Here's a copy of the review I made for Fotki at All Things Web 2.0.
Here's the URL to see the the original post http://www.allthingsweb2.com/component/option,com_mtree/task,viewlink/link_id,1134/Itemid,26/

Fotki Outshines Other Photo Sharing Sites

Discover Fotki for yourself and you will instantly be in love with it. This is not the usual photo sharing website. The administrators take authentic care of all members. They have this thoughtful and personal approach and I like that kind of support. You could almost feel the members' hearts beat as one. Community members help one another; share not only photos but ideas, common interests and friendship. It’s a warm caring feeling. It's amazing how a photo sharing website evolved to be this way. Fotki is a dynamic site that has grown through members' suggestions and the administrators' brilliant commandership over the years. It is custom-made by its active community and the administrators implement what's best for everyone.

Fotki Community enjoys exceptional web photo hosting, storage, browsing, organizing, commenting, sharing, and blogging in a richer and friendlier environment. Easily create your site, name your albums, manage photo tags, post videos, create your favorite links, create your friends list, have a guestbook, an address book, and your Fotki email. Order and buy photo prints. Indulge in unlimited storage at a very affordable price. Comfortably create your profile and personalize account settings from an assortment of drop down lists and choose who can see or access a feature. Set how public or private your photos are. You can set passwords for albums or folders. You can also do searches, create your journal, and join photo contests. View the number of visits in your site and check the hits in the Statistics page. Members can also sell photos online; have their own co-branded site which can be fully customized. You have amazing control over the many settings in your site.

Sharing photos is outstanding! Share via RSS, email, instant messenger, paste image URL for use on other sites, HTML code or by invites. Not only can you create albums, you can organize it in subfolders in tree hierarchy just like in explorer. Import and export photos to and from other sites. You can even use your mobile phone or PDA. You can add or upload photos in 12 amazing ways! Create, move, delete, rearrange, edit, share photos or albums individually, or do it all in bulk! Its so easy! Make catchy photo titles, compose beautiful descriptions or even long stories about your photos (there’s no character limit!), and set a name in URL for referencing use. View photo properties and EXIF data, set your own copyright data, have control of the size of your pictures for viewing or allow your friends to download the original photo. View it in slideshow in the most beautiful customizable layout in the web photo sharing world! Map photo to any location in the planet (in GPS coordinates) using FotkiMap, powered by Google Earth. Personalize the colors and background of your site by hexadecimal web color palettes. Enjoy the roomy layout of the site. The screen real state is fully utilized. Navigation is intelligent and effortless. If there’s anything else you need, just tell them! They do listen and offer solutions.

Fotki offers exceptional features and it continues to keep an accelerated pace with emerging new web technologies. Fotki is an honest, multi-featured, all-in-one, photo sharing website that has evolved through the optimism and driving force of its community’s cooperative spirit.

by Ian N. Francisco, M.D.


I think most people think orthopedic and trauma surgery is about adrenaline and heroism. The big save, the high drama. For me, orthopedic and trauma surgery is about grace, courage and commitment. I am as in love with my job today as the first day I started it. I will try to explain what I mean in the following paragraphs.

First: Generalism. When I went to medical school, it was with the intent of being a complete physician, one who was equipped to manage any problem. While that may not be a completely realistic aspiration in this day and age, orthopedic surgery allows me to come as close as possible to that dream. I get to take care of the whole patient, not just one organ system. I manage my patients' medical issues, and if they need surgery, I operate on them. Although I certainly do consult my specialist colleagues for particularly complex problems, it is my responsibility to know enough about the whole patient to wisely use the information my consultants give me, and to incorporate their recommendations into a coherent treatment plan that keeps the whole patient in mind. I like this generalist approach.

Second: Ownership. I see the patient from the start of their disease process through their convalescence and after their discharge to home. I take care of them when they come to the ER, in OR, in the ICU, on the ward, and in the clinic. This allows me to have a sense of really being the patient's doctor, not just another consulting subspecialist in the crowd. It is incredibly rewarding to see these patients who were once on death's door when they are recovering and reintegrating back into their community.

Third: Relationships. I like the interpersonal aspects of orthopedic trauma surgery. This may be counterintuitive, but the relationships I develop with my patients and their families are important to me. I wanted a specialty where I could spend as much time as I wished talking with my patients. My hours are certainly long, but they are mine; I don't have to work under the pressure of needing to see a certain number of patients in clinic each day in order to stay financially viable. Primary care specialties usually don't have this freedom.

Fourth: Operating. I love surgery as a discipline. The human body is breathtakingly beautiful. Sometimes when I am operating, I am so awestruck by the beauty in front of me that I just want to cheer. (I do manage to keep my enthusiasm under sufficient control so that we can operate successfully.) I think it must be like being an art collector who gets to work in an art museum everyday.

Fifth: Teamwork. I enjoy being part of a team whose goal is to use our collected talents to heal these terribly injured patients. As the trauma surgeon, I am the team leader, but it is a team nonetheless, and the patient's outcome depends on the functioning of each member of the team. I try to make sure that everyone knows this, including the patients, families, and the team members. I also try to make sure that each member of the team shares in the credit for our successes. And let me emphasize that the team includes consultants, attending physicians, residents, students, nurses, respiratory therapists, radiology technicians, physical therapists, etc. It isn't just about doctors.

