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Author Topic: The truth about Shutterstock and all of these other tech companies  (Read 6327 times)

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« on: June 10, 2020, 08:33 »
+21
So, it's been a week since SS dropped its bombshell announcement. The most frustrating thing to me about this entire affair isn't the announcement but the stubborn refusal on so many people to wake up and realize that all of these crowdsourcing sites and platforms offering people "opportunities" are part of an elaborate scam.

How do I know this is all a scam? I was part of many similar "crowdsourcing/affiliate marketing/make money at home" ventures going back to 2000 (yes, that far back). And what I noticed over the years is that what seems to be an isolated "bad decision" at one site's part is always part of a larger industry-wide trend/pattern playing across multiple platforms in the exact same way.

For example, starting in 2019, other sites have also "pulled an SS." After spending years encouraging people to work their fingers to the bone, sites like Amazon, YouTube, etc. also started slashing rates for their oldest, most dedicated contributors and affiliates. 

Is it coincidence? No. It's all part of a long, elaborate con by ALL of these sites. It works something like this:

1. Create a tech platform enticing people to join, convincing them that they're going to "be their own bosses" and make more money than if they had gone through old school/traditional channels (stock agencies, ad agencies, publishing houses, etc.).

2. Pay them just enough money to make joining worthwhile, but not what they are really worth. Convince them that they'll eventually earn what they're worth if they "chase the carrot" (as in work even harder than ever in the way of "volume.")[/li][/list]

3. Design the platform's algorithm or pay structure in such a way where payout works like a pyramid scheme, where only a few contributors/affiliates/gig workers really make money to become financially independent. Trot these high earners out to further encourage the vast majority of contributors to chase the carrot, as in, "If you work even harder for us, you'll be making $1M a year, too!" Sit back and watch as the vast majority of contributors, affiliates, etc. wind up building 98% of the business while being paid pennies.

4. Go public and get valuated at $10B or more on Wall Street.

5. Start acquiring other businesses to boost valuation and profit.

6. Flush with cash, start cutting the lowest members of the pyramid scheme--the very people who built your business--off. Except instead of having the guts to say, "We just used you all to help build our business and don't need you anymore," do the passive-aggressive thing of slashing commission and rates to discourage them into quitting.

What is the point of me posting this?

1. If you're going to delete or disable your portfolio, do it for the right reasons. Definitely do it out of self respect, because you value your time, etc. But don't do it thinking that you're "sticking" it to SS and will tank the company. SS and all of these other companies purposely slashed its rates to make you leave and have all their ducks in a row financially. Even if SS tanked, everyone there made more money than God, so would be laughing to the bank, anyway.

2. Don't even think of "jumping ship" to Adobe or any other site. The reason why I say that is that all of these gig/crowdsourcing companies are the same. They're just at different stages of "the con." Meaning, they may look good to you because they haven't slashed rates. But they haven't slashed rates because they're haven't reached that stage of the con...yet. In two years, three years, maybe five, they will do the same thing. Trust me on this.

If you really want to make a difference, if you really want to make a change, here's what you can do:


1. As so many people have brilliantly done, start targeting buyers with negative PR about SS. Let them know that they're supporting an exploitative industry.

2. Stop uploading anywhere for the time being + encourage everyone else to do the same. If quitting cold turkey is too much to bear, then just upload your average shots to microstock agencies. But stop uploading your very best work to any of them. Your absolute best work should only be uploaded to your personal blog or website with a watermark.


« Reply #1 on: June 10, 2020, 09:00 »
+10
Yes, its about self respect, not about thinking any agency gives a rats ass if you stay or go. Good post!

whtvr

« Reply #2 on: June 10, 2020, 09:42 »
+3
Yes, its about self respect, not about thinking any agency gives a rats ass if you stay or go. Good post!

I wonder if you and the five people that +1 your comment or self respect actually read what the OP suggest: leaving Shutter (correct) but also stop contributing to ALL other agencies (really?)

Quote
2. Don't even think of "jumping ship" to Adobe or any other site. (...) In two years, three years, maybe five, they will do the same thing. Trust me on this.

I would trust him/her if he/she compensated me for those two three next years lost sales from Adobe and others.


« Reply #4 on: June 10, 2020, 13:52 »
+1
Yes, its about self respect, not about thinking any agency gives a rats ass if you stay or go. Good post!

I wonder if you and the five people that +1 your comment or self respect actually read what the OP suggest: leaving Shutter (correct) but also stop contributing to ALL other agencies (really?)

Quote
2. Don't even think of "jumping ship" to Adobe or any other site. (...) In two years, three years, maybe five, they will do the same thing. Trust me on this.

I would trust him/her if he/she compensated me for those two three next years lost sales from Adobe and others.

I'm not understanding this comment at all. Are you saying that the only way you'd trust what I'm saying is if I paid you to compensate for lost sales at Adobe and other sites? What on earth does that mean?

whtvr

« Reply #5 on: June 10, 2020, 14:28 »
+1
i mean that if you suggest dropping all agencies because they will end up as Shutterstock you will have to explain why people should drop current and future earnings from Adobe, Pond, Alamy etc until they end up paying 0.10 as Shutter. It is one thing to quit Shutterstock and another telling people to leave microstock in total.

« Reply #6 on: June 10, 2020, 15:43 »
+1
i mean that if you suggest dropping all agencies because they will end up as Shutterstock you will have to explain why people should drop current and future earnings from Adobe, Pond, Alamy etc until they end up paying 0.10 as Shutter. It is one thing to quit Shutterstock and another telling people to leave microstock in total.

