Popular Post isphoto Posted March 16, 2022 Popular Post Share Posted March 16, 2022 (edited) It has been on my mind for a while. There are often topics on here about the ridiculously low fees paid by some customers for images. Should we not therefore lock (from any viewing) any discussion around fees to recognised contributors only. After all if I was a prospective customer and I saw the threads, i'd be pushing for substantial discounts. Like they say if you advertise it, they will want it Just a thought. Ian Edited March 16, 2022 by isphoto 2 10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Betty LaRue Posted March 16, 2022 Share Posted March 16, 2022 I’ve often wished non-contributors could not access our threads. 2 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve F Posted March 16, 2022 Share Posted March 16, 2022 (edited) 1 hour ago, isphoto said: It has been on my mind for a while. There are often topics on here about the ridiculously low fees paid by some customers for images. Should we not therefore lock (from any viewing) any discussion around fees to recognised contributors only. After all if I was a prospective customer and I saw the threads, i'd be pushing for substantial discounts. Like they say if you advertise it, they will want it Just a thought. Ian Ian, Totally agree. Not sure how it would work with people asking for advice to get their first 3 images approved (so they're not a contributor yet) - although tbh the information's there on the website if people bother to look. Edited March 16, 2022 by Steve F 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc Posted March 16, 2022 Share Posted March 16, 2022 1 hour ago, isphoto said: It has been on my mind for a while. There are often topics on here about the ridiculously low fees paid by some customers for images. Should we not therefore lock (from any viewing) any discussion around fees to recognised contributors only. After all if I was a prospective customer and I saw the threads, i'd be pushing for substantial discounts. Like they say if you advertise it, they will want it Just a thought. Ian Agreed Kumar Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Mitchell Posted March 16, 2022 Share Posted March 16, 2022 20 minutes ago, Betty LaRue said: I’ve often wished non-contributors could not access our threads. Me too. I've never understood the rationale -- if there is one -- behind the current setup. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geogphotos Posted March 16, 2022 Share Posted March 16, 2022 The main value of the forum to Alamy is that the 'community' provides answers to questions that would otherwise be asked of Alamy staff. They want it public so that Newbies can arrive and be helped. What is weird is that Alamy will not allow contributors to even post details of other forums. 1 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nigel Kirby Posted March 16, 2022 Share Posted March 16, 2022 (edited) 1 hour ago, isphoto said: It has been on my mind for a while. There are often topics on here about the ridiculously low fees paid by some customers for images. Should we not therefore lock (from any viewing) any discussion around fees to recognised contributors only. After all if I was a prospective customer and I saw the threads, i'd be pushing for substantial discounts. Like they say if you advertise it, they will want it Just a thought. Ian Totally agree. Ian Nigel Edited March 16, 2022 by Nigel Kirby 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Allan Bell Posted March 16, 2022 Popular Post Share Posted March 16, 2022 It could be arranged that "Introductions", "Portfolio Critique" and "Ask the Forum" are left open for cases where newbies can ask for help. "Stock Discussion and Contributor Experience", "Alamy QC and Tech", and "Lets' Talk About Pics" are closed to accepted contributors only. Should be easy enough for IT to arrange. Allan 2 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meanderingemu Posted March 16, 2022 Share Posted March 16, 2022 1 minute ago, Allan Bell said: Should be easy enough for IT to arrange. Allan you would think running daily timely stats and upload would also be easy for IT to arrange. 🤔 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aphperspective Posted March 16, 2022 Share Posted March 16, 2022 And this would be the same IT dept that manages the AIM etc from one crash to the next. Hmmmmmm...... 1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meanderingemu Posted March 16, 2022 Share Posted March 16, 2022 (edited) 24 minutes ago, aphperspective said: And this would be the same IT dept that manages the AIM etc from one crash to the next. Hmmmmmm...... same IT that does "maintenance" and ends up eliminating features and introduce new non requested ones. Edited March 16, 2022 by meanderingemu 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rebecca Ore Posted March 16, 2022 Share Posted March 16, 2022 21 minutes ago, meanderingemu said: same IT that does "maintenance" and ends up eliminating features and introduce new non requested ones. My understanding is that the Forum is run by a different firm, so they do forums as a thing and maybe have made changes to all the forums they run, not just Alamy's forums. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geogphotos Posted March 16, 2022 Share Posted March 16, 2022 (edited) Invision Community power the forum. I assume that Alamy gets to customise things the way that they want. But all the prices are there on the Invision website if a group of contributors wants to set up a private members only space. I'd chip say $10 a year. Otherwise we have to accept that it is Alamy's forum not ours. Edited March 16, 2022 by geogphotos 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marianne Posted March 16, 2022 Share Posted March 16, 2022 Many other forums have members-only forum topics and forum topics open to all. I'd imagine it's simple enough for Alamy to make this available - and it would be in their best interests. Newbies can ask questions and the rest of us can hold an honest discussion without putting further downward pressure on prices. 