30 years. Many regrets. Many fresh and some, well most that I don't remember can stay dead and buried.
Luckily, and despite the bad, very bad decisions I've made, I do think, that when I don't think, and just let my gut instinct ride, that good things do happen.
And for as many good places I've gone, there's some things my gut just doesn't react to.. or tells me not to do or not to go.
Zivity was one of those things. Nothing about it except the that the members can vote on sets and the models are paid based on the popularity of their sets seemed at all interesting, plus there seemed a general lack of interest for the site other than models going there to actually get money for their sets.. yeah.. how does that really work? If the majority of the money, which isn't much to begin with doesn't go back into the site, or into the models pockets?
Better to have them set up a paypal account and credit them directly no?
There's still a hint of competition for not much money after the site staff takes their cut, if it isn't that much stronger than it is here on SG for the models and photographers to work harder.. but then what? is there a basic amount they'd be paid back in order to cover their expenses and actually make of the site an actual money stream?
Like last month, or the month before I lost a harddrive with my backgrounds folder. Even though I have a backup I lost a couple of months. I went back through everything to recover them. That everything included the hopefuls which I don't generally notice. It always seemed like some hopefuls would create a few sets and fewer would go pink and make more sets. Some hopefuls just keep adding sets and I wonder, why or how.. but if that's just what they want to do, then the not entirely false hope of ever going pink might matter less. It has always bugged me. Especially for sets you know are works of art and cost and money to produce.
Same thing seems true on Zivity.. but the votes are there. You can do the math and figure out what the models and photographers got back. And then there's some sets that have no votes.. or models with several sets.. and no votes. For those that do get votes, perhaps disproportionately more than others, how many votes, and money is left over. Can a model make a living, or even spending money off what remains?
Doubtful. And honestly that's what I've always thought of SG, but the emphasis on community here is undeniable. And the site works with options for previews etc. That's a plus.
Might just be the irritation with how the Zivity website itself works. I went through 4 mobile browsers, don't ask me why, to get signed up. And once I did only 1 set really worked with Flash.
That aside, because mobile is not the main platform (jest, no one needs to properly support gingerbread), the desktop web experience is not any better. From the tech background of the founders.. that's just disappointing.
I haven't looked hard but the word video did appear on the site. It was partially the reason I wanted to know if the site worked on mobile, with or without Flash. After nearly a year with my ZTE gingerbread POS smartphone, trying in vain to justify the damned thing and its unlimited data plan but no Flash support (which I only just finally got working), it would be nice to find a good website (like SG) with Flash support and videos that worked well (480p) outside of a $10 a month or higher fee (where's the line between SG and porn, and I'm not about to say it is in how much you pay and what you get). It is about pinups and being able to say in almost any company that sure I'm happy SG exists and it is worth paying for. But a $30 a month fee to a porn site recurring, would be so wasteful.. and the same questions about fair renumeration for uploaded content exists.. even what happens to the models. Can't say how many porn stars just degenerate over the years. Why would anyone support that? because they just want the instant gratification and don't care about the models and their lives off set?
I'm not averse to such a fee in any way considering the main point that I'm perfectly happy seeing the models and photographers get paid. It's the quality of the photos (some good, most not so good) and videos (can't find any) that bugs me, the fakeness of the site itself, and the lack of quality of the website itself that kiils it.
It seemed more appropriate to open the site on mobile give the page doesn't scale to full screen, and the photos mostly don't either. It was only after a few years of ambivalence towards the site (and I don't like the sets with blood etc) and a heartfelt recommendation from my friend and SG member batmite that I even bothered to join. He knew I was holding out because I wanted to see bigger pictures (for use as desktops) and just because they made more sense on larger screens.
Zivity has that.. and some of the sets are incredible (nature shots and just great photography gets to me).. but there are many better put together websites. Yet still managers to feel like an instant gratification portal. Just leave a vote on the table. Taking the end user out of that process though, just means they have leave management of content and money to the site staff. With only 5 votes, it doesn't seem like much anyway. But the more quarters I put in, the house keeps so much of it.. better just to not think about it.
Don't hate it, but maybe they need to refresh their site so it displays better on big screen.
For the money.. I'd also love to see more videos, which is what I've been wondering about SG.
Sure the focus is photography.. but like the old Femjoy website, if you're going to do something new, why not 3-5 minute videos along with the photos? Carrying a narrative in a 3 minute clip, as should be expected from the classic 40 shots SG formula, like a commercial break would seem an interesting other thing to try. Something worth paying for not just to kill time, but that's actually worth taking my eyes off an actual commercial break.
I don't know why I expected that, or anything more from Zivity.. or anything for that matter.. but having expected that... it seems a bit, more of the same.
