Zymmetrical is the best

[georgeflopos]

I posted some images at www.zymmetrical.com [nofollow].
Unlike other microstock, you can set your own price to your images. It is great. I already sold a few images since they work closly with a company called flyerstarter.com that makes flyers for parties and DJ. Although  they are still in Beta, they have multiple languages already and can handle fonts, video, graphics, you name it.
They also have support for a lot of credit cards and can give back 50% of your sales.
definitely a website to keep an eye on....

My 5 cents.

George

[CJPhoto]

Is this your site.  I am always suspicious when some one promotes a new site with their first post.

[Pixart]

I browsed for a milisecond and saw this...  Can't find anything about being either model released or editorial.  Surely all those easily identifyable faces can't be released? 

[Bateleur]

Hmmm ... this sound suspiciously like a puff from the management/owner disguised as an independent recommendation.

Can you tell us your relationship with Zymmetrical, George? How do you know so much about the companies they work with, and their marketing strategy?

[georgeflopos]

Wow, Paranoia runs deep here. I had many exchange with its founder Keith who is very accessible and friendly. He told me about it. You can do the same. also there is information on there wiki and Blog.
I am always on the lookout of new places to sell my images, especially new ones because the less they are contributor, the more i make,.
Istockphoto is full of pros that have both the time and money to make great picture. I cannot compete with that. can you ?

[HughStoneIan]

Hmm. Didn't even bother to change his name after joining the other big micro forum and immediately began promoting this new site on a DT-problems thread.  Sheesh!

[yingyang0]

Wow, Paranoia runs deep here...

It's not paranoia when it's obvious you're connected with the site and you're trying to pimp your site for financial gain. Flame on!

[vicu]

I am always on the lookout of new places to sell my images,

Hey there George,
Sorry about all the hostility. I'm sure that if you just offer up one or two portfolio links to the multiple sites for which you are a contributor, it will squash all these nasty suspicions that you are some pathetic site owner using a fake identity to lure contributors to your site.

I know that's not true, is it, George? So, come on, just post those links and then we can get on with this fascinating discussion.

[Bateleur]

Wow, Paranoia runs deep here.

No ... not paranoia. It's now pretty obvious that you're somehow connected with Zymmetrical. (And, incidentally, it's pretty easy to fling the word 'paranoia' about in the hope of getting everyone to say, 'Me ... I'm not paranoid.' and back off nervously in case anyone thinks they are paranoid. Go and check the psychological symptoms of paranoia.) 

I don't believe anyone on this forum has any objection to individuals who own or work for stock sites posting here. In fact most people welcome it. I know I do. We have Bryan from LO and SteveOh from SX and Achilles from DT plus a number of others and even ... once I believe ... Jon from Shutterstock. It's great and very welcome.

I think what most people object to is someone coming on here, pretending to be an unbiased voice and pushing a stock site as a 'great' place to sell your work without revealing their connection.

And as for ...

Istockphoto is full of pros that have both the time and money to make great picture. I cannot compete with that. can you ?

Yes. I can and I do. Haven't you got any ambition?

[FreedomFriesnBruisedEgos]

hahaha this is so blatantly a pimping thread!

[ZymmMan]

Hi all,

Let me jump in. Before anyone accuses me of anything, let me introduce myself. I am the Chief Knowledge Officer of Zymmetrical.

A few thoughts and comment :

- I do not know George and I believe he is one of our members. He is not on the management team. And even if he was, what would be so wrong in informing everyone of a new website that could be interesting? Since we have a very interesting referral program that pays back 10 % of visual sold, including your own, he might be looking to increasing his revenue. Again, what is wrong with that?

- Zymmetrical is not a microstock. Never has been and never will be. It is a visual portal that offers a wide range of content. We have video, fonts, graphics along with stills. Furthermore, we do not price our content, our members do. We leave Microstock to big corporate giants like Getty or Corbis.

- We have not officially launched yet so it would be premature for us to publicize a site that still need some tweaking. And, although we are still in Beta, we already generate sales for some of our members. Not huge numbers, but for a site that hasn't been launched, it is pretty impressive.

- We are not interested in the microstock model and I am surprised that our site was even mentioned here. If some of you had taken the time to look at our site instead of harassing a new member whose only wrongdoing was maybe a little too much enthusiasm, you would have noticed that.

- If any here would like to make comments on our site and make some suggestions, either positive or negative, that would be great. We welcome any feedback at this stage. Since some of you have valuable experience with other similar sites. We do not ask for you to upload images since we have a different business model than yours, only comments and suggestions.

Should you have any questions or would like to check on me and my background, you can visit either www.zymmetrical.com or go to my personal site www.melchersystem.com.

sincerely

Paul Melcher

[HughStoneIan]

Wow!  Curiouser and curiouser.....  Paul Melcher is the same guy who wrote the blog-article which was the subject of this recent thread here, the one about lords and serfs on microstock:

http://www.microstockgroup.com/index.php?topic=2145.0

He probably wasn't aware of that thread.  This may get interesting.....or maybe not.

[vicu]

Oh boy. Well, if we had any doubts about whether we should join, that should definitely clear them up.

[a.k.a.-tom]

Istockphoto is full of pros that have both the time and money to make great picture. I cannot compete with that. can you ?

Yea, daily.   And more successfully every day.  As do many, many members here on MSG.  If you think the members here just bought their first camera yesterday,  you're sadly mistaken.    And as for paranoia,  we've all been down this road before.     -tom

 

[FreedomFriesnBruisedEgos]

Hey Paul Melcher- since your site isnt microstock, and youre surprised that it was mentioned here, and youre (erm) clearly not friends with the guy who started this thread... How come you just happened to stumble upon this thread? Its only been up for a day or so... Bizarre coincidence, if you ask me.

[ZymmMan]

This forum is like walking in a bar full of drunken rednecks who all believe they are CIA agents.

For those who would like to know how I knew about this post, I suggest they check out "Google Alerts". Not really rocket science but it does imply that you stop checking your miserable earnings for a while and have a curious mind.

I have yet to see a constructive post about what you think about Zymmetrical.com and its functionalities. Instead of judging the product you try and judge the person behind the post, a bit as if you entered a store and would immediately go to a sales person and tell them they suck. I am not sure I understand the process. Do you feel better after that ?

Again, please rest assure that we are not interested in your images . Our site is NOT for cynical microstockers who spend more time on forums that they do shooting images.

We have great members who are  passionate about photography. As you might know, freedomsomething , akaTom, vicu, and hughstonelan, it is always a bad idea to mix fine champagne with cheep beer.

Best to you,

Paul Melcher
(my real name , BTW)

[vicu]

If you are the same Paul Melcher who wrote the blogs of baseless crap that were so far removed from reality as to be surreal, then how surreal it is to come here and speak of folks being judgmental.

[dbvirago]

From the home page of Zymm.

The most balanced collection of royalty-free stock photos, graphics, fonts and video all available for instant download.

How is this not microstock? And if the image posted above is any indication it's clear which one is the cheap beer.

But you're right, the world needs another place to upload cell phone photos and videos.

Also, you may want to polish your marekting skills. You just told 739 people to piss off.

[vicu]

Also, you may want to polish your marekting skills. You just told 739 people to piss off.

No need for that. Unless they have reallllly deep pocketbooks. As soon as one of those celebrities gets wind that their image is being sold without their permission for commercial usage... well, let's just say it will all be over but the girl in the cowboy hat with the discolored pixels all over her body finally falling off that barstool.

Then all we "indescribably wealthy" hobbyists can go about practicing our pastime and eating our bon-bons while others get rich off our ignorance. 

[HughStoneIan]

I don't think the post even deserves a reply. His emotional ranting speaks for itself. I did have an idea, though, after looking over their site. It looks like it would be a great place to dump your MS rejected shots if you have no other use for them, as long as you sold under a different name of course.  From what I saw, the rejects of many folks on this site would put their stuff to shame. You might actually make a $ or 2.
Well, I gotta mosey outta here and check on my "miserable earnings."  Y'all "cynical redneck" microstockers have a nice day!

[Bateleur]

Hey folks ... maybe this would be a good point to cool it a bit 

What set everyone off (myself included) was an apparent 'puff' for a new site - a first posting from a complete newcomer, in a matey tone, extolling the virtues of a new site. "Hey guys and gals, get a load of this! I'm tellin' ya, Zymmetrical is going to be the best thing since sliced bread!"

Of course, the internet being what it is, everyone was immediately suspicious and said 'This is some new microstock site creator, trying to drum up images for his/her business'.

Why did we say that? Because it's not the first time this has happened. And it got up my nose ... and maybe others' too ... because I like people to be open. I mean, why not just say, "I've started this new site and I want you to join." We'd probably all check it out and join, or not, as the inclination took us.

