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Messages - jen
126
« on: December 30, 2010, 13:47 »
iStock was supposed to announce the new redeemed credit targets for 2012 before year's end. That hasn't come and wont now until after the first of the year. They should have lived up to their word on this though and announced the targets this week.
Most of that is true, but nitpicky thing: they've always said they were going to announce the targets in January. From the FAQ post: "Every January we will announce royalty targets for the upcoming year. So in January 2011, we will announce the targets for 2012."ETA: oops, should have refreshed first.
127
« on: December 30, 2010, 13:36 »
I have the sudden urge to make every other word bold and red.
128
« on: December 30, 2010, 13:31 »
Kelly's post tonight was salt in the wound. I didn't appreciate being admonished for expressing concern. I'm tired of watching contributors getting their wrists slapped for reacting to poor communication. It is OUR work that fuels their business.
I agree with this 100%. I'm tired of being addressed like ungrateful children. Kelly seems to have a pretty strong us vs. them mentality and it doesn't give me any hope that iStock will actually attempt to improve communication with contributors.
129
« on: December 16, 2010, 16:46 »
partner program?
130
« on: December 14, 2010, 18:20 »
Yes. But I'm a relatively new contributor so pretty much every month is my best month ever. I became exclusive in September and my earnings have gone up like crazy.
Who knows if this will also apply to me next year?
131
« on: December 13, 2010, 14:44 »
Would they enable FTP submission or I have to go thru 15/week process???
I have a feeling DeepMeta is going to be their "official" FTP solution, since they are now working together and someone said somewhere in that thread that you will be able to upload editorial through DeepMeta.
132
« on: December 13, 2010, 14:17 »
Releases for minors? That leaves out quite a bit of travel and lifestyle editorial stuff.
Seems to be only for unattended minors. They showed a picture of a group of people with minors and that was deemed OK.
133
« on: December 10, 2010, 12:43 »
Yes, it can be jarring to travel between "you've developed something you should've already had and made us dig through the forums to find it, wooyay!" and "those koolaid-drinking pom-pom-waving corporate c**ksuckers!!!" I am easily confused and disoriented. 
134
« on: December 10, 2010, 12:18 »
So what would be an acceptable non-koolaid response to iStock announcing an important fix?
Jen, why are you so concerned with how other people characterize your responses? Respond however you want and stop worrying what other people think of you.
I see you are a new member here, so it might help you to understand that this forum is about the only place people can voice criticism of the agencies without being banned or having the posts deleted/locked. So perhaps there is a bit of a wet blanket atmosphere. Lots of woo-yaying and backslapping over at Istock forums, if that's your cup of tea.
I don't know why it still says "New Member" as I've been reading for almost a year. I guess I haven't posted enough. I'm not worried about what other people think of me. I probably shouldn't have said anything at all, I was grumpy this morning and I saw that K word again and I was inspired to comment. Lurking is really my strong point, I should probably stick to that.
135
« on: December 10, 2010, 11:45 »
So what would be an acceptable non-koolaid response to iStock announcing an important fix?
136
« on: December 10, 2010, 11:39 »
Having said that, it does seem extraordinary that action has been so slow on what would have to be the most fundamental aspect of the microstock business - the ability of a buyer to find the thing they want to buy. It's impossible for me not to ruminate on how much money has been lost, both to the agency and the contributors, over these delays.
I agree with that for sure. And the agency search bug has been going on for how long? It drives me up the wall how slow they are to fix things sometimes. It just irks me that being happy about those fixes means people over here start rolling their eyes and making jabs about koolaid and pom poms.
137
« on: December 10, 2010, 09:21 »
You're right, it should have been there all along. That doesn't mean I'm not happy they finally fixed it. Anything that improves the site is good for business whether or not the feature should have been there in the first place. I wonder if anyone can ever say anything even remotely positive about iStock without someone over here mentioning "koolaid"?
138
« on: December 07, 2010, 16:19 »
Okay I'll play, can you find the exact quote showing that Mr BaldricksTrousers statement is true?
Sorry, Thomas, if you are going to imply someone is lying, I believe the obligation is on YOU to disprove what he said.
Isn't that how it works?
Guess I should've tried that on my university professors for essay assignments. "Sorry, the obligation is on you to find sources disproving what I said!" 
139
« on: November 16, 2010, 15:55 »
Without sugar coating anything, if you're new in this industry you're going to have to work very very hard ( a lot harder than when some of us started) and then after a while you'll reach a certain level where you'll still not be able to relax and will probably have to work even harder to maintain that level.
If you're struggling to find the motivation at this early stage I suggest you give up. Oh and don't worry about the huge, wicked, awesome portfolio - mundane, highly desirable, useable portfolio is what you want, this ain't art.
