All together now, let's sing the Bluegrass song:

All the good times have past and gone
All the good times are over
All the good times have past and gone
Little darlin', don't you weep no more

Yes!! For the vast majority of contributors the gold rush ended several years ago. I started in 2006 (near the end of the golden age). I have not counted but suspect the number of images available to a buyer has gone up by a multiple of 10s of millions at least since then. The agencies do not need any one or even a selected handful of contributors, thus they don't need to care about us. I suspect they are doing well enough.
The other thing I have been watching is the increased use of FREE photos.  In lectures, online coursed, magazines, web design. When I check the credits, 80% or more are sourced for free.
What kind of idiot is buying my stuff when much of it is available for nothing online?
It was exactly like a gold rush, a few hit it rich early on, nearly everyone late to the game did not earn much, and the suppliers of food, equipment, and transportation were the big long term winners. Not those digging in the mud actually producing the commodity.  Yes a few late comers have done well, but a very, very tiny percentage of contributors can make it worthwhile.

As long as photographers are willing to sell and image for 25 cents then we will have this mess.  I am preaching to myself as much as anyone, but that is the bottom line.  Even if we got a website going or a guild or a union it wouldn't matter because there will always be some photog in a second or third world country willing to shoot for pennies.  We might be able to have a go in the first world countries, but it would still be tough.  Welcome to globalization.

Third world country, heck, there are citizens of the US who are willing to work this way. Not just photographers...I run into it all the time with some freelance design jobs. The downside of globalization. 

mcuda, I would be carefull with making generalization like you did. Trust me, many people in third world have more honour and self respect than people in first world. I suggest you to be more carefull to not injure others 

He didn't generalise, he said there would always be SOMEONE, that's not a generalisation. If he had said "all the togs in the Third World would shoot for pennies" that would have been an insulting generalisation. It's actually you who are generalising by effectively claiming that nobody in the Third World would do that, and then you decide that working for low wages shows a lack of self-respect, which it doesn't. You put your misinterpretations together and manage to make yourself feel insulted.

Oh golly gosh darn almighty here we have a discussion about stock issues and the serially offended have managed to find it and indulge in virtue signalling.

Judging by the stock submissions these days it's Russians, Ukrainians and the entire population of Thailand cranking out images these days. 


As to good times they disappeared long ago, you are all just squabbling over the dry bones of what was once a lucrative income stream, you pounced on it and sucked it dry 

Quote from: Teddy the Cat on April 05, 2016, 09:44

Oh golly gosh darn almighty here we have a discussion about stock issues and the serially offended have managed to find it and indulge in virtue signalling.

Judging by the stock submissions these days it's Russians, Ukrainians and the entire population of Thailand cranking out images these days. 


As to good times they disappeared long ago, you are all just squabbling over the dry bones of what was once a lucrative income stream, you pounced on it and sucked it dry 

Ezekiel connected dem dry bones, but nobody can connect what's left of Microstock. We didn't suck it dry, the places and people you refer to did that. Good times are gone and it's never going to get better.

SS quietly passed 80,000,000 this week.

Amen to that

it's now an excercise in turd polishing  (my new favorite phrase)

The microstock powers that be just see the counter clicking up to 100 billion and it will never be enough

No quality control anymore, junk and spam and turds allowed in the door

It's an excercise in lunacy 

Quote from: Teddy the Cat on April 05, 2016, 09:44

Oh golly gosh darn almighty here we have a discussion about stock issues and the serially offended have managed to find it and indulge in virtue signalling.

Judging by the stock submissions these days it's Russians, Ukrainians and the entire population of Thailand cranking out images these days. 


As to good times they disappeared long ago, you are all just squabbling over the dry bones of what was once a lucrative income stream, you pounced on it and sucked it dry 

Ezekiel connected dem dry bones, but nobody can connect what's left of Microstock. We didn't suck it dry, the places and people you refer to did that. Good times are gone and it's never going to get better.

SS quietly passed 80,000,000 this week.

