Virily; One of Many Trick Sites

Over the decades the number of online publishing sites has decreased. With little choice, a writer joins a site they wouldn't have previously glanced at if there was more choice. One of these sites was Virily.

It was created by those who knew every scam and trick.

People joined, wrote, thinking they would earn money.

One of the clues that it was a scam appeared at the start. Items written by the Admin's Duals were spotlighted. These Duals, labeled 'verified' writers, had pathetic English skills. This is because the site is located in Estonia and operated by Estonians.

This was the first give away that the site was a scam.

On sites that existed before 2010 only the best items were on the front page. These were well written pieces.

One can reflect on the early days of Factoid, of Triond, etc. where when one logged on they would see interesting items of first rate quality.

On Virily it was clear the 'verified writers' were not English speakers.

Those who had experience assumed the items were written by the owners to fill the front page and fool advertisers into thinking there were dozens of active users.

This was not true.

The site was created by folks in Estonia as their own money raker and outsiders were lured to join by the belief they would be paid.

One of most common tricks Virily played, (which is standard for fake sites) is to claim every article is moderated. I assume the word moderated is a synonym for 'delay' in Estonian.

The point of 'moderation' is to prevent writers from publishing. If you can't publish you can't earn, if you can't earn you won't reach the threshold.

It is as simple as that.

Originally, when it sort of paid, a writer would post and the work fester for two days or longer.

When it stopped paying, publication became immediate.

Now, one can't publish as the site has become the blog of the owner.

One of the nefarious practices of Virily, as well as other sites, is segregation of users. Those from the 3rd World were treated differently from those of the 1st World.

Many of the most active writers were from the 3rd world because $10 U.S. in their country is enough to buy groceries for a week or two.

Most put up with the various tricks because they could earn. When there is no earning, your location didn't matter.

As it became the owner's private blog no one else can publish.

One of the most offensive tricks played by the site was the creation of a fake currency called Virils. These "Virils" were manipulated so the writer could never knew how many equal 1c.

Those who were on Triond will recall that different topics went to different sub sites. One subsite paid 1c per 6 views, another paid 1c for 25 views; this was all spelled out to the user as they joined.

On Virily it depended on the greed of the Owners how much a Viril was worth.

Years ago, when Virily first came on the scene, pulling in advertisers, the site did occasionally pay writers.

It stopped paying a few years ago, but invited users. Like other non-paying sites it could be used as a blog.

Instead of finding an official blog site and creating your pattern, putting so much effort into the style and background, people used Virily.

They would write their item on their Virily 'Blog' and put the address on social media. Friends and followers could read your blog, comment on the media site.

This annoyed Virily which blocked everyone but the owner from posting.

It was my belief that the owner was looking attention, created a scam site, to gain views and earn money.

Once the site was 'set' and advertisements aplenty, the Owner decided to keep the farce of Virily being a writing site. But Virily is the owner's blog.

If you want to see really bad writing, take a glance.