Similar images already submitted!!!

[Sobhy_AI]

Hello there,

I went from a 95% acceptance rate to 20% or less. Almost all of my submissions are being rejected for the "similar image" reason.

The quality of the images is really good and doesn’t have any issues.

I am uploading at most 2 or 3 variations of each object ,PNGs only and a variety of different items across many categories. I also make sure not to upload similar content that I’ve previously submitted. I am 100% certain that my entire account doesn’t have more than three variations of any given item.

Sometimes, I upload the same object in different styles.

for example, a car in a 3D style and another version in watercolor or clay, so they are still distinct. (2 to 3 variations for each style)

Is this a general issue that will be resolved soon, or is it only affecting me?

[Nancy OShea · Accepted solution]

It's not just you.

Others are seeing "similar" rejections, too.

[Sobhy_AI]

Is this issue affecting AI-generated images only, or does it apply to regular images as well?

And what should we do? Should we just wait for them to fix it, or is it better to move on to another platform and remove our content from here? From all the issues I’ve seen, it seems like they don’t respect contributors at all. They don’t even answer questions, and it takes months to get a response from support.

[daniellei4510]

No. I have heard of a few photographers experiencing the same issue. Some here, and some on Facebook sites discussing Adobe Stock. I certainly wouldn't remove content that has already been accepted. As for a "fix," we don't even know for sure if Adobe is aware that something is broken or that the change is being over-zealous in rejecting duplicate assets. You may wish to email contributor support and express your concerns. You'll receive a canned response, but that doesn't mean the complaints aren't being read.

[Sobhy_AI]

I sent them an email, but it might take six months to get a response! On the other hand, if I had an issue with my subscription payment, they would reply in five minutes.

[daniellei4510 · Accepted solution]

I received a response in a day. But again, it was copperplate standard text. Point is to just let them know what's going on, since Adobe doesn't always check out some of the forums.

[Carmen36452259uhzw]

I plan on resubmitting some of my rejected images. Those that I know are not "similar" to what's in my queue or already in my portfolio. I am going to wait a couple of weeks and then try resubmitting them. 

[daniellei4510]

Keep in mind that it's not just about what is in YOUR portfolio. It's the entire database that Adobe is referring to. And even then, it's getting it wrong, because photographers have complained that they have submitted images of places they KNOW are not in the database.

Resubmit, but I would recommend at minimum to take extra care with your titles and keywords. If an algorithm is at play here, that is what it is watching: not the images themselves necessarily, which would require AI. But I'm just spit-balling here. There could be other factors none of us are aware of.

[Sobhy_AI]

I deleted all the images in the review section and decided not to submit anything for a while until we find out what’s happening to avoid getting my account banned because I got around 200 rejections, and that’s a lot.

[Sergei37432802f12q]

I'm facing the same problem, and I'm hesitating whether I should resubmit or not.
Have any of you tried resubmitting a rejected Similar Image?
How do the reviewers usually respond to that?
How many times is it acceptable to do this?
Because, honestly, their logic seems to have disappeared lately.

[daniellei4510]

"Have any of you tried resubmitting a rejected Similar Image?"'

I've re-submitted one as an experiment to see what happens. I am tagging the rest as "green" in Lightroom to resubmit at some point, hopefully when this is over. 

[Abambo · Accepted solution]

Don't use e-mail. Use the "contact us" form! https://helpx.adobe.com/stock/contributor/help/Need-Help-Contact-Us.html

[VectorOwl]

I'm afraid the only way this will ever be taken into consideration by Adobe Stock only if contributors start mass-complaining. If contributor support receives just a few concerns, they will dismiss it. If it's hundreds or thousands complaints emerge, then something might be done. At this point, they do not care and our complaints do not go past the contributor support inbox because they simply use the templates for replies. They do not pass this over to the tech team or whichever relevant department.

[daniellei4510]

As of this date, I would say I'm having an equal number of assets rejected for being similar as I'm having accepted. I only submit AI, but I'm a big believer in limiting the number of my submissions to between 30 and 40 under review at any given time, rather than bind the system with hundreds of assets. I'm leaving them up. How else to get a bead on what the algorithm considers similar or not? Not that it's always correct, as others and I have pointed out. There is a strong indication that a strong degree of randomness is involved.

Personally, I'm BLAMING AI for this turn of events, and it's causing collateral damage to real photographers who are also having unique assets rejected as being too similar. I have little doubt in my mind that mass submission of AI assets is at least in part responsible.

[photorebelle]

I understand the importance of avoiding duplicates on the platform, but I would like my submissions to be evaluated with a more nuanced approach. 
 It would also be useful to obtain clarification on these new "likeness" criteria.
Personally on 10 images if I have one to accept it's a good day!

[daniellei4510]

Agreed. I have no issue with keeping the database lean and mean, but many of the rejections are extremely arbitrary.

[Sobhy_AI]

Agree with you, They just have to tell us what should we do with the new system and it is fine but they are not saying anything

[Verchinskii]

"Similarity" of images is a question that worries many authors now. I agree that the content sent to Adobe should not be a copy with minor changes. But there are images sent for the first time and rejected because of "similarity". For myself, I decided to wait. I do not think that Adobe wants to become the last platform where authors want to upload photos and images. In the meantime, I am looking for ideas for creating quality content and sending 1-3 images per week for review. I hope the situation with "similarity" will become clearer.

[VectorOwl]

These Similar Image rejections are getting out of hand. My acceptance rate dropped from 90% to 0% in the past few days. 2-3 images get rejected every few minutes. Contributor support is not helpful at all :'(

[Sobhy_AI]

Same here, I got only 3 images accepted out of more than 200 in the past week. There must be another way to reach them instead of just the contributor support email.

[VectorOwl]

Over 500 were rejected for Similar as of today, many are conceptual and unique images :'( 214 are left pending and they will be rejected too. Full 0% acceptance rate instead of the usual 90%. I took time to craft and edit each image carefully and was so excited about this project. But now this isn't very encouraging 😞 I'm going to take a long break from Adobe Stock and will focus on uploading somewhere else then.

[daniellei4510]

Yesterday, someone purchased my entire set of 9 illustrations of angel wings that I uploaded several months ago. They are all among my best sellers (just short of 200 to date). Based on whatever algorithm or method now being used to keep "similar" assets out of the database, at least six, if not all, would have been refused by today's standards. The algorithm appears to be putting emphasis on assets of the same general subject (I'm having a lot of portraits rejected as well) rather than the execution and uniqueness of the subjects when compared to one another.

[VectorOwl]

I've uploaded a wide variety of subjects, which aren't portraits and have no people. Concepts like time, security, environmental, health, etc. And 100% of it has been rejected for Similar in the past week :'( I have almost 5k approved files in my portfolio, it was fun and encouraging to keep creating new content for Adobe Stock. But  I'm giving up now..

[Nancy OShea]

I'm giving up now..

By @VectorOwl

=========

You give up too easy. Rejection comes with the territory.

If not for one reason, then another.

Successful Contributors persevere.

[VectorOwl]

It is hard to become or plan on becoming successful when spending several months on building a library of carefully crafted stock content to have it rejected for Similar Images :'( Contributor support keeps responding that images will be rejected if they're similar to what already exists in their entire database. It makes 0 sense and feels dismissive and disrespectful to all contributors who are experiencing this. If this was a bug, it wouldn't take weeks to allow it to keep messing up the system. They could have halted the issue and could have just stopped reviewing for a while, which they've done before (my files used to be pending for 5-6 months until support was pinged). Stock site thrives when library of fresh content is growing. With what they're doing now, indicates they're not interested in certain content anymore.