[Laura Scott also blogs at pingVision.]

The virtual world of Web 2.0 may seem real enough to many, but a screen shot is not a photo -- at least so says flickr, Kathleen Craig reports reports in Wired today:

At stake is a little-known Flickr policy of flagging accounts that contain mostly non-photographic images and preventing images from those accounts from appearing in public areas of the site, including search.

As a result, many screenshots on Flickr are AWOL -- at least as far as the general public is concerned.

Apparently bearing the brunt of the recently acquired Yahoo property's policy are virtual world Second Life fans, who've been posting images from their carefully crafted worlds.

"I Hate Flickr" is the title of one blog post on the topic.

"OK, perhaps hate is too strong a word," poster K. Boan continued. "I am disappointed with Flickr. I am confused by Flickr's policy/lack of policy (or murky policy) pertaining to non-photographic images."

But what about when virtual world meets real world?

Flickr member Eric Rice, who regularly podcasts from Second Life and covered the virtual Vloggercon, suggested Flickr's actions could have a detrimental effect on legitimate reporting. As of Monday, Flickr showed more than 1,600 photos associated with Vloggercon, but only seven screenshots from the virtual version of the event.

Wired reports that even the Center for Disease Control is potentially affected by flickr's policy.

Another social media site in the Web 2.0 realm has also met with changes, but this time the issue being addressed is punctuation -- as in getting rid of it.

By now, many of us have gotten used to where the periods go in del.icio.us ... but what about de.lirio.us ?

Enter Simpy -- de.lirio.us' new domain for its now-upgraded and delectable freetagging bookmarks service.

Existing de.lirio.us users can migrate to the new system by visiting http://www.simpy.com/3p/delirious and transferring their existing accounts. Don't wait! De.lirio.us is going away altogether in a month or so.