Feeling sad!

It is a worrying development but I'll wait and see how it pans out. (As a life-member I don't have much choice...)
As you mention there are things to worry about but good things could come out of this too.
Apart from anything else we don't know the form of this agreement and for me that will make a difference.

I'm very sad – When I post on Blip I do NOT want to advertise anyone but I no longer have a choice but to advertise Polaroid every time. I genuinely think they should have consulted the Blip community, especially those of us who have become members before they took this decision. It’s another example of a multinational muscling in on a not for profit community.
I’m currently tagging my posts with #WTF!Polaroid!

It seems to have been done the wrong way round, first the new site which takes a bit of getting used to, then this major announcement just when things are settling down. Why not admit up front that it's not going to be just blipfoto any longer, then introduce the new format afterwards ? I feel as though I've been kept in the dark a bit.

My heart sank when I realized what had happened. I'm a life time member and will continue to use blipfoto but now feel that once again the BIG Corporations are taking control over everything.

It was a shock to me when Firefox advised me that this might be an imposter site and I had to log in all over again.

My counsel was patience after the change. I thought there was something familiar about how the profile avatar image was displayed.

I'm a lifetime member - starts the fifteenth of this month. My knee jerk reaction was, "I'm off!" but that is unfair to the community Joe has enabled us to build . . . Let's hope BlipCentral continues to shepherd us although I must say once trust is perceived to be broken it is more difficult to regain which is why Joe posted his personal message . . .

Alan Richardson known as JohnEdward on Blipfoto.

The community is still lovely and the ones I know still enjoy taking photos and sharing snapshots of their lives. Most people are going on and leave the daily running and worries to the people in charge. And frankly if the only thing some people can do is find all the faults, refuse to to go with the new changes and are not willing to give it a chance - is that not then the time for them to find another community where they feel more happy and at home?

I understand Spikes2013 point that the site is still running, and any minor irritations can be lived with. Basically, it's carry on as usual.
The most obvious upset, to me ( and OK, maybe I'm a sensitive little flower who should grow a pair ), is the way the changes have been done.
Maybe I missed something but it was presented as simply an exciting makeover, a fresh new look for a format that was looking tired.
Fair enough, but logging in on my Blackberry yesterday to find that I was now subscribed to Polaroid Blipfoto was not a pleasant surprise.
Why not just say, look, it's commercial sense to partner with someone, so we're doing that and as a consequence you'll have a nice new site ? I don't blame the owners for doing that, it's the real world after all.
What I don't like one little bit is here am I naively thinking that the owners have done something great for the members in updating the site, and then two weeks later it's, actually, we're in with a big corporation now.
Why couldn't they have said this at the time the site changed, and not later ?
It's not in the spirit of the Blip that I joined.

Beewatcher I hear what you say and I have to agree with your last paragraph.

Beewatcher,
You've hit the nail on the head.
I couldn't have put it better myself!
The handling of this new partnership is shoddy to say the least!