I was one of the many that came flooding across from flickr back in 2013 having found its revamp too messy, not at all intuitive and way too slow for my internet connection to handle.

I knew that in time I would have got used to all those new buttons and learnt how to do what used to come naturally, but it would still have looked a mess and still have been far too slow.

So I left flickr behind and began to set up my new home here on ipernity having decided that it was by far the best alternative product on the market.

In many ways it reminded me of the ‘old’ flickr, it was clean, fresh, and easy to use and above all it was fast. I didn’t have to wait for ages for photographs to load, there were no ‘bad pandas’ to be found and the people behind the site seemed keen to develop it as best they could, but in a way that suited the end user.

Team Ipernity not only communicated with account holders on a regular basis, they consulted them on possible new developments, they sought their opinions, and best of all they actually took on board what people had to say. All very refreshing in today’s world, particularly if you’d moved here from flickr and so I was quick to show my support by taking out Club Membership.

In that first year they posted 73 articles and made many subtle, but welcome improvements to the site. The following year that number dropped to 31, but they were still very active and the product continued to deliver in ways that flickr never did so I naturally renewed my membership and continued to add to my photostream without any concerns.

However, in 2015 it appears all is not well in ipernity. Since the beginning of the year following on from the cloud migration only 2 articles have been published by the team and none of them, with the exception of Julian, appear to be using the platform that they themselves helped create.

Elsewhere the team seem to be even less active with no posts on Twitter or Facebook at all in 2015 and the Google+ account seems to have died altogether.

All of this, combined with the team's tardiness when it comes to responding to tickets over recent months and their apparent inability to solve the problems reported, really does leave me worrying about what is happening to ipernity.

It has left me questioning if this is still a thriving go-ahead community inspired business model or if it is a project that is it being left to simply tick over before ultimately having the plug pulled and the life support switched off?

And I know from posts, articles and discussions I’ve read elsewhere that I’m far from being alone in having these concerns so I’m posting this open letter to Team Ipernity in the hopes that they might respond.

Don’t get me wrong, I still love ipernity and I’m not meaning to criticize the product or for that matter have a go at individuals … I’m merely expressing an opinion that, from the outside at least, it does indeed appear that all is not well in ipernity.

I accept that sometimes no matter how enthusiastic you are about a product and no matter how hard you try to make it succeed there are times when you can do no more: when you quite simply have no more time, energy or finances left to invest.

That may well be the situation as far as Team Ipernity are concerned and whilst it would be devastating news at least people would say they tried, they tried, but they failed. No shame in that, at least not as far as I’m concerned.

However, what would be unforgiveable would be if having reached that point they failed to communicate it properly and at the appropriate time to users, both existing and potential.

For instance, most people would think it very unprofessional to continue to take subscriptions knowing that the project had been cast adrift like a rudderless boat, which had been holed below the water line and abandoned simply to be left to sink without trace at some point in the future.

As it happens, my own Club Membership is up for renewal again in a few weeks and all this uncertainty is making me question whether I should renew this time around. So, it would be nice not only to have my open tickets dealt with, but to have some answers/reassurances about the future of ipernity.

If you share my views, or at least some of my concerns, and you too would like to know what the future holds for ipernity then please add the above image* into your faves.

Click that little star now and help shine the spotlight of Explore onto what we Brits would call "the elephant in the room".**

Kind regards

PAUL

*The image shown entitled "Elephant In The Room" was produced by Canadian artist Brandon Thomas and sourced through the deviantart website.

**The phrase "elephant in the room" is an idiom for an obvious truth that is either being ignored or going unaddressed. The expression also applies to an obvious problem or risk which no one wants to discuss.