...
Most of the attackers in France where known to the French authorities and it was clear they had the potential to kill. But you cannot simply lock them up...just in case...there are too many people and in a democratic country you can't do this.

Quote from: FlowerPower on November 13, 2015, 09:47

Good thing we can be anonymous and complain here all day long and no one from agencies cares or listens. Maybe getting closed is good news.

Some of us post here with our real names, bitch and moan to some degree (not over the top, though), and don't seem to be penalized.

Maybe it's a cumulative thing?

I just received and answer from Pond5 staff:

Thank you for contacting our support team.

The average wait for curator's review and approval is normally 4-6 business days. Due to a significantly high volume of recent submissions, review times are currently at 3-4 weeks. I can assure you our Curators are going through everything as quickly and carefully as they can, and we are striving for faster review times.

Please know, our system is fair and sorts all uploads by order, based on when artists hit the 'submit to Curator' button, as if you are waiting in line. If you have more content you'd like to submit, simply continue uploading your files to your portfolio, and we promise we'll get to them as soon as we can.

We appreciate your patience and confidence in us. You will receive a message once your files have been reviewed. If you need anything else, please don't hesitate to say.

Thanks for your understanding.

Have a great day,

The partnership will actually double the size of the society's endowment and increase its ability to fund scientists, says Goldberg. (Also worth noting: 21st Century Fox�s day-to-day operations are now headed by Rupert's son James Murdoch, whose wife works for the Clinton Climate Initiative.) Fox will effectively own National Geographic's media brands, not the National Geographic Society.

Quote from: KnowYourOnions on November 04, 2015, 15:51

Thanks Leaf....and what do you think about this Canva move?
Do you oppose it? ...

I can't speak for Tyler (Leaf) but it seems to me it's not fair to ask him to express an opinion on this issue - assuming he has an account at Canva or would like to have one, why put his earning potential at risk? And IMO he would be putting that at risk for talking about Canva closing accounts because it didn't like being asked by a contributor to explain what it was doing with image deletions.

In time, I hope that things will improve - not so much that I hope existing agencies will see the unreasonableness of their ways, but new agencies will grow up to replace, buy out or otherwise make irrelevant those who have behaved poorly to contributors.

In the meantime, keep discussions of known "problem" agencies private - i.e. not here in the forums. Do it by e-mail or PM and make sure you know that you're sharing information with folks who won't relay what you've said right back to the agencies

I don't mean to be rude, but IMHO, anyone demanding that identities be disclosed on a forum like this is just naive.  The potential for reprisals is obvious, as is the fact that some of these fine 'agencies' are operated by unstable, thin-skinned and totally humorless people.  If one of them takes offense, he can strike back at you in any number of ways, without it even being known or provable - for example, by just 'adjusting' your search ranking a bit.

 If you only want to communicate with people you know and approve of, create a FB group, or just use email.  Sounds pretty boring to me.   The whole point of this forum is to say things you couldn't say on the agencies' own forums.

Quote from: Elenathewise on November 02, 2015, 15:33

Quote from: ferdinand on October 26, 2015, 05:33

Quote from: Elenathewise on October 23, 2015, 13:47

Quote from: Jo Ann Snover on October 23, 2015, 13:32

I just received a note from Lee that someone had pointed him to this post and they're closing my Canva account - "You are no longer welcome as a Canva contributor"

So anyone who wants to stay with Canva would do well to take this warning shot and remember to keep your mouth closed in public places about them or their actions.

I seem somehow to have this affect on agencies

Hi Jo Ann, it would probably be a better idea to try to sort things out with an agency before posting about an issue on public forum - give them a chance to explain or fix issues. Agencies do care about their public image and most will work with you to resolve things. I actually had a very pleasant experience dealing with Canva - they are *the good guys* in my book:) Some agencies take forever to respond to inquiries and it takes a lot of patience to work on resolving them, but in the end it's worth it (for example, I just got a resolution of a problem with one of the sites and it took 3 months - however, the issue is resolved so there is no need to go public about it).

shame, elena, deep shame...on you...

Ummm.... shame on me for what? For having a good working relationship with an agency? Or for saying that some issues should be discussed in private first before getting it out on a public forum?  I am amazed how many people here demand openness and publicity about every hiccup an agency may have while hiding behind completely anonymous handles. I am not and never will be ashamed of expressing my opinions.

You should not be ashamed for yor opinion and I  don't agree with someone saying you should.

 But I do think you can't blame people for anonymous.  This thread and so many others where agencies punish artists for speaking out, even politely like JoAnn, are the reason for anonymity.   If stock is your FT living you can't risk a site destroying your income overnight.  Look at Sean.  Only because of extreme talent and brains is he able to bounce back, but I bet he and his family lost lots of income having to start over.  And I  know as independent I would be out of business if I lost any of my top selling sites.

I think they probably thought that a lot of their video buyers would be interested in stills.  They obviously spent money bringing in the video buyers, as they sell such a lot.  Hopefully they will get more image buyers, if they start using video more, Pond5 is the ideal site to buy both.  I'm sure many of us have bigger video portfolios with Pond5 than the micros because they have 50% commission, easier reviews, our own pricing and lots of buyers.

Sales might increase a bit the longer they are there but they aren't completive with the top sites for stills.  I still upload to them because I can set my own price and get 50%, so when they do sell, I get more than with most of the micros.