Guess The Story Of The Flickr Follower

[epiphyte78]

Yesterday I received an e-mail notification from flickr that I have a new follower...Wm Ray. It's a good thing...a bit of positive feedback that floats my way every once in a while. Like always, I clicked the link to see his (I guess) photos. Because...if my photos match his preferences...then maybe his photos will match my preferences. It's happened before. Hmmm...which is better...gaining a new follower or finding a new person to follow? Errr...followee? That's not a word. Oh wait...I just googled it and it is a word!

Ray didn't have any photos...or favorites. It's not too unusual. For the heck of it I clicked on his profile page.

First I looked to see who else he might be following...and I discovered that I'm the only one. That's unusual. And then I looked to see when Ray joined flickr...2011. I laughed. I didn't have to laugh...it wasn't obligatory...it was entirely involuntary. Why did I laugh?

A few related things were triggered in my brain...

Imagine going back in time and walking into the very first orchid nursery. I think perhaps you wouldn't be too impressed with the selection. "What? No Dendrobium canaliculatum crosses? Shucks!" Kinda like going back in time and walking into the very first candy store. "What? No almond joy? Sheesh!"

Maybe a long time ago (2011) Ray joined flickr and wasn't too impressed with the selection of photographers and/or orchid growers. Except, I've been a member since 2007...but not actively until maybe 2009. So it took three years for A. Ray to find me or B. for my photos to finally match his preferences. Maybe a kind of tipping point was reached and my photos finally crawled into the threshold.

The paucity of clues created a very holey story that stole a chuckle from me. Of course I can't help but wonder what the real story is. Anybody want to guess the real story? It's probably pretty mundane. Anybody want to make up an outlandish story? Is anybody else only following one person on flickr? If so, who and why?