Hide Keywords

Other agencies give an option to hide the keywords from everyone except the copyright holder. This would eliminate the "borrowing" or using of other artists work. There are plenty of way to keyword without using our own friends work here at P5. Many of us have been happy to suggest and help when asked to help with keywording, but the use without permission is just dishonest. Just like quality footage sells best, good keywording also sells best. We are all in this as a business and yes we are all in competition and the rapid growth and cheap cameras make this even more important. Artists need to learn how to keyword which is just as important as pushing a shutter button.

Allow each artist to select a box which hides keywords from other registered selling artists.

One of the great things about Pond5 is the open database. You can research by views, sales, etc. You can peer into the portfolios of other contributors and look at their views and sales. You can see and research keywords they are using. Why not? It's open information and should be. Rather than make (somewhat mildly paranoid IMHO) efforts to make information proprietary by rigging the system in precaution for some abusers is a bad policy. The research box is black enough as we cannot peer into the customer behavior database anyway. This suggested policy limits access to information genuine contributors use for research and creating successful sales strategies. Thumbs down in a big (but polite and respectful) way!

My suggestion still allows full disclosure of sales, views, pricing and even location, camera and descriptions. Currently it appears some artists are embarrassed about what camera they use so they don't fill that block in.

P5 already supplies the most common keywords used and they can be copied and are often abused as spam. I fail to see (respectfully) why anyone should want to use or copy others keywords. Just like the actual product is copyrighted, the word-for-word verbiage is just like a book, poem or song and should not be violated. It is too bad some people are too lazy to investigate, think about and study to come up with their own words. Typing is actually a bigger part of stock earnings than the actual footage capture.
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The option should be given to the artist to protect their work without regard to others that want to copy or use their intellectual ideas. Intellectual property rights is indeed a very strong legal stand, every bit as much as the copyright on the photo or video.

I've helped dozens of artists on techniques and keywording and have been happy to do so. After they are helped by all of us they need to do it there self.

I also accept your argument with full respect and understanding. I don't believe I've even looked at another artists keywords or descriptions and I think I've done very well.

I've spent a great deal of productive time peering into the portfolios of other artists and glancing at their keywords too. One of my favorite tools is a keyword generator. It's nearly impossible to imagine all the angles a customer can come at an image by your lonesome. It's a great way to learn and I advocate the process for those coming up and even seasoned stock contributors. There are no "others keywords". Copyright law does not apply to lists of words - as they are common ideas. Intellectual property, at least in the way in was originally visioned in the US, was meant as an incentive to creativity and innovation - not a handicap. That's why it expires. Restricting access to information does not improve the crowd-sourcing model, as I stated in my previous post, the other half of the spread sheet is a black market for us. Does that help us? No. Less guessing and more open information. I don't think forbidding strangers to look at simple words, applies to intellectual property. Words, in whatever combination you generate them, are not proprietary. They are simply a list of words. Phantomewo, I challenge you to dictionaries at dawn!

I do think it is a valid point though, that it could be up to the seller if people are copying them word for word.

Even P5 protects it's intellectual property by limiting access by crawlers and archive companies. They use Robots Exclusion Protocol which helps protect themself and also the artists here. Protecting property and ideas is a very strong business need.

I do believe that intellectual protect does apply to a list of words that is used to sell a product especially if the copied list includes another individuals or corporate information. Several times I've personally had other "artists" directly copy resulting in spam. They also have included my real first name, last name, my nickname, P5 artist handle and my company name. That is in fact theft of intellectual property. Anytime another person used the identity of another to sell it is actually a violation of ethics and intellectual theft.

There are plenty of keyword assistants, the problem is that some artists don't use the keywords as as an example as you do but are just blindly copy and paste, that is indeed unethical.

P5 is not crowd sourcing. It is an open market place for individuals and companies to individually market their product using P5 as a storage, marketing, selling and distribution network. That is why P5 allows heated discussions. So if you don't mind I'd like to start using tbmpvideo as a keyword in all of my products, I'm sure I might gain some sales due to your good name that you have worked hard to establish ;)

I'm not arguing a "simple list of words", I agree with that part.

I think this would be a valid idea too, especially for those who've been ripped and copied. I'd certainly be extremely annoyed if my company name and other information was attributed to other artists' work - especially if said work was of shoddy quality.

There are so many tools already online and available here on P5 that if you can't provide your own keywords without having to copy someone else's then you're dabbling in the wrong business!

Hide keywords from individual clips. Okay, I do not sniff for keywords from any artist. I use the home page list which lets me know how the buyer thinks. On the other hand if somebody is using my username, my own name or my registered trademark in their keywords, I would not know if keywords are hidden. Members may start using keywords like "by Philip Bloom" or "Yuri Arcurs".

You could find out easily enough Luxor by doing a periodic search of your own name and see what material comes up. I do this every now and again to see if people have been pinching my stuff on Youtube etc.

In Israel, a plastic surgery clinic used the name of the most famous Israeli plastic surgeon in Google Ad Words. The surgeon does not work for the clinic. He sued the clinic for IP infringement, and won.