This next update is going to make this theme what it was intended to be. I'm using all of this "stable" time where people have minimal issues to get some stuff done finally.

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Search
Search will be improved to run clean and basic. It will search combinations of terms (narrowing down results) but not titles, etc. So what we will ask: Simply accept the improvement and make your sites easily navigable via categories and other aids. Search is greatly improved, but not exactly stunning.

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Networking
Networking is finally getting awesome. Limit increased to 10. Tons of helpful info is now going to be shared between networks (especially in preparation for the network hub plugin).

- A pretty cool aspect to the network update is self-managing networks. For instance, right now you have to type in things just right...and if it works, then your network results are fetched real-time. Even redundant stuff like avatars. And its slow...

Network now works like this:

You can manually type in a URL, but you don't have to. Instead, your sites dynamically generate CSV files which can be auto-fetched by sites, or downloaded and distributed among friends. Uploading a CSV file in your network area now causes network info to auto-populate, avatar files get stored locally, and tons of other cool network stats are extracted from the CSV. So CSV files become like symbiostock digital business cards to be handed out and traded. If that is not enough - they can also be analyzed in excell...I mean, their csv files...so it works that way. They contain things like number of images, pricing, contact info...its cool.

If you manually type in your network link, the only difference is that it will validate you ahead of time (instead of crashing and pissing you off when search results don't work) and it auto-fetches their CSV file. With all of these perks, your site will email the admin of the other saying you've added them.

Plus, from all of this info now exchanged, there will be some different network widgets and pages as well.

A timed script will update your network buddies info daily.

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PicturEngine

As an experiment we are setting up for PicturEngine. PicturEngine will be able to tap in on certain network prepped files to populate their search engine, which leads back to your site. http://www.picturengine.com/

Its a paid service and its available to you if you want it. Like this project, they are in beta. This service seems perfectly complementary to Symbiostock, so it will be fun to see how it goes.

I missed so much and have bounced through multiple symbio threads, I was wondering if there's going to be, or already is, a sticky or thread that walks a "newbie" through the whole install process. My company blocks all social sites including MSG plus being on vacation has left me at a loss. Thanks for all the hard work....looking forward to "joining".

Sounds great Leo. I dived into this a few days ago and have managed to get something up and running already. http://www.astonmars.com/

I have some questions but I think I'll wait until your next update is complete before asking

Reef, that is one "unique" symbio site.. no-one could recognize it at first sight..

congrats

jcpjr - take a look at symbiostock.com - there are some tutorials on there in the forum

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Reef - there is certainly a different looking site - lack of navigation and way of finding categories might be a problem?   I do like your verification though, that looks simple for visitors and as if it will work with any platform.  I have sent you a message so you can check your messages are working and that email addresses come though

I think it's because there is no uploads yet..

Quote from: Tinny on April 27, 2013, 08:02

jcpjr - take a look at symbiostock.com - there are some tutorials on there in the forum

~~

Reef - there is certainly a different looking site - lack of navigation and way of finding categories might be a problem?   I do like your verification though, that looks simple for visitors and as if it will work with any platform.  I have sent you a message so you can check your messages are working and that email addresses come though

I think it's because there is no uploads yet..

Its true I have not uploaded my work yet but that's not the reason. If we are all going to be linked via the network Leo is setting up then I figured there's no point in having categories because the customer cannot select a category in their search across the Network (we all have different categories). The only categories I would like to see are Photography and Illustration, and that could be inserted back into the Search feature, replacing Images and Blog.

Oh, and I also like clean and simple - less is more

Tinny - thanks for your mail - received ok

Its true I have not uploaded my work yet but that's not the reason. If we are all going to be linked via the network Leo is setting up then I figured there's no point in having categories because the customer cannot select a category in their search across the Network (we all have different categories). The only categories I would like to see are Photography and Illustration, and that could be inserted back into the Search feature, replacing Images and Blog.

The Search button searches across the network, the Categories are only on your own site, I find it useful if I want to find a particular one of my pictures as it is faster than waiting for the search to load, I do agree that often "less is more" though

the new networking approach sounds great and incorporates many of the suggestions discussed here earlier.

one idea I've been pursuing lately is results-based searches -- ie, tracking who sends to whom, and weighting network searches based on that -- eg first 5 slots would go to the sites that have sent us most traffic in the past, next 5 are random based on similarity to allow newcomers to build a history

on the search results - do you still display a site logo if there are no results?  esp'ly if there are 10 possible returns, might be better looking if only the sites with results are displayed


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for those who missed the earlier threads about PicturEngine, i'd suggest going back to those threads and reading before participating -- PE was challenged here for misrepresenting their services and stopped posting here when they were proved to be lying about how their system worked - basically they were telling artists they'd be getting the best prices for their images, while telling buyers they'd be seeing the LOWEST prices for a given image. somehow they didt expect sellers to look at the buyers pages.  their site still says "  Image buyers get the best image at the best price with access to direct outlets from which the image can be licensed."


they also tried to get artists to pay to test a system that is still vaporware.  maybe they'll change, but be very careful.  I've done some very limited searches and so far whenever I find my images they've been from the agency with the cheapest prices.