It's kinda funny sitting here seeing people complaining about Eastern Europeans wrecking the market. I recall when I started, 12 years ago this month, all the people on DPReview and Alamy complaining I, and the handful like me, were ruining the market when all we were doing was getting ready to enjoy "the good times".  What's happened is nothing to do with people of any particular nationality, it's simply the logical outcome of technology and demand.
It's also funny to see people go on about good times being when prices were higher - actually, prices haven't really changed much in a decade if you analyse overall earnings per download. What's happened is that sales volume per file has fallen (though the picture for IS exclusives will be different, but most of us aren't and some never were).

Quote from: BaldricksTrousers on April 05, 2016, 23:57

Quote from: YadaYadaYada on April 05, 2016, 10:04

Quote from: Teddy the Cat on April 05, 2016, 09:44

Oh golly gosh darn almighty here we have a discussion about stock issues and the serially offended have managed to find it and indulge in virtue signalling.

Judging by the stock submissions these days it's Russians, Ukrainians and the entire population of Thailand cranking out images these days. 


As to good times they disappeared long ago, you are all just squabbling over the dry bones of what was once a lucrative income stream, you pounced on it and sucked it dry 

Ezekiel connected dem dry bones, but nobody can connect what's left of Microstock. We didn't suck it dry, the places and people you refer to did that. Good times are gone and it's never going to get better.

SS quietly passed 80,000,000 this week.

It's kinda funny sitting here seeing people complaining about Eastern Europeans wrecking the market. I recall when I started, 12 years ago this month, all the people on DPReview and Alamy complaining I, and the handful like me, were ruining the market when all we were doing was getting ready to enjoy "the good times".  What's happened is nothing to do with people of any particular nationality, it's simply the logical outcome of technology and demand.
It's also funny to see people go on about good times being when prices were higher - actually, prices haven't really changed much in a decade if you analyse overall earnings per download. What's happened is that sales volume per file has fallen (though the picture for IS exclusives will be different, but most of us aren't and some never were).

My tongue was firmly in my cheek when referring to Russkians, Ukrainiats and Thailandishers

 

However when you look; there they are with 10,000+ stock images in each portfolio

They add over 1000 a week http://www.microstock.top/index.phtml?sort=added maybe your joke was more true then you thought. Look at the country. Russian Federation, Ukraine, Romania, Serbia and Asian.

Goshhhhh I saw some of those portfolios........are you sure there are humans creating those files or just computers run by some aleatory program.......similars,garbage.similars....garbage.......The weed galore is a piece of art in comparison with some of those portfolios....Shutterstock might like to brag about file number in their collection.......lets see if it runs well for them in the long run,.....

I know one thing for sure....I don't want to be part of it.........I am happy to not be part of it.....

Quote from: Teddy the Cat on April 06, 2016, 05:27

Quote from: BaldricksTrousers on April 05, 2016, 23:57

Quote from: YadaYadaYada on April 05, 2016, 10:04

Quote from: Teddy the Cat on April 05, 2016, 09:44

Oh golly gosh darn almighty here we have a discussion about stock issues and the serially offended have managed to find it and indulge in virtue signalling.

Judging by the stock submissions these days it's Russians, Ukrainians and the entire population of Thailand cranking out images these days. 


As to good times they disappeared long ago, you are all just squabbling over the dry bones of what was once a lucrative income stream, you pounced on it and sucked it dry 

Ezekiel connected dem dry bones, but nobody can connect what's left of Microstock. We didn't suck it dry, the places and people you refer to did that. Good times are gone and it's never going to get better.

SS quietly passed 80,000,000 this week.

It's kinda funny sitting here seeing people complaining about Eastern Europeans wrecking the market. I recall when I started, 12 years ago this month, all the people on DPReview and Alamy complaining I, and the handful like me, were ruining the market when all we were doing was getting ready to enjoy "the good times".  What's happened is nothing to do with people of any particular nationality, it's simply the logical outcome of technology and demand.
It's also funny to see people go on about good times being when prices were higher - actually, prices haven't really changed much in a decade if you analyse overall earnings per download. What's happened is that sales volume per file has fallen (though the picture for IS exclusives will be different, but most of us aren't and some never were).

