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Author Topic: new site stocktal  (Read 49206 times)

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« Reply #75 on: September 09, 2014, 22:52 »
0
"You may have a new or updated message from curation team about your recent uploads" -- but there's nothing there

I just got second mail with the same approval message.


« Reply #76 on: September 09, 2014, 23:02 »
+1
Jack,

Another small issue.  I started an upload and got called away.  When I came back to finish the upload I have been logged out.  Log back in and the upload is gone.  Where?  Canceled?  Held someplace?  I cannot find it.

Also, I am seeing folks reporting they are getting requests to upload only 30 a day or so.  Please do not do this!  If you must restrict uploads do it by week.  30/day = 210/week.  I can upload once and stop by again next week.  Honest, we are not all sitting at our computers every night waiting for the clock to strike 12 so we can upload 30 more to Stocktal.

You came to this site and asked us to upload.  You are talking to some of the best MS producers in the industry (not me but the good ones are here too), with huge portfolios.  If you get these folks actually interested you need to expect a lot of uploads.  Are you prepared for that?

Beppe Grillo

« Reply #77 on: September 10, 2014, 01:03 »
+3
"You may have a new or updated message from curation team about your recent uploads" -- but there's nothing there

I just got second mail with the same approval message.

Don't worry it is not finished I've got it already three times (in two days) ;)

ShadySue

  • There is a crack in everything
« Reply #78 on: September 10, 2014, 03:52 »
+5
Thanks for the answer Jack. But how do I know for sure you wont change the percentage later?

Anybody else find this funny? Starling, he already answered your question.

Not remotely funny.
Most of the agencies have reneged on promises or changed their terms of reference.
Given some of the duplicity on the site I've already noted above, their cluelessness about the business and the refusal to answer important but simple questions I and others have asked, I find it amazing that some here think they might be trustworthy.

Note that in his first post on this thread, Jack said,
"I would welcome any other questions, comments or complaints."
http://www.microstockgroup.com/new-sites-general/new-site-stocktal/msg392977/#msg392977

Then said, "Delighted to continue this dialogue and answer any other questions."
but only a page later he said:
"Although there are many fair and specific questions above theres quite a lot of general comments that seem, with courteous respect, a tiny bit out of place. "
http://www.microstockgroup.com/index.php?action=post;quote=393162;topic=23347.25;last_msg=393281

... and has not answerered the most important questions, which must be right to hand, so once can only imagine he's preparing a 'spin' on the answers. There's no reason why they shouldn't have been answered straight away.

You can all laugh at me five years down the line when you're millionaires.
« Last Edit: September 10, 2014, 04:02 by ShadySue »

« Reply #79 on: September 10, 2014, 04:24 »
+4
I saw the StockTal advert a couple weeks ago and wrote to them questioning the fact that they have no contact address, business address or business registration details on the web site.  Received an enthusiastic reply from a girl in the Philippines who gave me lots of runaround but didn't supply the information requested except to say that it is being run by some Australians.

Doesn't really interest me because I'm an iStock/Getty exclusive, but I thought I'd write just to see what sort of response I'd get.  Interesting that StockBo has straight away put all their company information available for public scrutiny, whereas StockTal still hasn't.

« Reply #80 on: September 10, 2014, 05:40 »
0
The search works only in english?

Ubermansch

  • Im designed to think
« Reply #81 on: September 10, 2014, 06:14 »
-1

Not remotely funny.
Most of the agencies have reneged on promises or changed their terms of reference.
Given some of the duplicity on the site I've already noted above, their cluelessness about the business and the refusal to answer important but simple questions I and others have asked, I find it amazing that some here think they might be trustworthy.



I hear you. Micro is quite a shell game. Hoping this mob is different.

To me its quite clear that they "may" up their split. But I googled "stocktal 78 game changer" you get the page that hints at how this will roll out. In fact its blatantly obvious. You are rewarded because you are an early adapter.

Not an uncommon approach. I could be wrong, maybe they will hold it at 78 forever?? But the name early partner program suggests to me that the first batch of members will hold this level of payment for life and the remaining "hoards" will suffer from their inaction.

I got nothing to lose, spent a little time uploading, see what pans out.

