Panoramio should have a splash screen warning that Panoramio will be CLOSED

[Lady GooGoo La La]

Will Panoramio take the responsible approach and inform all users that it has been decided that Panoramio website will be closed!

Even though there maybe an unknown migration path, before millions of people potentially waste time they should be apprised!

Google sent me an email saying Old Google maps would be upgraded and forces the upgrade to vastly inferior Google New Maps, BUT
they didnt send me an Email warning me that Panoramio will be shut down!   WHY NOT!

People have a right to know!

This is important and should be emailed to all Panoramio users!!


This shows how much Google appreciate their customers!

[Lady GooGoo La La]

This message should at least be stickied to the top!

I'm mad now, Panoramio asked for and got, thousands of messages from people regarding improvements to Panoramio,
they really didnt care about Panoramio just want input for new product.

We USERS have been USED, and they dont even have the courtesy email us they are going to pull the plug!  ;-(

[Peter van Lom]

I advice every one to read the PANORAMIO HELP FORUM (https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/panoramio-questions-support) / follow and participate in the discussions that are going on there. IMO, this so called migration shows just Google Arrogance yet again.

[Lady GooGoo La La]

Yeeeeeeee ha!

Boyzzzz it been a long time since the last lynchin! 
So let's have another!

String 'em Mup

Let 'em rot in the sun, they gonna die anyway!

[Lady GooGoo La La]

I wonder what photographers he is talking about here!  Wouldnt want to rub fire in the wound would you!

"Rapoport has been in discussions with many individual photographers about what to do next, he said."

http://www.cnet.com/news/google-to-axe-panoramio-photo-sharing-service-move-to-views/

Thenx Ev!

[asumtown]

There's one thing everyone can do, but it has to rely on *everyone* doing it, and that is to pull the plug on *our* photos. Delete them!
What happened to the Google motto 'Don't be evil'; the one that they have spent the last few years ignoring?
And why bother implementing an new UI if they are going to get rid of Pano anyway?

[Pierre M.]

Google motto is now : "Please allow me to introduce myself
                                  I'm a man of wealth and taste .....
                                  ......................................................
                                  Pleased to meet you hope you guess my name, oh yeah
                                  But what's puzzling you is the nature of my game, oh yeah

                                  Pleased to meet you hope you guess my name
                                  But what's confusin you is just the nature of my game

Sympathy For The Devil ; The Rolling Stones

[© Tom Cooper]

A number of the views developers are photographers.  That means their judgement about Views and Panoramio is clouded by what they personally want to do, and not what is right for Photographers, Panoramio, Views, or Google.

 

I have been a computer programmer since 1977.  I have seen over and over where developers want to create something new and slick, whether or not anyone else actually wants it.  When they discover how difficult it is to get that "new and slick" thing to work reliably (i.e. Panoramio Acrylic) or in a way that is actually useful (i.e. Panoramio Acrylic), they move on to something else (i.e. Views), becuase they are not interested in the hard part.  Now they are just starting to discover that views is full of holes and bugs...guess where this is going to go...

 

Google made it's fortunes on a simple, easy to use search engine that delivered the one thing users wanted - search results.  It did so by ignoring the trend of everyone else to make slick and fancy search engines with lots of graphics, dodads, and gizmos.  Now outside that search engine, everything is about that slick and glitzy stuff.  We'll have a slider gizmo on the bottom and a map portal over here and a compass thingie and another dodad...

 

You know what I want to be slick?  My photos.  I don't want them competing with your interface.  So by definition, that makes your interface suck horribly.

 

But of course this thinking does not follow the direction the developers want to go in, so I don't get to be one of the photographers they will talk to or listen to.

 

Tom

[Peter van Lom]

@Tom  

A clear view, as always....

kl. 14:23:30 UTC+2 onsdag 17. september 2014 skrev © Tom Cooper følgende:

A number of the views developers are photographers.  That means their judgement about Views and Panoramio is clouded by what they personally want to do, and not what is right for Photographers, Panoramio, Views, or Google.

 

I have been a computer programmer since 1977.  I have seen over and over where developers want to create something new and slick, whether or not anyone else actually wants it.  When they discover how difficult it is to get that "new and slick" thing to work reliably (i.e. Panoramio Acrylic) or in a way that is actually useful (i.e. Panoramio Acrylic), they move on to something else (i.e. Views), becuase they are not interested in the hard part.  Now they are just starting to discover that views is full of holes and bugs...guess where this is going to go...

