pancakes

MicrostockGroup Sponsors


Author Topic: New uploader stinks  (Read 8861 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

« on: April 07, 2017, 01:37 »
+5
I thought it would be impossible to make the uploading process to Alamy worse than it was, but they seem to have managed it. I suppose it's great if A) you don't want to bother doing anything more after you've uploaded, regardless of how much visibility your work loses; or, B) you upload hundreds of similar images all at once and can bulk process them all at once. However, if you do small batches of different subjects, keeping track of what has or has not been fine-tuned after upload is a nightmare, and trying to fine-tune it batch-by-batch is clumsy and awkward. Everything is going on sale RM which usually needs to be changed, a less-used pseudonym is inappropriately stuck on everything and I have to go through a great pile of batches to try to find anything and work out if it has been updated post-uploading or not.
If you don't keep a note of all the batches and whether or not you have dealt with them, you end up with files on sale with no "super" keywords, which presumable means they have no chance of getting a good search position, ever.
At least the old system kept files off-sale until you knew you had dealt with necessary adjustments.


Chichikov

« Reply #1 on: April 07, 2017, 01:46 »
0
I thought it would be impossible to make the uploading process to Alamy worse than it was, but they seem to have managed it. I suppose it's great if A) you don't want to bother doing anything more after you've uploaded, regardless of how much visibility your work loses; or, B) you upload hundreds of similar images all at once and can bulk process them all at once. However, if you do small batches of different subjects, keeping track of what has or has not been fine-tuned after upload is a nightmare, and trying to fine-tune it batch-by-batch is clumsy and awkward. Everything is going on sale RM which usually needs to be changed, a less-used pseudonym is inappropriately stuck on everything and I have to go through a great pile of batches to try to find anything and work out if it has been updated post-uploading or not.
If you don't keep a note of all the batches and whether or not you have dealt with them, you end up with files on sale with no "super" keywords, which presumable means they have no chance of getting a good search position, ever.
At least the old system kept files off-sale until you knew you had dealt with necessary adjustments.

You can decide a default pseudonym (1) and kind of license (2).



I agree that the new keyword system is a mess
« Last Edit: April 07, 2017, 01:54 by Chichikov »

« Reply #2 on: April 07, 2017, 01:46 »
0
I thought it would be impossible to make the uploading process to Alamy worse than it was, but they seem to have managed it. I suppose it's great if A) you don't want to bother doing anything more after you've uploaded, regardless of how much visibility your work loses; or, B) you upload hundreds of similar images all at once and can bulk process them all at once. However, if you do small batches of different subjects, keeping track of what has or has not been fine-tuned after upload is a nightmare, and trying to fine-tune it batch-by-batch is clumsy and awkward. Everything is going on sale RM which usually needs to be changed, a less-used pseudonym is inappropriately stuck on everything and I have to go through a great pile of batches to try to find anything and work out if it has been updated post-uploading or not.
If you don't keep a note of all the batches and whether or not you have dealt with them, you end up with files on sale with no "super" keywords, which presumable means they have no chance of getting a good search position, ever.
At least the old system kept files off-sale until you knew you had dealt with necessary adjustments.
You can change the default to RF- licence default setting. I do small batches I find it OK to work with but its very easy to slip up and do something unintended. I don't really revisit files once I've refined them once. Personally I find it better but there is room for improvement.....the "discoverability" thing is nonsense and the categories pointless.

derek

    This user is banned.
« Reply #3 on: April 07, 2017, 01:49 »
+2
Agreeing! its a dreadful system. I would gladly stomach their uploading process if Alamy was a big seller but its not. Just too much fuss about nothing.

« Reply #4 on: April 07, 2017, 05:22 »
0
You can decide a default pseudonym (1) and kind of license (2).

Thanks. I need to leave the license as RM because I don't want things that are RM popping up as RF - even if only briefly - and needing to be changed, but I'll do something about the pseudonym.

« Reply #5 on: April 07, 2017, 11:56 »
0
and the categories pointless.
Are they, though? Years and years ago one of the top people in an agency - DT, I think - did a blog saying your should use as many appropriate categories as poss because clients used them to filter their searches. And all the agencies I supply seem keen to keep requiring categories to be chosen, which suggests they all regard them as important.

