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Dave: Standalone sites will have the exact same exposure and access as Symbiostock hosted sites, whether it be our network directory, or Symzio.
Scenic: WordPress generates thumbnails for each product, and accordingly it will take up some space, but not much more than any other system would. I can’t specify exactly why your legacy site takes up space (or whether that is abnormal or not). The thumbnails generated by the new Symbiostock are stripped down and reasonably efficiently sized although I have kept the quality quite high as you don’t want to dissuade customers with JPEG artifacting.
Most of the current features can be read on our news release regarding the demo, including watermarking:
http://www.symbiostock.org/the-symbiostock-demo-is-live/
http://www.symbiostock.org/forums/topic/global-search-hubs/#post-22735
Additionally, when we launch, we will be featuring all registered networked Symbiostock sites on the front page of Symbiostock.org and also on our directory page.
Sounds good Ezeepics. Once we launch, I’ll be sending out a newsletter. I’m guessing there’s going to be a lot of activity for legacy Symbiostock users, and I’ll be here on the forums trying to help everyone out as they transition to the new engine. It shouldn’t be hard as I’ve developed an automated Importer/Exporter that will securely move all your old sites over.
Hey Ezeepics,
The new Symbiostock isn’t released yet. It will still be a week or two before it is. Once it is, it won’t be just automatically upgrading because the new one is a completely different system and will take a little bit of management for the switch. Also, you’re under no pressure to do so – upgrade at your leisure.
Robin.
You can use any theme you’d like, but Symbiostock Express will be fully responsive and mobile friendly. Thanks for the questions.
Hi Karen,
1) Support for most image types, including GIF, JPEG, PNG, EPS, TIFF. It will support anyone who contributes to the microstock industry, whether they be photographers, vector artists, or illustrators.
2) As I am also a videographer, that is on the agenda, but as it will add time to development, I have decided to delay it in order to release a fully complete image supporting system first.
3) The system will be using WooCommerce as it’s central processing engine, which supports VAT amongst other tax and payment related features. Here is some information on one extension: http://www.woothemes.com/2014/12/handling-eu-vat-woocommerce/
Right now, the ETA on a visual demo of the front end of Symbiostock Express running off Symbiostock in the backend is about two-four days. This will immediately be followed by a few days of beta testing, then release. It is hard to say, but a very rough estimate is one to two weeks. Don’t hold me to that if it is shorter or longer. With a small team, every bug can turn into a nightmare.
Further, I am not releasing it with the expectation to fix things and release new versions every three days – I have already actively tested it to smooth out most of the bugs, so the release will be a complete piece of software, not a half-finished end user nightmare.
I had introduced myself in the MSG forums and on here, but I suppose not everyone had a chance to read it given all the movement.
I am a contributor – I have been a dedicated microstock photographer with my wife for about three years, and have been working towards my trade for about six. I do not have a personal site with my images which is why I came upon Symbiostock – I was planning to develop my own system that would be similar to it, and thought rather than start from scratch, why not join forces with someone who already had a similar idea.
I worked with Leo pretty closely, and without getting into it, in the end it was Leo’s own idea for me to take over Symbiostock and for him to do his own thing. His primary explanation related to illustrators being inherently different than photographers. Having invested in the joint project together, this set the project back, but I agreed because by that point I had deeply invested in the brand.
My primary motivation is personal – I want to be able to expand my microstock library and not be dependent on the large agencies, especially as payouts become thinner and thinner. As I am a programmer as well, I have a tendency to develop my own solutions, which is exactly what the new Symbiostock is.
Leo does not work with Symbiostock anymore, and this is by his own volition. I want him to succeed at whatever it is that he wishes to do, but if he is working on another project, as per his wishes, confusing current Symbiostock users will just make the brand recovery even harder, as is displayed by all this nonsense.
I have taken responsibility of the entire Symbiostock project and am working very hard to ensure that unlike the past, it remains sustainable and constant, and grows at a steady pace. This is why I’m not going to get involved in bickering for the sake of it, and just focus on growth.
