Tom Harrison

You're not using vim, are you? ;) - directeur via NoiseRiver

Isn't it nice that some of the shortcuts are exactly what you'd expect from vi? Search and navigation for instance. - Benjamin Golub

Personally I wish all of these services had a clear policy of what will get you kicked off, and how they'll handle it. I also wish that they would NEVER delete previous work. They should just lock you out of your account if they don't like you, but leave your work up there (and the work of the community). - Robert Scoble

This really sucks actually. Pierre complained about their threat to him and they simply deleted him. I've put thousands and thousands of hours into my Flickrstream. It would be devastating if they did this to me. This really was uncalled for. On digg here: http://tinyurl.com/4hmtvz - Thomas Hawk

Flickr has really went downhill since the Yahoo purchase - John Duff

that's really sad. Flickr... Where have you gone? - ※Fu※

I don't agree with Flickr deleting the account but that email he sent was a bit much. That in itself is abuse, albeit to staff not users, and is against the terms of use. - Andrew Smith

Andrew: I agree with you. If I were at Flickr I would have "fired" Pierre too (locked him out of his account, and told him he's not welcome on Flickr anymore). But I would NOT have deleted his work, or deleted the work of the community that built up around his work. - Robert Scoble

I'm wondering what it takes until people, and I mean masses, stop using services that have theis kind of (miss-)management. I guess things like these only come up if you know someone like Thomas Hawk, etc. I don't want to know how often and what else goes wrong behind the scenes, but still people keep suing these services. Like Robert said, their power is extreme. - Holger Eilhard

At the same time, I have to agree with Andrew that his reply was too much. How about asking in a polite way for the actual reasons behind this first and not just screaming out loud like there's no tomorrow? - Holger Eilhard

Give him a "time-out" - Andrew Smith

The title to your post is a bit misleading. I can see where you are going with Flickr deleting the account for numerous blocks being a bit over the top, but please remember that the people answering these emails are people too, and speaking to them in the way that your friend spoke to them is unacceptable. His account wasn't deleted for cursing, in the text of the email you posted he is being completely abusive. Why would Flickr continue to do business with an obviously abusive user? - Aaron Krug

On the flip side, I have seen Pierre curse like a sailor at Heather and the rest in Flickr Central which is in public and they have had to ask him to tone it down...so there is a history there and it goes back a few years. - cmiper

Robert Scoble won't even approve comments he doesn't like on his fastcompany.tv site, and I seem to remember when you were all up in arms a little bit ago about being treated disrespectfully at SF MOMA. Why should the folks at Flickr suffer the abuse of this man? Because he is your friend? Your friend should've acted like the adult he wanted to be treated like and I am willing to bet things would've gone very differently. - Aaron Krug

@cmiper That's just what I told to a friend via twitter: "I'm wondering what else might be behind the story. There's always two sides [of a story]." - Holger Eilhard

The author of the recent article "Nasty As They Wanna Be" (http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/...) tosses around various nonsense such as whether excluding racist activity is discriminatory against racists, and whether banning harassment is harassing the harasser... but you can have your account deleted for using bad words in private? Either Flickr's policies are made of hot air, or there's more to this story. Also, poor choice of words on Pierre's part. - Tom Harrison

I agree that Flickr should reinstate his account. For the reason given, it should never have even been considered for deletion. However, Pierre could probably stand to take a lesson in tact and civility. - Michael Schuermann

The worst thing is that even after years of controversial account deletions, the Flickr backend still has no undo button. Even if they wanted to reinstate Pierre's account in hindsight, they can't do it if what they say on the help forum is true. They culd give hime his old username back but all the photos, comments, faves: irretrievably gone. - Ole Begemann

If Pierre was such an active user then he knew of this flaw and was tempting fate and got what he deserved. He used words I won't even say out loud in that email. I find it ironic that his whole point was that it should be ok for others to block him and he wasn't doing anything that was abusive and was completely abusive in doing so. - Aaron Krug

