MicrostockGroup

You win the satisfaction of being the most eagle-eyed Vetta scout on MSG. And you're right, Vetta still beats Agency, since a lot of that stuff wouldn't even pass inspection for the main collection. Yet another issue that I'm sure drives customers nuts.

If I was an Istock exclusive I'd probably get one of those little badge things for this amazing talent. wooyay ! Istock you rock !  :p

I don't think it drives the customer nuts it
a) Drives them to other sites or
b) they're oblivious to it and it increases their spend 30x

Filtration, mostly, and I'm certain they would find some reason to reject the flower if I sent it.

There's not a whole lot of filtration going on with these though, save for the building which is just an exposure blend. But point taken that anything can seemingly be rejected as 'overfiltered'. Quick search for Cosmos Flower though shows that there are some non-exclusives getting those in, so it looks like it's doable.

agree. can't believe that some contributors here think that they're being singled out. as though iStock has nothing better to do than petty retaliation against independents. really is silly

^ I think it would it's human nature to make inspection decisions with some bias--whether it's positive or negative--on a subconscious level. where I think it gets silly is suggesting it is part of their typical, management-sanctioned workflow....

According to Donald G at IS, there are indeed different queues, he is part of the independent submission queue and others are part of the exclusive queue.  I can't find the exact post but according to him this is the way they divide the submissions.  So having criteria for one versus the other is entirely possible.

How could you possibly see it?  The fact that they segregate the queues opens up that possibility.  Ask yourself why Q1 inspects these images and Q2 only inspects these images. Is it for speed only?

So why segregate?

Speed is what I suggested originally.  But it is not what I believe.  

When I was a reviewer at LuckyOliver, where my name was signed to every review, my fellow reviewers and I were accused of such nonsense on a regular basis.  These folks never stopped to think we'd lose our jobs, if we were caught retaliating or favoring one contributor over another.   

That's right. And another tangible benefit could be different standards particularly if you have different inspection teams. Years ago Gostwyck (who watches these things far, far more closely than I do) pointed out some dreadful stuff that was getting approved for one particular high-ranked exclusive which we both agreed neither of us could get through. If Gostwyck says things have changed and it's the same for everyone, then I accept his assessment (because he watches these things).

I'm sure if it had been said years ago that exclusives would have an easier inspection because they can't put their less good files anywhere else it would have got a big "wooyay" and have been hailed as a right and proper benefit.  Of course that could not be said because it would have run directly against the "excusive content is superior to non-exclusive content" mantra, but I did have the impression that it was something the management kept in mind. Of course, I could be entirely wrong and/or the thinking might have changed (it does seem to have got easier to get acceptances at iS, but then we're all developing our skills, too).