Quote from: heywoody on March 01, 2014, 19:05

I'd moan but, otherwise, nothing.

better hope Shutter isn't reading this one!

How many of those who lost the 50% did anything besides moan when 123 pulled the RC stunt?  Reality check: some people would lose enthusiasm to produce but the rest would continue on as it would still produce the best return.  "When you have them by the balls, their hearts and minds will follow"

spike, you don't understand why most of the people here don't like your topic?

Because you think there is fun in it! When you make a living in microstock, such kind of thoughts are not fun at all!
Because this is another negative thing these days! Why should we think about it? I don't want to think every day about: what if I die tomorrow? what if I get ill......
 
Don't you ever heard about the power of the positive thinking? Let's think about good things!
SS is doing great and may be they will decide to put another nail in the coffin of their rivals with a rise of the contributors earnings! 

I think giving contributors a raise will in the long run actually bring SS more profit. And I think its remarkable that SS could deal another blow to competitors by paying more, instead of less. Also a small raise across the board wouldnt even hurt their cost % by that much. 100 million downloads, raise by 2 cents would cost them 2 million annually. It would just slow profit growth by a small margin temporarily. It would do wonders for them in terms of goodwill, contributor commitment, motivate contributors to keep submitting their best work, and a good WOM.

Lets try this question upside down - what would you (all photographers) do if SS offers $1 (!) for basic level?

I would sell all my shares immediately , I believe

I would do something much more profitable...panhandling comes to mind.

spike, you don't understand why most of the people here don't like your topic?

Because you think there is fun in it! When you make a living in microstock, such kind of thoughts are not fun at all!
Because this is another negative thing these days! Why should we think about it? I don't want to think every day about: what if I die tomorrow? what if I get ill......
 
Don't you ever heard about the power of the positive thinking? Let's think about good things!
SS is doing great and may be they will decide to put another nail in the coffin of their rivals with a rise of the contributors earnings! 

Based upon what I know about positivism, there are two kinds: good and bad positivism.

Bad positivism is when you ignore the negative facts that you need to deal with in your life and focus only on the positives.
Good positivism is a solution orientated mindset - look for solutions to problems, focus on actions that you can take in response to negative facts or situations. Be actively on the lookout for real opportunities so that you will notice them. Realistically assess what is and what isn't under your control.

People who focus only on the positives live in their little bubble of delusion, and not in reality. I'm not one of those people and I can see you're not like one of "mine" people.

To be frank, I'm really surprised by the fact that such a large proportion of people can't or don't want to think about possible negative situations which might (or not) occur.

I'm much more interested in a constructive debate about this "issue", rather than name-calling/ad hominems or low effort jokes.

I'll write to Luis and ask him to adopt me.

But seriously, I run my business(es) on 99% economics , 1% principles - same as the agencies we work with.

Quote from: Fairplay on March 02, 2014, 07:37

spike, you don't understand why most of the people here don't like your topic?

Because you think there is fun in it! When you make a living in microstock, such kind of thoughts are not fun at all!
Because this is another negative thing these days! Why should we think about it? I don't want to think every day about: what if I die tomorrow? what if I get ill......
 
Don't you ever heard about the power of the positive thinking? Let's think about good things!
SS is doing great and may be they will decide to put another nail in the coffin of their rivals with a rise of the contributors earnings! 

Based upon what I know about positivism, there are two kinds: good and bad positivism.

Bad positivism is when you ignore the negative facts that you need to deal with in your life and focus only on the positives.
Good positivism is a solution orientated mindset - look for solutions to problems, focus on actions that you can take in response to negative facts or situations. Be actively on the lookout for real opportunities so that you will notice them. Realistically assess what is and what isn't under your control.

People who focus only on the positives live in their little bubble of delusion, and not in reality. I'm not one of those people and I can see you're not like one of "mine" people.

To be frank, I'm really surprised by the fact that such a large proportion of people can't or don't want to think about possible negative situations which might (or not) occur.

What you are suggesting isn't a fact so most of us choose not to entertain your doomsday speculation.
There are enough everyday things that need my attention much more than somebody else's paranoia.

What you are suggesting isn't a fact so most of us choose not to entertain your doomsday speculation.
There are enough everyday things that need my attention much more than somebody else's paranoia.

True, it's not a fact, but it could happen. I mean, in business, anything can happen, and I wouldn't count this hypothesis as super-unlikely, almost impossible. Maybe it is, I don't know, I'm not the CEO of SS, but it's a hypothesis worth exploring because it allows us to determine if we base our decisions upon principles or economic factors. Because I feel that many people feel self-righteous when they discard a low-earning agency, being all smug and full of integrity, but I'm not so sure they would discard a best-earner which would do the same.

This is not paranoia, this is just realistic thinking about our priorities. And why people block or downvote is still beyond me - if you don't like what I'm saying, talk to me, be constructive, defeat my arguments. If you just "don't like what I'm saying", that's not really a good reason (at least in my world) for a downvote.

Let's just imagine, for fun's sake, that the thing described in the subject happens. Also, all your OD's fall to the lowest price tier.

Would you quit?

I know a lot of contributors who report that around 70% of their earnings are from shutterstock. It's easy to have integrity when a small agency screws you over. If they account for 3% of your income, who cares, you have principles!

Is it the same story when the best earner does it?

EDIT: I don't understand why the downvotes. Is it wrong to ask a question like this? Some things I'll never understand.

And here I thought my state (Washington State) was the only one that legalized marijuana? Where do you come up with these lovely thoughts? I tend to keep negative thoughts to myself but that's me...

10% would quit.

80% would be unhappy, but just keep doing more of what they already do, hoping for something good to happen.

10% would be posting here, telling us it's a good deal,  how we'll obviously make it up in volume,  what a smart businessman "Jon" is,  and that anyone who can't see that is an idiot.

The list of "what-ifs" could go on in perpetuity.