All I can see in my UI are "green dot (approved)" and "yellow dot (pending). I do not see how/where to change the view where you can see "free" or "declined"...how do you see if you have any "free" files?

Thx

Click the State button.

That particular check box has always defaulted to "no" for me, and I've never changed it.  Just to be sure, I deleted three other files that were in the que, and uploaded them again.  As always, that check box defaulted to "no."

Never had that experience with them (maybe my stuff is not cool enough to steal?). I am sure if you mail them they will state a technical problem or you had the tick box for that option checked. Unfortunately one does not have a history to track your selections, so no proof either way.  

Quote from csproductions

"it would appear that an inspector deliberately rejected all of them in order to have them included in the free section, even though I did not authorize it."

In relation to other 'so-called top sites' I would be sceptical that this would be the case, however, in regard to Fotolia, I would be happy to make an exception.

I would not be in the slightest bit surprised if it was not completely intentional and deliberate. This business has got so cut-throat in recent times I really would not trust any of them in regard to business ethics they might have had a few years back.

On the other hand, you might just have got one of the moronic, pot-smoking, brain dead, 'couldn't give a s**t' reviewers that seem to be hired by all the major agencies nowadays.

I like DT's approach - if you accidentally click on the "if you reject it make it free" box you get a warning dialog asking if you're sure. The fact that they put the check box right next to the terms and conditions check box makes that especially important, but if their UI were better, I still think the confirmation's a good thing.

All good points, stockmarketer, except for the accusation that I'm just trying to get everyone's panties in a knot.  Denied.

I'm not quite sure what to make of the situation, and the purpose of my post was to see whether or not I'm the only one with this experience.  If so, then it would give us cause to believe that it was somehow my mistake.  The experience caught me quite by surprise, and from what I can tell, it's not a pattern of behavior on the part of the FT people, which lends more credibility to the notion that it was my mistake.  The evidence...

1.  I've never made this mistake before, but of course, there's always a first time.
2.  I don't remember ever having a 100% rejection rate on FT before.
3.  Every file that was rejected was made available in the free section.
4.  Apparently, it's not a common occurrence.
5.  It's entirely possible that I thought I was clicking the "yes" button to the EL option, when in fact, I clicked the button to make rejected files available in the free section.  The options carry forward to the next image unless and until they are changed (which is a good feature, IMO).
6.  With so many rejections of best-selling images on other sites, could it be a motive to reject files that would otherwise have been approved?  If so, what would be the motive?  Perhaps it's to make quality free files available in order to drive more traffic to the site, but on the other hand, FT is in the business of selling photos, not giving them away.

Since the evidence in inconclusive, I prefer to think it was my mistake.  I've uploaded three more files, making sure that the right boxes are checked.  After they're inspected, I'll know for sure.