@Ole: Yip. This black and white behaviour on Flickr's part isn't good. They should be able to lock someone out, but only being able to delete the work of someone forever can't be the right way to handle these kind of things. - Holger Eilhard

Pierre's response was a bit much. But that's him. He's Pierre. He's well known for who he is by Flickr and their staff. I don't think his response was right. But I think that total account deletion takes it a bit too far. He should have gotten a warning or maybe been locked out of his acct for 24 hours or something. But total account deletion in this case without warning is too far. - Thomas Hawk

You have to keep in mind that this is not about simply starting over or the $25 for a Pro account. Very active Flickr users put thousands and thousands of hours into their accounts. The punishment doesn't fit the crime in this case. They should reinstate his account. - Thomas Hawk

Facebook does the same thing for a lot less than swearing at staff. - Robert Scoble

If there is another side to this story I haven't heard it. I've seen all of the emails involved in today's incident and published the main two relating to the case. If there is more to the story though Flickr is certainly welcome to chime in. - Thomas Hawk

@aaronkrug2 He might have known. But Flickr only got de-brained recently. I had my brush with Heather too but that was before the Yahoo merger. Have nothing bad to say about her. Outcome was fair. Facebook suspends you as punishment for having too many 'friends' but at least they can open your account again after a grace period or your friends standing up to them. - Frank Jonen

Thomas. He was responding to a warning, albeit to something different, however it was a warning nonetheless. Why should the Flickr crew believe he would react any differently if they warned him for being abusive? Would that not have elicited an even worse response? You say he was well known and he knew them well, so he knew the stakes. Maybe next time he will act like an adult when he comes across something he doesn't like. And when you say a bit much you are being misleading again. That email was terrible. - Aaron Krug

What defines a Swear Word? Howard Stern would not last long on Flickr. - Michael Fidler

It sounds like the only mistake the Flickr crew made was to let this guy go on acting like this for so long and make him think that kind of thing was acceptable in the first place, something they obviously just corrected. - Aaron Krug

I am guessing that they took his email as abusive, regardless of who knows that it's "Pierre being Pierre". There is only so much that a business has to take from a customer before they decide that they no longer need or want that customer. As mentioned before, he has gone off using the same language in the past at flickr staff in the public forums, check the "ho ho ho hat" thread drama or the "flickr censorship" threads, he has called Heather out directly and used every profanity at his disposal. - cmiper

Thomas, you say that Flickr only got de-brained recently, however your description of your friend sounds like he has been acting unacceptably for some time. You say that your experience with the same person was fair and acceptable, do you think it would have been the same way had you chosen to use the language your friend did? - Aaron Krug

I don't know thomas, with all due respect, i'm not sure what your friend was expecting. it shows very little respect for the flickr rep and also paints a pretty clear picture of why MAYBE this guy has been blocked. i think many reasonable people would have done the same thing. no one needs suffer abuse. I have received many different notices about complaints about my flickr due to my language and content and i have always responded in a clam manner and flickr has always had my back, had i responded calling them fucking morons i would have expected to be deleted. i'm guessing he didn't get deleted for swearing, seems he got deleted for apparently acting like a spoiled rotten ass with a very high sense of entitlement. at a certain point one needs to take responsibility for the way they communicate with people. being a hot head can have it's rewards but there is also a cost. otherwise it wouldn't be fun anyway. i'm gonna have to side with flickr on this. we get what we give. - merkley???

THIS IS STOOOOPID... come'on flickr what gives?!! Go DIGG this story now! http://tinyurl.com/4hmtvz I am sorry folks but i have NO tolerance for small brained BS like this... these companies are way too draconian sometimes... lighten up already! - Susan Beebe

Thomas, cmiper and merkley are making a lot more sense than you are on this one. No one should be asked to take that kind of abuse at all, and you are asking the Flickr guys to take it and issue a warning? You didn't like being treated rudely at SF MOMA, what about this is different? Your friend should've acted with a lot more maturity than he chose to show - Aaron Krug

