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Messages - KarenH
127
« on: December 17, 2011, 01:35 »
If you think you have it bad.....I've had one measly (22 cent commission) sale in 4 weeks....came to a grinding halt Nov 17....to add insult to injury due to the bugs I have no idea if this is actually occurring as others have been reporting abnormally bad sales as well....is it me or is it iStock?? Yes, I have a small port but ebb and flow is not a reason I want to hear as it has never been close to being this bad. And, other sites are doing as expected. I've sent a request in to CR to look into this for me but I don't have alot of faith that it will be done.
Thank goodness for RM.....
I'm done venting, back to the bottle.
I think that week is when everyone's came crashing to a halt, from the reports on the forums, and it was that week that downloads stopped being reported for some time. I also believe something happened around that time, beyond a general slowdown (my own shows no downloads for two weeks, although the individual lines show DLs not reflected in the total). Too many people have reported the same thing. They don't seem to be dealing with CR requests much. I've a phone call in that went directly to voicemail and was never returned almost a week ago, and several CR reports, and others have reported as such on the forums as well. Given that they closed off another week without any comment on the bugs or responses to anything, I don't think they're paying a whole lot of attention to CR requests. It really shows their contempt for their contributor base.
128
« on: December 16, 2011, 15:14 »
Sounds like the same person who wrote that embarrassingly ridiculous 503 page a few weeks ago when the site was down for five or six hours.
129
« on: December 14, 2011, 22:08 »
Why am I getting the feeling that they've almost given up on the site themselves? 
Because, constrained by targets from Getty/H&F and nobody with any authority to take any meaningful action, they have little choice. It's almost like a patient with a 'Do Not Resuscitate' notice on the end of the bed.
A very fitting analogy. It does feel like that --often. But then thinking back, if that's the case, how / why are they coming out with new things like the so-called "cutting edge technology" that they tried to implement that broke the site before they ever got the first bugs fixed. And tonight the announcement of a new "Facebook E-card App" -- I don't get it. It's like doing plastic surgery on that patient with the DNR at the end of the bed (I suck at analogies, but you get the general drift -- it's like why bother).
130
« on: December 14, 2011, 20:33 »
Why am I getting the feeling that they've almost given up on the site themselves?
131
« on: December 13, 2011, 20:07 »
Hi Guys, I am new here, just want to introduce myself http://www.istockphoto.com/search/portfolio/439280/?facets={%2225%22%3A%226%22}#1833ac55 .
I don't hate, love or have any other personal feelings regarding iStock, they made me such a nice amount of money during last 6 or so years that I can't complaint. But I feel that it is a good time to take my portfolio to other agencies . I came here to learn something, since I was exclusive from the beginning and I feel like in "uncharted waters" for the moment. So hello to all, and it's nice to be here with you.
Aldra . . . Just . . . WOW!!!! What an amazing portfolio you have!! I think you'll do well anywhere!
132
« on: December 10, 2011, 10:27 »
I think Sean's theory from the istock thread is probably more likely the right answer, that these refunds are from referral credits given for free to new sign-ups, and people were gaming the system and signing up multiple new accounts to get 10 free credits repeatedly.
And as he says in that thread, it's wrong that the contributors are being held financially responsible for screw-ups in the referral program.
Agreed. However, there are at least two reports (and not everyone reports them here) of credit card fraud in the month of November here. http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-403-265-3062/5
133
« on: December 08, 2011, 22:40 »
And we still can't see our downloads between November 21 (??) and December 5 -- and although I've not seen anyone specify yet if their refunds were from downloads during that period or not (although some of them definitely close to the time the site went down), wouldn't that suck to have to give a refund on a download you haven't even been able to see yet! It's annoying that they can be so quickly clawing back money for refunds, but they still can't get a month-old system failure fixed to show missing royalties and downloads.
134
« on: December 08, 2011, 20:42 »
Just saw this thread about the large refunds from so many contributors in the last few days : http://www.istockphoto.com/forum_messages.php?threadid=337937&page=1Strangely, these refunds seem to be around the time that the system broke (didn't last downloads stop showing up about the 21st of November, and STILL not showing up between then and the 5th of December?), and just before the "maintenance". At the risk of sounding like a conspiracy theorist, this seems oddly coincidental to me.
135
« on: December 08, 2011, 20:20 »
Not that it will ever happen, but they seriously need an audit. I mean, when you can't report on royalties / downloads for a two week period of time, and have no idea when you will be able to, you've got serious issues, and the trust erodes daily.
