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Messages - topol
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401
« on: July 25, 2013, 17:31 »
You mentioning the obscure reflection on some obscure group shot is almost as bad as him inserting the SS graph. 
It wasn't his picture that bothered me. It was the way he handled the issue when someone pointed it out. For me, that was symptomatic of the way he handled his business and - enormously successful though he may be - it is not an approach I can admire. But then, I'm not "professional", which probably explains it.
(P.S. - Gunter one thing I would not blame a Dane for is his English spelling... my Danish is err ...)
You are bickering him like some estranged wife, and he does the same with Shutterstock.
And what exactly are you doing? Are you his wing-man or something?
having some fun watching it. 
402
« on: July 25, 2013, 17:27 »
You mentioning the obscure reflection on some obscure group shot is almost as bad as him inserting the SS graph.
It wasn't his picture that bothered me. It was the way he handled the issue when someone pointed it out. For me, that was symptomatic of the way he handled his business and - enormously successful though he may be - it is not an approach I can admire. But then, I'm not "professional", which probably explains it.
(P.S. - Gunter one thing I would not blame a Dane for is his English spelling... my Danish is err ...)
You are bickering him like some estranged wife, and he does the same with Shutterstock.
403
« on: July 25, 2013, 16:53 »
Yuri, I used to respect you and what you've been able to accomplish in microstock. But the way you've handled this is really disgusting.
Microstock companies gave you the opportunity to become what you are today. Maybe you've outgrown them, but it's really disrespectful to mock these companies on your way out the door, saying things like "professionals work with professionals" and calling your departure "the first substantial setback in microstock history."
You aren't microstock. We all are, and some of us real professionals in microstock wouldn't act like children on our way out the door if we ever opted to move on.
I completely agree. So why do you think I am saying what I do? Think deeper my friend.
Well, for a minute I thought you might be trying to get other people to take up the cause, put more pressure on the microstock companies to make changes by getting all of us involved. But I don't think you're ever coming back to microstock so what's the point? Even if you tried, I suspect a lot of companies would tell you to hit the bricks after you publicly mocked them and implied that they aren't professionals.
So what is it? Let's not play a guessing game here. If there is some deeper meaning behind what you've said, just fill us in. Otherwise I'm taking your words at face value. You made a ton of money, moved on, and now openly mock the companies you left behind, the ones that enabled you to grow your business and make millions. What exactly am I missing?
I like your thoughts. I really don't see it the way you do and I don't think you understand the business that we (our images) have created. Do you really think that the optimal price for those images is a 300USD/mth subscription? Am I the only one see this? And yes. It starts by somebody like me saying no thanks.
So how come this haven't bothered you for years and years? I'm guessing it only started to be a problem after sales either stagnated or reduced despite uploading... which means the actual problem is not the business model but the competition.
404
« on: July 25, 2013, 16:39 »
Having to really nail them is trivial when there are 20+ million images in store.
Due to Pareto's Law only 20% of those 20 million images are selling well and compensating for the remaining 80% of low sellers.
That means 2 millions of top sellers and of those 2 millions 100,000 are Yuri's, that means his portfolio alone impacts an agency like SS for around 5% of their sales but as far as we know it could be even 10-15% !
Of course random buyers will quickly grab the clones but some buyers could go back to istock if they're fans of Yuri and his team.
That's not what I was talking about, but since you mentioned this... Have you ever been on the other side? Professional buyers? Graphic studio, ad agency, working with dozen of graphic artits, operators?
405
« on: July 25, 2013, 16:13 »
What a narcissist! Sneers at us all over how he won't deal with us, only with "professionals", then can't resist cobbling together some stats that might support the contention that he is god's gift to the universe and can't resist coming to amateursnapperstockgroup.com to brag about his importance.
Sorry, Yuri, didn't you get the message when iStock sacked Sean? Nobody is of any real importance to the stock industry, not Sean and not you. But don't let that get in the way of your self-esteem.
Hi. Send me an email on [email protected] and let's discus a bit further. I feel somewhat sad that I can make you explode like this and would like to know why. Are you ok with discussing over email?
I've observed you over the years. My opinion of you went down the drain in an SS thread a long time ago when someone pointed out that one of your people line-ups was ridiculous with the fake reflections not matching the line, so the whole effect was absurd. Instead of admitting you had screwed up and pulling the failed picture, you said it was all the fault of a trainee photoshop worker (who I think you named) and that while the picture was rubbish, that might be the sort of thing customers wanted.
In a couple of replies you showed 1) a complete failure to accept that anything you published could be wrong, even though it clearly was; 2) a desire to blame your staff instead of accepting responsibility when things go wrong, however minor the issue might be, and 3) complete contempt for buyers and a willingness to leave them looking like idiots by buying your mistakes.
