Quote from: bunhill on April 24, 2015, 18:57
This post from KelvinJ on Sept 13 2010 was my favourite ever. Goodness knows how it ever survived being posted. I guess Lobo found it as funny as everyone else did. I think he showed a good sense of humour leaving it up

QuoteYou don't seem to be taking the hint. They've F'd us in the A, rolled over, farted and are reaching for their cigarettes. They don't want some cosy post coital chat. They're just hoping you will realise how embarrassing the whole situation is, take the couple of dollars they've left on the bedside table, get dressed and do the walk of shame.

They found another way of shutting him up 

Just when you thought it was safe to stop throwing up in your mouth, KelvinJ posts this about an hour ago:

QuoteI only joined in 2005, but it's hard to explain just what a profound and positive influence this place has been on my life and work over the last 10 years. The people I've met and the places I've been have been amazing. I can't wait to see what the future holds for all of us. Happy 15th Birthday iStock!

Quote from: KelvinJ in 2010
You don't seem to be taking the hint. They've F'd us in the A, rolled over, farted and are reaching for their cigarettes. They don't want some cosy post coital chat. They're just hoping you will realise how embarrassing the whole situation is, take the couple of dollars they've left on the bedside table, get dressed and do the walk of shame.

Quote from: KelvinJ in 2015
I only joined in 2005, but it's hard to explain just what a profound and positive influence this place has been on my life and work over the last 10 years. The people I've met and the places I've been have been amazing. I can't wait to see what the future holds for all of us. Happy 15th Birthday iStock!

What happened there ?? 

Quote from: Semmick Photo on April 24, 2015, 19:43

Quote from: KelvinJ in 2010
You don't seem to be taking the hint. They've F'd us in the A, rolled over, farted and are reaching for their cigarettes. They don't want some cosy post coital chat. They're just hoping you will realise how embarrassing the whole situation is, take the couple of dollars they've left on the bedside table, get dressed and do the walk of shame.

Quote from: KelvinJ in 2015
I only joined in 2005, but it's hard to explain just what a profound and positive influence this place has been on my life and work over the last 10 years. The people I've met and the places I've been have been amazing. I can't wait to see what the future holds for all of us. Happy 15th Birthday iStock!

What happened there ?? 

"They found another way of shutting him up"

Quote from: Semmick Photo on April 24, 2015, 19:43

Quote from: KelvinJ in 2010
You don't seem to be taking the hint. They've F'd us in the A, rolled over, farted and are reaching for their cigarettes. They don't want some cosy post coital chat. They're just hoping you will realise how embarrassing the whole situation is, take the couple of dollars they've left on the bedside table, get dressed and do the walk of shame.

Quote from: KelvinJ in 2015
I only joined in 2005, but it's hard to explain just what a profound and positive influence this place has been on my life and work over the last 10 years. The people I've met and the places I've been have been amazing. I can't wait to see what the future holds for all of us. Happy 15th Birthday iStock!

What happened there ?? 

I think it's obvious he's just feeling the love. Aren't you?

I left IS long ago, just before the famous claw back

Alas, let's not forget this one hit wonder: http://www.istockphoto.com/profile/rrockafellar?id=592029

Quote from: iFlop on April 24, 2015, 21:17
Alas, let's not forget this one hit wonder: http://www.istockphoto.com/profile/rrockafellar?id=592029

I think she meant well. I think she is one of the people that figured she could change it up, but got called back by the board. I remember she quit IS and went on a sabbatical.

Does anyone have a link to the video, or is it a private exclusive video for exclusives' eyes only?

Quote from: Noedelhap on April 24, 2015, 21:52
Does anyone have a link to the video, or is it a private exclusive video for exclusives' eyes only?

http://www.istockphoto.com/forum_messages.php?threadid=366573&page=1

Quote from: Noedelhap on April 24, 2015, 21:52
Does anyone have a link to the video, or is it a private exclusive video for exclusives' eyes only?

Someone put it here for public consumption on YouTube: http://youtu.be/R12s2Acv_IQ

I posted this link in this thread once already. Guess it wasn't so obvious the first time.

