Hardly a day goes by without one searcher or another arriving here having typed “Fotopic problems” or similar. In this regard, Google sees fit to rank Omnibuses as its no. 1. I have no axe to grind as I don’t use Fotopic but it seems to me, an innocent bystander who occasionally likes to browse some of the few historic sets, that Fotopic is very fragile.
And, there’s been a bit of a search spike here, lately. The word on the web is that Fotopic has gone under, presumably taking with it hundreds of thousands of bus photos with it. Speculation, I know.
The image above taken form the post here is of the number of uploads per month on Fotopic. Fotopic hastily withdrew the graphic in August 2009. There had previously been a hiatus and this, presumably, caused a loss of confidence, hence the drop in uploads
Web photographic collections are one of the recent phenomena associated with an enthusiasm for buses (and indeed rail). It’s a very public display of an enthusiast’s “prey”. Like bird spotting, stamp and football programme collecting, they say it’s the hunter gather within that drives us to assemble such compendia (or, compendiums, if you prefer). Worldwide, transport enthusiasts seem to be the main Fotopic users.
The web in an ideal medium for this and Fotopic was probably the first of its kind to enable people to do this, en masse. It spread fast among the enthusiast community and though there may be better offerings, many have stuck by the original, perhaps because you get a good thumbnail index display, perhaps through inertia. It’s true that some galleries were more “me too” than original but, in time, they would’ve provided an interesting historic record.
Yesterday, of 110 keywords used by searchers arriving here, Fotopic was 4th, 5th, 6th, 16th, 17th and 29th. On Thursday, Fotopic reached 3rd. Wednesday, it was 5th. Tuesday, 10th. Indeed, in the last seven days, Fotopic-related arrivals accounted for 13 per cent of all search-related visits. To put this in context, other perennials such as “Mercedes 608” and “Erica Roe” accounted for four and seven per cent respectively.
I feel very sorry for readers who’ve committed time and effort to Fotopic. Some, no doubt, have thousands of photos to which they cannot get access. It does, however, prove the old adage that you don’t get aught for nowt and although Fotopic offered a premium subscription, the only safe way of ensuring your content online is by purchasing quality web space via a proper web hosting service.
4 comments:
Hmm, there was another scare about Fotopic two years ago in 2009, but it resurfaced. Let's hope it does this time too!
But the advice is sound, back-up, back-up, back-up! By all means put your pics on the web but keep 'em on your home computer too. And if you want people to see 'em, get a website and a domain name. Buy some webspace. Belt and braces ...
does anyone know John Law the owner of the independent bus on fotopic if so i wonder if he will move somewhere else or stay or heaven forbid just not bother i only say that because my main intrest as a bus enthusiast is independent bus companies an area i think flickr is lacking i think he has one of the best collections and it world just be such a shame if his photos vanished online altogether
Sadly Fotopic's administration was very poor indeed. No human being ever replied to any of my legitimate queries. I say no human being, I should say 'no one'. An inability to control their product and to deliver the service they so trumpeted is their downfall. That's assuming it's gone and not another scare. Flickr must think all its christmases have come at once.
Former employees of Snappy Designs (owner of Fotopic) are trying to set a new service. Some posts say they are trying to import former Fotopic collections.
www.pikfu.com
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