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Messages - pancaketom

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1751
Supposedly unless you deactivate or pull your portfolio on IS they get copied onto the PP sites for all indys after Sept 28. Since this is something that they are forcing, it might happen fairly quickly, or maybe it will take months like so many of their other things. Who knows they could even "accidently" push it earlier (if they want a #%%$storm on their hands).

1752
Site Related / Re: Welcome Back after hack
« on: September 26, 2011, 13:41 »
so we're certain that encrypted data weren't compromised? since our logins to sites we contribute to are kept here too...

You keep your login data here? I didn't think that was even possible. (or do you just mean the sites and usernames, which would be pretty easy to get other ways without hacking)

In any case, sorry things got hacked and good job getting it all back up relatively quickly Leaf.

1753
I generally don't trust anything FT does is in anyone's best interest except maybe theirs.

It would have been a lot more interesting if they said we will drop anyone to X level or Y percentage if they sell the same or similar images at a site with lower than X cost or Y percentage (although why they would care about the percent another site pays other than as an indication that they can go that low too is beyond me). Also the random "at our discretion" implementation of this is nuts.

Now had they said "we don't like thinkstock (or photodune or whoever) so if any images you remove from there can retain your previous levels" or something like that it would be much easier to follow.  Besides, I don't think thinkstock is any (or much) lower than FT. The new Veer subs could be a lot lower though.

It is sort of out of character for them to send an e-mail though. One would expect them to just post it somewhere on the site and then start dropping people.

I wonder what the final result of this will be when the dust settles. I wouldn't be surprised if they had one or 2 targets in mind and just made a blanket vague rule to allow them to go after those specific targets (and anyone else who gets uppity).

1754
Why would emeralds sell their wares anywhere for less than what a white gets on FT?

Most of them are probably at IS which has a lower percentage than white (according to FT "new" math - the actual percentage might be higher).

1755
...

I do not go to the Microstockexpo. But I start to regret to not have the possibility to say those imbeciles right into the face what I think of them.

Yeah, everyone should give the FT and IS reps dope slaps.

1756
iStockPhoto.com / Re: August best match shift?
« on: September 24, 2011, 09:53 »
I also had the best sales in a while the last week. If they had a best match like this for months I'd probably take more crap from them.

1757
It sort of guarantees that Fotolia can be the winner of the race to the bottom of what they pay their contributors...  Too bad the contributors can't reverse this -

"oh, I'm sorry Fotolia, I get 60% on Alamy, so I'll take 60% at Fotolia too."

I wonder which "applicable laws" this is subject too.

1758
Veer / Re: veer subs
« on: September 23, 2011, 21:29 »
I noticed that if you apply after Oct 8 you are automatically included in this subs program. Anyone that might want to apply to Veer in the future, I suggest you apply now.

1759
Dreamstime.com / Re: keywording on DT
« on: September 23, 2011, 16:56 »
Dt's system is the opposite of disambiguation.

I always thought DA is going to be the only way to deliver the best possible search results in the future.

Me too.  It is the ONLY part of the iStock process which I like better than the rest (in fact probably the only part that isn't the WORST of them all!).  Sure it takes extra time when uploading, but I know that people who want to see my image are going to get to see my image (best match sorting aside :) )

Istocks system could have been the best, but the way they have done it it both encourages and rewards people for misdisambiguating and makes search a pain. Just another of the areas where Istock could have killed their competition but instead didn't. I guess that is one less thing I'll have to worry about in a few days.

1760
Seeing how Ft is one of the lowest, I would think the other sites would want to have the same option -

imagine if SS said - oh, we see you are on Ft, so we'll keep you at .25 subs.

Now there is a reason to keep your username different at all sites and to be anonymous on the forums.

In many ways I'd say Ft has been leading the "screw the contributor" race that many sites seem to be in.

Every time I was about to join Ft they'd do something to screw their contributors (and I've been at this business as long about as long as they have). Other than their continuous downward pressure on the whole system I am ok to see them pull stunts like this. Maybe when they drop people down to white that is the perfect time to pull your port...

