They should just remove the $10 option. One option, just $99, $1 images. I might still stay out of it, but at least then it wouldn't be as big a threat to the whole market.

Okay ... I say 100$ for 100 images, you say 99$ for 99 images.  You're absolutely right, 99 sounds much better 

I cannot afford loosing my FT income either, but I did opt out of DPC.  Not because I am against Fotolia (Fotolia is my 2nd earner, so how could I be against them?), but because I believe that if a LARGE group of contributors opt out, Fotolia will listen to us.

We talk about Fotolia "changing DPC" in favour of their contributors.  What change would make you opt in again?

In my case it would be :  move DPC more towards big players by raising the 10 $ bar => 100 $.

OK, I know I'm late, but I just opted out. 
So that's 7500 files less on DPC.

Quote

So if the artwork is created by Disney it has copyright, but if the artwork is created by someone else it doesn't have copyright?

I think the issue is copying a character or unique design versus a common subject such as a flower

Exactly.
We should not mix up "skill" with "creation".
If the act of picking the ink, choosing the needle, dialing in the settings, etc. would be ART (instead of the creation of the image on the skin), then all sewing, embroidery, basket weaving, carpentry etc would also be ART, and therefore require a PR.  But no, it is only needed if there is a true "creation".   
My mother loves embroidery, and she's very skilled, but she only works from an example, so she's not "creating" anything.  I'm not saying such skills cannot be art, just that the act itself does not make it art.  Pottery is a great example :  you can make true pottery art, or you can just use your pottery skills to make a basic vase.  The same way a tattoo can be just a tattoo (like a word) or a piece of art.

Interesting discussion!

Dumbest, and als most dangerous thing I ever did in the studio :  I was working with candles and incense, and an old incense holder.  I did not want to burn my fingers while putting the little round black charcoals in the burner, so I used pincers, lit the charcoal and tried to put it in the burner.  I'm rather clumsy with pincers, so I dropped the glowing black coal on the floor ... a synthetic BLACK carpet.  No idea how far the ROUND charcoal had rolled through the studio.  Result :  I KNEW there was a burning black coal on my black carpet, but I could not SEE it. Not even with all the lights on. Total panic.  Then I pulled myself together, filled a bucket with water, took the fire extinguisher and waited till I could see smoke or flames starting ...  Suddenly I heard a hissing sound behind me, and yes, the fire had started and I poured the whole bucket on it.  That was the last time I used fire in the studio.

Five years ago I also thought I had to stop doing shoots with people, animals and outdoor subjects because of hip artrosis (at 50!) and very painful wrists/shoulders.  My physiotherapist said that moving less would make things worse, and she was right.  So I changed my eating habits drastically :  0% sugar  , less meat and much more fruit and veggies, plus daily turmuric, glucosamine and mild exercise (20 minutes/day on my home trainer bike).  Today I can do every photo session that I want, as long as I don't have to walk great distances ... and I haven't seen my physiotherapist in 2 years 

I am not saying these things will solve your problems, but as nothing of the above is unhealthy, and there is no prescription medicine involved, anyone with joints/muscles/back problems could give it a try.  Only, you have to be very patient - you'll only see improvement after 4 to 6 months, and it's not a temporary thing, it's for life ...

Hi Lisa,
You made me check my numbers, but the results are quite normal.  My average PP sale is between 0.32 and 0.38 (average of 2013 till now), and February has an average of 0.35, so that's quite normal, and there must be non-subs in it, otherwise it would be 0.28.

If they've underpaid contributors -- then I don't know why they don't wait until they sort the whole thing out, rather than set up six monthly installments for each contributor involved, and then additional transactions to repay the money they underpaid?  Seems like it would be cleaner to me. 

Because "(50 x 6) - (2,5 x 3)" is a LOT more complicated for IS than "50x6" and THEN "2,5x3"

Has any of the European Istockers received his/her e-mail yet?  I haven't got mine yet, and I don't believe for a second they'll forget me (my October PP was more than double of September).

Quote from: Anyka on February 23, 2014, 11:51

This made me smile :  what if I made a list of my 10 crappiest, out of focus, noisiest photos on DP, and listed them here on MSG, so people with some free time could buy them, and ask their money back     Childish?  yeah, I know, but fun!

Fun, but given the company in question, risky.
Given their track record of being - how to put it politely - economical with the truth, who's to say that the money back guarantee is any more solid than the hand picked curated collection of high quality noise free images?

True!  Very risky!   

Yes, you really have to add a not, to avoid a warning from SS.  I just got a batch of 20 accepted for 50%, the other 50% was refused again, but for different reasons.

Ft doesn't care, but they are consistent in rejecting the same images. They have a record of rejects that you cannot delete.  if you go into your files, there is a icon that says "show deleted files" or something like that.  if you click on that it will show you all the rejections and there's no way to get rid of it. So wile I resubmit to them over and over rejected files, most never make it in.

Hey, I never noticed I could not delete the rejected Fotolia files! 
I'll submit a few rejected landscapes this evening, with a little note.  I'll have to submit manually, as I can't seem to find the "note to reviewer" when I use the indexing method ...

Hi, I usually do not resubmit anything, except on SS with corrected flaws + a notice to the reviewer, but sometimes I get cranky when I see how many well-selling files there are in the "refused" folder of the other agencies.

Does any of you have experience in resubmitting to FT/DST/123rf/GLO/DP/CAN ... ?  Do they allow it, and if yes, should we draw their attention to the fact that it's a second time, or to the first refusal-reason?   

For SS I know that resubmitting is only allowed if you "announce" it, and you're supposed to correct the file first, not just resubmit it, but what about the others?  Has any one ever had a problem with it ?