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Author Topic: Another Massive Best Match Shift  (Read 246865 times)

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« Reply #700 on: January 10, 2012, 17:40 »
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I certainly hope it picks up again. At the end of every quarter and of course every new year are deadlines when budgets are closed or opened and customers might decide to go elsewhere.

With all the bugs and high prices - how much incentive is there for customers to come to istock?

Has anything new and exciting been implemented for the customers lately?

So true, and I need to be where the customers are.


ShadySue

  • There is a crack in everything
« Reply #701 on: January 10, 2012, 17:54 »
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I go from 18K+ to 4K+ filtering from 'businessman' and adding 'reading', (FF8/Win7) but I've had a few search blips in FF, IE8 and Chrome, logged in or out, which others can't replicate.
Weirdnesses abound.

At times in autumn, I was regularly getting really small numbers for an open search on 'duck'. I just tried. I typed 'duck' in the top box, and got the suggestion 'duck (freshwater bird)', so I clicked on that - the search phrase separated in the left hand box to 'duck' and 'freshwater bird', so I only get 943 hits. And for most of these, 'freshwater bird' is inaccurate anyway as Mallards can be freshwater or sea, as can many species.
« Last Edit: January 10, 2012, 19:30 by ShadySue »

« Reply #702 on: January 10, 2012, 19:18 »
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Chrome on a Mac works fine - I get from 166K photos to 4K photos if I narrow the businessman search. I think there were a bunch of bugs IS acknowledged in IE8 and said use IE9 as a workaround while they fix it. I took that to mean there was a minuscule chance of getting a fix (it was accompanied by lots of mumbling about why IE8 wasn't a good release...)

Thanks for that. Maybe Istock are only interested in servicing customers using Chrome on a Mac then? That might explain why sales are so poor. I have absolutely no problem performing detailed searches on SS ... or DT ... or FT ... or Amazon ... or Google ... or anywhere but Istock in fact. I really, really can't believe how utterly useless the Istock development team appear to be. The number of 'bugs', downtime, security breaches, loss of basic functionality is almost beyond comprehension.

ShadySue

  • There is a crack in everything
« Reply #703 on: January 10, 2012, 19:32 »
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Has anything new and exciting been implemented for the customers lately?
Does it need to have been something that worked properly?

I bet many buyers would settle for things working properly, in particular search, rather than new and exciting stuff.

« Reply #704 on: January 11, 2012, 03:07 »
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can't get it to work in IE8, works okay on firefox.

You press the button to refine search and it doesn't do anything.

Hopeless.

« Reply #705 on: January 11, 2012, 03:27 »
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The January bug report thread said this is a known issue with IE8, and suggests using IE9.

« Reply #706 on: January 11, 2012, 04:01 »
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The January bug report thread said this is a known issue with IE8, and suggests using IE9.

How incredibly helpful! What a good thing it is that every customer checks the bug thread regularly to see if there is a work-around for the latest breakage.

I wonder if any customers have posted a complaint in the forum and had it deleted immediately without explanation  because it's not permitted to start threads about "known bugs".

Anyway, if the stupid customers aren't checking the forums regularly, that's their fault, isn't it? There's no reason for there to be any urgency about fixing something once it has been officially recognised as a "known bug" that customers are perfectly capable of avoiding if they only follow the instructions. If they can't be bothered to do that, that's their problem.

wut

« Reply #707 on: January 11, 2012, 04:27 »
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Anyway, if the stupid customers aren't checking the forums regularly, that's their fault, isn't it? There's no reason for there to be any urgency about fixing something once it has been officially recognised as a "known bug" that customers are perfectly capable of avoiding if they only follow the instructions. If they can't be bothered to do that, that's their problem.

Indeed. It looks that their customers are mainly half-literate rednecks who can barely figure out how to hold the mouse with their 4 fingers and click the buy button :) . But to think a bit more realistically, I think I just described their programmers ;D . Or they are some obsessive wankers, always with one eye on the pr0n and one hand in their pants, so it's no wonder nothing gets done :D

« Reply #708 on: January 11, 2012, 04:33 »
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Have you guys seen the bugs list lately?!  I try to avoid it as much as possible.  IS is in total meltdown mode.  :o 

http://www.istockphoto.com/forum_messages.php?threadid=338991&page=1

ShadySue

  • There is a crack in everything
« Reply #709 on: January 11, 2012, 05:54 »
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Anyway, if the stupid customers aren't checking the forums regularly, that's their fault, isn't it? There's no reason for there to be any urgency about fixing something once it has been officially recognised as a "known bug" that customers are perfectly capable of avoiding if they only follow the instructions. If they can't be bothered to do that, that's their problem.
Someone posted that the real bug was the 'known bug' thread. Once things got reported there they are in limbo: It's unlikely they will get fixed, but people aren't allowed to mention it again. Of course, that post got chopped.
« Last Edit: January 11, 2012, 06:42 by ShadySue »

ShadySue

  • There is a crack in everything
« Reply #710 on: January 11, 2012, 05:58 »
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The January bug report thread said this is a known issue with IE8, and suggests using IE9.
It's totally unacceptable that 'change your browser' should be necessary. Or even 'clear your cache (etc)' which is often given.
I have never had to do either to access any commercial site that I used. And wouldn't do it - there's always an alternative.

I'm told that Amazon still functions perfectly, if not quite as prettily, on even the old RiscOS browsers. iStock didn't even work on these when I started there in 2006 - though I'd imagine that the number of potential stock image customers there was microscropic.

