Author Topic: Who wants to open a hub site? (Read 12177 times)

Leo Blanchette · « **on:** July 17, 2013, 15:29 »

I've rather enjoyed the recent forum troll invasion. It made me laugh. Although a lot of criticism was delivered in the most tasteless way possible, the roast was pretty fun - and there was definitely a method to the madness

.

Seriously though I'm enjoying my break not being the Aladdin's Genie of Symbiostock for a while. But wanted to pop in for this small suggestion -

Regardless of what people may think many of the issues mentioned for what Symbiostock lacks has been in the plan since before its first release. Now that we're pushing up to 70 sites, maybe some parts of the plan have to happen faster?

HUB SITES

Quality control is needed, no? And people work hard to give quality should have the advantage of providing that, no? And how do you do this without stepping on the feet of hobbyists who own Symbiostock sites?

Hub sites! Here is what a hub site should provide (in theory) and I'll divide this list between what you can do now, and future custom functionality.

Central license sets, referenced by each site. Instead of having a link to your own random license, which is confusing for customers, you'd all share distinct licenses on your hub (team) site.
Statements and examples of quality, quality control, etc. Things you'd like your shared customers to see.
Pricing breakdowns and explanations.

What you will have to wait for...but is in the plan

Spidering and central search abilities.
Centralized carts.
Centralized author automatically updated.

It goes without being said that a "Hub site" could be the "beacon" of its connected sites, being well designed, attractive, and definitely engaging for customers and earning trust.

You could hunt down some sort of Buddypress theme complete with forum capabilities. Keep it simple. Link your sites to it.

Although I've been against centralization, its obvious - there's many types of people who have common interests. Different types of portfolios might be better off complementing eachother with a central advert site, and a place where customers can interact.

Also I'm well aware that there are design agencies who would just LOVE to be connected with the talent in this way.

Best of all - you don't need me for this. Some of you experts may wish to start setting up expert groups and putting this in motion.

Travelling-light · « **Reply #1 on:** July 17, 2013, 16:01 »

I like the sound of this.

I have been thinking about splitting our site - we could have 3 seperate sites for our different subjects of food, travel and other, and each could be part of a different hub. Is there an easy way, Leo, of getting stuff from one site to another without having to re-do the metadata?

edit - Colin has just suggested that we do two copies of PictureMojo, and delete what we don't want from each of the three sites, this would work.

Anyway, the Pacific Rim is open for business and we are going out for a while, but will be thinking about this.

cidepix · « **Reply #2 on:** July 17, 2013, 18:56 »

I don't like this.. linking to each other is going to work well eventually..

People are just too impatient for sales and it makes them constantly come up with ideas that we don't "really" need..

Let's just focus on improving what we currently have, instead of complicating it..

Redneck · « **Reply #3 on:** July 17, 2013, 19:28 »

I agree with cidepix.
However, one possible way of cooperation I see is when a group of contributors uses only one SYS site, like a mini agency. That would probably help those people a lot who don't feel knowledgable enough to run their own site.

Travelling-light · « **Reply #4 on:** July 17, 2013, 23:08 »

Well that's the beauty of Sym - we don't have to all do the same thing.

However, thinking about it, I'm still keen on the hub idea. I can see a group of hubs - lifestyle, food, travel, where those interested can put their relevant files. We'd all have the same EULA and a centralised shopping cart, possibly same prices? I don't know about prices, I've got files I'm happy to sell for a dollar or two, others, not. Whether the cart would be individual to the hub, or sit above all the hubs, I don't know.

Hopefully, more people will be interested and join in with ideas.

cascoly · « **Reply #5 on:** July 18, 2013, 00:25 »

Quote from: Travelling-light on July 17, 2013, 23:08

Well that's the beauty of Sym - we don't have to all do the same thing.

However, thinking about it, I'm still keen on the hub idea. I can see a group of hubs - lifestyle, food, travel, where those interested can put their relevant files. We'd all have the same EULA and a centralised shopping cart, possibly same prices? I don't know about prices, I've got files I'm happy to sell for a dollar or two, others, not. Whether the cart would be individual to the hub, or sit above all the hubs, I don't know.

