Friday, March 25, 2011

Pattern Giveaway Winner and Flickr Tutorial

I forgot to announce the Butterick 5451 big collar wrap dress pattern giveaway winner! It was a little hard to tell who was entering but based on my best guess of who entered the random number winner is

Stoffhamster!

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I recommended a while back that you regularly check your recent activity on flickr to make sure the flickr nasties haven't gotten to you. It is an easy process to block unsavory users and I make a practice of it. To be clear, this does NOT prevent them from seeing your photos. The only way to prevent someone from seeing your photos is to make them private. But that means you can't share them with the sewing community either. I have made the decision to make my photos public knowing that they can be seen by flickr nasties; you have to make your own decision.

Anyway, when I brought it up I figured I'd do some screencaps the next time the opportunity arose and lo and behold! It has arisen. As always, click on the photos to see them larger.

Check Recent Activity


When you are signed in to flickr, there is line of options across the top with drop-down menus. Click on "You" and find "Recent Activity." Clink on this and it will bring you to a list of recent comments, photo favorites, and person favorites. I like to check this anyway to see new comments--sometimes people ask questions in comments and I try to answer them.



Check Recent Activity

Look at the names of people in your recent activity. The flickr nasties are usually pretty obvious, like this most recent "Sexy Satin Lining." That's probably not someone I want aggregating my photos! I don't check out everyone who has favorited a photo because often it's clear they are fellow sewists, such as if they favorite a photo of a pattern alteration. But if the name is ambiguous or they seem to be favoriting a certain kind of photo (the turtleneck fetishists are surprisingly numerous) I dig a little deeper.


Click on Profile Clicking on the person's name brings you to their photostream. Often, the flickr nasties keep their photostreams private. Because they are realllllly into respecting privacy. Yeah, right. This one was unusual in that their photostream is public. Be ready to avert your eyes when you get to the photostream. Some of them are graphic. The blocking option is on the person's profile page, so click on "Profile."



Blocking Flickr Nasties


Once you're on the profile page, click on the option for "Block this person."




Block Page

Blocking is a two step process. First, you must click the checkbox at the bottom of the list of things blocked persons may not do. Then hit the "Block" button. Once you hit the "Block" button, flickr gives you a pop-up asking if you're sure. That way you won't accidentally block a friend. Say ok and the deed is done.




As you can (sort of) see, when you block someone they can't
-comment
-favorite you
-favorite your photos
-add your photos to their albums or galleries
-contact you through private message

They can still see your photos, but they can't collect them, they can't find you or your photos easily by looking on their favorites list (unless they bookmark them in their browser--these people are after volume and I seriously doubt they'll go to the trouble), and they can't send you a message. I appreciate flickr for creating such a comprehensive blocking system! I highly recommend you take advantage of it. You can see all these photos in my Tech Support album.

27 comments:

K said...

Turtleneck fetishists?!?!?! God save us from the flickr nasties!!

www.scout-vintage.blogspot.com

Stoffhamster said...

Quite surprised, I read my name! I am so happy that I won! Best wishes, Bettina Auer / Stoffhamster
I've sent you an email. If it does not arrive: My email address is lady.avalon @ web.de

Clio said...

Ewwwwww! Of all the bizarre fetishes! Satin coat lining? Really?!?!? How utterly odd. But what unsettles me more is the knowledge that out there somewhere - somewhere in the real world - is a real person behind the internet weirdo, probably gawking at women wearing coats on the subway. Ewwww. Ok, now that I've totally creeped myself out I will shut up. And walk home.

Karin said...

Oh wow! I am not a very good flckr user. I hardly understand it. But I can see that I need to start paying more attention. I even have a few pictures of my kids on there modelling dresses I've made! Thank you for taking the time to point this out and explain in detail what needs to be done. I do appreciate it.

Summer said...

I have to repeat: turtleneck fetishists? The world is a strange, strange place.

KID, MD said...

linings and turtlenecks... I'm with Summer - The world IS a strange place! Thanks for the flickr tute as well. Their blocking system is good, but sometimes hard to find.

Jne4sl said...

Ran across your blog recently while trying to decide between sewing projects, really like your work. I haven't blocked someone on flickr before so thanks for the run down. One thing I do is block my photos from searches. Can't prove it helps but at least then anyone who visits them has followed a link to my photo stream vs. just searching "turtleneck" on flickr/google. You have to opt out of searches from the general account settings here: http://www.flickr.com/account/prefs/optout/?from=privacy

Crystal said...