I've wasted very little time on your pronouncements since then, though I understand you have provided a lot of useful information to people as a part of your self-promotion drive.
No need to do it in private communication, dude. Your latest "microstock fails because I leave" is just part of the observed pattern.
You mentioning the obscure reflection on some obscure group shot is almost as bad as him inserting the SS graph.
406
« on: July 25, 2013, 16:11 »
Maybe this is the reason istock has lowered their standards for images....they are preparing for iphone submissions?
You people always fall for nonsense like this. Soros does this: he tells everyone gold is for idiots, and when the price drops, he buys tons of it. I remember when I read someone's list of what not to shoot, because they are so overdone: anything with laptop, businesswoman, girls with apples and similar... than you look at the guys new uploads: stuff with laptop, businesswoman, girls with apples and similar.... But you can bet the guy was very grateful if you were dumb enough to fall for it and gave him more space on those sellers by shooting some niche junk instead... what a bunch of morons
hehe. He is refereing to this post: http://arcurs.com/2008/05/what-should-i-shoot-and-what-sells-well/
Not quite true dough. RPI on concepts outside the "sofa, laptop, cell-phone"-sphere are much higher. The problem is that to nail them you need to think and not just duplicate. The advice in the article is true. Actually is.
Having to really nail them is trivial when there are 20+ million images in store. But ppl will fall for this because anyone can learn to do an isolation on white, but 99% of the time they have severely inapt, unattractive models, so they get no sales. Then you can just blame it on the concept and they go back to shooting their dogs in the backyard.
407
« on: July 25, 2013, 15:57 »
Maybe this is the reason istock has lowered their standards for images....they are preparing for iphone submissions?
You people always fall for nonsense like this. Soros does this: he tells everyone gold is for idiots, and when the price drops, he buys tons of it. I remember when I read someone's list of what not to shoot, because they are so overdone: anything with laptop, businesswoman, girls with apples and similar... than you look at the guys new uploads: stuff with laptop, businesswoman, girls with apples and similar.... But you can bet the guy was very grateful if you were dumb enough to fall for it and gave him more space on those sellers by shooting some niche junk instead... what a bunch of morons
408
« on: July 25, 2013, 15:40 »
That's a lot of BS for a shotgun wedding.
409
« on: July 24, 2013, 08:51 »
Well at least it is well defined and give some control to the contributor. If an image has a few sales, the contributor has the power to raise the price. If it doesn't sell at all, well then it doesn't really matter anyway.
It does matter mr. genius, because if you have thousands of files you can a have a reasonable amount of daily downloads, while each individual file is getting a download seldomly, and this will severely cut the whole income on those. (I bet you can't follow the logic here : )
410
« on: July 24, 2013, 08:32 »
i just imagine what happens when they are changing their search engine (best match again) and suddenly bestsellers stop selling - it's a way to reduce large parts of the collection to prices between 1 and 3 credits.
*DISLIKE*
They can reduce the whole collection with a bit of search rotation.
411
« on: July 24, 2013, 08:30 »
It has been proven that the customers are not price sensitive at all at these prices, so that 'visibility thing is fotolia managent -a bunch of crooks who belong is prison for fraud- lying thru their teeth again, and again.
412
« on: July 22, 2013, 09:44 »
Is WP notoriously unsafe? (I never heard that, and I think it wouldn't be this popular if it was) If it isn't the debate is pointless: even pentagon gets hacked again and again, banks' systems get hacked almost every day. Safety only exists in your dreams, move on.
413
« on: July 22, 2013, 06:31 »
No.
1-2 % is totally unacceptable in a digital world.
and worse in interdependant networks.
also, it should not have been published. the file should just have been sent, apologized for an bonused.
you are not able to get back to the customers, when first there are many.
Actually despite the initial problem, getting back to the customer quickly did more than resolve the issue. Here's the email I got from him afterwards:
Thank you for all your support, this is the way to have a forever customer!
As for the security and stability of Symbiostock, in my case it is likely a plugin that is interfering with the transactions. So not really a Symbiostock issue at all.
Edit: Confirmed. It was a plugin that was causing this issue. Not a Symbiostock issue.
Nor is spam registration, which is an extremely common WordPress issue and there are numerous ways to deal with it. As already stated, the issues you present with Symbiostock are largely issues that exist throughout the WordPress community, and yet not many people would suggest that WordPress is unfit for use.
One single sale hcikup and some minor spam issue up to now, this is actually a very good track record. Some people seem to have emotional issues with SYS... weird.
414
« on: July 22, 2013, 06:27 »
http://www.microstockgroup.com/symbiostock-general/spam-registrations/msg331621/?topicseen#new
http://www.microstockgroup.com/symbiostock-technical-support/just-had-a-sale-buyer-can%27t-download-file-help!/msg331889/?topicseen#new
These are regular small hurdles in a development like this. SYS has smaller and lot less of those then most projects I'v seen. What an uneducated moronic thread.
herein lies the real danger.
