Taking a break from Zooomr
For the last month or so, I’ve stayed away from uploading to my Zooomr stream. Now, I’ve decided to stop uploading altogether, at least for the present time. Why? Because I’m disappointed with the way things are going.
You may know me as a staunch supporter of Zooomr. I’ve blogged about it endlessly, and I’ve supported it through whatever means I could. I’ve told all of my friends and relatives about it, and encouraged them to get accounts. See these two posts of mine to get an idea of my coverage of Zooomr. I’ve spent countless hours (literally COUNTLESS) on the site over the past year, tagging my photos, organizing them into sets, looking at others’ photos, commenting, faving, encouraging people, etc. And after all of that investment in time and effort, I find I’m still banging up against the same errors, bugs, and promises that never take shape. That bothers me.
All of that time wasn’t completely wasted. I did meet a lot of good people, and my own photography improved after going through hundreds of thousands of photographs. It’s painful to write this post, and if ever I leave Zooomr altogether, I’ll really miss the people. But the thing is, I have a choice. Those people have a choice. I could have done what I did on Zooomr on any other photo sharing site. I chose to do it on Zooomr because I wanted to help out Kris and Tom. I wanted to do my part to ensure that Zooomr was going to make it big. I did my part, but I don’t think Zooomr did theirs.
I don’t want to start throwing accusations around. I also don’t want to make a list of all the bugs that bother me, or of all the features that were promised but haven’t materialized, including that oh-so-elusive Marketplace, that rara avis, that Phoenix in the sky that was going to revolutionize the stock photography world… Other Zooomr users have made plenty of lists, all over the place: on their blogs, in the Zooomr forums, in hopeful emails addressed to Kris and Tom, etc.
The straw that broke the camel’s back for me was the lack of proper support for EXIF and IPTC meta data written to the photos in Adobe Lightroom. Titles, captions and location information (to name just a few) simply aren’t read by Zooomr’s uploader. I kept waiting and waiting for this to be implemented, and was promised that it would be, but it didn’t show up.
Meanwhile, I found out that Zooomr Mobile was going to get launched, and that certain other things were going to happen, and I tried to be happy for Kris and Tom even though I, as a core user, felt betrayed by the new direction. I mean, what does Zooomr Mobile have to do with serious problems that need to be fixed — smartsets that still aren’t working the way they should be, with meta data tags that aren’t read properly, or with a vaporware Marketplace? Hey, let it be, right? Be happy and hope for the better, right? I guess so…
I’m sorry, but I can’t let it be. I can’t keep biting my tongue and shutting up. It bugs the heck out of me that every time I use Zooomr, I stumble onto the same damned bugs that were supposed to be ironed out several months ago, or wish for missing features that were promised over a year ago… We’re supposed to be happy that an auto-fill bug on Zmail pages gets fixed by a script hack written by a user? Whatever happened to fixing the bug in the first place?!
I tell you, I’d rather have a fully working Zooomr uploader, and smartsets that actually work and aren’t limited in number, and batch editing for tags, titles and descriptions, and a Marketplace, than Zipline, Zooomr Mobile, and all their fancy associated features.
There is such a thing as a responsibility to the users, even for a free service. There’s something called TIME — much more precious than the $20 Pro fee — which we’ve all invested into Zooomr as users. I invested tons of my valuable time into the site — literally too much than I’d care to admit — and what am I getting in return, along with the rest of the users? A half-working photo sharing site, perpetually in Beta.
Perhaps Kris and Tom both lost interest in shipping Zooomr the way they promised it. That’s okay. But tell us, please! Disclose why Zooomr isn’t what you promised it to be. Then either go on with the status quo or close down the shop and go do something that interests you more. Otherwise, ship what you promised.
I’ll tell you what’s the only thing that attracts me to Zooomr these days: the photographs. Zooomr users have been putting out some amazing work. I keep coming for the photos while I curse the site. It’s a damned shame that the infrastructure isn’t in place to support the people who put out such amazing work. You know when the photos started getting a lot better? When the hope of selling them was waved around. Where’s that Marketplace again?!
