MicrostockGroup

Agency Based Discussion => iStockPhoto.com => Topic started by: ShadySue on October 19, 2012, 04:46

Title: iStock's priorities
Post by: ShadySue on October 19, 2012, 04:46
I don't do Twitter, but I read this on iStock's forum and don't see any reason to imagine it's not true:

"This posted a few hours ago on Twitter

iStock ‏@iStock
Tomorrow's a big day in our office! We are having a Rock, Paper, Scissors Tournament. Any tips you'd like to pass on to our participants?"

Words fail me. Everyone should be manning the lifeboats, including the masseuse and the office cleaner.

Fiddling while Rome burns is just too facile a comparison.
Title: Re: iStock's priorities
Post by: rubyroo on October 19, 2012, 04:49
Well at least I know now why my stats don't update in a timely fashion.

I'm all for 'play' after the work is done, but for God's sake...

They should try chanelling all that energy into a different game, one called "Fixing broken things".  It could be fun and lucrative!
Title: Re: iStock's priorities
Post by: Jo Ann Snover on October 19, 2012, 09:48
If I were to play devil's advocate, I might argue that the workings of the site are more stable and less buggy when they don't touch the code - so a year-long rock paper scissors tournament, Jan 1, 2012 - Dec 31, 2012, would have been better for all contributors :)
Title: Re: iStock's priorities
Post by: heywoody on October 19, 2012, 10:06
And they are doing it without the Lizard / Spock extension?
Title: Re: iStock's priorities
Post by: rubyroo on October 19, 2012, 10:07
If I were to play devil's advocate, I might argue that the workings of the site are more stable and less buggy when they don't touch the code - so a year-long rock paper scissors tournament, Jan 1, 2012 - Dec 31, 2012, would have been better for all contributors :)

LOL

Today is my day for standing corrected... (happily!)  ;D
Title: Re: iStock's priorities
Post by: rubyroo on October 19, 2012, 10:08
And they are doing it without the Lizard / Spock extension?

Eh?  Crikey... you play a sophisticated game there...
Title: Re: iStock's priorities
Post by: lisafx on October 19, 2012, 10:23
Dear God.  These people are beyond belief! 
Title: Re: iStock's priorities
Post by: click_click on October 19, 2012, 11:26
Everyone, please calm down.

We have lived through very peculiar times with iStock for the last 10 years involving many stunts like failed site rollouts, search engine fiaskos, severe communications issues and so on. Remember the "funny" downtime messages written in poor language?

Can we really expect professional, serious behavior from IS staff?

No.

I would be not surprised at all to see a video pop up on youtube showing iStock staff running a bobby car race on causal Friday. Bear in mind that IS "only" does this to improve moral and spirit within IS headquarters.

Heck, we all need to goof around from time to time but please iStock:

DO NOT POST THAT SH!T ON TWITTER!

(http://d3j5vwomefv46c.cloudfront.net/photos/large/674446792.jpg?key=25921936&Expires=1350665023&Key-Pair-Id=APKAIYVGSUJFNRFZBBTA&Signature=F2wIMhAc-12vAEsmN3exBx-modPOtUIExc059EINMwGvI8hCgFKL61gd2UvxStWfvWSLdFSYQkv9CIa04J2mhU23-SzgjORZc5bDquFnopSr-Kwk930SCe-f5hN~pQAimg2K72Su4RhcHfJhWjkZOGtLqBEYtVxwHHlfrW1SvHg_)

Also, besides the fact that this is happening right now, these are our $$$ taken from our sales "at work". At least do this after work, god d@mn it.
Title: Re: iStock's priorities
Post by: halfshag on October 19, 2012, 11:32
"It's a big day at the iStock office! This beautiful piece of hardware is up for grabs:  http://twitpic.com/b5jnkw (http://twitpic.com/b5jnkw)"

I hope no one considers Photoshopping that.
Title: Re: iStock's priorities
Post by: click_click on October 19, 2012, 11:33
"It's a big day at the iStock office! This beautiful piece of hardware is up for grabs:  [url]http://twitpic.com/b5jnkw[/url] ([url]http://twitpic.com/b5jnkw[/url])"

I hope no one considers Photoshopping that.

dafuq.
Title: Re: iStock's priorities
Post by: aspp on October 19, 2012, 11:56
iStock ‏@iStock
Tomorrow's a big day in our office! We are having a Rock, Paper, Scissors Tournament. Any tips you'd like to pass on to our participants?"

