Author Topic: Apparently they can just block you without further notice... (Read 11988 times)

Rasika · « **on:** July 08, 2019, 10:16 »

Hi.
I am sharing my experience for others to be aware. I am almost 5 years doing stock full time, with a portfolio of 15k videos and 5k photos.
3 days ago I found out my Adobe stock account is blocked. No further notice, nothing, just a message says it was blocked and email to contact.
If you ask me, treating this way someone who is working with you, someone who trusted you his work, someone who you share your income with is... Well, you fill the gap.
In my 5 years experience with all the different stock websites, there have never been anything like this.
So after I contacted them they let me know, the reason for blocking is "spamming with duplicated files". Duplicated files by their understanding is when you have the same file with different color grading, for example (that is the exact explanation they sent me).
So, I don't sure, who was checking my portfolio and how qualified he is... But my portfolio consists from dlog raw files + color graded version. This is how I work for a long time already (because both the dlog and the color graded selling to different auditory, not pond5, not SS, not all the other stocks I am working with, never had any problem with me uploading this way...) So... OK, I wrote them a request for someone who is qualified to check this out on their side, and of course, if this is their policy, and this isn't some reviewers mistake who don't know the difference between spamming dupes and uploading source+graded version... Ok, no problem, I'll accept this... 3 days, no answers, account blocked, my income (nearly 800$) blocked. What should I think about those people, who treat their contributors, who invest tons of time, like dogs, or even worse? I hope you read this, Adobe stock people, and ask yourself the same question I am asking: "Are we ok? How can we do better next time?"
Because there is a place for improvement.

cathyslife · « **Reply #1 on:** July 08, 2019, 11:01 »

It is their site and their rules. Even if you have gotten away with it before, looks like your number is up. What you describe sounds like spamming to me. Without seeing exactly what you mean by “color grading” and how many images/videos we are talking about, it’s difficult to say for sure. But in the end, it doesn’t matter what we think, it’s Adobe’s call. You apparently violated their terms, and they have every right to terminate your account. Frankly, I am glad to hear they are cracking down on this nonsense. Uploading tons of the same image with slight color variations is an attempt to cheat and game the system. If that’s NOT what you did, and you have a reasonable explanation, you should contact Adobe and try to sort it out.

Jimbo · « **Reply #2 on:** July 08, 2019, 12:09 »

I am so sorry for this Rasika! I heard about this practice of Adobe before. Closed accounts without warning for "similar" file uploads. We all know that in stock you have to produce a number of similar files in orders to stay profitable. This is many times a thin line and actually it would help if the agencies gave more feedback regarding this instead of destroying the economic life of someone without warning.

Unfortunately, the lack of contributors to support each other and form a lobbying entity increases the randomly applied power of the agencies. Too many naysayers. While it might be legal or their "right" it is still a very destructive business practise eventually for both parties. Most of us professional contributors build incomes, production pipelines and lifes around stock and do not want to harm the agencies.

I think in the case I heard about it could be fixed, just contact them and explain. Maybe Matt Hayward here can help as well?

From my point of view it does not sound like spam, but giving the client the choice of either colour grade themselves (pro clients which need raw material) or use the pre-graded version (end users which need just a beautiful clip) sounds absolutely reasonable. Understandable to offer this choice to the client IMHO.

Good luck!

Brightontl · « **Reply #3 on:** July 08, 2019, 12:54 »

Hi Rasika,
very sorry to hear what happened to you.
I think you should contact Matt. He posts quite often here, is a nice guy and very helpful

Stockmaan · « **Reply #4 on:** July 08, 2019, 13:23 »

Very sorry to hear that.

When you uploaded all this duplicated files?

As I know reviewers reject this kind of uploads with this reason:similar content

Or this are very old uploads?

Hope you resolve this quickly and start uploading again by the rules.

Good luck!

