This is what got my iStock forum privileges and sitemail access revoked

[SNP]

Eirrean: your opinion in this case should require that you have some experience with a person, since you are actively defaming that person's job and character.

as for your question David, my iStock info was provided when I created my account here, so that you can evaluate my salesometer when I post.

[Eireann]

@Caspixel,
He was given the green light to start banning people; he said so today.
And he chose you, among other 'troublemakers'
But make no mistake, the order came from above.
Lobo is on the receiving orders side. Not the other way around.

No matter Caspixel
No matter!
It's time to give the other sites a chance. Buy from them too, at least from time to time
If you can
Nobody will ever ban you from there, and collections are just as good

[Blufish]

Amazing that that post was the straw. They are being ridiculous. All of you that have been banned, you will recover, iSuck is another story entirely. I think they will have a rude awakening come January.

[Eireann]

Hawk Eye,
right.
I've been reading some of Lobo's posts for more than 4 years. Time aplenty!
He's a forum moderator on IStock.
End of story.

[jamirae]

Likewise, he banned you - and the others, because he was told to do it.
Lobo is the guy who gets told. Ordered around, a peon.

I'm quite sure no one told him to ban me. He pretty much told me via sitemail that he does not like me. Such a nice thing to say to someone who frequents your business as a purchaser.

talk about what sauce... !   <<<--- ETA haha.. I guess this forum replaces "w-tee-efff" with "what"  hee hee

[caspixel]

@Caspixel,
He was given the green light to start banning people; he said so today.
And he chose you, among other 'troublemakers'
But make no mistake, the order came from above.
Lobo is on the receiving orders side. Not the other way around.

No matter Caspixel
No matter!
It's time to give the other sites a chance. Buy from them too, at least from time to time
If you can
Nobody will ever ban you from there, and collections are just as good

I bet he was allowed to use his discretion on who he banned. I have barely posted about the whole sordid mess. I know it's personal. I honestly don't care, because as you say, I am buying from other sites now. No more loyalty to iStock. I just want to make sure people out there know how badly they treat their customers. Especially when their moderators start sending them nasty sitemails. How completely unprofessional.

[Habman]

Likewise, he banned you - and the others, because he was told to do it.
Lobo is the guy who gets told. Ordered around, a peon.

I'm quite sure no one told him to ban me. He pretty much told me via sitemail that he does not like me. Such a nice thing to say to someone who frequents your business as a purchaser.

Caspixel . . . you've been banned? I'm shocked . . .

Oh how the winds of change have increased.

[caspixel]

Caspixel . . . you've been banned? I'm shocked . . .

Oh how the winds of change have increased.

Mostly I just thought it was odd because I've barely posted. Not nearly to the extent I've done in the past. The other weird thing is they ban you from sitemail too. Not that I care about that either because I rarely use that anymore. Not private enough. LOL

What is kind of funny, though is that I did have an open request in the "Request New Content" forum that I can't follow up on. Oh well, I guess I'll have to go buy from a different site then. Boo hoo. (Though I do feel bad for the contributors that responded to my request that I can't touch base with)

[crazychristina]

I added a note on your request thread to let people know that you can't get back to them.

[SNP]

.

[caspixel]

I added a note on your request thread to let people know that you can't get back to them.

Thanks.

[Eireann]

Caspixel,
true, you're right
The order to start banning came from above - blank, no names given.
Lobo was free to choose whom, and he picked you.
Ah well, gotta give poor Lobo some of his self-esteem back. Not just a forum moderator, but a Five Golden Star forum moderator, the elite
Naughty Caspixel!
You've been buying from IStock for so many years! They've had enough of your money! It's now time to move on

I'm sorry this has happened to you Caspixel. Totally uncalled for.
I hope they lift your ban ASAP. With an apology.

[SNP]

I think you've misrepresented your role in having been wrist slapped. posting youtube videos, referencing competitor royalty percentages and websites, accusing TPTB of underhanded mismanagement and threatening them with your buying power...I'm not sure why you are shocked. angry maybe, but shocked...really? I don't know what was exchanged between you and Lobo, and it probably doesn't matter. I have seen you deride iStock on multiple occasions in their forums and I think today the negativity and speculation just wasn't allowed to continue, for you or anyone else. I don't blame them. I'm surprised how far they've let it go actually.

[caspixel]

I think you've misrepresented your role in having been wrist slapped. posting youtube videos, referencing competitor royalty percentages and websites, accusing TPTB of underhanded mismanagement and threatening them with your buying power...I'm not sure why you are shocked. angry maybe, but shocked...really? I don't know what was exchanged between you and Lobo, and it probably doesn't matter. I have seen you deride iStock on multiple occasions in their forums and I think today the negativity and speculation just wasn't allowed to continue, for you or anyone else. I don't blame them. I'm surprised how far they've let it go actually.