I hope I’m wrong. I hope against hope that Zooomr makes it huge, and it turns out to be everything I’ve wanted it to be from the start. But after waiting and waiting and waiting, it just doesn’t seem it’ll get there. If ever Kris and Tom decide to get to work on shipping Zooomr the way it was promised, I’ll gladly come back and do my part again to support the site. Until then, I’ll stay away. I’ve had enough disappointments. Oh, I might pop in here and there to fave some of my contacts’ photos, but I’m not going to do any uploading. No, thanks. You can find me somewhere else till then.
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Good post. I’ve missed you and your photos. I’m battling with the same feelings myself. What is the reason to continously develop i.e. the Zipline when we’re still missing many of the key features, even some that were present back in mark II?
What’s still keeping me at Zooomr is the people. I only have a few photos at Flickr and almost no contacts. Maybe I’m just too lazy make the change
Comment — September 18, 2007 @ 7:08 am
I’m with you and Henrik. The only reason I’ve stayed is because of the people and wanting to support Kris and Thomas.
I have a huge Flickr account and it is fully functional with all of the things I use. My photoshop IPTC information comes through properly. Everything is coded in the copyright way that I want it to be. I can see where people are commenting and favoriting without having to go through each photo.
I miss the functionality of Zooomr. The new features are nice but I’d like to see the functionality back before new features are implemented. Unfortunately, I don’t see that happening any time soon.
Comment — September 18, 2007 @ 7:19 am
It’s pretty sad isn’t it? I’m currently sitting rather undecided about Zooomr. I really would rather not have to go to Flickr, but it’s looking like that’s what I’ll end up doing.
There’s only so far everyone’s patience can be pushed, and continuous development of Zipline and Zooomr Mobile over everything else, is leaving Zooomr in rather a stale state. All these months after Zooomr hit Mark III, we’re still waiting to have all the features we had before this release restored, and we’re still waiting for the data on our old photos to be restored too.
Kristopher and Thomas did a great job of Zooomr, but this years priorities have not been well thought through.
Comment — September 18, 2007 @ 7:22 am
I too have been biting my tongue. Zooomr mobile launches but we still can’t post photos to groups?
Either Thomas and Kris have lost interest or there is an outside person (investor?) that is pushing the direction. I still post to Zooomr when I upload photos but I find myself spending more and more time in Flickr.
Comment — September 18, 2007 @ 7:57 am
Raul,
You hit the nail on the head for sure. I find it terribly frustrating myself that just the simple features that were present BEFORE Mark III arrived have yet to return — all the while these social networking features take center stage.
Thanks for your post and I’ll be seeing you over on Flickr, where I too will be spending more of my time.
-KHD
Comment — September 18, 2007 @ 9:31 am
Perhaps Kris and Tom both lost interest in shipping Zooomr the way they promised it. That’s okay. But tell us, please! Disclose why Zooomr isn’t what you promised it to be. Then either go on with the status quo or close down the shop and go do something that interests you more. Otherwise, ship what you promised.
I can certainly assure you that this is not the case. The problem with Zooomr is largely a resource and financial one. In order to raise money to fully develop the site, Zooomr must have funding. In order to get funding, Zooomr must have a product that appeals to those handing out the funds. A photosharing site in a crowded space with more dominant players was not attracting funding.
Kristopher has spent thousands of hours coding on Zooomr. But we can’t hire more people to code things when we need funding. Other photo sharing sites have dozens of developers and vast resources. Zooomr does not. Neither Kristopher nor I take any compensation from Zooomr.
At present, investors are far more interested in the potential of millions of mobile phone users across the world using a site than a couple hundred thousand using a photo sharing site. Me personally? I’m far more interested in developing the world’s most kick ass photo sharing site. Those promises you mention? Marketplace? These were and are my ideas. They are ideas that I spent hours advocating before I ever joined Zooomr. They are things that need to and will happen.
