I assume they do have stock holders and if they are watching what is going on they are selling off their stock pretty fast. They have to respond to this and respond soon or it is going to cost them ALOT of money in the long run.

Wouldn't that be great!

Well, as I type this the thread Chad started has had 1176 views: http://en.fotolia.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=25258
And the new one started by Denis 'WE WANT TO KNOW ABOUT OUR NEW UNTOLD PURCHASE AND COMMISSION STRUCTURE ' has already had 118 views:
http://en.fotolia.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=25293
They can't all be contributors reading these threads.

Maybe fotolia is being sold off as we speak - who knows!

Christine (Kerioak) has also been rather quiet!

I still don't get it. Fotolia knows their buyers read the forums too. They can see very clearly that we contributors are hopping mad! They can also see clearly the discrepancies with the different currencies. Surely all this is not helping Fotolia's reputation. I'm surprised someone like Daniela (FT UK director) hasn't stepped in yet. She's been popping her head in more recently since the tax fiasco. Probably scared (ha ha!)

Then again, I am probably far too naive to think the above.

Madelaide,

If you are refering to the IRS then you may be in for a disappointment. I can't remember if I already posted the following on this forum before or not, so apologies if I've repeated myself.

I emailed the IRS via the US Embassy in London, about the whole ITIN issue, explaining that I am a contributor to multiple stock agencies and fotolia was the only one saying that we must have an ITIN to have 0% tax for treaty countries. I asked them detailed questions explaining that I was very confused and asked them to confirm whether or not an ITIN is necessary when submitting a W8BEN. I waited for 2 weeks and got this reply:

"Your W8BEN would be valid forever with an ITIN.  To apply use form W-7
and follow instructions implicitly."

I hope the IRS department you contact will be a lot more helpful!!!!!

@ Warren - oh, now I see it was a typo with the date... and no pudding after supper tonight too!

@ Sharpshot - the sad thing is fotolia are losing some good contributors recently. It's not all due to the tax issue, but sad nonetheless.

Good point gostwyck,

It was dated 30/01/09 and sent from the US have to wait and see I suppose but anyway nothing seems to have changed as regards Fotolias change of policy for the time being so at least ive got a letter if I need one !!

Warren

Wot! Looking at the date, it was sent a year ago!!

You can also get to the forums you're not supposed to see by entering English key words into the forum search. It gives you threads where your search word occurs, and the threads take you to the legal bord or the fotolia caf� or wherever. But when you click on the main index, you're taken back to your "home" forum.

Hey stardust,

Thanks for sharing a useful tip! It doesn't give excluded members the chance to contribute though does it?

I started a new thread on Cafe du Monde called 'One World Fotolia'.
This is what I wrote:
"Hi everyone,

It seems that a lot of you at 'Cafe du Monde' do not have access to other forums that other fotolians do. It is such a shame that so many of you are missing out on joining in with the discussions in other forums. This has been very much the case with the debate surrounding the whole tax issue, where there has been a lot of activity on the 'Legal Forum' which many of you could not see.

David Laguillo, director of Fotolia     has recently come on Cafe du Monde and said he will get back to everyone regarding the tax issue, especially the ITIN. I asked him why many fotolians do not have access to the other forums the rest of us do, so hopefully there will be a response.

I just had an idea.
Until something is worked out, how about if we mimic the forum titles by creating a separate thread for each one at Cafe du Monde? Then we can encourage the others from the other forums to visit Cafe du Monde more often.

The forum titles we have are:

Fotolia Cafe
Welcome to the Fotolia Cafe where artists and members meet from around the world and discuss all things Fotolia. Share your ideas and knowledge about the industry. So open up and say hello you just might make a new friend.

Fotolia Q&A
Members helping members. This is the place for Newbie�s, those perplexed about technical problems, and people who seek answers as how to improve sales. Don�t worry if the members don�t know all the answers the Fotolia customer service team is always here to help.