 

Google made it's fortunes on a simple, easy to use search engine that delivered the one thing users wanted - search results.  It did so by ignoring the trend of everyone else to make slick and fancy search engines with lots of graphics, dodads, and gizmos.  Now outside that search engine, everything is about that slick and glitzy stuff.  We'll have a slider gizmo on the bottom and a map portal over here and a compass thingie and another dodad...

 

You know what I want to be slick?  My photos.  I don't want them competing with your interface.  So by definition, that makes your interface suck horribly.

 

But of course this thinking does not follow the direction the developers want to go in, so I don't get to be one of the photographers they will talk to or listen to.

 

Tom

On Wednesday, September 17, 2014 3:25:35 AM UTC-5, Lady GooGoo La La wrote:

[Lady GooGoo La La]

Yes you are right Tom, developers have their own agenda and often this is inconsistent with users, this is the most common problem in software development!

Developers want to see their ideas to fruition....who cares about the user!  This is about personal gratification, if the user likes the changes this is the result of planning and not luck......sad to say it's often luck! 

Projects fail because of developers egos!

Lady GooGoo LaLa

[David Humphreys ( formerly Galatas )]

Nothing to do with egos. A developer has to do two things. One is to keep developing new products , the other is to convince his bosses that his developments will earn them money. If he fails in either he's out of a job.

On Wednesday, September 17, 2014 2:19:53 PM UTC+1, Lady GooGoo La La wrote:

Yes you are right Tom, developers have their own agenda and often this is inconsistent with users, this is the most common problem in software development!

Developers want to see their ideas to fruition....who cares about the user!  This is about personal gratification, if the user likes the changes this is the result of planning and not luck......sad to say it's often luck! 

Projects fail because of developers egos!

Lady GooGoo LaLa


On Wednesday, September 17, 2014 7:23:30 PM UTC+7, © Tom Cooper wrote:

A number of the views developers are photographers.  That means their judgement about Views and Panoramio is clouded by what they personally want to do, and not what is right for Photographers, Panoramio, Views, or Google.

 

I have been a computer programmer since 1977.  I have seen over and over where developers want to create something new and slick, whether or not anyone else actually wants it.  When they discover how difficult it is to get that "new and slick" thing to work reliably (i.e. Panoramio Acrylic) or in a way that is actually useful (i.e. Panoramio Acrylic), they move on to something else (i.e. Views), becuase they are not interested in the hard part.  Now they are just starting to discover that views is full of holes and bugs...guess where this is going to go...

 

Google made it's fortunes on a simple, easy to use search engine that delivered the one thing users wanted - search results.  It did so by ignoring the trend of everyone else to make slick and fancy search engines with lots of graphics, dodads, and gizmos.  Now outside that search engine, everything is about that slick and glitzy stuff.  We'll have a slider gizmo on the bottom and a map portal over here and a compass thingie and another dodad...

 

You know what I want to be slick?  My photos.  I don't want them competing with your interface.  So by definition, that makes your interface suck horribly.

 

But of course this thinking does not follow the direction the developers want to go in, so I don't get to be one of the photographers they will talk to or listen to.

 

Tom

On Wednesday, September 17, 2014 3:25:35 AM UTC-5, Lady GooGoo La La wrote:

[Lady GooGoo La La]

I disagree! Not with what you say, but what goes on behind the scenes!

Yes, Evans job may be on the line, but statisitics and apathy are in his favour!

Lady GooGoo LaLa

[Lady GooGoo La La]

Software companies hire what they feel are competent people, and trust them to make the correct decisions until proven wrong!

I use Microsofts former architect of Windows 8, Steven Sinofsky as an example!

[© Tom Cooper]

In a good many businesses, that is true.  But Panoramio, Google Earth, Google+, and a hundred other such projects at Google have no positive revenue stream, and except for the long-gone "sponsor links" in GE, they have not had any in the 6 years I've been here.

 

Tom

[hvbemmel]

Tom, 

A number of the views developers are photographers.

I said it before, having the ability to press a button does not make you a photographer. I learned a lot on PA and am still on my way to become a photographer, thanks to you, Kevin, a certain lady, and so many more. The streetview car makes the photos automated as do the streetview rucksack etc. The same goes for making a spherical Panorama, you only have to pick a subject press a button and make a turn.

[© Tom Cooper]

Well, you may be right.  I based that on a number of leaders (Gerard, Adam, and Evan included) saying that the team was "passionate about photography" or something similar.  Perhaps I was giving that more credibility than it deserved.  Despite the quiestion of whether they are true potographers or just "passionate about photography" I don't doubt that those are the "photographers" that discussed the deign of views.

