Quote from: stoker2014 on April 19, 2024, 11:04

It is better to never write to Adobe support regarding any issues. I once wrote, there was some kind of primitive question. In response, some Russian lady contacted me, who began to scare me with a ban and accuse me of not forming my briefcase correctly and she didn�t like what I was uploading. She made some idiotic demands on me. In short, I don�t write in Adobe anymore.

If your writing style and behavior is comparable to that in the "This should settle some different opinions" thread, Adobe's reaction is quite understandable. And of course it was a Russian Orc employee, what else 

Of course you can write to Adobe support.

Thanks, but for now I will wait and see over the weekend.

If nothing else, I have reported the issue here and tagged Mat in the thread. I'm sure Adobe will act quickly enough if the sales are suspicious and, although I'd obviously be disappointed, I'm not attempting to withdraw the earnings at this stage, so the money is still with Adobe if it needs to be checked further. I'm pretty sure anyone wanting to behave underhandedly would act to withdraw the earnings ASAP.

Hopefully it's a legitimate and established buyer.

Mine came through on the 15th as usual.

Did you submit the new paperwork they needed?

https://www.microstockgroup.com/canva/trolley/

Quote from: kuriouskat on April 18, 2024, 16:26

but should I be reporting this to someone just in case?

Wasn't there actually a case here recently where a contributor noticed suspicious activitis, reported it to Adobe and then got his account banned? Considering this, reporting the issue to Adobe seems like a risk.

Thanks for your input, and you may well be right.

I've read some real horror stories on here over the last several months but, as we only have a somewhat one-sided account of events, I've no idea of whether any action taken by Adobe has been heavy handed or not. I certainly can't afford to lose my account, or even risk it being suspended pending an investigation, which is why I thought reporting and preempting a problem might be advisable.

From what you say, it seems that I am potentially at risk either way. I guess I will wait and see what happens next, and hope that the purchases are from a legitimate customer.

Received $60.97 for the Contributor fund today.
I'm not complaining about the extra money, but my choice actually looked like this:

Maybe it's some sort of recurring usage from prior to when we had an opt-out option?

Hello all, i am opted in for data set contribution for rejected images. But i have had several rejections which are easily passable after tweaking. But since 2 weeks, the images in the data set collection won't delete, no matter how much i try. Do you encounter the same problem? Ty

Yep, same problem. I thought I'd deleted one, as it said something about 24 hours to remove, but it keeps coming back. I've been trying for several days, but it just won't go.

Quote from: KuriousKat on January 14, 2024, 03:53

Judging by those who smugly announce their earnings on FaceBook groups, I'd say that plenty make some decent money before being shut down. The fraudsters also recommend setting up multiple accounts in various family member names, so that if one gets shut down, everything is not lost.

And you believe them?  SS has shut down family members because of IP address, camera data and computer sharing. It's not as easy as some FB brag.

...

What FB group, I'd love to go read what they have to brag about. I can't understand how thieves, with collected images, make more than people here who are smart and work hard?

Family members don't necessarily live at the same address or share an IP, and I know for a fact of some contributors doing this. As I also know of legitimate contributors  running two separate accounts from the same IP.

The thieves make money because they skim off better content. We all know that, as a general rule, 20% of the images make 80% of the money, but if they are selecting the best images, then they can certainly increase the sales percentage in their favour. It's always been quality over quantity, so if you steal 50 spectacular images, then they are likely to make more than a beginner with 50 snapshots of his back yard.

I'm sure people wouldn't keep contributing if they weren't earning anything as, even with stolen content, you still have to upload it. If you only make a dollar a week, then people wouldn't bother.

If you then add on the number of 'free trial' accounts that only download this content, then it doesn't take long to start earning.

Bottom line, I don't care whether it is lucrative for them or not, but I care about a database being flooded with stolen content that heavily competes against the legitimate stuff.

As for the FaceBook group, search Shutterstock Contributors, Shutterstock Contributors Worldwide, etc. There are loads of groups, and they all have a smattering of crooks bragging about their successes.

