Participant

Question

Is there any forum where Adobe actually reads, listens or gets involved with stock contributors?

Forum|Forum|9 months ago
June 11, 2025
5 replies
504 views

In searching for answers, I see many people are affected by the (apparent) change in decision making. To me, it almost seems like AI is deciding. Whatever it is, it's not good and is seems that contributors should have a voice?

I, like so many others, have been getting the "similar content" rejection. I submit photos and I know that the decision is incorrect. I have suspected on many (including the removal of assets that have been up and actually selling for years that are now "similar") that it's unlikely there are similar images but I just confirmed it on my latest rejection. It was of a black bear mother standing up facing the camera in a particular manner. I looked through all assets on all pages of 4 different searches and don't see anything like mine. In fact, there aren't many black bears at all (though I will say that I saw hundreds of grizzly photos that looked pretty much identical, which confuses me even more). This is not the first time this has happened in the last 4 months or so. First it said that I had "similar" as a reason for rejection (which was not at all true on those), now rejections are saying that there are similar in their library (also seemingly not true, on the ones I've uploaded).

Is there any way to be heard?

Contributors

Nancy OShea

Community Expert

Everything we know about the review process is described in the Stock Contributor User Guide.

https://helpx.adobe.com/stock/contributor/help/submission-guidelines.html

I prefer to focus on things I can change rather than things I have no control over.

Owing to Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDA), employees can't publicly discuss what Adobe does internally. And besides, that's beyond the scope of this user-to-user community.

If your work is being rejected, post one or two full-sized examples with the rejection reasons. We'll try to provide constructive feedback based on our collective experience.

https://helpx.adobe.com/stock/contributor/help/reasons-for-content-rejection.html

Nancy O'Shea— Product User & Community Expert

tsg89005837Author

Participant

That wasn't helpful at all. It literally didn't address anything in the post so came across as dismissive and condescending. It was just as canned as would be expected from Adobe directly. You didn't even read the post at all. 😞

Nancy OShea

Community Expert

That wasn't helpful at all. It literally didn't address anything in the post so came across as dismissive and condescending. It was just as canned as would be expected from Adobe directly. You didn't even read the post at all.
By @tsg89005837

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You're welcome. I read your entire post as well as the replies that followed.

As a long-time product user & unpaid forum volunteer, I've seen these criticisms before. And nothing changes for the reasons outlined above. I replied to your remarks with polite & unvarnished honesty. That's neither dismissive nor condescending.

YOU WROTE:
"it almost seems like AI is deciding. Whatever it is, it's not good and is seems that contributors should have a voice?"

=========

No voice in how Adobe conducts their business. None at all. That's not our lane.

YOU WROTE:
"I submit photos and I know that the decision is incorrect."

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No. You don't know the decision is incorrect. If that were true, then Adobe is incorrect about ALL decisions. Do you also question their decision to accept your content? Of course not. That would not benefit you.

I get that your feelings are hurt and your view of "similar content" doesn't align with Adobe's. Unfortunately, we are all in the same leaky boat. Adobe's decisions are final. There is no appeals process. And there is no voice in how they conduct evaluations. Just accept that fact and move on. If you want to address the issues and resubmit, feel free to do so. But don't do it more than twice.

One last bit of advice, don't take rejection personally. This is not a popularity contest with silly prizes. Adobe Stock is a business that pays above average royalty fees. That's all it is.

Good luck.

Nancy O'Shea— Product User & Community Expert

tsg89005837Author

Participant

Just to add another example, with the recent arctic circle hot topic, I submitted a photo and it was also rejected for the new similar in libarary hogwash. I, again took the time to search the libarary using only the main keywords "caribou, snow, herd, mountains" to see if it was true. I searched every image on all 17 pages and nope. There was one kinda similar image but where mine specified "small herd" with only 4 caribou, the "similar image" had a large herd and my image was on a beautiful clear day with blue sky where the "similar image" was on a dreary day with kind of a brown overtoning. It was similar in that there was snow, a mountain and a smaller herd than most but that was a very loose similarity at best and it was the only one even remotely close. It really is frustrating. I will try these options suggested.

Jill_C

Community Expert

It's certainly a frustrating situation. I have also had unique images rejected for "similars". You can express your concerns to Adobe via the Contact Us link in your account page, but as @daniellei4510 indicated you will most likely receive a canned response. Adobe is most certainly aware of Contributor dissatisfaction with the change in their reviewing algorithm, however for now, they seem to be keeping it in place. I have been submitting my rejected assets to Getty Images and all have been accepted there.

Jill C., Forum Volunteer

daniellei4510

Community Expert

Well, one work-around is to just get downright weird. These two examples were accepted. AI contributors have the advantage in this respect, since it would be a little expensive and time-consuming to create images of this nature for the purpose of taking real photographs. But the odds of someone looking for such images are between slim to none. Meanwhile, my portraits, fashion or people in general (among my bestsellers) are rejected as being too similar far more often than not. So neither I nor Adobe are benefitting from this policy financially. To be clear, I have no issue with overly represented assets being rejected, but quality still needs to be taken into consideration. And then there's the whole issue of rejected assets that are NOT saturating the database. A quick look at the Insights page highlighting bestsellers (which, by the way, presently includes images of cats), suggests that uniqueness in and of itself is not always what people are looking for.

Adobe Community Expert | If you can't fix it, hide it; if you can't hide it, delete it.

ZALEZPHOTO

Inspiring

Greetings! I welcome your voice, and find it refreshing. Everyone here comes at different levels of experience, the people that just started shooting and contributing must exercise a learning attitude. This is the perfect forum to get feedback on thier work and why is getting rejected.

I'm taking a "be patient" approach! Like you, I share and point out what I'm experiencing, and frankly I do not understand the resistance I get from some "experts" that seem to have to voice an opinion without addressing the core issues.

Adobe like companies of all sizes, are navigating diffiult and discovering issues of the AI age. It's my personal opinion this is at the core of what you are mentioning. I have no doubt Adobe wants to retain great contributors as well as attracting new ones, as well as raising the quality bar.

While I can't opine on the specifics of your black bear pictures, I get you! One thing is for sure, we must continue shooting and adding to our libraries. Hopefully there will be more cooperation from "community experts" when it comes to this issue... as well as a little more decorum addressing difference of opinions.

Have a great day!

Francisco

ZALEZPHOTO

daniellei4510

Community Expert

Your only option is to email contributor support (https://contributor.stock.adobe.com/en/contact). You will get a generic form email in response, but if another people complain, maybe Adobe will fine tune whatever is making this sometimes absurd reason for rejection.

Adobe Community Expert | If you can't fix it, hide it; if you can't hide it, delete it.

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