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Author Topic: Shutterstock will now accept new contributors with 1/10 passing review.  (Read 33613 times)

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« on: December 02, 2015, 12:42 »
+2
Your thoughts about it?

Used to be 7/10...




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« Reply #1 on: December 02, 2015, 12:47 »
+1
The announcement is on SS front page by the way.


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« Reply #2 on: December 02, 2015, 13:17 »
+18
I went to look, because I couldn't believe it, but there's a forum post on the topic.

I think they've automated so much of the review process that it doesn't cost them much to have lots of images come in and reject a huge portion (which is what will happen with no real initial screening). If a knowledgeable human had to look carefully over (at 100%) an entire image, there is no way they could afford to let anyone submit as often and as much as they like.

« Reply #3 on: December 02, 2015, 13:29 »
+14
quote. another proof that the review process it's a complete crap there

« Reply #4 on: December 02, 2015, 13:37 »
+22
Its just a faster race to royalty erosion through crowdsourcing.  They probably want to make some branding claims around "we have 7 bazillion excellent artists" contributing to our wonderful site. I wonder if this is a delayed response to the collection growth over at istock due to them letting in everything.

« Reply #5 on: December 02, 2015, 13:48 »
+12
I first suspected what was happening when SS lowered the minimum payout rate. It seemed to me that they were anticipating a lot of contributors making small change. This latest news seems to confirm that they are opening up to everyone and anyone who might have even one image of interest to someone. Constant dilution for contributors seems to be the way to increased profits for SS!

« Reply #6 on: December 02, 2015, 13:56 »
+11
Bizarre if its 1 in 10 why bother at all......wonder if they will go down the Istock route of accepting everything......

« Reply #7 on: December 02, 2015, 14:02 »
+8
Bizarre if its 1 in 10 why bother at all......wonder if they will go down the Istock route of accepting everything......

It'll be more like rejecting everything - with the only mystery being whether it's for being out of focus or lighting/white balance :)

ShadySue

  • There is a crack in everything
« Reply #8 on: December 02, 2015, 14:10 »
+9
Bizarre if its 1 in 10 why bother at all......wonder if they will go down the Istock route of accepting everything......
They seem to be determined to follow iStock's poor moves.

« Reply #9 on: December 02, 2015, 14:21 »
+7
I'm not convinced it's a bad thing, so long as their review process can keep up with demand.  I joined SS before they put the qualification exam in place.  It would have likely taken me many rounds to get to 7/10 acceptance, or I might have given up.  Instead I learned as I submitted, improving the quality of my work and its relevance as well.  So if it offers the same opportunity for others, why not? 

There's nothing that says that most of the mediocre work will get accepted, in contrast to what I'm told is going on at iStock.  My guess is that standards won't drop; new contributors will have much of their work rejected, and some will keep at it until their submissions improve.  Those who don't will at least have the opportunity to see how they do.

It doesn't indicate desperation to me.

« Reply #10 on: December 02, 2015, 14:47 »
+3
Why being afraid of some newbie competition?
Let everyone try it.
This thing requires endurance and most don't have the stamina to keep on going. A brief 7 out 10 entry exam means nothing long term, anyway.

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« Reply #11 on: December 02, 2015, 14:52 »
+14
In theory, open enrollment is fine, if you have a really good review process.

I learned an enormous amount from iStock's review process (early days) and some from SS's earlier reviews. It's a great way to learn, but only if there's a good, thorough and reasonably predictable review system. It's really painful to have your work rejected, but as long as there's enough feedback about what you did wrong and a decent mechanism (iStock's critique forum) to get more detailed help than reviewers can provide, it can work wonders with anyone prepared to put in the effort to improve.

Shutterstock's current reviews are a total crapshoot (I won't elaborate; there's so many threads on this already). In an environment like that you don't really learn anything.

« Reply #12 on: December 02, 2015, 15:22 »
+3
So nine shots of grass and one perfect shot of a business handshake and you're in.

Obviously some bright spark pointed out they are already allowing a ton of crap through the gate so it no longer makes sense to have a robust entry criteria - economically or aesthetically.


« Reply #13 on: December 02, 2015, 15:35 »
+4
No way to argue quality won't go down if they accept 'artists' whose work is 90% crappola.  It is very clear they want to follow Istock in overinflating their numbers to impress share holders and don't care about quality anymore.  All our stuff gonna be buried under the garbage pile.

CJH

« Reply #14 on: December 02, 2015, 15:40 »
0
And here I thought I was something special because I finally got in with 6/10 approved.   :o

angelawaye

  • Eat, Sleep, Keyword. Repeat

« Reply #15 on: December 02, 2015, 16:01 »
+1
I'm surprised they are doing this. I just applied to Alamy and they want 4/4 correct and I got accepted on the first time, I felt pretty good about myself. I can't imagine newbies feeling good about getting accepted with a 1/10 ... No confidence booster there ...

« Reply #16 on: December 02, 2015, 16:02 »
+3
I actually think this is a good thing. But it would make more sense if they make their review process consistent.

Or if they are planning to take nearly everything like istock, then they should have some kind of way of sorting incoming content by style. So customers looking for design elements can find them quickly and those looking for artistic content get their own feed they can browse.

We will see what happens, I am not worried about them.


Shelma1

  • stockcoalition.org
« Reply #17 on: December 02, 2015, 16:05 »
+7
All I can figure is that they somehow think they'll be able to monetize the "learning" process. And now I really find it hard to believe live humans inspect every image. Surely they don't plan to triple their paid review workforce overnight to keep up with the influx of new contributors.

ACS

« Reply #18 on: December 02, 2015, 16:12 »
+9
It is very logical for SS to have more amateur / small players; most of those new contributors will tend to have small portfolios, therefore they will likely to get small sales numbers and they will wait longer to reach the payout. Plus they will get paid for 0.25 instead of 0.38. Financially a clever move for SS.

« Reply #19 on: December 02, 2015, 16:46 »
+14
It's a joke right?

stock-will-eat-itself

« Reply #20 on: December 02, 2015, 17:01 »
+14
It sends out a clear message that they are not interested in pro photographers at all. iStock seem to be coming to the same conclusion that pro's will migrate to Macro and the rest can be sold off cheap.

« Reply #21 on: December 02, 2015, 17:31 »
+4
It will end up as an all-you-can-eat buffet of junk food. All the lukewarm day-old French Fries you can eat, for one low price.  I haven't seen that business concept tried yet, but personally, I would not invest. :-).



CJH

« Reply #22 on: December 02, 2015, 17:52 »
+2
It's a joke right?
I don't think so.  I got accepted about a week ago with 4 rejections and 6 acceptances.  I was so happy....I still am, but not as much. 

« Reply #23 on: December 02, 2015, 18:51 »
+5
Does this mean they are going to lower their review standards or why would they let people that can only get 1/10 submit?  Makes no sense to me, it will most likely dilute the earnings of people that can produce good images and they will give up on microstock.  Every time I try to motivate myself to start uploading again, something like this happens that puts me right off.

marthamarks

« Reply #24 on: December 02, 2015, 19:01 »
+11
Why being afraid of some newbie competition?
Let everyone try it.

I don't think anybody is afraid of newbie competition.

The problem is it was already hard enough to break through the cacophony of many millions of images vying for attention. Once it's several bazillion images, how will anybody's work stand out long enough to be bought?

ETA: As a contributor who got in on the first crack, I'm very disappointed in SS.


 

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