The best place to respond to this might well be Twitter itself. Twitter can be a great way of telling the employees of a company when they are getting stuff badly wrong.

Remember to include #istock if you are making a complaint to @istock.
Title: Re: iStock's priorities
Post by: ShadySue on October 19, 2012, 12:03
If I were to play devil's advocate, I might argue that the workings of the site are more stable and less buggy when they don't touch the code - so a year-long rock paper scissors tournament, Jan 1, 2012 - Dec 31, 2012, would have been better for all contributors :)
Good point!
Title: Re: iStock's priorities
Post by: click_click on October 19, 2012, 12:13
I must be having the best and most effective stock site in the world as I have never ever touched it.  :o
Title: Re: iStock's priorities
Post by: jsmithzz on October 20, 2012, 07:34
Really, now. Are you REALLY surprised that they'd tweet this bit of unprofessionalism after all that's gone on the last few years? Nothing surprises me anymore. 
Title: Re: iStock's priorities
Post by: KarenH on October 21, 2012, 09:50
I couldn't believe they posted that - I assumed an employee posted it, and assumed that management would realize how crass that was given what's going on there and pull it down.  And then I saw that they posted it on their website also.  They've had a slew of buyers / potential buyers / former buyers posting on their page since the upgrade, complaining and saying they are leaving, they've had enough, and most of those posts have been scrubbed.  Imagine those buyers coming back to the site and instead of seeing any news of fixes, seeing this crap about a juvenile competition being held complete with trophy.  What are they thinking!!!
Title: Re: iStock's priorities
Post by: gostwyck on October 21, 2012, 10:47
I couldn't believe they posted that - I assumed an employee posted it, and assumed that management would realize how crass that was given what's going on there and pull it down.  And then I saw that they posted it on their website also.  They've had a slew of buyers / potential buyers / former buyers posting on their page since the upgrade, complaining and saying they are leaving, they've had enough, and most of those posts have been scrubbed.  Imagine those buyers coming back to the site and instead of seeing any news of fixes, seeing this crap about a juvenile competition being held complete with trophy.  What are they thinking!!!

Hmmm. September's PP earnings should have started coming through this weekend ... but of course they aren't. Probably something else that they accidently broke in their cack-handed attempt to 'improve' the site.

I can't believe they haven't got a team working on the zoom feature issue on a 24/7 basis until it is fixed. How difficult can it be? They've had enough time to have re-written the code for entire website twice over.
Title: Re: iStock's priorities
Post by: aspp on October 21, 2012, 11:15
I can't believe they haven't got a team working on the zoom feature issue on a 24/7 basis until it is fixed. How difficult can it be? They've had enough time to have re-written the code for entire website twice over.

Be reasonable. Maybe the guy who updates their web pages, when possible, is on vacation. Or perhaps he is really busy finishing something else for another client.

Seriously though, are you even sure they have a dedicated in-house IT team anymore. Perhaps, like so much else in the dysfunctional Getty family, duplicated roles within the different brands are gradually being merged. (Weren't they talking about mostly merging the ingestion/inspection processes a while ago).
Title: Re: iStock's priorities
Post by: gostwyck on October 21, 2012, 12:13
Be reasonable. Maybe the guy who updates their web pages, when possible, is on vacation. Or perhaps he is really busy finishing something else for another client.

Seriously though, are you even sure they have a dedicated in-house IT team anymore. Perhaps, like so much else in the dysfunctional Getty family, duplicated roles within the different brands are gradually being merged. (Weren't they talking about mostly merging the ingestion/inspection processes a while ago).

Considering how much iStock is making from their 82% cut of my earnings I think I'm being entirely 'reasonable' in expecting them to have a functional website and timely/accurate reporting of my sales.

How they organise that is up to them. As long as it worked I wouldn't care how it was done. What I don't want to see is a site that has been badly broken for weeks and iStock staff publishing photo's of themselves having a party at our expense.
Title: Re: iStock's priorities
Post by: Noedelhap on October 21, 2012, 12:20
Whenever the time comes that iStock's sales revenue is not in my top-2 anymore, I'm out.
Title: Re: iStock's priorities
Post by: KarenH on October 21, 2012, 13:01
I can't believe they haven't got a team working on the zoom feature issue on a 24/7 basis until it is fixed. How difficult can it be? They've had enough time to have re-written the code for entire website twice over.

