I think many deleted old images off there while that whole mess was going on about the taxes and the 1 credit = $1.00 mess. I deleted all my port - other than the ones that had sold I left on there. I think a lot of the big boys just got fed up and are slowly leaving.

It could also be people who made use of the 'Crank Your Rank' Deal that some members received
http://www.microstockgroup.com/fotolia-com/crank-your-rank/

Or else when Fotolia had their 'Operation Level Ground' where people who have never been involved in Fotolia before could  jump ahead of the ranks and get a 'Free' Emerald rating if they had equivalent sales on another site
http://www.microstockgroup.com/fotolia-com/news-operation-level-ground-attracts-artists-to-fotolia/

Thanks for that information, leaf. Kerioak made a reference to Operation Ground level today but didn't explain what it was. To think I thought that there was still a meritocracy in some sectors of business.

Fotolia seems to be the master of doing things w/o telling anyone.

--=Tom

Yup! Fortunately, I've never had dealings with their erroneously named "UK Support Group" but from the things I've read from other contributors, I've had to conclude that a. It does not consist of humans and b. It is probably the space detritus of HAL9000 which they exchanged for someone's senile RM archive.

At the time of the "Pay US tax debacle", UK Support issued numerous incorrect pieces of advice to contributors, some of which cost the contributors money and a lot of wasted time. Utterly unprofessional IMO.