Photography techniques
Ok photo geeks this is your place. Talk about your best photography tips and tricks, debate over which is better film or digital, discuss the latest digital camera and suggest workflow ideas. We welcome the young and old to share your thoughts, ask questions, and discuss photography techniques.

Design techniques
Welcome home designers. If design runs in your veins and the computer is your canvas then this is your new home. Here you can share, teach, and discuss design ideas, current graphic art trends, Photoshop and other software.

Academy Board
Has one of your photos just been refused by the Fotolia editing team? Would you like to know why? Would you like to get feedback for one of your photos from your peers? Critique, learn, and Share your experiences on the Academy Forum! (To post a Fotolia image on the forum, just type your photo id in the post image section)

Legal Board
Ok legal beagles share your knowledge of model and property releases, intellectual property, copyright, tax issues, and new imaging laws. Although we don�t guarantee the legal information provided here with but this should be the first place you should come to for legal insight from your fellow Fotolia members.

Idea Box
Do you think you can make Fotolia better? Discuss your great ideas here, we�ll be listening.

Order Request Board
Are you looking for just the right image and just can't seem to find it using the search engine? Then post your request here and let your fellow members help you. They might just have what you are looking for. Feel free to also use the Alert/Order request system.

Fotolia Classifieds
Buy it, Sell it, Trade it, or Give it away for free, on the Fotolia classified forum. All Fotolians may publish classified ads to buy or sell photography and design equipment (cameras, lens, computers, etc) - Please read these specific instructions before posting !

Caf� du Monde
Share your experiences with Fotolia members worldwide - The language of this board is english.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From what I understand (and I may be wrong), this exclusion applies to eu.fotolia. How about if all of you write to David Laguillo requesting access to all the forums?
His contact details are:
David Laguillo
Director
Fotolia Espa�a
http://es.fotolia.com
[email protected]
SKYPE: fotoliaespana

We are not only contributors of images, but in my opinion, also contributors within fotolia itself.
Let us know what you guys think about the suggestions here. "


Dunno what you and the others here think of this... I suppose we would need a few volunteers to keep an eye on certain forums like Legal Board, Idea Box etc and copy and paste backward and forwards to update Cafe du Monde. Hmm.. perhaps a bit complicated. I can't think of a better way do help our EU fotolia peeps for the time being.

Yeah Thomas, I don't get it either.

I posted a note as a reply to David Laguillo asking him to explain why so many fotolians only have access to 'Cafe du Monde'. Let's hope he replies.

Hmmm... now that our People Power is on a roll, how about getting together with other fotolians to request access to all the forums? There are lots more forums that I and other fotolians have access to and it's not fair that others like you are excluded.

I wonder if it's only the EU fotolia that has limited access to forums??

Hey y'all,

What fantastic news!! I'm over the moon and soooo relieved!

As Warren said, "it's all down to the power of people".
T'was great teamwork, and special thanks to Denis.

I shall leave with one of my favourite quotes:
"In the confrontation between the stream and the rock, the stream always wins - not through strength, but through persistence." (Buddha)

Have a good day y'all 

Just got this reply :-



Dear Warren,

Thank you for your e-mail. Ok, just waiting feedback on these points from our finance team.

Kind regards,

Fotolia Team U.K.
0208 816 72 84


Lets wait and see !!

Good work Warren! Let's see what they say and hope they get back to you soon.

Happy New Year to you and all you lovely fotolia peeps who've been putting on the pressure regarding this whole tax issue!!

Let's all hope we ring in the new year with some good news!! 

Oops! My bad Stu! Just goes to show that it's not a good idea to say stuff when I'm a newbie and not double checking!

So... if you click on a person's username, you will go to their profile and ta-dah! It says "[Add to Buddy List]" above their name.

No I didn't mean that hidden means hidden buddies, just that in the bracket, it has buddies and hidden. That's all. 

I'm a newbie here too, so I'm not too sure. All I can say is that it's been handy for me so far, because when I log in, I can see which buddies are online.

Hey Guiseppe!

Glad to see you're getting some good support here.

I'm crossing my fingers for ya!