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Messages - LDV81
126
« on: August 04, 2016, 14:40 »
Well, what goes around comes around. I hate to lose the $400 a month I make there if they were to have to close, but they reap what they sow. In the end they should really care, right? After all, money isn't everything....or something like that. 
If they close one day, that void would be filled by other agencies. There is a certain demand for images at any time and it must be fulfilled. It is hard to imagine a more parasitic creature in the stock business than G., so in the long run most content producers should benefit in such scenario.
127
« on: August 02, 2016, 02:13 »
Your pain threshold is very high, my friend, if you still upload there and follow DeepMeta updates.
128
« on: July 29, 2016, 18:00 »
I can imagine there will also be quite a few refund requests/demands. I think they have "a situation" there.
129
« on: July 28, 2016, 10:38 »
a video file appeared on my sales through the map but it never appeared in my earnings summary
happened to me at least 2 times
They explained it some time ago. A customer is allowed to re-download videos they purchased in the past. If they do so, you see it again on the map in the same spot but your earnings don't increase because they buyer had already paid before.
130
« on: July 23, 2016, 15:12 »
 I think this chart says all: 
131
« on: July 22, 2016, 19:04 »
Oh, you can make decent money with random shots on Shutterstock, I know it for a fact.
But only if you happen to own or have access to a time machine.
However, if you do have access to a working time machine, there must be thousands of more lucrative places and time periods to be than Shutterstock 2004-2008.
132
« on: July 22, 2016, 15:35 »
but vent !!!
ranting does send out a message to other potential shareholders
that all is not good at ss.
this will drop the share prices ,
so it is not useless rant as you say it is.[/color]
you can still hit them in the pocketbook by ranting here and ss forum
to show other shareholders it is not long-term that ss current look for.
iow, you go in now, and you will be left holding the bag
when the majority shareholders sell and take profit at your expense.
Rants on MSG or SS Forum are interesting only to other contributors. The impact of a 10 thousand page long thread would be negligible. The world outside does not follow MSG or SS Contributors' Forum. And rant against what?? - that the search algorithm changed or changes, or the changes might possibly be not in your favor? - that there are too many contributors at the top agency? These two things won't change, so you have to adapt and learn to live with them. In other words, think how to survive lightning strikes, invest in a lightning rod and don't try to eliminate thunderstorms or rant against them.
133
« on: July 22, 2016, 15:27 »
LDV81, please explain why people suddenly see a massive drop one day to the next, as happened in this july for a lot of people ?
The agency may change the search algorithm whenever they want. I noticed that after a very good day at SS I am now usually punished with pathetic sales on the next day. It feels like they switch off parts of my port in certain markets. Some of the other sites also seem to have a kind of "rotation".
And that's the whole point I am trying to make. They have no obligations towards contributors only towards shareholders. For crying out loud, you can't change that. That's the way it is. What do you want do? A hunger strike? No point complaining, got to adapt and find alternatives.
That is why successful and smart co-ops with limited memberships and exclusive images are the only way for full-time contributors to survive in the stock business in the long run.
red - statements your points
i) glad you agree there is some kind of manipulation unlike some handful who insist
it's not happening
ii) why would ss encourage the established contributors to exodus to stocksy,etc???
would they not be chopping off their own feet?
otoh, shareholders plan is short-term and really do not care if tomorrow , after they short their holdings , ss no longer exists, ... sort of a repeat of istock.
i try to see your point though. since we are not able to storm ss HO for not being
a native in that city, luckily for them most of us are not,
there is really nothing else we can do...
but vent !!!
ranting does send out a message to other potential shareholders
that all is not good at ss.
this will drop the share prices ,
so it is not useless rant as you say it is.
you can still hit them in the pocketbook by ranting here and ss forum
to show other shareholders it is not long-term that ss current look for.
iow, you go in now, and you will be left holding the bag
when the majority shareholders sell and take profit at your expense.
Stocksy is limited to a few hundred photographers. There will be no exodus to them... unless they change the rules.
Exactly. Stocksy also plays in a "parallel" market with different style, different price range, different concept. But there is room for other co-ops serving SS's market. Even then SS would not care, at least at first. It is a BUYER'S MARKET, so suppliers must come up with a smart model, or they will go out of business. SS does what they think is good for their bottom line "at the moment", and it is their right and it will not change anytime soon.
134
« on: July 22, 2016, 13:37 »
LDV81, please explain why people suddenly see a massive drop one day to the next, as happened in this july for a lot of people ?
