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Messages - Minsc

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1
Deleted.

2
I got a huge payment.

I don't know how I feel about it, but I tried out Firefly using some prompts and some of the content is still in early stages.

It's not good enough to directly compete with my work just yet, but man, it is a bit scary to see what it can do.

3
Shutterstock.com / Re: Contributor Ugly Dashboard
« on: February 02, 2023, 20:27 »
Use Ublock Origin and block all the ugly panels on top.

4
General Stock Discussion / Re: 123RF is dead
« on: January 18, 2023, 19:57 »
No idea what is going on with 123rf, I upload new videos but they never get reviewed, i write emails to support but no one ever answers, It's like a zombie stock image site.

I have images waiting since October 2022. They love messing with the contributor portal. I can't view part of my portfolio since their recent updates.

I'm done uploading to 123RF.

5
General Stock Discussion / 123RF is dead
« on: January 17, 2023, 21:49 »
It started declining at the beginning of 2022 and it fell off a cliff in November. Now I'm making 1/10 of what I used to make in 2019.

January 2023 looks like it's going to be abysmal.

At least Adobe Stock is picking up the slack. They are really taking over the industry. I just hope they continue to treat contributors well.


6
You talk about supply and demand, so ask yourself this. Who stopped the Keystone pipepline and cancelled oil and natural gas exploration permits? Who artificially and intentionally constrained supply and caused the price of oil to go up?

Nobody stopped the Keystone pipeline.

Oh, wait, you meant the KeystoneXL which was for garbage tar sands from which the oil would mostly be exported?  Is that what you meant?

Oh wait, nobody cancelled permits.  https://biologicaldiversity.org/w/news/press-releases/new-data-biden-slays-trumps-first-year-drilling-permitting-by-34-2022-01-21/ "New federal data shows the Biden administration approved 3,557 permits for oil and gas drilling on public lands in its first year, far outpacing the Trump administrations first-year total of 2,658."

Oh, wait, you're talking about OPEC who constrains supply to make the price go up?

You're right, it's not the permits, it's the leases. That was my little mistake, but the point still stands.

Biden paused all new oil and natural gas leashes, effectively slowed production. They only recently resumed in April because out of desperation, only to cancel even more leases. Want proof, here it is:

https://www.cnbc.com/2022/02/24/biden-administration-pausing-new-oil-and-gas-leases-amid-legal-battle-.html

Biden continue to cancel leases, this on in the last 24 hours:
https://www.foxbusiness.com/politics/biden-admin-cancels-oil-gas-lease-sale-record-high-prices

And you want to talk about OPEC? They won't pick up the phone because they don't respect Biden, kinda like the rest of the world.

7

For every Biden gaff, there are dozens of Trump gaffs.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4MyLwAokINc

Fixed that.  And what's even worse is the crap that comes out of Trunt's mouth that aren't due to speech issues and are just plain idiocy.

Actually, what's even worse is that Republicans will have had four years to find a sensible candidate who wasn't impeached twice and caused and insurrection and lied about the election.  But they're just like "No, this guy is good because he hates who I hate and has no filter like I wish I didn't".

Have you heard about the new drug overdoes record in 2021? Only 107,000 people died from OD's, much of it attributed to Fentanyl.

After Biden opened the borders, Fentanyl "imports" from the southern border went up by 1,100%. But nobody cares, because Biden is "compassionately" letting druggies shoot themselves to death.

That's not a gaff, that's pure Biden idiocy. That's one top of what his incompetence on the economy. But let's about Trump's mean tweets instead.

8
I love how conservatives complain about the evils of socialism and how free market capitalism solves all problems . Then when the law of supply and demand kicks in and the price of gas goes up 50 cents a gallon they complain that the government isnt doing enough. 😂

I'm more of a classical liberal more than anything else, thank you very much. I even support abortion.

When it comes so fiscial policy, modern leftists are completely illiterate when it comes to the economy.

You talk about supply and demand, so ask yourself this. Who stopped the Keystone pipepline and cancelled oil and natural gas exploration permits? Who artificially and intentionally constrained supply and caused the price of oil to go up?

And hyperbole doesn't make a good argument. The price of oil has nearly doubled since early last year, not gone up 50 cents. The price of food also nearly doubled. Maybe you're rich enough to not have it affect your bank account, but it's affecting everyone else and it's causing the US to barrel toward a recession. Sometime you need to step back and look it how it's affecting your bank account, microstock profits, your job and your children's jobs instead of looking for a little ideological win.

