Live data from Hacker News

Instagram no longer allows people without an account to view photos on computers

manualdousuario.net

121–130 of 312 posts

Re: Instagram no longer allows people without an account to view photos on computers

#122
post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Similar story. I used a real-life name/surname (just not my real one), matched with a similar real email. I never got in. I never bothered. Now when I see (before COVID) people on the train tapping like junkies on the "stories" I smirk and think how lucky I was to avoid this mindfuck.

You being entertained on the train by judging people on their phones sounds hardly more valuable as a hobby than them being entertained by judging people in instagram stories.

>You being entertained on the train by judging people on their phones sounds hardly more valuable as a hobby than them being entertained by judging people in instagram stories.

The train entertainment is likely something which happens in passing, while social media is often a behavioral addiction. Framing two activities with such disparate levels of engagement and probable frequency as both 'hobbies' masks this fact.

I think the parent's condescending outlook is unhelpful, but I agree with them that they dodged a bullet. The increased value they experience lies in what they do with the time they've saved, which is unlikely to be fully consumed by judging people on the train.

Re: Instagram no longer allows people without an account to view photos on computers

#123
post #15

Some friends roped me into signing up to Instagram, so I did. I got to the sign in process and "an error occurred". I tried to login and it said "account does not exist", but I tried to re-sign up, and it said "This account already exists". I emailed them for help but they said I had to post a photo of myself holding a pad with my username on it. Which, fair enough, but giving away my face to a faceless corporation i…

How efficient and reliable is the verification with a face holding a card either ways. I would watermark it all over with the Instagram logo to make sure it isn't being used outside of instagram context with sophisticated digital enhancement tools.

Re: Instagram no longer allows people without an account to view photos on computers

#124
post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Google should be returning the highest quality results. If thats a paywalled newspaper, it should not be excluded. However, I do think some kind of tag, similar to [AD] could appear next to the result, warning you not to click it, [PW] or [LW] for paywall and loginwall.

I don't consider anything that's pay-walled to be high quality. If I can't read it, it has no value to me.

operative word: i.

Re: Instagram no longer allows people without an account to view photos on computers

#125
post #31

Instagram is riffled with semi-nude photos of women that I seriously doubt it has any real value whatsoever. And it's kind of surprising considering that FB has a very strict policy when it comes to showing nude pics. They should have brought down the hammer long ago.

You see whatever you follow.

I know every single person I follow and have never seen provocative photos.

Re: Instagram no longer allows people without an account to view photos on computers

#126
post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't consider anything that's pay-walled to be high quality. If I can't read it, it has no value to me.

operative word: i.

A lot of search is searcher context sensitive, so I don't think automating this is unreasonable

Re: Instagram no longer allows people without an account to view photos on computers

#127

“This is to help people view photos in Instagram and understand how to have the best experience on the platform, be part of the community, connecting and interacting with people and the things they love” How does blocking access help people view things? How does blocking access help people understand how to have the best experience? Access is a better experience than access denied. Creating an account and lurking doe…

They are using Facebook tactics and they are doomed to fail as Facebook did. Well ... I cherish for their innovations. Good bye Instagram.

You can call Facebook whatever but it is not a failure. A company that has grown revenue from 2B in 2010 to 70B in 2019 cannot be considered a failure .

Re: Instagram no longer allows people without an account to view photos on computers

#128
post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Disclaimer: no affiliation with IG This sounds like a _very_ unusual experience. Clearly millions (billions?) of people create Instagram accounts with no issues. Why not just create a different account? > If this is how they treat their prospective customers... You certainly aren't a customer, which might explain the lack of priority. :)

I had this experience when I was working with the Facebook Ad Manager. They arbitrarily blocked my @domain account while my ads were running. They asked me to submit IDs and stuff but haven't heard back in 2 weeks. No other way to contact support except wait. I am not sure what flagged my account but I wouldn't be surprised if they have significantly lowered the threshold for threat detection in an election year (esp…

Oh yeah, facebook is the worst, someone signed up using my email address (they don't do verification of email addresses), I get so much spam ..... however there is no way to contact facebook without a facebook account - no email address, no contact form, nothing - their world view is terribly inward looking

Re: Instagram no longer allows people without an account to view photos on computers

#129

“This is to help people view photos in Instagram and understand how to have the best experience on the platform, be part of the community, connecting and interacting with people and the things they love” How does blocking access help people view things? How does blocking access help people understand how to have the best experience? Access is a better experience than access denied. Creating an account and lurking doe…

They are using Facebook tactics and they are doomed to fail as Facebook did. Well ... I cherish for their innovations. Good bye Instagram.

> are doomed to fail as Facebook did

2.4 billion monthly active users is "doomed" now? Just because in the tech bubble Facebook is viewed negatively it doesn't mean they are not doing just fine.

https://www.statista.com/statistics/264810/number-of-monthly...

Re: Instagram no longer allows people without an account to view photos on computers

#130
I would say that as a free enterprise they are free to do whatever that want. Why do users think that they should have access to Instagram’s data without signing up for an account. LinkedIn does not let you do that so do hundreds of other companies.
Post reply on HN