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Messages - scorb

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1
If the 'Stockys' are genuinely awarded by true popular vote, it'll be interesting to see what 'the community' goes for.

At Participate / Contributor Lounge / Trends, the second highest rated file is a six year close-up of a screw, the only image left by Umbris after he removed the rest of his portfolio in disgust.  196 ratings in the last three months.  ;D

An appropriate image to be second highest, it really should be first. That will be funny if some similar type of image wins this year.  :D

Incidentally, the 'Screw' image (#308048) has been screwed itself.  An admin obviously decided to get rid of the embarrassment by giving it a somewhat harsh 1 / 5 review.

2
iStockPhoto.com / Re: iStockphoto management constipated?
« on: November 02, 2010, 17:18 »
Seems like we are already living that huge drama.  But I agree with you Vonkara- there is more to come.  We are watching a train wreck in slow motion...
snip
But I'm still holding out hope that Kelly can turn things around to make iStock deliver his promises - that contributors will see their incomes increasing, and will believe that iStock is "still the best place to be, to hang out, and sell your work"

That's the koolaid talking.

You could be right.  But things are now at a point where a large number of previously trusting artists have got cynical and skeptical about pretty much every move that iStock make.  I'm one of them for sure.  They'll need to do a lot of things right if they're going to reverse the effects of all the profit grabbing and SNAFUs.  But I still want to see them making the effort to try.

3
iStockPhoto.com / Re: iStockphoto management constipated?
« on: November 02, 2010, 16:51 »
Seems like we are already living that huge drama.  But I agree with you Vonkara- there is more to come.  We are watching a train wreck in slow motion...

Does feel a bit like that at the moment.  The W-T-F sauce is out of control, it's going everywhere and it stinks.

But I'm still holding out hope that Kelly can turn things around to make iStock deliver his promises - that contributors will see their incomes increasing, and will believe that iStock is "still the best place to be, to hang out, and sell your work"

They've got a steep mountain to climb.  But at the moment I'd still like them to get there.

4
iStockPhoto.com / Re: istockphoto 'Agency' positioning
« on: October 28, 2010, 09:54 »
Really interesting stats Scorb.  This doesn't bode well for the average Istockphoto contributor at all.  
...

I agree. 

60% of the first page of results for 'Humor' coming from admins & inspectors isn't funny.  70% of an agency's first results for 'Cool' coming from a select few who are employed by the agency ain't cool.

5
iStockPhoto.com / Re: istockphoto 'Agency' positioning
« on: October 28, 2010, 05:07 »
As mentioned, I think, what is 'colour' supposed to return.  Do a bit of work and narrow down what you are really looking for.

Fair point.  I tried out some photo searches that a potential new customer might be more likely to try out: 'Cool', 'Fashion' and 'Funny' (which maps to 'Humor')

The default number of search results is 50.  Of those 50, here's what I got...

'Cool' -> 48 Vetta results; 1 Agency result; 1 Exclusive+ result.
'Fashion' -> 50 Vetta results
'Humor' -> 49 Vetta results, 1 Agency result

That's worrying enough for the effect it could have on buyers.  For contributors, this could be equally worrying: Of the same results, here's the number which come from Admins / Inspectors / Hulton (only a few were from Hulton)...

'Cool' -> 35
'Fashion' -> 18
'Humor' -> 30

Is this another one of iStock's 'dirty little secrets'?  I wonder if the CEO Jonathan Klein is aware of the staggering level of nepotism going on at iStock.  AFAIK, Getty doesn't suffer from conflicts of interest like this.

6
iStockPhoto.com / iStockphoto management constipated?
« on: October 27, 2010, 09:43 »
Constipated, meaning: Couldn't give a sh*t.

But seriously, there seems to have been a change of attitude in the forums.  

Threads or posts which are abrasive or against standard policy have always stood a high chance of getting locked or deleted, so fair enough that those are being ruthlessly dealt with now.  But threads which are completely civil, and asking perfectly fair questions which often have nothing to do with the royalty changes, are now being ignored for months or just locked for no clear reason.  Just - if you're lucky - a 'contact support' brush off.

I wonder if there has been a management decision to move away from engaging in discussion in the forums.  Making people go through support channels could seem attractive: policies have to be found out by contributors and buyers, rather than being broadcast for all to see and criticize.  By refusing to discuss things, iStock don't need to try to defend policy changes which are basically indefensible, or back up statements which have been shown to be untrue.  And the less said by iStock in the forum, the less opportunity there will be for people to point out "you said xxx 18 months ago and now you're saying the exact opposite".

It does seem strange that in a world where strong and honest communication - clarity and transparency - are well acknowledged as important in modern business, iStockphoto has gone from a position of strength in these areas to one of embarrassing weakness.  

It's just difficult to tell whether this is a result of a policy decision, or of employee resignations and a total lack of interest.

