Author Topic: Istock F5 epic fail (Read 284615 times)

cathyslife · « **Reply #150 on:** December 19, 2010, 08:29 »

Quote from: caspixel on December 18, 2010, 20:58

Well, it looks like the EL fix is a fiasco. Some people still not paid when they were supposed to be and no emails sent out about the paid out 10% either.

Oh boy.

donding · « **Reply #151 on:** December 19, 2010, 12:26 »

Quote from: cclapper on December 19, 2010, 08:29

Quote from: caspixel on December 18, 2010, 20:58
Well, it looks like the EL fix is a fiasco. Some people still not paid when they were supposed to be and no emails sent out about the paid out 10% either.

Oh boy.

Does that really surprise you??? Just like the fix about the ability to filter out Vetta/Agency being at the top of the search and they turn away and make it where you can't filter out Vetta/Agency...only standard?? It's all the same ol same ol!! $:-\$

cathyslife · « **Reply #152 on:** December 19, 2010, 14:07 »

Quote from: donding on December 19, 2010, 12:26

Quote from: cclapper on December 19, 2010, 08:29
Quote from: caspixel on December 18, 2010, 20:58
Well, it looks like the EL fix is a fiasco. Some people still not paid when they were supposed to be and no emails sent out about the paid out 10% either.

Oh boy.

Does that really surprise you??? Just like the fix about the ability to filter out Vetta/Agency being at the top of the search and they turn away and make it where you can't filter out Vetta/Agency...only standard?? It's all the same ol same ol!! $:-\$

No, not surprised in the least. But I did think it was fixed. I haven't been keeping up with that thread, I'm fascinated by the "search doesn't work" thread.

caspixel · « **Reply #153 on:** December 20, 2010, 10:26 »

More buyers unhappy that you can't filter out Vetta & Agency:

salamandrin:

I looked around at some of the posts in the help forum to see if I could find an answer before posting this, but there's so many posts and so much going on. Forgive me if I am posting this in the wrong place or if this has already been answered somewhere else.

In the search on the left side, I see the checkboxes for 'vetta' , 'agency' etc.. Well I want to find photos that are NOT in those categories. Currently when I search for photos, the results by default include vetta and agency photos. It seems that the vetta and agency checkboxes should be checked by default so I can uncheck them to filter out the collections I don't want. In the previous istock advanced search there was an option to exclude vetta, but I can't find anything like that now.

Please let me know if there is a way to find only 'regular' collection photos (exclude vetta and agency) and if so how to do it.

Thank you!

reachbcs:

iStock is turning into an absolute joke with Vetta photos.

We are a small web design business who regularly ask clients without imagery to browse iStock. In the past, since these Vetta images have been introduced, we've asked them to use the filter. This saves us time explaining to them that we can't spend 20-30 credits on one image and it obviously saves them money.

iStock, please turn it back on. The addition of the vetta collection in the first place was pretty annoying, but to actually remove the filter? That's just going to be isolating small web agencies like us.

Sort it out!!!!!

ShadySue · « **Reply #154 on:** December 20, 2010, 10:29 »

Quote from: caspixel on December 20, 2010, 10:26

More buyers unhappy that you can't filter out Vetta & Agency:

iStock don't seem to be interesting in smaller, low-budget customers.
They seem to be wooing big customers who get heavily discounted credits.
It's that difference between profit and profitability, which I don't understand and no-one has yet explained.

cathyslife · « **Reply #155 on:** December 20, 2010, 10:37 »

They keep saying "soon", "next week", etc. as far as fixes for the sort, but I am betting it is that way for good. I am betting there are going to be a LOT of changes after Jan. 1.

jamirae · « **Reply #156 on:** December 20, 2010, 10:48 »

Quote from: ShadySue on December 20, 2010, 10:29

Quote from: caspixel on December 20, 2010, 10:26
More buyers unhappy that you can't filter out Vetta & Agency:

iStock don't seem to be interesting in smaller, low-budget customers.
They seem to be wooing big customers who get heavily discounted credits.
It's that difference between profit and profitability, which I don't understand and no-one has yet explained.

I agree. iStock appears to be making a sharp turn in the clientele that it wants for customers. I'd venture to guess that while the smaller, low-budget clients are what built iStock, istock is now turning its back on these customers in order to woo the big spenders.

caspixel · « **Reply #157 on:** December 20, 2010, 10:52 »

Quote from: ShadySue on December 20, 2010, 10:29

iStock don't seem to be interesting in smaller, low-budget customers.
They seem to be wooing big customers who get heavily discounted credits.
It's that difference between profit and profitability, which I don't understand and no-one has yet explained.

