Well i am banned from posting on the istock forum.I still read some of the important posts and hopely i will be able to post again in febuary 2009.

... or do others find it difficult reading the forums over at iStock. I always figure there is something to learn but the level of smarminess on the posts there can really get to a guy.

Peter

I read them because i read all forums. But my feelings are exactly the same as yours. I simply don't understand the joy of sticking my head up in someones back even it is just a company 

What I miss is the humor in the forums, there used to be a lot of give and take there and that seems to have gone. The information is good but a bit dry now.

The forums were what first attracted me to the site. Over time they've changed though. I won't post in the critique forum anymore. The last time I asked for advice there I was basically told "Duh!" and that was it. I never did get a critique or advise about the image.

The forums were what first attracted me to the site. Over time they've changed though. I won't post in the critique forum anymore. The last time I asked for advice there I was basically told "Duh!" and that was it. I never did get a critique or advise about the image.

The completely different, and new technique threads seemed to get a lot of response...
http://www.istockphoto.com/forum_threads.php?User=364693&forumid=26

It's not an open forum. If things get to be at all negatively portraying istock in any way, the thread is locked, even if it's a civil and constructive discussion.

I get it and understand the policy. Afterall it is their company, their site, and their forum, and they can decide what gets posted and what gets deleted. But if you're looking for honest, open discussion, you're much better off elsewhere.

Quote from: shank_ali on December 22, 2008, 02:19

Well i am banned from posting on the istock forum.

Horray!

Some germans are ok,some are not.You can decide which group you belong .....

Some germans are ok,some are not.You can decide which group you belong .....

Well, if this "horray" puts me into the non-ok-german corner - so be it. Though I don't know how my birthplace could have influenced my opinion concerning your istock ban ... What if I was not a German?!

Nancy, I'm not sure these are examples that illustrate helix's assertions that the slightest negative statement about istock will immediately get a thread locked, but let's look at them anyway.

1. So a thread that was allowed to go on for "almost" 24 hours--and four pages of posts--is an example of overzealous censorship? You know as well as I (and anyone else who spends any time at all on there) that they want one stats thread to avoid having hundreds of stats threads. This thread was posted as the November stats thread carried on simultaneously. He asked whether Getty engineered slowing sales on purpose, or if istock was spending less on advertising. Did you expect some kind of official statement to address those questions??

2. There is a Getty forum and there is also further discussion in the exclusive forum. He was asking if he should submit to Getty. Again, this has nothing to do with locking because of "negativity" against istock. It is merely an attempt to keep some kind of order in the forum. Why should there be multiple threads discussing the same thing over and over again? Why is it terrible to ask the OP to refer to the correct location for these discussions? The OP even acknowledged that he should have looked there first.

3. You gotta be pretty desperate to even use the third one as an example. Good grief, the guy thinks that he's being punished for requesting a payout. Come on.

4. Once again, a housekeeping issue. OP was directed to the appropriate forum.

If these are the best examples you can find of:

If things get to be at all negatively portraying istock in any way, the thread is locked, even if it's a civil and constructive discussion.

... I'm not convinced.

17 pages, plenty of negative... and still going strong:
http://www.istockphoto.com/forum_messages.php?threadid=80935&page=1

plenty of negative here:
http://www.istockphoto.com/forum_messages.php?threadid=80951&page=1

and here:
http://www.istockphoto.com/forum_messages.php?threadid=81284&page=1

And these are just from the front page in the main discussion forum.

 Hi there to Each and Every One of You,

 Maybe the amount of posts per subject should be regulated to a certain number, say 500 ( arbitrary ) so there is no grounds for people to find discrepancy in this issue. Just an idea. If there is no censorship what so ever it should be possible to set up guide lines that spell the rules out to all involved ( I must admit I don't spend much time at the Istock Forums. This might already take place, excuse me if my ignorance is a cause for slightly redundancy ).
 If a post is locked because of the number of posts already having taken place it seems easy enough to me to limit the number of posts per subject. Just thinking out loud here. Some f not all people will always feel slighted or treated unfairly under certain circamstance ( you will never please everyone ) but I think if strong guidelines can be put in place and held fast to this should help curtail this repetitive lack of communication and frustration that I see time and time again on MSG. Istock spends a great deal of time trying to answer some questions on a person to person but unfortunately no matter how much Istock yells in a deaf mans ear he just isn't going to hear them.

 On the other hand there is a two sided camp for some on this site and the open sharing of communication between ( some not all ) Istock exclusives and the way they treat non-exclusives and the way some nons treat the exculsives ( some not all ) this approach does nothing to help elevate the problem here. When will we try and realize that we are not here to fight each other but to nurture each together through learning the experience in our industry. To reach out and say "  I would be happy to answer that question for you can you tell me the answer to this question as well " I tell you folks if we can work together here we will waste far less of our time choosing sides and far more educating and getting better at our craft.
 Don't Get me wrong, Leaf has built a great site here and I think there is a great deal of sharing as well as moral support almost a feeling of a dysfunctional family at the x-mas dinner table some days . And I feel very lucky to have stumbled upon it. Now Peter, quit hogging the mash potatoes and pass them down this end.

Happy Holidays,
AVAVA

Sorry I brought this up. There are obviously many well thought out reasons why things are the way they are. I'm probably just too old to see why certain statements are made. It's not the right time of year to be spreading dissent. Cheers.

Peter

The fact is there's nothing to find. Closed threads use to be redundant themes, or people insisting in discussing ad nauseam themes that have been already and recently discussed ad nauseaum.  Forums, specially the main forum, has to have a functionality that makes it worth of reading. they wouldn't be useful with scores of threads talking about the same theme.