 

Tom

[Peter van Lom]

Well the end is near, so to say. A few years back I joined a nice and working community. Not perfect but good enough for me. Now the fun is gone. On a personal level I saw many fine photographes, I met nice people, saw people leave and people come. I saw my friends become better photographers and became myself a better photographer. I guess I have to go a different way now. For what it is worth I thank PA for a nice time. And to Google I would say that they missed the point.....

[~Marlene~]

Tom… why don't you use your knowledge and skills as a programmer to create a new photo sharing sight for the Panoramio users who are going to be left behind. You already know what our desires are… just scour the forum! I would even pay to join and I bet a lot of other people would to. :-)

On Wednesday, September 17, 2014 7:23:30 AM UTC-5, © Tom Cooper wrote:

A number of the views developers are photographers.  That means their judgement about Views and Panoramio is clouded by what they personally want to do, and not what is right for Photographers, Panoramio, Views, or Google.

 

I have been a computer programmer since 1977.  I have seen over and over where developers want to create something new and slick, whether or not anyone else actually wants it.  When they discover how difficult it is to get that "new and slick" thing to work reliably (i.e. Panoramio Acrylic) or in a way that is actually useful (i.e. Panoramio Acrylic), they move on to something else (i.e. Views), becuase they are not interested in the hard part.  Now they are just starting to discover that views is full of holes and bugs...guess where this is going to go...

 

Google made it's fortunes on a simple, easy to use search engine that delivered the one thing users wanted - search results.  It did so by ignoring the trend of everyone else to make slick and fancy search engines with lots of graphics, dodads, and gizmos.  Now outside that search engine, everything is about that slick and glitzy stuff.  We'll have a slider gizmo on the bottom and a map portal over here and a compass thingie and another dodad...

 

You know what I want to be slick?  My photos.  I don't want them competing with your interface.  So by definition, that makes your interface suck horribly.

 

But of course this thinking does not follow the direction the developers want to go in, so I don't get to be one of the photographers they will talk to or listen to.

 

Tom

On Wednesday, September 17, 2014 3:25:35 AM UTC-5, Lady GooGoo La La wrote:

[df3vi]

Yes, I also wonder why a "Send feedback" was installed, when they obviously never had the intension to improve anything at all.

The new design was a fake, a test balloon for Views, nothing more..

But no we know what to expect from Views: just the worst. It will be a never finished pile of bugs, just like what they turned Panoramio into.

[df3vi]

They forgot about the "Don't" part long time ago, latest when G+ was introduced.

 

The new UI was just a test run vor the new Views. And the worst is: The moderators already knew this a year ago.

 

But also the Views community is pissed off: What used to be a special group of highly skilled 360-degree-photographers now has become a pile of mostly meaningless photographs totally burying the photo spheres.

Am Mittwoch, 17. September 2014 10:41:24 UTC+2 schrieb asumtown:

There's one thing everyone can do, but it has to rely on *everyone* doing it, and that is to pull the plug on *our* photos. Delete them!
What happened to the Google motto 'Don't be evil'; the one that they have spent the last few years ignoring?
And why bother implementing an new UI if they are going to get rid of Pano anyway?

[df3vi]

Tom, you now know that about every announcement that had been made in the last year was a lie, so why do you still believe that they are "photographers"?

[hvbemmel]

And the worst is: The moderators already knew this a year ago.

The moderators have been informed that Panoramio would go in views (within a year), keeping Panoramio features like comments etc.. There was no talk of filling in crap from G+, that was a surprise to us too last week. 

We had no idea how this would end up, in fact we still don´t have a clue, but we can imagine that when you put quality on a junk yard, junk will prevail. I gather that´s the feeling of 360 photographers too.

You also can rest assured that we were not pleased and had many objections even though we, nor the team had any idea what the result might be. The same goes for the new design. 

We can advise, users did too you remember, but when an advise is thrown in the wind, for whatever reason we stand with empty hands. 

I might add that the sudden departure of Adam left us without an understanding partner to communicate with, I´m almost sure that at the moment we, including you and other critics, are a burden to the team now.         

 

[Matthew Walters]

The moderators are also under NDA - we'd have lost our (unheard?) voices if anything had been disclosed. It hasn't been easy.

[~Marlene~]

If you've known for a year and this is to happen within a year, does that mean it could happen any day now? Are the photos being transferred automatically or can we option out? I don't want to delete my account and then find out it will not switch over for another 6 months. And if I delete my account, will that remove my photos from different places that Google has been using them around the web? This is all very distressing!

