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Author Topic: Is this project dead?  (Read 37385 times)

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Leo

« Reply #100 on: August 18, 2014, 23:29 »
0
Its typical for all sorts of grassroot campains that they waste a lot of time on endless debating and end up in fractions of people with the same vision.
Its also typical that they only reach limited results.

...And that (former) (cult) member become hostile towards eachother.

Amazing is the tendency that (former) members absolutely have to take the dirty laundry out in public.
But so it is, it happens all the time. Especially among politicians.

We joke about the cultish influence, but iStock had the subject mastered to the point that nobody saw it. All the canister awards, "steel cage", domineering forum culture, exclusivity scams, the endless drama and convoluted 90 page forum threads. I hated the upload process, but every time I finished it they flashed an image before my eyes: "I love to upload". They were playing the psychology hard. People were less likely to complain because in those times competition was so scarce it was like printing your own money. Nobody complains about giving up %80 of infinity. That company set the stage.

Then there is Walmart, who I used to work for. The "meetings" and songs we were forced to sing, clapping like a bunch of kindergarteners. The point of singing and repetition is to ingrain the thought in the mind. They would hand out titles and worthless rewards (like iStock) to avoid paying you. They give you a little book about their founding father, hypnotize you with computer based learning (CBLs) and one time I even got in trouble for bringing a schedule onto the sales floor...totally wierd. It turns out that unionizers would use that information to infiltrate, something cults hate.

Now lets not even get started on new-age religions and modern "psychology"... I can see why some people act the way they do with their frizzy hair, erratic and contentious behavior, and confused frustrated way of life running in circles.

Symbiostock is late on the scene, and people are tired. Nobody can afford to give much effort... If only the others were held to the standard this is...

You wanna talk about cults...just go through society. Symbiostock was an honest attempt.

JPSDK I know some is lost in translation but I am being humorous here. I actually worked for a sign company that was founded by a hypnotist. He would talk all day about modern (and ancient) psychological ploys and controlling of people. Symbiostock hasn't even begun in the cult department! Take it from someone who knows.

« Last Edit: August 19, 2014, 00:13 by Leo »


Leo

« Reply #101 on: August 18, 2014, 23:31 »
0
Back on track though

"Re: Is this project dead?"

Obviously as long as MSG is alive, this project will never be dead, because 80% of it's life (at least!) is in forum drama. As far as I can tell its alive and well.

But on the practical and productive level, I'm strongly suggesting to divide the network into managable parts, like-minded people grouped together.

I'm an ignoramus. If people like Cascoly, Bunhill, and Hobostocker put in the dedication I did, it would be a done deal. Personally I've come to enjoy my regression back to the quiet life and I'm not going to give that up. I think this is ready to sink or swim on the community level though.

Consider this a positive statement! And I don't believe anyone is truly to "blame" anymore.

TTYL

Leo
« Last Edit: August 19, 2014, 00:18 by Leo »

« Reply #102 on: August 19, 2014, 03:29 »
+7
Let me add my opinion to this very interesting thread :)
For me Symbiostock is still something important (and not dead :)). I even sold an image last week:)
I spent many days creating symbiostock.info, plugins and some networking code for Symbiostock. I still hope that Leo or someone else will continue this project. I thought about doing it myself, but I am afraid, that it is beyond my skills. Maybe, if I had more time :)
I even wanted to make something what I called "Symbiostock lite" or "symbiolite". Written from scratch very simple, but fast and with only minimal set of functions. Without bulky and slow Wordpress, but of course compatible with Symbiostock network interface.

What is very important for me: "my" Symbiostock should work out of the box. Ready to use stock site, with all menus, home page, EULA, slideshow etc. Even filled with few demo images.
Just upload script to server, enter few lines of personal info and start uploading.
It all should be like creating an account at any of existing stock sites. 
Customization options - yes, of course available, but left for later.
This would be my branch of Symbio :)

 

Leo

« Reply #103 on: August 19, 2014, 04:06 »
0
AJT! I'll jump back in for you!

I love your contributions. To this day www.symbiostock.info is like old-faithful. I find myself going there all the time. I'm also using it for the random symbiostock site of the day on twitter https://twitter.com/symbiostock ... fetched from http://www.symbiostock.info/sitelist.php

I really miss the days when symbio was an adventure...you, Plrang, cascoly, amanda - huge part of that.

I often fantasize about a lighter version too was thinking of using Django python. https://www.djangoproject.com/ - it would be truly awesome to get a few flavors of Symbiostock out there to cater to different needs.

I don't have any giant jealosy over symbiostock. If everyone owns it, I say all the better. I think developers should jump right in and not be afraid to break anything...but really I know like you and Cascoly they will greatly outperform me. I think the future of the network is really dependent on you guys.

Glad to see you jump in again. If we get amanda and Plrang in here it might just be a new beginning!  :)

« Reply #104 on: August 19, 2014, 04:28 »
0
Tax - regional, state and national sales taxes/VAT/TVA etc is a very complicated issue. Many customers would find it difficult to use most of the existing standalone sites because they not compliant from any sort of accounting and invoicing perspective. From a technical perspective the accounting and legals aspects of compliance look to me like the most difficult aspect.

Sites in one country are required to apply different taxes depending where the customer is based. It's the customers' countries' governments in many cases which require this. Whilst one might be tempted to argue that this is not your problem (that a foreign govt should have no say what you do) - it is the potential customer who is ultimately potentially affected. A professional customer (their accountant anyhow) is likely to need to be able to provide proper invoicing showing that tax has been charged etc (or not if they are exempt).

The whole thing is a great big muddle. Different rules everywhere - it does not just depend where you are but also where your customer is. It is something which the agencies can do properly because they have lawyers and accountants. It is not something which I think can be solved, reliably, at a community level. Even if a compliant shopping cart could be developed it would need constant updates in order to remain compliant as tax law is under constant revision.

IMO the solution to this would be to find and integrate a compliant third party commercial shopping cart which is capable of doing digital downloads  and which solves the tax issue. I have no idea which.
« Last Edit: August 19, 2014, 04:32 by bunhill »

« Reply #105 on: August 19, 2014, 04:58 »
+1
IMO the solution to this would be to find and integrate a compliant third party commercial shopping cart which is capable of doing digital downloads  and which solves the tax issue. I have no idea which.

I use Fastspring now for selling my defishing program. They act as a reseller and get 8.9%, it is acceptable for me. I was thinking about integrating it somehow with Symbio, maybe later :)  There is also PayPro and many other similar companies.


 

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