My initial reaction was to call bullshit and shake a few trees to see who I may know at flickr or Yahoo! HQ. After all, I take photos of people, food and cars – all done in a public space, not some sort of bedroom antics.

The original message:

From: Flickr Support <caseXXXXXXX@support.flickr.com>
To: Urban Mixer

Hello Urban Mixer,

We’ve changed the safety level of your photostream to “moderate”.

As per our Community Guidelines, content like that in your account is not considered “safe” for everyone to view. You may or may not be aware that Flickr has a Safe Search system. When people browse or search on Flickr, they can filter what they see based on a safety level that they are comfortable with – either Safe Search is on, set to moderate, or off. In order for Safe Search to work, we relying on *you* to filter your content appropriately. As you upload stuff to Flickr, you need to make sure that you’re applying appropriate filters (safe, moderate or restricted) and telling us what sort of content it is (photos, video, screenshots, art & illustration). If you don’t apply filters correctly, there’s a very good chance another member will let us know – in fact that’s why we’ve taken action today. (No need to be upset – it’s every member’s right to let us know if they ever feel uncomfortable. Yours too.)

We want Flickr to be a place that everyone can enjoy. That means making sure that potentially offensive content is filtered from public, safe areas of the site. If you read our Community Guidelines, you’ll see the key points are:

play nice, upload things that you have created yourself, and respect the fact that there are millions of people visiting Flickr who may not see the world the same way you do. Use your common sense about whether or not your content is suitable for a global, public audience. If the answer is no, you need to filter it from public view. <br><br>You should also know that if we receive another report about your content or conduct, it’s very likely we’ll terminate your account.

So, please take a moment to find out how to work with safety levels, use ‘em, and everybody’s happy!

Regards,

Flickr Staff

What was most irritating about this message was that firstly, I wasn’t really aware of the ramifications of being marked as moderate; secondly, I wasn’t aware of how to remedy the situation. It felt like some idiot at flickr decided to flip a switch and forever cast my profile into the abyss.

In the original note, there wasn’t any mention on how to remedy the issue nor was there any indication as to what was considered ‘not kosher’ by the flickr folks. Talk about frustrating. What’s worse is that after a couple of replies to the original email, I received no response.

What’s worse is that people started to email me, telling me that they had to log into flickr to see my photos and the viewership counts on my photos were severely affected. Others told me they couldn’t see my photos (unbeknownst to them, they had their safety filters set to the default – high) and the straw that broke the camel’s back was that I missed a photo publish opportunity with 24hrs news. Talk about a smack in the face.

After that, I decided I needed to call upon someone but first I did my research. After some digging and serendipitously, I got a reply to my original message (only five days late).

From: Flickr Support <caseXXXXXXX@support.flickr.com>
To: Urban Mixer

Hello,

Thong bikini images need to be classified as “moderate”.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/me/popular-interesting/

Female breasts, bare/thong bottom, see through topless nudity, pasties, etc.. images need to be marked as “moderate”.

Genitalia/pubic hair images need to be marked as “restricted”.

(marking the content as private is different then moderating the content as “moderate”/”restricted”)

You can bulk moderate your “moderate”/”restricted” content using the organizr tool.

(Do not worry about moderating your “safe” content)

www.flickr.com/photos/organize/

Load your images into the organizr tool, pull all(public, private, and friends/family) images that need to be marked as Moderate”/”restricted” into the main window, choose the “moderate”/”restricted” option from the “permissions/set safety filter” pulldown on top, click save and you’re done.

Because your account status is set to “moderate”, all of the images will appear as “moderate”/”restricted” in the organizr tool. This may seem a little confusing at first but if you take the required action of moderating your content as “moderate”/”restricted” where appropriate, that will show on our side when you request a re-review of your account status.

Regards,

-Terrence

Okay, it wass a hint but not a really firm answer on what but at least I had direction so I got to work, found every swimsuit, pasty, lingerie and other similar type of event that I’ve shot (out of my almost 40,000 photos) and marked them all as moderate. Since I haven’t shot any nudity, I knew I didn’t have to worry about marking things are restricted. An hour later I was done. I then requested (under a new case) a review of my flickr photostream and something miraculous happened, they came back in a little over an hour and opened up the floodgates on my flickr account again.