1 1 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inchiquin Posted March 17, 2022 Share Posted March 17, 2022 Surely the solution is simply not to post details of fees? A fee is part of a contract between a customer and a supplier and should be confidential. IMO it's unprofessional to publicise it. Alan 1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spacecadet Posted March 17, 2022 Share Posted March 17, 2022 (edited) 54 minutes ago, Inchiquin said: A fee is part of a contract between a customer and a supplier and should be confidential. IMO it's unprofessional to publicise it. In the ordinary commissioned relationship, yes, but the agency situation is a bit different, and we have no control over the level of fees charged by our agent. Beyond supplying the image I don't think we owe publishers any duty at all, let alone confidentiality. The $/$$ code seems reasonable if there's going to be any mention at all. Edited March 17, 2022 by spacecadet 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sb photos Posted March 17, 2022 Share Posted March 17, 2022 I’ve always thought the forum should never be open. Contributors have raised this before, but Alamy control the forum and though lack of agreement they obviously want it left open. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meanderingemu Posted March 17, 2022 Share Posted March 17, 2022 New Alamy Trends E-mail: -Photo of people doing arm gestures AND following message -"You may have recently received an email highlighting content from 2021 with a faulty link, the email itself was sent in error. Apologies for any confusion that may have been caused." yep seems like a trend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rebecca Ore Posted March 17, 2022 Share Posted March 17, 2022 4 hours ago, sb photos said: I’ve always thought the forum should never be open. Contributors have raised this before, but Alamy control the forum and though lack of agreement they obviously want it left open. My guess is that leaving it open was intended as a recruitment tool, also for help with getting new people to submit appropriate sample photos. I have a friend who does photography as part of his environmental survey work, and he's been having trouble getting first photos approved, so, yeah, though I was able to talk to him about size (he really should send the hawks mating photo that charmed some Policia Nacional into letting him run around with his 600mm lens). (He may have to get clearance from his employers, too, come to think of it). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Thompson Posted March 17, 2022 Share Posted March 17, 2022 As part of another unrelated trade forum, we have lots of open sections for anyone to read and participate and a Trade section where we can discuss prices etc away from prying eyes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Celluloid Hero Posted March 17, 2022 Share Posted March 17, 2022 Yes, I agree it should be locked. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inchiquin Posted March 18, 2022 Share Posted March 18, 2022 22 hours ago, spacecadet said: In the ordinary commissioned relationship, yes, but the agency situation is a bit different, and we have no control over the level of fees charged by our agent. Beyond supplying the image I don't think we owe publishers any duty at all, let alone confidentiality. The $/$$ code seems reasonable if there's going to be any mention at all. I don't really care about the publishers - they're just doing their job. But if, as has been claimed, publicising low fees encourages other customers to push for lower prices, don't we owe a duty to our fellow contributors? I'm OK with $$ code - I use it myself. Alan 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geogphotos Posted March 18, 2022 Share Posted March 18, 2022 (edited) My guess is that Alamy are quite happy if it becomes known that they offer fees to accomodate buyers of different budgets. There has never ever been any comment from Alamy against posting information about fees. Anyway I doubt that manyy buyers spend time here. Getting a potential buyer interested and starting to negotiate is what Alamy wants. Seriously, if contributors want a private forum then why not set one up? Edited March 18, 2022 by geogphotos 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spacecadet Posted March 18, 2022 Share Posted March 18, 2022 (edited) 14 minutes ago, geogphotos said: Seriously, if contributors want a private forum then why not set one up? Martin Wilson has, but we're not allowed to mention it Edited March 18, 2022 by spacecadet 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobD Posted March 18, 2022 Share Posted March 18, 2022 12 minutes ago, geogphotos said: My guess is that Alamy are quite happy if it becomes known that they offer fees to accomodate buyers of different budgets. There has never ever been any comment from Alamy against posting information about fees. Anyway I doubt that manyy buyers spend time here. Getting a potential buyer interested and starting to negotiate is what Alamy wants. Seriously, if contributors want a private forum then why not set one up? This has been tried before but no great numbers seem to be interested. This forum itself is a shadow of its former self where the majority of topics seems to be unrelated to stock. However there seems to be no reason why one section could be contributors only. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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