« Reply #6 on: April 07, 2017, 15:01 »
0
and the categories pointless.
Are they, though? Years and years ago one of the top people in an agency - DT, I think - did a blog saying your should use as many appropriate categories as poss because clients used them to filter their searches. And all the agencies I supply seem keen to keep requiring categories to be chosen, which suggests they all regard them as important.
Maybe but with Alamy the categories are too few few to make it any more than half hearted. I still use them as maybe buyers do. I suspect search habits may have changed but fair dos buyers still might use them...of course if they weren't there they wouldn't ;_)

« Reply #7 on: April 07, 2017, 18:53 »
0
I quit submitting new photos for stock, and closed accounts at all the agencies, except Alamy and GL.   Apparently Alamy has now changed their keywording scheme such that - if I don't go through all my old files and set 'super' keywords, they'll  never be seen.  Or something like that... am I even close?   


ShadySue

  • There is a crack in everything
« Reply #8 on: April 07, 2017, 19:16 »
0
I quit submitting new photos for stock, and closed accounts at all the agencies, except Alamy and GL.   Apparently Alamy has now changed their keywording scheme such that - if I don't go through all my old files and set 'super' keywords, they'll  never be seen.  Or something like that... am I even close?
No, not close.
Your essential keywords are automatically set as supertags. But all tags are searchable.
You'd have to do your own tests to see what happens. When I added all the required and optional info to a particular test file it dropped heavily in search within two days. It has since risen, but still around 20 places lower than it was before. Other tests also dropped in search, so I stopped optimising according to their instructions.
Their discoverability slider is pretty stupid: you need to have 50 keywords to reach maximum discoverability. That will be relevant for some files, but absolutely not all; so it's just encouraging spamming. Thankfully, you don't need to add spam to be discovered.
At the moment, it's just a half-baked idea which doesn't work the way it should. Whether it will be further developed or just left to fall to the wayside as some of their previous ideas did, we'll just have to wait and see.

« Reply #9 on: April 07, 2017, 19:29 »
+1
I quit submitting new photos for stock, and closed accounts at all the agencies, except Alamy and GL.   Apparently Alamy has now changed their keywording scheme such that - if I don't go through all my old files and set 'super' keywords, they'll  never be seen.  Or something like that... am I even close?
No, not close.
Your essential keywords are automatically set as supertags. But all tags are searchable.
You'd have to do your own tests to see what happens. When I added all the required and optional info to a particular test file it dropped heavily in search within two days. It has since risen, but still around 20 places lower than it was before. Other tests also dropped in search, so I stopped optimising according to their instructions.
Their discoverability slider is pretty stupid: you need to have 50 keywords to reach maximum discoverability. That will be relevant for some files, but absolutely not all; so it's just encouraging spamming. Thankfully, you don't need to add spam to be discovered.

At the moment, it's just a half-baked idea which doesn't work the way it should. Whether it will be further developed or just left to fall to the wayside as some of their previous ideas did, we'll just have to wait and see.

Thanks.  For the handful of sales I might get in a year, it's not even worth thinking about at this point.   

"A half-baked idea which doesn't work the way it should"  - the epitaph for microstock.


guy

« Reply #10 on: May 31, 2017, 12:09 »
0
A few things about Alamy's new uploading system:

While the keywording has now been greatly simplified and is much easier to work with, the idea that any image with less than 50 keywords has "poor discoverability" is ridiculous. Most other agencies don't allow you to use more than 30, and in many cases I struggle to come up with 30 relevant keywords for one of my simpler vector images. I have tried to sit down and add superfluous keywords to some of my images and I just can't come up with 50 for most of them.

Likewise, the category selection is fairly simple to work with but the categories seem completely random and don't make much sense. How on earth can a stock photography/illustration website NOT have a category for people?

It's a better system than before, but still very flawed.

ShadySue

  • There is a crack in everything
« Reply #11 on: May 31, 2017, 12:15 »
0
Something has changed since earlier in the year, in that with a Wacom stylus, I find it extremely difficult to click on the exact pixel in the star to promote a tag to a supertag, in case at some time it matters. It is slowing me up no end, and is a known 'thing'. Clearly it wasn't tested by a range of creatives, 'apparently' it's OK with a mouse. (I know some people prefer mice).

