Are PhotoDune reviewers robots or humans?

Today I had one image soft-rejected because reviewer requested a model release. I tried to explain why I believe it doesn’t need it and I politely asked for a more human explanation (rather than a generic pointer to a wiki page) in “Comments for reviewers” field.

I get a same generic reply… I try again… SAME ! Moreover, I told them to hard-reject my photo if they feel that model release is really necessary, but no, I still get soft-rejects, as if nobody ever read my comments to reviewers…

I understand that there are hundreds (or thousands) of photos they need to review, but still, is this really the way reviewers should behave?

Hi urbazon,

PhotoDune reviewers evaluate thousands of files per day and the article the review team directed you to explains why an image may need a release form. http://support.envato.com/index.php?/Knowledgebase/Article/View/196

Unfortunately, due to the high volume of submissions, the reviewers aren’t always able to provide a custom written response. Also, for this particular issue, photos are to be soft-rejected so the team wouldn’t be hard-rejecting them.

If you need further assistance you can submit a support ticket at http://support.envato.com

jremick said
PhotoDune reviewers evaluate thousands of files per day and the article the review team directed you to explains why an image may need a release form. http://support.envato.com/index.php?/Knowledgebase/Article/View/196

Yeah, I’m very well aware of that Moreover, I even wrote this in my first post

jremick said
Unfortunately, due to the high volume of submissions, the reviewers aren’t always able to provide a custom written response. Also, for this particular issue, photos are to be soft-rejected so the team wouldn’t be hard-rejecting them.

Yes, I know why they soft-reject them in that case, but still, after I’ve explicitly stated in my Comments for Reviewers that they can freely hard-reject it, because there is NO model-release, they still soft-reject it. Therefore I could not conclude anything else but the fact that reviewers don’t even bother to read that Comment field…

It’s not my intention to point fingers at any specific reviewer… As a matter of a fact, I am aware they are doing tremendously good job, but the volume of work seems to be making them sloppier and in a greater hurry than a man should take while dealing with creative works…

urbazon said

jremick said
PhotoDune reviewers evaluate thousands of files per day and the article the review team directed you to explains why an image may need a release form. http://support.envato.com/index.php?/Knowledgebase/Article/View/196

Yeah, I’m very well aware of that Moreover, I even wrote this in my first post

jremick said
Unfortunately, due to the high volume of submissions, the reviewers aren’t always able to provide a custom written response. Also, for this particular issue, photos are to be soft-rejected so the team wouldn’t be hard-rejecting them.

Yes, I know why they soft-reject them in that case, but still, after I’ve explicitly stated in my Comments for Reviewers that they can freely hard-reject it, because there is NO model-release, they still soft-reject it. Therefore I could not conclude anything else but the fact that reviewers don’t even bother to read that Comment field… It’s not my intention to point fingers at any specific reviewer… As a matter of a fact, I am aware they are doing tremendously good job, but the volume of work seems to be making them sloppier and in a greater hurry than a man should take while dealing with creative works…

Hmm, when I read your message I didn’t see mention of requesting it be hard-rejected (specifically hard, not soft-rejected). However, the procedure we have set for this situation is that it be soft-rejected (not hard-rejected). So they were just following protocol.

I can hard-disable that image for you if you would prefer.