MicrostockGroup
Agency Based Discussion => Dreamstime.com => Topic started by: PZF on November 03, 2014, 08:36
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The info isn't changing - unifinished files and pending image files never change.
I am also fairly confident sales aren't being reported either (get notifications via Picniche tool, but nothing shows on DT).
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Yes, they have announced what they call a "server lag." It's been "lagging" for over a week. I wish they would announce the problem when they first notice it instead of waiting for people to ask. They say that they are working on it. It happened a few months ago too.
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I just got some sales from October 31 reported, three days late.
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I haven't had any sales there since Oct. 28 - hopefully it is just server lag.
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My balance has updated several times, so sales are still being recorded. My Image earnings page hasn't changed since October 28th. Hope they fix the site soon.
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OK. Ta for that. In fact I just got a sale from 31st Oct too....
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My balance has updated several times, so sales are still being recorded. My Image earnings page hasn't changed since October 28th. Hope they fix the site soon.
My balance has been going up but nothing recorded since the afternoon of October 30th. Not quite sure why the money increases so long before the sales data shows up - a minute or two is of no concern, but many days just seems at risk of major errors in reporting.
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Server lag - insufficient processing power in the client and/or server. It depends on how the site is structured. Some parts can load faster than others because of the coding behind the links (whether or not the link depends on a database or not and how immense the database is). If one server can't handle the load it will affect other servers. Kind of like dominoes falling and one doesn't reach the next one properly so they don't continue to fall. Could also be a change in DNS, ISP problem, new or broken web host - multiple reasons for lag with the millions of images that have to be reindexed on a regular basis. This happens on all of the sites now. The difference is in how long it takes to recover and reindex, hours or days.
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I can see my balance updated but in the statistics earning for November is still 0
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counting sales on DT reminds me of counting my pennies in a tin can at home when I need a $1 to buy a cup of coffee...
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I cashed out today, I've had four or five sales appear dated the 31st but my earnings have stood at zero ever since the cashout. No sales today? Accounting not up to date? Lag in how many different areas?
Last time we had this, I went back through about three weeks reported sales to try to get a match between the change in the earnings balance and the images recorded as selling and there was no way I could find a sequence which matched the exact sum being reported.
Really, between this and 123's confusion and the completely obscure commission reporting on iStock it leaves me wondering how on earth people are meant to be able to keep track of what is going on. Or perhaps we're not supposed to.
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it leaves me wondering how on earth people are meant to be able to keep track of what is going on. Or perhaps we're not supposed to.
Precisely.
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I can see sales happening every day, my earnings balance goes up, but I cannot see the sales I made. Not on the website, nor on the DT mobile app.
It looks like I have at least 2 days if not 3, delay between the sale itself and the detailed update on the website.
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sales are showing up for me but nothing on the reviews- something happen on Oct 31st - a computer program issue more than likely... :(
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What they need to do is administer the technological equivalent of my Aunt Maude's Plum Pudding - that will free up any log jams.
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Looks like DT are more or less up to date now. I have sales showing up as downloaded today and the Account Statistics appears to be ok too.
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The official reply from the big boss there is -
Folks, there is way too much debate for what is a minor (though I admit, slightly annoying) thing. Some areas of the site don't update in real time. They are areas that are not vital, unlike the ones where we sell images. All areas that sell will have top priority for resources and are updated in real time. The others (like various reports etc) are not as important. We still want them to work of course, but don't make such a fuss out of it. Servers crash, they are hardware. Doesn't mean your sales are lost, they are all counted and will show up. I think there are tons of more important things in the world for a photographer than checking stats every few minutes. No matter how much I love doing that too (self slapping). Just my two cents.
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The official reply from the big boss there is -
Folks, there is way too much debate for what is a minor (though I admit, slightly annoying) thing. Some areas of the site don't update in real time. They are areas that are not vital, unlike the ones where we sell images. All areas that sell will have top priority for resources and are updated in real time. The others (like various reports etc) are not as important. We still want them to work of course, but don't make such a fuss out of it. Servers crash, they are hardware. Doesn't mean your sales are lost, they are all counted and will show up. I think there are tons of more important things in the world for a photographer than checking stats every few minutes. No matter how much I love doing that too (self slapping). Just my two cents.
Gotta love the attitude - I hope he doesn't write customer communications, as well... :o
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Gotta love the attitude - I hope he doesn't write customer communications, as well... :o
Would that be the same 'attitude' that enabled him to build a business, possibly worth $200M+, in less than 10 years?
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Gotta love the attitude - I hope he doesn't write customer communications, as well... :o
Would that be the same 'attitude' that enabled him to build a business, possibly worth $200M+, in less than 10 years?
I don't know, I think you could say basically the same without patronising your business partners. I was referring to the tone of the message, not the content...
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yeah....just a minor thing.......! >:(
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What Achilles is missing is that while he can look at how everything is working and be satisfied that the important sales side of the site is in good order, his contributors can only judge the site from what they are able to see - and if the reporting of sales is not happening in the way it is supposed to, then it raises concerns about other things. For years people have been perplexed by curious sales patterns at DT - a week or two of nothing but subs then sudden clumps of credit sales with few subs, then back to just subs again. In June my sales slumped 30% for no apparent reason, in July they were back to normal but August saw them down to about 25-30% of normal. September and October were a bit better, but still 40% down on the previous year. Search changes? Slump in DT's overall sales? New competition in my niches? Who knows?
This time I've been able to reconcile the earnings report during the reporting delay with the downloads reports that eventually appeared, but last time this happened I wasn't able to do that.
I wonder if the sites themselves can be confident about the accuracy of the figures they get. iStock certainly seems to have more than enough accounting problems. Once you've sold a subscription to someone, how would you know if the computers failed to record some of their downloads? Wouldn't it just seem that they were using less of their download allowance than average - and there would be nothing terribly strange about that.
I don't doubt DT's honesty for a moment, but when I see server delays and strange sales patterns I wonder about the robustness of the programs that record our earnings. The only guarantee we have that everything is OK is an assurance from Achilles.
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What Achilles is missing is that while he can look at how everything is working and be satisfied that the important sales side of the site is in good order, his contributors can only judge the site from what they are able to see - and if the reporting of sales is not happening in the way it is supposed to, then it raises concerns about other things. For years people have been perplexed by curious sales patterns at DT - a week or two of nothing but subs then sudden clumps of credit sales with few subs, then back to just subs again. In June my sales slumped 30% for no apparent reason, in July they were back to normal but August saw them down to about 25-30% of normal. September and October were a bit better, but still 40% down on the previous year. Search changes? Slump in DT's overall sales? New competition in my niches? Who knows?
This time I've been able to reconcile the earnings report during the reporting delay with the downloads reports that eventually appeared, but last time this happened I wasn't able to do that.
I wonder if the sites themselves can be confident about the accuracy of the figures they get. iStock certainly seems to have more than enough accounting problems. Once you've sold a subscription to someone, how would you know if the computers failed to record some of their downloads? Wouldn't it just seem that they were using less of their download allowance than average - and there would be nothing terribly strange about that.
I don't doubt DT's honesty for a moment, but when I see server delays and strange sales patterns I wonder about the robustness of the programs that record our earnings. The only guarantee we have that everything is OK is an assurance from Achilles.
Plus 1000. It is all well and good for admins at DT or any site to say sales are being accurately recorded, but if the servers and 'hardware' that report sales aren't working properly, how do they or we know the reporting is accurate? Plus the dismissive tone of the response suggests contributors and our issues are no longer given much importance at DT.