First its not a minor thing for the customer. Imagine if it was you.
And next, the real point.
A chain is not stronger than the weakest link.
By having such a calamity, like a shop that has not tested the sales funktions, now undermines ALL OF YOUR SHOPS since you are interconnected.
The damage is manyfold and multiplied.
This customer remembers both the shop, and the symbio network name, and has lost trust in both.'
So this little small error, from one of the members has cost you all.
As well as you can benifit from eachother the opposite can also happen.
And this was a minor thing, that was soone corrected.
But what if something major happens, such as a real nigerian scam among you.
I mentioned it before. It was not taken seroulsly.
I might no comprehend the symbio idea fully, and certainly not the details.
But do you comprehend what synergy in networks can do?
Someone mentioned exponentially growing curves.
So what's your point, have you ever seen a system free of scam? This is a kindergarten debate. What you see is the regular workings of new a market in the making. This system is an infant, and already works almost like an adult, which is brilliant. One of the best projects I'v seen in years, and some ppl try to make this look like horror story... sour grapes or what? just buzz off ppl.
I have 3 points.
1... It would not take much effort to make the system much better so it actually is, what you thought it should be.
2... You are extremely vulnerable. You are likely to be exploited by someone. Maybe at best your work has been in vain. Im not sure, but im worried.
3...Nothing is ever a sandbox for ever, people listen ad watch. Happy hours only lasts until someone sees it can be moneyterized. You should make sure it is you who earn the money on your work..
1... dribble you can always say. "it could be better, uh-oh, utopia!" 2... care to explain any of this nonsense, like how I'm 'extremely vulnerable'? could be exploited, could be this, clould be that, could be anything, the wonderful world of 'could be'-s 3... Who said it's still in the sandbox? It's a brand new thing constantly being improved. you are spamming.
415
« on: July 22, 2013, 05:06 »
http://www.microstockgroup.com/symbiostock-general/spam-registrations/msg331621/?topicseen#new
http://www.microstockgroup.com/symbiostock-technical-support/just-had-a-sale-buyer-can%27t-download-file-help!/msg331889/?topicseen#new
These are regular small hurdles in a development like this. SYS has smaller and lot less of those then most projects I'v seen. What an uneducated moronic thread.
herein lies the real danger.
First its not a minor thing for the customer. Imagine if it was you.
And next, the real point.
A chain is not stronger than the weakest link.
By having such a calamity, like a shop that has not tested the sales funktions, now undermines ALL OF YOUR SHOPS since you are interconnected.
The damage is manyfold and multiplied.
This customer remembers both the shop, and the symbio network name, and has lost trust in both.'
So this little small error, from one of the members has cost you all.
As well as you can benifit from eachother the opposite can also happen.
And this was a minor thing, that was soone corrected.
But what if something major happens, such as a real nigerian scam among you.
I mentioned it before. It was not taken seroulsly.
I might no comprehend the symbio idea fully, and certainly not the details.
But do you comprehend what synergy in networks can do?
Someone mentioned exponentially growing curves.
So what's your point, have you ever seen a system free of scam? This is a kindergarten debate. What you see is the regular workings of new a market in the making. This system is an infant, and already works almost like an adult, which is brilliant. One of the best projects I'v seen in years, and some ppl try to make this look like horror story... sour grapes or what? just buzz off ppl.
416
« on: July 22, 2013, 02:11 »
417
« on: July 20, 2013, 17:25 »
I wonder what is included in the 2k euro shoot
- 100 eur per hour / model?
- how many people working on the pictures beside the photographer(s)?
- studio rent, electricity, water?
- lighting equipment?
- insurance?
- computer, monitors, photoshop?
You can easily get to 2K just by buying fancy clothes for a handful of models, but It's simply unecessary.
418
« on: July 20, 2013, 17:20 »
I tend to believe the second. Honestly, Lev, do you believe you can continue to spend 2-3k per shoot and make a profit?
with 7 years of stock experience and 700+ stock shoots made so far - yes, i do.
Good luck
Let's just say I too have a reaaally hard time believing those numbers. Reminds of the SS bragathon threads : )
a portfolio of high quality images should easily be able to make $25 per image over a life time.
That sounds great because "life time" can mean whatever it takes I guess... so it's always true 
419
« on: July 20, 2013, 14:58 »
I tend to believe the second. Honestly, Lev, do you believe you can continue to spend 2-3k per shoot and make a profit?
with 7 years of stock experience and 700+ stock shoots made so far - yes, i do.