Much much less than any others did. And many of them still have posting privileges. Out of 9000 posts, I probably made 10. So, I don't think I've misrepresented anything. Anyone who was following that thread saw how many times I posted. That's if they can even find them in those behemoths.

And some of the stuff was just for comic relief.

[SNP]

in any case, I'm sure they won't keep the bans going for very long. you'll be back in there in no time.

[caspixel]

in any case, I'm sure they won't keep the bans going for very long. you'll be back in there in no time.

Meh. I don't really care at this point. I really wasn't even posting that much anyway, so no great loss.

[TheSmilingAssassin]

So here is what I posted on iStock that caused them to revoke my ability to post in the forums, and lock me out of sitemail.   Make of that what you will:

So lets take a step back and look at all this from a different perspective. Lets change our base assumption of corporate greed and look at this from a protective iStock point of view.

Individual sales have slowed for many people as prices have gone up. Ultimately, that has actually increased the amount of money iStock has paid out to us. Now lets assume iStock is looking out for the contributors more than itself. If sales are going to slow down severely, it would make those previous cannister based royalties unsustainable. It would take much longer to get to each level. If, however, you switch to this 'credits redeemed' system, each sale carries more weight, and the targets can be adjusted to help people reach those next royalty levels on the same pace they would have if the sales had not historically dropped due to price increases.


So where does that leave us? Kelly says you will make the same or more under the new system. If iStock is truly the benefactor in this situation, then the credit cost for images stands to rise dramatically in the new year. This is why they would need a new system, because sales quantities will drop, and they would need a way to keep people on track for their royalty levels.


iStock is going Midstock

Buyers Beware.

Seriously, how long did you all think you would be able to take a dump in someone's back yard before they'd start flinging it back at you?  Any smart person would have set up a tent next door and flung it over the fence anonymously.

[dgilder]

Far worse was said than anything I posted.  The fact is they had already banned the people they were going to ban that morning, and I wasn't one of them, until I pointed out that people could look at iStock in a whole different (and much more positive) light than they had been.  So they decided I was past my expiration date, thats fine, it just seemed an odd thing to reference when revoking my forum privileges. 

[BaldricksTrousers]

Possibly the words "buyers beware" were what spooked lobo. Caspixel spoke as a buyer who would go elsewhere. The secure.istock data might suggest they are losing customers by the hundred (assuming it isn't still just reflecting the annual august slump) in which case top management will be going into panic mode.

I can hear Kelly being hauled over the coals: "what are you doing letting them organise a buyer boycott on our servers? Are you out of your tiny * mind? I don't give a sh*t if it's sunday and you're at the golf course. Yes, of course you are a totally independent company. Just shut those b*st*rds up!"

And so the order goes out to Lobo to cool things down PDQ, probably at the same moment that a couple of admins/inspectors suddenly popped up in the thread to announce that they were watching.

[dgilder]

I added the 'Buyers Beware' here, as their response to my speculation (banning me) made me think it might be much more plausible of a scenario than it had sounded at first.

[Nordlys]

.

This graph showing traffic to secure.istockphoto.com should make you feel better

http://siteanalytics.compete.com/secure.istockphoto.com/

                                Unique Visitors      Monthly Change     Yearly Change
istockphoto.com           1,663,169            -3.47 %               -19.48 %
secure.istockphoto.com      130,328            -32.83 %               -64.69 %

Period

Wow - thats is a serious downturn - taken a hit not as much in browsing, but in contributers and buyers !!

[TheSmilingAssassin]

Far worse was said than anything I posted.  The fact is they had already banned the people they were going to ban that morning, and I wasn't one of them, until I pointed out that people could look at iStock in a whole different (and much more positive) light than they had been.  So they decided I was past my expiration date, thats fine, it just seemed an odd thing to reference when revoking my forum privileges. 

It's not about comparing what you posted and what other's posted.  It's about (to them) enough being enough.

I suppose I have principals and wouldn't deal with an agency that I passionately hated and was so vocal about it.  If I relied on IS sales to feed a family, I would have said my piece initially, continued to sell there quietly while coming up with a plan and setting up shop elsewhere.  Then when the changes take effect I would pack my things and leave. 

You all know that IS isn't going to budge so what's the point in slandering them and staying there?  Are you doing it to hurt them cause really, while you're still there, you're hurting yourselves.  If you really want to have any effect on them, don't tell them what you're planning to do.  Just do it when the time is right and surprise the greedy turds.

[dgilder]

Sorry, who were you addressing in that last bit there?  I canceled exclusivity last week and have been removing my portfolio since then.

[SNP]

another graph:

http://siteanalytics.compete.com/istockphoto.com+shutterstock.com+fotolia.com+dreamstime.com/?metric=uv&months=12

[dgilder]

Its even more fun when you add dreamstime instead of Fotolia:

http://siteanalytics.compete.com/istockphoto.com+shutterstock.com+dreamstime.com/

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