Sixth: Perspective. I mean this in a special way. We often think of medicine as a life-saving discipline. In fact, what we often ought to be about is quality of life rather than length of life. A lot of my job deals with making people comfortable, whether it is managing postoperative pain, or allowing someone to die in comfort and dignity. And sometimes this means helping the family cope with the horror of seeing their loved one hurt or dying. Sometimes my job is to ease the family's pain. It is hard to describe the incredible personal courage I have seen patients and their families exhibit under the worst possible circumstances. It is a privilege to be entrusted with the care of these folks.

Seventh: Teaching. By teaching, I can have the biggest influence on the greatest number of patients. And, best of all, I get to see my younger colleagues grow into fine doctors, and they force me to be intellectually precise and meticulous in my reasoning as part of the bargain.
Orthopedics is the medical specialty devoted to the diagnosis, treatment, rehabilitation and prevention of injuries and diseases of your body's musculoskeletal system. This complex system includes your bones, joints, ligaments, tendons, muscles and nerves and allows you to move, work and be active.

Once devoted to the care of children with spine and limb deformities, orthopedics now cares for patients of all ages, from newborns with clubfeet to young athletes requiring arthroscopic surgery to older people with arthritis. And anybody can break a bone.

Orthopedics is a specialty for people who like to work with their hands as well as their minds. That, combined with an opportunity to be creative and help people at the same time, is extremely rewarding. Orthopedists use many instruments and tools. If you like to go out into the garage, create things using different gadgets, or just tinker with tools, you well may be drawn to orthopedic surgery.

There are a lot of smart doctors out there who are good with their hands. That alone isn't what being an excellent doctor is about. Those are only the starting points. The thing that distinguishes the excellent from the adequate doctor is not intellect, or the ability to quote a bunch of obscure articles, or technical ability. The quality that will make you an excellent instead of an average doctor is to treat your patients and their families with genuine respect, interest, compassion, and gentleness. A medical student who is considering a career in orthopedic surgery must first decide that they will be an excellent doctor.
The attributes of an excellent physician are: a high level of knowledge and clinical skills, professionalism, leadership skills, ethics, compassion, communication skills with diverse patients and colleagues, and commitment to continued professional development.

Personal qualities of an orthopedic surgeon should include: dedication and enthusiasm, a high degree of manual dexterity, ability to learn biomechanical and biological concepts, good spatial awareness to cope with procedures under X-ray control, and ability to work as part of a team and give leadership in the initial management of trauma cases.

Orthopedic surgery is a specialty of intermediate contact with the patient. The global period for surgery and the treatment of most fractures is 90 days and 3-6 months, respectively. It is short and intense, since you see the patient every week or two for this period of time. This gives the orthopedic doctor a chance to get to know the patient reasonably well, and establish a bond. This interaction is longer than that of the anesthesiologist or the ER doctor, so you are not simply a mechanic coming in to change a tire and leave. That is a good time period, also since it is not too long. The internist develops a group of patients he or she sees every few months, forever - so it takes a while to get to know them and the number is limited, since you can only see so many patients. The other aspect is that generally the orthopedic disorders are relatively acute and get well with treatment, so you see the benefits of your work immediately. This is a nice feeling after the years of delayed gratification with medical school training.

Orthopedic surgery requires a residency training of four years, including two years of traumatology, and often additional one or two years of research work. Training is done after a medical school of four years and a year of internship. So, that’s nine to eleven years of commitment after college. Thus, a student who is considering a career in orthopedic surgery must be patient and perseverant. As a corollary to this, there is a bunch of joy to be had during that long training process, if a person is able to perceive it. Those who can't have fun during the training process ought to pick another career.

I started Fotki subscription on July 9, 2006 and have loved it ever since. I have made albums and joined contests and now I am starting my Fotki Blog. Really cool stuffs here! And the best place to store my photos. I even stopped using my Snapfish, Shutterfly and Flickr account. The reason I stopped using Flickr is that my country, Philippines, is not in their list of billing addresses and that ticked me off. I learned this as I was ready to get a paid subscription! I didn't want to use a service that doesn't include my beautiful country. It made me look for another photo sharing site.

I found Fotki in a Google search and I was very impressed! I got a paid subscription right away. It has a friendly international community! I also like the excellent customizability. I have read testimonials of many people who have been using Fotki for years. Wow! They must have loved the site so much that they stayed on. I am one of the many who registers to a photo sharing site and tries it for a couple of days and then gets tired of it and forgets it. These sites usually offer a half hearted effort in their site features, even for a paid subscription. Some are free but you have to get prints or products from them to maintain good standing. Some have limited picture uploads in a month, and some have limited storage. It's great that almost everything important to us is unlimited in Fotki. I love the 'Contests', 'My Statistics' and 'Comments' pages. I check on it anytime I have a chance.

It'll be difficult to find another site as good or better that than Fotki. I know I'll be staying for a long time here in Fotki. But we all know that's inevitable.