Raoul, I share your frustration. Zooomr has never been about dominating the mobile market for me. You and I share a passion for our photography that is rare. And maybe I’m a little closer to the status of things by being in communication with Kristopher. But, I know that missing features are coming and I know that bugs will be fixed. It’s just a matter of time and resources.
If Zooomr gets funded and we can hire six engineers it could be here in a matter of weeks. If we have to rely on Kristopher to do it all alone, by himself it will take longer. The problem with option number two is that if it takes too long and another more growth oriented side of Zooomr does not materialize then eventually there will be no one to pay for the bandwidth that keeps the site on at all.
I do think that some of the work though has made Zooomr better. I actually like Zipline and use it quite a bit. Would I rather see Recent Activity coded than threaded Zipline? Sure. But I still think Zooomr’s in the best condition it’s ever been in. Support has improved for users because there are groups. I find amazing photographs in the Discover section every single day. Uploading works better for me than it ever has. And bugs are getting fixed. Two weeks ago you couldn’t add a description to a photo without first editing a photo’s title. That’s fixed now. It used to be if you uploaded a photo with numbers in the title (a common way digital cameras save them) that you couldn’t edit that title. Now you can. There are lots of bugs that still need to be fixed, but bugs are being fixed even as Kristopher is working 20 hour days coding mobile.
Raoul, I’ve appreciated your support. More than this I’ve appreciated your friendship and your amazing photography. I’m sorry to see you take a break but hopeful and confident that Zooomr gets to a place soon that you feel better about and feel is worthy of your time, energy and talent.
Take care my friend and don’t stop shooting that camera like you do.
Tom
Comment — September 18, 2007 @ 10:21 am
I think you pretty much covered my feelings as well. I’m quite disappointed that features that existed in Mark II still have yet to arrive in Mark III. I hope your words, and the comments here help to refocus the priorities over at zooomr. I like the people there and your right they make some great photographs.
Comment — September 18, 2007 @ 10:23 am
With few exceptions, I stopped uploading photos to Zooomr about two months ago. In my case, the lack of activity was largely due to lack of time. But now that I’m “back,” I’m beginning to feel your pain. If I had to summarize my biggest complaints:
- Mark III lacks much of the functionality that was present in Mark II. This I never understood. If your upgrade introduces new features at the expense of existing (widely-used) features and functionality, it’s not an upgrade–it’s a fork. Was it worth breaking metadata integration, mail, sets (even if the breakage was temporary) for the Zipline? Not sure.
- My Zooomr start page looks more like a Twitter clone than it does a photo sharing site. And the front-page features continue to evolve, while core functionality (sets, EXIF, Zmail, etc.) seem to be set aside or fixed in spare time.
Like you, I believe that Tom and Kris are doing what they believe to be in Zooomr’s best interest. But I use Zooomr to share photos. And if I don’t see a definitive and steady upgrade path to that end, then I’m apt to start looking elsewhere.
I’m not pulling the plug, but I’d be lying if I said that I wasn’t staging photos elsewhere, in the event that things don’t work out.
Comment — September 18, 2007 @ 11:00 am
Great post but it’s sad it has to be about Zooomr. I understand your frustration with Zooomr because I feel the same way. Zooomr has come a long way from the Mark III release but it still has major problems that make it less than useful.
I’ve taken lots of pictures in the past few months but held back from uploading them to Zooomr because of the SmartSet limits and lack of EXIF (Camera Information) support for my Nikon D40 camera. From the comments I’ve seen in the Zooomr Help Group I think many other users are feeling the same way.
I and others have offered to help fix Zooomr bugs but the answer that came back was it would take longer to get someone involved then to just fix the bugs. My offer was on June 29th and today it’s September 18th and Zooomr has a few features added but very few bugs fixed.
If Zooomr’s focus has moved away from a great photo sharing site to a great mobile phone photo site, I’m sure many of the key users who bought into Thomas and Kristopher’s vision of Zooomr, will leave.
