It same copy style of soft porn . All bad focus.

If soft porn was sharp it would fall foul of the Trades Description Act.

Just received a notice from Alamy that everyone who gets paid by cheque will have to change their account details.  From now on they will only do direct bank transfers.  

I have mixed feelings.  On one hand it will be nice not to have to wait a couple of weeks for the check, but on the other hand I am not crazy about giving my bank info to everybody and their cousin...  Why can't they just do paypal or moneybookers?  

Well, that's precipitate: they only announced a survey yesterday whereby contributers were invited to give their preference, and PayPal was definitely in there, and I'm pretty sure Moneybookers was another.

it isn't just non-exclusives being ignored in these lightboxes. there are multiple images by contributors in these lightboxes. and after noting all the names of contributors included in the lightboxes, I was also very irritated to find that basically the same contributors, more or less, are included in all the special collections as a whole.

I don't like to see rumors and conspiracy theories running rampant. but the special collections are clearly preferred contributor collections...and that just isn't right. it looks like favoritism, it looks like an admin club and it doesn't fairly represent the talent available on iStock.

Oh yes, the same buddies that seem to get favoured Vetta slots, some of whom seem permanently to get off with really awful keywording. It's pretty depressing, actually. (To make it clear: I'm not bitter that I'm not in these lightboxes; I am angry that some truly fantastic shots were left out when some have been, shall we way 'surprisingly' included. That's no way to serve customers.)

iStock doesn't seem very "new" user friendly.  I can't find answers and my email request seems to be ignored.  Can someone tell me how long it usually takes to get a reply to "opening a ticket?"  I sent the email on Aug 17.  Still no reply.

Also, these guys are eating me alive on reviews.  It is quite humbling and crushing my substantial EGO.   
Reviews seem slow.  That's probably just my impatient nature? 

Anyway, where is the best place (which forum) to get answers to typically dumb questions?  Perhaps here?  I wanted to let them know that my StockXpert images were transferred to Thinkstock.  Does that create a duplication problem with iStock uploads?  I'm really disheartened but probably more about the high rejection rate than anything.  I guess it just takes time?

But really!  shouldn't iStock have responded to an email request already?

Thanks,
istock newbie.

replies from support can take a week easily. I presume you got your auto-reply OK? If it's something urgent, you can phone: they have a toll free US number and a European support team based in Germany.
They have just increased everyone's upload allowance, so review times have inevitably slowed down, as especially newbies and non-exclusives are taking advantage of the bonus slots. Could easily be over a week for non-exclusives.
Did you notice that iStock have their own forums? You can find answers to most of your questions there, though the forum search function isn't great, or you can post your own questions there.

Quote from: the808state on August 10, 2010, 13:37

Do you have a suggestion on what to say when you ask them to sign it?

I don't want to be like ... Hey, sign this so I can sell you picture and it may be used for a herpes ad ..  got anything more tactful?

we were discussing this in another topic, but I just was curious what you folks say to people when you ask them to sign.  Especially when it's a random person that you don't know and doesn't know anything about microstock.

thanks..

Having spent three years with no success (they didn't want their image to be used for products/causes they didn't agree with, which I 100% understand, and/or there's no way they would give their personal details to a stranger), I now shoot RM/Editorial, and if the context allows I tell people I'm shooting for newspapers, magazine editorials or textbooks. I've gone from 100% refusal (though it was OK to take the photos) to only one rejection, and that young woman didn't want her photo taken at all (pity, because she was with a group of other girls who were right up for it), I didn't even mention using them. Not having to give away details is a great plus.
Downside is sometimes the people want to know exactly what publication they'll be used in so that they can look out for it.
Another upside is that random people doing interesting things are often wearning/using items which would need PRs, which won't do for the micros.
Plus, I'm still waiting for any real payoff. That said, many people shoot people for micros with very little success. (I know that the rewards are there for those with the most suitable models and with the requisite equipment and skillset.)