Told you I wouldn't sugar coat it 
Perhaps "motivation" was a poor choice of words. I am extremely motivated, I've been working on my portfolio like crazy , and I'm generally enjoying this entire process. But it's an interesting business, and I've always been an "instant gratification" type of person. I'm never expecting to be able to sit around and eat bon bons while my account balance fills up, but it's interesting to see how other people have pushed themselves through the waiting period between tons of work ---> worthwhile reward, when you're just starting out. PS I would describe "highly desirable and usable" as "wicked awesome" as far as microstock is concerned.
140
« on: November 16, 2010, 12:14 »
Just another corporate twit probably whose anger stems from still being a forum moderator at this point in his life.
I find Lobo's attitude off-putting sometimes, but I think these are some pretty ridiculous comments to be making.
141
« on: November 16, 2010, 12:11 »
So, I'm having a terrible November. I'm feeling very demotivated because I've been work-work-working and I've only made 1/7th of what I did in October.
My question is, how do you keep motivated in an inconsistent and unpredictable business? Stock photography is still new to me, and I know I have to keep pushing and develop a huge and wicked awesome portfolio before I can make steady money. I'm interested in hearing stories about how you made it over the hurdle (working hard, hoping it would be worth it eventually).
142
« on: November 15, 2010, 13:14 »
In my opinion the Vetta image is a better image. It expresses a different concept, has had more thought put into it, and is somewhat more stylish. I think the issue is how much more is one willing to pay for a 'slightly better' image. Sure, it's not twice as good, or ten times as good, these things are very subjective. But it is better, and some people want the best, and are willing to pay for that, even if the difference is not great. For some people 1% better is worth ten times the price. How much faster is the worlds fastest athlete than the worlds second fastest?
Remember! Vetta was only for the Exclusive contributors. Now most independants I know including myself could easily produce this quality BUT we were not allowed to, since this was the Excl. perks really. It kind of gave the impression that exclusives were better then independants, hence the price differance. This is the big mistake, it pretended to be something which it isnt.
You can produce that quality... you just don't get to charge Vetta prices for it. I might have someone download my image for 70 credits, but you can take your image and sell it all over the internet wherever you want. It's a trade off.
143
« on: November 02, 2010, 12:08 »
"Remember when we tested the color change of the download button?"
This is so ridiculous. CHANGING THE PRICE is not the same as changing the colour of a stupid button. Wow.
144
« on: November 01, 2010, 13:46 »
It is very easy to know if they hide or "steal" downloads or subscriptions. I'm not going to tell you how. You should know it just thinking a little. Maybe it would help if you didn't have a conclusion you want/need to expose before you begin your thinking process.
I'm sorry, but it's impossible to discover if they steel downloads if they want to hide them, and it's very easy to do on their end.
It would be fair tho, if you could explain your theory about impossibility to hide downloads from contributors, because the only thing you can check is the number of downloads that you can see in your port, and you can never be sure if they hide 1-2% of downloads from you.
Think a little bit, please.
Obviously you're smarter than everyone else here, so why don't you just share? I am "thinking" and not coming up with a magical answer for an easy way to see downloads that are hidden.
145
« on: October 01, 2010, 17:28 »
I brought my overall acceptance rate up from 35% to 70% this year, I have almost no rejections lately. So I dunno.
146
« on: October 01, 2010, 17:01 »
Maybe the types of images you sell aren't the types of images buyers search for at iStock? There could be a number of reasons for this but I don't think it's proof that iStock is failing.
147
« on: September 30, 2010, 18:25 »
Have you ever heard of anyone buying their own images (or having a friend) in order to reach, more quickly, the 250 downloads required to become exclusive? Let's say you are 60 or so DLs away from 250 and want to get the benefits of iStock exclusive and not want to wait the few months it might take to reach that magic number.
Would IS frown on this? Is it not allowed. Would they find out if you have a friend do it?
Your thoughts.
This is a bad idea.
148
« on: September 29, 2010, 13:02 »
I'm completely speculating, but it's probably just that the inspector for the newer file inspected faster than the inspector with the older files in his or her batch. I don't see why they would spend time going through the queue and picking out files they want to inspect faster...
149
« on: September 28, 2010, 14:15 »
They need to make a friggin announcement already. The complete lack of communication from management is shady and obnoxious.
Communication or not!
Does it change anything?
Yes. Faith in the company and its management is worth a lot.
150
« on: September 27, 2010, 16:41 »
I also just noticed a post in the istockphoto thread mentioning that buyers had been promised Vetta prices would not be raised this year. (maybe you are the same Jen that posted that? )
I am the same Jen! Here is the link: http://www.istockphoto.com/forum_messages.php?threadid=151691&page=1Vetta collection
We've been really happy so far with Vetta, our premium collection of unique, hand-picked files that meet our strict standards of exquisite art direction, intelligent concepts and rarity. We plan to keep growing Vetta and have it represent about 1% of the overall library. Vetta prices are staying the same in 2010.
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