Things To Watch Out For When Joining a Writing Site

The very first thing that should send up a red flag is when someone jumps onto a site you are already on and starts to invite you another site with all kinds of cheering.

There is a difference between someone mentioning the various other sites they are on, or answering a question about it and the character racing in and posting;  “I found a Great Site!  You have to join!  Go to riprite.com/1243!”   and other statements in that phylum.

The fact is, if you don’t own that supermarket the best you can say is that; “They have always been very nice to me,”  or,  “They have a wide selection.”   That is because you have no idea if they are selling rotten meat, if their cheese expired last Tuesday, if they are going out of business.   You don’t know, because you don’t own it.

If you don’t own the site, how do you know they will pay?    You don’t.    If you are dishonest, and a shill, and the owner says; “I’ll give you $1.00 for every sucker you drag in,”  then you’ll run around from mylot to niume, from hubpages to literacybase posting how great it is.

Right here, on Literacybase, a guy came in singing the praises of tinycent.   When I posted my doubts, he came back with a; “I just telephoned the owner and he said….”

If anything shouted the site was a scam, that was it.

So your first Rule is Never Join a Site that is being touted.  Ever.   Anyone who comes on to any site ever and sings the praises of another site beyond, “well, I was always paid,”  is a shill.  And that number at the end of the I.P. address is his referral code, meaning, he gets paid for every warm body he drags in.

If you have to join, or aren’t sure, leave out the referral code.  If you go to ‘riprite’ go to ‘riprite.com’.

The second flag is when a site sounds too good to be true.   When a site seems to pay so much more than other sites, unless it is a professional one, which requires all sorts of qualifications and demands you write on topics and gives you a one off pay,  be very very chary.

A professional site demands a lot of work and what they pay is less than your local newspaper.  However, if you join you know that they are selling your work for more than they pay you, which is how they get the revenue to pay you.

Other sites which pay by hits or have some kind of scheme which are so much more than other, similar sites, is probably a scam.

All scams pay that first time.   They pay so that you will type your fingers off going for the second payment that never comes.

Getting the first pay out is no feat.   It is the second and third which prove legitimacy.

When you join a site and your revenue mounts pretty quickly for that first time, and you get your payout don’t think it’s all free and clear.  It isn’t.   In many cases that is the last pay out you will ever see.

Some sites will trick your views.   You see you only got eight views.  You network, you get comments, yet, you see that you still only have eight views.

Yah.

You may have 2348 views, but the site is tricking you so as not to pay you.  It is done deliberately.  Learn this, for every person who comments on your item there are probably five people who read it and didn’t comment.

If you want to prove it for yourself, go and use a proxy server, and enter the site as guest and look at all your items.  If you have time, log off, come back on another proxy.   Now you know that you as a ‘stranger’ came to view you, as a member.   If the numbers don’t change, well, you have proven it beyond a doubt the site is playing with your views to prevent you from reaching payout that second time.

This is why you don’t trust a site until you are paid three times without hassle.

Too many people may play the ‘clown series’ (this is writing stuff you don’t care about, may be making up as you go alone… i.e. pretending to be a clown in a circus, for example) the first batch of items, get the pay, then pour out their soul, and never see another cent.

Never trust a site that pays once.  After three payments… on time… relax a little, but be a bit careful.

Most sites practice the standard ‘Ponzi’;  that is pay once, get the confidence of the suckers, then never pay again.   Be alert.

Another trick of sites is to claim an item is plagiarised when it isn’t.    When a site runs a cheap A.I. plag checker a lot of stuff will be ‘flagged’.  This will be ‘quotes’ from reliable sources you use to substantiate your item, this may be nothing but facts.

Sure it might be just the cheap A.I. but might also be to block your items and slow your payments.   You’ll find perfectly good items, items you could publish elsewhere, (and do publish elsewhere) without a blink.  This is another proof.

As soon as a site ‘flags’ and item for plagiarism, (one which isn’t plagiarised) take it down, and post it elsewhere.   If it goes on easy and there’s no argument, you know the site is playing you.   It is playing you so as not to pay you.

Many sites think you have no confidence, you don’t know when you plagiarise.   If you believe them, especially when you wrote the item yourself, and only used quotes or authorities to prove the item, then they’ll win.  As long as you appreciate their tricks, and publish the ‘plag’ item elsewhere, you lose nothing.  You gain an insight that the site is a trick.

So, to recap, disdain shills who try to drag you into a site.   Don’t think the first payment is proof of a site’s legitimacy, it isn’t.   Watch your hits, and test them.  If you wrote an item yourself and its flagged for plagiarism, the site is trying not to pay you.