YadaYadaYada · « **Reply #5 on:** July 08, 2019, 14:32 »

Apparently they can and warned us photo requirements

Be careful not to spam

Select only the best images from a shoot and ensure that each submission offers something different. Don’t submit multiple images with minimal changes in angle or depth, or copies of the same image with different postproduction effects applied. Customers apply their own creative effects to suit their project. Submitting multiple copies of similar or identical content can be perceived as spam by our moderation team. Spamming is strictly prohibited and may prompt us to block your account or close it permanently.

cathyslife · « **Reply #6 on:** July 08, 2019, 15:41 »

Quote from: YadaYadaYada on July 08, 2019, 14:32

Apparently they can and warned us photo requirements

Be careful not to spam

Select only the best images from a shoot and ensure that each submission offers something different. Don’t submit multiple images with minimal changes in angle or depth, or copies of the same image with different postproduction effects applied. Customers apply their own creative effects to suit their project. Submitting multiple copies of similar or identical content can be perceived as spam by our moderation team. Spamming is strictly prohibited and may prompt us to block your account or close it permanently.

Exactly. It’s in the agreement (that some don’t read, apparently).

cathyslife · « **Reply #7 on:** July 08, 2019, 15:47 »

Quote from: john_vlahidis on July 08, 2019, 13:41

after fotolia adobe stock migration had many rejection reason is: "Similar file already submitted" and one ban for 1 month!
today read this post and
this:

https://helpx.adobe.com/stock/contributor/help/similar-vs-spamming.html

I decided to erase
many online files
from adobe portfolio over 200+ "similar image"
will check carefully before upload after all that

And this from the above link:

“A few versions of a motif best facilitate the commercial success of the respective files in question.”

I take that to mean about 5 from the same shoot, with noticeable changes in angle, proximity, etc. Sometimes I would do a vertical version, and a horizontal version, too. Edit: oops, I see a couple of posts down the op is only talking about video. Which is why I wasn’t sure what color grading meant, as I don’t do video. But apparently the same rules apply for both video and images.

Rasika · « **Reply #8 on:** July 08, 2019, 15:49 »

I am not submitting images for 2 years, so we are talking about footage. And I have about 10,000 videos in my Adobe stock portfolio, so there is no way I can know which of the files they found to be problematic.
Now, don't get me wrong, I am not insisting I am right. The problem is they can at least let you know, something is not fit for them, or any other issue.
If you don't want it, you can just reject it and say "sorry, this is similar" etc. I wrote them 3 days ago asking to work this out/show me where is the problem/have any communication, but no replay so far.

cathyslife · « **Reply #9 on:** July 08, 2019, 15:54 »

Quote from: Jimbo on July 08, 2019, 12:09

I am so sorry for this Rasika! I heard about this practice of Adobe before. Closed accounts without warning for "similar" file uploads. We all know that in stock you have to produce a number of similar files in orders to stay profitable. This is many times a thin line and actually it would help if the agencies gave more feedback regarding this instead of destroying the economic life of someone without warning.

Unfortunately, the lack of contributors to support each other and form a lobbying entity increases the randomly applied power of the agencies. Too many naysayers. While it might be legal or their "right" it is still a very destructive business practise eventually for both parties. Most of us professional contributors build incomes, production pipelines and lifes around stock and do not want to harm the agencies.

I think in the case I heard about it could be fixed, just contact them and explain. Maybe Matt Hayward here can help as well?

From my point of view it does not sound like spam, but giving the client the choice of either colour grade themselves (pro clients which need raw material) or use the pre-graded version (end users which need just a beautiful clip) sounds absolutely reasonable. Understandable to offer this choice to the client IMHO.

Good luck!

I don’t support any contributor who spams a site in an attempt to cheat. And the rules are there in the agreement for everyone to read. How is it Adobes fault if a contributor doesn’t? And it’s certainly not a destructive business practice for Adobe to punish those who try to cheat. I’d say they are doing those contributors who follow the agreement a favor.

