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I've been thinking about this a little bit and i can't make sense to the fact that reviewers have trouble doing their job due to covid-19, because reviewers are doing remote work, as most of us, they stay more time at home and are really able to review more images, so no reason for longer review time or for a collapse in reviews that requires to put a limit.

i actually have done business (outsourcing), as well as worked with companies that outsourced.

In the last 10-15 years, it's been very popular to outsource to either India or the Phillipines. In india in particular, it 'used' to be "cheap" to get things done - but many major companies that initially outsourced things like coding projects (especially india) realized they had to re-do everything several years or months later, so stopped doing it. Except for the simplest of tasks (i.e., call centers, data entry, etc).

Problem with India is - generally speaking - they will try and get away with whatever they can - so unless there is someone looking over their shoulder constantly reviewing the work, you tend to get crap. And excuses, and demands for more money, etc.

Phillipines - "tends" to be better - but you have to be SUPER specific about exactly what it is you want done, otherwise you get the same kind of thing happening. You used to (about 15 years ago) be able to get some really top notch talent (because in the phillipines it was a badge of honor/bragging rights to be able to tell all your friends that you worked for a "US" company - so they really tended to try and do the best job possible). But as "everyone" (companies) started outsourcing things like data entry, basic marketing tasks, coding, etc to the phillipines - the 'good' ones got hired quickly - and then you were left with a lot of people who didn't care (not the same level of pride) - and would do the bare minimum to pass. In fact - I actually had this one data entry project where people that were hired woudl go through the "motions" of reviewing (i.e., you would see their mouse cursor sit on the screen for 10-15 seconds, move left-to-right, etc) - but *nothing* was actually reviewed, and it was just 'click click click' onto the next item.

So chances are the reviewers are actually based in either india or the phillipines - and while a 'general' rule was given (i.e., you should not approve 100% of the items because it means you aren't doing your job) - it just became easy to automatically reject 30% and approve 70%. Totally random - but it gievs the 'appearance' of doing work so they can speed along through it.

Chances are - there were more submissions coming through the last month - so then they just decided to batch reject certain accounts - and other accounts give 100% approval too. (I.e., if they like kittens, they might approve 100% of the images/videos of someone who submits kittens, but reject others that they don't care for).

Based how shutterstock is doing things - I would say they've gone the cheap route here and have hired these kind of people, and are probably paying the bare minimum possible. (i.e., $4/hour us - still good money in certain parts over there, but definitely no one in the us would normally work for $4/hour).

Awe come on, who doesn't like Kittens? 

what I have analyse from last 3-4 weeks:
#1: They have Reduce the Company Size, Fired 100 Employees due to Covid
#2: Off-Shore office (Mostly Reviewer - India) is limited now, because I noted when and what time my stock is being reviewed, Before Lockdown mostly Indian Day Time was reviewed  Now EST.
#3: Yes, Some agencies are uploading more than 500/day and mostly having Team of Vectors / Illustration Designers.
Those team can produce 1000+ Vectors/ Illustration in a day.
#4: Freelancer / Stock photographer is hardly achive this limit, For media agencies their per day target is 2000 (Depeneds on Company Size and Quality of Work)

There�s the problem.  A: there�s no way anyone can make 300 -good- and -useful- videos a day.  It�s just spamming the system.  To the detriment of all.

Quote from: Justanotherphotographer on May 06, 2020, 09:34

Quote from: Sean Locke Photography on May 06, 2020, 08:56

There�s the problem.  A: there�s no way anyone can make 300 -good- and -useful- videos a day.  It�s just spamming the system.  To the detriment of all.

100% this. The limit forces people to be selective in what they shoot and only upload their best.

Stops everyone's work being swamped by a sea of same-ey rubbish from the same contributors, keeps the collection fresh and makes it possible to survive as a contributor. Win win.

Shame SS started pushing collection size as a metric at every shareholder meeting and announcement backing themselves into a corner and us off a cliff.

Top contributors have nearly 1 million files for each portfolio. It is not one two or three, there are many such ports on SS. Such numbers are not possible in one life-time without team. This is the market of volume. When you have a team with you, quality control is your key function to sustain your unique position. My policy is, not more than two variation of same shot to submit to agencies.  It has to be operated like any other business.

Quote from: Justanotherphotographer on May 06, 2020, 09:34

Quote from: Sean Locke Photography on May 06, 2020, 08:56

There�s the problem.  A: there�s no way anyone can make 300 -good- and -useful- videos a day.  It�s just spamming the system.  To the detriment of all.

100% this. The limit forces people to be selective in what they shoot and only upload their best.

Stops everyone's work being swamped by a sea of same-ey rubbish from the same contributors, keeps the collection fresh and makes it possible to survive as a contributor. Win win.

Shame SS started pushing collection size as a metric at every shareholder meeting and announcement backing themselves into a corner and us off a cliff.

Top contributors have nearly 1 million files for each portfolio. It is not one two or three, there are many such ports on SS. Such numbers are not possible in one life-time without team. This is the market of volume. When you have a team with you, quality control is your key function to sustain your unique position. My policy is, not more than two variation of same shot to submit to agencies.  It has to be operated like any other business.