This is what got my iStock forum privileges and sitemail access revoked

[cdwheatley]

I'd say between 200-300, the charts don't really tell us much. There could be a newer guy sitting at position 1200 selling like crazy, it would take him years to climb the chart, but he might still make the 40%. I'm at 318 and will make it.

[Eyedesign]

I'd say between 200-300, the charts don't really tell us much. There could be a newer guy sitting at position 1200 selling like crazy, it would take him years to climb the chart, but he might still make the 40%. I'm at 318 and will make it.

Bingo!!

[thesentinel]

I didn't say 500. I said a bit under 500, think somewhere around 420-475.

You can think what you want, but experience and research tells me otherwise.

[SNP]

I'd say between 200-300, the charts don't really tell us much. There could be a newer guy sitting at position 1200 selling like crazy, it would take him years to climb the chart, but he might still make the 40%. I'm at 318 and will make it.

Bingo!!

agreed....just went through all the numbers I have available to me and this number makes the most sense. not far off of what sharply_done said earlier...

[lisafx]

I posted elsewhere that I did get a call the morning the announcement was made.  I am not saying that to blow my own horn, BTW, just to clarify that these mythical calls DID go out to some contributors.  I don't know who else got them, just that I did.   I assumed they were calling all BD's but apparently they called other canisters as well.  

It was't pre-emptive, BTW, it was after the forum announcement was made.  The admin who called me was one who had established a relationship with me when I needed help with other issues.  She asked if I had seen the forum thread about changes at Istock.  I hadn't.  She did not clarify what the changes were, but sounded so solemn and serious I was sure the changes were bad.  She told me that if I had any questions after I had read it I should give her a call and she would answer any questions I had.  

Of course I went right to the forums and checked on the news.  Devastating news!  I called her back and asked for clarification, like was there wiggle room.  Could we expect some flexibility or negotiation?  No.  Was I going to drop from my current 20%?  She told me where to find my current RC tally, and yes, I am going to drop.  

I am not sure why I got a call.  They had absolutely nothing to offer by way of softening the blow.  I don't know how it was decided who got calls and who didn't.  If it was an attempt to keep me quiet, it didn't work.  But by the nature of the call and the sadness of the administrator, I concluded that these changes were not coming from the Istock team, but higher up and there was nothing they could do about them.  

[gostwyck]

^^^ Thanks Lisa, interesting bit of background. It does beg the question as to the motivation behind the calls, presumeably damage-limitation, but it also leaves little doubt that the Istockphoto management were fully aware what the likely reaction was going to be. The more we learn the more extraordinary it all becomes.

[SNP]

^ well said lisa. that was my experience with the call too. and as I said in my first post, it was a voicemail that I then replied to, so I have no idea what time the voicemail was left by Andrew.

[caspixel]

I posted elsewhere that I did get a call the morning the announcement was made.  I am not saying that to blow my own horn, BTW, just to clarify that these mythical calls DID go out to some contributors.  I don't know who else got them, just that I did.   I assumed they were calling all BD's but apparently they called other canisters as well.  

It was't pre-emptive, BTW, it was after the forum announcement was made.  The admin who called me was one who had established a relationship with me when I needed help with other issues.  She asked if I had seen the forum thread about changes at Istock.  I hadn't.  She did not clarify what the changes were, but sounded so solemn and serious I was sure the changes were bad.  She told me that if I had any questions after I had read it I should give her a call and she would answer any questions I had.  

Of course I went right to the forums and checked on the news.  Devastating news!  I called her back and asked for clarification, like was there wiggle room.  Could we expect some flexibility or negotiation?  No.  Was I going to drop from my current 20%?  She told me where to find my current RC tally, and yes, I am going to drop.  

I am not sure why I got a call.  They had absolutely nothing to offer by way of softening the blow.  I don't know how it was decided who got calls and who didn't.  If it was an attempt to keep me quiet, it didn't work.  But by the nature of the call and the sadness of the administrator, I concluded that these changes were not coming from the Istock team, but higher up and there was nothing they could do about them.  

Totally bizarre.

[Jo Ann Snover]

^^^ Thanks Lisa, interesting bit of background. It does beg the question as to the motivation behind the calls, presumeably damage-limitation, but it also leaves little doubt that the Istockphoto management were fully aware what the likely reaction was going to be. The more we learn the more extraordinary it all becomes.

In general, I do think there's still a lot of power in the simple act of personal contact. In a situation less dire it might have made a difference in the type and strength of reaction.

 If I ran a stock site, I'd want to keep Lisa happy too

OTOH I have more respect for Lisa's intelligence than to think a warm and fuzzy call from someone is going to make her OK with cutting her income. You just can't spin anything good from this. It's "I'm bigger and more powerful than you and I'm going to keep more of the money buyers are paying. I'm betting you won't walk away because you'll want to hang on to all the income you can."

[jane]

I understand calling BD's, but I am curious how they decided who else deserved a phone call.

[Amanda_K]

I just want to clarify that I think Lisa is nothing short of amazing and if I ran a stock site, I'd probably do everything in my power to get contributors like her to stay too.  Also I have nothing personal agianst anyone who got a call.  

That being said, a company picking and choosing who they want to reach out to seems to be more of the inner circle nonsense that iStock has come to be known for.  I still find the whole thing offensive. While the main thread on iStock is circling the drain there have been plenty of legitimate questions that have gone completely unanswered.  The promise of "dialogue" from the ceo was pathetic joke.  And yet they had time to make personal calls.

