Quote from: BaldricksTrousers on August 11, 2010, 12:11

..But I still don't understand why a number of people have noticed a sharp sales drop since F5 - if there is no search change, then is there something that buyers are finding confusing or offputting about the new site?

I haven't seen any drop in the few days since the new site was implemented.  I think people are more inclined to post when their sales fall than when they are stable or going up.  A few slow days this time of the year isn't unusual.

very true, I catch myself attributing a normal dip to the new site....and it probably isn't at all related. Question for Lagereek, why are you referring to RF and micro as mutually exclusive? I'm trying to understand your post.

if you were experiencing a bonified sales slump, using three days worth of 'data' really isn't very empirical or proof of anything. come on, let's not jump to silly conclusions. other than some irritating stylistic flaws, it is a well-designed and executed website and iStock have led the way many times before. the new site will take weeks to have any affect, let's give it at least that chance to prove itself.

I credit the inspection process at IS regularly. it has helped me as a photographer and in general I find the inspectors are remarkably kind people. but either they have new inspectors or tired inspectors, but the inspection process has certainly changed recently. the change has not helped me any, and yet files by more of the whos who seem to get through no matter what. I've largely ignored the complaints about the clique approach at IS, but lately it seems more apparent and discouraging.

Ok who are these "emyerson or ducksandwich" guys and how is a contributor supposed to know about them?

they are both really helpful and knowledgable guys, who have provided support and advice anytime I have asked despite being answerable to thousands of contributors everyday. a contributor can know about them by being active in the forums, or simply by reading about the iStock admins and staff members in the articles.

I have been through a particularly bad patch of rejections recently due to experimenting more lately. despite the rejections, I value the inspection process at iStock immensely and consider it a huge factor in my improvement over the years.

^ yes. as said above, within the same city is still too close. they need to act more like a global site, and not a Canadian site that can't handle surprise snowstorms. I say that with respect for the crew dealing with this mess. bet it isn't pretty or fun in there right now

I'm a software developer and I also manage a (very low volume) eCommerce site.  It's hard to convey just how complicated things can get when a site goes down due to major hardware failure.   Of course, you have backup - but the backup might be somewhat out of date. Of course you have other servers - but they may not be ready.   A big-time data center is supposed to have automatic fail-over to mirror servers, but if the whole facility is taken out by something like a fire, you're stuck. 

Big-time data centers have disaster recovery plans, too. But here's the rub - those plans usually can't be actually tested, because the client isn't willing to really shut down his site and trust that the recovery will be quick and 100% effective.  So what often happens - based on stories I've read - is that the recovery doesn't go according to plan. And in fact, things can get worse at that point because if the recovery is only partially carried out, you can have inconsistent data, mis-matched server cconfigurations, overlapping addresses and identites, and so on. 

You get the picture.  Problems can cascade to the point that you almost have to clear the decks and start over from scratch.

Real disasters seldom look exactly like the ones you anticipated.  You might think that a snowstorm isn't a big deal, but what if it takes out your backup generator located on the roof... 

having worked in IT for a few years, I know this to be true. but I also know that a site this large can't afford to be perceived as incompetent. there is always better technology and there are always better systems. I feel for iStock HQ, but I am most concerned about buyers being turned off by the perception that we are hokey and incapable of running our web-based venture.

there are even worse messages than those. I don't always put a lot of stock in blogs comments, but the comments on istockscoop are all from buyers wanting to give us business. incredibly incredibly frustrating.

Thinkstock is working just fine.....maybe they should move the iStock servers over there.

I can't believe how incompetent IS are, does one power cut really cause all these problems? IS seem completely unable to maintain a stable site.

I'm not happy about the outage either, but statements like this ^ are entirely false. every major e-commerce site in the world is still vulnerable to outages and it happens from time to time. iStock have managed to keep the site working through the hiccups, and to be honest my sales have taken far less of a hit than I would have expected given the problems.

as for the theory above about Getty replacing iStock servers with their own vendors etc., I doubt this is the factor in the current site problems. Getty took over four years ago, the technical bugs have likely been ironed out. I think the weather in Calgary simply killed their systems, as well as redundant systems. at this point, as large as iStock is, they should have a tertiary redundant system to avoid mega outages like these. pain in the butt for all concerned.

There's a pretty clear dividing line here. Those that make a significant part of their living out of this see the diminishing returns and bad treatment from agencies due to oversupply and realise their ability to feed themselves and their families is impaired by it.

Most of the people that are pro getting everyone onto the sinking ship seem to have the speedos barely ticking over under their names making me think they are probably the hobbyists. That or they just want to make a quick couple of bucks through referrals.

When your income depends on other people's success, through referrals or when it's a hobby or just a way to get a bit of extra cash doing what you enjoy it's far easier to be everyone's friend. I can fully understand it, I maybe would have been the same when this was just fun and games for me. If you take this seriously as a business and if you are ever lucky enough to do this for a job then you will think differently, believe me. It's just a shame that your actions now are decreasing your chances of ever being able to do that.

that sums it up for me...exactly...I started in microstock close to five years ago (and even that was almost missing the boat) with a naive, rose-coloured mentality. a couple of people set me straight early on, and not nicely either, but I'm glad they did. when I started it was with the intention of doing this seriously though, never as a hobby. frankly I wish hobbyists would just leave the bigger decisions to those of us doing this for a living. a bit harsh maybe, but it is what I think sometimes.

though the open concept forum is much appreciated and needed, I do wish you would moderate a bit more to keep discussions on topic and to prevent the type of ridiculous off-roading that happens regularly here. particularly when it gets ugly. it doesn't add anything to the site.

thread is locked on iS...until new announcement. I don't subscribe to the conspiracy theories usually, but this whole thing feels uncharacteristically shady for iS. even the way the admins seem to be gagged. I know they would insist they aren't, but their silence and the reasons for it leave me feeling uneasy. I have received notices in response to my support tickets to remove my images from the PP, which I opted out of last year. the reply was that my images had been removed, however upon searching both sites, all images still there.

I don't know what is going on, but I hope Getty are not so stupid that they would kill their iStock cash cow. quickly, or slowly.