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Messages - cthoman
2676
« on: April 18, 2011, 18:15 »
Have any of your aardvarks been cut?
Nope, they haven't gone on the endangered species list yet. I guess Dreamstime has a right to run their business as they see fit and that may not jive with how I want to run mine. I do think it's odd that they seem to have more and more subs and small credit buyers everyday and those are exactly the same buyers that buy multiple images in a series. It seems a strange cannibalization.
2677
« on: April 18, 2011, 16:38 »
It's a shame because there are all those people out there who really love aardvarks.  
2678
« on: April 18, 2011, 14:53 »
That's a lot nicer layout. Putting the search and the login at the top... Where have I seen that before?  It's funny because I had to delete that stupid search bar from about every page to put it in the header. Leaf, I don't think there is much special about Dreamweaver, although if you buy the Adobe Suite, it's nice to have it thrown in.
2679
« on: April 18, 2011, 12:02 »
Half way down:
http://www.dreamstime.com/forumm_26339_pg7
Thanks! Well, dont flame me but actually I approve of this kind of action if its justyfied that is ( dont know about Elena though) . Clogging up the files in an agency is IMO, one of the chief reasons why we have this terrible state at the moment, I bet all in all with the entire Micro world, some 60% could be removed and leave 40% of relevant, not copycats material.
It really depends on how is it implemented. Are we talking scalpel or rusty hacksaw? Like someone said above, it would be nice if they came up with a better solution like grouping similars as collections in the search instead of just rejecting them.
2680
« on: April 18, 2011, 11:22 »
From Achilles in the Dreamstime forum:
Starting today we will begin to select portfolios that are dramatically affected by this issue and clean them of blatant similars, identicals, flipped images and small angle variations that have 0 downloads. We will try to be gentle but some users will see a significant amount of content being removed. Once they are reviewed they will be removed without refusals being counted in the approval ratio.
Strange indeed they call them 'accidentally approved' while its obviously only about the new similars policy...
Do you have a link for the thread?
2681
« on: April 17, 2011, 11:38 »
I thought they were supposed to repeal this? It seems silly to get overlapping 1099.
2682
« on: April 16, 2011, 18:26 »
4.0 scares me now. I've made so many changes it would be like starting over. Hopefully, they add some really enticing features to it.
2683
« on: April 16, 2011, 18:03 »
It looks like it goes by most viewed images. You can see what images have been viewed the most in the manager under stats. I don't think you can change it.
2684
« on: April 16, 2011, 13:04 »
2010? That was last year. It's all about 2011 1st quarter now. Taxes are a year round process. Yay!!
2685
« on: April 16, 2011, 11:19 »
The clawbacks may have been quite legal, but they could at least have made token payments to the contributors, who were in fact damaged in some sense, because their intellectual property was taken and it can be easily resold. However, it would probably be impossible to prove actual damages in a court of law.
I don't know if you download your images at these warez sites, most of them still have the agency ID numbers where they got them from. I sent a support ticket about one of them that came from IS and never heard back. Also, I sent a complaint to Google and never heard back from them either. It's a sad part of the business. Maybe, legal action is the best way to get results?
2686
« on: April 16, 2011, 11:01 »
I'd say if you feel strongly about this, then go ahead with it. There's nothing wrong with standing up for what you believe in. For me, the fraud was pretty low on my complaint list recently. I was lucky to only have a couple fraudulent sales.
2687
« on: April 15, 2011, 11:22 »
I've never even heard of Ciao other than the Italian word. Also, I used Bing and still couldn't find there site with a search for the word Ciao. I think they may need to try a bit harder to get the word out.
2688
« on: April 15, 2011, 00:10 »
Like stock photographers, developers of smart phone apps currently have no way to sell direct.
There are lots of ways to sell direct in stock, it's pretty low entry costs, there are lots of threads about it and many of us are doing it.
2689
« on: April 14, 2011, 16:39 »
No! as lisa says, Im not throwing in the towel but you have to admit, sometimes it feels like it, doesnt it?
Well, let me know if you decide to give up, so I can start working on my industrial photography. First, I have to learn which way to point the camera though. Also, does iStock accept shots with my thumb on the lens?
2690
« on: April 14, 2011, 16:23 »
Well Im not going to waste time hanging around a crippled site like this. I give it to end of next week, if things havent changed at least a swing towards the "normal" I am without doubt removing at least some 60 blue and red files, some with 2K dls, Im letting a large amount of buyers ( oh yes I have got to know quite a few from enquiries) that these files are to be found at such and such a place.
