Spam Attack on SS Forum

[roboz]

I noticed this morning (Australian Time) that more than a hundred new entries in some Asian language appeared over night in the Discussion Forum. And it becomes more widespread while writing here.  I have contacted Vince, but he might be still asleep. I noticed already yesterday, that my Footage Gallery was switched to Chinese or Korean or whatever, although I didn't touch that option. And furthermore, 2.5GB uploaded footage clips disappeared (but there might be another reason for it), not showing up in my Submission Folder. Something is going on in the background - and that is not good. Hope, Admin is waking up soon and sort it out quickly!

[Dumc]

Well, I hope my sales are for real, not some bogus hacks.

[Dodie]

I emailed SS too, apparently everybody is still sleeping at this hour. In the meantime, thousands of spam links are invading the forum.

[riffmax]

50 pages of the stuff in the "bugs" forum alone.


Added at 8:00 a.m. - seems to be better now.

[Johnski2015]

Yeah it's getting hit real hard - new forum must be really vulnerable to the attack - lets hope they sort it out soon!

[ShadySue]

I emailed SS too, apparently everybody is still sleeping at this hour. In the meantime, thousands of spam links are invading the forum.

They're taking their 'learn how to foul up from iStock' policy very seriously.

[Rinderart]

It was followed by a contributor outage during the day.

[weymouth]

I don't know but SS seems a bit shakey in its foundations nowadays. There isn't much working at the moment. This just shows how vulnerable it all is.
Whats next.

[tickstock]

Whats next.

More royalty cuts if I had to guess.

[weymouth]

Whats next.

More royalty cuts if I had to guess.

sounds great, can't wait for that one.

[tickstock]

Whats next.

More royalty cuts if I had to guess.

sounds great, can't wait for that one.

There have been two in about the last month so far.

[YadaYadaYada]

Whats next.

More royalty cuts if I had to guess.

sounds great, can't wait for that one.

There have been two in about the last month so far.

Can you be specific? What royalty cuts in the last month?

[tickstock]

Whats next.

More royalty cuts if I had to guess.

sounds great, can't wait for that one.

There have been two in about the last month so far.

Can you be specific? What royalty cuts in the last month?

First they changed the earnings schedule and lowered the cost of two image on demand sales (which made sense, the new pricing made sense for those to be priced like the other ODs) then they raised the price back up on those sales but kept the new earnings schedule terms with the OD rates instead of the % rates that they had before.  Now they added the new subscription plans that pay as little as $1.25 (5 sub royalties) for a $29 per month plan, paying out as little as 4% as a result. 

[YadaYadaYada]

Whats next.

More royalty cuts if I had to guess.

sounds great, can't wait for that one.

There have been two in about the last month so far.

Can you be specific? What royalty cuts in the last month?

First they changed the earnings schedule and lowered the cost of two image on demand sales (which made sense, the new pricing made sense for those to be priced like the other ODs) then they raised the price back up on those sales but kept the new earnings schedule terms with the OD rates instead of the % rates that they had before.  Now they added the new subscription plans that pay as little as $1.25 (5 sub royalties) for a $29 per month plan, paying out as little as 4% as a result.

Oh I thought your question was are they subs and are they paying 4% and will this probably lower earnings. Now you are saying it's a fact, not a question or guessing? Are you a SS photographer now? I thought you were IS exclusive? Or are you just a concerned citizen looking out for our interests and what we make? Planning on dropping exclusive soon?

[tickstock]

Whats next.

More royalty cuts if I had to guess.

sounds great, can't wait for that one.

There have been two in about the last month so far.

Can you be specific? What royalty cuts in the last month?

First they changed the earnings schedule and lowered the cost of two image on demand sales (which made sense, the new pricing made sense for those to be priced like the other ODs) then they raised the price back up on those sales but kept the new earnings schedule terms with the OD rates instead of the % rates that they had before.  Now they added the new subscription plans that pay as little as $1.25 (5 sub royalties) for a $29 per month plan, paying out as little as 4% as a result.

Oh I thought your question was are they subs and are they paying 4% and will this probably lower earnings. Now you are saying it's a fact, not a question or guessing? Are you a SS photographer now? I thought you were IS exclusive? Or are you just a concerned citizen looking out for our interests and what we make? Planning on dropping exclusive soon?

I'm 99% sure that they are going to pay those out as subs because that's the only category they fit into in the earnings schedule, they aren't On Demand, ELs, or Custom images and they are called subs so it's hard to see them put in one of the other categories.  I'm going to assume that subs will pay in the subs category unless there is more information contradicting that.  I actually looked into this because of very low royalties on my last video sales so I wondered if something had changed and noticed these new subs plans.  Since no one had brought them up I posted it.  Who knows what the future will be maybe one day I won't be exclusive but I do know that these things don't happen in a vacuum so this may affect me at iStock or it might signal a change for video royalties. 

[ShadySue]

that these things don't happen in a vacuum ...

Indeed they don't:
http://www.microstockgroup.com/istockphoto-com/new-istock-subs-plans-this-is-what-you-earn
Like I said above, SS is learning from iS.  all round.

[tickstock]

that these things don't happen in a vacuum ...

Indeed they don't:
http://www.microstockgroup.com/istockphoto-com/new-istock-subs-plans-this-is-what-you-earn
Like I said above, SS are learning from iS.  all round.

Are they offering that where you are, they haven't yet in the US as far as I know.

[ShadySue]

that these things don't happen in a vacuum ...

Indeed they don't:
http://www.microstockgroup.com/istockphoto-com/new-istock-subs-plans-this-is-what-you-earn
Like I said above, SS are learning from iS.  all round.

Are they offering that where you are, they haven't yet in the US as far as I know.

Yes, one month 10 Essentials sub: £25 / $38
One month 10 Signature sub: £65 / $99

So someone could pay $9.90 for an essential file, for which an exclusive would get 34c and an indie would get 28c. Makes that SS deal look generous. 

[tickstock]

You're always looking at the worst case how about the best case.  SS 10 image plan pays 7%, iS 10 image plan pays 25%. 

[Shelma1]

You're always looking at the worst case how about the best case.  SS 10 image plan pays 7%, iS 10 image plan pays 25%.

Oh, the irony!!!

[heywoody]

When SS "cuts" royalties I still get the same per download, when IS does it I get less per download.

[ShadySue]

When SS "cuts" royalties I still get the same per download, when IS does it I get less per download.

There's a difference between your commission percentage and your royalty payment.
In that iStock example above, we keep the same amount per sub sold, but Getty pockets a lot more.

[tickstock]

When SS "cuts" royalties I still get the same per download, when IS does it I get less per download.

There's a difference between your commission percentage and your royalty payment.
In that iStock example above, we keep the same amount per sub sold, but Getty pockets a lot more.

Yep in those subs plans you get to keep the same no matter what SS or iS charges, wooyay!  In the first example of the two royalty cuts SS changed it from a % to a set amount resulting in real dollars lost per sale.  From $4.35 to $2.85.

[roboz]

To get back to the initial topic: the next wave of spam attacks is hitting the forum. I wouldn't go to bed or even enjoy the weekend off if I were SS. WAKE UP! Tomorrow there might even more affected than just the forum...

[weymouth]

This business must be the biggest crackpot business in the world as far as managements and owners. They simply never learn from other agencies mistakes.
The truth is probably very simple, they are slowly losing it. Remember IS some years back. This is how the decline started, one cockup after another, nobody cared,  thought they were invincible. Then the hammer fell.

One would have thought they had some sort of an answer some response to the Adobe/FT move but they don't. Suits are just suits not thinkers and strategists.