I’m sticking around for now and supporting Zooomr the best I can, but I’m leaving my options open. Raoul, I’ve enjoyed your photos and I hope things get resolved soon with Zooomr so we can all start our “unlimited Uploads” again.
Comment — September 18, 2007 @ 12:13 pm
Raoul, Like many others I’m sad to see you go, even if it’s temporary.
I completely understand your frustration. EXIF data should work, but doesn’t for my photos. I see it on other people’s images. I want very much to have the Mark II features back and functional. Some work on the Groups would be great. I was initially annoyed with Zipline development, but have grown to really appreciate it and the enhancements.
While there are features I would like to see, I’m taking a longer view. Zooomr is a global product and has to address needs in all of its markets. I would rather wait a few months and get the trickle of fixes along the way than see Zooomr die. I think that’s were things are. Kris and Tom have a list of “want to do” and a list of “have to do” items. The “have to do” will bring in some seriously needed money to fund the “want to do”. It’s a business decision, and one that makes sense.
Getting money for the long term is the priority, and Tom has said that several times. If some things have to wait, I’m OK with that. People can still see my photos and I can find dozens of amazing images. Groups have expanded my contact list and exposed me to many new images.
For me the bottom line is that I can share, and others can share. It’s not perfect, but I believe that a year from now Zooomr will be the *best* photo site. Not the most users, but the experience will be like no other. I willing to wait for that.
Again, I completely understand and respect your decision. Maybe your decision will move some items up in the priority list and we’ll see you back soon. I’ll be keeping up with you via the blog.
Keep shooting, that’s what’s most important.
Comment — September 18, 2007 @ 12:22 pm
well, Raoul, you have a high pain treshhold — I give you that.
I looked at Zooomr, gave it 2 three-day “trials” at an interval of a few weeks, noted the differences (none) in bug fixes and that told me something. That, I need to find a different provider. I see where Kris is coming from, but as you also mentioned, my time is too important to me!
thanks for validating my initial finding!
Comment — September 18, 2007 @ 2:01 pm
My full comments will be blogged, but I want to add a few photos to it. Sadly it looks like K or T might have pulled the plug as the main Zooomr site (not the blog, that still works) has just dropped off the internet…
Comment — September 18, 2007 @ 2:32 pm
[...] Raoul Pop has just posted that he’s closed the gate on Zooomr. I really respect Raoul, there have been times where I’ve taken photos specifically to show him as I know they are the kind of things he’d like*. I can’t say I blame him - I have also wondered what the push is on the mobile site when I can’t have more than 12 sets visible, when I can’t fave from the pages I used to, and when camera information gets lost on the upload. [...]
Pingback — September 18, 2007 @ 2:44 pm
I feel your pain Raoul… I wanted Zooomr to be a photo sharing site for photographers, not a twitter clone with millions of party pics uploaded off of bar stars mobile phones. I know I’m not alone and I feel that most of Zooomr’s core users would agree with me. Are we too much of a minority for the ‘investors’? Sad, because I really think there is a need for this and nothing out there really fits the bill right now.
Raoul, I have enjoyed and been inspired by your photos and the photos of many others on Zooomr, the sense of community and love of photography is something that I never found on any other photo sharing site. I’ll be sticking it out a little while longer, but if things keep moving in the direction they are, I too will sadly be pulling the plug.
Consider this your warning…
Comment — September 18, 2007 @ 7:57 pm
Raoul,
I am surprised you waited this long. I for one do not regret leaving Zooomr one bit all those weeks ago. Zooomr Mobile is not a site I want to be a part of and I can see that the original photosharing part of the site is merely a development platform for the new fad. (sorry, where the money is)
Part of me hopes that Zooomr survives, but I will never go back. Especially after Kris’ comments on your post. That is seriously slapping you in the face type stuff and definitely poooooorr customer service. For those that would go on about how you are enjoying something that is free. They need to wake up. The old Zooomr faithful were pretty well all payers regardless of Pro For Life so this is actually customer service rather than free service ignorance.
