THERE was confusion yesterday as Scottish based, photo-sharing social media site Blipfoto appeared to have gone into liquidation.
The platform, where users publish and share one photo a day, is incredibly popular, with around 3.4 million photos on the site.
Started by Joe Tree, who built the website in Edinburgh on an autumn afternoon in 2004, the site has grown substantially. It went into partnership with Polaroid in January. But users, or blippers, suggested in comments on the site that Polaroid had possibly pulled out.
A spokesman for Polaroid did not respond to The National’s requests for a comment.
Nobody in Blipfoto’s offices in Edinburgh was answering phone calls, tweeting or replying to emails yesterday. Blippers have had no contact from people associated with Blipfoto for some time.
The site is globally huge, with over 18 million page views a month and regular blippers in 170 countries.
Blipfoto has had a number of successful partnerships in the past, with Channel 4, the National Theatre of Scotland and the Scottish Government all working with the site.
Many expressed concerns that not only would the site closing lead to many users losing photos, but that it would lead to the end of the social side of Blipfoto.
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here