DavidK · « **Reply #10 on:** July 08, 2019, 15:56 »

Dlog is DJI's flat log profile for thier drones etc. I agree with Jimbo and have often wondered myself why submitting both flat profile AND graded versions of videos is not actively encouraged by all the agencies. I think they are leaving money on the table by not offering this option for pro level studios who can easily drop it into their timeline and grade match to the rest of their footage. Next to impossible with pre-graded clips.

cathyslife · « **Reply #11 on:** July 08, 2019, 15:58 »

Quote from: Rasika on July 08, 2019, 15:49

I am not submitting images for 2 years, so we are talking about footage. And I have about 10,000 videos in my Adobe stock portfolio, so there is no way I can know which of the files they found to be problematic.
Now, don't get me wrong, I am not insisting I am right. The problem is they can at least let you know, something is not fit for them, or any other issue.
If you don't want it, you can just reject it and say "sorry, this is similar" etc. I wrote them 3 days ago asking to work this out/show me where is the problem/have any communication, but no replay so far.

You don’t know which files you just made color changes to, or you just don’t want to be bothered sorting them out? And they did let you know, before you even started uploading! You are learning the hard way, unfortunately.

Rasika · « **Reply #12 on:** July 08, 2019, 16:02 »

Quote from: cathyslife on July 08, 2019, 15:58

Quote from: Rasika on July 08, 2019, 15:49
I am not submitting images for 2 years, so we are talking about footage. And I have about 10,000 videos in my Adobe stock portfolio, so there is no way I can know which of the files they found to be problematic.
Now, don't get me wrong, I am not insisting I am right. The problem is they can at least let you know, something is not fit for them, or any other issue.
If you don't want it, you can just reject it and say "sorry, this is similar" etc. I wrote them 3 days ago asking to work this out/show me where is the problem/have any communication, but no replay so far.

You don’t know which files you just made color changes to, or you just don’t want to be bothered sorting them out? And they did let you know, before you even starting uploading! You are learning the hard way, unfortunately.

Do you know the difference between graded footage and raw footage?

cathyslife · « **Reply #13 on:** July 08, 2019, 16:07 »

Quote from: Rasika on July 08, 2019, 16:02

Quote from: cathyslife on July 08, 2019, 15:58
Quote from: Rasika on July 08, 2019, 15:49
I am not submitting images for 2 years, so we are talking about footage. And I have about 10,000 videos in my Adobe stock portfolio, so there is no way I can know which of the files they found to be problematic.
Now, don't get me wrong, I am not insisting I am right. The problem is they can at least let you know, something is not fit for them, or any other issue.
If you don't want it, you can just reject it and say "sorry, this is similar" etc. I wrote them 3 days ago asking to work this out/show me where is the problem/have any communication, but no replay so far.

You don’t know which files you just made color changes to, or you just don’t want to be bothered sorting them out? And they did let you know, before you even starting uploading! You are learning the hard way, unfortunately.

Do you know the difference between graded footage and raw footage?

I do now, but no, I don’t do video. You still violated their terms, so what I know or don’t know is irrelevant. I am sure Adobe does, so why don’t you ask them that same question? I bet you won’t.

Rasika · « **Reply #14 on:** July 08, 2019, 16:11 »

Quote from: DavidK on July 08, 2019, 15:56

Dlog is DJI's flat log profile for thier drones etc. I agree with Jimbo and have often wondered myself why submitting both flat profile AND graded versions of videos is not actively encouraged by all the agencies. I think they are leaving money on the table by not offering this option for pro level studios who can easily drop it into their timeline and grade match to the rest of their footage. Next to impossible with pre-graded clips.

My ungraded portfolio sells almost as good as the graded one. It gets less downloads, but most of them are 4k. It is about 2/5 of my revenue.

Rasika · « **Reply #15 on:** July 08, 2019, 16:16 »

Quote from: cathyslife on July 08, 2019, 16:07

Quote from: Rasika on July 08, 2019, 16:02
Quote from: cathyslife on July 08, 2019, 15:58
Quote from: Rasika on July 08, 2019, 15:49
I am not submitting images for 2 years, so we are talking about footage. And I have about 10,000 videos in my Adobe stock portfolio, so there is no way I can know which of the files they found to be problematic.
Now, don't get me wrong, I am not insisting I am right. The problem is they can at least let you know, something is not fit for them, or any other issue.
If you don't want it, you can just reject it and say "sorry, this is similar" etc. I wrote them 3 days ago asking to work this out/show me where is the problem/have any communication, but no replay so far.

