Porn Stripped Out by Flickr Filtrs

from mashable

March 23, 2007 — 03:56 PM PST — by Kristen Nicole

Flickr may have become the UK’s biggest photo sharing site thanks to soft porn, but the site’s treatment of adult content is changing.

Yesterday, Flickr rolled out their new filtering system that’s cleaning up the Flickr experience across the board. These changes regarding their filter system are all tied in with safety settings for the image-sharing site. Now you can choose your safety level category as you upload images, and set up default categories for future uploads. Flickr has also improved their search filters, giving you the choice of turning them off or on while browsing for photos. You can also choose what you’d like to show up in a Flickr search, and also hide your photo streams from other users and third party API applications.

Flickr’s “flag this photo” function has been broadened to allow for the selection of “flag categories” where each offensive image can be placed. The necessity for user participation in their new filter system hinges on the fact that each new feature is reliant on the other. Having search filter options isn’t very effective if users aren’t choosing their safety levels when uploading images. Flickr has always had a strong community, though, and it’s possible that their new filter system was created in preparation for the launch of Flickr China, which will almost certainly be censored in some way.

The addition of Flickr’s improved filter system is good for the company as well as the users. By making it easier to set safety defaults and choose categories while uploading, Flickr enables the self-regulation of the individual as well as the communities that partake in all that Flickr offers. Their filter system will only improve with the continued use by its members, and may provide better standards by which the majority of media is cataloged online.