Email from Adobe/Removal of Previously Accepted Content

[hopko]

Just got an email from Adobe saying they had removed 2 images from my portfolio. The one I found that was removed has been online a very long time (years). When I finally found 1 of the images they had removed it said I had violated the Contributor Agreement. What? Photo of 2 active people (not AI), no logos, waivers attached, & it was previously accepted. I cannot find the other image they removed. This makes me very afraid to continue to contribute to Adobe, especially in light of the current situation with "Similar Image" rejections.

I cannot understand what is wrong with the photo they removed but I am no longer going to submit to Adobe because I am afraid that my entire portfolio might get taken down for some infraction that I am totally unaware of.

Very sad for me. I have been contributing for years, have close to 7,000 images online & have always tried very hard to follow all guidelines. I sell the most on Adobe but I guess those days are over.

[hopko]

• The sentence above should say "I started at the beginning of my REJECTED (not deleted) photos (meaning years ago). Sorry for any confusion!

[ConniePinson]

Thanks for your advice hopko. I have follwed your advice and have now located them all. They all have the same rejection reason of Violating Submission Guidelines - all have been uploaded for a number of years. I have looked at the Submission guidelines and I cannot find any correlation between the reasons for rejection and the content of my photos. 

[New Zealand Photographer]

Yes, they've even removed good seeling images with no explanation.  Frustrating especially as I have 3 images sitting waiting to be reviewed for 11 months (that must be a record) and now they're removing ones that have been up there for years.

[synthetick]

I have come across at least 12 instances of people complaining in various forums or groups about images that have been removed, but I have found that the exact same images are still online in their portfolios with different file numbers. So for anyone wondering why a file has been removed please check your portfolio and see if you have a duplicate of it still online.

[hopko]

Nope. I checked. Just removed.

[daniellei4510]

Kinda guessed. 🙂

[ConniePinson]

Thanks synthetick, 

I have checked mine and they are still there (5 images)

[synthetick]

Do the ones in your portfolio have different file numbers from the ones that were deleted?

[ConniePinson]

Hi synthetick,

Yes they do actually have different file numbers. 

The whole thing is really weird. Thank you for your observations

[synthetick]

Thanks for replying. That confirms that the files were removed because they were duplicates.

[ConniePinson]

Thanks and true - it would seem so, however, I am certain that I have not dupicated them at the time of uploading. I manage all my files with coloured tags to indicate where and when they have been uploaded to ensure that I don't duplicate them.

[hopko]

I am going to have to backtrack. I did a much more thorough search of my images this morning and I found the 2 that had been "removed" still online. So, thanks very much for the advice. I am very careful when uploading images and am very surprised that I had any duplicates, but both of these images were from 8-9 years ago so perhaps I made a mistake way back then.

It is still very strange to me because the reason for removal was given as "not complying with contributor guidelines". It would have been much clearer for Adobe just to say "duplicate assets removed". I think the "sinister" tone of the original message really put a lot of people (including me) on edge and made us feel like we were in trouble with Adobe. 

[synthetick]

Yes, the rejection reason "incompatible with terms" is widely being misinterpreted by contributors as having something to do with content standards or IP. A clear rejection reason of "duplicate content in portfolio" would have avoided a lot of the unnecessary anger at Adobe for appearing to randomly remove images and videos. People were already mistrustful of Adobe because of the recent increase in rejections and this didn't help.

[D. A. Edwards]

Absolutely agree that those messages need to be more specific. I had the same scare just now and after reading all the comments here went back to check and found out that mine indeed were duplicates as well. Very confused about that though since I'm more than certain that I've never uploaded anything twice, especially that one I just got a mail about.

I wonder if the recent increase of people getting those messages isn't because they had duplicates uploaded all these years and Adobe Stock is now cracking down on it, but because Adobe themselves had some internal system error randomly create duplicates that are now being removed? Maybe just a conspiracy theory...

[Stemoir -Stefano Moiraghi]

the same is happening to me.
 I see the number of my contributions decreasing,
 but I can't identify which ones are deleted because I have about 6000 contributions.
I haven't received any communication,
 I don't know what to do

[hopko]

It is very unfortunate, but you will have to click through all your rejected photos until you find the ones they have deleted. The reason given will be "AUDIT REMOVAL: INCOMPATIBLE WITH TERMS."

For me, I started at the beginning of my rejected photos (meaning years ago) and I found the two after tediously clicking for quite some time until I found that message . One was uploaded 8 years ago and one was uploaded 9 years ago. 

But synthetick gave some good advice above "I have come across at least 12 instances of people complaining in various forums or groups about images that have been removed, but I have found that the exact same images are still online in their portfolios with different file numbers. So for anyone wondering why a file has been removed please check your portfolio and see if you have a duplicate of it still online."

I followed that advice this morning and I did find the 2 images that I thought had been removed.

[synthetick]

I'm happy to have helped resolve this for you.

[Nancy OShea]

I think this is part of a 'Spring Cleaning' effort to get rid of low-sellers & make room for new inventory.

If you have old assets in your portfolio that haven't had any recent activity, it's probably time to re-examine them. 

Can they be improved? 

Are the titles, keywords & descriptions as good as they should be?

[Velvet Ant]

Two emails re: deletions for me to date - two assets deleted the first time, five the next. Have found one of the deleted images so far - it's just lichen growing on a branch. I checked all of the keywords and am left none the wiser. This latest Adobe initiative seems random and baseless - a jeopardy that we have no way of avoiding. I think some sort of response from Adobe is in order. (attached photo is just a screenshot of original)

[synthetick]

It has probably been removed because it is a duplicate. I used your thumbnail to search Adobe Stock by image and found the same photo still online. Please can you check whether the file number of the image that was removed and the file number of the one that is still online are different?

[Velvet Ant]

Thank you for checking that out - much appreciated 🙂 Will have a look.

[Velvet Ant]

Can't easily find original (thumbnail was from Adobe email) but it is the same image that remains on sale (as you kindly discovered for me). If I did submit it twice (unlikely, but I can't categorically say I didn't) then hooray for knowing the reason it was removed - be interested to hear from others... Again, appreciate your efforts on my behalf, synthetick

[daniellei4510]

I have in the past put considerable effort into editing an asset only to realize midway through that the asset started looking vaguely familiar. Sure enough, I had already submitted it and had it accepted. That's happened a couple times now, despite the fact that I try very hard to remember to delete the originals after completing and submitting the edited versions. As someone once said, "My memory is like a mouse's tear on a hot skillet. Pssst."

[synthetick]

You're welcome!

[Velvet Ant]

My latest - am up to page 5 of my not accepteds and have found 5 images on the naughty list thus far. Having used synthetick's method I discovered 4 of those images to be still on sale. The 5th could be classed as too similar to those already accepted - well it's a close up of the same plant. I'm happy to say 'mea culpa' or that Adobe is - much better for sanity to have an explantation (what was that about an ant's tear...?) 🙂