Which I think is putting all their eggs in one casket. Lots of (loyal) smaller buyers are their bread and butter. Corporate clients are nice because they have bigger budgets, but they are not particularly loyal.

(BTW, I thought "basket" but typed "casket"...and decided to leave it. Seemed more appropriate

)

Chico · « **Reply #158 on:** December 20, 2010, 11:25 »

By the way, how about sales after start of new search engine? Mine are almost dead.

cathyslife · « **Reply #159 on:** December 20, 2010, 11:26 »

Quote from: caspixel on December 20, 2010, 10:52

snip
Which I think is putting all their eggs in one casket. Lots of (loyal) smaller buyers are their bread and butter. Corporate clients are nice because they have bigger budgets, but they are not particularly loyal.

(BTW, I thought "basket" but typed "casket"...and decided to leave it. Seemed more appropriate )

Yes, I laughed when I read casket and agree...very appropriate!

jamirae · « **Reply #160 on:** December 20, 2010, 11:57 »

Quote from: Chico on December 20, 2010, 11:25

By the way, how about sales after start of new search engine? Mine are almost dead.

me too, but hard to tell if it's the seasonal down time (which is usual for me) or the new search.

cathyslife · « **Reply #161 on:** December 20, 2010, 12:48 »

Quote from: jamirae on December 20, 2010, 11:57

Quote from: Chico on December 20, 2010, 11:25
By the way, how about sales after start of new search engine? Mine are almost dead.

me too, but hard to tell if it's the seasonal down time (which is usual for me) or the new search.

me too, and I think it's both.

Sean Locke Photography · « **Reply #162 on:** December 20, 2010, 14:09 »

Another one:

Quote

Wow. This site is an utter mess. Time for me to move on to a new stock site. Too many problems with iStock this past year and I only foresee worse problems for 2011. Good luck guys. I'm moving on and not waiting around for you to fix your "issues".

cathyslife · « **Reply #163 on:** December 20, 2010, 15:29 »

Quote from: sjlocke on December 20, 2010, 14:09

Another one:
Quote
Wow. This site is an utter mess. Time for me to move on to a new stock site. Too many problems with iStock this past year and I only foresee worse problems for 2011. Good luck guys. I'm moving on and not waiting around for you to fix your "issues".

Yep.

I think it's confusing too that the main bug thread is a sticky under Discussion, but yet people are directed to the Help area when they want to start a new thread. (Lobo locked a thread and sent the OP to the Help area). Geez.

Chico · « **Reply #164 on:** December 20, 2010, 15:47 »

Just remembering. The initial bugs from F5 still there. Like my uploads page and others. Now, with more bugs from new search, IS site have more bugs than Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History.

http://entomology.si.edu/

gostwyck · « **Reply #165 on:** December 20, 2010, 18:05 »

Well Roger M. has posted in the Payout thread that the Istockphoto office will be closed for a week from 24th Dec to 31st. I think we can take it that the bugs in the search, etc are unlikely to be fixed before that. Standby for long lunches, office parties and late starts from here on in. When the office re-opens next year they'll probably have forgotten all about the bugs that those pesky customers keep complaining about.

Seems strange to me that a 24 hour internet business actually shuts the office for an entire week (over several working days throughout the world). I wonder if Amazon will be shutting down for a week too?

lisafx · « **Reply #166 on:** December 20, 2010, 18:16 »

Quote from: gostwyck on December 20, 2010, 18:05

Well Roger M. has posted in the Payout thread that the Istockphoto office will be closed for a week from 24th Dec to 31st. I think we can take it that the bugs in the search, etc are unlikely to be fixed before that. Standby for long lunches, office parties and late starts from here on in. When the office re-opens next year they'll probably have forgotten all about the bugs that those pesky customers keep complaining about.

Seems strange to me that a 24 hour internet business actually shuts the office for an entire week (over several working days throughout the world). I wonder if Amazon will be shutting down for a week too?

Thanks for the headsup Gostwyck. Guess I will have to trot on over and see when I need to make a payout request and ensure I get paid this year...

