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Agency Based Discussion => Dreamstime.com => Topic started by: Freezingpictures on May 08, 2009, 03:51

Title: Duplicates will be removed
Post by: Freezingpictures on May 08, 2009, 03:51
Quote from Achilles from the Dreamstime Forums

"There are many contributors who knowingly or unknowingly have submitted duplicates of their images. Duplicate=100% identical content.
There are thousands of files cluttering our searches, affecting the customers experience and decreasing the sales potential for that content (dilluting sales required for higher levels). Sometimes we found 4-5 versions of the same file.

Starting tomorrow we'll begin to remove the duplicates, triplicates, quadruplicates etc. Only one version will stay, the oldest one. Or the one with most downloads, if there is one.

The bad news: they are not just removed but will count towards the approval ratio as refused files. If the file was keymastered, no refund is given. If the file received the upload bonus for full exclusives, the bonus will be removed from your earnings.

The good news: we will transfer the sales towards the file that is kept online. Comments, collection and lightbox placement will be transferred too.

If you don't want your AR to be affected, you can search for the files and disable the duplicates yourself. You will lose the sales transfer though and the file that is kept will sell at a lower price.

This is just a first step to clean the database. We can say that we're a mature agency now so we should act accordingly."



Title: Re: Duplicates will be removed
Post by: sharpshot on May 08, 2009, 04:11
This is a good.  Some sites spot duplicates, if I accidentally upload them.  I hope DT can do this in the future.
Title: Re: Duplicates will be removed
Post by: Dreamframer on May 08, 2009, 04:18
Thank God...  I mentioned before in some post that this is the first thing that all sites should do.
Title: Re: Duplicates will be removed
Post by: leaf on May 08, 2009, 04:23
this seems like good news. 
Title: Re: Duplicates will be removed
Post by: Milinz on May 08, 2009, 05:46
Yep GREAT NEWS!

Seems you guys are on right track!

I love Dreamstime!

;-)

P.S. Last Year I was uploading some series of over 60 watercolors (all different) but got rejections due to similarity... That is something I didn't liked... So, now I don't upload series. No big deal anyway because that series are widely spread.
Title: Re: Duplicates will be removed
Post by: RT on May 08, 2009, 06:02
I agree it's a good move, but I wouldn't want to be the 'lucky' person who got the job of searching through millions of images looking for duplicates.
Title: Re: Duplicates will be removed
Post by: Dreamframer on May 08, 2009, 06:10
I agree it's a good move, but I wouldn't want to be the 'lucky' person who got the job of searching through millions of images looking for duplicates.

I don't think people are doing it. It's probably some software, like TinEye, or even something simplier like any software for this purpose.
Title: Re: Duplicates will be removed
Post by: karensuki on May 08, 2009, 09:31
Perhaps this is what happened to my pending files... Though they are not duplicates of anything I have online. On Tuesday, they just vanished. The weren't accepted and they weren't refused (properly). I think that the Dreamstime graph shows them as being refused...

I emailed support, and they are looking into it.
Title: Re: Duplicates will be removed
Post by: melastmohican on May 08, 2009, 09:37
I guess if they can detect duplicates they should not allow them to be submitted in first place.
Title: Re: Duplicates will be removed
Post by: lisafx on May 08, 2009, 09:38
Yes, this is a really intelligent move.  I like how they are implementing it too.  Nice that they are transferring any comments or sales to the file that is staying online.  More work for them, but very nice to the contributor.

As far as I know I don't have any duplicates.  Similars from a series, yes.  I better go take a look and make sure there are no duplicates...
Title: Re: Duplicates will be removed
Post by: davey_rocket on May 08, 2009, 09:47
I'm also really glad they're doing this, I've always been amazed by the number of dupes I find on there.  Next to correct keyword spam.
Title: Re: Duplicates will be removed
Post by: madelaide on May 08, 2009, 10:04
BTW, I've seen duplicates in Alamy, one as RF and another as RM, but as the contributors name is different (sometimes it seems to be an agency), they say it's ok.  ::)

It's not that the images are similar, they are the same.
Title: Re: Duplicates will be removed
Post by: peep on May 08, 2009, 10:54
Yes, this is a really intelligent move.  I like how they are implementing it too.  Nice that they are transferring any comments or sales to the file that is staying online.  More work for them, but very nice to the contributor.

As far as I know I don't have any duplicates.  Similars from a series, yes.  I better go take a look and make sure there are no duplicates...

Well - I strongly suspect they are going to reject even the similars!
Title: Re: Duplicates will be removed
Post by: disorderly on May 08, 2009, 11:07
Well - I strongly suspect they are going to reject even the similars!

I seriously doubt it.  Finding identical images is enough of a challenge, at least if you're going beyond  bit-for-bit identical files.  Think of the problems of parsing identical images that were saved at different levels of compression or by different applications.  But similar files?  Writing an algorithm for that invites a high percentage of false positives.  This presupposes that they aren't about to try manual comparisons, which would be too slow and expensive to be worth it.
Title: Re: Duplicates will be removed
Post by: borg on May 08, 2009, 11:11
What is with monochrome, sepia and BW version of the same image?
Title: Re: Duplicates will be removed
Post by: patballard on May 08, 2009, 11:18
This is wonderful news. We appreciate the communication.
Title: Re: Duplicates will be removed
Post by: Freezingpictures on May 08, 2009, 11:27
What is with monochrome, sepia and BW version of the same image?

I would say thats duplicates. If you have a color version than that is more than enough and they normally sell better anyway, although your Bulldozer looks pretty cool in Sepia  :) But maybe Achilles can clarify.
Title: Re: Duplicates will be removed
Post by: gostwyck on May 08, 2009, 11:32
Good idea but it makes me wonder how that are going to find the duplicates. Do you suppose they have similar technology to Tin-Eye?

NB: For those not aware Tin-Eye scans the internet to find images in use.
Title: Re: Duplicates will be removed
Post by: Magnum on May 08, 2009, 11:54
Seems things are starting to happen in this business.  More sweeping will come. And not only for duplicates I hope...
Title: Re: Duplicates will be removed
Post by: goldenangel on May 08, 2009, 12:37
This is good news! Obviously duplicates are bad for business! As far as the similars, Dreamstime has been pretty strict for them, at least for me. I have had one out of three rejected from the same series for similarity even though the composition was different in my opinion.
Title: Re: Duplicates will be removed
Post by: gaja on May 08, 2009, 13:00
It's a good start!
Title: Re: Duplicates will be removed
Post by: mantonino on May 08, 2009, 13:56
I'm EXACTLY at 80% at DT - I guess I'd better go push another 100 before I get dropped to 20 again tomorrow. lol
Title: Re: Duplicates will be removed
Post by: borg on May 08, 2009, 14:00
What is with monochrome, sepia and BW version of the same image?

I would say thats duplicates. If you have a color version than that is more than enough and they normally sell better anyway, although your Bulldozer looks pretty cool in Sepia  :) But maybe Achilles can clarify.

Thanks!  ;)