Hopefully, more people will be interested and join in with ideas.

creating the hub is easy -- i'd just have to reduce my global search so it only deals in the topics decided on - people wouldn't even have to select their files. So there could be a food hub, a travel hub, a Doberman hub, etc..

2 concerns would be central cart and eula agreement -- but do either of these really matter? how many buyers are going to be purchasing from more than 2 or 3 artists? and how many of THEM have any care at all about any EULA? 99% of buyers never read the terms they agree to when buying online

if there's any interest in creating specialized hubs, I can prepare a prototype ultra quick. there's 2 ways to proceed:-

1. the hub (hive?) is just a specialized global search, with links to the Eula's of individual. the cart would direct users to the individual sites

2. the hub would have a VERY simple EULA that everyone agrees to. one central cart would collect payment, and that central hub would make payments to individual image owners on a regular basis.

participation on an opt-in basis. since the central hub would have no actual images, members could leave whenever they want.

I've started a poll on this topic at http://www.microstockgroup.com/symbiostock-seo-marketing/who's-interested-in-a-symbiostock-central-hub-for-sales/

JPSDK · « **Reply #6 on:** July 18, 2013, 00:34 »

Nice opening lines, Leo.

I see you take things into consideration.

Someone need to make a drawing with skematics and funktion diagrams.
When first you have that, you can see how traffic should be directed.

Leo Blanchette · « **Reply #7 on:** July 18, 2013, 01:29 »

Quote from: JPSDK on July 18, 2013, 00:34

Someone need to make a drawing with skematics and funktion diagrams.
When first you have that, you can see how traffic should be directed.

Here you go -

JPSDK · « **Reply #8 on:** July 18, 2013, 01:51 »

Quote from: Leo on July 18, 2013, 01:29

Quote from: JPSDK on July 18, 2013, 00:34
Someone need to make a drawing with skematics and funktion diagrams.
When first you have that, you can see how traffic should be directed.

Here you go -

Thats pretty accurate: The hub attracts the insects (is that how you perceive customers?) with false promises and they drop down into the shops, where they die, so they can never shop again.

Thats how the system works now. Its not good enough. It is a shot in the foot.

cascoly · « **Reply #9 on:** July 18, 2013, 01:53 »

Quote from: JPSDK on July 18, 2013, 01:51

Quote from: Leo on July 18, 2013, 01:29
Quote from: JPSDK on July 18, 2013, 00:34
Someone need to make a drawing with skematics and funktion diagrams.
When first you have that, you can see how traffic should be directed.

Here you go -

Thats pretty accurate: The hub attracts the insects (is that how you perceive customers?) with false promises and they drop down into the shops, where they die, so they can never shop again.

Thats how the system works now. Its not good enough. It is a shot in the foot.

are you TOTALLY lacking in a sense of humor?

Leo Blanchette · « **Reply #10 on:** July 18, 2013, 01:56 »

Would you rather me use the agency model involving fly paper?

This one is creative and dynamic, not to mention more humane.

JPSDK · « **Reply #11 on:** July 18, 2013, 02:04 »

ja, i dont have any sense of humour.
This is how it should be. Or somehow, its not accurate.

The customers must be sent back to the hub, to check out, also to remind them to shop more and empty their pockets.

Leo Blanchette · « **Reply #12 on:** July 18, 2013, 02:12 »

Yours is pretty cliche, though differs little from mine because mine already involves plenty of "buzz" along with the occasional zap.

Here's a pretty good example of how to exhibit data:

edit - here's the one I was lookign for --> http://www.comedycentral.com/video-clips/4tjw94/important-things-with-demetri-martin-coolness---some-data

http://www.comedycentral.com/video-clips/twihl4/important-things-with-demetri-martin-brains---some-data

(you may have to wait a bit for the vid to start)

JPSDK · « **Reply #13 on:** July 18, 2013, 02:21 »

This one is better, and I do not care about coolness at this time, I care about communicating a message, you can look in my port for coolness if you like.
However it wont take much more of your arrogance and demeaning before I close the door and stop helping you. I can understand that you have worked hard and have come far, but it is still not good enough, and you first of all need to realize that.

