So I just wrote a post on the culling thread about how iStock is practicing severe double standards in culling car and boat images.  I pointed out that if they were going to do that, then they also had to cull pretty much every everything else in the library because everything modern is designed by someone and has either trademark, trade dress or copyright.

Guess iStock didn't like that, cause the removed the post.

So instead of answering the concerns of a contributor, they just suspend me from the forum.

I even pointed out that I was willing to be a test case in this ridiculous "policy" and more than willing to go to court over it in the UK.  Guess they didn't like that either.

Oh well.  iStock is going to implode on itself if it doesn't stop making ridiculous policy changes that are completely at odds with the rest of the stock industry.

Don't worry about it.     You're way, way better off over here.

I was all keen on the iStock forums when I first joined. But pretty soon the sycophantic nature of the posts got right up my nose. For example:

iStock: We're limiting your uploads to 1 per week on Thursdays only, and cutting your royalties to 0.5%.

Contributors on forum: Thank you, thank you, iStock!!!! That is just sooooooo cool!! Way to go! Amazing!!!! Utterly utterly brilliant!!! ...

... and, so on, ad nauseum.

That, coupled with the fact that they immediately lock (or remove) any post that is even mildly critical, means their forums are a complete waste of time and energy.

Perhaps I should try and sue them to reclaim the money for the time spend writing the forum post when I could have been taking pictures and uploading them.

It was a really good forum post too!

What's a forum when you can't speak your thoughts? It's stupid and really insecure of iStock to be censoring everything and anyone that's remotely critical of their approach!

Oh by the way, you did abide by the agreement and terms of use. Oh well.

IMHO, the only 'private' forum worth posting to is SS. All the rest are either too heavily censored, or no one posts there anyway. IS and FT are the worst.

I think you'll find the same policy applies here too fro what i've seen. seemsnone of these forums allow critizim and the post on zymmetrikal was delted also.

Sorry to hear that.  I think they're being pretty inane on this subject.

Hey Sean.

Only thing I'm really annoyed about not being able to post on the iStock forum, is that from image requests I've picked up the odd shoot commission.  So I won't be able to get that nice little bonus every now and then!  Oh well!

They are being totally ridiculous though.  I mean, if you're going to ban cars, why not planes?  Or helicopters?  Or rowing boats?  Or fabric patterns, or gardens, or clothes, or...

Quote from: Contakt on February 21, 2008, 12:20
I think you'll find the same policy applies here too fro what i've seen. seemsnone of these forums allow critizim and the post on zymmetrikal was delted also.

which post was deleted?
I generally make a notice when anything gets removed from the forum, and don't remember deleting anything from a zymmetrical thread.

If you search the forum history I think you will find that this forum allows for plenty of criticism of the various stock sites.

The only time I have seen posts edited here is when someone becomes abusive.  I don't see anything wrong with that.

At least Seren you have your free speech here!

As in the past, every time iStock makes a new policy change it's controversial or pain in the rear.   I noticed on their forums that one poster wanted to know when Getty was going to be culling their car and cruise ship images and was told by an admin that--"They have their own way of doing things which really is none of our business."  In other words they didn't even want to address the issue.  It's a fair question to ask.  Just go to Getty and do a search for cruise ships, stretch limos and John Deere tractors--lots of that subject matter but iStock is now not allowed to have such.

Makes me wonder what this will do to sales for contributors and iStock in general.  They are certainly sending a lot of business elsewhere. 

It was also a fair response by the admin.  They are separate legal entities whose business decisions are made independent of one another.  Getty owns Istock.  "It" flows downhill. 

Forums at individual sites are more like standing in the middle of a businesses' retail store.  This is more like a discussion in someone's living room.  Different rules apply.

Quote from: GWB on February 21, 2008, 14:43
At least Seren you have your free speech here!

As in the past, every time iStock makes a new policy change it's controversial or pain in the rear.   I noticed on their forums that one poster wanted to know when Getty was going to be culling their car and cruise ship images and was told by an admin that--"They have their own way of doing things which really is none of our business."  In other words they didn't even want to address the issue.  It's a fair question to ask.  Just go to Getty and do a search for cruise ships, stretch limos and John Deere tractors--lots of that subject matter but iStock is now not allowed to have such.

Makes me wonder what this will do to sales for contributors and iStock in general.  They are certainly sending a lot of business elsewhere. 

This is why I rarely post in the IS general discussion forums. I sometimes stop in there to read what is going on like the recent Best Match search changes. I mainly stick to the other forums that are less volatile. I was apparent very early on that you can get into trouble fairly quickly if you didn't agree with the management...

Quote from: sharpshot on February 21, 2008, 12:52
The only time I have seen posts edited here is when someone becomes abusive.  I don't see anything wrong with that.

I agree!  Being abusive with another member on MSG is totally contrary to what we all look for here.  The friendliness and helpful attitude is what attracted me and many others to MSG in the first place. I do not belong to or even comment on any other forum.
    I hope that Leaf   continues  with his present moderating habits.  =tom

I agree that Leaf does a tremendous job of keeping this site on the right level.  I'm glad he's not afraid of battling trolls etc, in spite of their childish and predictable "censorship!" cries.  IStock has no problem swinging their "ban hammer" on their forum, and I'm really glad Leaf has no qualms about swinging his ban hammer at MSG.  Trolls and others who would love to destroy this site by sowing discord are definitely not welcome here.  It was sad to watch another site become just a ghost of its former self because of weak leadership in not handling the trolls.  I hope this site stays strong for a long time!

Thanks for doing an excellent job, Leaf!!

Quote from: HughStoneIan on February 22, 2008, 15:50
Thanks for doing an excellent job, Leaf!!

I wholeheartly agree. Good job and many thanks, they'll never be enough.

Quote from: HughStoneIan on February 22, 2008, 15:50It was sad to watch another site become just a ghost of its former self because of weak leadership in not handling the trolls.

Well Talkmicro is still in my bookmarks but I quit there, because of "that" ;-)

To the OP: I had several forum posts removed too in 2006 when they switched to the cumbersome disambiguation thing. That's fine with me but a post deleted means time lost, so I never posted at iS again. Not much to read there anyways, except hurrayh and wow and thank you iS.

You can't blame them for that really. Agency forums are corporate blogs and they can be read by customers too. If you know corporate culture, you will have to put up a cheering face always. If not, it might adversely affect sales. The bottomline is that the iS forum is a waste of time, but I will gladly post a great! wow! thankyou post there if I get properly paid for it 

What I think is happening at IS is due to them being more successful than Getty, photographers/managers at Getty are getting nervous and upset that IS is taking away some of there earning potential so IS has been told to something about it, the stupid thing about this is IS can't influence sales on any other MS sites except there own. From all I have read and from personal experience is that sales at IS have tanked in the past month and they are nervous.

Has anyone also noticed how long it's now taking to get a payout from IS, I've been waiting 12 days so far, maybe they are having cashflow issues.