ShadySue

  • There is a crack in everything
« Reply #82 on: September 10, 2014, 08:53 »
0
To be honest, whether they'd stick to 78%, how their uploading works or whether they should have categories would be the least of my worries with this lot, at this stage.
« Last Edit: September 10, 2014, 08:55 by ShadySue »

Valo

« Reply #83 on: September 10, 2014, 09:09 »
+3
Well, I tried the site to have a say in this from experience, but the editor is horrible, the list of categories is just ridiculous and the majority of my images went awol.

All in all the site is a grammatical, legal and practical mess. I don not understand why some of us think it is all ok. It is far from ok and it is very unprofessional in my honest opinion. If you comment about splashing the cash on marketing, please use some funds and time first on developing a proper working site, easy to use, without silly spelling and grammar mistakes.

I apologise for my ranting.

« Reply #84 on: September 10, 2014, 20:32 »
+1
http://stocktal.com/pages/customer-agreement.html

i just looked at the customer's agreement, and here it did not mention anything about transfer of ownership. it looks similar to all the other sites re. the contributor retains the ownership.

Sue, where did u find that section re owning the rights?

re: free images.

all i can find is where u open an application to submit 10 images for approval,
you have the options to choose -
RF, RM,
then at the bottom after keywords,etc..
Free, Editorial.

so i suppose when they offer 500 free images, they r giving the clients the choice of these
images where the contributor selects the FREE option.

i cannot see why anyone would give anything away free,
so i would think they are doing what dreamstime do,
offer to give the rejected images free.

but i like to hear from their official spokesman about this , of course
before submitting anything to them.

hopefully, the delay in coming back to us is to correct what Jo Ann has pointed out
so profoundly , as always.
i would love to have another choice to add here,
viz,  Canva, Stocksy, Alamy, Pond 5, 500px,

anyone who is working away from subs is always welcoming. and given that there is
something to amend for new sites.
Jack, pls acknowledge Jo Ann's pointers, as we are all waiting to join if we get the go ahead from her. me at least ;)
« Last Edit: September 10, 2014, 20:40 by etudiante_rapide »

ShadySue

  • There is a crack in everything
« Reply #85 on: September 10, 2014, 21:05 »
0
Sue, where did u find that section re owning the rights?
I didn't say 'owning the rights'.
Their front page, pointed out by starling, says:
"When you take purchase of a Stocktal image, you own it (the single instance of the image NOT the copyright)"
IMO, it would be more helpful for buyers to understand they they are buying a licence to use the image within allowed parameters. They don't 'own' the image in any sense, just have the right to use it as specified.
Someone who 'owns' something can do what they like with it, including give it away. The verbiage should make that absolutely clear.

ShadySue

  • There is a crack in everything
« Reply #86 on: September 10, 2014, 21:14 »
+1
Can't help but notice that more than a day later, he hasn't come back with answers to the important questions, nor have the grammatical, spelling and logical flaws on his home page been corrected.

I don't know why I'm dishing out free advice, but 'explore the license options' should be 'licence'. License is the verb.


And - expletive deleted - There is a photo currently on their front page titled, "Birds rare Galapagos finches sea cliff". These birds are Puffins; I can't be 100% sure which species as the preview is blurry, but I can assure you that they are NOT finches, NOT rare, and are NOT found in the Galapagos.

Jack - I have no idea how you reconcile this idiocy (I really mean this - didn't the tog know where they were when they took the photo?) with your statement "We vet our stock with great diligence".
« Last Edit: September 10, 2014, 21:20 by ShadySue »

« Reply #87 on: September 10, 2014, 21:24 »
+2
Quote
"When you take purchase of a Stocktal image, you own it (the single instance of the image NOT the copyright)"
I took that to mean that the person writing that portion of the website was not familiar with stock photography and how it works.  A layperson would say "I own that image I bought", someone in the business would say "I licensed that image".

Verbiage used is unfortunate on a professional stock licensing agency's site. :(

ShadySue

  • There is a crack in everything
« Reply #88 on: September 10, 2014, 21:29 »
+1
Quote
"When you take purchase of a Stocktal image, you own it (the single instance of the image NOT the copyright)"
I took that to mean that the person writing that portion of the website was not familiar with stock photography and how it works.  A layperson would say "I own that image I bought", someone in the business would say "I licensed that image".