The agency may change the search algorithm whenever they want. I noticed that after a very good day at SS I am now usually punished with pathetic sales on the next day. It feels like they switch off parts of my port in certain markets. Some of the other sites also seem to have a kind of "rotation". And that's the whole point I am trying to make. They have no obligations towards contributors only towards shareholders. THERE'S TOO MANY SUPPLIERS, so they can afford to lose some. For crying out loud, you can't change that. That's the way it is. What do you want do? A hunger strike? No point complaining, got to adapt and find alternatives. That is why successful and smart co-ops with limited memberships and exclusive images are the only way for full-time contributors to survive in the stock business in the long run.
135
« on: July 22, 2016, 02:06 »
This kind of pointless rants has been going on for years and it will only get worse. In 2 years most of you will dream about today's stock income. Blaming the agencies, newbies, etc. - so pointless, such a waste of time.... Basic economic fact is: there is too many suppliers and the share of the cake is getting smaller and smaller for each supplier. What is the way to survive? Writing useless rants and continuing to pump your assets into an unsustainable system? Continuing to sell rope to agencies with which they will hang you? No, the only way to think about survival is stop feeding the current system and try to create an alternative system where the number of suppliers is limited and the content is of high quality and exclusive.
Stocksy got it right: hard limit on the number of members. Stocksy also got many other things right and now reap the rewards.
I cannot understand the "pros" who continue to pump their content into the system that will eat them, instead of trying harder to come up with a better system. Stocksy has proved that it is possible, only very difficult.
All right, for this post you may grab your pitchforks and chase me, but I am sure if I come back in 1 year, 2 years, and there will be exactly the same kind of useless rants, only the income level of most people will be much lower.
What this implies though is increased income for the chosen few at the expense of those excluded. It may work well for some but doesn't really address the supply issue. Seems to me its an outdated model ...will be interesting to see where Stocksy is in a year or two as well.
The only alternative are ever shrinking earnings for everyone. The ones that are "excluded" (as you say) on one site may join other sites. It was also pretty much like this when e.g. entrance tests at SS mattered. Only the entrance barriers should be higher now and the membership limited. I don't think you should even try to address the oversupply issue. Hopeless! It's like with lightning strikes. A lightning rod is not supposed to solve the issue of lightning strikes but it prevents your house from being destroyed when it hits you.
136
« on: July 22, 2016, 00:24 »
This kind of pointless rants has been going on for years and it will only get worse. In 2 years most of you will dream about today's stock income. Blaming the agencies, newbies, etc. - so pointless, such a waste of time.... Basic economic fact is: there is too many suppliers and the share of the cake is getting smaller and smaller for each supplier. What is the way to survive? Writing useless rants and continuing to pump your assets into an unsustainable system? Continuing to sell rope to agencies with which they will hang you? No, the only way to think about survival is stop feeding the current system and try to create an alternative system where the number of suppliers is limited and the content is of high quality and exclusive.
Stocksy got it right: hard limit on the number of members. Stocksy also got many other things right and now reap the rewards.
I cannot understand the "pros" who continue to pump their content into the system that will eat them, instead of trying harder to come up with a better system. Stocksy has proved that it is possible, only very difficult.
All right, for this post you may grab your pitchforks and chase me, but I am sure if I come back in 1 year, 2 years, there will be exactly the same kind of useless rants, only the income level of most people will be much lower.
137
« on: July 20, 2016, 20:40 »
Since you are a specialist, it might be interesting to focus on SEO instead (possibly also in some Scandinavian languages) and try to sell as much as possible directly.
I think from this forum PaulieWalnuts is taking this approach in his area.
138
« on: July 20, 2016, 19:18 »
Great images and lifestyle, Jan. Unfortunately, it is much easier to come up with names of agencies where you should NOT upload...
139
« on: July 18, 2016, 01:18 »
I've been using IrfanView for about 17 years already, I think. First installed on a laptop with Windows 98, 2.1 GB HDD, 32 MB RAM and a 233 Mhz Pentium CPU. Fantastic program IMHO, especially considering the cost. A true legend. Thank you Irfan for all these years!
140
« on: July 14, 2016, 18:19 »
Sorry for the dumb question but how do you delete/deactivate photos?
I deleted many on D-day, haven't bothered to log in for many months and now I cannot find a way to delete anything.
EDIT: I found it. You have to open the file in customer's view and in the upper right corner there is a button "Maintenance".
141
« on: July 14, 2016, 02:46 »
its good to hear from a pro that things are down (its not just me!)
No, it is not good. If things are down because of oversaturation it is much, much worse than in the case when you or somebody else are having a poor month or a quarter. In the second case, things could always improve for you, you may increase your port, etc. In the first case it is more or less Game Over. I have seen quite a few sites fade away but I have never seen a site making a spectacular come back. Therefore I'd rather have a situation when "it's just me" than when "it is bad for everybody".
142
« on: July 10, 2016, 21:19 »
What is most worrying is that Mr Gostwyck doesn't post anymore in threads about Shutterstock.