7
If the 'Stockys' are genuinely awarded by true popular vote, it'll be interesting to see what 'the community' goes for.

At Participate / Contributor Lounge / Trends, the second highest rated file is a six year close-up of a screw, the only image left by Umbris after he removed the rest of his portfolio in disgust.  196 ratings in the last three months.  ;D

8
iStockPhoto.com / Re: iStock's Agency Collection Pricing
« on: October 18, 2010, 10:39 »
how does stuff like this make it through the queue?
http://www.istockphoto.com/stock-photo-14262833-businessman-sleeping-on-sofa.php

Whoops, that's just a little keyword/description glitch that occurred when the image was added to the database.

Should be titled, "Agency Collection contributor waiting for earnings to pile up"

LOL


Wow that image is complete with several publisher logos as well as author names etc, all clear to see.

"Every photograph in the Agency Collection will go through our regular inspection process."  Sure.  Just like: "In search and Best Match the images will be weighted fairly and will not have a heavier weight than any other file."  Utter rubbish.

9
iStockPhoto.com / Re: Holgs Is Featured Photographer
« on: October 16, 2010, 04:54 »
Nice one Holgs... such an interesting & diverse portfolio, great to see it showcased.

I think it's a shame with the redesign that the image of the week and photog of the week aren't on the front page any more - it meant that the front page was always changing and looking fresh.  Now the landing page can have the same image for weeks at a time.  Seems like an odd step backwards to me.

But Holgs having checked out your blog I see you now have a big portfolio on Alamy.  If you'd prefer to keep it private, no worries at all, but if not... very roughly how do you find Alamy RM income vs. iStock RF income... are they comparable at all?

10
iStockPhoto.com / Re: iStock delaying PayPal til Friday
« on: October 12, 2010, 13:08 »
Ouch.

I just seriously hope this is an admin snafu, and not a symptom of a cashflow problem.

When unprecedented royalty drops are followed by supplier payments being withheld, questions are bound to be asked.

11
iStockPhoto.com / Re: Who's lying?
« on: October 09, 2010, 09:58 »
... Lobo ( short for what?) ...

I always thought it must be short for Lobotomize - what he'll do to anyone who doesn't respect his authoritah...  ;D

12
iStockPhoto.com / Re: iStockphoto.com tagline suggestions
« on: October 09, 2010, 05:33 »
iStockphoto's Best Match: Our Profit, Your Losstm

13
iStockPhoto.com / Re: Who's lying?
« on: October 08, 2010, 12:04 »
kkthompson
http://www.istockphoto.com/forum_messages.php?threadid=252322&page=1

First, it needs to be noted that while iStock is a part of Getty, we are still run independently. The announced changes were decisions difficult decisions made by iStock for the benefit of iStock and its community.

JJRD
http://www.istockphoto.com/forum_messages.php?threadid=257202&page=3

Over the course of the past 2 weeks, kkthompson & I have put our own asses on the line many, many times over for this community of artists... and we'll do it again and again every single time that we feel it necessary.


Who's lying?  Maybe neither.  Maybe Kelly's statement is another of those factually-kind-of-correct-but-totally-misleading sentences that iStock seem to now specialize in.  Jonathan Klein is the CEO of iStockphoto.  So a decision made by him in that capacity could be spun as an iStockphoto decision.

But I wish that back in 2006, more consideration had been given to the possibility of a management and artist buy out of iStockphoto.  It would have been financially difficult, but possible I think.

Certainly iStock has gained a lot from being part of Getty.  But the level of profit taking is now getting really excessive, and iStock is ripe to get slapped hard by a well-run company who don't have the huge disadvantage of having to massively prop up a dinosaur and its owners.

14
iStockPhoto.com / Re: iStockphoto.com tagline suggestions
« on: October 08, 2010, 11:23 »
Scorb, Pretty painfully funny. 

Just 4 more and you can be on Letterman! 

Haha, OK...

At iStockphoto, we believe that the artist should always take the credit.  We'll take the credits.

Vetta collection. You have to take risks, develop ruthless standards and never, ever settle.  That's right: "never, ever settle". Please note that we have decided to cut Vetta royalties by almost half.

"There are hundreds of you out there for whom iStock is a full-time job."  iStock Exclusivity: Give up your day job.

iStockphoto.com  Turning profitability into profiteering.

15
iStockPhoto.com / iStockphoto.com tagline suggestions
« on: October 08, 2010, 09:59 »
A few to start off:

iStockphoto.comtm - Don't get mad, get even less!

Tuesday was iStocks "bridge" day, and we burned it full on.

Introducing iStockphoto Royalty Changes!  We won the race to the bottom, but that won't stop us digging.

iStockphoto Royalty Changes.  We think that every New Year should be a Happy New Year.  For us.

Since roughly 2005 we've been aware of a basic problem with how our business works.  We invite you to come back in 2015 to find out how things are going now.

Money isnt going to be what makes you all happy. It's working well for us though.

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