136
« on: December 02, 2011, 18:39 »
I don't trust any of it, it seems all over the place. My "userview" and "my uploads" shows DLs through 11/21, my iStock app shows there have been DLs since then since 11/26, but I can't believe I had NO downloads for the week of the 21st (especially since so many other people have said that their's came to a halt then also). On top of that, if I look at "my uploads" it will show a different number of DLs than the individual file page shows, and still some files that show x number of DLs listed on the detail with the royalties, but a different number on the main image page. What a mess. Doesn't seem worth messing with though until "end of next week" when they hope to get all the numbers in. I'm surprised at how many people are asking if they can upload -- given the state of things, why would one want to until it's settled down and (relatively) stable?
137
« on: November 30, 2011, 23:36 »
"Starting tomorrow until Dec 7, this code will give you 15% off any purchase: 1979SUCKS."
1979SUCKS? It's getting worse and worse. This is beyond nightmare.
"1979SUCKS" as a coupon code?
If IS didn't get hacked they really messed with a lot of serious customers - and not in a good way...
Where do you guys see the 15% off text? It's not on IS homepage.
It was on their error message page earlier, it was on twitter, and several affiliate sites have it listed. They might not be publicizing it now, as it's no longer on the error message page, but they did earlier.
138
« on: November 30, 2011, 22:47 »
They removed 1979SUCKS finally.
At least it is off the page. I'm wondering if the buyers are able to piggy-back these discount codes -- 10% off of $50 or more of credits is coupon code JAY2011, good for one week from today; and then 15% off of any purchase beginning tomorrow and good until December 7 is coupon code 1979SUCKS. That is some heavy-duty discounting, if they are able to use both of them.
139
« on: November 30, 2011, 22:36 »
I'm reading twitter and some think the page is funny. All is see is text. Is there something I'm missing?
All I see is text too. Maybe they're laughing at the "back to the future" concept? I don't know. I don't understand the significance of 1979 either -- there was no 1979 iStockphoto -- maybe there' just something I am not getting.
140
« on: November 30, 2011, 21:59 »
Personally, I don't think they got hacked. My guess would be it was a major implementation of something (what, I don't know) that went bad. They haven't always given us notice when things are rolled out. And there's way too much affected for it to be from a tweak of something -- it's uploads, downloads, royalties, RCs, sitemail, you name it. Just my two cents.
141
« on: November 30, 2011, 21:39 »
ridiculous. I just got back from the dentist - the left side of my face is numb.. I login to see if I have any sales.. and I get the ridiculous 1979sucks page. what? screenshot attached in case it changes and anyone misses this assinine thing.
really, iStock? can you also give contributors 15% MORE for what we are losing??
That's the improved version, jamirae. You should have seen the one that this one replaced. I think it's screenprinted in the other thread, the one about "maintenance or hack", something like that.
142
« on: November 30, 2011, 21:21 »
This is one of the weirdest things I've seen from a company of this size. Hacked maybe? Time for a 100% royalty week once they come back online. 
Au contraire mon ami.
They've upped the discount to 15%.
Will the bosses or IT guys also get a direct 15% pay cut?
Doubtful. The first discount was 10% on 50 or more credits. This 15% discount is on any purchase.
143
« on: November 30, 2011, 18:49 »
That is, without a doubt, the absolute worst error page I've ever seen. I seriously thought this was a joke by someone, or a hack, and had to check here to make sure.
144
« on: November 27, 2011, 14:57 »
So, to get things straight:
- They have had a maintenance that was not announced in time
- They failed to properly communicate this downtime to its contributors (just a forum post, no e-mails)
- They put up a "Jay is working on it" page instead of a professional looking "Maintenance" page
- They offered a 10% discount out of our pockets to compensate for their clients
- They still haven't fixed ANY of the important bugs we currently encounter
- They fail to give contributors an ETA for their missing royalties payment
Seriously. One would expect more from a big multi-million dollar company like this. Why are these amateurs still in business?
Oh, plus some things that were working before maintenance are now broken. So far I've noticed:
- the balance is jumping back and forward between yesterday's and today's total (noted on forum)
- if you only select e.g. 'photos' it doesn't stick on a new search (that worked before)
- if you select a sort by, e.g. 'age', it doesn't stick on a new search (that worked before)
Sitemail is apparently wonky for some too.