« Reply #12 on: May 31, 2017, 12:36 »
0
Sometimes I get repeats in the uploaded tags

« Reply #13 on: June 01, 2017, 01:02 »
0
Something has changed since earlier in the year, in that with a Wacom stylus, I find it extremely difficult to click on the exact pixel in the star to promote a tag to a supertag, in case at some time it matters. It is slowing me up no end, and is a known 'thing'. Clearly it wasn't tested by a range of creatives, 'apparently' it's OK with a mouse. (I know some people prefer mice).

I bought the newest Wacom Intuos Pro early this year and found that mostly I can't catch sliders buttons like in Photoshop or on websites, like on Redbubble, etc. to move it precisely. Is this the same glitch you are talking about, Sue? I asked my friend and he has the same problem with his Wacom. Probably the device is not so great as the producer wants it to be... Something wrong with sensitivity points? However, I have to send the Intuos back to shop and I'm back to mouse now :( Sliders buttons work great now with mouse though.
« Last Edit: June 01, 2017, 01:04 by Ariene »

ShadySue

  • There is a crack in everything
« Reply #14 on: June 01, 2017, 02:57 »
0
Mine isn't the newest Wacom, I've had it for years (Intuos 5 Touch), and this is the only problem I've had of this sort (frequent 'driver isn't working' issues, annoying but irrelevant to Alamy).
E.g. I never have problems hitting the little circles e.g. in the msg poll.

http://discussion.alamy.com/index.php?/topic/7601-image-manager-gripes-and-would-like-features

http://discussion.alamy.com/index.php?/topic/7542-another-aim-bug

As I could hit the stars with no problem earlier in the year, I can only imagine the current problem was introduced a few weeks back with their 'improvements'.  ::)
« Last Edit: June 01, 2017, 04:09 by ShadySue »

« Reply #15 on: June 01, 2017, 13:21 »
+1
Something has changed since earlier in the year, in that with a Wacom stylus, I find it extremely difficult to click on the exact pixel in the star to promote a tag to a supertag, in case at some time it matters. It is slowing me up no end, and is a known 'thing'. Clearly it wasn't tested by a range of creatives, 'apparently' it's OK with a mouse. (I know some people prefer mice).

It isn't OK with a mouse. I have to hit the star 3-4 times to get it to work. I even bought a new mouse, to see if it helped.  I have trouble with my wrists, due to all the mouse work I do, and this is not helpful.  I have had contact with Contributor Relations today, and apparently there are no plans to change it.
They also say that Supertags are working as intended.

« Reply #16 on: June 01, 2017, 15:32 »
+1
For what it's worth, I have trouble with clicking on the stars with my Wacom tablet too - but I don't think it's new. I also had all sorts of problems with selections via the tablet with the old interface as well (and my tablet works just fine elsewhere).

Mostly I find the mouse (which I keep on the desk just in case but never use outside of for Alamy or if the Wacom driver crashes!) works just fine, but I use it so rarely it's hard to know.

Given how long it took them to deliver this new uploader, I'd hoped for something better...

« Reply #17 on: June 01, 2017, 15:56 »
+1
For what it's worth, I have trouble with clicking on the stars with my Wacom tablet too - but I don't think it's new. I also had all sorts of problems with selections via the tablet with the old interface as well (and my tablet works just fine elsewhere).

Mostly I find the mouse (which I keep on the desk just in case but never use outside of for Alamy or if the Wacom driver crashes!) works just fine, but I use it so rarely it's hard to know.

Given how long it took them to deliver this new uploader, I'd hoped for something better...
I also hoped they would have refined it by now. I suppose we have to be grateful its not an IS style car crash......one has to lower expectations at this game if you are not going to be in a state of permanent anger

ShadySue

  • There is a crack in everything
« Reply #18 on: June 01, 2017, 17:28 »
+2
Something has changed since earlier in the year, in that with a Wacom stylus, I find it extremely difficult to click on the exact pixel in the star to promote a tag to a supertag, in case at some time it matters. It is slowing me up no end, and is a known 'thing'. Clearly it wasn't tested by a range of creatives, 'apparently' it's OK with a mouse. (I know some people prefer mice).

It isn't OK with a mouse. I have to hit the star 3-4 times to get it to work. I even bought a new mouse, to see if it helped.  I have trouble with my wrists, due to all the mouse work I do, and this is not helpful.  I have had contact with Contributor Relations today, and apparently there are no plans to change it.
They also say that Supertags are working as intended.