Quote from: ShadySue on August 22, 2010, 05:47

Quote from: lagereek on August 22, 2010, 04:58

Well guys!  we opted-in, now we have to live with it. Its a giant laugh but frankly the way Micro is going, I rather have thousands of 0.49c,  then a smack in the bollucks.

cheers everyone.

Aaaah, no-one on the Alamy forum is claiming thousands of 49cs, you must be one of the "luckier" ones.
It is very concerning, however, that people who have opted out are seeing these sales, reported here and on their forum.

Hi Sue!

nope!  not thousands,  just a figure of speech as in I would rather have that, then nothing at all. get it?

Ive really no sentiments for some of the old-style Alamy shooters,  they been knocking the Micro for years, telling everybody what fools and idiots we are selling for a few bucks and when this NU started they were extremly sarcastic, etc,  well they were the first ones to join into the NU, now when the going gets tough,  same crowd is the first one to scream.
This is inside Alamy you understand.

I do understand, and have been finding the irony very amusing vis-a-vis the micro-macro debate as you say, except where people have opted-out.

I am not crazy about .25 subs either, but the sites that give them (including even TS) allow you to leave whenever you want.  It's very unethical for Alamy to keep us locked in to virtually giving away our images. 

People are still reporting files in TS when they opted out months ago (or not showing when they opted in).
That doesn't for a minute excuse Alamy, especially when they repeatedly knock the micros.

Quote from: lagereek on August 21, 2010, 11:00

The only possible concievable way of showing new images alongside old bona-fide sellers is to make two separate searches.

Buyers just need to sort by age, the problem is that they don't seem to.

Since F5, I've found it very difficult to change my search order: it requires a degree of persistence.

If sjlocke is so concerned about giving anything away, he should deregister and sit in a corner of a dark room with his trade secrets. 

Sean is one of the most helpful people in the business, certainly among the big sellers. But he's got an untypical sense of humour, which I admit I also didn't 'get' at first.

Quote from: ShadySue on August 20, 2010, 19:56

Ah, but even though you may be operating in different spheres than Sean, 'the walls have ears', meaning that his post would be visible to any number of people who might be shooting in the same genre ergo are possible rivals.

There is a part of this forum thats is not accessible to lurkers where you can tell all you want. You'll get access after a number of posts.

Yes, but this forum isn't one of them, and this is where the question was asked. And in that forum, there are plenty of people shooting in Sean's genre.

Quote from: Dreamframer on August 19, 2010, 18:56

Quote from: donding on August 19, 2010, 18:50

I can't ever think of any more than 15 keywords in some cases and those are the ones I think I thought of a lot.

I'm using Yuri's keywording tool. Maybe that's why I have so many keywords.

I've never tried it....guess I should.

No reason why you 'should''; and if you do, be sure to check the results manually and then again carefully if you upload to iStock, because of DA.
Several people have posted in the past in the keyword forum about keyword rejections, and it turned out they were using that tool.
Bear in mind that Yuri uses two teams of keyworders and doesnt rely on an auto-system.
FWIW, I often have over 30 keywords, but locations can easily provide several.
e.g. Bright Angel Creek, Grand Canyon, Arizona, USA, North America, National Park, place of interest, international landmark, landmark, geological feature, etc etc
It all depends on your subject-matter. If you're shooting isolated shots for example, you then have four keywords; isolated; 'isolated on white (or whatever')'; 'plain background'; 'white (or whatever) background'.

Quote from: sjlocke on August 17, 2010, 19:48

Inspectors and admins get (unfairly, imo) special privileges in the queue.  Even, amazingly, same day Vetta acceptance.  We've complained, to no avail.

Then, it's good to know not all inspectors take advantage of such privileges...   There are still fair people in the world 

I'm not sure how your statement follows Sean's. There's a logical step missing between statement A and statement B which makes statement B a non-sequitur. I think you must have missed out some 'insider information' about how some inspectors don't take advantage? Is there some button they can press which says 'don't fast-track me'? Questing minds need to know.