Author Topic: Nippyish note from Rebecca Rockafellar (Read 71015 times)

microstockphoto.co.uk · « **Reply #75 on:** December 08, 2012, 08:17 »

Quote from: MetaStocker on December 08, 2012, 06:14

Is it me or all the female execs in big IT companies have been a disaster?

I'd rather say, "all the ~~female~~ execs ~~in big IT companies~~ have been a disaster"

cidepix · « **Reply #76 on:** December 08, 2012, 08:29 »

why is everybody saying they would be happy with the initial %20 commission?

any other agency would be crucified if they announced they will pay %20, so why be happy if this ridiculous site pays us %20?

I never knew I had this much hatred in me..

BaldricksTrousers · « **Reply #77 on:** December 08, 2012, 08:51 »

To be fair to Rebecca, after KT was ritually dismembered on the iStock forum I think it was a fairly sensible business decision for her to keep her head down with the aim of getting on with managing iStock without creating an excuse for a new firestorm by posing as the wise leader in public.

Ensuring there is good communication should be part of her job, but it doesn't mean that she has to be the one acting as the spokeswoman. She should be making sure that the resources go to the right place to ensure smooth operation of the site and good relations with suppliers and customers. Offering yourself up as a target can distract from the real business without delivering anything good in return.

sharpshot · « **Reply #78 on:** December 08, 2012, 08:58 »

Quote from: cidepix on December 08, 2012, 08:29

why is everybody saying they would be happy with the initial %20 commission?

any other agency would be crucified if they announced they will pay %20, so why be happy if this ridiculous site pays us %20?

I never knew I had this much hatred in me..

In the good old days, they used to sell a lot and 20% of a lot was better than 50% of not much that some other sites had. Now, going back to 20% would be a positive step in the right direction but they would also have to improve sales volume. Unfortunately, I don't think they're capable of doing either.

ShadySue · « **Reply #79 on:** December 08, 2012, 09:03 »

Quote from: cidepix on December 08, 2012, 08:29

why is everybody saying they would be happy with the initial %20 commission?

any other agency would be crucified if they announced they will pay %20, so why be happy if this ridiculous site pays us %20?

I never knew I had this much hatred in me..

For your mental/emotional wellbeing, you need to quit.
I quit a well-paying and very secure day job because of a boss, and never regretted it - but I am only responsible for myself , and am old enough to have reasonable 'buffers' in place; and realise that may not be everybody's situation.
Also, I could only do it once; though as a vector artist your options may be more open.

cidepix · « **Reply #80 on:** December 08, 2012, 09:05 »

Quote from: sharpshot on December 08, 2012, 08:58

Now, going back to 20% would be a positive step in the right direction

I think the positive step would be them going to hell and perish.. The last thing I want is them to sell a lot like they used to, and pay us %20..

It is great that other agencies that pay us %50 are growing and these morons are leading the race to the bottom..

Oh and I have good news for IS: I am making 6 times less than what I used to make at IS, but overall make %30 more on 18 agencies.. that tells a lot about how much screwed they are and I am loving it..

ShadySue · « **Reply #81 on:** December 08, 2012, 09:12 »

Quote from: cidepix on December 08, 2012, 09:05

Quote from: sharpshot on December 08, 2012, 08:58
Now, going back to 20% would be a positive step in the right direction

I think the positive step would be them going to hell and perish.. The last thing I want it them to sell a lot like they used to, and pay us %20..

It is great that other agencies that pay us %50 are growing and these morons are leading the race to the bottom..

Oh and I have good news for IS: I am making 6 times less than what I used to make at IS, but overall make %30 more on 18 agencies.. that tells a lot about how much screwed they are and I am loving it..

It would be interesting to know how much more content you could produce if you were submitting to fewer agencies (I don't necessarily mean being exclusive to any one), and how your overall balance would be affected.

cidepix · « **Reply #82 on:** December 08, 2012, 09:14 »

Quote from: ShadySue on December 08, 2012, 09:03

Quote from: cidepix on December 08, 2012, 08:29
why is everybody saying they would be happy with the initial %20 commission?

any other agency would be crucified if they announced they will pay %20, so why be happy if this ridiculous site pays us %20?

I never knew I had this much hatred in me..

For your mental/emotional wellbeing, you need to quit.
I quit a well-paying and very secure day job because of a boss, and never regretted it - but I am only responsible for myself , and am old enough to have reasonable 'buffers' in place; and realise that may not be everybody's situation.
Also, I could only do it once; though as a vector artist your options may be more open.

