Restrict Forum access to Alamy contributors only?

[M.Chapman]

Should the contributors Forum be private? i.e. the only people that can see the contents must be registered as Alamy contributors?

 

At the moment the forum is accessible to all, including customers, making it easy for them to access discussions about the actual prices being achieved (e.g. how was your August)?

 

Given that the moderators have just deleted another thread about low pricing, isn't it time to make the forum discussions more confidential?

[Callie]

+1 at least a separate area for contributors only

[NYCat]

I think Philippe is right. Before I joined Alamy I read the forum for months and months. I learned a lot and didn't need to ask the most basic questions. I wouldn't like to see too much restriction.

 

Paulette

[fotoDogue]

I can see the benefits of keeping the technical section public for people who are new to Alamy or have not yet become contributors.

 

Ask The Forum, where photographers regularly discuss sales should be limited to registered contributors.

 

 

 

EDIT: I would even go so far as to suggest that access to Ask The Forum should be limited to registered contributors who actually have photos online with Alamy.

[Kumar]

I'm for the option where the OP can choose to make his thread "private" (to be seen only by registered contributors) when dealing with delicate matters, as is the case on the FAA forum.

 

Cheers,

Philippe

+1

[Alamy]

We see far too many benefits of having the forum open (many of which have been discussed before) rather than having it private, or even certain areas private.

 

Alamy is an open platform for anyone - having a restricted area doesn't really align with our core philosophy of this. 

 

The forum has been a source of help to many new photographers before they've signed up and having areas that are "off limits" to the potential new guys doesn't sit right with us.

 

If you feel that you are posting something that shouldn't be public, you should probably not post it. We let as much go as possible but will remove content very occasionally that isn't suitable.

 

Alamy

[liverpix]

I have had 2 of my posts deleted recently, think it's disgusting. It's like I'm living in N Korea with censorship. What's wrong with enquiring about what I thought was an error in the payment received ? What I received for my photos was not the same as the prices advertised in the licences.

[Callie]

liverpix, it is perhaps best to email Member Services in these cases, they are very helpful.

[chrumu]

We see far too many benefits of having the forum open (many of which have been discussed before) rather than having it private, or even certain areas private.

 

Alamy is an open platform for anyone - having a restricted area doesn't really align with our core philosophy of this. 

 

The forum has been a source of help to many new photographers before they've signed up and having areas that are "off limits" to the potential new guys doesn't sit right with us.

 

If you feel that you are posting something that shouldn't be public, you should probably not post it. We let as much go as possible but will remove content very occasionally that isn't suitable.

 

Alamy

 

 

 

It's a pity that Alamy are ignoring the almost unanimous wish of contributors for an at least partially restricted forum every time this subject is raised. Especially Philippe's proposal for the possibility of only making a part or even only single sensitive threads restricted sounds like a win-win situation.

 

 

The situation is like this: contributors will discuss what they want. Either they can do this in this forum here, or they will do it elsewhere (MSG forum, FB group, ...). Alamy should consider that in this forum they at least have some control over the way things are discussed, and if absolutely needed, a moderator can step in before things escalate too much. But if the forum censorship becomes too stringent (threads vanish a bit often lately), or if it is just not the best place to discuss since everything is visible to non-contributors as well, then people will discuss elsewhere, without any control by Alamy. Is this really what Alamy wants? Partial control sounds better than none at all to me.

 

Thank you for your consideration.

 

 

Christoph

[Alamy]

 

We see far too many benefits of having the forum open (many of which have been discussed before) rather than having it private, or even certain areas private.

 

Alamy is an open platform for anyone - having a restricted area doesn't really align with our core philosophy of this. 

 

The forum has been a source of help to many new photographers before they've signed up and having areas that are "off limits" to the potential new guys doesn't sit right with us.

 

If you feel that you are posting something that shouldn't be public, you should probably not post it. We let as much go as possible but will remove content very occasionally that isn't suitable.

 

Alamy

 

 

 

It's a pity that Alamy are ignoring the almost unanimous wish of contributors for an at least partially restricted forum every time this subject is raised. Especially Philippe's proposal for the possibility of only making a part or even only single sensitive threads restricted sounds like a win-win situation.

 

 

The situation is like this: contributors will discuss what they want. Either they can do this in this forum here, or they will do it elsewhere (MSG forum, FB group, ...). Alamy should consider that in this forum they at least have some control over the way things are discussed, and if absolutely needed, a moderator can step in before things escalate too much. But if the forum censorship becomes too stringent (threads vanish a bit often lately), or if it is just not the best place to discuss since everything is visible to non-contributors as well, then people will discuss elsewhere, without any control by Alamy. Is this really what Alamy wants? Partial control sounds better than none at all to me.

 

Thank you for your consideration.

 

 

Christoph

 

 

We're not ignoring the request, we've considered it - and you have to remember that although you may feel that this is a "unanimous" wish, there are nearly 5000 members of the forum, many of which do not post. There are also many guest visitors who don't register but find the forum to be a valuable resource.

