It's been 10 months since I got a sale. Not even worth checking the site. Absolutely no reason for me to upload there any more.

I think there is still some room for newer people to be successful, but mostly it seems to be the ones who already have years of stock experience.  Jonathan, you have only been in micro a couple of years, right?  And Monkeybusiness started micro in late 2008.  Both of them were experienced stock photographers, and both of them have shot to success. 

It's quite possible that the trad stock pros like them who are willing to join micros have already done so, though.  Not sure how many more of them we can expect to see entering the micro realm.  Particularly as it appears the bubble is in the process of bursting. 

I doubt there will be many more who start like some of us did - green as grass - and then go on to grow our skills and make a living from micro.  For the hobbyists, amateurs, and "aspiring pros",  the party is probably over. 

I think the "party" is about to start. It will probably be fueled by the great cesspool of 10 million+ spammed-keyword images. I look for micro stock to morph into new specialty sites that do just one or two things (categories) very well with unique and high quality images. I can see a similarity to high quality specialty stores competing successfully with the big box stores like Walmart and Target. Entrepreneurs have great skills for adopting to these kinds of conditions and I expect to see such new ventures in the microstock business as well. I look for those new sites to operate only on a pay-per-download basis, offer custom assignments with realistic pricing, and be fully search-able with Google, etc.

If it's just a random person that makes sense at a location I ask them if they want to be seen by millions of people around the world. If so, please sign here. No mention of money although I promise them I'll email them a copy of the image (for their Facebook page, etc.) if they'd like. The younger they are the more apt they are to sign.

I just think about the image that IS rejected over a year ago that was a good seller at other sites. On a whim I resubmitted it to IS with no changes and it was accepted. It is now my number 2 best seller at IS and will probably be number 1 in a few more weeks.

My first reaction to the new site was I thought I stumbled upon a funeral web site.
Deadly dull.

Maybe some of the comments of too much crap on the sites could be solved by the sites deleting any image that hasn't sold within 1 year or 6 months, or some other time frame. For me if it hasn't sold at least once the first two months it's worthless to me. I would hope that the image counts are less important now to the good sites as a marketing claim. How about a claim of "Better images, less crap"?

I do believe that the quality of each well-worn cliche is getting better and the image choice is enhanced with new blood contributors. But the crap does get a little deeper also and that's what many are complaining about. IMHO it's not the search engines so much as the wading through the garbage to find the pearls. I'd love for a site to come up with the search criteria: Probably crap but you be the judge.

I've dropped out of these types of topics for psychological reasons. Much too depressing to dwell upon.

I imagine calculating photographers' commissions from unlimited monthly downloads is extremely complex. Therefore toss the contributors a few cents when you feel like it and they'll beg for more. A big NO THANKS to this turkey.

I've concluded that someone at Veer is plotting against me. I was selling some each month, not bad for a new site. But for the last five months zero sales but views are 20 times higher. I emailed Veer to see if there were any technical problems with my account. They said no. Got to be a conspiracy goin' on. At least earnings aren't minus.

I've not joined Crestock mainly due to the negative feedback here over many years.
I agree that I wouldn't spend another second either deleting or adding to a portfolio on a dud site. Miracles do happen. Well, maybe not in this business. But you can have hope. That takes zero time.

I have reached the very top level. That's the level when you realize that you'll never get rich in this micro stock business.

If Norsigian spent 10 years on this project so far I'll bet he's got good legal advice on his rights to sell prints. Maybe the glass plates aren't considered a protected work until printed. Just guessing.

In any case he owns the plates and can sell them or donate them to anyone.