One of my oldest and most useful ways to recall memories just vanished. Flickr’s recent account changes meant I had to either delete hundreds of personal photos I only want family to access or pay them $72 USD every year until the end of time. I don’t begrudge them needing to make money but I’m not in a position to pay . Thankfully, I never uploaded anything to Flickr that wasn’t in my real photo storage but years of careful organization just dissappeared. Losing that kind of personal documentation means I’ll quickly forget my Flickr account even exists.
The lesson I took away from this is products and memories have opposing needs to survive.
Products require constant change and last longest when they’re remade over and over. Memories require stability and last longest when they are left alone. Flickr was never going to meet my needs because, at the end of the day, it’s not “memories” or a “community,” it’s just a product. Another “Web 2.0” business with terms of service that says they can do whatever they want with whatever I feed it.
The good advice of @patrickrhone continues to be true: “The best way to save memories is to print them.”