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It's actually sort of comforting.  My sales are down pretty much across the board at the moment, and I guess misery loves company...

I don't sell on Cutcaster, so I don't vote on them. Many people don't submit to Cutcaster. The statistical margin of error is much greater if the sample is smaller. Or in other words, if only 57 people take the poll for Cutcaster and 5 are voting high, it will make the results go way up. Since the site seems to be benign, there probably aren't the hate votes that the top agencies get for rejections or disappointing sales results. The top six get almost four times the voters that CC does. CC has low expectations, low sales and not as many people care either way?

But something else with statistics, they get a 2.9 and went up .45 which means from 2.45 to 2.9. If one person votes and gives them a 10, they will go from 2.9 to 3.02, or a gain of .12 for one vote.

The average person who cares about CC voted them less than a 3, which may say more than a "happiness meter" little green arrow, going up or red one down? The number may be more important? I don't know for sure.

But most important to consider, there are no guidelines or standards for how to rate the agencies. It's a popularity contest with no scoring scale. What is a three? Is bottom 30% of the scale a bad score or just a number? For example if you scored a 29 on a test, you would be excited about getting one more question right and getting that moved up to a 30 (thus a little green arrow) when the top agencies have scores about double that?

Thanks, Race, for that detailed response.  THAT is probably the most enlightening description of those arrows and numbers that I have ever read.

BTW:  Cutcaster is a very niche oriented site, I think.  My old racing images are exclusive to Cutcaster and are the ONLY thing I have sold there.  You might want to give them a try.   

if you click on the 'more poll results' on the bottom of the list you can see those numbers.

We are with you Lisa! ;-)

I think we should also keep in mind that the red bars are an indicator of our own performance there and not a sign of how well the sites themselves are doing.  I believe the pie is getting bigger while everyone's individual slices are getting smaller due to increased competition.

No, I don't think the polls will affect your sales either, but what they are usefull for is to see if a new up and coming site is actually getting any sales.  If they are creeping up in the poll there is a good chance people are seeing results.  If a site doesn't have 50 votes, they are are are put below all the site WITH 50 votes.  New people to microstock can also easily see which are the big 6 and how the other sites compare to each other.  Bigstock DOES have quite a few more sales than say Veer right now, but it is impossible to know that if you are new to the industry unless you have something to quickly tell you like the polls.

People each vote a little differently perhaps, but that doesn't matter so much as they vote the same way each month, that way we can compare the results from site to site and from month to month.  I think the sites are all red because people's earnings were down in December compared to November.  I could probably explain more how to vote on the voting page though.

yeah, that is true, and perhaps another reason I think the poll is interesting.  I find it quite surprising that 123RF is so high, because for me it is one of my worst.  Obviously that is not true for everyone.

To get to the voting area just go to the top and click Polls

@Leaf, I apoligize for starting a bash the system thread.  That was not my intent.

I was fishing to see what others had to say about the rise of Cutcaster.  I disagree with those who declare the data invalid.  I've seen the same six or seven agencies listed as the big six for more than a year now.  I think that fact alone is data validation. 

Perhaps the numbers themselves are inconsistent but the results seem pretty solid for agencies listed in the top nine.  I was really wondering if that could be said IF Cutcaster slips into ninth place.

I'm sure most people are offering suggestions rather than pounding the poll.  I think a lot of what we mean is sometimes lost in the translation as we all attempt to use a common language.
Sorry if I caused any heartburn, Leaf.

My reply followed yours, Steve, because you had been the last one to post.  I had to put it somewhere.  I posted at the time I did because I felt bad that my original post seemed to open the floodgates for criticizing the Microstock Poll Results.   That had not been my intention in the original post.  As a matter of fact, I think highly of that poll.  I'm new to this business but I think that poll may be where the term BIG 6 originated.  If we didn't have the poll, where would all those red arrows go?  

As for voting, I don't think that is a requirement.  I know that my first vote (I think) was last month.  Mine may be the vote that jumped Cutcaster into the upper levels.  I had just received a payout.  

As for the Big Six being there because they are the ones most people use ... Isn't that the whole point of the Poll?

Don't take me so seriously, Steve.  My sense of humor is often misinterpreted as  ignorance.  

Maybe interpreted should replace misinterpreted?   

no problem - i never take comments personally.

s

Have you seen http://blog.lookstat.com/category/analytics/? (Third article down - Microstock Photography Stats – Downloads and Earnings per User)