MicrostockGroup

Istock have removed the exact data from download numbers of both individual contributors and also images, thus disabling 3rd party applications like multimedia.de's chart.

Personally I'm a bit disappointed as it was always interesting but I guess it'll probably save me quite a bit of unproductive time!

I think in the longer term it might be a good thing for all of us who do this to earn a living though. It's going to make it more difficult for newbies to assess the potential of the industry and all the motivation that the data provided.

Any thoughts?

Much as I said in the forum - I liked the charts but I'm not surprised at this.

It made it easy to track total sales for all of iStock on a daily/monthly basis and that is information they have never released, and have said they won't, in the past.

I don't feel that public info on sites should bear any sales info and if such info can be harvested easily by third party aps, it should be made impossible. Too much divulging of personal info on the net already. Not all prying eyes are friendly.

Personally I think it would be good to get rid of sort by downloads and showing of number of downloads.  it would generate more creativity, stop so much copying, encourage buyers to delve deeper into the collection etc etc.

this change really on stops 3rd party pages etc. I can still by downloads, can see that an image has ">7800 downloads" and know it is a big seller and copy it etc.

Phil

Remove all the download information, including flames IMO.

You can still see EXACT sales numbers?  Not ">100", ">1000", etc.?

Lisa,

We can still see our exact numbers on our "My Uploads" page, which is on display for the contributor only.  You will notice that if you click on "View Portfolio" you will see the fuzzy numbers.

I agree with what was expressed prior.  While this may seem to be a good first step, it looks silly, and it still reveals most of the information anyhow.  I would prefer, as most would, that the DL stats simply be removed from public view altogether.

Well, if the main point was to stop Jim Pickerell and others from using the charts data for profit or whatever reason, that is now accomplished.

Right. Some have been complaining of decreasing sales. That has to be about more and more images which are basically covering the same topics. All this copying of ideas is in danger of stifling creativity. A feedback loop. There is a bunch of work which basically all looks more or less the same. Ideally you do not want other photographers looking at your portfolio or knowing your numbers.

I hadn't considered it from that perspective.  Well done.  I believe you are on to the real reason behind this, and all the more reason for the DL figures to disappear entirely in time.

The two bitterest enemies in semiconductors have a comprehensive cross licensing agreement ...

You are misguided

I'm guessing but I'd imagine that in order for sites like iStockcharts to work they need an actual number, as the reason iS have done this is to stop those sites it would appear to do just that and yet still give buyers the more or less info about number of downloads.