Hello Urban Mixer,

We appreciate you taking the time to bring your account in line with the Flickr Community Guidelines. Your account has been classified as “public”/”safe”. Please keep the Flickr Community Guidelines in mind in the future.

http://www.flickr.com/guidelines.gne

http://www.flickr.com/help/filters/

Thank you again for contacting us. If you have any other questions, please feel free to reply to this email.

Regards,

Terrence

Hindsight? The flickr uploadr allows you to set the ’scariness’ level of your photos. I suggest you use it.

It’s been a few years since this historic event but now, another historic event is about to take place. On Robson Street, starting today, seventy two sports bar and restaurant is open for business.

The Skinny:

seventy two sports bar • restaurant
112 – 1025 Robson Street (where Malone’s Sports Grill used to be) (MAP)

TEL: 604-646-4031
FAX: 604-646-4032

WEB: www.seventytwo.ca

Highlights:

• 23 3/4 Oz. Pints of Beer
• 14 20″ LCD TVs at every booth
• 3 55″ Plasma Screen TVs at the main bar
• 2 44″ Plasma Screen TVs throughout the bar
• 4 satellite feeds

The food is excellent, the decor new and stylish and the prices are truly reasonable. Definitely check it out and tell ‘em Raj sent you.

Click HERE to check out the latest photos from seventy two on flickr.

Here’s the Skinny:

The Ocean Club Restaurant
Suite 105 – 100 Park Royal South
West Vancouver, BC

TEL: 604-926-2326
FAX: 604-926-2386

WEB: www.theoceanclub.ca

The Ocean Club is an elegant place with really stylish modern decor. On Tuesday nights, they have live performers and a pretty good lounge menu to accompany.

Highlights from the evening:

• Mona’s mac and cheese came with an awesome shortrib accompaniment
• The inventive cocktails:

• Caipirinha – powerful brazillian cocktail of cachaca sugar cane, fresh muddled lime, and sugar served short with crushed ice
• Toffee Crisp – wydborowa, frangelico, giffard caramel toffee, caramel crème, and cookie crumb rim

I also ordered the Lost Mexican but the waitress got confused and sent me something else from a similar genre.

• Lost Mexican – (they gave me something else) chili infused tequila, grand marnier, fresh apple and lime juices, salt rim

I wouldn’t reccomend the Albacore Tuna Chopsticks – the tuna didn’t appear to be fresh, but the rest of the meal, especially the steak and drinks, splendid!

Best times to check Ocean Club out:

• Sundays – $3 Coronas & 1/2 price Mojitos
• Mondays – all bottles of Wine 25% off
• Tuesdays – Live Jazz Night
• Fridays & Saturdays – 2 for 1 bar snacks 11pm – 1am with DJ Dimitri

You can always check out the latest photos I have taken from Ocean Club on my flickr site, HERE.

Adding notes to images containing the text “ho ho ho hat” and the “ho ho ho beard” will instantly transform your mundane and normal picture into a bona fide santa fide photo…

BEFORE:

AFTER:

(Original images at: http://flickr.com/photos/urbanmixer)

Happy flickring, people and merry non-denominational holiday season!

One thing to mention, one bear, Jeanie, Whistler Spirit Bear, which was not originally slated to auction, was auctioned off at someone’s request. The bear fetched $50,000 making it the highest-bid for the event.

1 $5,500 Simon

2 $6,000 Worth Protecting

3 $6,500 Vancoubear

4 $14,500 Sto:lo Bear

5 $20,000 Darth Bear

6 $30,000 Rocky

7 $40,000 Kromode (my favourite)

8 $15,000 Ursus Intrawestus

9 $10,000 Pacific Spirit Bear

10 $15,000 Royal Shopper

11 $26,000 Chilkat Spirit Bear

12 $33,000 Kermode Couture

13 $9,000 Bear-Tiquity

14 $13,000 Sea to Sky Bear

15 $14,000 West Coast Bear

16 $15,000 Nazzy Bear

17 $15,000 WPGA (West Point Grey Academy) School Spirit

18 $20,000 Whimsy Bear

19 $10,000 Rhythm of the City

20 $25,000 Explorer

21 $16,000 The Bearrister Bear

22 $11,000 Look At Me!

