Hmm... This seems to be a weird hint for this site and also another reason why we can't have nice things. Given how awesome it is that Flickr is giving users 1TB of space for free and how that could potentially change the online storage marketplace, is it wise to help inform people how to abuse the system? This isn't dropbox, it's a free photo storage service. Encoding other types of files (MP3s, etc) into fake images and uploading them to Flickr would seem to violate their service terms, or at least violate the spirit of the service and potentially cause them to reevaluate the offer.

From Flickr's faq page
"Please note that the available amount of space is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service. To avoid abuse of our free space, we monitor accounts for excessive usage or unusual upload and behavior patterns, as our goal is to ensure that everyone has reliable access to their amazing photos and videos on Flickr."

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+1

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Agreed.

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In response to SCIP: Well written counterpoint, and one which I agree with.

I've been using Phanfare for six years or more having signed up for a perpetual account for $250, but recently they were bought out and the new management canned the perpetual free storage. Needing a place for photo albums to share among friends, family, the world (and some that I keep private), this new offer by Flickr was a no-brainer for me.

For cloud backup I use Pogoplug with an unlimited plan that runs $5/mo and is fine for cloud storage.

To implement this hint is nothing more than gaming the system that Flickr offers and has the potential of Flickr backing off its offer.

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I agree with the previous comments. Maybe MacOSXHints should even go so far as to try — where possible — to enforce a policy of not posting hints that might violate the terms and conditions of 3rd party services.

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I agree with everything that has been mentioned in the other comments. Did anyone else notice this was posted by kirkmc?

Since the editor chooses which submitted hints are posted here, I suppose this doesn't make much difference... every hint that makes it onto the site has the editor's "blessing." But for some reason I found it disconcerting that our editor submitted this one himself.

We all use things/services/apps/programs in ways they're not intended— and it's great to share that. Look at all we'd miss if no one had ever dumped Mentos in Diet Coke— which were never intended to be mixed, but consumed separately. But doesn't it pay to be careful when novelly misusing services like Flickr? If we abuse it and they say "Forget dis!" and yank the offer, then we have a bunch of serious digital photographers seriously mad at us. They've got huge lenses and tripods and silvery-shiny umbrellas that flash... I don't know what they would do with all that equipment when they're angry, but I don't want to tempt them to use it in a way it wasn't intended by the manufacture ON ME!

Kirk, you do a great job on this site, but I think you missed the mark on this one.

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Hey Kirk, you should take this hint down. It's a hack that violates the Flickr EULA and I don't think that's what you intended.

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I found kircmc's post helpful, informative, entirely appropriate—and happily free from the otherwise pervasive Stockholm Syndrome.

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