That post on their forum referencing Cassandra Syndrome, of which I must confess I hadn't heard previously, seems pretty apt. "The Cassandra metaphor (variously labelled the Cassandra 'syndrome', 'complex', 'phenomenon', 'predicament', 'dilemma', or 'curse') occurs when valid warnings or concerns are dismissed or disbelieved." (Wikipedia).
Sadly, Alamy has a history of being rather oblivious to contributor concerns such as this. It's particularly disappointing that it took so many years for them to launch an 'improvement', which is much worse than the poor uploading interface they had before.

« Reply #19 on: June 02, 2017, 01:56 »
0
Something has changed since earlier in the year, in that with a Wacom stylus, I find it extremely difficult to click on the exact pixel in the star to promote a tag to a supertag, in case at some time it matters. It is slowing me up no end, and is a known 'thing'. Clearly it wasn't tested by a range of creatives, 'apparently' it's OK with a mouse. (I know some people prefer mice).

It isn't OK with a mouse. I have to hit the star 3-4 times to get it to work. I even bought a new mouse, to see if it helped.  I have trouble with my wrists, due to all the mouse work I do, and this is not helpful.  I have had contact with Contributor Relations today, and apparently there are no plans to change it.
They also say that Supertags are working as intended.

That post on their forum referencing Cassandra Syndrome, of which I must confess I hadn't heard previously, seems pretty apt. "The Cassandra metaphor (variously labelled the Cassandra 'syndrome', 'complex', 'phenomenon', 'predicament', 'dilemma', or 'curse') occurs when valid warnings or concerns are dismissed or disbelieved." (Wikipedia).
Sadly, Alamy has a history of being rather oblivious to contributor concerns such as this. It's particularly disappointing that it took so many years for them to launch an 'improvement', which is much worse than the poor uploading interface they had before.
For me its better but not great certainly not much worse.....in the end sites don't worry too much  about the user interface so long as they still get plenty of uploads.

Chichikov

« Reply #20 on: June 02, 2017, 03:44 »
+1
Something has changed since earlier in the year, in that with a Wacom stylus, I find it extremely difficult to click on the exact pixel in the star to promote a tag to a supertag, in case at some time it matters. It is slowing me up no end, and is a known 'thing'. Clearly it wasn't tested by a range of creatives, 'apparently' it's OK with a mouse. (I know some people prefer mice).

It is not a problem due to the use of your tablet.
I have the same problem with the mouse and with the track pad too.
And, yes, it slows a lot all the process.

« Reply #21 on: June 05, 2017, 01:09 »
+2
I thought it would be impossible to make the uploading process to Alamy worse than it was, but they seem to have managed it. I suppose it's great if A) you don't want to bother doing anything more after you've uploaded, regardless of how much visibility your work loses; or, B) you upload hundreds of similar images all at once and can bulk process them all at once. However, if you do small batches of different subjects, keeping track of what has or has not been fine-tuned after upload is a nightmare, and trying to fine-tune it batch-by-batch is clumsy and awkward. Everything is going on sale RM which usually needs to be changed, a less-used pseudonym is inappropriately stuck on everything and I have to go through a great pile of batches to try to find anything and work out if it has been updated post-uploading or not.
If you don't keep a note of all the batches and whether or not you have dealt with them, you end up with files on sale with no "super" keywords, which presumable means they have no chance of getting a good search position, ever.
At least the old system kept files off-sale until you knew you had dealt with necessary adjustments.

Totally agree, especially the last bit. Doing mixed batches is a right royal pain. Mainly have to do one image at a time to ensure no mistakes and keep track.

Also, star sometimes reacts, sometimes not. Internet can be slow here. Have to wait each time to check it has registered.

Worse than before.


 

Related Topics

  Subject / Started by Replies Last post
7 Replies
4349 Views
Last post May 19, 2009, 10:20
by hqimages
83 Replies
36041 Views
Last post May 04, 2011, 00:47
by leaf
4 Replies
2613 Views
Last post June 03, 2013, 08:50
by Poncke v2
0 Replies
2042 Views
Last post December 04, 2014, 10:53
by Isedo
7 Replies
2811 Views
Last post July 04, 2016, 07:40
by IvonneW

Sponsors

Mega Bundle of 5,900+ Professional Lightroom Presets

Microstock Poll Results

Sponsors