Bigstock forum gone

[Newsfocus1]

Just went to check out their forum and found it gone. They have replaced it with a message saying it is removed (for now) and a feedback form on if/how we want to communicate with fellow contributors including options like: Bigstock forum, Facebook page, MSG etc. Ironically, I only went there because I thought I really should take a look more frequently. That, of course, was the problem -so little going on that it didn't encourage you to rush back in case you missed something interesting. Bit sad really, I might not have visited often but I liked the idea of it being there. That's the fourth (of the sites I'm on) forum to go - Picturenation, Yaymicro, 123RF went earlier. Facebook pages and Twitter do not have the same feel for me, though I'm on both. Maybe if enough people express an interest on the form they will bring it back. Anyone here going to miss it? Regards, David.

[WarrenPrice]

I've used the LiveChat that replaced the Forum, David.  Be nice to have both but if left to a choice ... I'd choose the Live Chat.

[gostwyck]

I was barely aware BigStock had a forum and certainly had no intention ever to visit it. Seems to me that agencys' own forums are just so last year (if the last year was 2007 anyway). We are far better discussing issues on independent forums like MSG.

[Newsfocus1]

I've used the LiveChat that replaced the Forum, David.  Be nice to have both but if left to a choice ... I'd choose the Live Chat.

Thanks Warren, I thought that was just to get in touch with someone at Bigstock if you had a problem or something and wanted a realtime answer. So you can communicate with other contributors through that then?? Mind you, sounds a tad too immediate for me -I like a bit of thinking time before replying.... Regards, David.

[jsnover]

... Anyone here going to miss it?

No.

Back in the beginning - when Tim and Dawn started BigStock - it was helpful to give them feedback about the site, problems, suggestions, etc. They were pretty active. Even before they sold it to SS it had become a ghost town for the most part.

[leaf]

Nice of them to mention MSG   Nice to see microstock.ru also made the cut.

http://www.bigstockphoto.com/community/viewforum.php?f=15

Here is their entire list

BIGSTOCK's forums
MicrostockGroup
microstock.ru forums
Facebook
 Other communities
I don't really want to interact with other contributors

[luissantos84]

We are far better discussing issues on independent forums like MSG.

just don´t go around saying an agency is dead

[WarrenPrice]

I've used the LiveChat that replaced the Forum, David.  Be nice to have both but if left to a choice ... I'd choose the Live Chat.

Thanks Warren, I thought that was just to get in touch with someone at Bigstock if you had a problem or something and wanted a realtime answer. So you can communicate with other contributors through that then?? Mind you, sounds a tad too immediate for me -I like a bit of thinking time before replying.... Regards, David.

Guess my comment wasn't very clear.  The Live Chat is just for BS staff.  I used it to discuss a problem.
Much faster than the Forum or sending an email.

[Microbius]

Bigstock had a forum?

[rinderart]

... Anyone here going to miss it?

No.

Back in the beginning - when Tim and Dawn started BigStock - it was helpful to give them feedback about the site, problems, suggestions, etc. They were pretty active. Even before they sold it to SS it had become a ghost town for the most part.

Agree, Tim and Dawn were the best.

[Microstock Posts]

... Anyone here going to miss it?

No.

Back in the beginning - when Tim and Dawn started BigStock - it was helpful to give them feedback about the site, problems, suggestions, etc. They were pretty active. Even before they sold it to SS it had become a ghost town for the most part.

Agree, Tim and Dawn were the best.

They are still there aren't they?

I entered the forum sometimes. It was pretty dull, in contrast ss is probably the most active agency forum. Microstock is moving away from the  community idea and I wouldn't be surprised if all the agency forums disappeared in a few years. If most of the money in microstock is made by a minority of people, people who rarely enter forums, there doesn't seem much point for agencies to have forums and spend time monitoring them, to cater for the rest of us.

123rf scrapped the forum, they rarely monitored it and sometimes there were outrageous comments on there, which would have been gone in half a tick on IS. It was great entertainment though. Sales have risen on 123rf for a lot of people in the last year or so, so what difference does a forum make, if you look at it from the agency's point of view?

[helix7]

I don't see why any stock sites maintain forums. Seems like an unnecessary hassle, especially for companies like istock where the forums tend to be largely populated with complaints and bug reports. Not exactly the sort of stuff that most companies would feel compelled to display publicly and actually host themselves on their own site.

[BaldricksTrousers]

There was a time when the iStock forum was an unrelenting love-fest and I'm sure it was good for their image and attracting new contributors back then.

Now, I suppose it is useful to have a bug reported once or twice in the forums rather than for them to be deluged with 20,000 sitemails or e-mails every time something breaks. Without the forums, nobody would know what was a "known issue".