Aaron, I wouldn't use that language with Flickr staff but I guess I don't read the email as badly as you do. I've seen plenty worse in Flickr forums. I think Flickr needs to have thicker skin. I'm not defending his email. I'm just saying that deleting thousands of hours of someone's work is too big of a response for Pierre's typical Pierre hot headedness. And it is total crap to threaten someone with deletion simply because too many people block them. I've had plenty of people block me. - Thomas Hawk

And we're not talking about AT&T telling you to go to Sprint because they don't like your language. When Pierre's account was deleted he lost *thousands* of hours of work. That's just too big a penalty for that email. - Thomas Hawk

Thomas, you and I are in complete agreement that it is total crap to have an account deleted just for people blocking you. You and I are in complete agreement there. However where we differ is I answer customer service emails for a living and can tell you that I am a smart, polite, upstanding person who will not be addressed in this manner. Ever. Your only reasoning is that it's 'typical Pierre hotheadedness'. So because he does it all the time it's ok? - Aaron Krug

Aaron, how is this different than the SFMOMA? I was kicked out of the SFMOMA for doing something completely unoffensive and allowed, the Flickr employee was not. Your analogy doesn't make sense on any level. Too very different situations. - Thomas Hawk

It sounds like from the other comments as well that it was not just this email, this was just the straw that broke the camel's back. He has been directly abusive on numerous occasions to the very proprietors of the service he claims to value. If he valued it as much as he said he did he would've thought twice before choosing his course of action. - Aaron Krug

And why was he abusive previously? Because he didn't agree with Flickr policies? Its a big internet, if he didn't like it no one was making him stay. Its not like you can go into McDonald's and speak to them like this because they don't sell Whoppers and then expect them to still serve you. I'm with Flickr all the way on this one. - Aaron Krug

Re: [Robert Scoble: "I wish all of these services had a clear policy of what will get you kicked off, and how they'll handle it."] Flickr's Community Guidelines are actually pretty clear that your account can be deleted without warning. Problem is, most people never read them. ["I also wish that they would NEVER delete previous work. They should just lock you out of your account if they don't like you"] That is a great idea, Robert. It would certainly give the community a more permanent feel. - Ole Begemann

re @thomashawk "punishment should fit the crime" well, i'm not sure how i'd react because it's never really happened, but if someone went off like that to me in my living room, i think throwing them and all their stuff out on the street would be a fair and expected move. gently guiding him onto a small chair in a corner for a time out might be a little condescending to everyone. you know, because we are adults :) btw, being all too familiar with the ins and outs of being a hothead, i have all my comments and entire flickr account rss'd and saved, you know, just in case I get drunk and get myself kicked out of the living room. wouldn't be the first time... :) - merkley???

Whether it was the straw that broke the camels back or not I still think that deleting thousands of hours of someone's work forever is not an appropriate response. Maybe lock him out of the account for a cooling off period, sure. Do that a few times and then kick him out of the site. Maybe it's hard to understand because for most people it's just an account whereas for some of us it represents something with far far more of an emotional investment. - Thomas Hawk

I'm with Aaron that Pierre's email was reason enough for much more than a warning. I really like Robert's approach of locking someone out of their account. Permanently, not just for 24 hours or so. Just don't delete their history. - Ole Begemann

Gotta say I disagree with how Flickr threatened to delete the account because people were blocking him. Without more info, it really doesn't seem like an intelligent reaction. After Pierre's reply, I can't say I blame them for not wanting to deal with him any longer. However, I think locking him out would have been better than deleting his account. - MiniMage

Pierre is a loved character on Flickr despite his hot headedness. He's very ingrained in the community and has been for years. Personally I think many of the characters on Flickr are what makes it interesting. Mr. Chalk, Billy Warhol, there have been plenty of others who have big personalities and take things too far. But Flickr should have more tolerance for their characters before taking such draconian action here. It was a nuclear response and too much for the crime. - Thomas Hawk

And it is super lame that you can get your account deleted for too many people blocking you, which is the issue that started this all off in the first place. - Thomas Hawk

it's hard to have pity for a man who burns down his own house, whether he knew the potential of the match he was striking is another story. the bigger shame is when the house was filled with other people's stuff and that all went up in smoke as well -- but even then, disappointment should be pointed at the drunk guy with the gas can and that should be kept to a minimum since it's all backed up www.archive.org -- i'll stop now. - merkley???

i think blocking just sets off the investigation which in this case was a very short one with considerably strong "craaazay guy" evidence being found in the first interview. -- ok stopping for reals -- - merkley???