Regards
Travis
Comment — September 18, 2007 @ 10:46 pm
I made a similar decision a couple of months ago. I’m of the opinion that Zooomr has an identity crisis right now. The flaw is that in the attempt to be everything to everyone they’ve lost sight of the identity they carefully niched out a year ago.I was a big user of the “recent uploads” feature on Zooomr because it allowed me to find interesting photos/images on my own terms - not some Explorer/Interestingness/Discover calculation. When that option disappeared I became less involved. The “upgrade” and subsequent bugs, missing features, promised features never materializing etc just became too much for me in the end. Ironically, I’ve since migrated to the “other side” and have found myself wondering why I invested so much time in “coming soon” Zooomr in the first place.
I see that Kristopher has taken this personally on Zooomr according to dialogue in your image post and that’s unfortunate. I hope Zooomr finds what’s it looking for.
jpghouse
Comment — September 19, 2007 @ 12:01 am
Reading your comments and feeling your pain, I’d like to recommend uploading/marketing/selling your images via our platform at Citizen Image.
We do not have a community feature but we do have an active development and marketing team who work tirelessly to sell your incredible images to publishers,art houses, ad agencies and editorial outlets.
We actively support IPTC metadata along with mms uploaded images in the case of breaking news captured via camera phone.
With this said, I can empathize with Kris & Thomas. It takes a ton of work to get a project such as there’s to work without proper personnel and funding.
I’d encourage you to continue using Zooomr for the community aspect while giving www.citizenimage.com a shot with marketing and selling all of your outstanding creative and editorial images.
Comment — September 19, 2007 @ 12:18 pm
I too have grown disillusioned with zooomr. The lack of feature fixes and updates has created an issue with not only Raoul, but with a lot of users. They never update the blog to let the members know what is being fixed or added, they just do whatever they want and say nothing. Kris is in Japan and speaks Japanese in the zipline and we are expected to use a translator and decipher his posts so that we know what he is talking about. Thats totally absurd! I assure you, if during the launch we were expected to translate his posts from Japanese, no one would have stuck around long enough to bother. Why he can’t post in english anymore is beyond me, seems he just cares about his Asian mobile market and not his core users.
The straw for me was the comments he left on Raoul’s photo. Kris acted like a little kid having a temper tantrum instead of being a man about this and understanding this is NOT JUST RAOUL’S ISSUES! Many of us have been complaining about some major issues that were promised on the launch and months and months later, we get nothing. Not even an update on the blog to let us know what is going on. The mobile market has taken over and is the be all and end all for Kris right now. And in the process he is neglecting his core users. Big mistake!
If zooomr has decided to change direction half way through, then Zooomr should expect many of it’s users will jump ship. We were promised something that has not been delivered and got the shaft for the mobile market. This is NOT what we signed up for.
Comment — September 19, 2007 @ 1:04 pm
Check your flickr mail.
u got guests…
Comment — September 19, 2007 @ 2:51 pm
Hey Raoul. Sorry to hear that you’re taking a break from Zooomr.
)
Yes, Zooomr is still far from perfect
Yes, Kris’ comment on your picture on Zooomr was a bit rude and disrespectful IMO. But don’t forget that Zooomr’s like his baby. I hope (and think) that he will be mature enough NOT to delete your account…
Yes, important bugs are still not fixed! Don’t forget that not all bugs which are important for you are equally important to others.
Yes, I hear a lot of criticism in the community about how bugs are solved. I am begging in Zooomr groups for good IE7 support. Thomas and Kris answered that it IS on the bug list and it WILL be fixed sometime.
Funding seems to be the main issue here. I can understand the urge to get into the mobile market, because that could be a way to get some income. (I’ve tried to view Zooomr on my PDA and it really looks bad…)
Anyway, I have enjoyed your photography so far, and will be following your blog. Hope to see your pictures back on Zooomr soon….
(that would be at least a sign that the main issues on Zooomr finally have been sorted out
I am still hoping that there is somehow a hint of a strategy behind Thomas’ and Kris’ actions… and Zooomr turns out to be a grown-up photo sharing site before a large part of the community jumps off the ship.
