So the system is actually more open and fair than it has been in the past - but if you don't spam keywords you have nothing to worry about - being flagged has no impact whatsoever on a contributor unless he/she is spamming. If you are not spamming, you have not been harmed in any way. 
p
  spam and confirmation bias are highly subjective which is why i dont think this system is a good use of time.  the lion - cat example is excellent, and part of a broader category.  in these discussions, many seem to think there's only 1 way t search and 1 type of searcher - but buyers are going to differ in their knwledge, needs and searching ability, so we have to be ready for all f them -- when i post a orang or gorilla picture, i use 'monkey' as a tag - scientifically incorrect, but check out how often you hear it while taking thse pix in the first lace!

a lot of the confusion could be eliminared if sites used the description in the search [some do, most dont].  then specific info lke panthera, lcatin details, etc can still be found, and the tags can be reserved for more exact keywords. 

i incude detailed location & sci names w all my images - but on many sites no one will find my peru pix unless i include 'peru' in the tags too.  somene viewing a market scene might object to using Peru [one reviewer actually removed images claiming location was irrelevant for stock!] and flag the image, wasting a revieweer & my time.  yet someone who needs market scenes for a blog/article on peru wouldnt want images from bolivia

essetially the keyword system has to cover a wide range of ssearches and each site has to determine whether they want to control type I or type II errors - you can't easily do both -- so do you have as system that fails by returning some images that are not relevant?  or fails by NOT returning some images that ARE relevant?

most buyers are looking for a solution to a design problem - they need specific types of images and don't really care who the photographer is.  so the best approach for most of us is to spend our tme shooting and submitting and let the agencies do the marketing.  quality is necessary for success, but volume will probably determine your longevity

s

i not only pay for my mortgage, but pay for several tax deductible foreign trips each year mostly from MS earnings. 

too much of the discussion here seems t assume an either-or zero sum situation; even if all the participants in this forum withdrew all their portfolios from subscriptions, the world wouldnt even notice.  instead, this is a huge field, and 'dancing among the elephants' is a profitable niche to aim for.

similarly, many seem to assume that by contributing to a subscription site you're hurting sales elsewhere - but that assumes buyers search by photographer, AND that they search multiple sites. 

finally, too many focus on the big $ that images sell for on some sites, ignoring the number of users that would/could never consider those prices.  'different horses,  different courses' -- it's up to the individual to analyze their portfoo and decide where it will perform best.

steve

i didnt notice it on FT, but i did on 123 - last month almost all sales were subscription -- i had about the same number of DLs as i have for the past 6 months, but only 60% of the income.

s

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See, I'm not so sure about that anymore.. is anyone really submitting to stock sites using images taken using a compact camera still? It seems like a DSLR is a basic requirement now (It wasn't always)..

it's still possible -- i just bought a sony hx1 - partly for video ability, partly for the 20x zoom combined with the low light capabilities [it takes 6 images and averages them, producing sharper images than a dslr]  and have seen no difference in acceptasnce rates for those shots and my dslr ones

i also use a lumix oint & shoot for ski trips, etc, and these are good sellers.

since i'm submitting 4MP images, the biggest differnence is the dslr gives me more latitude in cropping and reducing than the smaller cameras d

steve

Quote from: cascoly on August 26, 2009, 13:24

http://www.redbubble.com/people/cascoly/art/everything/tags/autumn

has some shots from banff and glacier, among other NPs -- when you're ready to go, i'd be happy to suggest some places t visit

steve

 
Hey, that moose....  he didnt look too much like he was walking.... rather looked kind of ticked... LOL
Aint nothing worse than a moose that's ticked off during runting season.  Had too many run-ins with them up in Maine and NH... ha ha ha ha....
 

the moose was probably confused - i was standing about 10-15 ft away in our condo doorway!  we'd just returned moose-less from a morning game drive into the tetons NP. luckliy i had slipped a blank CF card into my camera while i was DLing from the used one - 'cause we looked up and there was this moose walking across our backyard.     but he just wandered off like an extra from Northern Exposure

s

http://www.redbubble.com/people/cascoly/art/everything/tags/autumn

has some shots from banff and glacier, among other NPs -- when you're ready to go, i'd be happy to suggest some places t visit

steve

i dont bother to post to ft anymore, and BigStock has gotten almost as bad with these sorts of rejects -- dt is more realistic.

i dont try t figure it out-- if i upload to an agency, i send them all of each batch, and they can accept it or not

steve

why would reducing artist % be the only way to compete? leveling the playing field doesnt require paying the lowest royalties - there are other ways to trim - less overhead, smaller profits for owners & shareholders [who may be passive investors], streamlined web prcessing, better marketing, established loyal customers from other ventures, etc

sites like 3d, yay, cut etc have very liveral acceptance policies - that may backfire in the longrun, but it means their current costs are lower than sites with more reviewers

steve

When I did the Inca Trail, I was faced with this dilemma. We had porters to carry our 'luggage", but we had to carry our own stuff for the day and I am not built to carry a lot of weight, especially at high altitude's thin air. So my choice then (using a film camera) was a 28-70mm. Not much wildlife to shoot, but a tele would have been nice in some occasions, however this lens was enough for my purposes.  I don't regret sacrificing a couple of missed opportunities for a lighter weight.

we were over 14,000 for most of our peru trek, with almost daily passes of 16k, so i certainly understand your approach, but i still took my 18-200 zoom and my mnopod took the place of a walking stick.  it was tough going, but the camera also gave an excuse for stopping

since the digital switch, i take a lot of verticals to form into panoramas that are more 4:3 in format but with a lot more detail

http://www.redbubble.com/people/cascoly/art/everything/tags/peru shows some of the results and samples of the 'vertical' panoramas

what you've 'proved' is that some editors might use 200% to check for copyright/logo concerns, and that's legit.  still doesnt address the question whether they're using 200% to judge sharpness, etc

s

What really bugs me is how long it is taking them to get their website working right.  I am a php programmer and I know that adding a link to our portfolio is a simple, simple matter, and adding the ability to search our ports by views, downloads, etc is not rocket science either.

I thought this was the case, glad you have confirmed. I don't understand simple functionality taking so long to add.
I hope we see some progress (and sales) soon.

of course, that assumes the db was designed properly in the first place so that data could be collected easily

s