The Ultimate Primer for Protecting Yourself on Writing Sites

There are those who assumed various online writing sites went down because of unforeseen circumstances. Others saw the creation of a Ponzi from day one.

Those who admit this during the existence of the site are attacked. They are attacked by paid Shills, and those who aren't paid and don’t know they are Shills.

Rip off is based on how trusting you are.

Write, reach the pay out, stop, put in for the coin and don't write again until receiving sum. Write, reach the second pay out, and wait.

These writers suffer less deprivation than those who get one pay out, assume the site is legitimate, and write their fingers off.

You don’t need to have a Ph.D in economics to appreciate that if a site earns 1c on an item it can not pay out 1c.

To pay for every view, to pay for comments and likes has no economic basis.

Money comes from the advertisers. How much do these advertisers pay to put ads on a page containing amateur writing on the Internet?

How many people who visit these writing sites, see the ads and click on them?
One out of a thousand? One out of ten thousand?

Sure, fool the public into thinking that this page has 100k hits by paying Shills to comment and like, but considering how much money advertisers actually pay where is the money coming from?

Anyone who wrote for Triond, for example, knew that 6 views gained 1c. They could do the math and see how many thousands one needed to make $25. How could a new, unknown site pay so many times better than Triond?

Think of it; you have 6k hits on Triond and get $10. Yet, on this other site, you have $20. How? Where is the money coming from?

Bubblews was created as a Ponzi. It was never formed as a real writing or publishing platform. It was created with one thought in mind; to make money for the owners.

The platform hosting Bubblws was free. Adsense was hooked in, so all that was needed was content.

Where to get the first set of ‘wallpaper’ on which to hang the ads?

The owners wrote some items, plagiarized a pile. They ran around promoting Bubblews on other writing sites which they joined under alias, leaving messages for users:

“Hey! Have you tried Bubblews? It pays high for hits, for comments and even for likes!"

Members of other sites visited. As the Bub offered to pay more than others and pay for things no other site did, every warm body began to write their fingers off. This enabled Bubblews to pull down the plagiarized work which filled the site.

Now comes the first pay out; money was borrowed to make those payments. It was a good investment as that first pay out created Shills.

Every scam has ‘satisfied customers’.

From the earliest days there was always someone walking around the crowd claiming that the Snake Oil cured his baldness, or made him irresistible to women.

This was the basic Shill; a guy who was hired to prime the crowd. He knew what he was there for. That the Snake Oil was worthless was no surprise to him.

Today, many Shills do not realise who they are and what they are doing.

They come on a site, they get paid, and they run around roping in others. Many use their ‘referral’ number so they get a piece of their victim’s coin.

Shills never stop touting until they get ripped off. And they do get ripped off. For just as a sucker is born every minute, so is a Shill.

Every person who joined is going to be paid that first time. It doesn’t matter if they have accumulated their 'pay’ by likes, comments and only wrote one crappy item.

As soon as they reach the 'redemption’ they are paid. That is bottom line. The first pay out.

After that first pay, the Site Owners created an 'algorithm for who gets Pay Out 2.

Those who have brought in ten new bodies get paid.
Those who haven’t, don’t.

However this depends on how much money the Owners had in the account..

If after paying First Timers there is only enough to pay 1/3rd of his Shills, 1/3rd are paid.

So Fat Mary could have brought in 10 new bodies, but so have others, so she doesn’t make the cut. This is not immediately perceived by Fat Mary.

All she knows is that she reached the first Redemption and received it, so began working on her second, put in for that, and despite not getting it, continues to write and bring in new bodies.

Fat Mary has loaded the site. The Owners did not have to spend a minute shilling, she’s doing that. For free.

There are people with fully operational brains who joined the Bub, noted the pay out was $25 and spent their days liking and commenting and posting five or so articles.

As soon as they reached $25 put in for the redemption and didn't make another keystroke until they got it. When they got that first pay they began liking and commenting, posting another few articles until they reach their next redemption.

When they didn’t get it, they start to complain.

They complain to the site owners, and complain on line.

This is where the Shills come in.

When Unpaid starts posting on other writing sites, Fat Mary and her clones start the attack. They accuse Unpaid of 'breaking the rules’ as if they have coffee with the Owners every afternoon.

If Unpaid lives in America or knows the Law and where to complain, the Owner might notice and pay that Redemption then block Unpaid from the site.

If Unpaid lives in a 3rd World Nation, he is treated as a cockroach.

As in standard Ponzi's, all first time users are paid. A portion of second redeemers paid. An ever decreasing fraction of users get the next payouts.

Those who live in the Third World are ignored. They have no justice system behind them. Those who live in the First World who are vociferous and can make trouble are paid off. Their subsequent postings are hidden so they will make Zero. Even if 1M people read their work, they make Zero. This is to get rid of them.

Meanwhile, the Owners are raking in money. They've paid off their loans, are filling their pockets. Advertisers are happy, new users are happy. The vast majority remain unpaid and unhappy.

The Owners of Bubblews went on until the lawsuits slapped them. So they took down Bubblews.

What To Do? Never trust any publishing site.

Some follow the Ponzi trend and give that first redemption, others go down before you achieve the threshold.

Tout no site. You have no idea what is going on. You don’t know the Owner’s 'rules’.

When someone complains, read carefully, don’t just slap it away.
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The same idiots who were ripped off on Factoidz; were the same idiots who touted Bubblews and attacked everyone who called it a Ponzi.

Even after it went down.

When you are advised of a new writing/publishing site, visit it with a critical eye.
Read what is posted there, then the Terms of Service (TOS).

Do you lose your copyright?

Some writers will not post on such sites. There is no reason not to. Use Hubpages as the original site and repost on the new site. Hubpages, for no actual reason will send you that ridiculous 'spammy elements' email, making your item 'Non Featured'.

'Non-featuring' your work is how Hubpages avoids paying. The plus is that no one can see your 'non-featured' work. Use Hubpages as storage. Publish your work on the New Site.

If the New Site pays, well great. If it doesn't, shrug.

Method Two is what I call my ‘Clown Series’.

I write a number of absolutely ridiculous items about being a clown in a circus. I have never been a clown, never been in a circus, don’t know anything about what I’m so meticulously documenting.

If the site steals my ‘Clown Series’, well, I once had the garbage 'stolen' from our office by loading it into empty HP 6702 boxes, so it’s the same thing.

When you post on the New Site and reach the 'threshold' limit your output until you receive the pay outs.

The first pay out means nothing; all Ponzi Schemes pay the first time. It is the next pay outs you focus on.

Limit your output.

If it is one of those sites where you have to put in for a ‘redemption’ the site is a Ponzi. The reason the pay out is not automatic is because the Owner wants control over who is paid and who is not.

Let me repeat that;

Any Site which Requires that You put in for a pay out is a Scam. The payment is not automatic because the Owner wants to personally select those who will be paid.

Think of having 300k contributors. How can one person go through 300k people asking for redemptions?

He doesn’t.

He sets it so that all newbies get the pay out and only a few selected others get the next.

It depends on how much money he takes in, how much he is willing to put out to calculate how many users will be paid.