Comment — September 21, 2007 @ 2:57 pm
You touched on a lot of things I thought too, Raoul. Implementing Mark III is what accelerated it beyond the point of return for me. I made the rounds on bigger name players— Flickr, Webshots …They weren’t for me- yeah. They have basic features that work, but they don’t roll out the new stuff fast enough for me (When will Flickr finally release video?! And, the tagging – or lack thereof– on Webshots is archaic in my mind.) That’s why I’ve settled on Pixamo- www.pixamo.com. They’re smaller, so more agile, and their site is reliable — they have the features I need – in working form!
Comment — September 21, 2007 @ 3:49 pm
Raoul, while it’s sad to hear about your decision, I completely understand the reasons behind it. And these reasons are just some of whey I started working on FocalPower (www.focalpower.com) over a year ago. As we are moving toward our beta and first release. I’m hoping that some of these features will help yourself and other photographers (and myself as well) with image sharing online while maximizing our precious time.
I would like to hear from anyone who believes in the sharing of images online, uses Zooomr, Flickr or other sharing sites, and might be interested in learning more about FocalPower and getting involved in our early stage testing. You can contact me via the information address on our website. Or you can just stay on top of our developments on our blog.
I think there is huge value and lots of interesting things that are being worked on right now in the online photography world. But businesses can only survive and thrive when they are making money…
Comment — September 25, 2007 @ 2:25 am
Zooomr should refocus and instead of trying to be a twitter, facebook or what not, be a photographic site.
Who cares about zipline, mobile stuff.
Mark 2 was better.
Comment — October 4, 2007 @ 2:43 am
Zooomr should focus on the photographic side of things instead of all the “social” stuff.
What’s the point about having a twitter like zipline when u have discover.
What’s the point of zooomrTV and all this crap.
How many months since mark III was launched ? Right.
Zoomr guys refocus and stick to the photographic side of things.
If it wasn’t for all the fanboys and Thomas Hawk(no offence TH) look-alikes the side would be gone already.
Stop wasting time.
Comment — October 4, 2007 @ 4:09 am
I just joined Zooomr. And I don’t want to go to Flickr. Because I am against Yahoo. Maybe Webshots.
P.S. I have not been experiencing any problems.
Comment — October 10, 2007 @ 7:01 pm
I’ve posted about this as well last time I checked out Zooomr. It’s really sad to see so much potential go down the drain for a freaking twitter clone and the 3545th language roll out.
What’s so appealing with Flickr is that I get so much exposure there, whereas Zooomr or Ipernity (where I most likely end up in the long run) seem literally dead at times.
Comment — October 14, 2007 @ 6:21 pm
[...] I have since revised my opinion of Zooomr. You may read about it in this post, entitled “Taking a break from Zooomr“. Share [...]
Pingback — October 29, 2007 @ 10:02 am
[...] Zooomr knocks out a couple of bothersome bugs Written on June 27, 2007 at 6:51 am by Raoul Updated 10/29/2007: You may be interested in reading this post of mine as well, entitled “Taking a break from Zooomr“. [...]
Pingback — October 29, 2007 @ 10:05 am
[...] Updated 10/29/2007: I’ve revised my opinion of Zooomr since I wrote this post. You may want to read about it here: “Taking a break from Zooomr“. [...]
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[...] Updated 10/29/2007: I’ve revised my opinion of Zooomr since I wrote this. See “Taking a break from Zooomr” for the [...]
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[...] 10/29/2007: I’ve revised my opinion of Zooomr since I wrote this. See “Taking a break from Zooomr” for the details. Share [...]
Pingback — October 29, 2007 @ 10:11 am
[...] 10/29/2007: I’ve revised my opinion of Zooomr since I wrote this. See “Taking a break from Zooomr” for the details. Share [...]