Actually, I enjoy watching IS go down.. It doesn't effect me much financially, because I am a non-exclusive + as you said I have many options as a vector artist..

It is just that I am the kind of person who never keeps his thoughts to himself.. I always tell whatever comes to my mind and get it out of my system right away..

vlad_the_imp · « **Reply #83 on:** December 08, 2012, 09:17 »

Quote

why is everybody saying they would be happy with the initial %20 commission?

But you're happy with 25c an image at SS? And if IS are so terrible, why not just delete your portfolio?

cidepix · « **Reply #84 on:** December 08, 2012, 09:21 »

Quote from: ShadySue on December 08, 2012, 09:12

Quote from: cidepix on December 08, 2012, 09:05
Quote from: sharpshot on December 08, 2012, 08:58
Now, going back to 20% would be a positive step in the right direction

I think the positive step would be them going to hell and perish.. The last thing I want it them to sell a lot like they used to, and pay us %20..

It is great that other agencies that pay us %50 are growing and these morons are leading the race to the bottom..

Oh and I have good news for IS: I am making 6 times less than what I used to make at IS, but overall make %30 more on 18 agencies.. that tells a lot about how much screwed they are and I am loving it..

It would be interesting to know how much more content you could produce if you were submitting to fewer agencies (I don't necessarily mean being exclusive to any one), and how your overall balance would be affected.

Well, I am going to leave 2 of them very soon, when I reach my next payouts which will be in a matter of weeks..

out of 18, about 10-11 of them make monthly regular payouts easily.. about 3-4 of them make it every other month and maybe 2-3 that pays once every 3 months.. there are 1-2 which makes less and I will phase those out..

cidepix · « **Reply #85 on:** December 08, 2012, 09:25 »

Quote from: vlad_the_imp on December 08, 2012, 09:17

Quote
why is everybody saying they would be happy with the initial %20 commission?

But you're happy with 25c an image at SS? And if IS are so terrible, why not just delete your portfolio?

1- which 25c? I get between 38c and 5.70 on SS

2- I stopped uploading at IS..

3- I have put too much work uploading those images, that is what stops me from removing but will definitely leave at some point I can assure you..

gostwyck · « **Reply #86 on:** December 08, 2012, 09:26 »

Quote from: BaldricksTrousers on December 08, 2012, 08:51

To be fair to Rebecca, after KT was ritually dismembered on the iStock forum I think it was a fairly sensible business decision for her to keep her head down with the aim of getting on with managing iStock without creating an excuse for a new firestorm by posing as the wise leader in public.

Ensuring there is good communication should be part of her job, but it doesn't mean that she has to be the one acting as the spokeswoman. She should be making sure that the resources go to the right place to ensure smooth operation of the site and good relations with suppliers and customers. Offering yourself up as a target can distract from the real business without delivering anything good in return.

You can't be a leader if you're invisible to those who you are supposed to be leading. KT only became unpopular when he introduced the RC system and then compounded the situation with ham-fisted communication.

Istock/Getty thought that they could get away with the RC system because, at the time, growth was still strong and there was an assumption that growth would continue for the foreseeable future. I'm sure the expectation was to be increasing the RC targets each year. Unfortunately they totally under-estimated the backlash to the RC system and also that growth would stall __ that wasn't in the plan at all. Now, with falling sales, falling revenue and increasingly disgruntled contributors, they've got themselves a big, big problem that nobody knows how to solve and nobody wants to take ownership of.

The only way out of the hole that Istock have dug for themselves is to wind the clock back about 30 months. They need to come up with a better plan on how to reward contributors (they need to pay them more) and they need to simplify the pricing architecture (which will involve some reductions in prices). Oh, and they need to employee someone to solve the site issues too. Right now they've got unhappy customers and unhappy contributors (not to mention unhappy employees, judging by the number silently leaving) and that's not a sustainable situation. Unfortunately the medicine will inevitably involve a massive reduction in profits for some years to come and nobody is willing to swallow that.

rimglow · « **Reply #87 on:** December 08, 2012, 09:29 »

I find it curious that a post about communication is released late on a Friday afternoon. In the US that is known as the "Friday Night Dump". The reasoning is that is best time of the week to release news to the least amount of people that would notice it. Sort of cushions the blow.