Verbiage used is unfortunate on a professional stock licensing agency's site. :(

I'm becoming more and more sure that whoever wrote that site is not a native English speaker, nor do they have a clue about the stock business.

« Reply #89 on: September 10, 2014, 21:43 »
-1
Sue, where did u find that section re owning the rights?
I didn't say 'owning the rights'.
Their front page, pointed out by starling, says:
"When you take purchase of a Stocktal image, you own it (the single instance of the image NOT the copyright)"
IMO, it would be more helpful for buyers to understand they they are buying a licence to use the image within allowed parameters. They don't 'own' the image in any sense, just have the right to use it as specified.
Someone who 'owns' something can do what they like with it, including give it away. The verbiage should make that absolutely clear.

ah, ok. it was not in the linked page i attached earlier. thx Sue!

yes, i agree, it's much like the problem we have with RF, and many ppl think it means using it for free.
or with the case of certain newbie models who thought that since u asked them to sign an MR it meant that u ask them permission to transfer the ownership of "their" photos to you.

they are supposed to be based in Australia,
Stocktal 15 Winterton St 250 Hallam 3976 Melbourne Victoria AUSTRALIA
 so one would assume they speak English.
last time i heard they do down-under  ;)
« Last Edit: September 10, 2014, 21:45 by etudiante_rapide »

ShadySue

  • There is a crack in everything
« Reply #90 on: September 10, 2014, 21:45 »
+2
they are supposed to be based in Australia, so one would assume they speak English.
last time i heard they do down-under  ;)
Not even everyone who lives in England is a native English speaker.

ShadySue

  • There is a crack in everything
« Reply #91 on: September 10, 2014, 22:06 »
-1
On the Talent Agreement page, it says,
"Non exclusive
Sellers may include non exclusive works without limitation, provided the work is not exclusive with another stock library."


Yet Jack confirmed in a post above that RM images must be exclusive.

« Reply #92 on: September 10, 2014, 22:47 »
+1

they are supposed to be based in Australia,
Stocktal 15 Winterton St 250 Hallam 3976 Melbourne Victoria AUSTRALIA
 so one would assume they speak English.
last time i heard they do down-under  ;)

That, we certainly do etudiante_rapide But if I reverted to an Australian accent on this forum, "there'd be not a squeak in the house mate, gobs open, minds ponderin, you get me?" :)

Actually, where do I start, The tax has been removed. Frankly it had me confused too since we are marketing globally. It was simply to be equally shared between talent and StockTal, but we can survive paying taxes from the gross revenue, not a big deal.

Also the free images "hook" has been changed to 10. The idea is that buyers with an account will more likely make a purchase from StockTal. Also our address is now on the footer of every page as suggested.

Now to Miss Snover, flattered that you took an interest in StockTal Jo Ann :)
Yes we are keeping it at 78% no plans to change that at all, but we did segregate the account should something unforeseen occur, which means even if there was a change, all members with epp keep their percentage no questions. Just a systems contingency to give the account a special name.

In the blurb about applying to be a contributor, you describe the requirements for the 10 images submitted to include "Must be an original inate image directly outputed from your camera." If you mean a RAW file straight from the camera, that's a unique (not in a good way) requirement. Every image I submit has been edited, and I wouldn't consider showing anyone the straight from the camera version.

This wording has been edited. Really doesnt make sense.

I see a few vectors on the site, offered in a ZIP format, but nothing in the contributor quality guidelines about what format/version you accept, if you generate the preview for it. There's also nothing in the description for the buyer of what format the vector is in (it should say, perhaps something like the info shown for video clips).

You can upload "any" file to the system as long as its zipped. pdf, sga, whatever is required. Also it is up to the experienced talent who submit such a file, to know to make the file format clear in the description. The main criteria for buying such a file is to know what it is. Those few vectors are eps files, why he wouldnt have disclosed this in description is confusing to me.

Our main interest is photography right now, we are still in pre-launch and its a case of first things first.

Photos (top bar) is plural, not possessive; drop the apostrophe :)

Good spot. Fixed.

I saw a picture that showed the license plate of a car parked on an Azores street

One got through. Have had no luck finding it but thanks for mentioning it. There's an APB out on the image.

