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Messages - m.panzarella
1
« on: April 28, 2013, 10:11 »
Thanks Ajt, this is a great idea. Adding directions is already in our todo list.
2
« on: April 27, 2013, 15:26 »
Firewall, we are planning to open the sale channels during the next summer more or less.
GeoStockPhoto allows authors to optionally insert up to 10 keywords although such research has not been implemented on our website yet. You may have heard that other big players are changing (or have already changed) the system of keywords search by giving priority to different keywords following the order of insertion and penalizing all authors who insert more than 10-15 keywords. We are on the same road, but we are telling you that from the beginning.
Some technical updates: we've added in the evaluation page the parameters suggested by gillian and we've assigned to each user a coefficient that indicates its precision while adding geographic location in his pictures. The latter is calculated as the number of photos with a correct position on the total number of submitted photos.
Anyway, we are still working on the new evaluation process. I'll keep you informed.
3
« on: April 22, 2013, 16:11 »
Sorry Gillian, I missed that question. Of course there are already some users who can rate as a pro (someone had to start the process). They do not have that title on GSP (so their earning rate is not as a pros) but we know them and we trust them just for the evaluation. They all sell photos on other microstock websites with good earnings and we believe they will become pros on GSP. Also, remember that one vote is never enough to get a photo accepted.
I'm not sure if I've already written here that we have been selected for Biz&Dev Camp which is a 2 months acceleration program for startup organized by our incubator and the Microsoft Innovation Center. They will help us review our business model and so our evaluation process. Tomorrow we are going to start.
I'll keep you updated.
ShadySue, we will trust power users but we will keep them under control (maybe just reviewing some of their pictures every now and then).
4
« on: April 22, 2013, 15:16 »
I will try to answer all your questions...
Our system can automatically read embedded GPS tags (we can also report this information but we are not sure if it's worth it). We cannot get rid of categories since a lot of people need them.
About the acceptance process, we need some time to evaluate it since this would affect our business model, terms and conditions, communication strategy and so on. We know that this system can be difficult to get accepted but we would like to ask people who are actually using it (if they are fine with the evaluation of their photos). Let's consider it as a test: if it does not work we always have time to change it.
We are aware that some rubbish may be approved at this point since there are still few pros on GSP. Anyway, we are fine with them since they usually do not get high rates (maybe 1 or 2 stars) so they do not easily show up on results (unless there is not anything else there).
Thanks Gillian, we will add your suggestions (dust, overprocessed...) to our evaluation process.
About the rating of photographers: you need 100 photos with 3 stars to become a newbie, 1000 photos with 4 stars to become a pros and 10000 with 5 stars to become a power. If you are a power, we trust you and all your photos do not go to the evaluation process anymore but they are automatically accepted with 5 stars.
5
« on: April 20, 2013, 07:58 »
Our sale channels are not officially open yet but we are already moving to make ourselves known among buyers. To get the most of it we still need that many photographers believe in the project and upload their photos so we can show them to all buyers. We are also in contact with some partners which are interested in our service (we are working on our API for them).
Also, yesterday we have just received the notification that we have been selected for a 2 months acceleration program for startups launched by Microsoft and I3P. This will certainly help us.
6
« on: April 18, 2013, 03:30 »
FTP connection update: connection problems in active mode are often due to a firewall installed on your private network. We have updated our ftp server to allow both active and passive connections. Please try again using a passive connection and let us know if this solves the issue.
ShadySue, your observation is correct. We are trying to monitor this type of behavior: each photo on GeoStockPhoto must be contextualized in the place where it was taken. However, the evaluation is very subjective: some trees in the background can already be indicative of the fact that we are in the wood and not in the city, desert, glacier, etc.. Of course it could have been taken anywhere in the world where there are trees. The sales will tell us whether it is in the right place but we do try to limit this type of photographs.
7
« on: April 15, 2013, 08:39 »
We've learned a lot from this discussion and we are definitely going to change something on our model and website. We need some time to be able to discuss in depth with our team and then we would like to involve all of our users, and you again to decide how to change things.
We are not yet able to understand how the ftp is not working for some of you while other users are using it without any problem. We apologize for the inconvenience. We will continue to investigate.
