Imgur is pronounced "imager" or, as the site helpfully explains, "image - er". So, nothing like Flickr, then. But very much web 2.0 all the same. So, that's the daft name out of the way, what's the rest of it like?
The basic concept is nothing new. It's a simple photo sharing site which accepts your images in unlimited numbers and stores them in albums, and allows you to pass the address links on to your friends and family. It also encourages you to post on social services such as Reddit and Stumble Upon, Twitter and of course Facebook.
Additionally it provides extra tools in the form of stand-alone apps and services and browser plugins, so that you can add pictures as you find them on the web, and copy them from other social sites and blogs, and upload them direct from your screen with a simple right-click.
The interface is black and the controls are unintrusive, perhaps too much so. Initially I spent a long time looking for the "delete" option only to find a tiny trash bin icon that I'd previously missed, and it's not immediately clear whether "gallery" refers to your personal gallery or the site gallery, or whether "tools" refers to your own tools or the external tools. It's not hard to figure out, but it's not entirely intuitive the first time around either.
Functionally it's simple. There are many ways to upload, and storing images in albums is just a matter of selection and of naming the albums. Each picture is offered to you with a selection of links all ready for use in email, or in web pages, or forums and blogs. Buttons for the social sites are provided.
On uploading you may choose to re-size your original images to fit a range of standard screen sizes, and the site automatically reduces the file size of overly large files for you rather than rejecting them. At this stage, you can find that little icon and delete an image too. Beware, though, because once an image is accepted and filed, you can't delete it yourself but have to send a request for the site to do so and explain why. So if you aren't sure, don't, and make sure that you become sure before you move off the Upload screen and your last chance at self-deletion. In a way it's not really too important, since uploads are infinite anyway and mistakes may be kept private.
The gimmick is this: make a photo public and post it everywhere you can, and if it becomes popular enough it makes the site's Gallery and front page and the whole world, or at least that part which is aware of the site, will see it. This is optional, as you may choose to keep a photo private and only share the link with friends, instead, but the temptation to get an image that goes viral is pretty strong, even if you do have to "borrow" it from elsewhere.
All uploads are anonymous, and the site collects no personal data other than your IP address. You choose whether to make it apparent that it's your image or not, when you post it elsewhere or tell your friends. There's no nod to copyrights as far as I saw, so you can take whatever you like from anywhere on the web and copy it here.
The basic account is free and no registration is needed; a registration gets you the chance to add captions and do some other more advanced stuff, and there's a $24 per year Pro account that you'll need to read about, to see if that's more suited to your needs. The basic account will satisfy many, though, and it's a simple way to upload images for free and remain anonymous.
I knocked a couple of points off for the slightly baffling interface and the encouragement to copy other people's work, but added one back because it let me upload one of my own in the hopes that virality, if not virility, will at last be mine.
http://i.imgur.com/z1g3z.jpg if you're interested.