Almost there...let us hope IS will learn from this shambolic episode and execute our July PP in a swift and efficient manner. I am an optimist, it has to be said....but I've also been kown to wander down to the local pond and throw bread to imaginary ducks.

My total earnings in three years at MP are less than I made on SS this Sunday.

Still, its nice that they finally got around to writing to you.

Is there a boardwalk or a pier? You could have the Model facing the camera with the sea and sunset behind her and the model looking like Edvard Munch's "The Scream"

I wouldn't worry about it - maintenance might mean a bit of dusting or simply retrieving the IT Director's wig from behind the main server.

Of course, for some here and on the SS forums it might mean anything from a search tweak to improve or destroy their numbers to a complete overhaul of the matrix and therefore a redefining of reality as we know it.

Quote from: Red Dove on July 20, 2013, 13:19

I remain appalled and quite frankly astonished that nobody senior to their fool of a "moderator" has bothered to acknowledge or reassure the people who pay their wages that this is of serious concern and is rightly very high on, or at the top of their to do list.

When it comes to working and communicating with their shareholders* I can't decide whether Istockphoto are arrogant, naive or just a bunch of dim bulbs.

* If you consider our portfolios as an asset and contribution to their success.

It's reminiscent of some situations I've been in, particularly with acquisition situations.  "Worker bees" are not authorized to make decisions, issue statements or express opinions.  New "consultants" and middle & upper management comes in.  Meetings increase but action items are few and far between.  Lots of discussion without any real activity.  No real master plan and those in lower level positions are left wondering what they are allowed to do or say, policy changes are not well communicated internally, lots of confusion and many are just trying to stay under the radar to keep a paycheck coming in.

You're bang on there Bear....that is until by some quirk of fate a good thing happens - at which point there is a general stampede to claim the credit for it. I believe this is called a meritocracy.

Looks like 40-50% of May has come in - no doubt someone at IS will try to sell this as a success and ask for a pay increase at their next performance review. Bleeuuucchh.

I posted this on June 12 in the iStock PP forum, got banned quickly thereafter and later the post was deleted.

Quote

I have a buddy that works in IT at iStock and he told me that iStock cut the banana rations of the monkeys who key in the PP data and the monkeys went completely bananas!! (pun intended) The monkeys are essentially rioting, destroying equipment and throwing feces all over the place. Total disaster.

Yes but this is an insult to our hairy relatives since given enough monkeys there is a good chance the problem would be fixed in a couple of hundred years, whereas the humans at IS will never get it done.

The fact IS still haven't fixed a simple problem speaks volumes about the condition and maintenance of their IT infrastructure and makes me wonder whether the PP has EVER been correctly calculated and paid out.

There are kids out there with buck teeth and flat foreheads who do a better job running their ant farms.

The complexity involved with having to deal with them either as a buyer or a contributor is a weakness that IS have tried to sell as diversity and exclusivity. The recent "simplification" of their collection into main and other spurious strata, plus the price drop feels like a continuation of a knee-jerk strategy and is not a game changer IMO. If it doesn't work I forsee the break up of the collection altogether into new agencies grouped around exclusives, indies and perhaps a higher tier collection based on the old Vetta - parts of which GI will keep or sell off as they see fit.

I forgot to add, in line with other comments, I don't think exclusivity has been a big selling point for buyers for some years now.

Who rules IS?

Muppets

Looking at my own port most popular has changed from:

Most DL + Time

to

Most DL/Time

Or, any new stuff that picks up immediate sales in short order rises to most popular. Some of this work has maintained position but not all. However,it does seem to have shaken my port up and I'm seeing more DL via both old and new stock - which has more than made up for the diminishing returns on my old bestsellers.

This suggests to me that SS changed the algorithm in an attempt to monetise more of the existing database and also to boost new content from the influx of contributors arriving in lifeboats from IS.

Other theories are available of course. Some are claiming a dearth of sales on any images, new or old.

Got one DL yesterday and another one appears to have dribbled out this morning. I doubt anyone will try to resolve this until Monday now - when someone from IT strolls in after their coffee and croissants and whacks the main server with a mallet.

Hmmm....People who promise easy money usually have holes in their shoes and smell like a pub carpet in my experience. And if they don't I'm even more suspicious.

They haven't sorted out the GI sales muddle, which they have said they're going to sort out before they start PP. No sense of urgency, deadlines are made and missed. I wonder how many people worked evenings and weekends on this? Silly question, probably.

I suspect the only person working evenings and weekends in their IT department wields a vacuum cleaner.

About the same for me. My port has always been "main" collection anyway because I was too idle to take advantage of P+

It seems a bit premature to gauge impact, particularly as there are other factors; the fabled summer slow period for example where those of us without images of elfin girls prancing through the buttercups tend to suffer. I'm certainly down on last year but that's due to IS relegating all my best sellers to the wilderness and their foot in mouth management style, coupled with their arrogant treatment of customers and a porcine business strategy concerned only with getting their snout in the trough and keeping it there at all costs.

Edit. Apologies for the rant but every time I think about IS these days it induces a fizzing sense of indignation and betrayal.