We need images from yesteryear. Rainbow town in the Southern Mallee. Old street scenes urgently needed. Don't lose our history.

Pass them onto this site?

Sure we would love a copy of them, so we can not only display them on this site for everyone to enjoy including potential tourists, but there is also the possibility of converting them into colour, which is mainly what we are about. This site may not be around forever. The Rainbow Archives stand a better chance of that.

Why are companies stealing our history?

Because they can!
Look at this photo of old Rainbow below. It has watermarks all over it. And if you want an image with the watermark removed?

$39 thank you very much.

Many of these photos are great images

This one we colourised to enhance it, and the quality is that good we could do a full colourisation job on it just like our featured photos post.

Posting images to FaceBook.

The sort of thing that goes on is a company will buy a data feed from say all FB group sites in Australia and have their computers search for certain images. They set up their software to filter to B&W photos, good quality image, description and date included, do we already have this image?, and much more. Image recognition of certain features can be set in this filter. When auto-selected, the image and text is then formatted into the company catalogue format which includes adding the watermark. Then and only then may there be a human being do a final check on the image and contents to make sure the image is acceptable to sell. Possibly just a single human click to approve or reject.

Now multiply that by every company trying to find what goods you are interested in buying, and every other detail that you post on FB. The data is gathered, filtered, and acted upon.

I am saying "the sort of thing". I have no documentary evidence that Alamy or any other company has an association with FaceBook, or any one else. This is a total assumption. But they would never tell you would they?

Notice that when you do a google search for "Item X", all of a sudden "Item X" starts to appear in many of the ads on Facebook, News Threads, Google Searches, and so on. How clever!

What is Click Bait?

Clickbait refers to online content, such as headlines, articles, images, videos, or ads, that are designed to generate clicks and views, often by using sensational, misleading, or exaggerated information or claims. The purpose of clickbait is to grab people's attention and entice them to click on the content, even if the content itself is not valuable, informative, or relevant.

Examples of clickbait include headlines that promise shocking news, sensational stories, or incredible secrets, but when clicked, the actual content fails to deliver what was promised or expected. Clickbait is often used by online publishers, advertisers, and social media platforms to increase traffic, engagement, and revenue, but it can also be frustrating and annoying to users who feel deceived or misled. It's important to be cautious and critical of clickbait and always read the content carefully before sharing or engaging with it.

The below image is typical of Click Bait.

It has a quiz that has nothing to do with what they actually do. Have a look at the social traffic they have generated with just Quiz Click Bait.

Mind you, I also realise that a lot of people get a great deal of enjoyment out of these types of quizzes. As long as you are aware that you are adding to he owners popularity, or yes, you may be getting a little bit of your privacy stolen as well.

Copyright in Australia.

Any image or text created before 1956 is considered in the public domain. There is a bit more to it than that, but this rule covers the Rainbow Historic photos. This is also covered on my home page.

I have added an 1865 image of Abraham Lincoln. It has been photo-shopped into a silly photo which has a company watermark on it. Yes 156 years old, and you can do whatever you like with this type of image. You may get death threats, but this is your choice.

However, during the Trump Twitter storm, there were many photo-shopped images and cartoons of the president and his wife, that readers returned serve with.

Some were quite funny, some absurd, and others downright disrespectful and disgusting.

Even Chopper Read would have said, "Geez, that's a bit rough mate".

You don't know how to scan or convert images?

Then go to my home page. There is a lot of information there.

They even have phone Apps for iPhone and Android to do this now. Mind you, I haven't found a decent one yet, and all seem to cost money.

Photo Quality.

Below is a photo I received recently. The subject matter is very significant, as it is that same Darts Ave. and Federal Street corner in the very early years when Young's Hotel was still single story. However it isn't a scan, so I am unable to do a great deal with it at this stage unfortunately.

It does prove that there are still some good finds just waiting to be discovered.

And this one. Is it Rainbow?

Private versus Public Facebook Group

What is the real difference?

Private:
You have no share button.
Messages can't be read by anyone but a member.
So messages on a private group can't be shared or read by family or friends who are not a member.

Your chances of promoting tourism to Rainbow with a private Facebook site is zero, zilch, nada.

Potential tourists will not join a Facebook group just to learn about Rainbow, I can assure you.

Public:

You have a share button.
Messages can be read by anyone, anywhere, world wide, including family and friends.

OH, and tourists too. They can read all messages in the group. without joining. A great opportunity to spread the word.

General:

The main difference between a private and public Facebook group is the level of access and visibility that each group provides to its members and the broader Facebook community.

In a public Facebook group, anyone on Facebook can see the group's name, description, and list of members, as well as the posts and comments that members make within the group. Anyone can also join the group without needing approval from the group's administrators or existing members.

In contrast, a private Facebook group is only visible to its members, and its posts and comments are not visible to anyone outside the group. Additionally, membership in a private Facebook group is typically by invitation or approval from the group's administrators or existing members.

The level of privacy and control over the group's content and membership is typically higher in a private Facebook group, while a public Facebook group is more open and accessible to a broader audience. The decision to create a public or private Facebook group depends on the group's intended purpose and audience, and whether the group's administrators prioritize privacy and control over visibility and engagement.

How did the Rainbow group become Private?
On the 13-June-2021 ADMINs decided that this is the way it will be. They didn't want to go to the trouble of sorting the real problem out, and simply made the group private without asking the members.

As I hadn't been an ADMIN on a Facebook group since 2017 (the Rainbow Group), I set up a new test site, and found that all it required was a few additional settings to prevent spammers joining the group when in public mode.

In fact, in public mode, Facebook has provided many additional tools for ADMIN to screen out Spammers and other undesirables.

After all, there are millions of Facebook groups operating successfully in public mode, and even around Rainbow.

Have a look at: these local Facebook Groups:
Rainbow Vic. Community Notice Board, Rainbow Lake, Yaapeet History, etc., and other district groups.
How can these possibly operate in public mode successfully?

I then offered to assist in the ADMIN setup, but it took me all of about 3 Milli-seconds to realise what I had just said, and simply backed out. I had been there before. A place I didn't want to be in for a number of reasons.

The major problem was if ADMIN elected to go Private, they had three days to back out. I warned them of this in the group, and in a private message, but they ignored my plea.

So three days passed, and the group became permanently private.
End of story.

Check out this link below:

Read right down into the comments, then have a look at the threads in the left-hand navigation links.

1000s of groups with sometimes 100,000 members have had to close their sites and open up again just to switch back to Public. Facebook doesn't negotiate on this.

This means messages can't be searched by Google or any search engine, so any advertising or promotion you do for your company or your cause, will only reach the members of the private group.

Not a lot of sense forming a Private Facebook group for your company or cause, unless you only wish to exchange messages to members only, and to no other person or group.