9
Biden is too brain dead be corrupt. He could barely find his way down a hallway, let alone trying to be corrupt. Thats why hes running the US to the ground. And I didnt qualify for single penny of stimulus money.

"Man woman person camera tv"

For every Trump gaff, there are dozens of Biden gaffs.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H6uingtAWbk

10
Thanks to the incompetent idiots in charge, we're on our way to a recession.

I anticipate that many companies with either start downgrading or cancelling their microstock accounts from sites like SS and AS.

My SS sales has dipped in the last few weeks. Less big sales and less daily downloads.

Just brace yourselves for what's to come and stop supporting people who are economically illiterate.

More a Covid/Putin/China recession... Covid for stopping worldwide production.. Putin for raising transport costs worldwide with higher energy cost (due to war).. and China for slowing down its economy with their "Strict 0 Covid" policy..

Inflation levels and oil prices were incredibly high before the war in Ukraine started. China only started the lockdown.

The US economy shrank by 1.4% in Q1 and it wasn't caused by China locking down. China's GDP went up by over 4% in the same time period.

The main cause of the situation is because of energy scarcity and uncontrolled spending. Both of which are caused by policies of the current administration. The war in Ukraine doesn't help, it's certainly not the main cause of it.

The highest inflation in 40 years is caused by the federal reserve printing money it doesn't have. Failure to hold the people in charge responsible is reason why we're in this situation. So let's not make excuses for incompetent people.

So, if you were the government.. what would you do ?

Stop spending so much money. Stop trying to stop domestic energy production.

Oil prices and Natural Gas spiked after we slowed down our own product of energy. This caused food prices to spike, along with everything else. It's self-inflicted inflation.

American Energy production was slowed down because it was not profitable anymore. Russia and the Saudis were in conflict and the oil prices went down. After the conflict, prices were rising slowly, and the american (and Canadian) producers were reluctant to risk losing money. Energy production depend on company profits, not on governments...

There were plenty profits to go around. That's why oil companies have been posting record profits for the last year and the most valuable company right now is an Oil company. I guess it's easier to making a blanket statement about profits without giving anyone a chance to make a profit.

Biden effectively stopped energy production in the US with his policies. He shut down the Keystone Pipeline and cancelled all oil and natural exploration permits. Meanwhile, we're STILL secretly buying oil from Putin, while sending billions to Ukraine. If we are really against Putin, why are we buying oil from Russia? Could it be that we kneecapped ourselves and we have nowhere else to turn?

11
Thanks to the incompetent idiots in charge, we're on our way to a recession.

I anticipate that many companies with either start downgrading or cancelling their microstock accounts from sites like SS and AS.

My SS sales has dipped in the last few weeks. Less big sales and less daily downloads.

Just brace yourselves for what's to come and stop supporting people who are economically illiterate.

I assume you never cashed those stimulus checks that the corrupt Trump administration sent out to buy us off because you're all about the capitalism and not the socialism right clown.

Biden is too brain dead be corrupt. He could barely find his way down a hallway, let alone trying to be corrupt. Thats why hes running the US to the ground. And I didnt qualify for single penny of stimulus money.

12
Just to further prove my point, here is the inflation chart of France. It's nearly identical to the German inflation chart.

https://tradingeconomics.com/france/inflation-cpi

The inflation spike started right after the Ukrainian invasion in February 2022.

The inflation rate in France was 2.9% in January 2022. In the US, it was 7.5%. The US inflation spike started in April 2021, while the France inflation spike started in February 2022.

In other words, they were fairly independent of each other. The US inflation was caused by US policies, while France inflation was caused by the war in Ukraine.

13
Thanks to the incompetent idiots in charge, we're on our way to a recession.

I anticipate that many companies with either start downgrading or cancelling their microstock accounts from sites like SS and AS.

My SS sales has dipped in the last few weeks. Less big sales and less daily downloads.

Just brace yourselves for what's to come and stop supporting people who are economically illiterate.

More a Covid/Putin/China recession... Covid for stopping worldwide production.. Putin for raising transport costs worldwide with higher energy cost (due to war).. and China for slowing down its economy with their "Strict 0 Covid" policy..

Inflation levels and oil prices were incredibly high before the war in Ukraine started. China only started the lockdown.

The US economy shrank by 1.4% in Q1 and it wasn't caused by China locking down. China's GDP went up by over 4% in the same time period.

