Oh one of those? best match? whats that?

Why the link to page 9 of the bugs page ?

Looks like an ongoing rumble - yesterday, one of my test files was 'up' at position 58; earlier when I read this thread, it was way down below 150, and what I noticed was a LOT of audio files above it. That was about half an hour ago. Now my test tile is at position 79 with only one audio file above it. And for those who care about such things, 24 independent files above mine.

Like all BMs in the past month, new files are very quickly submerged - within a day or two in my test searches.

Of course, everybody's best match results are different: mine are different logged in or logged out.

Purpose self destruction of an agency, seen it before after so called take-overs. With all the problems, these constant absoloutely meaningless changes, its almost as if they want exclusives to leave, buyers from buying. So when its all washed up they can easily fold without too much heat.

My sales yesterday was about 40% of what they usually are on a weekday. If that's because of the new moronic best match change I'm in BIG trouble... microstock is my only income and I can't afford a 60% cut.

Note that yesterday was a public holiday in many european countries. Most people won't work today neither.

Quote from: loop on November 02, 2012, 07:44

Quote from: Monkeyman on November 02, 2012, 06:32

My sales yesterday was about 40% of what they usually are on a weekday. If that's because of the new moronic best match change I'm in BIG trouble... microstock is my only income and I can't afford a 60% cut.

Note that yesterday was a public holiday in many european countries. Most people won't work today neither.

10 European countries have a public holiday in Europe on Nov 1, out of the 45

Anout twelve, but besides UK, the biggest and richest, including Germany and France.

Quote from: Poncke on November 02, 2012, 14:06

Quote from: loop on November 02, 2012, 07:44

Note that yesterday was a public holiday in many european countries. Most people won't work today neither.

10 European countries have a public holiday in Europe on Nov 1, out of the 45

Anout twelve, but besides UK, the biggest and richest, including Germany and France.

I never heard of a UK holiday on Nov 1st. Certainly not in Scotland.

Nor England.

Yes, I meant UK no (except Scotland).

Definitely not Scotland.
I'm sure Sandy is still having an effect. According to the Beeb this morning 6 million homes and businesses were still without electricity. And that's in one of the main buying zones, for whom stock photos are currently bottom of their agendas. As of now, still 3.5 million homes and businesses without electricity. And many of them will need to clear up and take stock before it's business as usual.

Also, a moderator on the iStock forum has confirmed that the search is messed up at the moment.

That's 'news'? I'd have thought it would be 'news' if iStock ever actually got their website working correctly. I'd be absolutely stunned if that should ever happen. It would be one of those moments that you could tell your grandchildren "I was there when, ever so briefly, iStock actually worked properly ..."

Quote from: Monkeyman on November 02, 2012, 19:23

Also, a moderator on the iStock forum has confirmed that the search is messed up at the moment.

That's 'news'? I'd have thought it would be 'news' if iStock ever actually got their website working correctly. I'd be absolutely stunned if that should ever happen. It would be one of those moments that you could tell your grandchildren "I was there when, ever so briefly, iStock actually worked properly ..."

This thread is about the best match change, which turned out not to be a best match change but just another bug, which was a relief to know.

But of course I agree with you. I'm exclusive at iStock so nobody would be happier than me if things were fixed over there. It's hard to tell if it's because of poor management or incompetence among the staff that there are so many problems. Possibly both.

It would be absolutely fantastic if they could just hire a well reputed web agency with experience in building really complex systems (financial insitution web sites etc.) and rebuild the whole site from scratch, creating the most reliable and fastest microstock site in the business. If anyone can afford such an investment it's iStock. But I guess the greedy CEOs at the top would rather see maximum short term profits instead of investing for a better future.

I would also love to see prices lowered, collections (the Agency, E+, Vetta madness that are just confusing everyone...) removed and the same price for exclusive and non-exclusive files. It REALLY worries me that they seems compensate the decrease in sales by rising prices all the time. That's a great way to kill a business completely...

Okay, search for Christmas using best match, and these files are on the first page (absolutely not a criticism of the quality of the files, so I think I am okay to link?)
Number 1 result, for perhaps the most competitive keyword of the year across all media:
http://www.istockphoto.com/stock-photo-10871280-white-sparkles.php?
A very nice abstract background with no direct relevance

Number 4 result:
http://www.istockphoto.com/stock-photo-21323212-new-year-2013.php?
A nice 3D render of "2013" with again, nothing directly Christmassy about it

And so on over the next 50 images

ETA
Another couple of very nice, but irrelevant images on page one
http://www.istockphoto.com/stock-illustration-21578369-decorative-menu-vintage-calligraphy-set.php?
http://www.istockphoto.com/stock-photo-7472353-defocused-lights-xxl.php?

The first one has sold over 6000 times and the most searched for keywords are christmas background so it it totally relevant in my opinion.