8
« on: April 14, 2013, 13:56 »
noodle, our business model (and so the 50-85% revenue to photographers) is based also on the fact that we are not in charge of the evaluation process. Anyway I understand your point so I want to ask you: would you pay a fee (let's say 10 eurocents per photo) in order to have your photos evaluated by a trained reviewer? We can think about this or any other solution (such as to lower your revenue).
Also, you should consider that even an expert reviewer can evaluate a photo in different ways on the basis of the policy of the agency. We also have some experience in other microstock as photographers and we know that the best seller photo in one competitor may be rejected in another. I really believe (but I may be wrong) that our users do not give negative votes because they are your competitors but because they may be too selective.
9
« on: April 14, 2013, 13:22 »
ShadySue, right now you can search by location and filter the result by photographer, category, rate, dimension and license. We are planning to add filters for price and keywords.
We've just restarted our FTP server and doubled its units. Please check if it is not working yet.
Thanks flotsom for reporting us the bugs. We will check them.
If you want to send us some other bugs please use our "Send feedback" button on the bottom of any page (right side).
Thank you.
10
« on: April 14, 2013, 09:49 »
Thanks ShadySue. We were just looking for such critics since, if they are constructive, we can improve. Firewall, minimum payout is 50 euro and, at the beginning, we are going to use only PayPal (maybe bank transfer too). Beppe Grillo, our ftp server seems fine to us. Please check that you are using an ACTIVE connection. If you need further help, please contact Gaspare ( [email protected]).
11
« on: April 14, 2013, 08:59 »
Will the customers have this possibility too?
Yes, they will.
12
« on: April 14, 2013, 08:48 »
It is very rare you will rate photos of some places where you also have taken yours.
(Is it a fact or) just your opinion (?)
You can't choose the photos you vote since our system will do it. So, since there are photos from all over the world to be voted, it is very rare that the system will let you vote photos of places where you also have taken yours. Moreover, in the future we are planning to add a relevant filter aimed at avoiding such overlapping.
13
« on: April 14, 2013, 06:55 »
We have explored all your points which are correct. This is how we deal with them:
1) Geo StockPhoto decides which photos can be rated by each photographer. There is one page on the website which shows you one photo and you can give a vote to that photo (or skip it if you do not want to). It is very rare you will rate photos of some places where you also have taken yours.
2) While you are rating a photo you do not know the author of it.
3) The final rate is given by the average of 2 votes (but we are thinking to increase it) where each vote has a different weight on the basis of the photographer who is rating.
4) If some votes are very different from the average, we will check if someone is abusing the system.
Anyway, we are still monitoring the system and we are still ready to change it if it won't work. So if you believe that something can be improved or you have any further suggestions, please tell us.
Thanks for your help.
14
« on: April 13, 2013, 18:30 »
Ciao JohnItalia, siamo contenti ti piaccia il sito  We look forward to seeing your photos. Hi LesHoward, you are saying right. Let me explain our philosophy which also replies to Noodle's question about the evaluation process... GeoStockPhoto is not like other microstock websites. We offer a competitive platform for photographers so they can sell their photos in a free market. You are free to choose prices and licenses, you get from 50% to 85%, you have a personal page... and other services are coming soon. Following this philosophy, the evaluation of all photos is done by our users who can give a vote (from -5 to 5) to the submitted photos. Every vote has a different weight depending on the level of the photographer who is voting. So we are not in charge of the evaluation process. LesHoward, the owner of the photo guarantees that he is the owner of all rights to use on the photos (including rights on people and private objects pictured therein), so we do not request photographers to submit any release (although we may ask it in the future if so requested by customers).
15
« on: April 13, 2013, 06:12 »
Thanks Sharpshot, we will definitely review our price of the extended license. We did not care to much about it since photographers can change it but we are seeing everyone is accepting the default one. So yes, we are going to change it.
Csproductions: which operative system and IE version do you have? Does the "Select all" button work?
Thank you for your patience, our website is still in beta version and we are working hard on it.
16
« on: April 12, 2013, 20:41 »
Linma, click the "edit" button to have a bigger map (you can also select multiple photos).
Remember that you can change the position even after the photo has been approved.
17
« on: April 12, 2013, 19:34 »
I was about to forget...
We are based in Italy so our target area is Europe right now. But our CEO Marco Cannizzaro is moving to New York City in two months, we believe he can bring GeoStockPhoto to the US market as well.
