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Messages - jamirae
Pages: 1 [2] 3 4 5 6 7 ... 33
26
« on: December 05, 2012, 13:58 »
So, how long do you think one needs to ignore iStock before one receives the 'we miss you' email...?
I wonder.. I haven't uploaded any images in a few months and vectors I haven't uploaded in a few years - and I didn't get any email telling me how much they miss me.
27
« on: November 28, 2012, 18:28 »
No, you just have to try to shoot saleable stuff, while they do everything they can to stop buyers from buying it. Sort of like a diabolic game.
LOL! So true! 
haha.a. I seriously laughed out loud at that! I've been absent from the forums for some time so have just started making my way back to see if there's really anything I've missed the last few months. I also don't frequent the iStock forums anymore either. So.. it appears that there isn't much i've missed - pretty much the same issues still going on.
28
« on: November 28, 2012, 13:35 »
I wont have any problems with maintaining my current percentage, unless they invent a new level of 14 % or less. Maybe I shouldn't have said that out load, they might get ideas...
haha.. yeah, I'm with you on this one!
29
« on: July 11, 2012, 11:16 »
I wouldn't say these micro-corrections are a bad thing - maybe they show a committment to accurate accounting. But I sure wouldn't want to be an IT guy at this company, with a pricing and commission structure, and search algoritums, that are already far too complicated for my puny human brain, and are only likely to become more so. I have to wonder how many of the technical people within IS actually understand it all?
or maybe someone is skimming pennies (or salami slicing) like they did in Office Space and Superman 3?? They gotta fund those trips around the world somehow!
30
« on: July 10, 2012, 13:14 »
The bigger issue is how Google treats these outages. They take server reliability and speed very seriously. I told the other contributors that we dropped 20 to 30 spots in the rankings just in the last few days. It's no coincidence.
So the bottom line is I really believe Warmpicture is finished. It's just too hard to come back from these repeated issues. It took me 3 solid months of daily link building to get us to where we were, and we lost it all in 4 days because of KTools.
Dan - are you going to give this more thought before you throw in the towel? is Warmpicture still dropping?
32
« on: July 09, 2012, 19:03 »
I agree with Jo Ann - this is definitely not a FAIL on your part!
Cathy. 
dang it!! 1,000 apologies.. I knew it was you.. just reading too many posts at once with too many tabs open! so I agree with CATHY!!
33
« on: July 09, 2012, 17:49 »
I wish I could have given you a real alternative with Warmpicture. I did my best, but in the end it was a Fail on my part.
You did do your best, and you put a lot of time and $$ into it. I don't see it as your fail. First of all, you're battling corporations with gazillions of $$ behind them in the SEO department. The K-Tools fail sounds like it really put the final nail in the coffin. I'm truly sorry it didn't work out for all of us, especially you.
edit: I am assuming you are saying it's over. I respect whatever decision you make. Hopefully there is some way to bounce back?
I agree with Jo Ann - this is definitely not a FAIL on your part!
34
« on: July 06, 2012, 18:57 »
His excuses are irrelevant. He should not have let the results out of his laptop.
exactly. and really... It was very embarrassing to find out that I wouldnt be able to take advantage of a studio, Joe told us by email. I would think that a pro would have improvised way better than that -- but seeing the results, definitely should not have released any of those images.
35
« on: July 04, 2012, 19:00 »
anyone heard of these guys and/or have any experience with this site? http://www.imagebrief.com/I just got a tweet sent to me about it and was curious, but so far, it's just curiosity. I was wondering about how the licensing is handled, their intro video says that once a buyer picks an image, "a license is generated" but that's it. Not much details (that I can find) regarding the photographer side. maybe more if you actually sign up, but this is all I see http://www.imagebrief.com/photographers
36
« on: June 22, 2012, 18:31 »
You concluded guilt before innocence or you would have never posted it in this public forum.
No I did not. I posted this to show Istocks bizarre reviewing habits. Not to turn the contributor into a scapegoat.