1761
Veer / Re: veer subs
« on: September 23, 2011, 12:36 »
Thanks for posting the rates and the letter people (I didn't get it). I just opted out w/ a note saying that I thought the minimum was too low and that it was way too low for an EL license.

Hopefully if enough people opt out for these reasons they will amend the program to cover these concerns.

1762
Veer / Re: veer subs
« on: September 23, 2011, 10:55 »
I wish that sites would list the lowest possible royalties instead of listing the highest possible royalties (which are usually meaningless), or at least the range. Nice of them to give us an opt out option though (for now?).

Subs EL sounds like a bad idea at these prices.

1763
Interesting. I would like to know what the real plan and fine print are. I am guessing it is more about the reality show. But the people still need to get to Cape town with at minimum a T3i and 50mm f1.8 just to try out (and get a 2 week course?). If it wasn't so far away I'd be tempted to at least see what the fine print was just to get a chance to get someone to pay for travel and models etc. etc.

If the tv show does take off I wonder what it would do to microstock. Imagine having them all complain about IS every day in prime time.

could be entertaining.

1764
Shutterstock.com / Re: Ridiculous rejections
« on: September 22, 2011, 17:01 »
my last batch got 100% rejected. I got a keywords rejection on 2 of them which was a first. I re-checked my keywords and there weren't any way off base - unless you didn't actually read them and split them up (which I don't think SS does anymore). (for example "Jack-o-lantern mushroom") - clearly it is a mushroom, not a carved pumpkin. oh well. Since new images don't seem to get seen either, I guess it doesn't hurt much except my motivation.

1765
Dreamstime.com / Re: keywording on DT
« on: September 22, 2011, 13:11 »
They split up the keywords and put them in alphabetical order.

1766
Shutterstock.com / Re: Ridiculous rejections
« on: September 22, 2011, 13:03 »
...

They say that I should not submit the same images again but why not ? I submitted them before and they got passed so I would be stupid not too. If I submit a whole new load of images it's a new lottery. One was rejected this time that was passed the time before so it isn't foolproof.

...

I think the acception/rejection is really pretty arbitrary with borderline pics. If you submit the pics again there is a very good chance that accepted pics will be rejected. This makes them look bad, so they suggest you don't do it.

Agree w/ the 3 D suggestion above. Also go with bright colors and light images and don't do shallow depth of field. - and of course make sure your captions and other stuff is spot on. I had one of my initial 10 rejected because of a problem w/ the model release. Luckily 7 others were accepted.

1767
A lot of profiles say 'very experienced' but when you look at the port they look stiff or only have one expression.

Yes, but if that expression is "blue steel" then you have a superstar on your hands ;D

Forget "Blue Steel", I'm looking for "Magnum"

1768
Computer Hardware / Re: Big Computer Sale
« on: September 20, 2011, 12:51 »
Electronics are the one thing I am continually surprised by the advances in technology and the dropping of prices. With 2 MB Ram you couldn't even open a P&S pic.

Long live Moore's Law.

1769
I have no confidence in the future of microstock, so I might as well make as much as I can now. 

Sadly, I have come to pretty much the same conclusion.  I've joined a bunch of smaller sites I wouldn't have bothered with a year or two ago as part of a strategy to maximize my earnings on my existing portfolio. 

It's all well and good for us to plan ahead and do what we can to support (and even police) the industry for the long term, but developments in the last year have me questioning whether there is a long term for microstock - at least from the contributor perspective.

I've narrowed the focus down to SS, and my confidence in that one company. I have zero confidence in istock, and very little in most other companies. I'm optimistic about companies like StockFresh, but realistically my confidence in them is slipping. So really it just comes down to SS for me. I'm opting to stay with istock and let my stuff into the PP, as long as it doesn't impact my earnings at SS. I make the majority of my microstock earnings with SS, and doing what I can to keep that going is the priority. Which could eventually mean that if ThinkStock manages to pick up and become a real threat to SS, my images will no longer be at istock or TS.