Someone needs some people skills. Maybe Pierre should swallow his pride, write them a nice email, explaining why he lost his mind, and maybe get his stuff back. Peter's using THEIR service, he's a guest there. They should and can do whatever they want. If all you guys don't like it, take your wallets with you to another service. That'll show Flickr! - Todd

More conservative bullshit. Everything has to be clean and tidy and fit in nice little boxes. I thought Fluckr ;) was about promoting creativity, not stifling it. Creativity isn't always PG-13, it comes rated R, and sometimes NC-17. And the beauty of blocking is just like changing the channel and not watching. It's not an attack on the artist, just a way of not watching his work because you chose not to. Isn't choice the foundation of a free society? - DAVE ID

I think it's important to point out here that one of the major things that raised Pierre's temper, and has caused concern and discomfort for many others recently, is the feeling of helplessness being singled out by flickr staff brings. We've all seen and constantly see a lot of objectionable things (apparently) slide by, so it seems awfully arbitrary and cold to suddenly be told you are "one of the bad guys" and can be deleted without warning. - TreJack

Add to that the possibility that it's other users who you may have had encounters with causing you to show up on the radar, yet you have no idea who it is you've pissed off, or how to defend yourself, and I can imagine it would be pretty disturbing. One of the points Pierre does make in his e-mail is that users should be able to block someone FOR ANY REASON OR NO REASON WHATSOEVER - flickr staff should take no more notice of someone being blocked than FF does when I hide someone's Netflix activity. - TreJack

Whatever happened to all the Data Portability stuff that was all the rage beginning of this year? - Jesse Stay

I still am in complete agreement that you should not be able to have your account deleted for too many people blocking you. The problem here is, Pierre ruined any point he was trying to make by acting like a foul mouthed child. Thomas when you say the punishment should fit the crime I agree, but the crime here is different than you are claiming. Pierre chose not to act like the adult he was claiming to be, and chose to be completely abusive towards the staff. I can think of no situation where the language - Aaron Krug

She is great isn't she? - Chris Nixon

Love of Carnage too - cool. - TreJack

That's a game-changing statistic. - Ed Roberts via twhirl

If you're looking for some cool things to do with texting you should watch this video http://www.fastcompany.tv/vide... with Google's mobile product manager Sumit Agarwal. - Robert Scoble

I have many memories of the Dinosaur Book from my years in higher education. - Tom Harrison

It's a good book. - xero

Just about everything I know about operating systems is from that book. Of course, I don't really know all that much about operating systems. ;) - James Williams (willia4)

Some of us are already there. :-/ - vicster

why wait a few years? - Steven Hodson

first, lose faith in politics. Then, the banking system. Not surprising, really, since politics = money these days - Jason Kaneshiro

Trust but verify. - Alex "Maverick" Scoble

Doesn't take a few years to figure that out. - Christopher Welle

Chris: check this out... http://www.thedailyshow.com/vi... you will see that we are being given the exact same speech. And it take a comedy show to show this to us. SAD! - Christopher Welle

A few years? Try a few weeks... - Abby Martin

Hell, I feel like I'm being lied to and stolen from *now*. - Victor Ganata

This is the same group of people who rushed to vote for the stupid NCLB and PATRIOT ACT bills without reading it. This bailout will cost us more than just money and we'll get 'We never expected..." BS. - Faboo Mama