Look here, more precise diagram.

Leo Blanchette · « **Reply #14 on:** July 18, 2013, 02:23 »

Before I sign off, its worth mentioning (for those stuck on the literal) that this is just funny stuff. A REAL hub site would be far more purposeful, actually keeping the mosquito alive, and giving him his dignity as a human. I just wanted to have a little fun.

Please resume the serious conversation below the dashed line:

------------------------------------

Leo Blanchette · « **Reply #15 on:** July 18, 2013, 02:27 »

Quote from: JPSDK on July 18, 2013, 02:21

However it wont take much more of your arrogance and demeaning before I close the door and stop helping you. I can understand that you have worked hard and have come far, but it is still not good enough, and you first of all need to realize that.

I'm sorry I genuinely thought you were messing around (joking) and being humorous here:

"Someone need to make a drawing with skematics and funktion diagrams.
When first you have that, you can see how traffic should be directed."

If you look at my history in this forum I don't talk down to people, though I've been accused of it in some misunderstandings. I do joke however!

I fully understand where your going and its perfectly logical. I simply thought that the things you mentioned were an assumed part of the process and didn't require charts...hence I assumed we had opened a humorous channel.

I guess I'll just stick to writing code

Didn't mean to offend.

JPSDK · « **Reply #16 on:** July 18, 2013, 02:34 »

Quote from: Leo on July 18, 2013, 02:27

Quote from: JPSDK on July 18, 2013, 02:21
However it wont take much more of your arrogance and demeaning before I close the door and stop helping you. I can understand that you have worked hard and have come far, but it is still not good enough, and you first of all need to realize that.

I'm sorry I genuinely thought you were messing around (joking) and being humorous here:

"Someone need to make a drawing with skematics and funktion diagrams.
When first you have that, you can see how traffic should be directed."

If you look at my history in this forum I don't talk down to people, though I've been accused of it in some misunderstandings. I do joke however! I fully understand where your going and its perfectly logical. I simply thought that the things you mentioned were an assumed part of the process and didn't require charts...hence I assumed we had opened a humorous channel.

I guess I'll just stick to writing code

Didn't mean to offend.

This: I've rather enjoyed the recent forum troll invasion. It made me laugh. Although a lot of criticism was delivered in the most tasteless way possible, the roast was pretty fun - and there was definitely a method to the madness

Well now you have a proven history of being offensive. And since I do not have any sense of humour, I do not find it funny. It is arrogant, it is talking down to and it is demeaning.
Same the other day with the popcorns, which you also tried to camouflage as humour.

Leo Blanchette · « **Reply #17 on:** July 18, 2013, 02:41 »

You took offense at that? I simply assumed you and the "Is Symbiostock a Con?" person were intentionally stirring up conflict just for fun! Some people do that in forums. With that I enjoyed it and took notes knowing that under it was an intentional message. Apparently I assumed more than what it was.

This reminds me of another thread, which you might want to look at because the idea you've mentioned goes back quite far .

There's a dual issue here - some people want to be independent, some people want that centralization.

http://www.microstockgroup.com/garbage-bin/central-cart-cloud-storage-central-search-unique-quailty-control/

« on: June 17, 2013, 17:19 » Interestingly its exactly one month ago.

What I see here, when its approached wrong, is that entitlement, dependencies, and the usual issues will simply resurface. So as people continue asking for centralization, I naturally attempt to put the pieces together.

What I would love, more than anything, is some other people to do these things! Meanwhile plug away on some upgrades to the base theme.

Take it for what it is though - I thought you were having fun at our expense so I just harmlessly played along.

JPSDK · « **Reply #18 on:** July 18, 2013, 03:07 »

I did what I did because I had high hopes for symbiostock. I was serious with every word. And I was not there to stirr up or destroy things.
I saw you were moving in a counterproductive direction and wanted to kick ass to make it stop.