 

We've operated this way since our original forum was created a decade ago. Our forum is one of the most active and overall friendly we have seen so although we appreciate the suggestion, at the moment this is not something we will be implementing. 

 

If changes are made in the future and this becomes something we want to pursue then we'll let everyone know.

 

Cheers

 

Alamy

[M.Chapman]

We're not ignoring the request, we've considered it - and you have to remember that although you may feel that this is a "unanimous" wish, there are nearly 5000 members of the forum, many of which do not post. There are also many guest visitors who don't register but find the forum to be a valuable resource.

We've operated this way since our original forum was created a decade ago. Our forum is one of the most active and overall friendly we have seen so although we appreciate the suggestion, at the moment this is not something we will be implementing. 

 

If changes are made in the future and this becomes something we want to pursue then we'll let everyone know.

 

Cheers

 

Alamy

 

 

Alamy, many thanks for your responses.

 

How about a revised idea? Instead of deleting threads that you deem to contain sensitive information (such as those on pricing) could you make them "Private" so they are visible to Contributors only? Obviously there will still be threads you will need to delete which is fine, but some of the deletions recently have seemed a bit harsh and contrary to your "open" policy that you mentioned earlier.

 

PS. This is only a suggestion for a refinement. The current forum is a fabulous resource. So much better than the old one. Nevertheless it's frustrating when an interesting thread disappears without trace....

[liverpix]

 

I have had 2 of my posts deleted recently, think it's disgusting. It's like I'm living in N Korea with censorship. What's wrong with enquiring about what I thought was an error in the payment received ? What I received for my photos was not the same as the prices advertised in the licences.

 

It's best to read through the forums for a while before posting, to learn how things are done. The thread of yours that was deleted was advertising low prices, which is something we don't do any more in the forums as it could potentially be harmful and affect all of us. You should direct questions about your specific images or sales to Member Services rather than in a public forum. One thing you'll learn if you spend time reading through threads is that prices vary a lot as different clients have different deals with Alamy, but only Alamy themselves can give specifics on a particular sale you've had. The guidelines on their contributor help pages answer a lot of basic questions too that new members often ask in the forums.

 

I know it's frustrating when Alamy remove threads, but sometimes it's better just to let it go. I sometimes have to bite my tongue and let things go which I don't find easy (and don't always manage to do!). I don't agree with the way everything is done here and how none of our suggestions seem to change anything, but there's only so much you can fight it. It's Alamy's forums and they make the rules, so it's a case of like it or lump it I'm afraid. If you complain too much you'll end up with a bad reputation. I don't contribute much any more like I used to because I know what happens if I dare disagree with someone, and I'd rather just avoid that stress and concentrate more other things. I don't always manage to keep my mouth shut but I try. 

 

Geoff.

 

Hi Geofff, I wasn't advertising low prices - I was just pointing it out,wondering if  it was an error. And I did email them, got a reply back after 24 hrs saying it was some sort of deal with UK press. Perhaps by posting I can raise the awareness of my problem which others may also have. I did have a quick look at the forum. And as Alamy have chosen to delete 'low price' threads, there was little chance of me of getting help from other similar threads. Perhaps by pointing it out, Alamy may decide to raise the prices to get us photographers a better deal in the future.I suggest at least.£10-12 for each usage of a photo. I feel we are just subsidising the UK press at the moment. The newspaper  owners must be drinking champagne on their yachts laughing at us(our prices).

[Alamy]

 

We're not ignoring the request, we've considered it - and you have to remember that although you may feel that this is a "unanimous" wish, there are nearly 5000 members of the forum, many of which do not post. There are also many guest visitors who don't register but find the forum to be a valuable resource.

We've operated this way since our original forum was created a decade ago. Our forum is one of the most active and overall friendly we have seen so although we appreciate the suggestion, at the moment this is not something we will be implementing. 

 

If changes are made in the future and this becomes something we want to pursue then we'll let everyone know.

 

Cheers

 

Alamy

 

 

Alamy, many thanks for your responses.

 

How about a revised idea? Instead of deleting threads that you deem to contain sensitive information (such as those on pricing) could you make them "Private" so they are visible to Contributors only? Obviously there will still be threads you will need to delete which is fine, but some of the deletions recently have seemed a bit harsh and contrary to your "open" policy that you mentioned earlier.

 

PS. This is only a suggestion for a refinement. The current forum is a fabulous resource. So much better than the old one. Nevertheless it's frustrating when an interesting thread disappears without trace....

 

 

Hi Mark,

 

Last post from us on this - we won't be making any threads private for reasons given previously.

 

We have to remove a tiny percentage of posts made, sometimes because of the subject itself, sometimes because of content within the post or sometimes because we know it would lead to an eventual thread we will need to remove as we can't monitor the forum 24/7. 

 

We try and get the right balance to make this a great forum community, we're sorry if some of you don't feel like we always get this right. 

 

Alamy.