145
« on: September 07, 2011, 20:46 »
I don't really get it either. If it were a site for 'creative ways to use IS content' or something, ok, something really integrated into the site. But tossing cash at development for an unrelated site just for the heck of it, seems like an odd choice to me. Really, it's time and cash that could have been spent on making IS really rock, but now were drawing people away with mentors an whatnot. I guess it doesn't really affect me directly...
Time and cash that could have been spent on getting the site up and running! Really, taking days to back out of a code change that broke things is crazy. Or . . . site outage I guess is what they called it in the beginning, although the tech guy said they did a code push. Who knows.
146
« on: March 17, 2011, 06:59 »
"There is no such thing as ''a bug'' when we discuss Best Match. There never was. Best Match is confidential, never set in stone & evolves all the time. What you may perceive as ''a bug'' may change tomorrow & what you may perceive as ''a bug'' may generate a completely different set of results to your potential client in a week. So please, I am asking you not to worry regarding that aspect of the equation, especially at this very early stage (within the context of the code release that was done today). "
From the above mentioned thread of course it's on page 14 of the thread, I'm not sure how I missed this one. My question is why would the results be completely different tomorrow? Doesn't that mean that it wasn't the Best Match in the first place?
I don't get that at all -- there was the "there is no such thing as a bug in best match" in the beginning -- and later on in the same post, "Now, let me be crystal clear: if you are seeing some of your recent uploads showing up in strange places at this very moment... it is simply and absolutely unacceptable. Never was this project intended to produce that result. " So an unintended result doesn't make a bug?? If it walks like a duck, . . .
147
« on: March 14, 2011, 06:54 »
Mine is where I usually find it -- from the bottom left link under contributor tools. But the "My Uploads" page is screwed up yet again. They're messing with it almost daily now. With so much broke on the site, I wish they'd leave the stuff alone that is at least working, or find a dev environment to play with rather than the working site.
148
« on: March 13, 2011, 14:28 »
This prob will not affect me much, i just started at IS, very few pics. Although i have had a large batch of $ taken away from me at another micro co, for the same reason, "fraud".
This is what is in my mind:
lets say we make and sell a crap load of wiggets to walmart (for resale) and walmart in turn sells them to the public, via there stores.
along comes a groop of scammers/criminals who bought a butt load of our wiggets with stolen credit cards.
walmart would not be charging us for the stolen items?! They would just absorbe it as the cost of doing biz! And possibly follow up with the authorities to try and recup the loss.
Why is it not like this with the micros?
Actually the proper analogy is a bit different -- the stolen credit cards were used to buy CREDITS from iStock, which were then exchanged for images, but they didn't buy the images directly from the contributors with the credit cards. I was checking to see if credits could be used to buy anything else, like perhaps merchandise from the store (because then would they go back to the manufacturer of the merchandise and ask for their money back?) -- but I guess they can only use the credits on image downloads, and not on anything else.
149
« on: March 13, 2011, 13:31 »
One other thing to consider, and I'm only whistling in the dark, is that the authorities might have needed iStock to let the fraud to on so that they could find the perp, because only then was there a chance of catching them and preventing the work which was stolen being passed on, e.g. on illegal DVDs, websites etc.
That thought crossed my mind...that it was a sting operation. BUT if they agreed to that, I don't think they should have taken the money back from contributors. The other thing I have to wonder is why it was let on for so long and at such an extensive scale. Still smacks of incompetence and negligence more than anything else. Otherwise, why wouldn't the other affected sites have engaged in the investigation or a similar investigation?
I have no idea whether BigStock's quickly stopped fraud was of the same nature and by the same perps. (Anyone know?)
Alamy also had fraud, but it was totally different (hacking in to accounts by guessing passwords).
I didn't read about any others, but I seldom hop into the forums of the other groups unless I've time to kill.
I have to believe that there was an opportunistic reason that iStock was chosen. I'd still bet on a security hole as a result of their F5 revamping that someone either knew about or discovered -- seeing how they handle site search and even "fixing" the uploads page, and I shudder to think of them dealing with security. Fraud surely happens to every merchant, brick and mortar or internet, eventually -- but for this to go on this long and to this extent is something I've not heard of with others. And their response/reaction certainly left much to be desired. Was it Almay that sent the letter to all their contributors explaining that it happened and apologizing? A little transparency goes a long ways. And one of the others reported a fraud, but if I recall, it was stopped in two days.
150
« on: March 13, 2011, 10:58 »
Instead of posting wooyay to KK's posting what about "Where the have you been for the last 3 months"
It surely hasn't been at a communications or people-skills workshop. They seriously need someone else to be their spokesperson.
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