Problem with spamming titles. Title spamming. Spam. Title. Titles spamming titles. Problems with titles that have spammy titles. Spam. Spam. Problem with spamming titles. Title spamming. Spam. Title. Titles spamming titles. Problems with titles that have spammy titles. Spam. Spam. Problem with spamming titles. Title spamming. Spam. Title. Titles spamming titles. Problems with titles that have spammy titles. Spam. Spam. 

This has become ridiculous. When you now type "Halloween" in search and choose vector, you will see 49 of 100 vectors with spam titles. 15 days ago was 37.

16 vectors are from Allxnet, and 7 are from VectorUp.

https://www.shutterstock.com/g/Allxnet
https://www.shutterstock.com/g/hellolittleboy

I avoided to put names of the contributors, but this is going too far. This is my main source of income, and I have something to do about it.

I've found that social media seems to get the most attention. I just sent them a message about it on their FB page. Please join in, and if we send enough messages they should get the message. Ha ha.

Quote from: Shelma1 on October 19, 2016, 15:32
I've found that social media seems to get the most attention. I just sent them a message about it on their FB page. Please join in, and if we send enough messages they should get the message. Ha ha.

I also noticed some contributors leave complaints (usually about the site being down) on their FB wall, as comments under the images. If many of us complain about the spam titles right on their FB wall maybe it will annoy SS enough to do something about it?

Twitter would be good choice too, I think, anyway, it's a nice idea. What did you write on their wall?

I asked why they're not doing anything about spammers, pointed them to the Halloween results, and asked if we should all do that now. I sent a message, but writing on their wall and under their posts also seems to work. Tweeting is also a good idea. It's completely out of control, and it affects our income.

I just posted something underneath the latest photo on their FB wall. Let's see if it disappears.

Quote from: cathyslife on October 19, 2016, 16:11
I just posted something underneath the latest photo on their FB wall. Let's see if it disappears.

I just posted as well a comment underneath one of the latest images on their wall. Join us!

Maybe we should all pretend that we are customers and those spammy titles hurt our searches, that would be even more helpful, I think...

Quote from: increasingdifficulty on October 16, 2016, 21:36
Change the search algorithm to only count a word once. Problem solved.

Search algorithms control everything, always have, and always will, and shouldn't be too hard to change.

They should have people paid for that!

It looks like people are starting to do it on Bigstock now too. It makes Shutterstock and Bigstock look unprofessional compared to the other sites. Is it difficult to change how the search functions so that duplicate words do not have an effect on search placement?

Quote from: BD on October 20, 2016, 03:14
It looks like people are starting to do it on Bigstock now too. It makes Shutterstock and Bigstock look unprofessional compared to the other sites. Is it difficult to change how the search functions so that duplicate words do not have an effect on search placement?

I doubt that it is difficult to change, but why would they bother. Right now, as far as I can see, there are only 3 of us complaining on the FB wall about the spamming. Hopefully, other people are sending direct messages to support complaining about it, or tweeting. I am sure they couldn't care less about a handful of people complaining, especially if there is some financial benefit to SS for allowing it.

edit: just checked twitter, don't see any posts about the problem. See lots of replies to tweets about the site being down, one regarding a search for people of color and the results returning a bunch of white hipsters, but nothing about spamming. 

Meanwhile I'm having a continuing conversation with them about the problem. I find it sad that only three people (all women) bothered to actually go to their FB page yesterday and say something.

Quote from: Shelma1 on October 20, 2016, 15:46
Meanwhile I'm having a continuing conversation with them about the problem. I find it sad that only three people (all women) bothered to actually go to their FB page yesterday and say something.

I don't do FB but I thank you and the rest who are bringing it up on FB. More here should do that.

What SS should do is start locking ports with these titles and tell them to go edit. Then when fixed, allow them to sell again. That would be fast and these spammers would be shut down until they make changes, if they want to make money.

This takes the work off SS and makes the spammers get things fixed.

I don't even know how to find SS on FB? Name and link maybe more people will go help.

If you dont have a FB account, I dont think you will be able to post. If you do have an account, go to your FB page. At the top, search for Shutterstock...it should show in the results. Go to their page and post. It isnt that big of an inconvenience!


You can always email support. Not sure if you will get an answer, but it at least shows that it isnt just 3  people who are troubled by the problem. 

I'm not on Facebook either, but I can write an email to them.

Shutterstock to contributors:
- Remove all you spammy titles now or your account to be suspended!

Few months later us to Shutterstock:
-Excuse me, could you please do something about those spammy titles.. Hello... Anyone there??

Quote from: Shelma1 on October 20, 2016, 15:46
Meanwhile I'm having a continuing conversation with them about the problem. I find it sad that only three people (all women) bothered to actually go to their FB page yesterday and say something.

I agree, it is a little sad, because the Facebook page touches the customers too
(I went days ago... and I am not a woman )

Well, Shutterstock did something. They deleted a thread about spammers on their forums....but left the spam images up. You can spam, but you can't talk about spam.

I hope they do something about it soon, or I'll start going through my images and edit all the descriptions haha.

Quote from: Shelma1 on October 22, 2016, 00:02
Well, Shutterstock did something. They deleted a thread about spammers on their forums....but left the spam images up. You can spam, but you can't talk about spam.

I was wondering if they would delete all the posts complaining about spammers on FB, but as of right now, they are still up.

Quote from: Shelma1 on October 22, 2016, 00:02
Well, Shutterstock did something. They deleted a thread about spammers on their forums....but left the spam images up. You can spam, but you can't talk about spam.

Big giant company that is on its way down. I'm surprised how Fotolia sales are eclipsing SS for me.

Quote from: Shelma1 on October 22, 2016, 00:02
Well, Shutterstock did something. They deleted a thread about spammers on their forums....but left the spam images up. You can spam, but you can't talk about spam.

Are we absolutely sure SS hasn't been secretly taken over by Getty?

Quote from: ShadySue on October 22, 2016, 11:28

Quote from: Shelma1 on October 22, 2016, 00:02
Well, Shutterstock did something. They deleted a thread about spammers on their forums....but left the spam images up. You can spam, but you can't talk about spam.

Are we absolutely sure SS hasn't been secretly taken over by Getty?

Hoping thats never the "Exciting" news for contributors

Quote from: Shelma1 on October 22, 2016, 00:02
Well, Shutterstock did something. They deleted a thread about spammers on their forums....but left the spam images up. You can spam, but you can't talk about spam.

Wow, I didn't notice that they deleted not just one but two threads named after the spammy titles of some images. Does that mean "green" for everyone to spam?