I understand your intent. But sadly by using links to the contributor's work that's exactly what happened. You essentially singled out that one contributor as an example and thus not only proved the point you were trying to make about istock's reviewing but you highlighted a potential issue with the contributor's work which, apparently, got his/her account suspended.
37
« on: June 15, 2012, 21:03 »
Nada - and my forum privs are still missing (checked in case they turned them back on but forgot to close the ticket or send me a reply).
Another contributor was (a while ago, when support was bad, but better than now) opined that one could set up customer service that just told everyone "F@ck you!" and still have better support than IS
I think that other contributor had a good idea! LOL!!
38
« on: June 14, 2012, 16:29 »
As it's now been a month since I opened the support ticket (with no answer), I thought I'd update it with a couple of paragraphs saying: I think a month is plenty of time to answer even a non-critical question, and that even if they have some policy decision they're working on, some sort of response explaining it may be a while would be appropriate.
I realize that providing decent service to contributors who pay their salaries (and loan payments to H&F) isn't a priority any more, but this is just crappy, rude customer service.
so it's 10 days now.. did they respond yet or are they continuing the trend of crappy, rude customer service?
39
« on: May 15, 2012, 13:48 »
+1
40
« on: May 15, 2012, 12:21 »
I have been full time since 2007, and my revenue is 99% from istock alone. That is why I have gritted my teeth for this long. But, there may come a time when I simply cannot do it any longer.
For me, it is not a loyalty but a financial affair. The truth must be told just by numbers. And getting away from this 99% you quote, I've opened roads to another prohotographic works. Not microstock, not RF, not even much RM. One day will arrive where the entire stock industry will feel the weight of overproduction, and its consquences won't be suffered at this or at this another one agency, but on the whole sector. If you just do RF, you have all your eggs in the same basket, no matter if your are just at one or at one hundred sites.
I think the emotional loyalty was gone for most of us when Bruce left, or shortly thereafter. It is most definitely a financial tie now.
But, now there is an issue of respect for those who produce the sellable product. There are many professions where people sacrifice respect for money, namely the oldest one. With each rule change, or administrative change at istock, I assess how much respect remains.
Self-esteem has taken a beating over the last 2 years. At this critical point, I see potential for respect to be completely diminished, or for a small turn around. But either way, I am on high alert, and will remove my crown if all respect for me and what I contribute is gone.
totally agree. this is one of the biggest reasons why I dropped the crown. the other reason being the financial one where my commission was dramatically slashed with the redeemed credit program.
41
« on: May 10, 2012, 11:57 »
"more images from professional photographers"
That's kind of a weird thing to say. "individual contributors" vs. "professional photographers"? Wth is that supposed to mean?
yes, that one took my by surprise, too, which is why it was one of the ones I listed here. My first thought was that they probably assume that buyers (who the survey is targeting) would consider a "professional photographer" as an in-house photographer who gets assignments to do shoots specifically for the agency, like Getty does. But then my second thought was if a buyer knows that much then they should also understand that many "individual contributors" ARE "professional photographers." I figure I'd give them the benefit of the doubt and go with my first thought.
42
« on: May 10, 2012, 11:48 »
Jamirae is obviously one of those fourteen year old forum trolls, or possibly someone from another stock site trying to badmouth iStockphoto. Can anyone confirm that this survey even exists?
Oooohh! Someone who's got the iStock Koolaid!
Sunshine, if you had been at iStock in 2004, like some of us here, you would know who Jamie is and what her contribution has been. With 26,000 iStock sales she's probably got a rather more impressive record there than you have (please correct me if I'm wrong about that). Oh, and try checking her profile.
