PSA: go check your Flickr settings

[MontrealMum]

The reason why I was on Flickr isn't relevant, but trust me, if you have a Flickr account (sorry, don't know about other photo upload sites) go check that you've actually gone through all the account and privacy settings. They are extensive, and some of them had never even entered my mind.

I have a Flickr account in which I have all of about 5 photos and was stunned at the settings that are possible - and default - and that I hadn't changed upon becoming a member. And I consider myself a pretty web-savvy person. Granted, I'd also forgotten I had the account...:p

The reason I'd gotten the account in the first place was to upload photos here, and I know a lot of you have them too...and now that I know what the potential settings are...I can also say having viewed some of your photos in the past...you really should change them! (hint: geographical location, for one)

I'm pretty ironclad about my FB but this one really passed me by. Piggybacking on a thread I read here a few days back referencing the diaper scandal (before my time) GO CHECK NOW!

[citymama]

Thanks - I was going to back up all our baby/kid pics on Flickr but have been too paranoid about privacy. Is there a way to make it all uber-private, or not really?

[MontrealMum]

You *can* make it really private, though the most private default on some settings is "friends and family", most of the time the most private setting is "just you". But it takes a LOT of clicking and confirming. I just did it and was really shocked at how involved it was.

What prompted my post here is that the default - as in, if you activate an account and then do nothing more with your profile/account settings - is "everyone" or publish. And it also makes you and your pics publicly searchable. You have to go in and manually change each setting which is a PITA.

[azazela]

We have a pro Flickr account. Photography is my husband's hobby and he takes a ton of photos. All of our personal photos are for "friends and family" only, these would be people you invite. The grandparents and some of our friends check photos frequently and it's a nice way to share them. The only ones that are public are his various artistic (nonfamily) shots. You can also set photos to "just you", which we've done as well in some select cases. I am not the primary Flickr user in our house, but I find the settings to be easy to use, especially if you do it as you upload. I can imagine that if I wanted to go back right now and change settings on thousands of photos we have up there, it would be a pain. But they do have a "batch change" option I think, so maybe that would help.

[MontrealMum]

I can imagine that if I wanted to go back right now and change settings on thousands of photos we have up there, it would be a pain. But they do have a "batch change" option I think, so maybe that would help.

I'm talking about changing the settings for your entire account - all your albums - by changing your account settings. Not picture by picture. I also discovered that if you have a pro account that one of the default settings for that seems to be to allow downloading of your photos. Personally, I'd rather not let strangers download my photos - which they can if you haven't changed your other account settings since they can see your albums and pics if you don't - so it's something I changed on mine. The settings are on the Privacy & Permissions page under the Your Account choice on the dropdown menu.

[azazela]

Thanks for the tip. Mine are all configured the way we want them, so no strangers looking at our family pics here. :D