I have now, since yesterday. Come to a depressing conclusion:

symbiostock is not viable as a serious business attempt.
the construction is too risky and the code is out of control.
the arrangement cannot be geared up to a professional amount of traffic.
the construction is open to all sorts of piracy, scams, parasitism and theft.
many of the users are not interested in cooperation

it can, however, be used as a case study

And it might be worht while to start all over again, with secure code.
With that i mean, that if serious business is going to take place, you must have the code secured in a bunker in Fort Knox, so that it cannot be interrupted.

Leo Blanchette · « **Reply #19 on:** July 18, 2013, 03:14 »

Thanks for explaining then. That was your message from the beginning.

In the meantime, definitely let me know where you find code that's not secure.

picture5469 · « **Reply #20 on:** July 18, 2013, 03:16 »

Quote from: JPSDK on July 18, 2013, 03:07

I did what I did because I had high hopes for symbiostock. I was serious with every word. And I was not there to stirr up or destroy things.
I saw you were moving in a counterproductive direction and wanted to kick ass to make it stop.

I have now, since yesterday. Come to a depressing conclusion:

symbiostock is not viable as a serious business attempt.
the construction is too risky and the code is out of control.
the arrangement cannot be geared up to a professional amount of traffic.
the construction is open to all sorts of piracy, scams, parasitism and theft.
many of the users are not interested in cooperation

it can, however, be used as a case study

And it might be worht while to start all over again, with secure code.
With that i mean, that if serious business is going to take place, you must have the code secured in a bunker in Fort Knox, so that it cannot be interrupted.

hmm............ I personally think that Leo has done an amazing job he is both an excellent code writer and a great inspiration. If the project wasn't successful then why are there now 67 sites 67319 images?

JPSDK · « **Reply #21 on:** July 18, 2013, 03:25 »

Quote from: Leo on July 18, 2013, 03:14

Thanks for explaining then. That was your message from the beginning.

In the meantime, definitely let me know where you find code that's not secure.

Secure is many things and not always what we think.

What if you died and what if bluehost died or what if you work for bluehost?
who controls the code, and who can pull the carpet.
who is who?
What if one of the shop is actually an istock employee?
What if suddently a shop appears with 2 mill pictures? for free?
what if paypal closes?
what if someone copies a shop 200 times?
What if one of the shops is not a shop but an ID theft machine?

Leo Blanchette · « **Reply #22 on:** July 18, 2013, 03:41 »

What if you died and what if bluehost died or what if you work for bluehost?

In both cases, are you selling images? If yes, then it doesn't matter. Edit - I'm not dying and I don't work for Bluehost.

who controls the code, and who can pull the carpet.

Its open source! You can not only stick with the version your happy with, but you can easily take the code and do what you want with it. You own the carpet mostly.

who is who?

On the internet?

What if one of the shop is actually an istock employee?
--- edit - I don't think people like my humor.

What if suddently a shop appears with 2 mill pictures? for free?

Start downloading!

what if paypal closes?

Have backup food and ammo ready.

what if someone copies a shop 200 times?

He has too much time on his hands.

What if one of the shops is not a shop but an ID theft machine?

What info is submitted to a Symbiostock site?

Kerioak~Christine · « **Reply #23 on:** July 18, 2013, 03:43 »

Quote from: JPSDK on July 18, 2013, 03:25

Quote from: Leo on July 18, 2013, 03:14
Thanks for explaining then. That was your message from the beginning.

In the meantime, definitely let me know where you find code that's not secure.

Secure is many things and not always what we think.

What if you died and what if bluehost died or what if you work for bluehost?
who controls the code, and who can pull the carpet.
who is who?
What if one of the shop is actually an istock employee?
What if suddently a shop appears with 2 mill pictures? for free?
what if paypal closes?
what if someone copies a shop 200 times?
What if one of the shops is not a shop but an ID theft machine?

