My Google alert on "microstock" brought me this link:
http://davidwalsh.name/10-excellent-microstock-agencies

That's a joke.

Note above the title "sponsored post".

I hadn't come across this blog before, but the breathless prose in this drivel beggars belief (emphasis mine): "As a matter of fact, whatever you happen to be looking for, I bet you'll be spell-bound with the search results."

If that's not over the top enough, there's this: "Pixmac's lofty potential is split in two. Part can be found in the credit-based Subscription Collection (2.5 million � and it's safe to say that these are the most cherished items), ..."

Even in the "good old days" I don't believe any agency treated our content like a cherished item! This type of pseudo article is like the fake editorial in the advertising sections newspapers used to publish - all it does is erode any credibility the organization might have had for any words they weren't paid to say.

I don't mind ads (I happily ignore them) but I despise attempts to pass them off as genuine recommendations. On the other hand, having excluded all the major agencies and included only old-news also-rans, I can't imagine anyone will pay much attention.

Anyone notice that intriguing line in the blurb about Yay Images "over one million celebrity images are coming in February"? What's that about?....

hmm, did they give him those images to use for free I wonder?