Flickr deleted a Pro account without warning

Flickr has deleted a pro account user without any explanation or warning (link). A heated discussion is going on at petapixel website. Few other flickr users also experienced pro account deletion before.

Any one from our forum had similar problem with flickr before?

hm, are they sure it was deleted or somehow corrupted?

*edit*
either way it sucks, but I would be more pissed at one scenario vs the other

Good thing I don't have a Flickr Pro account... sucks for that person...

What's scarier is the number of people in the comments that think a Flickr Pro account is a valid backup solution.

It's in the T's & C's that they have the right to terminate an account without warning...

I'd never use Flickr as a full backup solution either. I only ever upload 1024px size images to there...and that takes long enough!

crashthenet44 wrote in post #11624747
What's scarier is the number of people in the comments that think a Flickr Pro account is a valid backup solution.

Mike wrote in post #11624768
...I'd never use Flickr as a full backup solution either.

I'd never use any photo sharing site as a backup solution. That's just silly.

So I'm assuming everyone is mad because Flickr was the back-up?
I would never use an internet server as my back-up. I put a lot of pics on Flickr, but its for showing and not for backing up - that's what my external hard drive is for.
*shrugs*

I'd like to know what sort of policy violations were going on. I have a hard time believing that Flickr puts usernames on a wall and throw darts at it to decide who gets deleted.

There's a reason the account got deleted. They just chose not to inform you why. I'm sure if they looked at Flickr's ToS, they'd find the reason.

Socket7 wrote in post #11625563
I'd like to know what sort of policy violations were going on. I have a hard time believing that Flickr puts usernames on a wall and throw darts at it to decide who gets deleted.

There's a reason the account got deleted. They just chose not to inform you why. I'm sure if they looked at Flickr's ToS, they'd find the reason.

+1 what did they do wrong?

Caveat Emptor... When you pay $24.95 a year for a "Pro Account" you can't expect the same customer service that you'd get from a place where you pay $150.00 a year or more...

It would have been nice if the party whose account was deleted had been notified in advance, however...

I took a moment to look up the "what not to post" guidelines for flickr.

* Don’t upload anything that isn't yours.
This includes other people's photos, video and/or stuff you've collected from around the Internet. Accounts that consist primarily of such collections may be terminated at any time.

Sounds reasonable enough.


* Don’t forget the children.
Take the opportunity to filter your content responsibly. If you would hesitate to show your photos or videos to a child, your mum, or Uncle Bob, that means it needs to be filtered. So, ask yourself that question as you upload your content and moderate accordingly. If you don’t, it’s likely that one of two things will happen. Your account will be reviewed then either moderated or terminated by Flickr staff.

Don't tag your naked photos as work safe. Mark it as adult or you get banned. Again, it sounds reasonable to me.

* Don’t show nudity in your buddy icon.
Only content considered "safe" is appropriate for your buddy icon. If we find that you've uploaded a buddy icon that contains "moderate" or "restricted" content, we'll remove the buddy icon, moderate your account as “restricted” and send you a warning. If we find you doing it again, we’ll terminate your account.

No you cant use a macro shot of your nipple as a buddy icon.

* Don’t upload content that is illegal or prohibited.
If we find you doing that, your account will be deleted and we'll take appropriate action, which may include reporting you to the authorities.

Don't post photos of your weed grow op. The fact you'll be banned from Flickr is really only a minor reason not to.

* Don’t vent your frustrations, rant, or bore the brains out of other members.
Flickr is not a venue for you to harass, abuse, impersonate, or intimidate others. If we receive a valid complaint about your conduct, we’ll send you a warning or terminate your account.

No trolling and watch your language in comments.

* Don’t be creepy.
You know the guy. Don't be that guy.

Just because you saw a photo of a beautiful naked woman, doesn't mean she wants you to send her a naked picture of you. It will get you banned.

* Don’t use your account to host web graphics like logos and banners.
Your account will be terminated if we find you using it to host graphic elements of web page designs, icons, smilies, buddy icons, forum avatars, badges, and other non-photographic elements on external web sites.

Flickr is not a webhost.

* Don’t use Flickr for commercial purposes.
Flickr is for personal use only. If we find you selling products, services, or yourself through your photostream, we will terminate your account. Any other commercial use of Flickr, Flickr technologies (including APIs, FlickrMail, etc), or Flickr accounts must be approved by Flickr. For more information on leveraging Flickr APIs, please see our Services page. If you have other open questions about commercial usage of Flickr, please feel free to contact us.


You may not use Flickr as a product menu.

You know what. I'm totally fine with those reasons for banning people, and will continue to pay Flickr $24 a year.

We are only hearing one side of the story. It's possible flickr made a mistake or deleted the account for no good reason. It's also very possible the user violated the TOS, either knowingly, or unknowingly.