Rupert,
I appreciate the response (and it's cool that Elle Decor used your photo!).
I understand that Esri's main recommendation is to upload photos directly into the user's Esri, or ArcGIS Online, account. My issue with that is storage space and credits, plus organization.
I get that sites like Filckr can change their URLs without informing the user and thus breaking associated links. That will always be a risk (along with the site deleting the image).
My concern and hope is for an easy-to-use photo hosting/storing platform that is friendly with not only story maps but also with general usage. I liked Flickr for its ability to tag photos with location and with text tags, making things easily searchable and able to be categorized. They had a nice uploading feature too. I could share an 'album' with someone based on its tag, or its album/set, and/or I could share a story map the same way. I know that by paying for this service now will give me just that.
I guess I'm thinking big picture across various disciplines. Not only for myself, personally, but for work reasons and educational reasons. I personally use (used) Flickr for its free account and 1 TB of space. I could organize my photos in many different ways. I would share these and make story maps when I wanted to. I personally like the ease-of-use for Google Photos for uploading and sharing, but it's not the best at organizing or story mapping. I don't have a server where I can upload photos to for myself personally.
For work, we have used Flickr for work photos and making story maps. It made an easy way for quickly searching tags and finding the right photo for the right thing. We have a website that has storage space, like a server, but this is really raw and just gives me a folder/url with a file name. No way of organizing, except for naming structure and folder structure. Also, I get one resolution, which is usually fine. We have the 'low end' for AGOL credits so we don't have the liberty of taking up space there liberally.
I have a son in fifth grade that likes to sometimes use a story map for a class project. He usually uses Flickr (usually my account) for this. He doesn't have a server and wouldn't really be able to use an elementary school server and his school does not have an AGOL account (my son uses a free account). I know he would like to be able to keep these story maps in his "portfolio" for future use, especially when he gets older.
Maybe I'm jumping around too much and need to understand that specific needs require specific configurations/platforms. I guess I'd like to see more options here:
In any case, I appreciate your clarifications and would like to welcome other potential suggestions on future photo hosting sites that would be story map friendly and would be friendly-friendly!
Thanks,
Adrian