The main cause of the situation is because of energy scarcity and uncontrolled spending. Both of which are caused by policies of the current administration. The war in Ukraine doesn't help, it's certainly not the main cause of it.

The highest inflation in 40 years is caused by the federal reserve printing money it doesn't have. Failure to hold the people in charge responsible is reason why we're in this situation. So let's not make excuses for incompetent people.

You seem to be confusing the US with the whole world. Because - surprise surprise - almost all countries are facing the same problems.
Germany, where I live for example - Inflation is crazy, the highest since 1981. Is that Binden's fault too?
Or could all countries facing the same problems right now not rather be caused by something all these conutries share? Which is not Binden, but a worldwide pandemic and an ongoing war.

The inflation in Germany is different than that of the US. And yes, Germany's recent inflation is directly related to the war in Ukraine and its geopolitical tensions with Russia. Germany's inflation started creeping up late last winter after Russian slowed the flow of natural gas. It spiked right after Russia invaded Ukraine, causing food prices to spike. Ukraine was a huge exporter of food to the rest of Europe and after the war started, food exports dropped and supplies became constrained, causing food prices to rise.

If you look at June of 2021, in the midst of the pandemic, Germany's inflation rate was 2.3%. The pandemic is just another buzzword people throw around to make excuses for politicians.

You can see the inflation chart here that corresponds to my timeline assessment.
https://tradingeconomics.com/germany/inflation-cpi

The inflation in the US is different. In February 2021, the inflation rate was 1.7%, so stop parroting the media and blaming the pandemic. The inflation spike started in April of 2021 and continued to climb throughout the summer.

https://www.statista.com/statistics/273418/unadjusted-monthly-inflation-rate-in-the-us/

Look at the rise in oil prices. It started in Q1 2021, which is when inflation started to spike in the US. The 2 chart pretty much mirrors each other.
https://www.statista.com/statistics/671580/quarterly-retail-price-of-gasoline-in-the-united-states/

The inflation problem in the US is directly caused by the Biden administration.

14
In Turkey, the inflation rate is currently over 70%! I assume that Biden is not responsible for this, right?

Regional inflation is common and it has little to nothing to do with the US.

Just like hyperinflation of 79.6 billion percent in Zimbabwe in 2007 has nothing to do with the US. Just like how inflation in Venezuela has little to nothing to do with the US.

Biden is completely responsible for US inflation due to his policies.

15
Thanks to the incompetent idiots in charge, we're on our way to a recession.

I anticipate that many companies with either start downgrading or cancelling their microstock accounts from sites like SS and AS.

My SS sales has dipped in the last few weeks. Less big sales and less daily downloads.

Just brace yourselves for what's to come and stop supporting people who are economically illiterate.

More a Covid/Putin/China recession... Covid for stopping worldwide production.. Putin for raising transport costs worldwide with higher energy cost (due to war).. and China for slowing down its economy with their "Strict 0 Covid" policy..

Inflation levels and oil prices were incredibly high before the war in Ukraine started. China only started the lockdown.

The US economy shrank by 1.4% in Q1 and it wasn't caused by China locking down. China's GDP went up by over 4% in the same time period.

The main cause of the situation is because of energy scarcity and uncontrolled spending. Both of which are caused by policies of the current administration. The war in Ukraine doesn't help, it's certainly not the main cause of it.

The highest inflation in 40 years is caused by the federal reserve printing money it doesn't have. Failure to hold the people in charge responsible is reason why we're in this situation. So let's not make excuses for incompetent people.

So, if you were the government.. what would you do ?

Stop spending so much money. Stop trying to stop domestic energy production.

Oil prices and Natural Gas spiked after we slowed down our own product of energy. This caused food prices to spike, along with everything else. It's self-inflicted inflation.

16
Funny... history tell us that after a Pandemic, recession and great wars (wwi and wwii) arrive. Calling it "Biden recession" when all the world is in recession? and near to wwiii after Russia start a war in Europe? I wonder what terms you will use when peace and good economy arise again. Dreamstime? ;D ;D ;D

Last I recalled, we had a nice recovery from the Pandemic. And the last few wars that the US were directly involved in that costed over a trillion didn't plunge the country into a recession. And let's not exaggerate a regional war into a world war... it's not a world war.

Europe may very well head into a recession that is independent of the US recession. When you don't have a steady flow of petro and natural gas, it's bound to affect the European economies. And if Putin shuts off the natural gas this autumn, Europeans will be back to burning wood & coal.

