ announced she'd be handling prorated refunds personally, through PayPal. I know people are upset, but it has always (or at least as long as I can remember) said "payments are non-refundable" on the pro account purchase page for a reason. I don't see how a requirement to merge your Flickr login with your Yahoo! login means your payment is suddenly refundable. Nor should it.
I'm a huge fan of the idea that the "customer is always right," but then I realize that when I think that, I usually mean me: a level-headed, rational person who makes logical and well-thought-out buying decisions. I think we have (especially in the US) a very unbalanced idea of what customers deserve in the equation. The math in this case is simple: You pay Flickr a fee for a service and that fee is non-refundable, as it's stated before you make a payment. Later, you decide you don't like the decisions the company offering the service is making. You demand a refund. Well, guess what, tough guy? You don't get one.
Another side of this whole thing that I don't understand is why people are going nuts about having to deal with Yahoo!, or that Yahoo! is going to be involved in storing their photos. Wake up, people! Yahoo! has been involved for years. Just because you weren't logging in via their central ID service doesn't mean Flickr wasn't acquired by and made part of Yahoo! in the spring of 2005. That's nearly two years ago already.
On top of that, people have been saying insane things in that forum thread. Not the kind of insane that makes you think, "Oh, that's funny," but that impressive kind that makes you think, "Holy shit, get this guy to a special hospital immediately." Flickr user "otherthings" wrote:
Yahoo! cookies, required for login to Flickr, will spy on all your internet activity. #
Wow. I mean... wow. That's so completely insane, I don't even know what to say1. But Flickr's venerable Stewart Butterfield replies with a full description of how cookies work. Now, I know he's in a position in which he feels he needs to respond to people and explain what's going on, but this whole business has gotten out of hand. There's a population (which I believe is small) of Flickr users who hate Yahoo! (but apparently didn't hate them until this week) and want out—let them go.
Flickr will survive.
On a personal note, I did find having to merge annoying but that's because I'm lazy and I am set in my ways. But it only took about four minutes.
- I think my response would have been something like: If you believe that is the case, turn off your computer and throw it into the garbage. Just toss it into the garbage and go out into the living room and sit in the middle of the floor and think about your life. ↩