I thought it was a bit odd that the last 6 or so of today's sales were all 404 error when I clicked on them in the sales list...then I checked my active portfolio.

They deleted another 70 files in the last day or two. It had been so long that the portfolio had been holding steady since the last massacre that I uploaded a file the other day - just one to see what would happen (it's still in review).

Once again, the files are ones that have been selling on Canva  (as well as on the other sites they're available). There were a whole bunch from Aruba; a halloween pumpkin outside on a dark night - I don't really have the stomach to look through it.

It's been a great sales month so far, but that obviously won't continue - I'm assuming the next casualty will be the Christmas images that have been selling a lot this month.

And they never provided that promised newsletter to contributors explaining their new criteria for desired files and acceptance policies.

Every time I get a little hopeful that Canva might turn into something good for contributors - I still think their idea is one of the few pieces of original thought we've seen in the market in a long time - they remind me that we are below the bottom of their list of priorities.

What a rude and careless way to treat contributors. At least explain what the f*ck is going on and what you want or don't. Is that really too much to ask? (I did write to support - it took me forever to find a link on their web site - asking for them to please explain what's going on and what their current criteria are).

So I got a reply from Lee this morning to my support ticket regarding the deletions. I won't post it here, but I found it breathtakingly rude and in summary, the points were:

1. There isn't going to be a newsletter because they don't need to provide any more guidelines - most of their contributors don't need or want them

2. My portfolio has moved back into the bottom 1% (by what I'm not sure, but certainly it's now tiny) so it's getting extra attention from the cleanup team

3. They'll continue to work with me if I want but I came in before their current "very high entry standards" were in place and I'm "far from our typical contributor profile"

4. Most of the deletions are because there are superior images on the site and current sales have nothing to do with that (that reason doesn't match up as some of yesterday's culls were for subjects, e.g. Aruba, where they have virtually no other images; there are a total of 12, one of which is mine that they apparently forgot to delete)

I'm going to leave what images remain on the site (they culled another 8 overnight) but I'll not bother to continue uploading.

Sounds like a good time to say "Adi�s" or "FU" or something even more colorful.

I just received a note from Lee that someone had pointed him to this post and they're closing my Canva account - "You are no longer welcome as a Canva contributor"

So anyone who wants to stay with Canva would do well to take this warning shot and remember to keep your mouth closed in public places about them or their actions.

I seem somehow to have this affect on agencies

I take it as a warning shot never to upload to canva.

Elena, I did work with Canva privately initially. I'm well aware that agencies don't like public discussion of problems.

One of the things that public discussion can help with is knowing if something is happening only to you or to lots of contributors or a group. Part of the way any organization manages things is to say "it's only you" and without some sort of forum to compare notes, there is no way to know if that's the case or not.

Lee claims that most Canva contributors don't want or need any additional guidelines about images they want and don't, or why they've been removing existing images the way they have - that it's just me.

It no longer matters to me one way or another, but I thought there were a couple of areas that merited public discussion.

One was the previous promise to explain the portfolio culls in a future newsletter. The other was that other contributors aren't interested in understanding rejection reasons or the culls.

I did editorialize about my perception of Lee's e-mail being rude - I think he could have told me "no newsletter" and "no explanations" without being so dismissive of me and my work. He was acting as a rep for Canva and I'm not sure that being rude to contributors is ever an appropriate way to deal with them.

I take it as a warning shot never to upload to canva.

This is the take away from all this put so succintly.

Just as an outsider, to me it has seemed that Canva has changed from when they were starting out, accepting images, being freindly, posting regularly here , etc, to keeping things hush, hush, distant and in short pissing on a lot of contributers that helped them out when they were just starting out.
Too bad.

Here's another example of why many of us use what are essentially anonymous names.  It's a shame we feel we need to do this, but agency retaliation does seem to be a fact of life.

As to why we don't see CANVA (Lee) on here any more, if you go back to that original, very long, CANVA thread, about half way through some individuals started getting quite nasty with their comments against both the company in general and Lee in particular.  Not that their complaints may not have been justified, but the way they chose to express themselves was out of line by any measure of polite discourse.  Had I been in Lee's shoes, I would have also abandoned any further attempts to explain what was going on.  This seems to be a problem all over the Internet where you don't have to speak to an individual face-to-face.  In their anonymity they seem to feel they have the freedom to express themselves in the most base way available, without giving any thought to the other party's feelings.  Small wonder many are leaving forums such as this.  All the worse when we drive away those agency reps that do try to help in whatever way they are allowed.

I just received a note from Lee that someone had pointed him to this post and they're closing my Canva account - "You are no longer welcome as a Canva contributor"

Sorry to hear that. Probably it's time to remove the link to Canva from your homepage.

My contributor application is still pending. Even if I get accepted, I'm not sure whether I really want to send any images to them after hearing all these stories. It seems like Canva is just another agency who forgot how contributors had supported them to grow up.

�Those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it�

3. They'll continue to work with me if I want but I came in before their current "very high entry standards" were in place and I'm "far from our typical contributor profile"

In other words, you were one of the first to give a new place a shot, and by uploading your work there you actually gave a new business something to sell. They repaid you for your support by deleting your images without notice, even though they were still selling.

I think these places forget that many of us are not only their suppliers, but their customers, too. And word gets around.

In other words, you were one of the first to give a new place a shot, and by uploading your work there you actually gave a new business something to sell. They repaid you for your support by deleting your images without notice, even though they were still selling.

I think these places forget that many of us are not only their suppliers, but their customers, too. And word gets around.

Look at how many new agencies come out every year and didn�t get the support canva did. Their success is strongly linked that people here trust Lee.

Uploading new files to an unknown place is a lot of work. To see them deleted even though they sell is bizzare.

Plus, we are all stock buyers. Why annoy us?