Quote from: Jo Ann Snover on April 23, 2015, 01:40
If iStock's exclusive content were really better than what's out there at other agencies, having exclusive content might matter. Unfortunately for them, they backed up the Getty dump truck and loaded the site with masses of bog standard images priced as if they were gems. Some of the Getty rubbish might sell OK if it were priced lower, but it completely undermined the appeal of exclusive content, IMO

Once upon a time things were different, and there are some talented iStock exclusives - real exclusives not the Getty factories - who got undermined by the private equity owners who I'm guessing directed this strategy of unloading anything and everything on iStock.

I know we've harped on the lemon and lime slices that are underexposed with a black border, but when you shove that high priced dreck in front of buyers as the reason they should shop with you versus the competition, you won't be taken seriously.

PRICED AS IF THEY WERE GEMS? At about 2 dollars the sub download, any size?? I see that some people has internalized the fact that stock photos shouldn't cost more than the 0.30 that SS clients pay. Great. Well, not great: rather sad. Let's talk about Stockholm syndrome. Let's talk about slaves.

On the other hand, the point about exclusive content is the fact that it can't be found elsewhere. Period. There's a lot of great exclusive content, and also no-so-great exclusive content (the same applies for non-ex), but that's not the point. As an example: I know of an hotels searching page that have hotels that doesn't appear in almost all the others (booking, etc). I use the others often, but I never forget to look at the  one that has what the others don't, and I've booked often there.

Omg, I had to stop after about a minute.  'Customers loved Vetta imagery, but it was out of their reach".

Tough!  Suck it up!  Boo hoo.  Mercedes didn't price down because it was 'out of my reach'. 

What a terribly scripted piece.

Quote from: Semmick Photo on April 24, 2015, 21:22

Quote from: iFlop on April 24, 2015, 21:17
Alas, let's not forget this one hit wonder: http://www.istockphoto.com/profile/rrockafellar?id=592029

I think she meant well. I think she is one of the people that figured she could change it up, but got called back by the board. I remember she quit IS and went on a sabbatical.

She heard much more from the forum community than somebody wanted her to hear.
http://www.istockphoto.com/forum_messages.php?threadid=349591&page=1

Quote from: ShadySue on April 24, 2015, 21:59

Quote from: Noedelhap on April 24, 2015, 21:52
Does anyone have a link to the video, or is it a private exclusive video for exclusives' eyes only?

http://www.istockphoto.com/forum_messages.php?threadid=366573&page=1

Thanks!

Quote from: iFlop on April 24, 2015, 22:08

Quote from: Noedelhap on April 24, 2015, 21:52
Does anyone have a link to the video, or is it a private exclusive video for exclusives' eyes only?

Someone put it here for public consumption on YouTube: http://youtu.be/R12s2Acv_IQ

I posted this link in this thread once already. Guess it wasn't so obvious the first time.

I must have missed it, but thank you too.

Re: That video...

At a complete loss for words IS/GI. As Sean noted above, horribly scripted. I could only make it to just a minute and a half. One would think that "the" provider of "the" best imagery and totally understanding creative people in general from contributors through the buyers you would have made this much much more interesting both in scripting and visuals - goodness knows your our assets could have been used to spice things up a bit.

Instead I felt like I was being held in high school detention in circa grade 10 science class getting a lecture in a monotonous monologue about the physics of boiling water.

FAIL

Quote from: Sean Locke Photography on April 24, 2015, 22:33
Omg, I had to stop after about a minute.  'Customers loved Vetta imagery, but it was out of their reach".

Tough!  Suck it up!  Boo hoo.  Mercedes didn't price down because it was 'out of my reach'. 

What a terribly scripted piece.

This is a perfect example of something that needs to be tested before being rolled out. Sometimes a lower price will result in so many more sales that you'll make more money. Sometimes a higher price results in fewer sales but still, at the end of the day, makes more money. Sometimes a higher price makes something seem more valuable and results in more sales AND more money. But I get the distinct impression iStock flies by the seat of their pants and test nothing. They just think lowering prices or any of the other things they've tried will mean more money, and go with it. And we've seen how well THAT works out.

Quote from: Shelma1 on April 25, 2015, 00:48

Quote from: Sean Locke Photography on April 24, 2015, 22:33
Omg, I had to stop after about a minute.  'Customers loved Vetta imagery, but it was out of their reach".

Tough!  Suck it up!  Boo hoo.  Mercedes didn't price down because it was 'out of my reach'. 