I didn't say to leave anything. I said stop uploading new images and if that's not an option, just upload average shots to these agencies.

How is that translating into "lost sales?" I stopped uploading to SS almost 10 years ago and never stopped earning sales.

H2O

    This user is banned.
« Reply #7 on: June 10, 2020, 16:16 »
0
Personally I believe that we need to go darker than this, photobombing, writing reviews, commenting on Facebook, etc. . . are all very well.

If I lived in NY I would find out where Oringer and his side kick Pavlovsk live and start a civil disobedience campaign against them.

I don't mean violence I mean informing all his neighbors about what they are doing, protesting outside their houses, posting leaflets and posters around their area, spray painting their gates and walls with messages, protesting outside their offices, phoning them up a million times a day, phoning the company up a million times a day, jamming their phone lines.

Spamming their inboxes by the millions, flooding their buyer lines with calls and emails, having a co-ordinated attack on the website and making it a denial of service.

Say, 20,000 contributor phoning their buyers help lines a day for two weeks would really jam them up, co-ordinated action is the only way.

A denial of service attack on their servers would cripple the companies sales.

There are a million ways to take it to the next level.

More direct action is required.

Really piss them off is the only way to make them change.

« Reply #8 on: June 10, 2020, 16:57 »
+1
So, it's been a week since SS dropped its bombshell announcement. The most frustrating thing to me about this entire affair isn't the announcement but the stubborn refusal on so many people to wake up and realize that all of these crowdsourcing sites and platforms offering people "opportunities" are part of an elaborate scam.


Superior explanation. Period.
May i link this thread to my "stop ss upload"?

fritz

  • I love Tom and Jerry music

« Reply #9 on: June 10, 2020, 18:34 »
+5
Top 10 Bad Leadership Behaviors That Destroy Organisations:

1. Being All About Me.
2. Falling Asleep at the Switch.
3. Relying on the Wrong People.
4. Going Off the Rails.
5. Ignoring Feedback.
6. Not Being Able to Think Long-Term.
7. Not Being Able to Communicate.
8. Passing the Buck.
9. Not Following Through.
10. Having No Substance.

« Reply #10 on: June 10, 2020, 19:12 »
+1
So, it's been a week since SS dropped its bombshell announcement. The most frustrating thing to me about this entire affair isn't the announcement but the stubborn refusal on so many people to wake up and realize that all of these crowdsourcing sites and platforms offering people "opportunities" are part of an elaborate scam.


Superior explanation. Period.
May i link this thread to my "stop ss upload"?

Go ahead, by all means!  :D

« Reply #11 on: June 10, 2020, 19:13 »
+4
Yes, its about self respect, not about thinking any agency gives a rats ass if you stay or go. Good post!

I wonder if you and the five people that +1 your comment or self respect actually read what the OP suggest: leaving Shutter (correct) but also stop contributing to ALL other agencies (really?)

Quote
2. Don't even think of "jumping ship" to Adobe or any other site. (...) In two years, three years, maybe five, they will do the same thing. Trust me on this.

I would trust him/her if he/she compensated me for those two three next years lost sales from Adobe and others.


Actually its up to +10. Woohoo, I got a grey box!  😀


I deleted all my images from my SS port. (the deactivation buttons stopped working for me). I left one ugly image and my account open so I can monitor those deleted images. I have been contributing for years to Fotolia then Adobe, so I didnt jump ship to go anywhere. At one point I had my images on 5 or 6 sites. I left all of them because of bonehead moves like this SS snafu. I am down to one...Adobe. They rely on their software for their main money, but I have no illusions about them either. If something isnt making money, its gone. Thats how business works. Their images integrate nicely into their software, so I think they have way more potential than the other sites, but we shall see.

« Reply #12 on: June 14, 2020, 09:33 »
+1
Top 10 Bad Leadership Behaviors That Destroy Organisations:

1. Being All About Me.
2. Falling Asleep at the Switch.
3. Relying on the Wrong People.
4. Going Off the Rails.
5. Ignoring Feedback.
6. Not Being Able to Think Long-Term.
7. Not Being Able to Communicate.
8. Passing the Buck.
9. Not Following Through.
10. Having No Substance.

If SS and all of these Silicon Valley companies are basically elaborate MLMs/pyramid/gambling schemes (which is what I believe they are), then none of this applies to them. They can make all the bad decisions they want, ignore feedback, etc. and they'll still stay afloat.

They can even lose tons of money and keep afloat. Look at Uber, Amazon, etc. None of them have ever turned a profit; they exploit their workers; they lie, cheat and steal and they are doing better than ever in spite of it all.

The point I'm trying to make is that none of these "companies" are businesses. They're just "outfits," no different from outfits being run by local underground rings. So, they're not going to be affected by the types of decisions that would cause a legitimate business to go under.

« Reply #13 on: June 14, 2020, 19:34 »
+1
Personally I believe that we need to go darker than this, photobombing, writing reviews, commenting on Facebook, etc. . . are all very well.

If I lived in NY I would find out where Oringer and his side kick Pavlovsk live and start a civil disobedience campaign against them....


your suggestions are an obscene corruption of civil disobedience - a nonviolent protest of unfair or illegal or immoral acts of your GOVERNMENT - not a convenient euphemism for your illegal acts of vandalism and harassment - those acts are no different than the similar violent acts of the tiny minority in the protests


 

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