Quote from: blvdone on January 13, 2024, 14:35

Quote from: KuriousKat on January 13, 2024, 14:19

A few more here:


https://www.shutterstock.com/g/Graphic+Idp (25)

https://www.shutterstock.com/g/santosh+rajawat (3)

https://www.shutterstock.com/g/Dairvi (1005)

https://www.shutterstock.com/g/imitrieagar (520)

https://www.shutterstock.com/g/rustipic

https://www.shutterstock.com/g/Richard+Store

https://www.shutterstock.com/g/Bangedy (33)

https://www.shutterstock.com/g/MD+ASHIQUL+ISLAM+KHOKA (168)

It's a cat and mouse game.  Probably many of the same repeat fraudsters keep doing this again and again somewhere in the world where cost of living is low.

True and some of them work harder at it, until they get shut down. I still wonder if they ever make payout, or if it's just a stupid cat and mouse, and the only ones who lose, are the artists whose images are stolen?

Judging by those who smugly announce their earnings on FaceBook groups, I'd say that plenty make some decent money before being shut down. The fraudsters also recommend setting up multiple accounts in various family member names, so that if one gets shut down, everything is not lost.

Once you start looking for similars, it's a rabbit hole, and you might find the same image, with minor changes, in several different accounts. It becomes difficult to figure out where the original has come from, but each account that gets closed is just the tip of the iceberg.

I'm sure those with only a page of images don't make much, unless they get a lucky large sale, but some of these portfolios are quite big, and have been online for some time.

This, for example:

https://www.shutterstock.com/g/Dairvi

Over a thousand quality images covering major holidays and events, and from the ID numbers, the first were uploaded in March 2023. The 90 day wait period has long since passed, so even at $100 a month earnings, this contributor has potentially made $1000 or more.

Quote from: stoker2014 on January 04, 2024, 16:50

Quote from: Orchidpoet on January 04, 2024, 14:47

Can someone please advise me how I can disable my portfolio in SS? Thanks.

In your profile settings.

Thanks. I went to the profile page, and disabled "data licensing", but still kept the "video licensing" for the time being.

I am going to see if deleting "data licensing" can stop those 0.25 per clip sales. If they continue, I will disable "video licensing" as well.

It won't stop the .25c sales, which are customer downloads, and not related to Data Licensing.

ETA 1: I see what was wrong. Where you could previously accept keywords it identified as spelling error (such as a real and actual place / location name) you can seemingly accept this is correct but it won't allow you to save, so the workaround is to remove the keyword from the list. Otherwise you can still copy and paste the keywords. - you just press the plus sign at right. Just need to keep the place name in the title but not in the keywords. Hopefully it is still searchable. Other update is descriptions have a 150 character limit down from 200 characters.

I tested this, and was able to mark the perceived misspelt word by clicking on it and marking it as 'this is correct'. I was then able to save and submit.

Quote from: KuriousKat on December 09, 2023, 04:28

I also received my final payment.

Thank you, Canstock, for dealing with this closure in a professional manner. So many sites have just disappeared over the years, taking our hard earned cash with them. The final payment is appreciated.

  OH Noooooo! It was so funny to read you

Why?

Quote from: KuriousKat on November 29, 2023, 11:09

It's all OK for me.

It sounds like a local display problem, so best to clear cache/cookies or try with a different browser.

After doing the above, try this link:

https://submit.shutterstock.com/en/dashboard

If it doesn't work, then you can email Shutterstock support, rather than using the web contact page.

[email protected]

Thanks! I'll give this a try.

c h e e r s
fred

Hope you get things resolved OK.

Yes, I got paid on the 10th of November.

I tested it and it did very well, so I signed up.

However, now I have 400 images a month, or so I thought. However, each time I make a change and generate the keywords again, it uses another credit. One image has cost me 4 credits because I wanted to tweak the results.

It's very misleading to say that you have credits to keyword 400 images a month, when that isn't really the case.