« Reply #711 on: January 11, 2012, 06:33 »
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Using IE8 I've found adding words in the left side "Narrow Your Results" window has no effect to the search, the page doesn't refresh at all.
However , including extra words in the main search window at the top does dramatically, and accurately, narrow the search results.

You're only supposed to upload vector files that are compatible with Illustrator 8 or less (or is it 10 as well now?) to accommodate those using a stone age version of Illustrator and yet it is these same people who are most likely to be using an older browser.

« Reply #712 on: January 11, 2012, 06:49 »
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I'm beginning to wonder if this thread is appropriately titled.  Instead of " Another Massive Best Match Shift," shouldn't it be "Another Massive Best Match Break?"   :P  Gotta seriously wonder if the shifts aren't actually breakages at this point.

ShadySue

  • There is a crack in everything
« Reply #713 on: January 11, 2012, 08:40 »
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Search is definitely broken and crumbling/eroding by the hour. More and more search bugs being reported all the time, none getting fixed.

I'd be intrigued to know how much revenue was raised for iStock in terms of attracting new buyers or nudging old buyers to buy again by that Facebook ecard campaign they had before Christmas.
I'm guessing that it wouldn't be more than ditching social media for employing people who really know how to code Search functions.

Other than spam and ignorance in keywording, iStock used to have the best Search around (IMO), now it's about the worst. At least in these Good Old Days, if the keywording was good, the search was good; and BM2 was specifically designed to penalise poor keywording (though there were some unintended consequences).

wut

« Reply #714 on: January 11, 2012, 11:13 »
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I think this graph visualizes best match mess perfectly:



And I haven't had a single sale today. No other site, even those with not only fewer earnings, but also DLs, doesn't have so erratic sales.

Cogent Marketing

« Reply #715 on: January 11, 2012, 11:51 »
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I think Istock are STILL excluding indies on certain searches and favouring crowns.

Try entering 'valentine's day' as a search. Out of the first 200 images only FOUR images are from indies (and one of those is a blue flag). The first two pages in best match are all crowns (50 per page).

The sneaky *insult removed* are doing specific best match tweaks on current & popular search items.

I'm gonna try some others, like Mothering Sunday, Easter and St Patrick's day and then report back.

michealo

« Reply #716 on: January 11, 2012, 11:59 »
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I think Istock are STILL excluding indies on certain searches and favouring crowns.

so it is beneficial to be exclusive, now that surprises me, who would have thought ...

Cogent Marketing

« Reply #717 on: January 11, 2012, 12:05 »
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I'm gonna try some others, like Mothering Sunday, Easter and St Patrick's day and then report back.

Done it. Here are the results, pretty convincing that Indies are still being discriminated against in best match searches for these 'current popular' themes.

Mother's Day:    Only four indie files appear in the first 300 files in best match.

St Patrick's Day:    Six indie files in the first 200 files

Easter:    13 Indie files in the first 200 files.

Not fair, but what can we expect from them? Their track record of recent times is hardly endearing or professional.

« Reply #718 on: January 11, 2012, 12:06 »
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I'm amazed too. I thought all we exclusives wanted was this golden shiny crown...

wut

« Reply #719 on: January 11, 2012, 12:11 »
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Well at least I won't have to bother with their prehistoric, middle ages torture alike upload process for a while. Or forever.

CarlssonInc

« Reply #720 on: January 11, 2012, 12:28 »
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Well at least I won't have to bother with their prehistoric, middle ages torture alike upload process for a while. Or forever.

What is wrong with DeepMeta, which is also supported by iStock?

« Reply #721 on: January 11, 2012, 12:34 »
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Well at least I won't have to bother with their prehistoric, middle ages torture alike upload process for a while. Or forever.

What is wrong with DeepMeta, which is also supported by iStock?

I also found DeepMeta, the CV, and the whole process to be a PITA.   Some of the dislike is subjective - we saw prices going down while hoop-jumping was increasing.

lisafx

« Reply #722 on: January 11, 2012, 12:36 »
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I think Istock are STILL excluding indies on certain searches and favouring crowns.

so it is beneficial to be exclusive, now that surprises me, who would have thought ...

Can you point me to where near total exclusion of non-exclusive files in searches was touted as an exclusive benefit?  I've been on Istock for 7 years, and while there was always an exclusive bias, customers used to be presented with a reasonable choice of indy images too.    

Customers expect "best match" to best suit their search terms, not to be a way of further padding the company's bottom line.  If a customer wanted to see only exclusive images, that has always been an option.  No need to incorporate it into best match.  GOOD exclusive images and talented artists have always been able to stand on their own without rigging the game.

wut

« Reply #723 on: January 11, 2012, 12:36 »
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Well at least I won't have to bother with their prehistoric, middle ages torture alike upload process for a while. Or forever.

What is wrong with DeepMeta, which is also supported by iStock?

IMO, it's not much of an improvement, you still have to tick through all that boxes. Besides it's ultra unintuitive, it turns me away from using it. It only reflects their level of programming incompetence, really.

« Reply #724 on: January 11, 2012, 12:43 »
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Customers expect "best match" to best suit their search terms, not to be a way of further padding the company's bottom line.

It really isn't "best match" anymore, is it?   And I don't think they realize how transparent these schemes are, how the word will spread that IS shows you what they want to sell you.   They're poisoning their own well.


 

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