18
« on: April 12, 2013, 19:25 »
Thanks Pinocchio for your information, we were not really aware of that.
Qwerty, we have been working hard on having a fast and easy submission process. Right now we have:
- 3 methods for upload (ftp, plugin, html form)
- fast submission in just one page (upload, selection, editing info and submission)
- single and multiple selection of uploaded photos
- only 3 fields required (title, category, position)
- exif used for populating title and position
- service that you can use to send us a phisycal storage device with all your photos and we provide to upload and submit them (this is a pay-per-photo service).
We will have the category auto-populated from your keywords in the future. But we have planty of other ideas in mind.
Noodle, I will check your photos and get back to you explaining our evaluation process.
19
« on: April 12, 2013, 15:54 »
Thanks flotson and ShadySue!
Please spread the news if you want more photos in UK and all over the world :-)
We are working on solving some issues on our ftp server. Hopefully they will be fixed in 24 hours.
20
« on: April 12, 2013, 11:10 »
Thank you Jareso for your detailed report. It will help.
ShadySue, we know people may geotag photos in wrong position but we also know that a lot of photographers add wrong keywords just to be shown in more search results. Also, it is quite simple to check if a photo is in a wrong position by looking at the satellite view of the map or by looking at the nearest photos. In this case, if our users find one of them, we will provide an easy way to report a wrong position and suggest the correct one.
This whole conversation will be of much help for us.
21
« on: April 12, 2013, 07:22 »
We will check the browser issue.
Linma we are having problem with the ftp account but your photos can never go to other users.
Sharpshot, you can change prices of your photos and you can also change your default prices (go to your personal page and modify).
22
« on: April 12, 2013, 05:29 »
Jareso, try to change browser (just to check). Everything looks fine for us.
Gillian, can you send us your cv? :-)
We are already working on a new homepage since the one we have right now does not look professional and was intended only for photographers. We will consider all your feedback.
Thank you, sharpshot. You can change everything anytime after approval.
We suggest to tag the subject but it is up to you.
23
« on: April 12, 2013, 03:54 »
Thank you all again for your comments, we really appreciate them.
Thank Gillian, can you suggest another word?
About geolocation, I can say just two reasons why it is useful:
1) we found a lot of customers asking for geolocation. For example, we are agreeing a partnership with a company that provides wifi hotspots in Europe and wants to customize the login page to all their hotspot with photos of the area where they set up their hotspot. They have the hotspot location and want to exceed to beautiful photos with automatic calls to our server. There is no man who searches for the word "Dome of Milan". And like this there are many other examples.
2) keywording is always ambiguous because of the language itself (many places have the same name), because of the translations from different languages and because there are places that can not be precisely defined with words (think, for example to a specific location in the path of paris-dakar or a specific place where there has neither address nor name). If you write "Milan"+"Duomo" you expect to find what you are looking for, if you go to "Duomo di Milano" in the map you do actually find it!
In order to submit photos on GeoStockPhoto you have to insert:
1) Title
2) Category
3) Location (in the map)
All other fields (included keywords) are optional.
We are also working on an mobile app for tracking and geotagging your photos taken by any camera. You should register to GeoStockPhoto and we will let you know when it is ready the first release.
Also, we are just starting a new market with still few photographers and we already have customers waiting for us, so all photos that we will sell may be yours :-)
Please keep on giving us feedbacks so we can understand your needs and what we have to push in communication with all of our photographers.
Thanks!
24
« on: April 11, 2013, 17:51 »
GeoStockPhoto is not an outlet since prices and licenses are chosen by photographers.
Jurnalism was just an example. We are also already in contact with some turist office of some big cities which would like to have a database of photos in order to promote their territory (in websites and promotional merchandising). We are also in contact with web agencies which work as search engine for private and local activities, they are looking for photos which can be automatically purchased and used in their customer's pages. Well, I can't say more publicly but we have explored a lot of sale channels specific for geotagged photos.
25
« on: April 11, 2013, 17:24 »
yes we know about DT and there is also another one in the market. But geotagging is not a requirement for them (DT does not even say anything in their homepage). We believe that we can compete to them if we make the map our core business... so all photos are geotagged on GeoStockPhoto but also photographers, new photo requests, events will have their own map in our vision.
There is the entire world of journalism (and others) that can't wait for it.
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