well gee, I've never been called a "fourteen year old forum troll" before. I can assure you that I am not. and, yes, BaldricksTrousers is correct, I started at istock in 2004 (feel free to look at my port) and was exclusive with them until the redeemed credits program can about and my earnings crashed there because of it. I'm not trying to badmouth iStock (they seem to be fine at doing themselves in), I'm just providing information. yes, the survey really came to me, and yes I really filled it out. You can believe what you want about me, but a fourteen-year-old-troll I am most certainly not. now.. to answer another question about the survey.. regarding pricing. As I recall the price issue did come up in a few questions where it was given as one of the potential responses. I only gave you a small sampling of the questions - those that I found most odd (the "Cool" thing still has me preplexed!) the questions that included price were something along the lines of "Why do you not buy as much from iStock" (or somethign like that based on the response I gave to a question about my purchasing from iStock has decreased and will continue to decrease). The potential responses that involved price were something like "cost too high." I dont recall anything about the price increases but there was a question asking to compare of the prices of the three sites. oh, and there was also a question where the responses were something like related to having to buy more credits than you need for one image and another option/response about being able to buy just one image at a given price point (in other words, not having to purchase a credit pack). based on the questions, to me the overall tone of the survey indicated that they believe the way to bring more buyers is to be "cool" again, but they have no idea how to get there. Clearly whoever developed the survey skipped the part in their Maketing Research class about how to design a survey so as to be as objective as possible in order to get the best/honest responses from your respondents. Adding the "cool" thing is sort of like "leading the witness" so that they get responses geared toward the answer of "look! the buyers want us to be cool! let's be more cool so we can get more buyers." that's just my thoughts on it. I am not convinced that they really know who their buyers are and I dont think this survey will provide them that answer.
43
« on: May 09, 2012, 16:21 »
okay.. not to drag all of you back on to the main topic... but thought I'd share some more with you about the survey. I did complete it. It is geared towards buyers. Basically they asked about what other agencies I buy from and how often I bought from iStock last year as well as whether or not I would be buying more this year. Then based on my responses of the other agencies I bought from last year they had me compare them. some of the questions included these below. I am copying them verbatim (i did a few screenshots). You'll see references to StockFresh and Dreamstime because aside from the one image I bought at iStock last year, I purchased images from those other two agencies last year. oh and the caps and format is exactly as it was in the questions (you'll see what I mean below): What would improve the variety of iStock images? (choose up to 3 of these):
- more local/regional images
- more images from individual contributors
- more images from professional photographers
- make it easier to find unique and intersting content
- more curated collections
- more current and contemporary images
- here's another idea: (with empty box to fill in your comments)
What else could we do to make iStock more convenient for you? (choose up to 3 of these)
- allow cash purchase
- push pictures to me that i might want to use
- improve key-wording
- there are too many image sizes to choose from; give me fewer size choices
- offer more customer support
- there are too many image collections to choose from; fewer collections would be better
- let me make a lightbox without having to register
- here's another idea: (with empty box to fill in your comments)
Some stock companies are more hip and fresh than others. How COOL are iStock, StockFresh and Dreamstime?
(beneath this there was a scale bar for each agency where you pick between a range of "not at all cool; 180 degrees from cool" to "One of the coolest stock companies out there")
What could we do to increase iStock's cool quotient? (choose up to 3 of these)
- Too late - iStock used to be cool but it's not anymore
- Emphasize contributors
- Change the look of the site - it needs updating
- Improve the contents; add more hip, fresh images
- Here's something else iStock could do: (empty box to add comments)
I answered it honestly and truthfully as a buyer. At the end when they asked for additional suggestions I basically told them what they should already know - that this may be too little too late and that their biggest loyal customers and biggest marketing feature used to be their contributors. but the treatment they have given to them has caused many buyer/contributors, like me, to shop elsewhere. not to mention the increase in the prices. I also mentioned that they could be more respectful and professional towards anyone (contributors and buyers) in the public forums. so there you have it. I didn't include all the questions, obviously, there were about 25 of them but I think you get the gest of it from what I posted above. It was okay but really all this stuff they should know already. oh, and they must have hired some firm to do this research. the logo that was pasted at the top of the generic looking page was very crappy looking! not very professional looking for iStock, if you ask me. but hey, maybe it's COOL!
44
« on: May 08, 2012, 18:53 »
haven't taken the survey yet.. been busy trying to hack some javascript code and learning everythign I never wanted to know about javascript and HTML forms along the way.. lol!
