Found this thread early today on the BSP forums.

Everyone of you who contributes or has contributed to any type of free photo site needs to look through this persons gallery. Many of the images looked really familiar to me, though I can't put my finger on where I've seen them, or whose they are.

http://www.bigstockphoto.com/bb/viewtopic.php?t=1799

If this is true (and not some sort of mixup) it's horrendous.

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Thanks for the heads up, Gracey!

Looks like SXC should refine its TOS, if it indeed says images can be used for "low profit," as Steve said. For someone whose native tongue isn't English, I can see where that could be interpretted as granting permission to resell on microstock sites.

That's why all photos uploaded to any "free" site should be watermarked.

I guess lot of people will be surprised to see that someone else has been making money off their images.

Regards from Macedonia.Ljupco

Gracey, I'm not as familiar with the groups and people as you are. I did run a quick search on both iStock (no results) and Fotolia (a result for Snowlion with 4 pages of gorgeous stuff...).

Here's a link over to the Fotolia stuff. Since Bigstock has removed Snowlion's account, I couldn't compare to verify...would you be willing to do so? [url http://www.fotolia.com/search.php?se...wlion]Snowlion at Fotolia[/url].

I thought the butterfly shot looked familiar, but...I dunno. Like I said, I'm new at all this, and before I say something to Fotolia, I'd like a second pair of eyes looking at this.

Thanks...

~FF

The images in the link you posted are the same as the person named snowlion on BSP - the only thing I noticed is that all the offending images that were brought up on BSP don't appear in the gallery link you posted. There's no doubt it's the same person though.

There was a butterfly image in the port on BSP that was identical to the one on webshots - the one in the link you posted is not the same one, but was familiar to me also, I just couldn't find it on webshots. I didn't look on sxc though - I've never used that site.

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O.K., I'll notify Fotolia of it. I'll point them to this thread, so that they can get an idea of the problem and that it isn't just me.

I'll look on some other sites - ala Dreamstime, Totallyphotos, sxp, shutterstock...not sure if I'll find snowlion, but it doesn't serve the microstock community to not know about this.

Regards-
~FF

what a jerk. how long did he think he was going to get away with that..!?

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Top Sellers ? Shutterstock ? Fotolia ? Dreamstime ? BigStock ? StockXpert ? FeaturePics ? MostPhotos ?

Found him over at USPhotoStock, too.

http://www.usphotostock.com/portfoli...c9e58fe4ad6dc3

He's also had photos on iStock and Dreamstime, but it looks like someone caught on over there and they have been removed. Can't find his gallery listed under his other username Tibet6688.

Here he is again, this time at Stockphotomedia under Tibet6688. The guy sure does make the rounds!

http://www.fotomedia.se/FotoMediaApp...D-326807_.aspx

Hi, all. I just heard back from Fotolia, and they said they're aware of the issues. Just thought I'd let you all know.

Regards-
~FF