[lisafx]

 If I ran a stock site, I'd want to keep Lisa happy too

I vote you and 9Lives be put in charge of a stock site immediately!

[Sadstock]

I understand calling BD's, but I am curious how they decided who else deserved a phone call.

--------------
I can imagine a stratagy of contacting people who they think might be able to shape the discussion as it unfolds in the forums at least in an attempt at damage control.  

If so, it seems like jsnover is behind the whole plan 

[Blufish]

My 2 cents is since the calls seemed to not be prior to the announcement, based on what Lisa said, I think they were trying to just notify them and get them to read the forum announcement. As they are large contributors, that may or may not read the forums regularly, they decided to give them a heads up so the ones that are not actively reading the forums/announcements, do so and not get blind-sided.

[Risamay]

I must say, I am curious as to what "the call" said. Or even what it could have said. Or why anyone would bother calling any submitter to tell them that the announcement was about to be made (that is NOT a negotiation by the way, a negotiation would be about changing the terms to keep you happy).

It makes no sense telling a few people in person about an announcement that everybody will see a few hours later.

Per Lisa's post, these calls don't make a whole lot of sense. Even as an outreach, damage-control effort, as there were no negotiations as part of the call. Nor the sharing of any new/in-depth explanation or information about the changes (outside of or in addition to what's been posted in the forums). And as Lisa got a call, that sinks my theory that only the pom-poms and air horns were contacted.

[Risamay]

I am not sure why I got a call.  They had absolutely nothing to offer by way of softening the blow.  I don't know how it was decided who got calls and who didn't.  If it was an attempt to keep me quiet, it didn't work.  But by the nature of the call and the sadness of the administrator, I concluded that these changes were not coming from the Istock team, but higher up and there was nothing they could do about them.  

Totally bizarre. I don't know what to make of these calls. Nor do I understand, then, why Kelly took the blame for the changes, if, as you inferred from the sadness of the admin, they didn't come from iStock but higher up the chain.

[lisafx]

Totally bizarre. I don't know what to make of these calls. Nor do I understand, then, why Kelly took the blame for the changes, if, as you inferred from the sadness of the admin, they didn't come from iStock but higher up the chain.

I'm just guessing, but I imagine he is getting paid very, very well to be the bad guy.  

Either that, or he is genuinely on board with the changes.  I can't begin to see how he could be, but who knows?  Everything Istock seems to be doing lately defies logic...

[LostOne]

I'd say between 200-300, the charts don't really tell us much. There could be a newer guy sitting at position 1200 selling like crazy, it would take him years to climb the chart, but he might still make the 40%. I'm at 318 and will make it.

Bingo!!

agreed....just went through all the numbers I have available to me and this number makes the most sense. not far off of what sharply_done said earlier...

Here's a post from slobo from IS:

ok, lets make this visible. I have over 67,000 total downloads and I am currently ranked at #219 of all iStock contributors (according to the http://istockcharts.multimedia.de/ and I am pretty sure everyone ahead of me is accounted for) yet I will fall quite short of 150,000 RC required to maintain 40% commission.

I guess that all those diamonds that started at around the same time as he did (or before him) and have similar number of downloads will also fail to qualify. And there's many of those. Still, there are probably quite a few that are very active and managed to get to diamond since 2006 like sharply. So it's really hard to say how many will stay at 40%. I presume cdwheatley isn't far off though.

[Risamay]

I'm just guessing, but I imagine he is getting paid very, very well to be the bad guy.  Either that, or he is genuinely on board with them.  But that really defies logic, IMO. 

Interesting. He'd never taken the blame for unsavory changes before. Maybe he got a bonus/raise for this? Either way ... Disappointing.

[PaulieWalnuts]

<Snip>Nor do I understand, then, why Kelly took the blame for the changes, if, as you inferred from the sadness of the admin, they didn't come from iStock but higher up the chain.

Probably because H&F said "Kelly, this model isn't sustainable for our goals (... to increase profits, sell it at top dollar, whatever). We expect you to design and deploy a sustainable model by the end of 2010". And so Kelly told the happy Istockers "your job is now to call certain contributors and tell them about the new model".

Who would be happy about being forced to make that call?

Istocker: H.. h.. h.. he.. hellooo? I.. I.. I'm calling to let you know about some ch.. ch.. cha.. changes to the contributor agreement...

[fullvalue]

Look to Vetta.  What's missing in who will/won't make the cut is that previously a Vetta download was still only one download. Now, it's significantly more.

Sorry guys, but in this case, size doesn't matter as much as you think.  Even if you have XXXL available the sales growth and volume is in the electronic media- blogs, websites, etc.; so a file that has more RC even at it's smallest size is going to have significantly more impact.

[OhGoAway!]

Look to Vetta.  What's missing in who will/won't make the cut is that previously a Vetta download was still only one download. Now, it's significantly more.

Sorry guys, but in this case, size doesn't matter as much as you think.  Even if you have XXXL available the sales growth and volume is in the electronic media- blogs, websites, etc.; so a file that has more RC even at it's smallest size is going to have significantly more impact.

And yet another clique-y bit of business that only certain people seem to easily get into. Maybe I'm just sour this week, but I can't even read any more of this bullshizzle.

[SNP]

as opposed the oh-so welcoming and un-cliquey group over here? yeah right 

[caspixel]

LOL. What's with the name change?

[SNP]

I was feeling a little more 'Dude Where's My Car' tonight....I'm bored of MASH these days, watched too much of it lately.