MicrostockGroup Sponsors


Author Topic: When they tun off the tap?  (Read 10310 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

« on: August 02, 2011, 17:42 »
0
Is it a myth or reality when someone claims that iStock turns the DL taps off? Bad best match for a few? Or site wide? I also experienced 500 error when uploading today. When it happens, my sales seems to be affected.

I have seen many people saying "as if the tap was turned off". Personally I have experienced it, such as today. It should be a normal weekday, but hardly any sales.

What makes it happen?


RT


« Reply #1 on: August 02, 2011, 17:46 »
0
What makes it happen?

Paranoia  :P

« Reply #2 on: August 02, 2011, 17:48 »
0
Mine has been only dripping for the last few months, but it seems they turned it on again last week. Yours will have to remain off for the time being, I'm afraid. It's my turn. :P

« Reply #3 on: August 02, 2011, 17:59 »
0
That's possible, but there are a few out there..., don't know what to think.  ::)

What makes it happen?

Paranoia  :P

« Reply #4 on: August 02, 2011, 18:02 »
0

RT


« Reply #5 on: August 02, 2011, 18:03 »
0
That's possible, but there are a few out there..., don't know what to think.  ::)

I'm sure there are, but if you apply Newtons third law.....

lisafx

« Reply #6 on: August 02, 2011, 18:55 »
0
What makes it happen?

Paranoia  :P

Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they aren't really out to get you ;D

« Reply #7 on: August 02, 2011, 19:03 »
0
Haha, +1.

I don't think they are out to get me, as I am not that important to them. Just I am not their favorite baby, even though I am exclusive.  :-\

What makes it happen?

Paranoia  :P

Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they aren't really out to get you ;D

PaulieWalnuts

  • We Have Exciting News For You
« Reply #8 on: August 02, 2011, 20:04 »
0
Well, it may be reality because sometime in early July my IS tap got turned about half way off. I was having a great year before that.

Is it a coincidence that they decided to start a new banner advertising program and referral program ? They haven't done advertising in a while so I'd either they're losing buyers or a massive number of buyers decided to take a vacation at the same time.

On top of that the last time I checked there were only about 35,000 images waiting to be reviewed so it looks like contributors have been turning down the supply tap.

lagereek

« Reply #9 on: August 03, 2011, 00:57 »
0
Easily done! just by the flick of a switch. A friend of mine living in NY, can at times during their business hours, not see my port, or certain parts of my port.
Might be a bug or glitch but I will find out.

« Reply #10 on: August 03, 2011, 01:13 »
0
I've had my sales drop over 50% with a best match change.  Istock has the most variance, compared to the other big site SS that's about the most stable.  I do think all their technical problems with the website are a factor.

My supply tap has been switched off for almost a year now, apart from one slip when I uploaded a few.  Can't say I miss uploading there but my sales have plummeted.

PaulieWalnuts

  • We Have Exciting News For You
« Reply #11 on: August 03, 2011, 04:13 »
0
I've had my sales drop over 50% with a best match change.  Istock has the most variance, compared to the other big site SS that's about the most stable.  I do think all their technical problems with the website are a factor.

My supply tap has been switched off for almost a year now, apart from one slip when I uploaded a few.  Can't say I miss uploading there but my sales have plummeted.

The odd thing is that with this latest best match change a lot of my images actually improved a bit in search placement. I have quite a few images that are showing up on the first page or two of major keywords. And sales still dropped. I don't think people would just stop buying my images.

lagereek

« Reply #12 on: August 03, 2011, 04:22 »
0
I've had my sales drop over 50% with a best match change.  Istock has the most variance, compared to the other big site SS that's about the most stable.  I do think all their technical problems with the website are a factor.

My supply tap has been switched off for almost a year now, apart from one slip when I uploaded a few.  Can't say I miss uploading there but my sales have plummeted.

The odd thing is that with this latest best match change a lot of my images actually improved a bit in search placement. I have quite a few images that are showing up on the first page or two of major keywords. And sales still dropped. I don't think people would just stop buying my images.

Exactly the same here. Placement improved drastically but sales dropped?  I know traffic has dropped a lot,  still, it doesnt make sense, unless the best match, is engineered to favor certain contributors.
All the same, with the overall poor performance of the site, what does it really matter.