Pingback — October 29, 2007 @ 10:11 am
[...] 10/29/2007: I’ve revised my opinion of Zooomr since I wrote this. See “Taking a break from Zooomr” for the details. Share [...]
Pingback — October 29, 2007 @ 10:16 am
[...] I’ve revised my opinion of Zooomr and its MarkIII release since I wrote this. See “Taking a break from Zooomr” for the [...]
Pingback — October 29, 2007 @ 10:17 am
[...] 10/29/2007: I’ve revised my opinion of Zooomr since I wrote this. See “Taking a break from Zooomr” for the details. By the way, Zooomr’s MarkIII release was horribly late and [...]
Pingback — October 29, 2007 @ 10:18 am
[...] 10/29/2007: I’ve revised my opinion of Zooomr since I wrote this. See “Taking a break from Zooomr” for the details. By the way, Zooomr’s MarkIII release was months late and disgustingly [...]
Pingback — October 29, 2007 @ 10:20 am
[...] Updated 10/29/2007: I’ve revised my opinion of Zooomr since I wrote this. See “Taking a break from Zooomr” for the [...]
Pingback — October 29, 2007 @ 10:22 am
[...] 10/29/2007: I’ve revised my opinion of Zooomr since I wrote this. See “Taking a break from Zooomr” for the [...]
Pingback — October 29, 2007 @ 10:25 am
[...] 10/29/2007: I’ve revised my opinion of Zooomr since I wrote this. See “Taking a break from Zooomr” for the [...]
Pingback — October 29, 2007 @ 10:31 am
[...] 10/29/2007: I’ve revised my opinion of Zooomr since I wrote this. See “Taking a break from Zooomr” for the details. And there were some good reasons Google chose Panoramio over Zooomr. It had [...]
Pingback — October 29, 2007 @ 10:33 am
[...] Updated 10/29/2007: I’ve revised my opinion of Zooomr since I wrote this. See “Taking a break from Zooomr” for the [...]
Pingback — October 29, 2007 @ 10:33 am
[...] 10/29/2007: I’ve revised my opinion of Zooomr since I wrote this. See “Taking a break from Zooomr” for the details. Share [...]
Pingback — October 29, 2007 @ 10:34 am
[...] 10/29/2007: I’ve revised my opinion of Zooomr since I wrote this. See “Taking a break from Zooomr” for the details. Share [...]
Pingback — October 29, 2007 @ 10:39 am
[...] 10/29/2007: I’ve revised my opinion of Zooomr since I wrote this. See “Taking a break from Zooomr” for the details. Share [...]
Pingback — October 29, 2007 @ 10:41 am
[...] 10/29/2007: I’ve revised my opinion of Zooomr since I wrote this. See “Taking a break from Zooomr” for the details. Share [...]
Pingback — October 29, 2007 @ 10:42 am
[...] 10/29/2007: I’ve revised my opinion of Zooomr since I wrote this. See “Taking a break from Zooomr” for the details. Share [...]
Pingback — October 29, 2007 @ 10:43 am
[...] promised, most of which are still MIA. But there’s no point in raising a stink now. I already did it and I’d rather not revisit the [...]
Pingback — November 2, 2007 @ 7:44 am
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Pingback — November 4, 2007 @ 12:36 am
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Pingback — November 27, 2007 @ 11:56 am
[...] redan i juni efter ett två veckors avbrott. En entusiastisk förespråkare i juli förbyts mot en motvillig kritiker några månader senare. De är bara några av många entusiastiska Zooomr-förespråkare som [...]
Pingback — December 2, 2007 @ 1:12 pm
I’m way behind, but I’ve been postponing such a post for a while. In a nutshell Zooomr missed the boat and lost track of a very basic principle… KISS
Keep It Simple Stupid
I stopped using Zooomr because my previous upload tools no longer worked. I can appreciate the shooting for the moon, but if you can’t complete what you start the rest is worthless.
Good to finally know what happened to you on Zooomr and why I’m seeing you on Flickr so much.