If I died - I would not be there to worry about it, details are available to my next of kin
If Bluehost died or my host died it would be somewhat inconvenient but not a catastrophe
I do not think anyone can now pull the carpet from the individual sites, we would just go independent if anything went very wrong
Who knows - we have to trust sometime
Does it matter if a site owner is an istock employee
2 million pictures for free - just shut them out of my network and assume everyone else would do the same (after checking to see if anything useful there)
If paypal closes then much of he world's sites would also shut down
What if someone copies a shop 200 times - no idea what you mean, you tell us
How can a shop be an id theft machine, they do not get much personal information

What about you getting constructive instead of constantly belittling everything everyone is doing. Try leading by example if your method is so utopian, you don't need to be part of a network to use Symbiostock you can go it alone and once you have done that and shown us all how to do it your way then we will have something to listen to. At least the rest of us are actually trying something positive
~~~~~~~

I thought Leo's diagram was funny - should have continued with defibrillator and fly leaving happily with picture though

Leo Blanchette · « **Reply #24 on:** July 18, 2013, 04:01 »

Well, I am quite tired as I have been most of the day and must sign out now. After everyone has finished having their say I will be locking the thread tomorrow morning with a link to the two classier discussions on this subject. I think we've gotten a little away from the subject.

JPSDK · « **Reply #25 on:** July 18, 2013, 04:03 »

I have been very constructive and come up with many suggestions, which is what starts this thread.

Im thinking traffic in the range of 2-10.000 pics per day for all the shops combined. That is serious business. And also a tempting amount of business, that attracts vultures, a challenge for security and structure.

The construction as it is now, compares much to the fly trap graphic. A customer killer. But again, I said it before, and there is no need to repeat.

it would be appropriate, though, to mention the three monkeys.

Ron · « **Reply #26 on:** July 18, 2013, 04:10 »

Jens, you have gone from bringing up good thoughts, to Mel Gibson in Conspiracy Theory.

Your last suggestions on what can go wrong are just none sensical.

I have to leave it at that.

JPSDK · « **Reply #27 on:** July 18, 2013, 04:19 »

ja, it might be, Ron, Im half paranoid when it comes to what can happen to money on the internet.

But Im also leaving, and I close the door to symbiostock, now the thread is not classy, I have had enough of being patronized, and also I see no point in taking part in an envionment so amateurishly handled.

The only hope is that a group of 5-7 strong entrepreneurs take over and start from scratch. When that happens, Ill be all ears.

Kerioak~Christine · « **Reply #28 on:** July 18, 2013, 04:26 »

Quote from: JPSDK on July 18, 2013, 04:19

The only hope is that a group of 5-7 strong entrepreneurs take over and start from scratch. When that happens, Ill be all ears.

This is what I cannot understand, why wait and see if someone else does the work, why not initiate it yourself ? Who is patronising who here? We become professionals by learning, mostly by experience. Everyone starts off as an amateur in just about everything and if you are already a professional then why not do something positive instead of keep saying how everyone else is not doing it to your standards.

Leo Blanchette · « **Reply #29 on:** July 18, 2013, 06:12 »

Here are those threads mentioned:

http://www.microstockgroup.com/symbiostock-seo-marketing/who%27s-interested-in-a-symbiostock-central-hub-for-sales/

http://www.microstockgroup.com/symbiostock-suggestions/centralized-registration-and-eula/

This one can't be saved

Quote from: JPSDK on July 18, 2013, 04:19

But Im also leaving, and I close the door to symbiostock, now the thread is not classy, I have had enough of being patronized, and also I see no point in taking part in an envionment so amateurishly handled.

The only hope is that a group of 5-7 strong entrepreneurs take over and start from scratch. When that happens, Ill be all ears.