Thanks for summarizing that. I remember reading about them and a red flag went up when I saw that mentioned here...just couldn't remember the details.

I am hesitant about trusting too many people on the internet to do too many things with my personal stuff. Sounds paranoid, I am sure, but when it boils down to it, none of us really and truly even know each other. All in all, people have been very generous and helpful and I think the majority of folks are good souls. But there is still that dark side to the internet...

I blindly followed istock for many years, thinking they were looking out for me, and we all know what happened there. I don't need to say any more. 

I am excited about Leo's new version.
 

Quote from: cascoly on April 27, 2013, 13:18

I've done some very limited searches and so far whenever I find my images they've been from the agency with the cheapest prices.

Which agencies are you with that PE are displaying? So far it's only been PE directly hosted. Justin's other agencies, Corbis and Depositphotos.

my DP shots come up, but haven't found any of my corbis which are older scans from slides; but i'd thought they had SS or other biggies in the search, so guess it remains to be seen which they'll show for multiple hits

on the search results - do you still display a site logo if there are no results?  esp'ly if there are 10 possible returns, might be better looking if only the sites with results are displayed


=======
for those who missed the earlier threads about PicturEngine, i'd suggest going back to those threads and reading before participating -- PE was challenged here for misrepresenting their services and stopped posting here when they were proved to be lying about how their system worked - basically they were telling artists they'd be getting the best prices for their images, while telling buyers they'd be seeing the LOWEST prices for a given image. somehow they didt expect sellers to look at the buyers pages.  their site still says "  Image buyers get the best image at the best price with access to direct outlets from which the image can be licensed."


they also tried to get artists to pay to test a system that is still vaporware.  maybe they'll change, but be very careful.  I've done some very limited searches and so far whenever I find my images they've been from the agency with the cheapest prices.

I've been loving watching these sites take off. Its like watching a flower garden grow, except all the flower grow into unique appearances! Now we got to get those bees coming!

Yes, to answer your question, we can probably drop the networks on a given search that give 0 results. Less clutter, and more practical.

Regarding PicturEngine - I take things with a grain of salt. Although I'm just as skeptical to things as anyone else, these are some things I keep in mind...

I'm not as up on the history of this business, but here is my first impressions:

1. If your an agency venturing into MSG - well, its different than if your a small guy. So we might have to consider he just got pounced on .

2. We are all designing our own little fishing boats, with high-tech fish finders, state of the art tracking systems... this guy is slowly building a an industrial sized fishing rig for dragnetting fish, then sends catches our way.

3. You pay a fee for a year. You show up in search results. To avoid paying too much for too little, they even say people with few images might not make out very well.

Of course keep in mind I'm not pushing this company - it just happens to be the only one which will spider your site and add you to a special search engine. Being the "giant fishing boat" they need to pay for resources to run it. When your dealing with a site that big, spidering millions of images, etc - its a whole different game.

So really its not hard to implement certain things into symbiostock if someone or two want to give it a try and report back. Also keep in mind they have artists already who can give a good assessment.

But just because there is a hotdog stand in front of Symbiostock doesn't mean you have to buy the hotdogs. Its just there.

But yes please mention what you must in and check its authenticity. Its important that everyone (myself included) know the ins and outs of such things to really have an educated opinion. This is an implementation just like any other one in symbiostock, and really just boils down to practicality and usefulness.

Can't wait for the search and networking update and seeing the next step evolving. Great work, Leo.

I am very cautious about PE, too. Their perpetual beta state combined with big mouth announcements that didn't hold too much water when discussed here on MSG left a sour taste. I might give PE a try, though, if and when they come across with something much more convincing than what they have to show for now, after a year or more in beta.

I am definitely not holding my breath for that to happen. Hope we can succeed with SY without any help from PE or from a Nigerian prince, for that matter. 

Here I am, imagining Leo as a little orange baby sitting in his play pen playing with all his new toys (features) and teasing us orange babies with it while we queue up waiting for him to let us have a go 

here is a demostration:

I have "london" images, so a search on my network buddies' sites with the word "london", should return my images, right?

but it doesn't:
http://cartoonpictureshop.com
http://hitvectors.com
you may search with keyword "london" and you will see there are no results, even though there should be..

but when I search for a keyword that my network buddies have my images come up as well:
http://cartoonpictureshop.com/search-images/girl/

http://hitvectors.com/search-images/animal/

when I do it on my site:
http://www.cidepix.com/?image-tags=blue+robot

results from other sites "DO" come up as they should be.. my site does the correct thing by showing results from other sites even though I don't have that keyword.. but other sites don't show mine or any other sites if that keyword is not available on that site.. why is this happening?

I don't know if it's was related before or is something like issue related by Cidepix above (sorry my bad english understand), but i did a seach by "f-18" and return no results. I have 6 files with "f-18" keyword. Maybe system understand olny capital letters (see image)?

that is my fault ... will be fixed. Its the -