Happy Holi!

I’ve always been jealous that I’ve never been able to play holi in real life, at least I can play it in Second Life! Happy Holi to all those celebrating! Zaara is having a holi party on Saturday and I’m totally planning to crash it. Hopefully, I’ll see y’all there!

FLICKR UPDATES AND ALTERNATIVES

The Second Life community has been a buzz about the new Flickr changes recently so I wanted to talk a little about that and perhaps mention some other options for those that need them. Every time Flickr makes some changes to their TOS, many of us, including myself, have tried to find alternatives. In 2018 I did a detailed blog post about Flickr Updates & Alternatives where I suggested branching out to other networks for more exposure as well.

I do feel that Flickr is probably the most important network for Second Life Residents, not only because most of our community is so active there, but because they give us the option to upload high-resolution images without reducing the quality of the images. Additionally, I don’t think I have seen 360 images look better on any other network than they do on Flickr. Add that with all the other ways to get traffic to your images such as groups, galleries, hashtags, etc… it’s just a wonderful network where you can really grow your audience fast. If you can afford it, this is the network that is an important one to invest in and go Pro. I have been uploading to Flickr since 2007, my whole SLife can be followed through the years on my Flickr stream and that includes moderate and restricted images.

Their new rules, which will come into effect very soon, state that only Pro account members can upload images with adult content. Free account members have the option to upload up to 1000 “safe” public images and only 50 private images. Read more about what Flickr considers “safe” and how they set their safety levels at this link. 1000 images is quite a lot, however, if you want to post Moderate or Restricted images, you’ll have to go Pro or find other places to post. So where can Residents go?

Facebook and Instagram also do not allow adult images, neither does Tumblr any longer. Here are some alternatives that I know of that do allow adult content for free:

• Twitter – It’s not exactly a photo network though, however, it can get you more eyes on your images and other written content, especially if you use the #SecondLife hashtag. Also, if you join Twitter and tag the SecondLife account on Twitter when posting safe content, I may retweet it to our account if I think it would be informative and beneficial to the community. As you can see from our Twitter timeline, I often retweet other Residents. Additionally, here is a list of active Linden accounts on Twitter that you can follow. UPDATE: Here is a Twitter Tips & Tricks list from a fellow Resident on Twitter.
• Plurk – Again, not a photo network, but it does have a huge Second Life community, and adult images are allowed, they just get labeled NSFW when you post them. I have over 2000 friends on Plurk that are mainly all Second Life Residents so you can start by following and building a community there. Don’t forget to also follow the official Second Life plurk account.
• Ello – I no longer have an account on this network but as far as I know it does allow adult images and it is a photo network. When you do a search for “SecondLife” you can see there are some Residents on there already.
• NewTumbl – Another network I am not on and not familiar with, but I’ve heard that adult images are allowed and a search also brings up some Second Life community members.
• A Second Life Resident by the name of Athayus Quan has also created a few social networks that you may want to look into. I blogged about them before at this link. I am not sure how active they still are and if adult content is allowed there, but you may want to look into them. I believe they are SocialVR, PixelVR, and a new one he’s working on called OrBSydia.

UPDATE: After posting this several Residents reached out to me with other possible networks, so here are some more:

• DeviantArt – The reason I didn’t share this one earlier is that I heard that they do not like Second Life art and some Residents had theirs deleted. However, I’ve been told that’s not the case now. Let me know if you guys have more info about this.
• Snapzilla – This network is also Resident-owned, by Christiano Midnight, but I’ve also heard that it does not allow adult content. Let me know if you have more info.

I know change can be upsetting and hard to adjust to, but I do hope that the community stays on Flickr. Even with just a free account, you can still upload up to 1000 safe public images and share them with the community and in different groups. I hope you also continue to share your “safe” images in the official Second Life Flickr Group. The content you share in our Flickr group is so important and really assists us in promoting Second Life and showcasing the wonderfully diverse community we have here. It’s one of my favorite groups to peruse and you can often find many of the images that I fave with our Second Life account featured on our socials and campaigns.

I also wanted to take this opportunity to send everyone safe and positive thoughts and wishes. The past couple of years have been so surreal and 2022 is continuing with this trend. The last couple of weeks have just been unbearable. Sending all of my love to each and every one of you. Please stay safe and keep your loved ones safe. <3