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Author Topic: Istock Announcement  (Read 35696 times)

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« Reply #50 on: September 19, 2006, 00:26 »
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Sorry to hear that Phil.

There there, don't worry, I'll buy you coffee.

2,400??? I can't imagine the number of edits you have to do. I have a little over 100, and don't know  where to start.

On a brighter side, if they go to another site, I reckon your images will also be there, and the commission is better... <grin>

cheers.
« Last Edit: September 19, 2006, 00:28 by ptlee »


« Reply #51 on: September 19, 2006, 00:35 »
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hmmm... now that I think about it. Perhaps Dreamstime infiltrated Istock and hatched this idea. Yep, it must be an evil plot by Dreamstime. No other rational explanation.

« Reply #52 on: September 19, 2006, 01:15 »
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I had one of my best days on Dreamstime yesterday and a miserable day at Istock so I am sure they lost some business. If designers can't find what they are looking for they will try other sites. Thankfully I am not exclusive or I would be crying in my crown.

I am seriously thinking about employing someone to fix all my files...get a student or someone to do the whole lot. It is just not worth my time.

Quevaal

  • Rust in Peace
« Reply #53 on: September 19, 2006, 01:42 »
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Oh crap, it will take a long time to adapt the old keywords to the new keywording system at iStock.

« Reply #54 on: September 19, 2006, 01:54 »
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I'm wondering what the designers will think about this 'improvement' when they do their search...

Most probably they'll look for your portfolio on other sites ..  ;D

« Reply #55 on: September 19, 2006, 01:57 »
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Phildate, I would advise you to wait until they put more choices in the definitions of keywords.  The photographer cannot add new definitions, only report them in the 'disambiguation' thread.  If you uncheck something which doesn't fit, the corresponding keywords will disappear.  There are hundreds of requests already, so it will take time and energy, since this step must be manually done by the admin.  The bottom line is, IS must have purchased a very bad translation search engine  :(  but even with a better one, finding a meaning for every word or word association will create an intermediary filter which will make  most of the specific pictures less reachable by the designers.  For example ask a farmer from the midwest what a tassel here, and it's definitely not associated with curtains nor graduation hats!  The requests for new definitions are endless, so I see it as a true nightmare for the site, for the photographers, and for the designers to get a straightforward search.  It's definitely not a win-win situation for anyone, not in the short-term nor in the long-term.  And it will probablu give a boost to other stock sites, which may be good...

« Reply #56 on: September 19, 2006, 02:02 »
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I can wait but what happens in the meantime. All my group business people shots have been tagged as "group - group of animals" and are not showing up in any group of people searches. Needless to say, those shots provide a lot of my income at IS and for me not to come up in searches is an absolute disaster. I rely on this income to survive each month and I cannot risk waiting too long. Even Lise's images are not coming up in that search.

My oh my...what has Istock done...

« Reply #57 on: September 19, 2006, 02:31 »
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IS seems rather nonchalant about the whole situation. Or are they putting up a front, while frantically working behind the scenes?

No doubt this will affect the searches in the short term. Hopefully a solution or more support from IS is given to quickly resolve the situation, so in the long run, things can still get better. The whole idea is a positive move, I guess, but the execution needs some rectification.

My sales elsewhere have been pretty much the same, except SS, which registered my best Monday yet. Don't really think they are related, over the next couple of weeks will tell. Those with big portfolios will see the effect more easily.

Phil, sorry if I sounded too casual in my last posts. I hope you get it sorted out soon.

-ptlee-

« Reply #58 on: September 19, 2006, 02:46 »
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While this will be good in the long term, their execution has to be questioned.  As I only have a few photos, I plan to get mine correctted quickly with the hope fo picking up more sales.

This is a major for people with large porfolios.

After correct a few of mine, the main problem was phases such as union jack for the UK flag.  If these words are separate, they give nosensical tags.  If together (ie between commas) then they give the proper result.

For one, I dont envy those with large portfolios.

« Reply #59 on: September 19, 2006, 02:59 »
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I don't doubt that it will be good in the long term. It's just the way they go about it. All that bullsh*t Eff Kvin stuff, building up the anticipation only to find that it means 100hrs + work for me. Some warning of what is about to happen and some time to sort out files before it goes live to designers would have been the sensible thing. Now I have to cancel any weekend plans just to work on this.

How were everyone else's sales yesterday? Mine were only about 75% of a normal weekday. Today is really slow to start.

« Reply #60 on: September 19, 2006, 03:01 »
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don't they have some sort of plan to fix it themselves... with a backup or something.

They can't expect people to go in and MANUALLY edit 1,000,000 images???

« Reply #61 on: September 19, 2006, 03:07 »
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don't they have some sort of plan to fix it themselves... with a backup or something.

They can't expect people to go in and MANUALLY edit 1,000,000 images???

Sorry, but I think they do expect everyone to fix their own images.

« Reply #62 on: September 19, 2006, 03:09 »
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I love this statement from istock :)

Quote
All of your old keywords are still there. What we're displaying in the right hand side of the file is the definition which the system assumes. We are displaying that information, and not the original keyword, because each tag needs to have a meaning assigned in order to be translated. If the engine has the chosen the wrong meaning, you simply have to go to the edit file information page and choose the right one.

bold added by me.