Could be a coincidence, but all the same, curious.

Microbius · « **Reply #88 on:** December 08, 2012, 09:32 »

Same old same old.
Same condescending tone.
Same lack of understanding. The issues are concrete and not simply due to "lack of communication".
There is no amount of communication that could have softened the blow of the commission cuts.

ShadySue · « **Reply #89 on:** December 08, 2012, 09:34 »

Quote from: rimglow on December 08, 2012, 09:29

I find it curious that a post about communication is released late on a Friday afternoon. In the US that is known as the "Friday Night Dump". The reasoning is that is best time of the week to release news to the least amount of people that would notice it. Sort of cushions the blow.

IStock have regularly communicated big, unpopular issues on Friday afternoons. I always assumed it was so that the fallout would happen over the weekend and have 'blown over' as KKT so famously said, by Monday (and if anyone didn't let it 'blow over' they'd be LOBOtomised, as RR hinted).

vlad_the_imp · « **Reply #90 on:** December 08, 2012, 09:39 »

Quote

but will definitely leave at some point I can assure you.

Of course you will

ShadySue · « **Reply #91 on:** December 08, 2012, 09:48 »

Quote from: Microbius on December 08, 2012, 09:32

Same old same old.
Same condescending tone.
Same lack of understanding. The issues are concrete and not simply due to "lack of communication".
There is no amount of communication that could have softened the blow of the commission cuts.

I bet the communication would have been more interesting if the suits (even though they don't wear suits at iS HQ) had had their income cut to the same extent. And if their income was linked to the site's performance, I bet we'd see a far, far better site.

Unless they really are being held down by "the hands they never see, far less crush" (LC).

click_click · « **Reply #92 on:** December 08, 2012, 09:50 »

Quote from: BaldricksTrousers on December 08, 2012, 08:51

To be fair to Rebecca, after KT was ritually dismembered on the iStock forum I think it was a fairly sensible business decision for her to keep her head down with the aim of getting on with managing iStock without creating an excuse for a new firestorm by posing as the wise leader in public. ...

I'm not particularly familiar with the issue with "KT" but your statement "... I think it was a fairly sensible business decision for her to keep her head down with the aim of getting on with managing iStock..." made me respond now.

Nobody working at IS can post anything on the forums expecting a change of spirits at this time. These days are over. The trust is gone. Faith is gone.

If anything, IS would actually have to fix stuff and show that they reflected upon their mistakes and learned from them instead of making fairy-tale-promises.

As somebody posted before: Actions speak louder than words! It's as simple as that!

JPSDK · « **Reply #93 on:** December 08, 2012, 10:15 »

"There were loud noises among the gathereing peasents, and the princess stepped down to the lowest floor in the ivory tower and opened a window and said:" Let them eat cake".

However, it is good that she speaks, and it is good that qualified experts now voice in and provide real info.
But it is such a reactive piece of information, and I like the car crash analogy best.
They feel their forums are like watching a car crash, it is disturbing them, and they do not like to.

But for god heavens sake, they own those forums, its not the San Fransisco dungeon.
Like with Louis XIV and his kingdom: he owned the peasents, and it was his job to make them happy, so the noises of pitchforks being sharpened would not be heard by the princess.

But all he said was: "Donner luis un coup de cannon".
We know what followed.

BaldricksTrousers · « **Reply #94 on:** December 08, 2012, 10:18 »

I note that they timed the "return of zoom" message for an hour after the "new communication" message. Obviously, that wasn't an accident and they are trying to project an image of real change and that actions are being taken - one important fix is in the pipeline.

There was a post in that employees comments website that alleged Getty was hamstrung by the effort to sell the place, out of fear that if they did anything they would do something wrong. It is possible that the techies have been drawing up plans to deal with the many bugs and are now being allowed to put them into action.

Whether anything much happens, only time will tell. Like most other people I am sceptical about there being any real intention to mend relations with contributors but announcing a desire to improve communication is potentially a first step on a long road. Rubbishing every initiative without seeing if it is going to go anywhere is not a constructive attitude.