[gostwyck]

I don't see why any stock sites maintain forums. Seems like an unnecessary hassle, especially for companies like istock where the forums tend to be largely populated with complaints and bug reports. Not exactly the sort of stuff that most companies would feel compelled to display publicly and actually host themselves on their own site.

Lots of businesses have forums nowadays __ like Amazon for example. Apart from being a place for customers to vent conerns or to gain free advice from others (which customer service would otherwise have to provide) it is hugely valuable source of market research. Businesses spend millions to gain information about how their customers view them and their policies. I'm sure you must have been stopped by a person with a clipboard gathering such info.

If Istock had actually taken notice of their own forums (and ammended their strategy accordingly) I am sure they would have a more valuable sustainable business today.

[BaldricksTrousers]

If Istock had actually taken notice of their own forums (and ammended their strategy accordingly) I am sure they would have a more valuable sustainable business today.

They did take notice. And then they amended their strategy by telling Lobo to censor them.

[THP]

Last time I checked the Bigstock forum, it contained about 90% spam adds for things.  Little wonder they got rid of it!

[Microstock Posts]

Last time I checked the Bigstock forum, it contained about 90% spam adds for things.  Little wonder they got rid of it!

That's not the reason for them getting rid of it. If a forum has lots of spam ads it simply shows that a forum has been neglected, forums have to be maintained, one person working on it as part of his duties is enough. Shutterstock has far more traffic and a lively forum but they don't have spam ads, as they currently want to keep the forum.

[RacePhoto]

Last time I checked the Bigstock forum, it contained about 90% spam adds for things.  Little wonder they got rid of it!

That's not the reason for them getting rid of it. If a forum has lots of spam ads it simply shows that a forum has been neglected, forums have to be maintained, one person working on it as part of his duties is enough. Shutterstock has far more traffic and a lively forum but they don't have spam ads, as they currently want to keep the forum.

Well you are both right. It was all spammed up and they didn't pay attention. I was banned from the forum (or account made to disappear) by one Mod. for asking why they didn't both removing spam that was 14 days old. Hey nice move? Leave the spam, remove the users.  Problem solved.

When I got the poll, asking about forums, my reply was, invite the BigStock people to join the ShutterStock forum.

Maybe for people here that doesn't make the most sense, but for keeping things in house, and being aware of users issues, it works best? I'm sure the number is small, but there are probably some BigStock only contributors who might be encouraged to pass the test and join SS? If not, well it's all the same people anyway?

Got this today, which I thought was funny. Maybe I just hit the magic minute. BigStock Main page

"We are gearing up for some changes.

Please bear with us while we perform some updates and improvements to the site. Bigstock will be available again shortly."

[dbvirago]

Just noticed it was gone. Last few times I went there, it was a ghost time.

Looked tonight because I wanted to drop a thank you for whatever they did to speed up the database. I used to click on Image Earnings then go make a sandwich. Now it's immediate.

[cascoly]

among their new changes was the unannounced switch in submission process -- to select mu;multiple images to edit, you now need to hold down shift rather than ctrl like the rest of the world.  that in itself wouldn't be a big deal - but the new process is also terribly unstable - almost everytime i try to select more than 5 or 6 images, it suddenly selects ALL the images on a page -- similar problems occur if you try to scroll after selecting 1 or 2 images -- several emails to BS support have gone unanswered

the one function i use on agency forums is to look to  see if problems have been reported before sending new reports - but when agencies delete their forums they just make it more difficult for all of us to figure out what's going on

MicrostockGroup Email Updates

[Site]

Site	Earnings Rating
Top Tier - Big 4
Shutterstock	100
iStock	66.4
Fotolia	34.9
Dreamstime	26.7
Middle Tier
DepositPhotos	20.1
123RF	16.1
Canstockphoto	11.2
Bigstockphoto	9.5
Veer	8.7
Low Earners
PantherMedia	6.7
PhotoDune	5.8
isignstock	3.7
Zoonar	3.6
GLStockImages	2.7
Stockfresh	2.2
YayMicro	1.7
FeaturePics	1.4
MostPhotos	1.3
ScanStockPhoto	1.2
Crestock	0.8
Cutcaster	0.6
ClipartOf
Pond5
RevoStock
Clipcanvas
ClipDealer
DrawShop
PhotoSpin
VectorStock
GraphicRiver
Pixmac
PhotoCase
The3dStudio
photaki
SuperHug
PhotoKore
AllYouCanStock
Regimages
ViscoImages
Imagegate
Vivozoom
iRockStock
StockPhotoMedia
ImageVortex
More Poll Results Updated: 2012-05-23