Luckily, and despite the bad, very bad decisions I've made, I do think, that when I don't think, and just let my gut instinct ride, that good things do happen.
And for as many good places I've gone, there's some things my gut just doesn't react to.. or tells me not to do or not to go.
Zivity was one of those things. Nothing about it except the that the members can vote on sets and the models are paid based on the popularity of their sets seemed at all interesting, plus there seemed a general lack of interest for the site other than models going there to actually get money for their sets.. yeah.. how does that really work? If the majority of the money, which isn't much to begin with doesn't go back into the site, or into the models pockets?
Better to have them set up a paypal account and credit them directly no?
There's still a hint of competition for not much money after the site staff takes their cut, if it isn't that much stronger than it is here on SG for the models and photographers to work harder.. but then what? is there a basic amount they'd be paid back in order to cover their expenses and actually make of the site an actual money stream?
Like last month, or the month before I lost a harddrive with my backgrounds folder. Even though I have a backup I lost a couple of months. I went back through everything to recover them. That everything included the hopefuls which I don't generally notice. It always seemed like some hopefuls would create a few sets and fewer would go pink and make more sets. Some hopefuls just keep adding sets and I wonder, why or how.. but if that's just what they want to do, then the not entirely false hope of ever going pink might matter less. It has always bugged me. Especially for sets you know are works of art and cost and money to produce.
Same thing seems true on Zivity.. but the votes are there. You can do the math and figure out what the models and photographers got back. And then there's some sets that have no votes.. or models with several sets.. and no votes. For those that do get votes, perhaps disproportionately more than others, how many votes, and money is left over. Can a model make a living, or even spending money off what remains?
Doubtful. And honestly that's what I've always thought of SG, but the emphasis on community here is undeniable. And the site works with options for previews etc. That's a plus.
Might just be the irritation with how the Zivity website itself works. I went through 4 mobile browsers, don't ask me why, to get signed up. And once I did only 1 set really worked with Flash.
That aside, because mobile is not the main platform (jest, no one needs to properly support gingerbread), the desktop web experience is not any better. From the tech background of the founders.. that's just disappointing.
I haven't looked hard but the word video did appear on the site. It was partially the reason I wanted to know if the site worked on mobile, with or without Flash. After nearly a year with my ZTE gingerbread POS smartphone, trying in vain to justify the damned thing and its unlimited data plan but no Flash support (which I only just finally got working), it would be nice to find a good website (like SG) with Flash support and videos that worked well (480p) outside of a $10 a month or higher fee (where's the line between SG and porn, and I'm not about to say it is in how much you pay and what you get). It is about pinups and being able to say in almost any company that sure I'm happy SG exists and it is worth paying for. But a $30 a month fee to a porn site recurring, would be so wasteful.. and the same questions about fair renumeration for uploaded content exists.. even what happens to the models. Can't say how many porn stars just degenerate over the years. Why would anyone support that? because they just want the instant gratification and don't care about the models and their lives off set?
I'm not averse to such a fee in any way considering the main point that I'm perfectly happy seeing the models and photographers get paid. It's the quality of the photos (some good, most not so good) and videos (can't find any) that bugs me, the fakeness of the site itself, and the lack of quality of the website itself that kiils it.
It seemed more appropriate to open the site on mobile give the page doesn't scale to full screen, and the photos mostly don't either. It was only after a few years of ambivalence towards the site (and I don't like the sets with blood etc) and a heartfelt recommendation from my friend and SG member batmite that I even bothered to join. He knew I was holding out because I wanted to see bigger pictures (for use as desktops) and just because they made more sense on larger screens.
Zivity has that.. and some of the sets are incredible (nature shots and just great photography gets to me).. but there are many better put together websites. Yet still managers to feel like an instant gratification portal. Just leave a vote on the table. Taking the end user out of that process though, just means they have leave management of content and money to the site staff. With only 5 votes, it doesn't seem like much anyway. But the more quarters I put in, the house keeps so much of it.. better just to not think about it.
Don't hate it, but maybe they need to refresh their site so it displays better on big screen.
For the money.. I'd also love to see more videos, which is what I've been wondering about SG.
Sure the focus is photography.. but like the old Femjoy website, if you're going to do something new, why not 3-5 minute videos along with the photos? Carrying a narrative in a 3 minute clip, as should be expected from the classic 40 shots SG formula, like a commercial break would seem an interesting other thing to try. Something worth paying for not just to kill time, but that's actually worth taking my eyes off an actual commercial break.
I don't know why I expected that, or anything more from Zivity.. or anything for that matter.. but having expected that... it seems a bit, more of the same.
lenacristina:
Yes, I look to you :p Thanks you for supporting my set 