The flag will only inform you: you can educate the admin (and the flagger) OR fix the image (and you will not have your rights blocked).

How do you educate the admin, on the flags I've had there's only the option to reply to the flagger. And once read they disappear.

My biggest concern lies over the ability of the admins to understand that sometimes people flag a set of keywords they've used as a phrase when in single use they are relevant, and I'm also concerned that given the vast numbers of flags that have suddenly appeared admins may take the easy option of just approving the flag. Is there any recourse?

I know you say to ask on the DT forum but unfortunately you have a habit of deleting anything you don't like the sound of.

Serban, your statements and efforts do NOT prevent this systems from ripping apart search phrases.

I'm sure you and Dreamstime know that there are buyers out there using search phrases. What is being done about that?

There is a certain etiquette that should apply to any poster on any forum.

True enough and if you conducted your own forums with the same 'certain etiquette' that you hold in such esteem, by not just deleting every post or thread that you don't like, then maybe you'd get more takers.

You may not have noticed but issues concerning Istock are hardly ever discussed on the MSG forum nowadays. Why? Basically because there's no need to; we can fully discuss the issue in question on their own forums without concern that the posts will be deleted or the thread locked, etc. They let their contributors vent their spleen, with only the lightest of hands on the tiller, and it works much better that way.

Ultimately both the contributors and the agencies have the same objective, to sell images. You don't need to be scared of them and what they have to say.

Quote

You may not have noticed but issues concerning Istock are hardly ever discussed on the MSG forum nowadays.

The whole IS/Thinkstock/StockXpert thing was definitely discussed here, in depth, about 2 weeks ago. For days. And I disagree with you about threads not ever getting locked on IS...that happens all the time! We must be visiting two different IS forums. 

You can't see what's invisible?

Funny that Alamy locked all the off topics sections, but then left them all there. It was kind of a message to keep on topic from now on, but they didn't delete the old ones.

I don't bother with the site forums much, unless it's really late at night and I'm REALLY bored. Something about "show us your latest ... photo" just drove me away.

Bull... My posts were deleted and YOU followed that with threatening or intimidating personal comments.  One that was deleted simply responded to a comment about the economy affecting sales at DT.  I stated that my sales were good at other sites so I did not believe that.  You deleted it and followed with intimidating comments.

and, I have not seen any of the language you mentioned.  I don't see such language here.

why contact you personally?  So you can lock my sales?

Achilles,

I still think that composed keywords would reduce improper flagging and improve relevance in searches as well.  Someone looking for a "white dog" doesn't want a black dog on white background.

Ellen Boughn was the flagger for this one...
Your image was flagged/reported for incorrect usage of the following keywords: nude. No admin action has been taken yet and the report is pending.
 

I checked this photo as there is no way that I would flag a photo of a nude man as having 'nude' as a bad keyword. I might have used the search words "nude from the back"
or nude back. Since you used 'back' in the description, the image came up. Since Dreamstime uses words in the description for the search, 'back' would have been considered a keyword. The other issue is that I often sort not on most relevant but most downloaded. I did this first when searching for images for my book, for example. If I had chosen most relevant, the image would most likely have been far down in the search.

Exactly! I have suggested from the beginning that descriptions not be added to the search algorithm. For instance, a photo of a wildflower shows up when you search for an elephant because it includes this description "wild aster found at Elephant Mountain in Maine." If I were a flagger I would flag this image especially if I didn't take the time to read the description which in my mind should only be filled in as fluff to possibly foster creative thinking for the buyer, or give details that have nothing to do with what the image "is."
 
Other examples:
A search for symphony orchestra brings up a violin - description reads "a gorgeous symbol of symphony and music."
A search for waterfall brings up a fern - description reads "Maiden hair fern on a wet cliff near a waterfall."
And a search for that ever popular business meeting brings up many of choices such as a line of catered food which, you guessed it has "buffet at business meeting" in the description.

Buyers search by looking at thumbnails and do not bother to click through to the image's description unless they are interested. At that point a good description may help. But it is not what sells an image. An image is purchased visually, not be reading (in most cases).

  I  have  2  flagged  images  out  of  2  on  DT.  I  don't  know  who  flagged  them  or  how  to  find  who  did.  Could  someone  clarify  how  to  do  this?

  I  have  2  flagged  images  out  of  2  on  DT.  I  don't  know  who  flagged  them  or  how  to  find  who  did.  Could  someone  clarify  how  to  do  this?

The notification you get in your comments section shows who flagged them.  It's on the far right under "comment by" unless something has changed in the last few days...

I  got  the  flag  message  but  no  comments  by  anyone  to  show  who  flagged  it.

This image has been rightfully reported as having bad keywords and an editor approved the needed corrections. At this time you can add more keywords only through the key-mentoring system.

There is an option under each image where you can either report bad keywords or suggest more keywords. If you suggest 10 (must be at least 10) and they are reviewed and accepted you get the famous 2 cents. They even used to have a special section of images that needed keywords for anyone to look at and have a go at, but that has recently disappeared. I hope they replace it with something more useful, I always thought it was kind of odd.

You can use this form to suggest more keywords. The minimum amount is 10 keywords, no misspellings accepted. The suggestion will enter a waiting list and $0.02 per image will be rewarded, if the suggestion is accepted.