I may take it tonite, we'll see.
when I do, though, I'll take notes on the questions and let you all know the kinds of things they are asking. And maybe I did get it becuase I have a seller account and a contributor account. I haven't bought anything from the seller account in ages and don't intend to, either. I'm one of those that was loyal to them when they were loyal to me. obviously that is no longer the case.
45
« on: May 08, 2012, 16:01 »
anybody else get one of these invitations to complete a buyer survey? I haven't done the survey yet, but probably will later when I have 10-12 minutes to spare. Seems a little bit of "too little, too late" if you ask me. here's the text from the email: We <3 you (that's a heart emoticon in case no one's ever sent you one) and what you do with images.
Now maybe you've been going somewhere other than iStock for images; could you take 10-12 minutes, tell us what you see in these other companies and give us the chance to fix things between us?
We just want you to be happy and if that means we have to change, by gum, that's what we'll do. So please, tell us how we compare to others and we swear, this one's dedicated to you!
unique link to survey removed
Thanks for your participation! Love,
The iStock Customer Research Team
46
« on: May 08, 2012, 11:02 »
47
« on: May 04, 2012, 15:16 »
I'm not sure we should be talking to Jami any more
I suppose I should be happy I only dabbled in illustrations for a while (stopped when a best match lurch left them high and dry and newly uploaded photos were king, temporarily). I'm bronze as an illustrator - with no illustrations on the site. To top it off - the cherry on the icing on the cake as it were - I still have a logo icon - for a program that's been cancelled and for which I never submitted anything! I know why I have the logos - if you were an approved illustrator and had any illustration sales, you were automatically approved as a logo contributor.
If Liz' gold is iron pyrites, my diamond is cubic zirconia
hahahaha! Well yeah, I hve one of those logo icons too. I actually drafted up a few logos, submitted one but bot rejected because I did something wrong in the submission process and just never bothered to go back and fix it! I need to dust off those files and turn them into something sellable/useful illustration. I guess I'm now "double gold" with my gold photo canister and gold illustrator pen nib. no.. wait.. I'm "double iron pyrite"! that actually sounds kind of fun!
48
« on: May 04, 2012, 12:18 »
Someone else posted this, I saw it within the past week, maybe the end of the April bugs thread?
... yes second last page of the April bugs thread; in response to a query by sumografika , Kelvin replied "Have you sold enough photos to earn a silver photo canister? You appear to have a silver illustration icon. I've seen a few people who sell vector and photo drop canister levels recently. ."
Don't know if it applies to you? Inplication may be that people had been showing a higher level for a particular medium than they should have been (or is that just my inference?)
yeah, I think you're right. I now appear to have a gold PHOTO canister and gold VECTOR icon. that's my split. I guess for an old timer like me when the little film canister icon represented all your downloads, it was a great day when that little icon got a fresh new color added to it. Now I guess I don't (or shouldn't) care anymore. heavy sigh...
49
« on: May 04, 2012, 12:06 »
have no idea how long this has happened since I dont visit iStock on a regular basis like I used to, but I noticed today that my canister has changed from a diamond (for 25,000+ downloads) down to a Gold. I know in the scheme of things it is meaningless except that it does indicate how "downloaded" your portfolio is.
didn't see a bug about this on the istock forum but thought I'd ask here - anyone else notice a change in your canister color?
maybe it's because they have decided to screw me again and now the canister is not total downloads but only photos? that would make sense, but I dont recall when that happened or an announcement about it.
just another demoralizing thing they do to contributors I suppose.
50
« on: April 28, 2012, 20:39 »
 ummm I am confused, what will happen 3rd of May for Yuri Arcurs? getting married, gettina a puppy, getting a TV show, start a new microstock agency? Anyway I think his success is awesome and I could only aspire to become as talented as he is as a photographer and as a business person.
no one knows. It's all speculation based on a post that Yuri put on his facebook page. http://www.facebook.com/yuriarcurs
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