We’re here to monetize our art – that’s my only motivation. I want to do it for myself, and it would only benefit me if everyone else did as well.
The only reason I’ve posted anything about the legacy Symbiostock updates is because people were asking about it. After finding out what was going on, it was very important to explain that the notification system was no longer controlled by Symbiostock. Right now, Symbiostock is myself and a graphic designer. We are both long-term contributors as well. I’m not going to introduce the designer yet as I don’t know if they want to be introduced.
I hope this has shed some light on the changes. It’s important to know a few things about my perspective:
- I don’t expect you to be positive about anything based on my words – wait to see the plugin, then make your own decisions.
- Legacy users are very important to me. It is the hope I initially felt when I visited all of your sites that drew me strongly to the Symbiostock name. This is also why I want to preserve it. Seeing the logo and proud community effort is empowering.
- I want to engage only in productive manners with all those involved, whether it be personally productive or professionally productive.
- I do not want the spirit of Symbiostock to die – whatever was there originally, I want to expand on it by renewing your faith not in Symbiostock, but in the idea that we, as contributors, can be truly self-employed.
I’m not going to talk about the past in the forums anymore – I’d rather focus on development. If you have anything you’re still at odds with, feel free to message me.
Unfortunately, the legacy Symbiostock update system is being used for marketing purposes by the previous developer of Symbiostock. I have asked him to stop doing this, but he feels it is appropriate. At this point there is nothing I can do because he is not giving me access to the update system, which is password protected on third party servers.
I recommend you follow the instructions posted above to disable the update notification and not install anything on your legacy Symbiostock server unless it is posted on the Symbiostock.org forums/blog.
I apologize about the confusion.
When I upload the theme, I do not see an upgrade prompt. The version I have says ‘3.3.2’. Can you let us know what version yours is?
I have no knowledge of this update – I would recommend just staying put until the new version is out. It may damage your install, and if so, I won’t be able to assist in recovery as I just don’t have the resources.
Edit: I’m going to investigate the issue and get back to you.
I’ve got some time in between work – if you want, I can help you try to fix the problem. Send me a private message and I’ll see if I can try to dig into it.
Thanks guys – I think we have enough participants at this point. I will let you know if we need anymore.
I’ve added you to the list, Christine. Thanks. You too doglegmedia.
Our focus with the new Symbiostock is success. Success for contributors, success for the brand, and growth in a contributor owned marketplace. In order to achieve this, we need to make sure that third parties don’t claim affiliation with the project when no affiliation exists. Leaving use of the logo wide open would allow anyone to release plugins, create websites, and claim to be the ‘Official Symbiostock’ something or other.
These terms are synonymous with nearly every open source project out there, whether it be WordPress, Redhat, WooCommerce, or the like.
It is also important to understand fully how the GPL works, and especially how that reflects in our policies. The terms you’ve mentioned are focused mostly on the brand name, not the software itself. You are free to take the plugin once it is released and change it, rebrand it, and release it. You can use it all you want, and never link to Symbiostock. This is not a requirement, at all.
Lastly, our goal is not to restrict genuine or legacy users of Symbiostock. If this were the case, we wouldn’t be releasing this as a completely free plugin. The goal is to, in fact, protect the community from third parties that might dilute the brand with malicious or negligent intent. If we did not protect the brand, for example, and Symbiostock became popular, you would have lots of people releasing “Symbiostock Official Themes” that have nothing to do with us, that may have malicious code, that may in fact compromise your entire install.
It is important that all users, new and old, are able to differentiate between software endorsed by the developers of Symbiostock and software created by third parties. As open source projects get more and more popular, it is the official websites and the brand name that permits users to sift through all the 3rd party software that gets released.
Our plans for the search feature revolve around ‘Symzio’. We will focus on this as the next phase of the project once Symbiostock is released. The logo for the new search engine is visible on the front page of Symbiostock.org.
The new version does not produce that data, but we will see if it is necessary for future versions.
Due to incompatibility between databases, the legacy sites will not be included in Symzio. It is going to be directly plugged into the new Symbiostock and will require advanced features that are programmed directly into the plugin.