Flickr + Yahoo = Hell

November 19, 2006 7:19 PM

How do I get Flickr to log me in automatically without also automatically logging me into Yahoo?

I've asked this question at Flickr, Yahoo, a newsgroup and a tech website. I've either gotten no answers or shrugs.

I used to be able to log into Flickr automatically, and be able to quickly browse (usually their 7-days interestingness thing). That did not affect my Yahoo login.

Now my Flickr login is somehow being cached over to Yahoo. 99% of the time I use Yahoo only for their free email. It also screws up my pay AT&T/Yahoo email account.

I don't know how this happened, but I suspect I upgraded something at either/both Flickr and/or Yahoo without knowing what it actually did.

This caching crap is causing me to click a hell of a lot more, having to constantly type in different usernames and passwords, etc. I used to download 20 or 30 Flickr photos a week, totaling about 1,000 pictures at this point. With all the hassle I'm down to just about zero a week.

Is there any way I can get this back to the way it was? My Flickr account isn't a pay account if that matters.

posted by aerotive to computers & internet (4 comments total)

Not an answer but a point of data: I just went to flickr.com and found myself logged in to my flickr account, then I went to yahoo.com and found myself logged in with a different yahoo account. So it still works for me the way it used to for you. Hope this at least helps to rule something out.
posted by winston at 7:36 PM on November 19, 2006

You won't want to hear this, but it's probably not possible. Unless your Flickr account is Old Skool, preYahoo!, then what you're signing in with is a Y! account to a Y! site, which is unified across all their services.

My best idea is to use a separate browser or a separate profile in the same browser for one of them. In Firefox it's easy; try the "-ProfileManager" command-line parameter to set it up.

If you're using IE, then use it to download Firefox, har har.
posted by cmiller at 7:46 PM on November 19, 2006

I vaguely remember that the "final phase" of flickr/yahoo login integration was to be happening 'round about now (such that all the old-skool flickr users would finally need to get a yahoo account) so this might be what broke it for you?

As for a workaround, cmiller is close! If you use firefox, install the IETab extension (er, add-on), and then set yahoo to always display using IE, and flickr to always display normally (using FF) or vice-versa. then you can stay logged-in as different peeps simultaneously, but have then on adjacent tabs, instead of in different browsers.
posted by misterbrandt at 9:16 PM on November 19, 2006

I haven't heard about this "final change" to Flickr, which would require that I login with a Y! account. I'm one of those "Old Skool" users. I don't use any Y! services, so this is really not an issue for me, but I'm still curious.
posted by vkxmai at 9:29 AM on November 20, 2006