That was a really helpful post. So strange the things out there...By the way, I really love the how the skirt from your last post turned out.

Anonymous said...

i've just come from pattern review after reading a bout your burda jacket and the spiralling sleeve problem. i am not a member and can not find my log in so can't answer over there - i hope that you don't mind me writing here. it it is a problem just delete this message. as for the sleeve - can you stand side on to a mirror and gently move/slowly swing your arm back and/or to the front until the spiralling disappears? if this works the sleeve needs unpicking and resetting: move the sleeve cap either to the back or the front of the armscye as the arm test indicates.
best wishes
ruth

Elizabeth said...

Thanks for the heads up on that! I have a few photos on flickr, but I don't really use them, as I don't want to buy the space on there, but it was fun to go through and see what it going on with the account.

Sew-4-Fun said...

Very helpful post! I don't use FlickR but these things are still very helpful to know.

Tasia said...

Thanks so much for the Flickr tips! People can be so creepy. I checked my account and found someone who's favourited a ton of my photos - but when I click on their profile it was absolutely disgusting!! (Yes, I clicked through even though Flickr warned me it was outside the 'Safe' settings.. ew!) Kind of funny, after viewing the gross profile Flickr has a button that said 'Seen enough? Take me to the kittens!' and literally, it takes you to photos of cute kittens. To buffer the ick factor.
Anyways - this is a great bit of info for anyone who posts pics to Flickr! So thank you!

Glenda said...

Thanks for the post. I'm off to look at my photos!

Anonymous said...

Along with the turtleneck fetishists are the skirt fetishists. I found them the same way you found yours. :( Very helpful post.
Ruth
sewchic.blogspot

Faye Lewis said...

I do understand that you are very busy. Thanks for looking in though!

Heather said...

I've had to do this a few times too! Some of my "nasties" have been suuuper nasty! Weird, weird, weird! Great tutorial!

AllisonC said...

As a blogger user all my blog photos end up on Picasa, presumably the same weirdos can stalk that site too, does anyone know how to spot and block them there?

Dei said...

Wow. Thanks for posting this. I don't post a ton to Flickr, though I love the site. This was an excellent read and just goes to show that we support each other in the sewing community, but we're not insulated from the creeps in the world.

Rachel said...

Thanks for this. I checked my Flickr account, and found some dodgy guy had put my pics (of me 24 weeks pregnant no less) in two galleries - one weirdly called 'high heels' (I'm wearing wedges in the photo). So gross.

Marie-Christine said...

Turtleneck fetishist! What harsh terminlogy. Just because I made 4 of the September Burda's.. And you should expect to see more of them too, apparently turtlenecks are the neckline of Fall 2011. Oy veh.

Anonymous said...

Thank you so much for this! So so helpful.

Anonymous said...

Thanks so much for this. I went straightaway to Flickr and checked it out. It's so creepy, God! There are all kind of crazies in the world, Awful!

Best,
Elise

Anonymous said...

Thank you for this, it's really useful - I've recently opened a flickr account. I never realised there were such creeps about.

Tilly said...

Turtlenecks? Eh?! After reading this, I went straight onto Flickr to check who's been favouriting my pics and was alarmed to find I'd been invited to add about 20 of my photos to a group called "Way too pretty to wear pants". In the UK, "pants" means underwear, so I freaked out a bit for about two minutes. But when I investigated further it looked like it could actually be a legit group encouraging women to wear more dresses than trousers (ie. "pants" for Americans). Nevertheless, that's a bit weird too - why can't women look pretty in trousers?! Thanks for alerting me to what's going on, in any case!

AvaTrimble said...

I suppose I'm in the minority with this but I have to say...what's the harm of a turtleneck fetish? Or a satin lining fetish? A little unusual, perhaps, but pretty harmless, I should think. Obviously, everyone should have the right to decide where and how images of them/their work appear. So block whoever you want from using your images in ways you're not comfortable with - I support that 100%.

But do all of these people favorite-ing images necessarily deserve all this contempt and revulsion?

The Slapdash Sewist said...

AvaTrimble--

Absolutely no harm...as long as it is consenting adults knowingly involved in the fetish and its satisfaction. It's the appropriation of images without permission or consent that bothers me, especially where it's likely that this appropriation without consent is part of the thrill. I have been PMed on flickr by a turtleneck fetishist and it was...not nice. And also clear that part of this person's thrill was to make me uncomfortable. That is not cool.

Jilly said...

Ugh. Our group has recently been hit by a weirdo/nasty. Unfortunate we have to do this. Thanks for the info.