23 $11,000 Vinnie the Crew Bear

24 $12,000 Summer Cone Bearing

25 $32,000 Spirit Friend

(NO NUMBER) $50,000 Jeanie, Whistler Spirit Bear

26 $16,000 Icebow

27 $21,000 Cuddles

28 $20,000 Fable Bear

29 $16,000 Roto Bear

Some pictures from the evening, check out my Flickr stream with the tag “Spirit Bear” or my set for the evening, “20061010” for all of the pictures taken:

Pictures from The Great Spirit Bear Auction & Gala:

Greater Vancouver including Whistler
Westin Bayshore Hotel, Vancouver
October 10, 2006

For those of you who missed this event, there’s four more galas coming up (click HERE to find out more) and Internet-based bidding at GoBid.ca:

Terrace, Kitimat & Prince Rupert
Best Western Hotel, Terrace
October 14, 2006

Surrey
Sheraton Guildford Hotel, Surrey
October 19, 2006

Prince George
Coast Inn of the North, Prince George
November 4, 2006

Vancouver Island
Victoria Conference Centre, Victoria
November 8, 2006

Internet Auction
Bidding Opens October 11, 2006
Bidding Closes November 9 to 14, 2006

Of note, service was excellent and the food was great as well. My favourite is the Chicken Karaage which comes with three types of salt or shio to dip in – from Utah, from the Himalayas and from Japan.

Umami’s Hiro is no longer the bar manager – he’s moved into where his passion lies, in the kitchen. Yasu has taken over his post.

You can read the menu in the photos below as well – and check out Yasu’s daily drink special next time you’re in:

Original Post: 10/02/2006 06:00 AM

Kingyo occupies the space which was once Enthuze on Denman Street (Vancouver). The sign on the front window says ‘See you in Aug’ but August came and went… now it’s October.

I recently passed by and was invited to take a couple of pictures while they put the finishing touches on the place. They’re still finishing the mural and other small items but overall you can get a feel for how it’s going to look inside.

Also, stay tuned to my flickr stream (and specifically photos tagged kingyo) at: http://flickr.com/photos/urbanmixer/tags/kingyo for more photos from Kingyo.

So what’s the scoop? Well, two elements come together. Firstly, Hiro (ex chef, owner, and sommelier of Umami) will be the sommelier and bar manager of KINGYO. Secondly, the restaurant is owned by the same group that brought Guu with Garlic to fruition (amongst other restaurants).

Sounds like a hit.

Cross your fingers, the city’s inspectors are going to be visiting in the next couple days.

KINGYO
Telephone: 604-608-1677
Address: 871 Denman Street, Vancouver, BC V6G 2L9

Get your own Flickr widget here: http://flagrantdisregard.com/flickr/

Click on the respective links to check out the photos in at flickr:

(Above) Unwine’d Opening – 1180 Howe Street, Vancouver

Click on the respective links to check out the photos in at flickr:

(Above) Bardot Opening – 1137 Marinaside Crescent, Vancouver

I had a chance to dine there the other night and must say, the food is pretty good. Hmm.. maybe I should go there for a bite right now. Okay, but before that, I’ll blog about the place.

Address: 560 Robson Street, Vancouver V6B 2B7
Phone: 604-681-6398
Website: www.nextnoodlebar.com

Here are some photos to keep you appeased. You can also check photos tagged Next Noodle Bar on my flickr stream for updates:

Update (6/30/2006 02:15 am): Caught the tail end of the evening tonight and a few photos which are posted on my flickr site under the tag Chill Winston. One thing to check out is the unisex bathroom. Very cool. I promised not to take any pictures until the sink they intended to install in the common area of the bathroom arrives.

They did open for Jazz Fest in Gastown over the weekend but I was out frolicking in Calgary. I hear they did pretty well but Sonia, one of the owners, looked pretty exhausted today. Opening a restaurant isn’t always fun and games.

Address: 3 Alexander Street, Vancouver

(the owner of the building wanted to use 1 Alexander Street but technically, it is 1 Alexander as well)…

More details as soon as I have a chance to check it out…

Take a look at my photos (including some exclusive pre-construction photos) tagged Chill Winston on flickr here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/urbanmixer/tags/chillwinston/
Some photos in the interim: