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Agency Based Discussion => iStockPhoto.com => Topic started by: thaimacky on April 16, 2010, 05:32

Title: after server problems more picky?
Post by: thaimacky on April 16, 2010, 05:32
i didn't have keyword rejections at IS for a long, long time. but after their server was down i got two within two days.

first one  - keywords do not appear to be fully relevant were: heart shape, chinese ethnicity

(http://www.gastroprint.net/nui_11b.jpg)

second one  - keywords do not appear to be fully relevant were: isolated (cut out), smiling, success

(http://www.gastroprint.net/nui_12b.jpg)

hmmmm  ???  ???  ???
anyone else facing similar experiences after server went down?

cheers
mac
Title: Re: after server problems more picky?
Post by: gostwyck on April 16, 2010, 05:48
No. The inspections are undertaken by humans so nothing to do with the servers.

The girl looks to be Thai, is described as Thai (and therefore presumably is Thai) so describing her as 'Chinese' is simply wrong. Do you think all Asian people look the same then? Once you start down the road of trying to stretch your keywords they'll rightly hammer you.
Title: Re: after server problems more picky?
Post by: thaimacky on April 16, 2010, 06:07
ok, she is thai - accepted. what about the other keywords?
Title: Re: after server problems more picky?
Post by: gostwyck on April 16, 2010, 06:14
'Success' is a bit of a stretch isn't it? Sometimes you do get daft keyword rejections but it is just part of the game __ modify the image, re-upload and move on.
Title: Re: after server problems more picky?
Post by: Sean Locke Photography on April 16, 2010, 08:30
Can't comment on keywording without links to the images.
Title: Re: after server problems more picky?
Post by: cathyslife on April 16, 2010, 08:37
Can't comment on keywording without links to the images.
He/she had the images pasted in above, but it appears he/she deleted them.
Title: Re: after server problems more picky?
Post by: fotografer on April 16, 2010, 09:33
I  can see them.
Title: Re: after server problems more picky?
Post by: gostwyck on April 16, 2010, 09:42
He/she had the images pasted in above, but it appears he/she deleted them.

I can see the images in the original post.

The deliberate mis-keywording of Thai subjects as Chinese and vice versa is one of my pet hates. It makes about as much sense as labelling something clearly Italian as being 'Swedish'. You see it all the time in food especially. It is astonishing the number of images that apparently correspond to 'Thai food' but have chopsticks in view. I've spent the best part of a year in Thailand, over the course of 10 visits, and have yet to see anyone using chopsticks.
Title: Re: after server problems more picky?
Post by: sharply_done on April 16, 2010, 09:43
The only bad keyword I see is "chinese ethnicity", but that's a judgement call - I'll bet you've got a few Thai models who sell well with the "chinese" keyword. The rest look okay to me.

On a related note, I put effort into keeping on top of my keywords, and it irks me when the inspector/reviewer takes issue with some of them: I put them in there because buyers are actually using them to find my images. I wish I could say that as an exclusive I don't get images rejected because an inspector objects to a few keywords, but I suspect that on a borderline image, "bad" keywords tip the scale enough to have the image rejected.
Title: Re: after server problems more picky?
Post by: Sean Locke Photography on April 16, 2010, 09:45
Sorry, they didn't show up the first time for me.  Keywords look fine to me.
Title: Re: after server problems more picky?
Post by: thaimacky on April 16, 2010, 09:49
i didn't delete the pics. i can still see them...  :)
Title: Re: after server problems more picky?
Post by: ShadySue on April 16, 2010, 12:17
He/she had the images pasted in above, but it appears he/she deleted them.

I can see the images in the original post.

The deliberate mis-keywording of Thai subjects as Chinese and vice versa is one of my pet hates. It makes about as much sense as labelling something clearly Italian as being 'Swedish'.

According to Sean in the Greek Yogurt thread, ethnicity doesn't matter in keywords. I'd have thought it did (how's that different from describing a beach as Caribbean, Indian Ocean, and Meditterranean, except that maybe the beach would be easier found out), but I'm not exactly the expert on models!
This girl certainly looks Thai rather than Chinese. Very pretty model. :-)
Title: Re: after server problems more picky?
Post by: FD on April 16, 2010, 19:38
but I suspect that on a borderline image, "bad" keywords tip the scale enough to have the image rejected.
Correct. You will see images accepted that have the note "not fully relevant keywords: ...", and images rejected because of keywords. If you resubmit these with offending keywords removed, they almost always get rejected for another reason. That's something very annoying, this cascade of rejections for always different reasons, wasting upload slots.
Title: Re: after server problems more picky?
Post by: sharply_done on April 16, 2010, 19:52
Well, yes and no.

What I mean to say is that as an exclusive I don't get images rejected solely for "bad" keywords, but I think that if the inspector sees the image as borderline and is looking for that little something else to make it a reject, one or two "bad" keywords just might fit that bill. Then it's reject for such-and-such reason, and oh - you've got bad keywords, too. If the image wasn't "good enough", why would the inspector even bother to look at the keywords?

As far as wasting upload slots goes, I guess I'm in the minority in that once I got to gold level as an independent at iStock, I rarely bumped into them. Uploading 25 or 30 images a week is enough to keep me busy and build up enough in reserve so I can take some time off from shooting/processing and still have fresh stuff to upload. Some days I'd rather just hang out or go to the beach or ski rather than work - it's a lifestyle thing.
Title: Re: after server problems more picky?
Post by: pet_chia on April 16, 2010, 20:43
Every so often it seems you get someone who's maybe a newb inspector trying to follow the letter of the law (or an embittered old one) who complains about keywords ... like it's a picture of a pencil sharpener but there isn't a pencil in the picture so you shouldn't have included the word "pencil".  So you just cut down the keywords to the minimum, get it approved and later on do a bit of judicious keyword amendment.
Title: Re: after server problems more picky?
Post by: ShadySue on April 17, 2010, 03:13
If the image wasn't "good enough", why would the inspector even bother to look at the keywords?
Because that's part of what they're paid to do.
Title: Re: after server problems more picky?
Post by: cathyslife on April 17, 2010, 09:04
Sorry, they didn't show up the first time for me.  Keywords look fine to me.

After I read this post, they didn't show up for me either. Now they are back. Maybe just a busy internet day and they were loading very slowly.
Title: Re: after server problems more picky?
Post by: jsm123 on April 18, 2010, 21:05
No. The inspections are undertaken by humans so nothing to do with the servers.

The girl looks to be Thai, is described as Thai (and therefore presumably is Thai) so describing her as 'Chinese' is simply wrong. Do you think all Asian people look the same then? Once you start down the road of trying to stretch your keywords they'll rightly hammer you.

Agree 110%.  How incredibly ignorant. 
Title: Re: after server problems more picky?
Post by: madelaide on April 18, 2010, 22:06
I am very white with light brown hair, often confused as European, but I am 100% Brazilian.  Is it incorrect then to have "South American" and "Latin American" as keywords in an image of myself?  Hypothetically, as I don't shoot myself.

It's curious because I have seen many times the ethnic group maps with "European" and "Latin American" (also often described as "Hispanic" or "Latino"), but the latter is a big mixture of native, European, African and Asian peoples.  And we Brazilians are not Hispanic, our language is Latin/Romance, family names are mostly Portuguese/Italian/Spanish (even the natives and Africans adopted the family names of their owners).
Title: Re: after server problems more picky?
Post by: ap on April 18, 2010, 22:26
No. The inspections are undertaken by humans so nothing to do with the servers.

The girl looks to be Thai, is described as Thai (and therefore presumably is Thai) so describing her as 'Chinese' is simply wrong. Do you think all Asian people look the same then? Once you start down the road of trying to stretch your keywords they'll rightly hammer you.

Agree 110%.  How incredibly ignorant.  

i think it's kind of difficult to see if she's thai or chinese, but i guess, gostwyck, you have your ID down to a science. however, it's accurate to say she's asian or either chinese or thai (if she is one or the other), but not both. but, then, she could even be eurasian or half chinese/half thai. it's not that cut and dry with ethnicities these days. but, i get your point about trying to pass someone off as chinese just because it's a bigger market.