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Author Topic: When they tun off the tap?  (Read 10309 times)

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« Reply #25 on: August 04, 2011, 01:25 »
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How about a conspiracy theory to play with. It's in their best interest to not have people reach the next level. Could the best match be configured to throttle people back in the search who are on target to hit the next level?

Jan through June were strong for me and I was on track to hit the 35% level by the end of 2011. July dropped almost 40% in revenue for me and so far the first few days of August have been down over half of a normal day for me. Coincidence?
It probably is just a coincidence because it was quite common to get a 40% drop in revenue in the days before the commission cuts.  It had stabilised a bit for me in recent years but I'm not surprised by anything that happens there any more.  It must be horrible to get a 40% drop as an exclusive.  If they're doing this on purpose, it's just going to make more people give up the crown and bolster their rival sites.


ShadySue

  • There is a crack in everything
« Reply #26 on: August 04, 2011, 06:39 »
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There's some sort of problem with ELs, at least within my port, that I'm trying to sort out. i.e. files going to the bottom of the search showing as ELs not available, yet when I go into them an try to tick them, the tick is already there, also in DM.
So I was just checking as a few days ago some of my very recent Dublin acceptances were near the bottom of a search on Dublin. So I searched 'Dublin' and got 0 results:

In this case, refreshing brought the images to view (which the other search I mentioned above didn't), but really, should someone know to have to 'refresh' to see results?

ADDED: I just went back and tried again and got 0 results after 5 refreshes. I guess they'd say, "Clear your cookies and cache", but honestly, should we have to do that? (More often than not, when doing that, it hasn't solved the problem.) What if we want to keep our cookies and caches for whatever reason? I don't visit the other micros often enough to know if that's a problem there, but Alamy is an image-rich site and I've never had to 'clear cookies and cache' to get search results there.
ADDED (2): the Dublin thing might be a Firefox problem - I just tried in IE, logged out, and it worked fine. Still refreshing and re-searching isn't bringing up the images in FF 5.0.1/Win7.
Added (3):  However, I searched 'horse' and got the usual gazillions of images, then searched Dublin and got pics.
Interesting best match mix. Some of my pics on the first page, one accepted so recently it wasn't in my port three hours ago is well down on page 10 (EL is ticked).
« Last Edit: August 04, 2011, 06:55 by ShadySue »

« Reply #27 on: August 04, 2011, 09:38 »
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Yes, I noticed the same problem in search too.

The question remains, does it affect the DL performance of the entire portfolio?

WarrenPrice

« Reply #28 on: August 04, 2011, 10:09 »
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I'm too new to know anything about procedures at iS, but ... I'm buying in to the conspiracy theory (always have)   ;D

It seems to be "event driven."  Get close to a payout and it kicks in to delay paying. That is at many sites.  
Closing in on an upgrade (raise in commission) ... yep, you get "slowed down."  
Yep.. I'm paranoid.  But that doesn't mean they are not out to get me.   ;D ;D ;D
« Last Edit: August 04, 2011, 10:11 by WarrenPrice »

« Reply #29 on: August 04, 2011, 11:27 »
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How about a conspiracy theory to play with. It's in their best interest to not have people reach the next level. Could the best match be configured to throttle people back in the search who are on target to hit the next level?

Why bother with the best match when theoretically they might not report the sales correctly?
A "bug", a "glitch" or "turning off the tap", why not? Money is not what will make the contributors happy after all.
We won't find out until somebody tests them or there is an audit.
I don't have any confidence in their integrity, but that's just me.

RacePhoto

« Reply #30 on: August 04, 2011, 14:23 »
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Strange that yours says Dublin - Ireland and more, when I did the same search it just says Dublin and I came up with 39 pages at 50 per page (1946 results). FF also by the way. So why does your Keywords box look different than mine? Did the same search with Google Chrome, same results.

Something strange going on here? Why does yours have "Dublin - Ireland (County Dublin)" whatever else in there?

Here's the page result I get "http://www.istockphoto.com/search/text/dublin/source/basic#153eb223"

Might answer why you get no results and I get over 1900?

Slovenian

« Reply #31 on: August 04, 2011, 14:44 »
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I've had my sales drop over 50% with a best match change.  Istock has the most variance, compared to the other big site SS that's about the most stable.  I do think all their technical problems with the website are a factor.

