I read Richard's detailed explanation Message (which I appreciated, esp. since he included his plans for upcoming year), and wondered: Are Messages more private than Forum posts, google-wise?

Yes since you have to be logged in to read them. The bots can't log in, they can only crawl through stuff that's public on the Net. The forum is exposed to the Net, messages aren't.

I would also not quote from that private message as a matter of honor and decency. He was pretty open and honest about the inner workings of GS. Perhaps too open. I don't agree though with his strategy to lower prices. He wants to be the cheapest on the market. Wrong move. We can read it all here over the forum, by pros like Yuri Arcurs. Price doesn't really matter for a designer that costs 150$/hour, overhead included. Convenience and choice does.

ShutterStock can get away with 0.30$ per shot, by sheer volume. GS should find a niche.

The least we can say is that the site operator is bloody honest and we don't have to worry about our shots if the operation ever stops.

It's loading and I can sign in.

Regards,
Adelaide

It's working... no new sales though!   

Regards,
Adelaide