I really like hosting my own photos, because there are copyright/rights management, privacy, and cost issues with doing it any other way. But I really would like to outsource it sometimes, because Gallery2 is a bizarre piece of software with a shitty user interface. To get batch-rotate capabilities, I’d have to directly patch the source code. (Oh, boy.) I had to install a new plugin because none of the upload types was working except the basic web upload, which is extremely limited. To fix its limits, I would have to modify my PHP configuration. (Double oh boy.)
I hate, hate, hate Flickr’s policy of evaporating your photos if you don’t pay them, but their interface, although quirky, is about 10 million times better than Gallery.
I checked out ZenPhoto, but it’s not clear it would be any better, and it’s not 1-click installable on Dreamhost, so it doesn’t seem like there’s a better solution. I just wish there were.
Paul Berry
July 31, 2012 at 6:48amI’m really happy with Flickr and I’m surprised to hear about them evaporating photos. According to their written policy (http://www.flickr.com/help/limits/) they don’t delete old photos from non-paid accounts, merely hide them from your photostream (links to the old photos still work), and if/when you reinstate your pro account, all of your photos are available again. Is this the policy you’re bothered by, or had you heard about them behaving differently? Because to me it seems very reasonable. And considering what I know about you and your preferences, I think you would actually really approve of flickr, both for their interface and their privacy/ownership policies (see for example http://blog.flickr.net/en/2011/05/26/your-photos-and-data-on-flickr/).
Alexis
August 3, 2012 at 4:38pmNo, they don’t delete them, but they make it very difficult for you to retrive them. So yes, that is the policy that I don’t like, and therefore won’t support, because it forces me to keep paying them in perpetuity if I ever start paying them, or lose easy access to my photos.
I do have a Flickr account, which I use as a secondary account for sharing items that for some reason need sociability. So I’m not boycotting them or anything, but mostly I host my own.