The US on the other hand created it's own situation through reckless spending and uncontrolled inflation. Great economists warned that this was going to happen in 2021, but people didn't listen. When inflation is sky high and energy prices are sky high, people like you and I will tighten our spending. It's natural. When people stop spending, consumer confidence drops, economic activity drops, companies make less money and they have layoffs. That's how recessions start.

Of course, it's popular to blame Putin, but ask yourself this. Who caused the highest inflation in 40 years? Who caused oil prices to spike in the US before the Ukrainian war? That's your answer right there.

17
Thanks to the incompetent idiots in charge, we're on our way to a recession.

I anticipate that many companies with either start downgrading or cancelling their microstock accounts from sites like SS and AS.

My SS sales has dipped in the last few weeks. Less big sales and less daily downloads.

Just brace yourselves for what's to come and stop supporting people who are economically illiterate.

More a Covid/Putin/China recession... Covid for stopping worldwide production.. Putin for raising transport costs worldwide with higher energy cost (due to war).. and China for slowing down its economy with their "Strict 0 Covid" policy..

Inflation levels and oil prices were incredibly high before the war in Ukraine started. China only started the lockdown.

The US economy shrank by 1.4% in Q1 and it wasn't caused by China locking down. China's GDP went up by over 4% in the same time period.

The main cause of the situation is because of energy scarcity and uncontrolled spending. Both of which are caused by policies of the current administration. The war in Ukraine doesn't help, it's certainly not the main cause of it.

The highest inflation in 40 years is caused by the federal reserve printing money it doesn't have. Failure to hold the people in charge responsible is reason why we're in this situation. So let's not make excuses for incompetent people.

18
Thanks to the incompetent idiots in charge, we're on our way to a recession.

I anticipate that many companies with either start downgrading or cancelling their microstock accounts from sites like SS and AS.

My SS sales has dipped in the last few weeks. Less big sales and less daily downloads.

Just brace yourselves for what's to come and stop supporting people who are economically illiterate.

19
Adobe Stock / Re: Time for a redesign?
« on: April 06, 2022, 21:32 »
I dont have a problem with reordering keywords. I think its great we can prioritize our keywords. It makes the images more relevant and generates more success for people who are willing to put in the work.

20
123RF / Re: Trends to Upload for September e-mail from 123RF
« on: September 08, 2021, 20:31 »
I used to make a decent amount per month from 123RF.

September 2021 is on pace to being the worst month since September 2017. They are seriously declining.

21
123RF / Re: What is wrong with 123RF
« on: April 24, 2021, 19:47 »
After a few months, I'm starting to notice a real decline. April is going to end with the worst month I had since 2017.

January - slightly below average.
February - Worst month since 2017.
March - Below average despite a strong start.
April - On pace to be worse than February 2021.

Something is definitely going on over there that's causing the decline in sales. Maybe it's an algorithm change, but I think it could be a Google algorithm change. I think this image kinda of explains it:

https://i.imgur.com/xgU97OF.png

The site has been declining since last year. They were ranked 850 last April and 900 in November 2020. Right now they're 1,110. Their traffic had a sizeable decline in the last 4 months.




22
123RF / Re: What is wrong with 123RF
« on: March 04, 2021, 00:28 »
I had an average January, but a weak February. March is off to a good start and it's on pace to matching my best months.

23
I signed up earlier today. I heard they are very selective. They only seem to accept artists with a strong presence in social media... and I don't have a strong presence in social media. We'll see what happens.

24
What SS did was evil. It comes from a very dark place where only sociopaths dare the tread.

They were already making a lot of money, so they didn't need to cut artist commissions. They did it purely out of greed in the middle of a pandemic, while putting out phony virtue about BLM and social justice.

I honestly hope SS a quick death and Adobe Stock take their place at the top. At least Adobe have an incentive to keep artists happy because their biggest source of revenue comes from artists using their software. Shutterstock provide nothing else.

25
General Stock Discussion / Re: Incorporating your stock business
« on: February 22, 2021, 17:50 »
Mine is an LLC as I am a portrait photographer and this is just a side gig so I just incorporate this income into my shopping cart system and it is categorized by stock and per agency each month.  I pay taxes on it just as I do the other income.

Do you have a separate banking account for your own business or do you roll it into your personal checking account?

What are taxes and fees like? I know you have to pay an incorporation fee every year. Do you pay more taxes after incorporation?

And finally what state are you incorporated in? I heard Delaware is a popular state.

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