My tongue was firmly in my cheek when referring to Russkians, Ukrainiats and Thailandishers

 

However when you look; there they are with 10,000+ stock images in each portfolio

They add over 1000 a week http://www.microstock.top/index.phtml?sort=added maybe your joke was more true then you thought. Look at the country. Russian Federation, Ukraine, Romania, Serbia and Asian.

What a fascinating list!

What is very interesting besides the image factories is how many contributors no longer upload.

No wonder SS have opened the floodgates to all comers.

Any idea what the % of sales column indicates? EDIT: It seems to be the percentage of items in your portfolio that have sold

Addendum: Looking at those tables the one thing that is very apparent is that there are some really huge ports out there with very poor sales.

Checking those ports it's the ones with poor quality images, repetitve images (usually vectors) and poor keywords.

Even Africa Studio with 848230 images adding over 5,000 per week only sold 47% of their images

Quote from: YadaYadaYada on April 07, 2016, 09:40

Quote from: Teddy the Cat on April 06, 2016, 05:27

Quote from: BaldricksTrousers on April 05, 2016, 23:57

Quote from: YadaYadaYada on April 05, 2016, 10:04

Quote from: Teddy the Cat on April 05, 2016, 09:44

Oh golly gosh darn almighty here we have a discussion about stock issues and the serially offended have managed to find it and indulge in virtue signalling.

Judging by the stock submissions these days it's Russians, Ukrainians and the entire population of Thailand cranking out images these days. 


As to good times they disappeared long ago, you are all just squabbling over the dry bones of what was once a lucrative income stream, you pounced on it and sucked it dry 

Ezekiel connected dem dry bones, but nobody can connect what's left of Microstock. We didn't suck it dry, the places and people you refer to did that. Good times are gone and it's never going to get better.

SS quietly passed 80,000,000 this week.

It's kinda funny sitting here seeing people complaining about Eastern Europeans wrecking the market. I recall when I started, 12 years ago this month, all the people on DPReview and Alamy complaining I, and the handful like me, were ruining the market when all we were doing was getting ready to enjoy "the good times".  What's happened is nothing to do with people of any particular nationality, it's simply the logical outcome of technology and demand.
It's also funny to see people go on about good times being when prices were higher - actually, prices haven't really changed much in a decade if you analyse overall earnings per download. What's happened is that sales volume per file has fallen (though the picture for IS exclusives will be different, but most of us aren't and some never were).

My tongue was firmly in my cheek when referring to Russkians, Ukrainiats and Thailandishers

 

However when you look; there they are with 10,000+ stock images in each portfolio

They add over 1000 a week http://www.microstock.top/index.phtml?sort=added maybe your joke was more true then you thought. Look at the country. Russian Federation, Ukraine, Romania, Serbia and Asian.

What a fascinating list!

What is very interesting besides the image factories is how many contributors no longer upload.

No wonder SS have opened the floodgates to all comers.

Any idea what the % of sales column indicates? EDIT: It seems to be the percentage of items in your portfolio that have sold

Addendum: Looking at those tables the one thing that is very apparent is that there are some really huge ports out there with very poor sales.

Checking those ports it's the ones with poor quality images, repetitve images (usually vectors) and poor keywords.

Even Africa Studio with 848230 images adding over 5,000 per week only sold 47% of their images

It's definitely % of portfolio sold. Which means that Africa Studio has sold 400,000 of their images at least once. My % currently stands around 72%, which means I still have some improving to do.

One of RawPixel's best sellers competes against one of my top sellers. They probably get at least 5000 downloads a day with that massive portfolio.

when u think micro is lost i add a big sales 110 dollar in restock, where probably i stop uploading 3 years ago and have only 200 image:...aso gunny..

i plan to upload a lot this year, have a bulk of images ready.

about ukraine russia...i wrote many times. production cost in this city are the cheapest in the world....i talk about ukraine...studio? probably 20 euro a day...model? the level of beauty and talento in soviet counties is unlimited...everuy girl is photogenic and ready to pose in 5 minutes...often for free, just the experience of studio make up and free photos is for many girl impossible to refuse...