But for now, I'm betting that ThinkStock won't be a threat to SS, even with all this new independent content, and SS will remain the top player. As long as my SS earnings remain steady, I'm staying where I am for now.

I'm not sure what the future of microstock is, but if it does indeed start to fall apart, I'd rather ride out the sinking ship with SS than anyone else. At some point that may mean bailing on istock and some others. But we're not there just yet.

If at some point Thinkstock sales go up and SS sales go down, will you be willing to abandon the significant % that TS and IS represent to stick with a sinking SS ship?
(unlikely SS would totally go away, but if IS customers get moved to TS and they market heavily they could take some of SS's customers too.

1770
Shutterstock.com / Re: The Shutterstock Map
« on: September 19, 2011, 12:37 »
I think the default when they don't know where the download is from is offshore west africa. (or maybe the account has multiple locations or something). Otherwise there is a huge ad shop in the Canary Islands. It is interesting to see where the sales are from, but I am not sure what to do with the info.

1771
General Stock Discussion / Re: How Does Alamy Stack Up
« on: September 17, 2011, 19:18 »
What they said above.

I recently started sending more images since they lowered the size requirement and I got a few sales. Hopefully that will result in more sales in the future, as I don't have many there yet. I think all my micro sites are beating them (not to mention the 250$ payout limit). The sales I have had have been pretty random (and for fairly small amounts) Less than EL sales would bring me in most cases.

Maybe I should put up more of my random non-released people travel shots - who knows.

The keywording is pretty tedious compared to most micros.

I have only had one image rejected for reasons other than the upload was corrupted or the file was too small. Reviews are usually just a few days.

1772
Shutterstock.com / Re: What's your sub/OD/EL ratio?
« on: September 16, 2011, 18:57 »
not a big fish but...

reg  68.3%
OD  15.3
EL   10.7
vid  05.5

I am guessing that people that started at the beginning with a big port might have a lower OD %. EL sales seem somewhat random to me, but I sure like them when I get them.

1773
Dreamstime.com / Re: Have just asked to cancel my account at DT
« on: September 14, 2011, 13:31 »
....

You guys make this so simple and black and white.  Maybe you didn't read the situation.  I had removed all but ONE IMAGE from Dreamstime.  They refused to consider removing it so I could move on.  They made me wait THREE MONTHS to remove that image, so I could go exclusive elsewhere.  During that time, they made no sales of the image, they made no money on it, it made no practical difference to them AT ALL. It is unreasonable, belligerant, uncooperative and spiteful behavior.  You support that behavior?  Weird. Their behavior was pointless and destructive. You like that? Weird. 

I wonder if you could have set it to sell the rights for 1$ and bought it yourself (or paid someone to buy it).

1774
StockFresh / Re: Finally fair vector pricing from Stockfresh!
« on: September 14, 2011, 13:24 »
You're welcome everyone!!!!

Now I've managed to increase your revenue at printbusinesscards and at stockfresh because I kicked up a big enough fuss about it.. at my expense.  While having noone here stand beside me but insulting me in the process.

I hope you've all learnt that if ONE person can change things, imagine what you can do united... but you won't learn because most people here lack principles and like to play it safe... which will burn you in the end anyway. 

Not one of you would ever have the decency to thank me but you know what... you're welcome anyway.

Toodles!

Signed, anonymouspsuedonymous :)

Nice work, now get cracking on IS and FT.

1775
A year ago I stopped uploading new images there. Now I've picked the images I'll keep on there and I put them into p+ (if they weren't already) - a mix of decent sellers that didn't get accepted or never really sold much at other sites and smaller images and old crappy ones. As the 28th approaches I'll start removing the rest. I'll be sorry to lose all the work that it took to get them up and the shrinking income I still get there, but I am sick of their heavy handed approach and greedy ways. I have no reason to believe that things will get any better there, so I am going to make this move. I wish everyone would do the same, as it would make Getty and the others take notice, but I can understand why people don't.

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