[Lady GooGoo La La]

@ Marlene,
No one probably knows the answer to your question including Evan, a lot of details to be worked out yet, and we
know how quickly they make adjustments, so you can probably relax for a while!

Lady GooGoo LaLa

[Diane]

Marlene, that's a brilliant idea!  A-hem...Tom?

[Diane]

There is also a topic about alternative photo-sharing sites, for those who want don't want to participate in View: https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/panoramio-questions-support/fN6V-Eqnq1g

[© Tom Cooper]

I have been approached by a number of people about starting an alternate site.  I wish I could do that, but there are a number of reasons I can't.

1) Web development is so outside the type of programming I do that it would be like starting over.  Not happening at my age.

2) I would suspect that for a global photo site to work, it would require a minimum investment of $50,000,000 to $100,000,000 USD.  Those numbers are so big it hurts to look at them, never mind think about them.  It was do-able on a shoestring 10 years ago, but not in today's world of high speed internet, cyber-attacks, megapixels, and user expectations.

3) I am sure it would end up falling into some of the same traps that we have seen at Panoramio -- a long time to get things fixed, a user interface that might do what I want but would not be what someone else wants, and then there are all the issues with map technology.  I wouldn't know where to begin with maps.

Tom

[Tucky5]

Am Donnerstag, 18. September 2014 10:10:53 UTC+2 schrieb ~Marlene~:

... And if I delete my account, will that remove my photos from different places that Google has been using them around the web? ...

Marlene,
If you delete your account, the API of Google can not display images from your account on the Internet, because there's no source there.

But Google, Panoramio or Maps/Views has no control over stolen images that are used on the Internet. You can only prevent with a DMCA request that these images are displayed in the search engines.

[hvbemmel]

Lady,

This will be addressed, it can take as long as getting your photos visible in GE. (no, serious, weeks. Taking a wild guess: I think the teams are in Germany and will stay there for some time, just like last year in Portugal, again wild guess)

[Lady GooGoo La La]

Interesting to see, beginning today I had about 10,010,000 views, now after a few deletions I only have 8,000,000 views.

@Herman,  no excuses with regard to they will warn us but takes time, they have had more that a year to plan this chaos, they should have been prepared!

Its all about priorities and wasting users time and effort means nothing to these egotistical bozoz, another S. Sinovsky I presume!

Lady GooGoo LaLa

[hvbemmel]

Dear lady,

I was not looking for an excuse, I hoped my remark that it would take as much time as getting our photo on GE would be excepted as sarcasm. De sad thing was that I was not kidding.

I noticed, and commented, many times before that changes mostly took place on fridays or on moments the team was not available. 

I was surprised that we got the notice of an announcement last Monday, but as I saw that Evan is in Germany for the Photokina it was clear to me. The shitstorm was left, again, for the moderators. 

Well, this moderator is not excusing anything anymore. I´m a user from Panoramio and I´m fed up with all the (for not skilled English speakers incomprehensible) sentences full of how awesome we are, how exciting the next unfinished feature is going to be in the future, the announcements of unknown features we will have to wait for and be patient. As if they don´t know themselves how they are going to implement those features in an other half working feature. I wouldn´t at all be surprised when that last part was not far beside the truth.

As a moderator, I knew that Panoramio would go in to Views, I could have anticipated that the announcement would be as secretive and clumsy as it is now, but I thought  " ah no,, they will not do it like that". Even on my age one has to learn the hard way. 

So no excuses, it is at it is. Like children banging on a door and then running away as fast as they can, leaving the dumb one behind to get the blows.

[Lady GooGoo La La]

@ Herman ;-)

Yes, you have had it coming from both sides! 
I'm a bit lost for words! ... ;-O 
I'm not really all that surprised it was handled as gracefully as it was. I'm sure I wouldnt like Evan as a person either!
Glad to see Adam jumped out, he apparently had enough of the deception, at least he may be able to look at himself in mirror.

Wish you all the best, hopefully you can find a new community to call home! You are very good at what you do and deserve better than this!

Lady GooGoo LaLa

On Friday, September 19, 2014 12:34:53 AM UTC+7, hvbemmel wrote:

Dear lady,

I was not looking for an excuse, I hoped my remark that it would take as much time as getting our photo on GE would be excepted as sarcasm. De sad thing was that I was not kidding.

I noticed, and commented, many times before that changes mostly took place on fridays or on moments the team was not available. 

I was surprised that we got the notice of an announcement last Monday, but as I saw that Evan is in Germany for the Photokina it was clear to me. The shitstorm was left, again, for the moderators. 