My supply tap has been switched off for almost a year now, apart from one slip when I uploaded a few.  Can't say I miss uploading there but my sales have plummeted.

The odd thing is that with this latest best match change a lot of my images actually improved a bit in search placement. I have quite a few images that are showing up on the first page or two of major keywords. And sales still dropped. I don't think people would just stop buying my images.

I was just checking where my top 2 images are placed using best match, one was in the first, the second in the 3rd row. I've no idea, why nobody bought them for a week or so.

« Reply #32 on: August 04, 2011, 15:00 »
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Strange that yours says Dublin - Ireland and more, when I did the same search it just says Dublin and I came up with 39 pages at 50 per page (1946 results). FF also by the way. So why does your Keywords box look different than mine? Did the same search with Google Chrome, same results.

Something strange going on here? Why does yours have "Dublin - Ireland (County Dublin)" whatever else in there?

Here's the page result I get "http://www.istockphoto.com/search/text/dublin/source/basic#153eb223"

Might answer why you get no results and I get over 1900?


If you just enter "dublin" it doesn't disambiguate, so you get "Dublin (Texas)" and "Dublin (California)" too - although in this case it doesn't appear to make any difference, as either all the pics are of Dublin (Ireland), or they all have that as a keyword, wherever they are.

ShadySue probably entered "dublin", then clciked on the "Dublin (Ireland)" option from the pull down rather than just clicking search.

But it works for me anyway, I have no idea why it failed for her.  Maybe it was just a glitch...

lagereek

« Reply #33 on: August 04, 2011, 15:10 »
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Its weird!  after all whats the cream of exclusives at IS?  50-100 contributors at the top, thats it. Sure they needs looking after. Why would they steer any best match, towards middle of the road exclusives, especially when they earn MUCH more percentage from the cream of independants.
If this is the case, they need acute brain-surgery.

RacePhoto

« Reply #34 on: August 04, 2011, 15:12 »
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Strange that yours says Dublin - Ireland and more, when I did the same search it just says Dublin and I came up with 39 pages at 50 per page (1946 results). FF also by the way. So why does your Keywords box look different than mine? Did the same search with Google Chrome, same results.

Something strange going on here? Why does yours have "Dublin - Ireland (County Dublin)" whatever else in there?

Here's the page result I get "http://www.istockphoto.com/search/text/dublin/source/basic#153eb223"

Might answer why you get no results and I get over 1900?


If you just enter "dublin" it doesn't disambiguate, so you get "Dublin (Texas)" and "Dublin (California)" too - although in this case it doesn't appear to make any difference, as either all the pics are of Dublin (Ireland), or they all have that as a keyword, wherever they are.

ShadySue probably entered "dublin", then clciked on the "Dublin (Ireland)" option from the pull down rather than just clicking search.

But it works for me anyway, I have no idea why it failed for her.  Maybe it was just a glitch...


Obvious points, I don't know how to use the search and don't sit and look for my own pictures. ;) I'm not sure if looking to see where they are helps anything or increases sales. LOL

But thanks for explaining, I might need to go look and learn better how the site works. (or doesn't work!)

Edit: Oh yes, odd I ticked off the other two and had the same 1946 results. Strange.
« Last Edit: August 04, 2011, 15:15 by RacePhoto »

ShadySue

  • There is a crack in everything
« Reply #35 on: August 04, 2011, 16:05 »
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Strange that yours says Dublin - Ireland and more, when I did the same search it just says Dublin and I came up with 39 pages at 50 per page (1946 results). FF also by the way. So why does your Keywords box look different than mine? Did the same search with Google Chrome, same results.

Something strange going on here? Why does yours have "Dublin - Ireland (County Dublin)" whatever else in there?

Here's the page result I get "http://www.istockphoto.com/search/text/dublin/source/basic#153eb223"

Might answer why you get no results and I get over 1900?


Contributor: dublinmark
If you just enter "dublin" it doesn't disambiguate, so you get "Dublin (Texas)" and "Dublin (California)" too - although in this case it doesn't appear to make any difference, as either all the pics are of Dublin (Ireland), or they all have that as a keyword, wherever they are.

ShadySue probably entered "dublin", then clciked on the "Dublin (Ireland)" option from the pull down rather than just clicking search.

