Comments on: NowPublic Trolling Flickr

By: PEP

PEP — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 03:07:22 +0000

Whatever. I looked you up, and you’re very very green, so perhaps some maturation will help.
Some of us have had other experiences to be wise about the context in which we release full personal information. And one other thing maybe you’ll figure out some day: those of us who’ve been successful not only work hard, but we’re helped along the way.
I’m among those who believe in giving back. I thought that participating in NP, especially as a Guest Editor, was a way of giving back and maybe having some casual fun, too.
I’ve given away a great many things in my life. It’s also part of my spiritual practice. That may seem strange and unbelievable to you, and that’s too bad, for you.
If you’re tracking what I’ve done, you’d have seen that I’ve now deleted enough material to account for almost half a million page views. Be thorough if you’re going to research people and use it to attack them.
I don’t care if you’re skeptical. That’s your problem. You had a concern about something you thought was unethical and that bothered you. You discussed it. I heard about the discussion and showed up to validate you (that’s one step in helping), and had some other info as well. But I’m not dumb enough to share info with someone so dismissive of others.
Perhaps you could consider: being “skeptical” doesn’t include being rude or dismissive.
I thought you had a concern for others, as well. Given your responses, I don’t think so. I think it’s just another part of you “I got up, went to the movies, and oh yea, this pissed me off” blog.
I won’t be back. Arguing with someone who’s determined to be cutting and dismissive of others with no reason at all is a waste of time.
May I suggest reading Jim Rohn? Good resource.

By: Alex

Alex — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 22:38:42 +0000

PEP: It sounds like you’re researching for your book on cyber-piracy (of all things). Help me with what exactly?

NowPublic encourages people to submit news, now with a leader board style ranking system. Most of this stories aren’t original. Most are excerpts from other news sites. I doubt many award winning journalists would consider this a valid part of their craft, even those who have made the transition to blogging and online media. If you’ve been a journalist for 30+ years, chances are good that your name has been all over the place long before you chose to comment here.

According to your NowPublic profile, you posted an excerpt of a story yesterday (06/18/08). People can change their ways overnight, but seeing as how you’ve contributed/excerpted hundreds of NowPublic stories and commented on countless others, you’ll have to accept or forgive my skepticism for the time being.

By: PEP

PEP — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 12:51:24 +0000

Well, I wanted to help you. I don’t contribute to NP any more. Of course when leaving a public note I don’t leave my primary email–who would, with spammers?
Don’t bother to “hit” on my stuff @ NP; I’ve deleted pages of it, including contributions with several thousand hits on just one story.
And your response shows why people need to be careful about leaving their full details and emails; sometimes you reach out to aid and someone hits back.
Had you bothered to email me yourself or ask I would have given you more details, privately. I’ve learned to be careful on the internet; your reply confirms why that’s necessary.

By: PEP

PEP — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 01:19:15 +0000

Hi,

I’m working on a book about cyber-piracy, and I’m very interested in your experiences. More to the specific point, I was a Guest Editor on Now Public, until today. Then I questioned mtippett about a news report that NP was financially successful because they got material contributed from members and then resold it. In less than an hour, they removed my “Guest Editor” ranking, and threatened to ban me forever from NP. Here’s what happened:

Following the links to learn more! I found this out-take:
Ndege believes that citizen journalism is “supposed to be about the man or woman on the street telling his or her story, not about the trained professional,” thus cites NowPublic as the best business model around citizen journalism. Citizen journalists provide the website with content, and in turn, NowPublic sells it on wire services.

Then I asked this question:

So what work have you sold to wire services? And do members get notified about this? Do we ever get payment if ya’ll sell what we do?

Just asking! ;}

I vote for transparency on this!

–and here’s where I said it:
http://www.nowpublic.com/tech-biz/editors-weblog-features-nowpublic

I was the #1 rated Editor on the site, and #3 member. (Note: they only recently instituted the Leaderboard, which I was against for many reasons.) While sending me an email threatening me with banning and of course, citing other reasons than the real one, they also asked if they could use one of my articles about NP as part of their introductory package.

If anyone wishes to let me know about your experiences with Now Public trolling on flickr, please email me at a special address set up for this.

[email removed by Ed]

Note: I’m not worried about posting the email because this email is shared by several writers, and we routinely create and use disposable addresses for projects.

