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

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

#281

Post by thewebcount »

zucker42 wrote: post #240
fao_ wrote: 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…

The whole point of Instagram is giving away your face to a faceless corporation.

No it's not. I know hundreds of photographers who use it to share photos of landscapes, models, and other things and have never posted a picture of themselves.

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

#282

Post by throw_m239339 »

pengaru wrote: post #81

And Twitter requires a phone number for "verification" shortly after creating a new account without one. Stop using this trash.

Yeah, Twitter is never going to get my number, like ever. anybody remembers when Twitter announced in September last year that they would remove "account that didn't post enough"? WTF was that?

But Instragram/Facebook,Pinterest and co simply hate the web. I mean they like it when it comes down to user acquisition but their goal is to make you download their app. If they could do away with the web they would. They are no better than Microsoft Balmer era.

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

#283

Post by nakodari »

basch wrote: post #139
mbreedlove wrote: post #88

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.

If I continue to run into the same paywall, I would consider buying into it. If I bought content, I would want it to show up in search. I wouldnt know I want to buy it, if I dont run into it first.

Then Google should work on a way to connect your purchase with their system or give you ability to inform them you’ve purchased a subscription so that only you get to see search results from that paywalled website, and not others.

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

#285

Post by RandomBacon »

throw_m239339 wrote: post #277

Instagram is stupid. On desktop, you cannot upload photos unless you fake being an iPhone with developer tools, I kid you not, go ahead and try. Just change the user agent and the screen size with Chrome dev tools and the upload photos menus will show up. I don't understand this, why in the world would they prevent their users from uploading photos from the their laptops? These weird UX choices never made sense to me…

Your laptop probably doesn't have gps location data they can exfiltrate.

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

#286

Post by dntbnmpls »

cosmotic wrote: post #89

“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…

> How does blocking access help people view things? How does blocking access help people understand how to have the best experience?

It doesn't. Instagram isn't in it business of selling you the "best experience". It's in the business of selling your information. If you have an account ( verified by a phone number/etc ) and if you post your photos/etc, they have more information on you to sell to advertisers/government/etc than if you were anonymously browsing. Maybe you just browsed instagram on your desktop, but now since they have your phone, they may "recommend" you install their app and while you are at it, why not install facebook, etc.

It's also to cause a "network" effect. Facebook did this before where they made it difficult for you view content without logging in. So if your grandma, aunts, friends, etc wanted to see your wedding posts, they had to create an account whereas in the past they would just go to your page and see it without an account. Also, if you have an account, it incentivizes you to "participate" more. Whereas in the past you might just casually view photos and leave, now you can leave comments, subscribe, favorite, etc.

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

#287

Post by pengaru »

throw_m239339 wrote: post #282
pengaru wrote: post #81

And Twitter requires a phone number for "verification" shortly after creating a new account without one. Stop using this trash.

Yeah, Twitter is never going to get my number, like ever. anybody remembers when Twitter announced in September last year that they would remove "account that didn't post enough"? WTF was that? But Instragram/Facebook,Pinterest and co simply hate the web. I mean they like it when it comes down to user acquisition but their goal is to make you download their app. If they could do away with the web they would. They are…

> But Instragram/Facebook,Pinterest and co simply hate the web. I mean they like it when it comes down to user acquisition but their goal is to make you download their app. If they could do away with the web they would. They are no better than Microsoft Balmer era.

The web is the real casualty of mobile taking over, more so than the desktop, IMHO.

There was a minute between proprietary mobile app dominance and proprietary desktop app dominance where everything new and shiny was a web service first and foremost.

During that minute everyone was able participate in all the new shiny things, regardless of what operating system or type of device they used - they just needed a standards-compliant web browser, and nothing ever required your phone number to register, except financial services I guess.

I wish the average person understood how liberating and important that state of affairs is for everyone. Based on the few debates I've had on this subject with less technical folks, as long as whatever the average person is carrying in their pocket is supported and they can do/consume what they want today they dgaf how much the walls are closing in on them in the process.

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

#288

Post by ShamelessC »

willis936 wrote: post #229
asdf21 wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It blows my mind that people still use Facebook products. I disconnected in like... idk 2014? 2015? And never looked back.

The only facebook product I still use is oculus. I am rather curious what their software is doing. At a glance it seems innocent, but I’m not so naive to think anything facebook does is innocent. https://www.reddit.com/r/oculus/comments/4da3r5/oculus_home_...

That reddit thread was pretty disappointing. I was expecting some analysis of the contents of the network calls. It's also around four years old.

Since I have trouble believing Facebook isn't gathering telemetry from Oculus users, do you know of any more recent attempts to see what they're doing?

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

#289

Post by [deleted] »

netsharc wrote: post #250
fenwick67 wrote: post #242

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Everybody knows this is just marketing speak in a way I hate this idea that, as a society, companies are permitted to bullshit people and the onus is on the consumers to be able to parse the borderline lies from full truths. My wife used to work closely with people with moderate mental illness - you wouldn't believe the predatory scams, advertisements and "offers" they fell for.

Isn't it more like "corporate" speak? The thing that makes me want to blow my brains out is when politicians or government representatives do this on TV and the "journalist" interviewing them just sits there and nods...

[deleted]

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

#290

Post by im3w1l »

asfarley wrote: post #178
lotyrin wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, this is their reason, just from within their distortion field. This is helping the user view photos, because the user should be logged in and using the app, the app provides the best experience and this web interface is a distraction that gets in the way of that. Edit: I guess it wasn't sufficiently clear, the second sentence here is not my own personal opinion.

I've been in businesses trying to sell me this view as a developer. I can almost guarantee that the developers are saying, in their head, "this is in no way helpful to our users, but I will comply because my PM told me to." Distortion-fields aren't so powerful that they cause people with integrity to discount critical thinking. If someone can be sold on this with hand-waving, they probably lacked integrity or critica…

Obvious lies like these aren't meant to believed. Their purpose is preventing the follow up questions that would come if the truth was acknowledged.
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