Quote from: michealo on April 16, 2008, 10:41

I am deleting the best sellers - just in case

I thought of doing that, but... does it make any difference? If they intended to misuse what they have there, they would have already copied everything.

Am I missing something?

Regards,
Adelaide

Oh, you're right of course Adelaide - they've got backups of backups of those images... if they were really wanting to do something inappropriate with our images, they could.

But michealo was talking about at least trying to prevent more sales of images that he possibly wouldn't get payment for when they do shut down.

Quote from: maunger on April 16, 2008, 11:45

But michealo was talking about at least trying to prevent more sales of images that he possibly wouldn't get payment for when they do shut down.

I see.  Thanks for the clarification.

If we ask, don't they delete the entire portfolio?

Regards,
Adelaide

I'm checking on that. Not sure how much staff is left at this point.

I was wondering if Bryan tried to sell the whole site before taking this decision. The site could well be worth some decent money.

I have a bad experience with that.  TotallyPhotos was sold and went totally out of business.  Whether the selling was a lie (not to say they were going out-of-business for failure) or the buyer simply took possession of our images.

Regards,
Adelaide

As some of you may know I stopped reviewing (bouncing) there many months ago when they made what I said at the time was a fatal mistake.

I've also commented on the Yaymicro thread here about another reason that I think contributed to LO's downfall.

But the main reason that LO has failed is because they failed to do the most basic things that any business needs to survive, MARKETING,  I liked Bryan he is a decent guy but unfortunately I think his ego took the better of him, it was clear a long long time ago that his marketing strategy of not advertising wasn't going to work, many people told him this and yet he continued along the same line.

Let this be a lesson to any new site that tries to enter this market, if you want to sell something you need to tell potential buyers that you have something to sell.

I've never seen a site get so many accolades from it's users and yet they have failed, if somebody with good marketing experience took over LO they could easily make it a huge success.

I wish Bryan and all involved at LO all the best for the future.

I agree.

Well - i've had photos on 2 other sites that went under and cash in my account - all the "notice" i got was that the site wouldn't load one day - and poof - all my money was gone and who knows what the heck happened to the image library! How do you think that made me feel?

Some people are just never happy no matter what.

If a company in my "day job" business sector went "we're closing the doors in a month, all the cargo you have with us will remain our property" there would be small claims court cases (or even law suits).

Just because other sites just disappeared, doesn't mean that Lucky Oliver is awesomely amazing for posting a note on it's home page.  They should do what is right, and what is right is paying contributors out their money.

They should have also alerted contributors to the fact that they are closing, other than the site.  What is someone is away on a six week safari in Africa (I know at least one microstocker who does it regularly) and can't check their site, but gets emails sent to their mobile / blackberry (as they do)?  They're going to potentially have alot of money sitting there that they don't even know they're not going to be paid.

I'm almost certain they aren't claiming bankcruptcy because that would effect any future dealings of the people behind LO.

I'd say the backers just decided it wasn't and isn't worth the money they've invested and decided to end it now rather than pay any more in, they'll write it off.

At the moment they're saying payout is at $25 but when it comes to the deadline who knows what they'll do, they've been pretty open and honest up until now so people might get their payouts whatever the amount.

 

What It's closing down and i just got an extended license sale of $25!!! What do we do? delete all the photos there?

That's what I did.  I haven't had any sales there yet, so I just deleted everything.  I don't want people to buy my pictures, and me not get paid for them.

I just registered there and submitted first three images

Just got my first sale in 2 weeks at the big O. Not going to make payout so it doesn't do me any good. Anyone deleting their port? I've got too many there to do it one at a time. Not sure what to do.

And I was wondering why my pics are waiting in the queue for over a month Too bad, it was a nice concept..

Just got my first sale in 2 weeks at the big O. Not going to make payout so it doesn't do me any good. Anyone deleting their port? I've got too many there to do it one at a time. Not sure what to do.

I hear ya, DB. I started.... it takes for-freakin-ever!!!  With over 400 there... it'd take me all week, and I don't have that much beer in the house.

The only problem I see is those that have no shot at payout, having more pix purchased and just that much more money they'll never see.  As for me, they are holding $75.  Hopefully with a click of the mouse, I'll get that. I'll probably hold out another week or so.  I've had EL's there, who knows.... maybe on the outside chance.......         nah, who am I kidding...

I never got the impression that Bryan's was a 'fly by night' outfit. He is a photog and artistic talent himself.  I imagine he well appreciates intellectual property values and rights.  I can't imagine that he will do anything beyond pushing the big delete button.  I'm not particularly concerned that my portfolio would be abused  (ha, there's plenty better than mine to take advantage of on that server...ha ha ha).

Besides,  any that think by deleting on the site,  that they are assured that the file is gone ....are probably sadly mistaken.  As someone else pointed out... these sites are sure to have double or triple redundancy in place. That one you delete, surely isn't the only copy.

I don't think we need to worry about Bryan hijacking the server with all our pix on it.  ......   unless of course,  he just purchased oneway tickets to china.....         LOL  =tom


p.s.  I  DO  think that the minimum payout rule is bogus in this situation. It's not like the carneys are quiting LO...   LO quit on the carneys.  EVERYONE should get their money even if it's 30 cents.  The agency got their share of that sale already.  Give the owner his/her share.

why is everyone concerned about deleting photos.

The worst case scenereo is that someone will buy a license or two, since there has been next to zero sales the last 4 weeks, I am guess that trend will continue.

so if someone gets a free license that means I am out $1.00 or maybe even $10.00... if I spend 4 hours, or 30 hours deleting my portfolio I am out a lot more than $10.00