Your input, private or public, will be respected. I’ve got more than 30 years in journalism and a lot of awards behind me.

Ironically, I’d been dallying on my new book–now they’ve provided rocket fuel with these new issues.

Best wishes,
PEP

Ed: If anyone wants to contact PEP, leave a comment to that effect and I’ll forward the address to you. I’m a bit suspect of this, an individual who, with more than 30 years in journalism and a lot of awards, uses disposable email addresses from Yahoo and doesn’t leave a real name. Seems like a ploy for more hits to me.

By: Jason

Jason — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 18:18:05 +0000

I just got my 4th or 5th NowPublic request… denied once again. I’m thinking about adding it to my profile “don’t ask to put these on NowPublic”… I don’t agree w/ their format, either. I’ll sell my photos to AP, Reuters, any news agency, etc, etc… but asking me to give them away to this online news site just bothers me, especially when the articles contain tons and tons of other photos. What good is it to me to have one or two photos in a gallery of hundreds? It seems like nowadays too many people and businesses have their hands out looking for photo freebies. If we all put our feet down then maybe we can teach people that quality photography doesn’t grow on trees - it has value, and if you want it then you need to offer some compensation… Kudos to you Alex for saying ‘no thanks’.

By: Alex

Alex — Thu, 29 May 2008 22:20:18 +0000

Jen: The Flickr groups seem pretty cool and I’d definitely be flattered, however to date my images have remain undiscovered by Flickr groupsters.

By: Jen

Jen — Wed, 28 May 2008 20:34:08 +0000

Note 1- your site seems a bit screwy in old IE- I’m not seeing the left hand side of the page (making typing fun!)

Note 2- I received one of these requests from NowPublic as well. I’m not accepting, due of course to the same excellent reasons you’ve noted above.

Regarding John’s comment, my stuff apparently is appealing to all sorts of weird Flickr groups. Some I understand completely and enjoy (hello quilting groups, flattered they’d even consider my work good enough to post), but apparently I also appeal to some… less wholesome groups. None of my pictures are remotely NSFW!! It’s just good to bear in mind that checking who the group is… can be useful before agreeing to let them tag and play.

By: Alex

Alex — Tue, 27 May 2008 21:41:19 +0000

Carol: Are you serious? Got a link to the fine print?

By: Carol

Carol — Fri, 23 May 2008 23:04:31 +0000

You’ll want to stay away from Adobe’s free online photo editing tool. If you read the micro-fine print, you’ll see that by using the software, you’re basically giving Adobe permission to use any of your images for any reason they choose. Um, no thanks.

By: Alex

Alex — Mon, 19 May 2008 21:18:41 +0000

John: I’d be fine with Flickr groups, since they retain attribution.

Mike: I hadn’t thought of linking back to the blog posts from the image page. That’s a good idea. Simple and relevant.

yellowjkt: I’ve been told that there’s a Flickr group dedicated to everything and anything, no matter how bizarre. No requests for that so far, but I’m not opposed to sharing. It’s the commercial use that I’m wary of.

By: yellojkt

yellojkt — Sun, 18 May 2008 04:22:11 +0000

PS
The funniest Flickr group that has asked me to join is one dedicated to Walmart Supercenters.

By: yellojkt

yellojkt — Sun, 18 May 2008 04:21:28 +0000

I’ve had some websites seek permission for some of my pictures, but none seemed as shady as this NowPublic. I don’t mind as long as I’m not giving away any rights and I truly get a link.

By: Mike Licht

Mike Licht — Sat, 17 May 2008 23:07:38 +0000

I use CC on my flickr stuff, and attribution required includes my blog’s URL — I don’t always get that, so I try to remind miscreants, many of whom comply and come back for more. Many of my flickr posts are illustrations from my blog, and I post flickr comments linking to the specific posts — I get some traffic through that. Nowpublic has found my stuff; I’m waiting to see if they will comply with my terms.

By: John

John — Sat, 17 May 2008 15:22:21 +0000

I didn’t have quite the same thing happen to me, but someone did ask to link to two of my photos I took at the Museum of the Confederacy when I visited Richmond in December. They weren’t NowPublic, but a Flickr group, something like “Veterens of the American Civil War” who go searching for Flickr photos of Union and Confederate soldiers. I just checked now to make triple-sure they weren’t someone stealing my photos. Nope, just a guy on Flickr who added a tag or two to two of my photos.