But it works for me anyway, I have no idea why it failed for her.  Maybe it was just a glitch...


When I put Dublin in the search box, I get these choices:
Dublin Castle
Dublin - Texas (Erath County)
Dublin - California (Alameda County)
Dublin - Ireland (County Dublin)
dublin port ..Port Of Dublin

However, when uploading, I only get these options:
Did you mean...
   Dublin - Ireland (County Dublin)
   Dublin - California (Alameda County)
   Dublin - Texas (Erath County)
I'm not sure why Dublin Castle, which is right in the city centre, or Port of Dublin, which is within the city boundaries, about 40 mins walk from the centre, are listed separately. I'm guessing they should be children of 'Dublin'.

It presumably was a glitch, as neither Dublin not disambiguated nor Dublin - Ireland (County Dublin) gave any results at the time, and as I reported, after I'd searched on another word, then come back to search Dublin, I got the results.
« Last Edit: August 04, 2011, 16:15 by ShadySue »

« Reply #36 on: August 04, 2011, 17:31 »
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"Dublin Castle" and "Port of Dublin" are in fact both sub-categories of "Dublin - Ireland (County Dublin)" - along with quite a few other places - if you enter "Dublin" when uploading, you'll get the three options of Ireland, California and Texas - click on the "+" beside Ireland and you'll get the others.

Unfortunately it doesn't show these in DeepMeta, you have to use the web interface, or enter them in full.

lisafx

« Reply #37 on: August 04, 2011, 17:37 »
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Liz, I noticed the same problem with EL's not showing up on a large part of my port, even though I am opted in across the board.  In fact, I didn't so much notice it, as get a sitemail from a buyer who wanted an EL and couldn't get one!!

I called contributor support and they told me it was a known issue they are working on.  They also managed to get the image turned on so the customer could buy it.  Unfortunately, it may have been too late.  They haven't come back to buy it, even though I wrote them.  Hopefully they found it somewhere else.  Either that, or I just lost the sale to someone whose port was turned on. 

« Reply #38 on: August 04, 2011, 17:41 »
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Obvious points, I don't know how to use the search and don't sit and look for my own pictures. ;) I'm not sure if looking to see where they are helps anything or increases sales. LOL

But thanks for explaining, I might need to go look and learn better how the site works. (or doesn't work!)

Edit: Oh yes, odd I ticked off the other two and had the same 1946 results. Strange.

Just looking to see where they are obviously doesn't help, but finding other keywords that might be used by a buyer could!  It's worth learning how the search works so you can keyword your images effectively.  Buyers don't necessarily use the same keywords (or even language) that you do.

ShadySue

  • There is a crack in everything
« Reply #39 on: August 05, 2011, 03:32 »
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"Dublin Castle" and "Port of Dublin" are in fact both sub-categories of "Dublin - Ireland (County Dublin)" - along with quite a few other places - if you enter "Dublin" when uploading, you'll get the three options of Ireland, California and Texas - click on the "+" beside Ireland and you'll get the others.
Indeed they are, but they are separate when searching.

ShadySue

  • There is a crack in everything
« Reply #40 on: August 05, 2011, 03:40 »
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Liz, I noticed the same problem with EL's not showing up on a large part of my port, even though I am opted in across the board.  In fact, I didn't so much notice it, as get a sitemail from a buyer who wanted an EL and couldn't get one!!

I called contributor support and they told me it was a known issue they are working on.  They also managed to get the image turned on so the customer could buy it.  Unfortunately, it may have been too late.  They haven't come back to buy it, even though I wrote them.  Hopefully they found it somewhere else.  Either that, or I just lost the sale to someone whose port was turned on. 
I happened to notice last night when I was really * up when uploading that the EL unticks itself if you have a braindrain, e.g. if you forget to DA a word and you have to go back in to do it or have repeated words in the title, for example I had a photo which, inter alia, had a sculpture called Sphere Within Sphere. (since that is clearly non-negotiable, you can do it by titling Sphere_within_sphere, which gets it through at iStock and the _s don't' muck up in Google). So if you have an error message and go in to correct it, EL unticks. I hadn't noticed that before, and have no idea whether it's inevitable.
However, if you go in and add a keyword, EL doesn't untick (I just tried).


 

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