SCENE V. Dunsinane. Within the castle.

MACBETH:.........it is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.


William Shakespeare.

I was thinking the same in a more XXI century way: Bla bla bla bla�
But Shakespeare said it very better

Also it would have been good to hear something official about the company's new(ish) General Manager, so we don't have to rely on press releases posted on external sites.

It might just be easier to announce who the next GM of Istock will be ... in about 16 months from now.

"There are a number of lingering questions about what is going to happen with Non-exclusive content, when will people see files moved to S+, and why certain content is in one collection and not the other." But we have no intention of answering them.

exactly, the next bomb for indies is going to be so big that they are delaying the annoucement (while desperate and greedy contributors keep feeding them)

What's really relevant:

New Tab = Curated (Editor's Pick) or Hot (a mix of best match and Age). I can't think of anything else.I would bet for first one.

What I don't understand is why they send me (dear contributor!!)
a news letter without any new,
a news letter where they speak about advantages only for customers
?

Why they don't send me a news letter to explain me how they will sell more and pay more to their "dear contributor"?

Did they forget that we are the suppliers of their feedstock?
And if they have forgotten that, isn't it the time to remember them that without us they could not even exist?!@#*&^?? *

Quote from: Shelma1 on August 30, 2013, 06:56

In addition to hiring new IT staff, they clearly need to hire a professional to write their newsletters (but maybe this one is so bad because they're losing money and had to fire the person who used to write them?).

RogerMexico (Adrew) who used to write the newsletters has left, and I believe Lobo writes them now, as he is the Contributor Communications Manager sic.

Him being a communications manager is like giving a Nobel peace price to Assad.

Good news that thumbnails are finally going to get bigger.  Hope they make a decent job of it.

It reads like they just picked up Lobo's replies to complaints on the forums.

More than that what would you expect or want ? It brings everyone who reads it up to speed which is great if you don't read the forums or miss something. I cannot see what the issue is with the newsletter.

Quote from: Shelma1 on August 30, 2013, 06:56

It reads like they just picked up Lobo's replies to complaints on the forums.

More than that what would you expect or want ?

"Tell us News, not history". I.e. tell us what's about to happen and why. Don't suddenly spring half-functioning features on the website without telling us first. More, timelier newsletters would be more welcome - people can opt out if they wish.
Don't always be caught up in amelioration.
In other words, be proactive, not reactive. Tell us the benefits of the changes, and make sure before you launch them that there will actually be benefits. I and many others (not everyone) have seen nothing but falling dls and $$s for many months now. If they are only targetting a certain kind of customer, tell us - so that those of us with different subjects in our portfolio know that iS is not the place to put these, even if it used to be.
Let us know they know what they're doing and that they have a solid plan and strategy (I have seen no evidence of either for several years).
Don't keep trying to tell us there's 'something great just round the corner'. There hasn't been much of that for several years either.

"Tell us News, not history". I.e. tell us what's about to happen and why. Don't suddenly spring half-functioning features on the website without telling us first. More, timelier newsletters would be more welcome - people can opt out if they wish.
Don't always be caught up in amelioration.
In other words, be proactive, not reactive. Tell us the benefits of the changes, and make sure before you launch them that there will actually be benefits. I and many others (not everyone) have seen nothing but falling dls and $$s for many months now. If they are only targetting a certain kind of customer, tell us - so that those of us with different subjects in our portfolio know that iS is not the place to put these, even if it used to be.
Let us know they know what they're doing and that they have a solid plan and strategy (I have seen no evidence of either for several years).
Don't keep trying to tell us there's 'something great just round the corner'. There hasn't been much of that for several years either.

You seem to have a very negative outlook. And yet many exclusives have been reporting another strong month of Getty sales - whilst many on the non excluive subscription side have been reporting strong Thinkstock sales and income. It certainly is not all bad.

And from my point of view the site and search changes at iStock seem sensible. I think they are improving the site. I don't expect to be told everything in advance. It's not my site. Shutterstock, Alamy and GI don't tell everyone everything in advance. Why should iStock ? Things seem to be going in the right direction.

Given all the often infectious negativity about iStock I was surprised when I looked at the numbers to find that my income from iStock-Getty combined has been remarkable steady for the past 3 years despite the dreadful world economy; despite massively increased competition relative to the size of my own portfolio; despite microstock per se likely being in decline etc. Moving some of the income to Getty has definitely worked for me and I think for many others too. Moving stuff to different price points represents something like a diversification.

Meanwhile: Shutterstockers continue to be enthusiastic about Shutterstock; Stocksy has an awesome body of work and seems to have made a very impressive launch; Alamy is still a great outlet for the sort of RM editorial content which sells well at Alamy. There is a good range of options and things seem surprisingly ok really.

"Tell us News, not history". I.e. tell us what's about to happen and why. Don't suddenly spring half-functioning features on the website without telling us first. More, timelier newsletters would be more welcome - people can opt out if they wish.
Don't always be caught up in amelioration.
In other words, be proactive, not reactive.

Yes!  God, wouldn't you think that would be obvious?  A newsletter should express UPCOMING events, not give a half-a$$ed explanation/excuse for past implementations. 

It really leaves the impression that half the management doesn't even know what's going on most of the time. 

Quote from: bhr on August 30, 2013, 12:21

You seem to have a very negative outlook.

I can only say as I find. As you can.
I said that not everyone was reporting falls, and I was talking about iS, not GI or TS, neither of which were mentioned in the newsletter.
What relevance do SS, Stocksy and Alamy have to the iStock newsletter?

iS, GI and TS are different parts of a single thing. I am fairly certain that you need to be looking at the thing as a whole rather than as a bunch of bits in isolation.

SS, Stocksy and Alamy are 3 other good news stories. The point I am making is that despite all of the negative sentiments often expressed here there is lots to be positive about in reality.

iStock, having encouraged us to create them and told us how to do it, broke the links a few years back

I am guessing that after a few years anyone who cares will have gone back and fixed or updated them by now. Presumably people check their work now and again. Especially given that there will be other issues which need checking - Eg external hosting, keywording etc.

ETA: and the broken links often appear to be about sloppy coding - eg when you see bits of UBB in the description because it has not been closed properly.

Good news that thumbnails are finally going to get bigger.  Hope they make a decent job of it.

Bravo Sir/Madam for finding the lone nugget of goodness in a pile of horse manure