You don’t know which files you just made color changes to, or you just don’t want to be bothered sorting them out? And they did let you know, before you even starting uploading! You are learning the hard way, unfortunately.

Do you know the difference between graded footage and raw footage?

I do now, but no, I don’t do video. You still violated their terms, so what I know or don’t know is irrelevant. I am sure Adobe does, so why don’t you ask them that same question? I bet you won’t.

I don't know who are you so angry with, but I wish you happiness

Sorry, I am unusual to being blamed and pushed by unknown to me people. Please keep your judgment to yourself. Everything is going to be allright

DavidK · « **Reply #16 on:** July 08, 2019, 16:20 »

Quote from: Rasika on July 08, 2019, 16:11

Quote from: DavidK on July 08, 2019, 15:56
Dlog is DJI's flat log profile for thier drones etc. I agree with Jimbo and have often wondered myself why submitting both flat profile AND graded versions of videos is not actively encouraged by all the agencies. I think they are leaving money on the table by not offering this option for pro level studios who can easily drop it into their timeline and grade match to the rest of their footage. Next to impossible with pre-graded clips.
My ungraded portfolio sells almost as good as the graded one. It gets less downloads, but most of them are 4k. It is about 2/5 of my revenue.

I can understand why too. Like I said, it has never made sense to me leaving the well heeled buyers without the choice. It would be such an easy option to implement and it could even be charged at a premium. I suspect we would all see an increase in 4K sales, after all, right now who really needs 4K other than the pros?

cathyslife · « **Reply #17 on:** July 08, 2019, 16:55 »

Quote from: Rasika on July 08, 2019, 16:16

Quote from: cathyslife on July 08, 2019, 16:07
Quote from: Rasika on July 08, 2019, 16:02
Quote from: cathyslife on July 08, 2019, 15:58
Quote from: Rasika on July 08, 2019, 15:49
I am not submitting images for 2 years, so we are talking about footage. And I have about 10,000 videos in my Adobe stock portfolio, so there is no way I can know which of the files they found to be problematic.
Now, don't get me wrong, I am not insisting I am right. The problem is they can at least let you know, something is not fit for them, or any other issue.
If you don't want it, you can just reject it and say "sorry, this is similar" etc. I wrote them 3 days ago asking to work this out/show me where is the problem/have any communication, but no replay so far.

You don’t know which files you just made color changes to, or you just don’t want to be bothered sorting them out? And they did let you know, before you even starting uploading! You are learning the hard way, unfortunately.

Do you know the difference between graded footage and raw footage?

I do now, but no, I don’t do video. You still violated their terms, so what I know or don’t know is irrelevant. I am sure Adobe does, so why don’t you ask them that same question? I bet you won’t.

I don't know who are you so angry with, but I wish you happiness Sorry, I am unusual to being blamed and pushed by unknown to me people. Please keep your judgment to yourself. Everything is going to be allright

You posted on an open forum. I am entitled to my opinion, even if it doesn’t agree with what you want to hear. And I will continue to post my opinion, as I have done since 2004. About every month a contributor comes here whining that their account got blocked “for no apparent reason,” It turns out, there always is a reason. 😄

Rasika · « **Reply #18 on:** July 08, 2019, 17:09 »

Ok, lets say reviewers are always right and never make mistakes. Being here from 2004 you must know this is truth

cathyslife · « **Reply #19 on:** July 08, 2019, 17:35 »

Quote from: Rasika on July 08, 2019, 17:09

Ok, lets say reviewers are always right and never make mistakes. Being here from 2004 you must know this is truth

I never said that. You yourself admitted wrong. This isn’t Adobe’s mistake. And I am no more angrier, and no less angrier, than any other contributors. Between spammers and thieves, and poor sales, it’s tough for even the top contributors to make a buck anymore. That said, I do pretty well with Adobe. 😃

Noedelhap · « **Reply #20 on:** July 08, 2019, 17:40 »

How many similars are we talking about, Rasika? Pages and pages of the same video, or max. 5-10 variations? I've seen some spammy portfolios being posted here, that were never taken down by Adobe, so I don't know how 'spammy' your portfolio was.

