How Flickr polices 2.8 billion photos

Great article! What struck me was how difficult it is to automate such "policing" tasks and how much work is put in to keeping a community on track. I'm always trying to automate things but I guess in this case it's not so simple.

I was hoping for an insight into some cool algorithm they use, instead I get a piece of puffery.

"The idea is to sell the stuff -- a clear violation of the company's no-commerce rule."<p>You can't post pictures of stuff to sell? That's what half of craigslist uses flickr for.

"To roam Flickr is to wander through crooked teeth, local politics, nesting osprey, birth, spaghetti, divorce and every other aspect of existence."<p>And wonderfully interesting it is, too. I've spent ages, on and off, refreshing <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos" rel="nofollow">http://www.flickr.com/photos</a> just watching the world go by.<p>Note also <a href="http://www.flickrvision.com/" rel="nofollow">http://www.flickrvision.com/</a> is also quite good for watching the world go by, in a slightly different way.

Killer article, thanks for posting...

a few thoughts:<p>this guy sounds like he comes from an english/journalism background.. heavy on the words, light on the substance.<p>there is virtue in brevity<p>tl;dr