Well, this moderator is not excusing anything anymore. I´m a user from Panoramio and I´m fed up with all the (for not skilled English speakers incomprehensible) sentences full of how awesome we are, how exciting the next unfinished feature is going to be in the future, the announcements of unknown features we will have to wait for and be patient. As if they don´t know themselves how they are going to implement those features in an other half working feature. I wouldn´t at all be surprised when that last part was not far beside the truth.

As a moderator, I knew that Panoramio would go in to Views, I could have anticipated that the announcement would be as secretive and clumsy as it is now, but I thought  " ah no,, they will not do it like that". Even on my age one has to learn the hard way. 

So no excuses, it is at it is. Like children banging on a door and then running away as fast as they can, leaving the dumb one behind to get the blows.

On Thursday, 18 September 2014 18:37:05 UTC+2, Lady GooGoo La La wrote:

[asumtown]

Even if someone did start up a new photo sharing site offering what pano does now, when it becomes popular.... well, one of the 'Big Boys' (e.g. facebook, google, yhaoo et al) will buy it out and completely screw it up ;-)
Just look at all the other little start ups that get bought out and merged.

[Pierre M.]

Good Morning !


In Europe, we have "the right in the forgetting" : to erase the data which are lying  on the Internet; thus all these data can be potentially erased.  Useful sometime ;

On the other hand in the United States....

http://curia.europa.eu/juris/document/document.jsf?text=&docid=153853&pageIndex=0&doclang=EN&mode=req&dir=&occ=first&part=1&cid=43312

https://support.google.com/legal/contact/lr_eudpa?product=websearch&hl=fr

[Peter NO VIEWS]

Hi Herman I respect you  for your patience and persistence these last months. I said it before. I'm not against change per se, but how it is handlet. I don't think Google understands that this is a living community. 

kl. 19:34:53 UTC+2 torsdag 18. september 2014 skrev hvbemmel følgende:

Dear lady,

I was not looking for an excuse, I hoped my remark that it would take as much time as getting our photo on GE would be excepted as sarcasm. De sad thing was that I was not kidding.

I noticed, and commented, many times before that changes mostly took place on fridays or on moments the team was not available. 

I was surprised that we got the notice of an announcement last Monday, but as I saw that Evan is in Germany for the Photokina it was clear to me. The shitstorm was left, again, for the moderators. 

Well, this moderator is not excusing anything anymore. I´m a user from Panoramio and I´m fed up with all the (for not skilled English speakers incomprehensible) sentences full of how awesome we are, how exciting the next unfinished feature is going to be in the future, the announcements of unknown features we will have to wait for and be patient. As if they don´t know themselves how they are going to implement those features in an other half working feature. I wouldn´t at all be surprised when that last part was not far beside the truth.

As a moderator, I knew that Panoramio would go in to Views, I could have anticipated that the announcement would be as secretive and clumsy as it is now, but I thought  " ah no,, they will not do it like that". Even on my age one has to learn the hard way. 

So no excuses, it is at it is. Like children banging on a door and then running away as fast as they can, leaving the dumb one behind to get the blows.

[Jan Sognnes]

I'm really angry by the way I heard about closing Panoramio.
Through rumors yesterday.
The users have spent 1000 and 1000 hours in Panoramio.
The way it has been announced is not worth a rich company as Google.
They could have send an email to each users referring to a very important message in Panoramio Help Forum or at least shown it on a banner in Panoramio.
Is this too much to ask for ? Are they afraid of something ?
I thought Google was a professional company.
I feel Google is laughing at us.
We don't deserve to hear about closing Panoramio through rumors.
Panoramio has been a very important part of our life for many years now.
I think many still active users don't know about closing Panoramio.
We are not just nodding sheeps!
Shame on Google!!

[Aperturix]

I just can't seem to grasp what Mr. Draken told Lady GooGoo La La in another thread she had opened and that he thought was unnecessary:

He wrote: "After all these year you haven't learnt anything about forums?"

Mr, Draken, after all these years haven't you learned anything about netiquette?

 

[Draken]

Aperturix

As moderator I am perfectly aware of netiquette. In fact I am responsible to see forum participants comply with it. Yes, dividing the attention, derailing a thread is unnecessary (what Lady GooGoo did) and what you are precisley doing now. Please stay on topic instead of challenging what a forum moderator does. If you feel like opening a new thread to question my authority and the reasons all moderators have for closing threads, please be my guest. 

Thanks  

[df3vi]

Well, noone had to sell. But of course, with the ridiculous amounts of money on the table for nothing more than a piece of software, everyone will get weak at some point.