Flickr Favorites

Is there something 'more to it' on flickr when someone marks favorites?

Often, when I notice that someone has marked one of my shots on flickr as a favorite, I will take a look at that person's work to see what they do and, maybe, what led them to mark one of my shots as a favorite. What I frequently find is that the person has very little work of their own, but hundreds of favorites, often with no theme that I can discern.

For various reasons, I never put copyright notices on my work, and I suspect that the people are compiling databases of free artwork that they may want to use..

Maybe some people use it for that, no way you can know is there?

It does add to the 'interestingness' of an image.

Have you ever asked anyone why they marked one of your images as a favorite?

Although I haven't marked many favorites, I do use two basic criteria if I do. First, is it something I want to see more than once? Second, is it a picture I want to keep track of. In the first case, those are my favorites - and are usually portraits (people or animals). The second category is more based on if there is an element in the picture I would like to explore further: this could be a DIY project, a place that interests me or equipment that interests me.

Using those two rules, I have probably less than two dozen favorites. I also make use of contacts and groups to organize the work I want to see.

If I mark a shot as a favourite it is because I like it and would want to go back and look at it again, maybe to get shooting ideas from it.

Remember flickr is likely used by many people who are not photographers or who don't post their work on flickr itself. Leaving a favourite gives them a list of shots they've liked which they can refer to again (its about the only way to log other peoples work on flickr other than keeping a bit list of favourites in your webbrowser list).

Pablo3 wrote in post #13758655
Have you ever asked anyone why they marked one of your images as a favorite?

I did send a flickr mail asking why to one person who, I noticed, had at least 200 favorites -- no response.

Pablo3 wrote in post #13758655
Using those two rules, I have probably less than two dozen favorites. I also make use of contacts and groups to organize the work I want to see.

Mike wrote in post #13758670
If I mark a shot as a favourite it is because I like it and would want to go back and look at it again, maybe to get shooting ideas from it.

I do exactly the same -- I favorite a few shots that really strike me or that I want to emulate in someway (style, location, etc.) I doubt I have more than 2 dozen total on my various accounts.

Overread wrote in post #13758717
Leaving a favourite gives them a list of shots they've liked which they can refer to again (its about the only way to log other peoples work on flickr other than keeping a bit list of favourites in your webbrowser list).

Yeah, it is probably nothing, but I still wonder why someone would want a list of 200 or more.

Cause they like more than 200 pics
Heck I could easily ramp up a list of 200 good to very good photos I'd like to see more than once without much effort. I typically don't though since most I see posting stuff I like end up in my contacts list (which is somewhere around 200 already) so I see stuff from them as it comes up