Fixing Posts

Bear with me as I will be spending some time over the next little while fixing old posts and re-adding the images. So far I have done two posts. The changes with Flickr have meant that I had to delete/remove about 500 images to be under their new limits for free accounts. One of the easiest solutions was to remove all clock images since January 2017. They've all been saved to my PC. I just need to re-add them to Google Photos, and then go re-edit each individual post one by one, which is very time consuming. What is making it harder is that all the images in the blog posts are just html links, so I have to check them and replace them largely by file name only, like: pc230207.jpg. The images will also be larger, so I have to play with the blog widths. It had previously been optimized for viewing at 1024x768, but I think a lot of people have increased the sizes/resolutions on their monitors since then.

EDIT: Not bad! I managed to do 16 posts tonight. I'd keep going, but it's bed time.

EDIT 2: Nov 20th 3:19am. ALL DONE! All the old posts have been fixed.

Update

Alright, so if you've visited the blog this past week, you may have noticed that the majority of the recent images are now coming up as "Flickr: This image could not be found". This is because I had to remove about 500 images from my Flickr account after they recently made changes that limit 1000 images for free accounts. Since I keep multiple blogs going, the easiest work around for the number of images I needed to take down was to remove the clock blog images (449) and images from a recipe blog that I rarely use/post to (46).

The affected posts are from between Jan 11th 2017 to present. I will be fixing them a few at a time in my spare time. I'm going back to Google Photos for now.

Uncertainty...

It seems every few years, it gets more and more difficult to keep blogging. Flickr just announced that "Free accounts will soon be limited to 1000 photos". I'm already at 1,457, and I've barely been using them for a few years (2016). I thought I had finally found a permanent photo sharing solution, the company just recently changed hands, and now this. What am I supposed to do? Start looking AGAIN for another free service? I've already gone through Photobucket, which no longer allows third-party hosting, Google Photos, then Picasa, and then Flickr. It's annoying because now all my photos are linked in different places, and it's just a huge hassle. My blog is entirely free with no ads. I make absolutely ZERO money keeping this running. I only blog because I enjoy it, and because I want to share my knowledge on clock repair and post my projects.

What's worse is that there won't be anything grandfathered-in. According to their email update:

*Free members with more than 1,000 photos or videos uploaded to Flickr will no longer be able to upload new content after Tuesday, January 8, 2019 unless they upgrade to Pro. After February 5, 2019, free accounts that contain over 1,000 photos or videos will have content deleted -- starting from oldest to newest date uploaded -- to meet the new limit. Members may always choose to download content over the limit at any time prior to these dates.

Yes you read that correctly. CONTENT WILL BE DELETED unless you PAY.

This will mean downloading, re-saving, and re-linking 458 photos, as well as re-editing all their associated posts, which will be a MASSIVE amount of work.

Also FYI: Pro is 50$ USD/year, or 5.99$ USD per month. This adds up to around 68$ CAD per year plus or minus any conversion fees that might get tacked on. It's auto-renewing and non-refundable.

If anyone has suggestions I'm open to hearing them.

Blog Topics

I've been going through the view counts on the blog, and I've noticed a few interesting things. The most viewed posts seem to be either "new acquisition" posts, or very basic tutorials (repairing hands, wax-filling, etc). I don't really have a huge quantity of viewers on this blog yet, but I'd like to leave this post open if anyone had any special requests, or topic ideas.

As is, I plan to continue with my current trends (posting current projects as I work on them), but I do have a number of "how to" posts coming in the future.

Upcoming projects:

- Posting some of the repairs done on a rare month-going longcase clock movement with (missing) passing strike.
This will include the making of small custom parts using minimal tools.
- Finished photos of the third comtoise clock (Rossignol à Caylux).
- Dial silvering tutorial (at some point).
- Update post on the rare Seth Thomas.
- John Birge column clock restoration.
- Waterbury rosewood beehive clock restoration.
- Several ogee clock restorations.
- Tips on using a jeweler's saw.
- Clock collection video tour(s).

And lots more, including client repairs, and new acquisitions.

I also have the option to revisit past restorations I've done, including repairs to wooden works clock movements, and working on several clocks that were especially far gone.