No doubt that the rich made money on this deal - LPH™

It isn't a coincidence this is happening a month before the election. - Trish R

My question is this: Why would someone want to be president of a country that is in multiple losing wars and the economy is falling faster then Paul Rubens fame? - Christopher Welle

trish, not a coincidence? please explain your statement a little more - Jeff Quinton

I am waiting for people to wake up to the fact that capitalism is a faith based system, with little economic principle to back it up. - Nadine Schaeffer

Ironic that a Republican administration would be the one to enact Communism. - Victor Ganata

They haven't. They've just moved the deck chairs around. - Chris Baskind

Whoa, big chips... or small cupcakes. - torque

Cupcake fad dying? PAH! It's barely begun! - Mo "Killer Bee" Kargas

WANT - Mona N.

OMG you ppl are killin me with the cupcake talk!! oh gawd that looks so good. ah! - TheMacMommy via twhirl

They look loooovely! Yum. :-D - Kol Tregaskes

NOMage. - Melissa

WANT does not describe. I may just have to make these later. - Rob Diana

is taste-o-vision in the works yet? i really wish it was right now - tiffany

edythe, you always find this amazing NOM. - Monique

Where did you find this? Oh WOW. edythe- I adore you even more for this! - Abby Martin

woah!! - Bonita Garrabrant

Yum! - JMShoes

Oh. Wow. - Soulhuntre via twhirl

Ahhhhhhhhh want, want, want!! - Susan Beebe

How can you NOT like this concept? - Nadine Schaeffer

Oishii - Mike Reynolds

droooooool... - Pete Delucchi

i'm gonna have to bribe someone to make these for me this week. wish me luck. lol - Cee Bee

and, so, why was the icing left off? and sprinkles, gotta have sprinkles. - jerobins

good luck, cee bee. ;) - edythe

I can't believe I didn't think of that. - Jody Reale

@Louis, Why? - Jeff P. Henderson

some of the best photos are taken while driving. - Thomas Hawk

@Jeff, because I think those things are less intrusive than other non-banned activities, and because I only do them if I'm stopped (intersection) or not around other cars. I think these new rules are silly. Given how much time we spend in cars, we shouldn't need to be disconnected. - Louis Gray

@Louis, I have no problem with people talking or texting while stopped at a light. I'm glad you use some common sense. What I do have a problem with is some jackass driving in the fast lane during rush hour going 50MPH with a cell phone glued to their ear and trying to take notes, totally oblivious to those behind and around them. That is who these laws are for. - Jeff P. Henderson

Another reason to use mass transit - you can play with your iPhone all you like. - Jason Kaneshiro

Louis, I trust that you would still drive responsibly. But would everyone? I am sure the lure of a near-real-time SMS conversation would cause people to attempt to drive and text at the same time. It probably happens all the time. - J·Phil·Glockner

Good - Ryan

I don't like banning of phones in vehicles. What's next? No radios? Those are distracting. Or, how about a navigation system? I'd rather see them stop people for driving in the passing lane, running lights, not using turn signals, and blocking intersections (not stopping by the stop line) then go after all phone users. Fix the other stuff first please. - Becca

+ A LOT, Becca. I was just thinking that myself... - Lisa L. Seifert

Can't agree with Becca more. Have watched more people drive off the (main part of the) road messing with Nav systems ... Either all or none? - Charlie Anzman

I'd offer anything that distracts both eyes and hands simultaneously should be banned while driving. - Jason Kaneshiro

I know a few drivers that should be banned from driving - Charlie Anzman

i have a GPS and i've texted while stuck in traffic. the GPS is dangerous to use while driving, there's no way i'd text. still i wonder if on those occasions i'm checking the traffic on my GPS will i get pulled over. i use my GPS to talk on my phone too - Faboo Mama

I don't even use the phone while driving... - Mavericks of Troy, NV!