Be reasonable. Maybe the guy who updates their web pages, when possible, is on vacation. Or perhaps he is really busy finishing something else for another client.

Seriously though, are you even sure they have a dedicated in-house IT team anymore. Perhaps, like so much else in the dysfunctional Getty family, duplicated roles within the different brands are gradually being merged. (Weren't they talking about mostly merging the ingestion/inspection processes a while ago).

It's not just this time though.  This has been ongoing since the original "F5" how many years ago.   Things haven't been working normally since then.  This can't be attributed to someone being on vacation this many times or a rush job on something else.  Basic functionality and accurate reporting should be a given. 

I wondered about the merge idea myself.  The istock support emails are now coming from @gettyimages.com rather than @istockphoto.com, so that has been merged.  But the gettyimages website was showing several IT positions open, and showing the location in Calgary.  So at least some of them would still be there it seems. 
Title: Re: iStock's priorities
Post by: Dan on October 21, 2012, 13:19
Guess  i'm  glad  i  haven't  made  it  in.  Now  i  wouldn't  go  near  them  unless  thier  rabies  shot  were  up  to  date.
Title: Re: iStock's priorities
Post by: lisafx on October 21, 2012, 18:04


Hmmm. September's PP earnings should have started coming through this weekend ... but of course they aren't. Probably something else that they accidently broke in their cack-handed attempt to 'improve' the site.

I was disappointed to see the PP sales numbers aren't coming in too.   Sales on Istock proper are so bad that the PP earnings have become necessary to the bottom line.  Never thought I would see the day, honestly. 
Title: Re: iStock's priorities
Post by: click_click on October 21, 2012, 18:30
... This has been ongoing since the original "F5" how many years ago.   Things haven't been working normally since then.  This can't be attributed to someone being on vacation this many times or a rush job on something else.  Basic functionality and accurate reporting should be a given...

Maybe, and I'm just throwing this out there, the IT guy is in fact still on vacation since "F5" and IS "hired" some interns to bandage up the leaks until the "F5" guy comes back.

I do have a feeling though that he won't come back...
Title: Re: iStock's priorities
Post by: suemack on October 21, 2012, 19:46
haven't even seen Lobo in the forum for a few days now
Title: Re: iStock's priorities
Post by: velocicarpo on October 21, 2012, 20:11
haven't even seen Lobo in the forum for a few days now

Bring back Peebert!!!!! (or those who still remember those days at stock :D )
Title: Re: iStock's priorities
Post by: suemack on October 21, 2012, 20:17
and UpsideDownDog :D Was a very different time and place. Wasn't always good, you could get made to feel very foolish if you asked the wrong question, but you could get answers and it felt like you were being heard.

Just mentioned Lobo as it's unusual for him not to pop up frequently in the threads about HO Update.
Title: Re: iStock's priorities
Post by: gostwyck on October 21, 2012, 20:31
and UpsideDownDog :D Was a very different time and place. Wasn't always good, you could get made to feel very foolish if you asked the wrong question, but you could get answers and it felt like you were being heard.

Just mentioned Lobo as it's unusual for him not to pop up frequently in the threads about HO Update.

^^^ History. Forget it. When Rob left we knew it was all over. iStock have actually degenerated into a worse corporate rip-off machine than those they sought to replace. Not unsurprisingly they have destroyed themselves in doing so. There's no future there. None whatsoever. Just an extended and painful wake for what once might have been.
Title: Re: iStock's priorities
Post by: ShadySue on October 22, 2012, 04:24
When Rob left we knew it was all over.
That's the long and the short of it.
Title: Re: iStock's priorities
Post by: jenniferhoward06 on October 22, 2012, 04:36
Ya that's true!!!
Title: Re: iStock's priorities
Post by: Pixart on October 22, 2012, 16:26
(https://fbcdn-sphotos-h-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/s480x480/427865_10151139037933842_635242804_n.jpg)

Haha, just saw this on facebook and thought of IS.
Title: Re: iStock's priorities
Post by: ShadySue on October 22, 2012, 16:43
Just mentioned Lobo as it's unusual for him not to pop up frequently in the threads about HO Update.
Either: He's at last got totally fed up with posting things like, "It'll be fixed by Wednesday" or "I'll have more news for you by the end of the week" and it not transpiring,
or
He's been told to tread softly and let everyone vent their spleen then it'll be back to business as usual. "It all blew over."