Well ... maybe George is connected with the Zymmetrical. Maybe he isn't. It's all water under the bridge now.

And, okay, Zymmetrical doesn't have an awful lot of images yet. We've all got to start somewhere.

And there could be copyright/model release problems with some of them. That's Zymmetrical's and the individual photog's problem.

And the 'Chief Knowledge Officer' (whatever that title means) has written a contentious article on a blog somewhere. Well, we're all entitled to express our views (and have whatever job titles we're given).

I've taken a look at Zymmetrical and, it seems to me they do have some interesting ideas and a fair approach.

Maybe it's time to give them an even break   

[pauloresende]

It�s hard to my to understand a person o have a company how need to have the work of another people and came to the place were he can find this kind of peoples and instead of be kind, try to promote the best features of his company. Try to make us believe in the best intentions of the company, and no!! He call us names and make fun of the work of every body in here.
With that kind of attitude you (Paul Melcher) and Zymmetrical don�t go far!

[zymmetricaldotcom]

Hi Guys,

Thought i'd jump in, because Paul mentioned this discussion and it's not really a scenario that makes me happy. 

I'm the creator of the business. I actually posted here (http://www.microstockgroup.com/index.php?topic=876.msg6859) last January because I use the same method that I passed on to Paul for monitoring our 'branding' as it is, using Google Alerts to see where the name comes up.  Since Zymmetrical is a unique name, it's pretty easy to track it's buzz on the net. 

This forum is great as it seems to be the first honest 3rd party discourse on the Microstock industry. Mind you, just as Paul is, I am of an opinion that Microstock in it's present (if such a new genre can be 'present') form is unsustainable in the long run. That's neither here nor there; on the Zymmetrical beta you can see how we are working towards a compromise between the 2 extremes of the industry.

Bateleur, thank you for your cool head. Paul is originally from France and I think they message forum/blog like they drive: very opinionated.         

Some of those older photos, like the 'Flyerstarter.com' watermarked one, are a crossover from the earlier site roots at Flyerstarter - will they be axed in the future? Lot's of them, yes. Right now we are focusing 110% on the system itself. Big photo counts are great but this will come naturally when the system is fine tuned. 

I can honestly say at present the rejection rate is around 75% for photos - no matter what you do, how bold you make the text, if you accept photos from the general public, the vast majority are just like - 'ughhhh.. come on, another grainy shot of your dog!!'.   This is why we are at 50% commission and not 90% or such,  it really is labor-intensive work by people with a lifetime of photography/design involvement.   

For the particular gogo girl cowboy hat picture crucified already; the photog is good friend of mine from Bremen, Germany, and the particular scenario was an MTV event where every last person signed a waiver to be on TV/Photographed. 

'Chief Knowledge Officer' - check it on Wikipedia. I brought Paul on the board of directors and figured, what ., why give him a stuffy old title. It describes him acutely: a decades-long career worth of knowledge in this industry, guiding myself who is younger, and a child of the digital age. When I was 12 in '91 I ran digital art groups making ASCII and nouveau VGA art for hacker groups, it's just something i've always been into.  Back then, no money was involved in creative design on the BBS's, just respect and prestige.   

Now business is completely entrenched on online communications, and everything has a price - this business does not forget the respect part, I urge anyone reading this message to give Zymmetrical a fair shake and share an opinion or two.   

Cheers,
Keith

     

[Bateleur]

Hi Guys,

'Chief Knowledge Officer' - check it on Wikipedia.

I checked it. The very first thing written is:

This article or section appears to contain a large number of buzzwords and may require cleanup.

Sorry ... couldn't resist that.    Now back to the discussion in hand ...

[yingyang0]

'Chief Knowledge Officer' - check it on Wikipedia. I brought Paul on the board of directors and figured, what ., why give him a stuffy old title. It describes him acutely: a decades-long career worth of knowledge in this industry, guiding myself who is younger, and a child of the digital age. When I was 12 in '91 I ran digital art groups making ASCII and nouveau VGA art for hacker groups, it's just something i've always been into.  Back then, no money was involved in creative design on the BBS's, just respect and prestige.   

I did check it out on wikipedia and here's what I found:
"CKOs must have skills across a wide variety of areas. They must be good at developing/understanding the big picture, advocacy (articulation, promotion and justification of the knowledge agenda, sometimes against cynicism or even open hostility), ...and interpersonal skills."

Any CKO that tells a bunch of potential customers and contributors they're not welcome in an extremely rude way needs to go wiki their own job title. Just my opinion.