FAlbum Died Due to API Key Expiration – (Apparently, this happens alot!)
So, I wake up this morning and go to make some blog posts when all of a sudden I realize my photo albums are DEAD!
Holy #*$&#@*! Is there a Flickr outage? Is WordPress hosed? Was Hillary nominated as the Democratic candidate for President?
Thankfully, it was none of the above… The problem lies with FAlbum — an independently-developed WordPress plugin linking my blog to my Flickr account. Turns out, FAlbum interfaces with Flickr using an API (application programming interface). Flickr assigns unique API keys to developers so they have some form of control over the shit that people produce using the API. Many developers — including the FAlbum guys — hard-code their API key into their application.
Here is my FAlbum.class.php file… See blurred fields below:
What happens when an API key expires or is cancelled by Flickr for abuse? You guessed it — all of the software using that key instantly turns to dog shit. I can certainly see why Flickr wants this kind of control so I really blame the FAlbum developer for making all of his users use his API key. We should each have our own so a worldwide FAlbum outage doesn’t happen every six months or so…
Luckily, I have a guide prepared on how you can replace the developer’s API key with your own. You should change this now and it will get you back up and running and it’ll prevent these problems from ever happening again. Click here to see my step-by-step instructions.