Either way, Adobe should contact the contributor and demand removal within a reasonable timeframe... or they shouldn't accept similars to begin with, use a better automated system to check for spammy similars and nip it in the bud. Agencies shouldn't just blindly accept all kinds of similars, let the contributor think it's okay and then punish the contributor for spamming afterwards (certainly not without notice).

Allsa · « **Reply #22 on:** July 08, 2019, 19:39 »

Quote from: MatHayward on July 08, 2019, 17:44

This past week, Adobe in the US was closed for the Fourth of July holiday. We had team members working and answering contributor questions but there may have been some delays in response time. We strive for 2 hours max to get back to you when you write via the contact us page during regular business hours.

-Mat Hayward

That hasn't been my experience. I sent a help message yesterday and haven't received any acknowledgement that they received it. I thought maybe they had the wrong email address, so I sent another message asking them to change my email for me (there does not appear to be a way to do it myself) and I still haven't heard back. I don't know if they received my help request or not. I have heard nothing at all from Adobe.

Allsa · « **Reply #23 on:** July 08, 2019, 20:07 »

Quote from: Allsa on July 08, 2019, 19:39

Quote from: MatHayward on July 08, 2019, 17:44

This past week, Adobe in the US was closed for the Fourth of July holiday. We had team members working and answering contributor questions but there may have been some delays in response time. We strive for 2 hours max to get back to you when you write via the contact us page during regular business hours.

-Mat Hayward

That hasn't been my experience. I sent a help message yesterday and haven't received any acknowledgement that they received it. I thought maybe they had the wrong email address, so I sent another message asking them to change my email for me (there does not appear to be a way to do it myself) and I still haven't heard back. I don't know if they received my help request or not. I have heard nothing at all from Adobe.

Sorry for this! They did get back to me, the 'from' didn't say Adobe and I missed it. Sorry, my bad.

Dennis Radeke · « **Reply #24 on:** July 09, 2019, 05:51 »

Hi there Rasika,

I think a support case came through that is probably yours. I have responded to Adobe support and they will no doubt get back in touch with you but let me try to provide some guidelines for the future here as well.

in general, we want to provide you the contributor as much opportunity and creative expression as possible and provide the creative customer with a large and high quality library where they can easily find the perfect clip to add to their project.

As the content lead for motion, I have provided our moderation team guidelines for accepting similar clips. In general, I have loosened those guidelines because a different take, magnification/zoom/focal length or other factors can result in a clip that a customer wants. It's tricky though - there are always going to be grey areas and opinions on what constitutes a unique clip or not.

However, it doesn't make sense for us to have both an ungraded file and a graded file of the same clip. Especially if the files are 8bit color where the idea of "raw" isn't really applicable. Once you get to 10bit color or greater with cameras such as a RED, ARRI and some others, then the idea of a RAW version may be very appealing to some. As Adobe Stock develops, we may be able to offer a customer a choice of a raw clip versus a graded one. The team here certainly have discussed many ideas and we hope to bring them to our users in the future!

Today, I like to suggest to contributors is to submit a lightly graded version of your clip. This means that it isn't flat like a clip shot in log might be and it brings out the luma range (black to white) and lightly touch the color (based on your preference). The end goal is that the novice buyer will see a beautiful clip and the experienced editor/buyer will see a clip that fits and provides enough latitude for them to push the color to whatever the need is.

I hope that this provides some guidance and if you (or others) have any questions please feel free to hit me up with them here. Please note that I'm technically on holiday so my response to answer may be a bit slower than normal.

Thanks and happy shooting!
Dennis

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Author Topic: Apparently they can just block you without further notice... (Read 11988 times)

Rasika

cathyslife

Jimbo

Brightontl

Stockmaan

YadaYadaYada

cathyslife

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Rasika

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DavidK

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Rasika

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Rasika

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DavidK

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MatHayward

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