MicrostockGroup
Microstock Photography Forum - General => Microstock Services => PicNiche Toolbar => Topic started by: PZF on March 08, 2015, 06:04
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Just lately this keeps re-reporting sales! I keep thinking I must be rich (well - richer) but then it turns out that is earlier sales showing up...again....
It isn't automatically caputuring sales either - I have to click the refresh/renew button.
I use Firefox and would be sad to see this little gizmo disappear....
Is it just me?
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Just the opposite here! Since a few days ago it stopped adding reported sales to the current amount. Also, for some sites, the toolbar stopped showing the figures for some agencies. Just the logo with no amount...
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Hmm...not sure the opposite. Sounds very similar.
Mine doesn't automatically report sales any more which is when I hit the 'refresh' icon. Then old sales appear again.
Be a shame to see it go.....
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A few days ago I updated Firefox to v36.0.1 Maybe it's related to the problem with PicNiche?
PFZ, are you running this Firefox version as well? Since when?
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Heya Guys
The picNiche toolbar is now pretty-much unsupported, Mozilla limited many of the internal APIs too much, and made the update process too slow (looking at a few weeks per revision) so I can't update it anymore. Also because it doesn't generate any revenue I'm finding it really difficult to justify replacing it with something built on their new plugin platform :/ It's just so much work to manage for every agency site change.
I switched over to Chrome when Firefox entered their accelerated release schedule, so I do have a similar alternative for Chrome (though it's not microstock specific) but it's subject to many of the same issues, whenever a watched site changes it's going to break and you need to know enough CSS/jQuery to be able to fix it yourself. http://tabcycle.com/ (http://tabcycle.com/)
Until agencies feel the need to add APIs (probably never) a microstock-specific replacement is unlikely.
It's been many years and I've enjoyed building and maintaining the toolbar over the years (despite half the emails I get every time it stops working are surprisingly abusive), but it's just not something I have the resources to keep up to date for every change, too many dependencies.
You might want to switch to one of the several microstock earnings mobile apps to keep an eye on your earnings, they're facing most of the same problems, but the guys maintaining those are either charging to justify the maintenance or at least haven't given up yet :)
Bob
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Yep. Firefox 36.1.
:(
Thanks for info, Bob, sad though I am. Unfortunately neither I nor my mobile are up to apps let alone CSS/jQuery....
Oh well, It was good while it lasted. Please let me know if you ever get round to doing something similar for not too horrible a fee!
Cheers.
All the best.
Judith
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Thanks Bob for always responding when there is a question. This was a great tool. I understand your frustration and want to say thanks for supporting this great Firefox add-on in the past. Perhaps you can request that Firefox remove it from their list to help you avoid getting asked why it is not working. I'm sorry that you get abusive feedback. As many know and as you have stated, even the mobile apps from the different sites go wonky whenever there is a browser or a phone os update. It's hard to keep up!
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Bobby, I would pay for a full funktionally PicNiche Toolbar for contributors. I do not wanna miss the toolbar in Firefox!
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Sorry, Bob, in my Firefox (39.0) still works and I have created my polls too.
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It may still work for some people, really depends how much you keep it up to date yourself (basically the 'engine' is still fine, just keeping all the pollers uptodate is pretty much impossible). I've delisted it from the public extensions on mozilla but if it still works for you, great, it'll still be in your browser until you remove it :)
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Hopefully. If you let it live, it will be maintained by the users, as in the case of the custom pollers...
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Because of the high level of access granted to traditional firefox extensions (they could basically format your system or steal all your passwords without you knowing) a crowd-sourced maintenance model for the advanced features is highly unlikely to be practical. You could switch to TabCycle if you know how to use css selectors yourself, but that comes with it's own issues (and requires Chrome).
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I've meant to let people maintain the custom pollers.
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The issue there is that my entire underlying system for updates is all built on out of date technology, usually with various tiers in the stack just to keep it at the basic accessibility level it still has (it pretty much costs me money every month to even 'not' maintain the plugin). Combined with the increased access, and thus onerous security implications which need to be checked, it's just more effort than it's worth given the many other (better) ways now available to keep track of your balance.
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.... such as?
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http://www.google.com/search?q=monitor+microstock+earnings (http://www.google.com/search?q=monitor+microstock+earnings)
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Well, that I could do myself. I've thought you know and use a specific tool.
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I do. I use TabCycle as mentioned twice previous :) Most people nowadays use one of the (several) mobile apps afaik, but there are various options.