Good luck
Let's just say I too have a reaaally hard time believing those numbers. Reminds of the SS bragathon threads : )
420
« on: July 20, 2013, 10:51 »
... I find Yuri's business model to be very intriguing...
How can you? You basically don't know anything about his business model, neither do the rest of the ppl here. What if he was heavily leveraged f.e.? You will never know.
421
« on: July 20, 2013, 10:48 »
Thanks for everyone's comments! Really brings to light many things I was in the dark about.
Dolgachov--totally agree with you on many things. This is a business. The whole point of my post was not to complain about the high costs in the U.S. and other European countries. Rather, I wished to understand the business model of contributors with large volume and high quality. I find Yuri's business model to be very intriguing, and if anything, his scale of production should be emulated---not his work.
It's not just about taxes though. It's about standard of living. In the U.S., a good cup of coffee from Starbucks can cost $2 vs. in India a good cup of coffee is $.20. Or take for example, my friend who lives in Moldova. His apartment monthly rent costs $300--the same apartment in the U.S. costs $3000. You can't deny the point that if you have some money saved up in the U.S., you could stay afloat longer in another country with a lower standard of living, allowing you to put in more work hours for your photography rather than trying to do this in the background of a part-time job. It is true you need your own creative ideas...but it sure as hell helps A LOT to have lower costs, lower taxes, and lower standard of living. That's why U.S. corporations move overseas--to increase profits.
It's the same thing as with every other job that moved out of the U.S...
422
« on: July 20, 2013, 10:44 »
i once mentioned it in public elsewhere, so it's not a big secret:
every single photoshoot overall production cost is usually 2000 to 3000 EUR for us. sometimes much more. rarely less. every single shoot. in "super cheap" Estonia.
if we've done our job very well, we can get it back in one year. if we make it good, it takes 2 to 3 years. if we are extremely lucky and hit jackpot, it can sometimes be 6 to 9 months. if we fail (it means if we performed "above average"), we never get this money back. "it's ok" quality never pays back on stock nowadays. if you produce just "above average" it effectively means you're in charity business, donating designers with your money and effort.
in average, it takes 1.5 to 2 years for us to get to ground zero level for photoshoot. then we start to profit. if someone still buys it after 2 years.
it's a tough business.
so don't be illusioned, people. it's not about the location you're living in. it's about fighting for market every single day, no days off, no vacations. wherever you live. microstock is not Eldorado it used to be back in 2005. not anymore. and never will be. if you're able to deliver good-selling content, you can compete. if you're not - living in Vietnam or Zimbabwe will not help you.
Tho you have a lot of truth there, it obviously will help you if you can cut costs to half or quarter of what your competition need to spends, simply by operating in a low cost country. Also because most microstockers are basically coming from flippin' burgers, no art education or anything, they don't realize that the average quality of microstock is pathetically low. 80%+ (maybe 90+) of the stock is almost completely useless junk with inapt, unattractive models, poor lightning, ridiculous post processing, dogs in the back garden, snapshots of pigeons, relatives, stray cats, supposed-to-be funny selfies, etcetc...
423
« on: July 17, 2013, 05:22 »
Maybe the 1.2 million will go into things such as model releases...a digital model/property release within the app...maybe some editing functionality to remove logos...who knows.
startups are NOT supposed to make real money, their goal is to be sold to a rich suc-ker in no more than 2-3 yrs, that's how it works with VCs.
if yuri invested 1 million he plans to get 2-3 millions back, simple as that, every VC does that, it pays well because of the high risk involved (up to 90% of the startups miserably fail or never find a buyer).
look at Demotix, same sh-it, and finally they sold it to Corbis, but do they ever made a profit ? i doubt so.
true true, imho Yuri probably invested in an upcoming 'magic IPO' or something similar. But the sucker is more likely to be a poor sucker... these magic IPOs are avoided by institutional investors (except the insiders of course).
424
« on: July 16, 2013, 17:46 »
Re-collecting, re-organizing thousands (both on my hard drive and than on the site) of shots, many of them, especially the earlier ones really poorly IPTC-ed....
425
« on: July 16, 2013, 17:44 »
PS .... the $500/week guy probably is a lie though.
Or at best a plant .... they probably sponsor some guy to run around taking thousands of pics and basically buy them off him.
They make a 'mobile app' photographer millionaire and everybody starts uploading like mad, cos everybody wants to be (rich) like him.
That's very cheap advertising & promotion for $500 per week.
When I first started looking at Micro, I often wondered if Yuri was just that as well. Somebody (with obvious talent too), that the industry sort of 'sponsored' to make a hero of.
Kinda like the David Beckham of micro that everybody is desperate to mimic.
Yep, good question. Ask him how on earth he got a hassy deal, which usually is for super senior and-or super high class artists. You won't get any clear definite answer.
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