What a terribly scripted piece.

This is a perfect example of something that needs to be tested before being rolled out. Sometimes a lower price will result in so many more sales that you'll make more money. Sometimes a higher price results in fewer sales but still, at the end of the day, makes more money. Sometimes a higher price makes something seem more valuable and results in more sales AND more money. But I get the distinct impression iStock flies by the seat of their pants and test nothing. They just think lowering prices or any of the other things they've tried will mean more money, and go with it. And we've seen how well THAT works out.

Totally agree, I think they just keep throwing the pasta to the teflon-coated wall.
Worse, they told us customers loved Vetta and Sig+ and urged us to max out our allocation of slots to the higher collections.
Then hardly any time later, they flattened all the layers into Exc and Indie, and put most files into cheap subs, losing (most of) us more and more money.

I have a lot of great memories of istock and am grateful for the old community, all the wonderful people I met and everything I learned there. Which is why I am so sad that they are not keeping up with the rest of the industry and have lost the trust of the contributor community.

Of course it is difficult to replace professionals like Rob Sylvan or rogermexico, but it is hard to believe that they are so far out, they can´t remember how to connect.

I hope they keep the old forums as an online archive somewhere and don´t begin the next 15 years by destroying their own history.

Fotolia and SS are doing a much better job at community building these days and it shows in their commercial success as well. These things go hand in hand. Understanding people goes all around, from customers to suppliers and the contributors are both.

I would love for istock to remain in the game, at least as one of the big three agencies. But of course adobe and SS have a lot more money to spend on everything, so it will be a difficult challenge even if they improve their systems.

We will live and work in a multi agency world for many years. And maybe for the artists it is safer this way. Exclusive images yes, but I will never go back to being exclusive with one place only. There are too many opportunities and now you can offer everything as long as you find the right agency to place it with.

Quote from: cobalt on April 25, 2015, 12:14
I hope they keep the old forums as an online archive somewhere and don´t begin the next 15 years by destroying their own history.

Would there be a business case for that ? Surely it just contains out-of-date information + lots of spilled-milk ?

I think that there is always danger of romanticising the past. The f5/Vetta-club era iStock was, with hindsight, a low point which sowed the seeds of the decline. I miss the easy money from that time but I think that was mostly down to the economic boom and iStock at that time being so well known in the tech community which existed back in that era - it certainly wasn't down to the business being well run. iStock needed completely re-booting.

By comparison I think that during that same era Shutterstock were much more focused on strategy, work etc.

The business case is simple: wall street places hundreds of millions of dollars of valuation on companies with communities even if they have no profit. and real live online communities are not places with shiny happy people, instead they usually have long discussions and go back and forth forever.


starting from scratch means there is no history to look at, and thus no valuation to be placed on it. Even if less people are active now than before, the forums look huge with thousands of threads and hundreds of posts. Much bigger than most agencies out there.

It should also be easy to grow if they bring backt thetraffic they moved to Facebook. Why would you encourage the valuation of Facebook to grow instead of your own site? i don't mean closing the groups just redirecting traffic to the forums to help improve the value of the site.

Anyway, it is up to them, but the valutation factor should be a simple one. All they have to do is keep an archive around somewhere to show off their 15 year history of online community.

Quote from: cobalt on April 25, 2015, 14:28
The business case is simple: wall street places hundreds of millions of dollars of valuation on companies with communities even if they have no profit.

A forum archive is not going to be a measure of active participation in this context.

That just depends how visible the Archive is alongside any new forums. You just Need a sensible Visual Integration.

Their Money people should be able to come up with a presentation that makes the archive useful as a resource for newbies and visually attractive for the "story" of istock.

If they want the valutation and the money, they can make it look nice. even keeping them online and visible as is, would bring more value then deleting their whole online history.

Nothing wrong with building a new community centre. but I don't see why they need to lose valutation while doing it.

Quote from: cobalt on April 25, 2015, 15:13
Their Money people should be able to come up with a presentation that makes the archive useful as a resource for newbies and visually attractive for the "story" of istock.

Oh, I'm sure they could hire someone to write a highly edited and homogenised 'story' of iStock if they wanted to.
I'm sure they don't want a 'warts and all' history.

I have been exclusive for 7 years and didn't even get the email.