I don't think anyone really finds fault with your ideas or is completely for or against them. Your approach has been quite abrasive from your first posts, and everyone has taken a different approach to responding. In my case - humor. And no, a bug zapper is not what we had in mind. I was hoping you might laugh.

Quote from: JPSDK on July 18, 2013, 04:19

The only hope is that a group of 5-7 strong entrepreneurs take over and start from scratch.

The irony here is that this would not happen unless Symbiostock had potential. And Symbiostock is the product of its creators. Symbiostock is what you make it. And yes - your insight is good - its a case study. And its one that we all observe differently.

http://www.symbiostock.com/products-page/upgrades-and-plugins/symbiostock-network-graph-generator-for-gephi-httpsgephi-org/ (just updated today, it sees more analytics).

Then there is the API which anyone of your mindset (including your 5-7 entrepreneurs) can utilize:

http://www.symbiostock.com/symbiostock-api-for-developers-and-marketing/

Cascoly really said it best - your simply seeing the apple Symbiostock and its not the orange you expected.

Its a simple thing really - it is what it is. Everyone has a different idea, but they are all doing the same thing: Selling images direct. And its a really fun project full of ways to modify and utilize and monetize.

List of indexed Symbiostock sites

Site address   Images
http://www.dashphoto.eu   11319
http://www.clipartillustration.com   4520
http://atstockillustration.com   4185
http://stockabily.com   3267
http://franky242.net/shop   3039
http://softlightstock.com   2956
http://www.picturemojo.co.nz   2354
http://thpstockphotos.com   2284
http://www.neirfy.com/rf   2190
http://cascoly-images.com/pix   2075
http://ajotte.com   2070
http://www.cidepix.com   1641
http://www.innerstock.com   1422
http://jamstockimages.com   1410
http://www.picture5479.com   1229
http://stockimages.kerioak.com   1165
http://pinkbadgerphoto.com   1162
http://www.backyardstockphotos.com   1160
http://picbreeze.com   1039
http://stockphoto-images.com   1038
http://shaunwstock.com   917
http://landwehrle.com/stockphotography   883
http://semmickphoto.com   883
http://www.energy-photos.com   769
http://plingstock.com   756
http://georgesheldon.net   713
http://stockimages.glennspecht.com/wp   692
http://www.flashstockphoto.com   670
http://www.hookstockimages.com   619
http://lifeispix.com   610
http://acrylik.com   558
http://cathyslifestockphotos.com   496
http://lbarnstockimages.com   465
http://www.travelwitness.net   460
http://photominingstock.com/earth   430
http://stompstock.com   424
http://www.kiwistock.co.nz   393
http://dpstockphotos.com   367
http://www.theruchos.com   357
http://stock.imagerion.com   353
http://www.imagoborealis.com   345
http://www.myvectorimages.com   326
http://americastockphoto.com   324
http://aseanphotostock.com   318
http://shop.stockfaktory.com   282
http://www.karensarragaphotography.com   232
http://photominingstock.com/food   224
http://ibuystockphotos.com   195
http://crackerclips.com   190
http://peopleimages.grsphoto.ca/wp   186
http://wojciechrzasa.pl   178
http://www.miami-skyline.com   159
http://apduff.com/stock   143
http://stockphotology.com   122
http://quailrunphoto.com   97
http://www.emberstock.com   92
http://stock.lkpublishinganddesign.com   84
http://www.image-stocks.com   81
http://www.dogfordstudios.com   66
http://dphotography.biz   61
http://elilena.com   58
http://stockwalkn.com/stock   56
http://shop.anglianwebhosting.com   48
http://alanklughammer.com/stock   36
http://www.johnmessinghamphotography.co.uk   34
http://lastockphotograhy.com   25
http://cartoonpictureshop.com   17

All 67 sites   67319

MicrostockGroup Sponsors

Author Topic: Who wants to open a hub site? (Read 12177 times)

Leo Blanchette

Travelling-light

cidepix

Redneck

Travelling-light

cascoly

JPSDK

Leo Blanchette

JPSDK

cascoly

Leo Blanchette

JPSDK

Leo Blanchette

JPSDK

Leo Blanchette

Leo Blanchette

JPSDK

Leo Blanchette

JPSDK

Leo Blanchette

picture5469

JPSDK

Leo Blanchette

Kerioak~Christine

Leo Blanchette

JPSDK

Ron

JPSDK

Kerioak~Christine

Leo Blanchette

Related Topics

Sponsors

Microstock Poll Results

Sponsors