ShadySue

  • There is a crack in everything
« Reply #13 on: August 03, 2011, 04:29 »
0
On Monday night I happened to think that an old slow-but-steady image hadn't sold for a while, so I wondered what supadupa photo had usurped it. So I did a search on the main keyword (the very specific location). There are two DAs, and my file is correctly keyworded with both DAs. So I chose one, and the search threw up: 0 results. Hmmm, I have a few for that search and I know of several others. So I tried the other DA: 0 results. Logged out and tried both DAs when logged out - 0 results. Fired up IE and tried again, logged out then logged in, each DA in turn: 0 results. Other random searches were throwing up the selection you would expect.
As it was late at night, and I'm banned, I wrote it on my to-do list for yesterday, and as usual didn't consult my to-do list until bedtime (!). Checked again and my file, and all the others, are showing up. I don't think there's a usurper, mine is still top by downloads, but low-ish by best match.
I wonder how often files just 'disappear', and for how long. As that is a specific location search, a buyer would obviously start looking elsewhere - there is no substitute.

lagereek

« Reply #14 on: August 03, 2011, 04:39 »
0
On Monday night I happened to think that an old slow-but-steady image hadn't sold for a while, so I wondered what supadupa photo had usurped it. So I did a search on the main keyword (the very specific location). There are two DAs, and my file is correctly keyworded with both DAs. So I chose one, and the search threw up: 0 results. Hmmm, I have a few for that search and I know of several others. So I tried the other DA: 0 results. Logged out and tried both DAs when logged out - 0 results. Fired up IE and tried again, logged out then logged in, each DA in turn: 0 results. Other random searches were throwing up the selection you would expect.
As it was late at night, and I'm banned, I wrote it on my to-do list for yesterday, and as usual didn't consult my to-do list until bedtime (!). Checked again and my file, and all the others, are showing up. I don't think there's a usurper, mine is still top by downloads, but low-ish by best match.
I wonder how often files just 'disappear', and for how long. As that is a specific location search, a buyer would obviously start looking elsewhere - there is no substitute.

You are banned?!  heck I didnt know that. Anyhow, files are always dissapearing and especially in the US and during business hours, when night-time in Europe. Nights with dark secrets and mysteries.

ShadySue

  • There is a crack in everything
« Reply #15 on: August 03, 2011, 05:58 »
0
...at night, and I'm banned, ...
You are banned?!  heck I didnt know that.
Since November. Where have you been?

lagereek

« Reply #16 on: August 03, 2011, 06:32 »
0
...at night, and I'm banned, ...
You are banned?!  heck I didnt know that.
Since November. Where have you been?

HI!

What on earth did you do?  I mean you seem to be a very pleasant person ;)

ShadySue

  • There is a crack in everything
« Reply #17 on: August 03, 2011, 07:11 »
0
...at night, and I'm banned, ...
You are banned?!  heck I didnt know that.
Since November. Where have you been?

HI!

What on earth did you do?  I mean you seem to be a very pleasant person ;)
LOL, that must be the first time anyone's ever said that, even with a winky.

Apparently, Lobo doesn't like the truth being delivered in one-liners.

Last warning: At the time of the Tokyolypse, someone asked who paid for the 'lypse. That was the one where participants didn't have to pay for tickets, so I answered, "Participants pay for their own flights and accommodation/food, we pay for the rest", which was deleted. Truth hurts.
Final straw: Someone asked how you could do something (forget what) which you 'used to could' do on the site. I replied that you couldn't, it was one of the 'improvements' of F5.
Now actually that turned out not to be strictly 'true', as apparently Sean had written a script to enable that functionality, but it wasn't exactly 'untrue', as it had been stopped with the F5 change, and you couldn't do it natively inside the site.

« Reply #18 on: August 03, 2011, 07:31 »
0
Now I remember. I also searched for a certain image which stopped selling, and it did not show up in the search at all. Ahhh, now I know that the tap was likely turned off.

On Monday night I happened to think that an old slow-but-steady image hadn't sold for a while, so I wondered what supadupa photo had usurped it. So I did a search on the main keyword (the very specific location). There are two DAs, and my file is correctly keyworded with both DAs. So I chose one, and the search threw up: 0 results. Hmmm, I have a few for that search and I know of several others. So I tried the other DA: 0 results. Logged out and tried both DAs when logged out - 0 results. Fired up IE and tried again, logged out then logged in, each DA in turn: 0 results. Other random searches were throwing up the selection you would expect.
As it was late at night, and I'm banned, I wrote it on my to-do list for yesterday, and as usual didn't consult my to-do list until bedtime (!). Checked again and my file, and all the others, are showing up. I don't think there's a usurper, mine is still top by downloads, but low-ish by best match.
I wonder how often files just 'disappear', and for how long. As that is a specific location search, a buyer would obviously start looking elsewhere - there is no substitute.
« Last Edit: August 03, 2011, 13:17 by Freedom »

« Reply #19 on: August 03, 2011, 10:14 »
0

LOL, that must be the first time anyone's ever said that, even with a winky.