143
« on: July 06, 2016, 22:28 »
There are some programs or services, such as e.g. Stock Performer, but I only use MS Excel. This all I need. 1 sheet for every year. Horizontally months, vertically agencies. Converting USD to EUR. Then formulas to calculate the sums. Simple. I don't bother with tracking earnings of individual files.
Unless you are a very big player and need to analyze the data, you will be much better off if you focus on creating new content instead of analyzing too much.
144
« on: June 30, 2016, 23:37 »
If this is like a divorce that takes 2 years and costs both sides a lot of money, I think there may be a time when we decide it would be better to stay together. How many divorces go through when the person asking for the divorce is only 52% sure they want one?
Yes, I also think that staying together would be pragmatic. No matter how you look at it, a weakened EU is a very bad thing for the UK, because of all the economic ties. And a weaker UK is not good for other European countries at all. A slowdown in China or a recession in Japan can be felt across the globe as ripples in all developed economies. If the ties are stronger, as in the case of UK/EU, the negative effects will also be stronger. Great Britain is an island geographically, but its economy is not an island, it has so many ties with continental Europe that a divorce may be very painful. Probably more painful to the UK than the EU because of the size and the fact that the banking sector plays a very important role in the British economy. Except for the English football hooligans, personally I like the Brits very much, I feel very well every time I am in the UK and I would be happy if we could somehow avoid this divorce. Heck, I even don't mind those silly separate taps for cold and hot water in Britain  And somehow the EU hasn't banned them...
145
« on: June 30, 2016, 22:41 »
I haven't received this email, but this looks like taken straight out of Franz Kafka's The Trial. People are accused of having committed a crime, but the details are not revealed. A remote, inaccessible authority is threatening with a punishment, but how can you defend yourself if you don't know what exactly your alleged crime is? Very Kafkaesque indeed.
A stupid bot has found some supposedly problematic images. Then the stupid bot should have returned their file IDs!
146
« on: June 29, 2016, 09:07 »
Yes, uploading doesn't seem to make much difference in my case as well.
Microstock is so 2012, now it is not about having a stock portfolio, but all about having "a feed", please excuse this word. Followers are the new downloads. Reach a million followers and you achieve Nirvana. Then monetize your followers.
147
« on: June 28, 2016, 22:27 »
I have only about 500 images on DT and haven't uploaded for a long time. Last month around 90 dollars with nearly 80 downloads, this month about $45 with more than 60 downloads so far. Usually I get between 60 and 100 dollars per month. When I was actively uploading (until 2014 I think), it was more. I am not really motivated to upload there, but I don't complain, either. It's passive income, I'll take that. I have a few images that are good sellers and probably are high in the search results, that's all.
I am not interested in their footage program at all.
148
« on: June 28, 2016, 18:30 »
That's great but where the word Dozen? Or Half Dozen?
Do you need to be constantly reminded that six is half dozen? I live in another EU country and I have been buying similar packs as long as I remember.
6 will always be 6, 2 x 6 will always be 12 no matter if you call it a dozen or not.
LOL , reminds me of the comedian at the farmers' market who cheerfully tells us
"our price is the most flexible, you can choose 6 or half a dozen ... we won't charge you a penny more!!!" wink wink
Some people never buy eggs apparently but they categorically demand the right to buy eggs by the dozen. "You may buy eggs by the dozen whenever you wish and it has always been this way." "Hmmmm, but the seller must inform me in writing that it is a dozen or half a dozen, otherwise I don't know if the quantity is equal to a dozen! 6 or 12 can be so misleading!"
149
« on: June 28, 2016, 16:16 »
What is interesting is whether:
1. Scotland could veto Brexit? It might not be very likely, but the Scottish Parliament must represent the will of the people of Scotland. From what I have read, the constitutional status of Scotland is somehow linked to the EU (Scotland Act or something else). Scottish MPs do not need to care at all how the English voted, their job is to represent Scottish interests, so if they find a legal loophole to block Brexit, they would probably do so.
2. If they cannot block Brexit, could they remain in the EU (possibly with N. Ireland and Gibraltar) while England and Wales leave? (I mean without proclaiming independence) It might seem strange at first, but: 1. The Isle of Man is represented in foreign matters by the UK, and it is not part of the EU. Other British Overseas Territories also don't belong to the EU. 2.Greenland belongs to Denmark, but it left the EU in the 1980s while Denmark stayed.
150
« on: June 27, 2016, 17:22 »
The English football players have just voted to exit also the European Championship. UNBELIEVABLE! Enxit!
Beaten by a team outside the EU :-)
I suppose it was also EU's fault, because it had banned blue grass and square balls, so the English players were not able to train properly.
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