« Reply #63 on: September 19, 2006, 03:55 »
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It is simple, I did it for 5 images last night.  Just go to the bottom of the edit page and make sure they are assiging the correct meaning to each word.  Maybe add a few more while you are at it (like sexy, nude, female, woman, naked - haha).

 Problem is that it took say 2-5 minutes each so for me, it will take 3 hours and I only have a small portfolio.

Quevaal

  • Rust in Peace
« Reply #64 on: September 19, 2006, 03:57 »
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Better fix those keywords fast.

I always keep an eye on my top seller, how it rank in "metal texture" sorted by most downloaded. Yesterday, it was at 35th place with 241 downloads. Today, (after I fixed the keywords - not sure if it affected anything) it's at 27th, still with 241 downloads. Additionally, there's lots of new pics below.

http://www.istockphoto.com/file_search.php?action=file&filetypeID=0&text=metal%20texture&filesize=16170000


« Reply #65 on: September 19, 2006, 03:59 »
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Has anyone checked the iStock forum to see if the brainwashed supporters are saying

cool great yeah I get to keyword all over again

well done iStock what a great idea we do the majority of the work.

I have better and more productive things to do

« Last Edit: September 19, 2006, 04:07 by fintastique »

« Reply #66 on: September 19, 2006, 04:12 »
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i would have to agree i am surprised at some of the comments on the istock thread...

to the sound of.

"Wow, great work istock, i can't wait to go and update my keywords.:"

i am guessing those folks don't have many more than 30 images.
The people who are taking stock seriuosly, like phildate has mentioned, are crying.


on the other side of things though.
i have done a few little checks and most of my images seem to be allright. A few errors, but not sure if it is anything i care to go and fix. 


« Reply #67 on: September 19, 2006, 04:39 »
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bleachers: a typically roofless section of low-priced, tiered-seating, usually made of boards, especially at an athletic field or stadium.

Hey, thanks! You learn something every day.

Now I've got to learn a way of getting my keywords sorted on IS without spending the next couple of weeks at it!


« Reply #68 on: September 19, 2006, 05:27 »
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Yeah, there are a few of those, and one or two who have large portfolios...    I can see why they've done it for the multi-lingual setup, but man what a lot of pain to go through for folks like Phil, and I supose you've got a large port. on there as well?

I've only looked at two images so far, and they're pretty shocking what's happened to the keywords.

I'm leaving it be for the moment, as things will I assume improve for a wee while as they get feedback.  In a week or so I'll look at my top selling images on there and then work backwards a few at a time..  But then I've only got 192 images on there, so not a lot of pain for me...

"Wow, great work istock, i can't wait to go and update my keywords.:"

i am guessing those folks don't have many more than 30 images.
The people who are taking stock seriuosly, like phildate has mentioned, are crying.

on the other side of things though.
i have done a few little checks and most of my images seem to be allright. A few errors, but not sure if it is anything i care to go and fix. 

« Reply #69 on: September 19, 2006, 05:51 »
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Oh crap, it will take a long time to adapt the old keywords to the new keywording system at iStock.


Just looking at your top seller on istock...   One of the keywords is "Competition Judge" ! (It's a steel plate texture shot for those who havn't already looked) The rest of it isn't too bad..  ( http://www.istockphoto.com/file_closeup.php?id=689512 )

My top seller:  http://www.istockphoto.com/file_closeup.php?id=713262 has faired OK as well, although'Couch Potatoe' dosn't see quite right...

This one however: http://www.istockphoto.com/file_closeup.php?id=623957  " Flavored Ice" "Exploding" "Remote"  Urrr, Ummmm...  Ok.

Awww, crap... I'm not going to look at any more, I'm sure you're all doing the same thing.  I've just found some OK selling images that are totally stuffed up, and the site appears to to let you edit it propperly at the moment...  Hmmmm.

Off to bed, this is too much like watching a train crash..  'night.

« Reply #70 on: September 19, 2006, 06:15 »
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I had one of my best days on Dreamstime yesterday and a miserable day at Istock so I am sure they lost some business. .

I also had one of my best days at Dreamstime yesterday, I'm sure from the confusion.  Surprisingly though, I had a decent day on iS too.

« Reply #71 on: September 19, 2006, 06:33 »
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oh why did i bother trying to get at least 25 keywords on each photo? heehee

i am just completely dumbfounded by this change. I understand the purpose and i admire it - i just am continuously amazed at the way IS implements (or should i say doesn't implement) things. If I were a buyer, I'd be really really concerned.

« Reply #72 on: September 19, 2006, 06:56 »
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I can't help but think maybe this is a cunning ploy to reduce the queue everyone is to busy trying to salvage their portfolio to upload anymore photos.

I wonder what the iStock exclusives are thinking.


dbvirago

« Reply #73 on: September 19, 2006, 07:33 »
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Count is up to 500+ questions since they posted the thread 'to answer all your questions'. Of course the threads with more pointed questions are already being locked. They still haven't answered the one about not accepting exif data which is the deal breaker for me.

And if it's 'simple' why don't they do it. We already did it once.

I sold a few there yesterday too. Only problem is, lately, I have been getting more $1 sales than .20. Yesterday, they were all .20.

« Reply #74 on: September 19, 2006, 08:29 »
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lisafx gave a very supporting post - maybe she is on the payroll??


 

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