Apparently, Lobo doesn't like the truth being delivered in one-liners.

Last warning: At the time of the Tokyolypse, someone asked who paid for the 'lypse. That was the one where participants didn't have to pay for tickets, so I answered, "Participants pay for their own flights and accommodation/food, we pay for the rest", which was deleted. Truth hurts.
Final straw: Someone asked how you could do something (forget what) which you 'used to could' do on the site. I replied that you couldn't, it was one of the 'improvements' of F5.
Now actually that turned out not to be strictly 'true', as apparently Sean had written a script to enable that functionality, but it wasn't exactly 'untrue', as it had been stopped with the F5 change, and you couldn't do it natively inside the site.
Wow that's a bit harsh.  I've seen far worse things written without any ban!!

ShadySue

  • There is a crack in everything
« Reply #20 on: August 03, 2011, 10:50 »
0

LOL, that must be the first time anyone's ever said that, even with a winky.

Apparently, Lobo doesn't like the truth being delivered in one-liners.

Last warning: At the time of the Tokyolypse, someone asked who paid for the 'lypse. That was the one where participants didn't have to pay for tickets, so I answered, "Participants pay for their own flights and accommodation/food, we pay for the rest", which was deleted. Truth hurts.
Final straw: Someone asked how you could do something (forget what) which you 'used to could' do on the site. I replied that you couldn't, it was one of the 'improvements' of F5.
Now actually that turned out not to be strictly 'true', as apparently Sean had written a script to enable that functionality, but it wasn't exactly 'untrue', as it had been stopped with the F5 change, and you couldn't do it natively inside the site.
Wow that's a bit harsh.  I've seen far worse things written without any ban!!
Apparently, it wasn't what I said, but the fact that I said them in such a 'short' manner. H*ck, usually people would have the right to complain that I rabbit on too much, so I thought that hilariously ironic.
He'd had me on his radar since years earlier when there was some sort of thread about Kew Gardens and he made some categorial statement that all photos taken in Kew Gardens would be removed. At that time there were many photos with iconic Kew Gardens buildings, many with the keyword 'Kew Gardens' in the collection. However, I did wonder how someone would know that a particular tree or plant had been taken in Kew Gardens in order to remove it and posted my 'wonder'. Lobo somehow decided I was trolling and reiterated that 'all' photos taken in Kew Gardens would be removed. True, the 'obvious' ones which were actually keyworded 'Kew Gardens' were removed about 15 months or so later.
As of now, there are 91 photos keyworded "Kew Gardens", only one of them editorial. So, who was telling the truth back then?

« Reply #21 on: August 03, 2011, 13:25 »
0
In other words, does best match make certain images disappear for a certain period of time?

I don't think it targets anyone in particular, if it is true. It may cause some seasonal images unsellable in that season, or a bad day during a high volumn weekday. Possible?

ShadySue

  • There is a crack in everything
« Reply #22 on: August 03, 2011, 14:18 »
0
In other words, does best match make certain images disappear for a certain period of time?
I don't think it targets anyone in particular, if it is true. It may cause some seasonal images unsellable in that season, or a bad day during a high volumn weekday. Possible?
I'd surely hope it isn't deliberate. A few months back, I happened to notice that none of my six or so pics with a certain keyword weren't seen in a search on that keyword, which was in the CV. I SMd Kelvin after a couple of weeks, and he, Ducksandwich and Keywords checked it out and couldn't work out what was going wrong. They passed it on to the techie guys and after some time, I noticed they were in the search again. It wasn't so much these files, which are low demand, which worried me, but the thought that that could be happening on and off all the time, and we wouldn't know about it unless we 'happened' to look. (Sometimes I check to see if low-selling files are just low demand, or to see what more popular pics people have in that search. In that case, it was just 'low demand'.)
I'm pretty sure it's a bug rather than a policy. It wouldn't be serving anyone, especially the buyers, to rotate pics out. But what do I know?

PaulieWalnuts

  • We Have Exciting News For You
« Reply #23 on: August 03, 2011, 14:57 »
0
How about a conspiracy theory to play with. It's in their best interest to not have people reach the next level. Could the best match be configured to throttle people back in the search who are on target to hit the next level?

Jan through June were strong for me and I was on track to hit the 35% level by the end of 2011. July dropped almost 40% in revenue for me and so far the first few days of August have been down over half of a normal day for me. Coincidence?

« Reply #24 on: August 03, 2011, 21:57 »
0
They have definitely turned off the tap for me this month. Three days in and not a single DL.
Call it a summer slump it you want, but August 2010 was my BME.  :-\


 

Sponsors

Mega Bundle of 5,900+ Professional Lightroom Presets

Microstock Poll Results

Sponsors