For anyone like me, who missed the payout schedule announcement, here's the thread:
http://www.istockphoto.com/forum_messages.php?threadid=277632&page=1

Cutoff date for December requests was today. Cutoff to get the first payment on Jan 7 is Jan 3.

lisafx · « **Reply #167 on:** December 20, 2010, 18:29 »

And another one:

Having the ability to filter out Agency and Vetta is a necessity for me. It's just crazy looking through all the photos that simply don't apply due to the price. I searched 'chef' in photos and it returned 91 agency / vetta images in the first 200!!!! What a complete waste of time sifting through it all trying to find a useable photo....

you know what? forget it.. im a broken record on this thing.

gostwyck · « **Reply #168 on:** December 20, 2010, 18:49 »

^^^ Istock is certainly going for it. Having spent a couple of months pissing off their entire contributor base it looks like it's the customer's turn to get rogered now. Amazing to witness what can happen when a business forgets it's core activity, i.e. licensing affordable imagery, in the reckless pursuit of short-term profits. That's definitely going to be 'unsustainable'.

caspixel · « **Reply #169 on:** December 20, 2010, 19:05 »

They can kiss chikoppi good-bye:

Search no longer works for me. Not when I click the "search" button (nothing happens). Not when I type a search term in the field and hit "enter on the keyboard (nothing happens).

Do you really think customers should have to spend time troubleshooting or change browsers just to accomodate YOU?

Sorry iStockphoto. Most of your content can be found elsewhere - which is where I'll be.

gostwyck · « **Reply #170 on:** December 20, 2010, 20:38 »

Quote from: caspixel on December 20, 2010, 19:05

They can kiss chikoppi good-bye:

Search no longer works for me. Not when I click the "search" button (nothing happens). Not when I type a search term in the field and hit "enter on the keyboard (nothing happens).

Do you really think customers should have to spend time troubleshooting or change browsers just to accomodate YOU?

Sorry iStockphoto. Most of your content can be found elsewhere - which is where I'll be.

Istockphoto's new Faceted Search facility truly is 'the gift that keeps on giving' ... to their competitors.

What is a 'Faceted Search' anyway? I've never knowingly had a 'faceted' thing before. I've had things with several sides or aspects, like my car or my house for example, but I've never described them as 'faceted'. Did they just invent the expression to confuse everyone?

ShadySue · « **Reply #171 on:** December 20, 2010, 20:57 »

Quote from: gostwyck on December 20, 2010, 20:38

Istockphoto's new Faceted Search facility truly is 'the gift that keeps on giving' ... to their competitors.

What is a 'Faceted Search' anyway? I've never knowingly had a 'faceted' thing before. I've had things with several sides or aspects, like my car or my house for example, but I've never described them as 'faceted'. Did they just invent the expression to confuse everyone?

Apparently not.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faceted_search
and way back in April 2008:
http://www.digital-web.com/articles/user_interface_implementations_of_faceted_browsing

gostwyck · « **Reply #172 on:** December 20, 2010, 21:08 »

Quote from: ShadySue on December 20, 2010, 20:57

Apparently not.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faceted_search

I don't think Istock's Fiasco Search, or whatever it is supposed to be called, qualifies for the Wiki definition because it dosen't actually work. Every time I to try to delve deeper it simply returns zero results.

In contrast on SS I can simply add additional words into the Search box and also, if required, other words into the Exclude box. It works perfectly every time ... right from the day they introduced it ... several years ago.

ShadySue · « **Reply #173 on:** December 20, 2010, 21:15 »

Quote from: gostwyck on December 20, 2010, 21:08

Quote from: ShadySue on December 20, 2010, 20:57
Apparently not.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faceted_search

I don't think Istock's Fiasco Search, or whatever it is supposed to be called, qualifies for the Wiki definition because it dosen't actually work. Every time I to try to delve deeper it simply returns zero results.

Yeah, well, ya know ...
Just about constantly since I joined they've had a vacancy for a QA specialist "can you break our software?". So I guess in four years, they've never found anyone who can.
Strange, since everyone else seems perfectly able to do it without even trying, even without all the qualifications on the list. Indeed, without even one of the fifteen 'required qualifications'.
Hmmmm.

gostwyck · « **Reply #174 on:** December 20, 2010, 21:22 »

Quote from: ShadySue on December 20, 2010, 21:15

Yeah, well, ya know ...
Just about constantly since I joined they've had a vacancy for a QA specialist "can you break our software?". So I guess in four years, they've never found anyone who can.
Strange, since everyone else seems perfectly able to do it without even trying, even without all the qualifications on the list. Indeed, without even one of the fifteen 'required qualifications'.
Hmmmm.

I'm not sure if that's funny or just tragic. I think they should start by finding someone that can say "Yes" to the question "can you make our software work?".

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Author Topic: Istock F5 epic fail (Read 284615 times)

cathyslife

donding

cathyslife

caspixel

ShadySue

cathyslife

jamirae

caspixel

Chico

cathyslife

jamirae

cathyslife

Sean Locke Photography

cathyslife

Chico

gostwyck

lisafx

lisafx

gostwyck

caspixel

gostwyck

ShadySue

gostwyck

ShadySue

gostwyck

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