Unfortunately we are no closer to resolution with making large images fit our size criteria on the fly. All I can say is that it makes sense and Im fighting for it.

More later, a sincere thanks to all for the kind words and also the criticisms. Our urgency to address these concerns has been stepped up.

« Reply #93 on: September 10, 2014, 23:04 »
+2
The all points bulletin has been called off, the artist must have read your post and changed it, its marked as editorial.

Shadysue,

We are still working on the wording of the agreement. The main apparatus is in there, mainly limiting liabilities for talent and such, but your posts have been marked for further reference. Thank you for taking such trouble, you should be on our payroll.

« Reply #94 on: September 11, 2014, 00:58 »
+1
One last comment for today before lunch.

The categories thing was mentioned several times. Somebody made the point that if we had 10 million images, who would rifle through the category to find just the right image.

I agree completely except for one thing. We need you to help us fill out the categories, just choose one category. So far most of the contributors are at least choosing one relevant category and several have already simply made a subcategory for their images. Its simple to do.

The way we are going, from 100k to a million is only a few weeks away. By filling out the category and making it accurate, you give yourself a better chance of selling, for the buyers that do actually like to browse cats. Otherwise its a lucky dip on the on site search, that depends on your titles and keywords.

We are doing our part but we need some cooperation from the founding members of StockTal. We are doing this together.

Having said that, the quality of many of the images is simply stunning, crisp, clear, vivid colors amazing sky's and concept shots. It's a pleasure to browse these beautiful items. My favorites are in the landscapes section, uplifing!

We try and accommodate everything because we really don't know what sells. We are constantly surprised by selling images. Why decline them when the artist had an idea and somebody buying that image understands that idea, even if curators don't like it. We don't judge the image for commercial appeal or utility to the market because its a mistake to do so.

The curators view people who refuse to do a title, keywords etc or add at least one category at this early stage as un cooperative. "They seem to just want to dump a large file on us and run"

We have already closed several accounts without further explanation and hope not to have to do too much more of this.

Thank you for listening to this appeal.


« Reply #95 on: September 11, 2014, 01:40 »
+1
In the UK Virgin Media has blocked this site...
This site has been blocked by Web Safe because it's listed as having malicious content. It could put your personal and financial information at risk or cause damage to your files.

« Reply #96 on: September 11, 2014, 03:49 »
-2
In the UK Virgin Media has blocked this site...
This site has been blocked by Web Safe because it's listed as having malicious content. It could put your personal and financial information at risk or cause damage to your files.

Yes we have already been made aware of the Virgin Media message. Not much we can do to help VM understand the site. Im sure an email to them would be answered with resoundingly loud silence. I have seen warning messages for Amazon pages before, quite surprising, but you don't really know whats going on.

StockTal places a cookie on a users computer to track such things as our remarketing campaign. Could be that. Can't meet every isp's expectations.

Beppe Grillo

« Reply #97 on: September 11, 2014, 03:55 »
0
Jack-Stocktal, about categories.

I have worked for years in the press business (weekly and monthly magazines) and I have never seen no photo editor using categories in their search.

People looking for an image know what they are looking for.
If they are looking for a "banana" they will not use the categories food, fruit, fruit and vegetable, etc
This will give them oranges, beefsteaks, cookies, etc it is absolutely useless.
They will simply use the keyword "banana" and they will find images of, try to guess bananas!

Cheers!
« Last Edit: September 11, 2014, 04:02 by Beppe Grillo »

« Reply #98 on: September 11, 2014, 04:16 »
+1
Hi Anton,

Yes I agree. WHEN we have 10 million images this makes sense, but many visitors "expect" a categories section and an empty or low accuracy categories section is a liability.

Is a lay-persons money for an image any different to a producer working at FOX network for the same license? They pay the same price either way. This industry is changing and many people don't recognize this..(quite yet)

People make websites and even video for youtube that has NOTHING to do with the professional, clicky world of old media. They need content at a reasonable price and royalty free. The odd RM sale is ok but these people are not the core audience anymore.

Compliments on the work BTW very inspiring imagery!
« Last Edit: September 11, 2014, 04:43 by Jack-Stocktal »

« Reply #99 on: September 11, 2014, 04:17 »
0
Also, everyone just call me Jack, it's absolutely ok.


 

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