^ I think this has drawn the line for most serious contributors, exclusive or not. even the ones who trusted TPTB see the writing on the wall now. me included. ironic way to unite us...but I refuse to participate in what can only be described as a cash grab...what a bloody fiasco, so disappointing

I am afraid that many contributors are not informed about this serious situation. Many of contributors do not read forums, many of them do not even speak English. It would be good idea to write some kind of email letter and send to everybody, written in a clear and simple language.

...Instead of being worried about StockXpert going and panicking, perhaps we should be doing all we can to make the sites we like successful?

Never really thought of it that way, but I like the idea. Spur on more competition (which is what it seems like Getty is trying to prevent) and change the market by supporting sites that are doing the right thing.

Quote from: sharpshot on February 06, 2010, 05:02

...Instead of being worried about StockXpert going and panicking, perhaps we should be doing all we can to make the sites we like successful?

Never really thought of it that way, but I like the idea. Spur on more competition (which is what it seems like Getty is trying to prevent) and change the market by supporting sites that are doing the right thing.

Agree - this is very well put.  We should be supporting the sites that take good care of us.  That is something positive we can do.

I'm going to hold out for a few more days to see what happens (I'm still a little confused by all this), but I am pretty sure that I do not want my images on thinkstock. $.25 per image is a slap in the face for the amount of time I put into my images, and I'd rather focus my efforts on something more worthwhile.

@Sharpshot, Borg

Just so you know you're not alone.
This is what I do, what I've been doing for a long time.
Click on my portfolio, (you don't have to, I'm just saying) and look at the number of images. At DT I have 268. My highest number.
It's higher there not because other sites reject my work. Mostly they don't. Due to the nature of my images (boring stock, nothing adventurous) my acceptance rate is pretty high across the board.

My portfolio is larger at DT because of exclusive images.

I submit photos in small batches, 5 - 7. Around 40 a month.
At DT with every submitted batch I also include one exclusive image. One image only for them.  No similars and not part of series.
It has nothing to do with DT's Assignments / higher levels.
I'm doing it because I like DT.
In my mind, and my own little world, this is my way of trying to support the one site that pays me a little bit better.  
It's insignificant, I know, but it's the best I can do.

After reading your posts I might join you and add Cutcaster to the 'Show support, give a few exclusive images' list. It's difficult, I have such a small port, but John is a great guy.
I'll try.

Ah, and of course, I'm staying far and away from TStock / Photos.com. I was never opted in.

Quote from: gaja on February 06, 2010, 14:01

Is it the opt out button for Extended Licence I should click?

How can you do anything on iStock if you're exclusive on Dreamstime?

I'm exclusive, the husband is not. It has all been cleared with Dreamstime, we do quite different things. I do the administrative work for both of us, in return I get full copyright of all the people shots he does. He only uploads objects and landscapes.

This is his port on istock:http://www.istockphoto.com/user_view.php?id=5347761

So no, no secret friend. Everything is very straight forward and all done in nice legalise documents.

Its nice to hear that Eireann...

We can look on our products like every other business...

The new product is always more valued than the old...
Our photos is also product, so we can choose where and when we want to publish it,and at what cost...

Quote from: gaja on February 07, 2010, 03:28

I'm exclusive, the husband is not. It has all been cleared with Dreamstime, we do quite different things. I do the administrative work for both of us, in return I get full copyright of all the people shots he does. He only uploads objects and landscapes.

This is his port on istock:http://www.istockphoto.com/user_view.php?id=5347761

So no, no secret friend. Everything is very straight forward and all done in nice legalise documents.

Having your cake and eating it too.  Sounds pretty shady, even if "legal".

Why? We are to different photographers, and there are no similar pictures in our portfolios. If we had been using the same models and photographing the same props, I could see the problem. But I know that pictures of my models never will be sold by any other photographer than me, and are therefore found only on Dreamstime as long as I stay exclusive to them. How many "exclusives" can say the same?

The first thing I did, before my husband even registered at any site, was to ask DT if they were OK with this, or if they would prefer that I dropped being an exclusive photographer with them. They didn't object at all, and that kind of matters a little bit more than your personal opinion.

Lisa, i know you almost decided to go exclusive at Istock. Have you changed your mind now? Just curious, because I have the same dilemma. 

Yes, this definitely has me doing a rethink.  Depending on what occurs this next week I may start uploading to DT again (which is effectively making a commitment to stay independent for at least 6 months). 

I will hate to lose the deal I signed up for with Istock, but with the business in the state of flux it's in now this may not be the right time to throw all my eggs in that basket.

Yes, this definitely has me doing a rethink.

+1

I was really hoping for the best with istock, they are my major earner. I just can't get behind what they have done this past week. Their past shenanigans kept me on the fence for a long time. It looked like they were moving in the right direction, I was preparing for exclusivity, and then this thinkstock slap in the face comes up. Now I find myself back on the fence again. I just don't think they can ever be trusted.

I think the biggest problem is that you will not get to the next canister level in ages. If Thinkstock attracts lots of Istock buyers, contributors will make money, but these downloads do not count at Istock.

And one more thing. If they want this Thinkstock  to get working, they must let contributors upload without Istock limit. SS is example how subs model works. They will have, sooner or later, separate TS from IS.

Works for a while until they are just so saturated that images disapear into the abys overnight.. I used to try to stay up with the feed the beast thing and I noticed as much as I uploaded my downloads stayed the same, and I even have noticed drops in downloads the only thing keeping it semi profitable is the PPD's otherwise things would be much different..  SS's model will eventually fold on itself because sooner or later it will get to the point (unless they raise prices) where people will not be able to produce the quality images for the return.. SS's model depends (for the photog) on large quantities of downloads.. If the pie progressively get smaller and smaller with more and more photographers joining and photos being uploaded by the hundreds of thousand per week.. Pretty soon that will become cumbersome for people to try and keep up with..

Just for the record I am not saying thinkstock is a good or anything.. I am really against it.. Actually I am not in favor of the microstock subscriptions stuff at all although at this point I am forced into it unless I want to be exclusive at Istock and opt out of subscriptions which I wouldn't do now.. But will not step down to thinkstocks levels..

Quote

Yes, this definitely has me doing a rethink.

+1

I was really hoping for the best with istock, they are my major earner. I just can't get behind what they have done this past week. Their past shenanigans kept me on the fence for a long time. It looked like they were moving in the right direction, I was preparing for exclusivity, and then this thinkstock slap in the face comes up. Now I find myself back on the fence again. I just don't think they can ever be trusted.

Exactly.  There is no evidence that ANY agency can be trusted.