Guess The Story Of The Flickr Follower
 

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?

Well, trust your gut and reach out to Ray via here or his website and ask him. It's not uncommon for fake profiles to be created by those seeking info on you, which can easily be found in the codes of pictures. Not saying it isn't him, but if you think it might not be then get rid of them and ask the person if at all possible outside of the forum/platform in question and only where you know he/she is who they say they are.


Paul McMahon
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

Seeking info on me? Woah. Hadn't thought of that one. The profile was created in 2011...why wait 3 years to add me as a contact? And adding me as a contact doesn't provide any more information than the general public has access to.

Your nickname is very intriguing. It forebodes someone who is a very old orchid enthusiast since 1978 and maybe I can learn from you. I would add you just to see what pictures you have, and maybe you might have orchids that I don't have and probably in my wish list. But If I found out that you had nothing of interest to me then I will un-follow you and drop you....or maybe that person have all the pictures set to be seen by only friends or as in my case I hide it from the public and only the OB people can see my postings.

Often on sites like Flickr when someone without any photos or information follows you it means that they are stealing one of your photos.

Following somebody on Flickr doesn't make it easier to steal one of their photos. If you want to steal somebody's photos you don't even need to join Flickr. The general public can see photos on Flickr...and if you can see a photo then stealing it is as easy as right clicking on it and then clicking on "save image as" or simply taking a screenshot.

Shrug.

Could also have been an accidental subscription. Ray's account could also have been left open when one of his kids came in the room. Or he may have been going to click one thing and just as he went to click, his wife shouted something, and he accidentally clicked subscribe. Maybe your photostream popped up on his page at some point and he saw something he wanted to bookmark, but he didnt know how to bookmark so he subscribed. Maybe I am Ray and only I know why you are my only subscription...mwa ha ha.

Sigh

---------- Post added at 08:11 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:10 PM ----------

Ahhh...now this is more like it! You've painted a few interesting pictures! Now I kind of want to know what his wife shouted.

"GET OFF THE DAMN COMPUTER RAY"