Comment — December 12, 2007 @ 1:53 am
Thanks Jim! The sad part is that Kris is now trying to make waves with the same rhetoric in Japan. There’s an article on BlogNation that I can’t find at the moment, but he promises to revolutionize the web there, and to make Japan the center of the web instead of the US. Talk about grandiose and foolish plans… How about starting with something simple and actually shipping Zooomr, but no, he’s got to promise the moon and the sky, only to end up delivering some piddling little fallen asteroid… This story only gets sadder and sadder.
Comment — December 12, 2007 @ 7:42 am
http://jp.blognation.com/2007/12/09/zooomr-conquering-the-world-from-japan/
Comment — December 17, 2007 @ 9:16 pm
Yup, that’s the link alright, Patrick. This is exactly the same kind of nauseating, over the top, arrogant, clueless talk Zooomr users have had to endure for months while they were promised anything and everything under the stars, only to be disappointed afterwards. Blech.
Comment — December 17, 2007 @ 9:20 pm
Raoul- Great post. Like Jim above I have been postponing a post for a while and late to find your post. I started using Zooomr a several months before the Mark III. I was one of the many in the Mark III IRC/ustream chat room the days leading up to during the trials and tribulations of Mark III launch.
It was frustrating to see how frustrating it was for Kris and Tom to go through that time and refreshing to see the community come together to support/assist them in that launch timeframe. All the while I wondered how they would be able to complete the launch without proper funding or backend scaling.
I supported them, even getting the word out here in Chicagoland with the Zooomr stickers. I wonder what to make of this. I know they need money and IMO it seems the whole mobile thing and focus on Japan is more about getting some funding. But I still want to know “where’s the beef?” Like you I want to know where those features like Marketplace that I was looking forward to. I don’t mind the Zipline as it builds community, and another way to find some great photos. However, when the bread and butter, the foundation of why people are there, the photographs is not being properly addressed from a technical standpoint and long promised functions are still missing I have to look to the old standby.
I’m holding off on uploading there for a while until the site delivers what it promised so long ago. I really want to see them succeed and hopefully can start uploading there again there soon. I’ll still be watching what does get uploaded as the quality of photography there is 2nd to none.
Comment — December 17, 2007 @ 9:40 pm
Jim, I’ve had some time to think about the quality of the photographs at Zooomr, and I disagree with you. I think overall, the quality of the photos at Zooomr is very poor. What Zooomr has going for it is a tight knit group of photographers that have banded together over there (and I used to be part of that group). It’s that group (small in number, btw) that are putting out amazing photos. The rest of the Zooomr users publish crap, porn and banal stuff. But if you only add the good photographers to your contacts, you only see great photos, and it gives you the wrong impression.
There are a ton more talented photographers at Flickr or iPernity or SmugMug — simply by virtue of a larger number of users at those sites — except you have to find them first and add them to your contacts. For example, only a casual look through someone else’s contacts at Flickr will yield an amazing number of unrecognized but talented photographers. These are people putting out amazing photographs but they have few views and even fewer comments. I’d love to see them get more recognition.
Comment — December 18, 2007 @ 10:18 am
[...] it! It looks like the Zooomr we knew is pretty much done for. A few months ago, I wrote that I was taking a break from Zooomr. Funny thing is, the more I stayed away, the more clearly I could think about it, and the more I [...]
Pingback — December 21, 2007 @ 7:07 am
[...] 10/29/2007: I’ve revised my opinion of Zooomr since I wrote this. See “Taking a break from Zooomr” for the [...]
Pingback — January 20, 2008 @ 9:52 am
[...] it Updated 10/29/2007: I’ve revised my opinion of Zooomr since I wrote this. See “Taking a break from Zooomr” for the [...]
Pingback — March 9, 2008 @ 3:51 pm
[...] / categorize and share photos. Zooomr was quiet promising a year back. But after its move to Japan(couldn’t agree more with RaohlPop) and no promises or updates on the horizon , lost hope on the same. Wishes for Zooomr to spring [...]
Pingback — October 6, 2008 @ 11:33 pm