How To Check if a Site is Legit

Over the years many writing sites have sprung up and ripped off the writers.  The Scam is fairly simple.

How

Create a site on one of the many free servers. Get Ad Sense or a similar Ad program which dumps coin into an account.

Load the site with stuff that was either copied from other sites or self-written, then run around to all the other sites and invite others to join.

Those who see the invite will probably give the site a check. If it looks good and sounds good they’ll join and post.

A GLANCE

If the site is real, there’ll be the TOS, (terms of service), which one reads to find out what is what.  How much one will be paid per item may be clear or somewhat deceptive.

What is required is usually spelled out; for example 500 words or more with images.

The potential writer might ask others on the site if they were paid or how the payment goes, and may hear lies or truth.

So how to know, before those first key strokes?

CHECK LIST

1. What does the Site Look Like?

Scam sites hide the work of their so-called members. You don’t get a front page full of items you can read. All you get is a ‘join’ button. Uh huh.   Join what?

2. What is already there?

You see a few items. You glance at them to see the quality.  Are there items you want to read?   If what you see is nothing much you can be sure its a scam.  The public won’t be there, there is nothing for them.    What is there is a big hole you are to jump in and give away your work.

3. How did you get there?

Was it a btw mention? Was it an anxious solicitation? Was there a referral code? Were you told by a person who writes here or was it some stranger who leaves a comment under one of your articles?

What Do You Do?

Join under a name which leads to an email account which is used for writing sites, just in case this is one of those special rip offs. Many sites ‘sell’ their user base to various scammers and advertisers. If the site you have entered is one of those, then by diverting, you save yourself.

Post something you’ve put other places. Rewrite the item a bit. Different title. Post it and wait.

What Happens?

Some sites have a long ‘pending’ period. Once it goes beyond 24 hours, be suspicious. This is a site that is either badly managed, under supported, or a scam.

If the item is one of your old standards, already on other sites, shrug. If it happens to be a new item, copy and paste it elsewhere. A ‘pending’ item is not published. Therefore it doesn’t exist on the site. Put it somewhere else and see what happens. See if the new site realises that it is already published, or publishes it without check.

If it does that, you can bet its a scam site and so putting on already posted things, some with different titles and only slightly modified means that if you aren’t paid at the new site, well, you’ve already been paid at the old.

Many scam sites will have you write and then take your work and publish it under their own name elsewhere, often in another language.

Some sites can’t pay so hold your item. A few need an excuse so advise your article has flaws so that publication, and of course, pay, is delayed.

Some sites have a set ‘review’ time so the item you publish at 7 am is seen by noon, or by noon the following day.

Once you appreciate the delays, you know that nothing topical should be wasted in a slow moderated site.

Some sites publish and advise how much you earned. Suppose it is .001. If you network your item and see that you’ve gotten 10 hits and you are still at .001 you can pretty much guess how badly this site will pay. You might make $1.00 if 1k people see your item.

Be Cautious

Shills are paid by the site to bring in warm bodies. They know the site is a scam. But every person who comes in on their referral and posts, they get 10c. They get paid more for bringing in the body then they would writing an item.

This is because scams need numbers. They need to tell advertisers that they have 1M members. They get 1M members by active shills. The more members and views they have, the more they earn from the Ads. They like the big numbers.

Scammers, like those who ran Bubblews, followed the pattern. Have a bunch of plagiarised things all over the front page, and slowly replace them by items their dupes posted.

Have Shills run all over the ‘Net touting it. Pay for likes, comments, views, and always pay that 1st time.

When the 2nd pay out is due, check.

If the writer hasn’t brought in at least five warm bodies, don’t pay. If they have brought in over 20, pay them quick, but only after paying off all the 1st redeemers.

Be careful of Americans, they have active legal systems which, if the site is reported as a scam, will Investigate. Those from 3rd and 4th world countries can be stiffed because they can’t do anything about it.

Keep touting the site, and having Shills run around; “I was always Paid!”

Who would do that?

Think about it. You belong to Triond, you were always paid. Did you ever use your referral? What about Hubpages? What about other sites? If you are asked; “Did Literacybase pay you?” You say, ‘Yes’ but to run all over the Net to bring in warm bodies? Who does that?

Shills

People who join scams are brought there by Shills.   They were minding their own business when someone who has a Vested Interest in the site grabbed them.

Shills only care about their pocket.   They may make any claim they think will get over, but the reason they are bringing you in is money.

On this site, there was a shout about something called tinycent.   When I questioned some guy came in to say he’d just gotten off the phone with the Owner who said….

Now if this didn’t shout Scam what could?

Real sites don’t need Shills.   Real sites publish and pay.