Flickr caves
Earlier this week, I mentioned how Flickr had done a pretty poor job of handling upcoming changes to their service and that "old skool" users were really upset.

Now, Flickr has caved to the pressure and made changes to their changes.

Some are praising Flickr for doing the right thing; however, I still say they are just trying to clean up from doing the wrong thing.

If Flickr wanted to get buy-in from their users, they would have asked for their advice *before* making the change. In addition to getting a better solution, they would have made their members feel important which is key in loyalty and retention.

This latest development is just damage control. They changed to stop all of the negative press. And worse for Flickr, it shows members that if you complain loud enough, Flickr will cave on their decisions.

Listening to your members is a must; however, you need to listen to them at the right time. Get your most passionate users involved before you announce or make changes. Even if they don't agree with them, they will be more accepting if they are involved in the decision-making process.