Its NOT anemosity or anything like that, its business and if I can narrow down these files exposure to say just a few then I can also make a deal of getting 40 or 50% in commissions.
Its better then to find them on what? page 15 or 20?
This is certainly a 180. Did you and Gostwyck touch an evil monkey skull and switch brains or something? Seriously though, is this all over the best match? It seems as crummy as it's been over the years that this can't be the worst permutation ever. I remember when I was on the last page for "cartoon dog" of the best match. I was literally the worst match. Those illustrations still got downloads though. I've always given buyers the benefit of the doubt for finding the images that are good regardless of what the search spits out or the agencies push.
2691
« on: April 14, 2011, 09:21 »
The only thing that would make sense is to sell from your own site. You get 100% Royalty, that is unbeatable.
Oh no! You've figured out my master plan. Actually, your post made a lot of sense. I stopped uploading at all the big 4 and ditched Fotolia. Sometimes, I wonder why FT doesn't get as much hate as IS. Anyway...My new content goes to my site, Clipartof and GL. Those are agencies where I can set my price and get paid at least 50% of royalties. There's a couple more agencies I'm experimenting with with good deals as well and a couple I should probably close the doors on. I think transitioning to better agencies just makes sense for the long term sustainability of my business. I'm sure it will be a bumpy road, but really my income hasn't dropped at all. I'm trying to do it slowly to avoid that and maybe IS will even come back to the table. Doubtful though. 
2692
« on: April 13, 2011, 18:23 »
Perhaps the most positive thing for me about microstock is that my earnings have held up quite well, considering that I have either really cut down or stopped uploading to several sites. That's my experience as well. Considering I've eliminated Fotolia and stopped uploading at the other big 4, I'm fairly pleased that my income has remained steady or better than 2010. I may not always be positive, but I still enjoy doing this. I also am optimistic about the future and growing my business. I just consider all the recent changes a delay or rerouting of my plans.
2693
« on: April 13, 2011, 13:50 »
The 15% argument is so old and lame, it doesnt get truer by repeating it. But here goes.
What is the 15% argument? That getting paid below 20% is insulting, degrading and bad for the industry. I don't see how that can be debated. But a lot of energy is wasted on moaning instead of doing something productive.
I agree, but isn't stopping uploading, telling customers to shop elsewhere and focusing on other sites DOING something.
2694
« on: April 13, 2011, 11:42 »
of course if anything goes wrong they will just buy the competition (Shutterstock and Fotolia the rest doesn't count) but so far they did very well with the first step, at least 95% members (probably much more) accepted the new deal. There is more than enough supply they really don't have to care!
That all seems unlikely, but I've already built my fallout shelter. Just in case.
2695
« on: April 13, 2011, 11:24 »
My prediction 20% for exclusives and 10% for non-exclusives in five years.
If that happens, there won't be anyone left there to care.
2696
« on: April 13, 2011, 11:00 »
I would like to see his istockportfolio as well. There are loads of 1 image trolls with opinions...
I don't think it really matters. It's not like he claimed iStock eats babies. They seem to be fairly reasonable and commonly held opinions in this forum.
2697
« on: April 13, 2011, 09:57 »
It's been about 6 months since I uploaded, so you're preaching to the choir.
2698
« on: April 11, 2011, 14:19 »
Just to prove that I know what I'm talking about, if you type "ray akey" or "ray a. akey" in google, first 10 pages is all me.
Not to question your skills, but your name doesn't seem to be the best thing to use to boast about your SEO skills. I've been dominating "Cory Thoman" for the past 10 years, but there isn't a lot of competition. I've been thinking of eliminating the others Highlander style though. Again, I'm not questioning your credentials. I just thought it was a strange example.
2699
« on: April 11, 2011, 11:41 »
So - there isn't enough storage space for small portfolios, that's why you're only taking big ones.
I get that. Absolutely I do.
I could see making several smaller themed shops being a better model than making one large one with everyone. Besides, Rome wasn't built in a day. You have to start small with some profitable contributors. I applaud Dan for taking the initiative to start this. There is a lot more complaining than actually doing most of the time on this forum.
2700
« on: April 10, 2011, 17:16 »
" Or, to put it another way- Get back to work you peasant!"
Help, help, I'm being repressed!
Shut up you!
Oh, but you can't expect to wield supreme executive power just because some watery tart threw a sword at you.
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