I'm leaving this comment via iPhone while driving home. - Nathan Chase

On the other hand ... not too sure any of this matters. Have people with no toys tailgating me every day?! - Charlie Anzman

@Jeff 50? Try 90. I remember a guy on the phone who used me as a pace car once. (This was when I was younger...) I kept speeding up and at around 90 MPH he realized what he was doing and abruptly slowed down! - Oliver Ortega Chua

we CAN'T drive and text in the southeast because we HAVE NO GAS. - jeneane 'the wink' sessum

It would seem that I have broken the law tonight? - Colby Olson

welcome to Australia! :-) - Duncan Riley

need to ban women putting on makeup, mascara in the vanity mirror...gawd i hate that! how about people reading magazines, newspapers. hey what about smokers...that ties up 1 hand for a good 10 minutes - Susan Beebe

I'm surprised it's taken this long. Five girls were killed here last year due to driver texting. - Cyndy

Would have to think the train accident was the immediate motivation ... even though it wasn't a car - Charlie Anzman

I feel like ramming drivers sitting in front of me at a green light that just turned but the driver in front of me didn't notice that the signal had turned green because he/she was texting. - Tokyo Dan via twhirl

Good - dan

There is a BBC report on the Transport Research Lab study into the effects of texting on driving at http://tinyurl.com/3mlq9w - Richard Peat

Here in the UK, we don't mess about with having one law to ban something when we can have three. Using a mobile phone (texting, talking, gaming, whatever) falls under "Driving without due care and attention", "Using a handheld microphone whilst driving" AND "Holding an active telecommunications device whilst in control of a motor vehicle". The first is a catch-all ruling, the second was brought about in the 70s to curtail the use of CB radio, and the last is a couple of years old. One would have been enough - Slippy Lane

Whoa. I better pull over. - Jay Tannenbaum

Hey, Slippy. I LOVE the way driving works in the UK. Doesn't eating whilst driving also fall under "without due care and attention?" And I REALLY love that you can be ticketed for being in the passing lane when you're not actively passing! Slower traffic move OVER, please! - Lisa L. Seifert

My advice: take a look at the "everyone" page on FF, add "?service=flickr" to the URL, and discover people whose work you like. - Eric

I agree with Eric. I regularly scan through the photos that FriendFeed users are favoriting in order to find new Flickr contacts. - Tom Harrison

damn. there's just so many great photographers to follow -- different photogs for different reasons. Here's a handful for you though: Jeremy Brooks, aqui-ali, merkely, Extra Super Cutie, Justin Korn, .eyebex, antimethod, Ar'alani, Dalmatica, eyetwist, helveticaneue, Andrew Moore, immaculatious, JeffHenderson, kelco, Lost America, lisa-k, Miss Aniela, noeltykay, cmiper, pfeyh, Phil Price, pinhole, raoulpop, razorbern, Sara Collaton, sharwest, smoothdude, snailbooty, TunnelBug, sweet distin, so many more.. - Thomas Hawk

I'm totally forgetting a ton of people though. So much photographic talent out there these days. - Thomas Hawk

Course, you should also be following Thomas Hawk. And me :) But Y'know, this just reminds me of how difficult Flickr makes it to follow any one particular photographer's work. The contacts page is next to useless in this regard. - Eric

It's much easier to follow flickr photos on FF than it is on Flickr itself. Flickr limits what you can see to the last 5 without going to someone's photostream directly. FF includes it all, plus FF also shows you what your flickr friends are faving -- a much better system. I set up imaginary friends for a bunch of my flickr contacts who are not on FF yet. - Thomas Hawk

@Thomas Totally agree. I love imaginary friends for that too. - samgrover

Just followed you :) - Shey

What Shey said - only reason I hadn't done it before was because I see 'em all here... - TreJack

Since we're on the topic of Flickr, I use a program called John's Background Switcher that allows you to grab a new picture from Flickr and change your desktop background every few minutes. You can follow groups, people, or add tags and see what comes up. It's great for discovering new images and seeing just how talented the people on Flickr really are. - Shafiq Jetha via twhirl

Yeah - there needs to be a Flickr contact importer for FF. I don't think that'd solve all the problems, but it'd be a big help. - Eric