Photo moderation takes too long

[ihar_drone]

I don’t know what happened with the moderation lately, but I really don’t like how it’s been working since this summer (maybe it’s just me). It used to be fine, all my photos got reviewed within 2–3 weeks. Now, however, I have some photos that have been pending for over five months.

I read here that some people recommend deleting and re-uploading photos, so I tried that, and while one or two images get reviewed after a couple of days, they’re always rejected for being “is similar”. As a result, I’ve just accumulated a bunch of photos that no one moderates.

What’s even more frustrating is that beautiful and unique shots are being rejected for “similarity,” whereas before at least one or two would get accepted. Now it’s 100% refusals.

Does anyone know what’s going on with the moderation system?

[daniellei4510]

It's the new norm. Everyone is dealing with this issue and Adobe did announce officially that they were going to giving close attention to "similar content" going forward. Most agree that the process is or at least appears very random at times, and I personally have had assets rejected for similar content that I felt were unique. I've also had assets accepted that I felt sure would get a similar result, but that were accepted. Submit, and cross fingers. As for the review delays, it's apparently a bug. You can wait it out (they do appear to be accepted eventually), or delete and resubmit with a different file name, so that the asset is interpreted as being an entirely new submission.

[igor_6166]

Earlier, some of my submissions were also rejected for being “too similar” to existing ones in the collection, but not 100%. What’s even more frustrating is that the materials from Italy, which somehow got approved before this whole long moderation issue started, turned out to be the most popular in my portfolio. And now I haven’t been able to upload new ones for almost half a year, which makes the situation even more disappointing. 😞
Thanks for your reply!

[daniellei4510]

Half a year seems extra long. Upload limits have been established, but that is outside the norm. How many assets do you presently have under review?

[ihar_drone]

Right now, I have 48 photos pending review. But I still have around half a thousand more ready to upload, and with moderation taking this long, I’ll probably finish uploading them by the time I’m old. 😄
I just don’t see the point in adding more when I still have no results from my previous submissions. Although, to be fair, my recent videos were reviewed quite fast, which is surprising because video moderation used to take even longer.

[daniellei4510]

I'm already old, so I'm glad I got started almost three years ago before they slowed down the review process.

[ihar_drone]

I want to believe that Adobe will expand its team of moderators and we will be able to upload all our photos while we are still alive)))

[daniellei4510]

I don't think there's a shortage of moderators. I do think moderators have been advised not to review entire batches of uploads by a single contributor like they used to. It wasn't unusual two years ago for someone to upload 300 or more unedited AI slop assets and have the entire batch reviewed at once. At least that's the impression I got from other forums particularly.

[ihar_drone]

I don't know, maybe I should try posting one photo but every day.

[daniellei4510]

I try to keep at least 10 to 12 assets under review on a daily basis. If one or two assets get reviewed, I replace them with one or two assets. I have 10 to 15 ready to submit, but I hold on to them throughout the week. I could be wrong, but I believe one is risking having random assets ignored for months if too many build up under review. There does seem to be a preference for feeding newer assets to the moderators while overlooking older ones.  There was a time when assets were reviewed in the order submitted, but those days are long gone.

[ihar_drone]

It seems that yes)) Maybe need to send 2-3 photos, wait for the result, and then send next. It looks like sending my materials will take a long time 😄

[daniellei4510]

That's the disadvantage for contributors new to Adobe Stock, unfortunately. Things were much different just a few months ago, prior to limiting submissions and rejections for similar content. 

[Nancy OShea]

I don't think they want entire collections. They want assets that sell. Stock is a business, not a gallery.

[ihar_drone]

These are just your assumptions, which do not correspond to reality. In my experience, people download the same places but from different angles and views. But I was probably lucky that they accepted the photo and did not reject it because of the similarity. Therefore, your theory is incorrect.

[Nancy OShea]

These are just your assumptions, which do not correspond to reality. 

By @ihar_drone

==========

My experiences may be different from yours, but no less real or valid.

Stock discusses variations in the Contributor User Guide. 

• https://helpx.adobe.com/content/dam/help/en/stock/contributor/Adobe_Stock_Contributor_Guide.pdf
• https://helpx.adobe.com/stock/contributor/help/photography-illustrations.html
• https://helpx.adobe.com/stock/contributor/help/vector-requirements.html

Submitting a series of assets taken at the same time & location can be challenging. Choose assets carefully, so as not to be struck for "similar content."  Stock looks for assets containing unique qualities from others in your series.  Use different metadata for content keywords & titles. 

[Abambo]

These are just your assumptions, which do not correspond to reality. In my experience, people download the same places but from different angles and views. But I was probably lucky that they accepted the photo and did not reject it because of the similarity. Therefore, your theory is incorrect.

By @ihar_drone

The guidelines say up to three variations of a theme, so they are not assumptions. In the past, assets went through, if you just stretched the submissions, not to many of the same theme at the same time. But now, moderators are using a new tool, where we think that it is ill configured, but Adobe is happy with it. Assets are getting refused for similarity, even if they are quite unique. Therefore, our assumption is that metadata plays a big role in this checking. 

[ihar_drone]

It's sad because the same object has different views under different angles...
Ok, I think the main thing is to highlight the problem. Maybe some of the product managers will take a look and be interested in the contributors' opinions.

[Nancy OShea]

Maybe some of the product managers will take a look and be interested in the contributors' opinions.

By @ihar_drone

=========

Unlikely.  Adobe Staff do not lurk in these user-to-user communities.  If you want to reach Adobe, contact Contributor Support directly. 

https://contributor.stock.adobe.com/contact

But they'll tell you the same thing we're telling you.  You can't contact Reviewers or influence the review process. Upper management makes those policy decisions internally.

Good luck.

[Abambo]

Maybe some of the product managers will take a look and be interested in the contributors' opinions.

By @ihar_drone

No. They listen to the market, not contributors' opinions. 

[RALPH_L]

Naturally we do not know. Our thoughts are that AI generated images have flooded the number of assets needing moderation and also has increased the number of available assets. We assume Adobe is getting strickter on what assets are approved and which are refused. We have also concluded, that the asset subject may play a role on how fast a newly submitted asset gets reviewed. 

[igor_6166]

So instead of supporting photographers and filmmakers and giving priority to real people’s work, all the effort now seems to be focused on reviewing AI-generated images... To me, that looks like a very strange decision. I really love Adobe, even though I don’t have many uploads overall, but compared to other stock platforms, even that small number means a lot.

[daniellei4510]

As someone who only submits AI, I can assure my waiting time for reviews have slowed down considerably, along with photographers feeling the same pinch. If I have 2 (or even 1) asset reviewed daily (which sometimes gets a refusal), I consider myself lucky. The issue is affecting everyone. Meanwhile, strict upload limits have been set for individual who submit an over-abundance of AI.

[ihar_drone]

In this situation, I honestly don’t know what to do. Should I keep uploading new photos, or should I wait another six months or even a year until my current submissions get reviewed and only then upload new ones? Or maybe it’s better to upload one photo a day instead...

[Jill_C]

Adobe has always recommended a "slow but steady" approach to uploads. A handful a day is much preferable to submitting huge batches all at once. Indeed, with the weekly submission limit on each account, huge batches are no longer possible. They very much want you to select your highest quality assets for submission rather than throwing everything at the wall to see what sticks.

[daniellei4510]

Keep in mind that Adobe Stock is not the only stock agency, and Adobe does not claim exclusivity regarding your assets. You can, as some have, submit your work to other agencies in the meantime.