As for Gostwyck's remark about "being invisible to those you lead", I don't really see the IStock CEO's job as being to lead the contributors, I see it as being to lead the employees. As has been stated repeatedly, contributors are impressed by better earnings and better conditions, they don't need guidance to do their work, we all do our own thing. If the CEO gets the staff to fix the bugs and the Getty management to agree policies that deliver growth and fairer returns for us then I think she would be doing her job. I don't need to have a woo-yay experience from her or to think that she is an ultra-cool cat. Those days for iStock are gone forever.

sgoodwin4813 · « **Reply #95 on:** December 08, 2012, 10:43 »

Quote from: BaldricksTrousers on December 08, 2012, 10:18

I note that they timed the "return of zoom" message for an hour after the "new communication" message. Obviously, that wasn't an accident and they are trying to project an image of real change and that actions are being taken - one important fix is in the pipeline.

There was a post in that employees comments website that alleged Getty was hamstrung by the effort to sell the place, out of fear that if they did anything they would do something wrong. It is possible that the techies have been drawing up plans to deal with the many bugs and are now being allowed to put them into action.

Whether anything much happens, only time will tell. Like most other people I am sceptical about there being any real intention to mend relations with contributors but announcing a desire to improve communication is potentially a first step on a long road. Rubbishing every initiative without seeing if it is going to go anywhere is not a constructive attitude.

As for Gostwyck's remark about "being invisible to those you lead", I don't really see the IStock CEO's job as being to lead the contributors, I see it as being to lead the employees. As has been stated repeatedly, contributors are impressed by better earnings and better conditions, they don't need guidance to do their work, we all do our own thing. If the CEO gets the staff to fix the bugs and the Getty management to agree policies that deliver growth and fairer returns for us then I think she would be doing her job. I don't need to have a woo-yay experience from her or to think that she is an ultra-cool cat. Those days for iStock are gone forever.

You've summed it up perfectly.

I just went and looked at that post on the iS forums - after the OP there are 5 pages of responses but nothing more from Rebecca or anyone else at iS, so I'm not really seeing the part that is different. But time will tell - maybe next week. It certainly is possible that they have been in a holding pattern pending the sale and that things will change now, but as many others have said, actions speak louder than words. Wasn't it just after Rebecca started that they did the survey to see what contributors thought and then - nothing. Talk with no followup has been her action in the past - hopefully she will break with that in the future.

lisafx · « **Reply #96 on:** December 08, 2012, 11:23 »

Thanks for posting this here Liz. I am a bit late to the party. I left my comments in the Istock thread. Hope somebody is listening, because the ways to turn the site around have been laid out very succinctly by quite a few contributors.

Love this quote from Sean, which really distills it nicely:

"When contributors are successful, iStock is successful"

Sadstock · « **Reply #97 on:** December 08, 2012, 11:26 »

Quote from: PaulieWalnuts on December 08, 2012, 08:04

Quote from: Freedom on December 08, 2012, 05:07
I feel Rebecca is just the messenger. She is testing the water for her bosses. I wonder what is cooking for the new year.

Good possibility. The new owners may have finally looked under the hood of what they just bought and told her to fix the mess they just found. They thought they bought a vintage Ferrari they could flip for a profit and found out it's a bondo'd kit car.

Perception goes a long way toward success. Look at Apple.

--------------------------------------------------------

You could well be right Paulie. I can imagine somebody at Carlyle taking a closer look at what is going on at Istock and saying W-T-F. It sure does smack as desperation.

Sadstock · « **Reply #98 on:** December 08, 2012, 11:34 »

It also makes me think of Mao's Hundred Flowers Campaign where criticism of the Chinese leadership was encouraged and then everyone who spoke up was thrown in jail.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hundred_Flowers_Campaign

cthoman · « **Reply #99 on:** December 08, 2012, 11:39 »

Quote from: cidepix on December 08, 2012, 08:29

why is everybody saying they would be happy with the initial %20 commission?

any other agency would be crucified if they announced they will pay %20, so why be happy if this ridiculous site pays us %20?

I never knew I had this much hatred in me..

That's kind of my opinion. When they decided to pay less than 20%, it was a wake up call. It made me realize that I was getting ripped off by most of these agencies. I have to thank iStock though. They put me on the path to building a better microstock business for myself.

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Author Topic: Nippyish note from Rebecca Rockafellar (Read 71015 times)

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cidepix

BaldricksTrousers

sharpshot

ShadySue

cidepix

ShadySue

cidepix

vlad_the_imp

cidepix

cidepix

gostwyck

rimglow

Microbius

ShadySue

vlad_the_imp

ShadySue

click_click

JPSDK

BaldricksTrousers

sgoodwin4813

lisafx

Sadstock

Sadstock

cthoman

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