June 28, 2016 at 11:19 am

@bestwriter and @Ruby3881 even I believe that we should not post negative against a particular that is paying you. If one has to sort his problems out there are ways to do that. Do you think that the site owners love reading your rant posts and you stay in their good books? Don’t you think if something doesn’t suit you or your interest staying out of it would be a better solution?

June 28, 2016 at 11:28 am

@shaloo walia  Did you read my post about ‘awaiting moderation’ What’s your view on this?

June 28, 2016 at 12:38 pm

@bestwriter  accused of plagiarism? Did the support say that about some particular post of yours? The support publishes a post after thorough checking , so how can you be accused of plagiarism?

June 28, 2016 at 1:15 pm

@bestwriter I have seen a lot of acting out on other sites – mostly users who were using the comments on posts written by staff in order to air their issues about payments, accounts closed for spam/plagiarism, etc. I can understand why some site owners would fear this situation could take root on their sites, but I honestly believe when people are misusing the comments like that it’s because they are frustrated that using more private means to handle the issue are yielding no fruit.

If a site provides a feedback or contact form but then fails to reply promptly when a member asks for help, the complaints will go public. The best way to prevent this is to respond promptly and to be seen to be addressing all problems in a timely fashion. Attempting to place a gag on users will never work, and I find it marks the admin as amateurs who lack business sense. That is something that certain people will exploit.

@ramaan Reporting an issue or asking a question is not ranting. Nor is expressing an opinion about the way a site does business. No business will ever suffer a seriously tarnished reputation because someone says in public what others think in private. What hurts businesses is deleting negative comments, chastising members for speaking up, and otherwise trying to diminish the impact of a criticism without actually taking the time to see whether the criticism is valid.

I find that when I speak my mind on a site, I generally get a positive response from staff. They may not be pleased when I point out a failing, but they respect that I can see both the strengths and the weaknesses. They also like that I try to suggest solutions, and that I encourage other users to create high quality content or to use the site appropriately.

June 28, 2016 at 1:34 pm

@bestwriter I guess it is the case of someone deleted their post and republished here but it still stays on that site until not de-listed in form of cache which makes editors to think that the post is plagiarized. If I had been in such a situation I will make things clear by providing them necessary proof.

June 28, 2016 at 1:42 pm

@bestwriter You say you are accused of plagiarism? You mean someone tried to say your posts are not actually your own work? If that’s the case, they should be able to tell you who they think wrote the text and where it was published before.

I’d find it very difficult to believe any of your posts are plagiarized. I’ve come to know your writing style over the past few years. Your posts have a consistent style and tone that is echoed in your writing on the forum. It is all your own.

Perhaps the issue is those Shutterstock photos you’ve been using in many of your posts? That can be an issue: they are copyrighted and subject to a fee for use. Shutterstock can and does bill bloggers for unlicensed use of their images. I believe the fees can be $500 or more, for just a single instance.

It’s very easy to accidentally mistake a copyrighted Shutterstock image for a public domain Pixabay image. If you search Pixabay for your images, you can apparently sign into the site in order to avoid seeing the Shutterstock pics (which are essentially an ad.) You can also avoid accidentally choosing one of these copyrighted images by making sure to click through to the page where the image is featured, rather than saving it directly from the search results. This is a common, and sometimes costly, error bloggers make.

This post gives more info on the Pixabay/Shutterstock issue and how to avoid accidentally stealing a copyrighted image:

https://goo.gl/0icPYc

June 28, 2016 at 1:52 pm

@suny  I agree with you! We should be supportive of the site which has been paying us. The Support has till date been prompt on responding and taking required action except for a few delays in some cases. We should not forget that the site is still new and it will take time to establish.

June 28, 2016 at 2:05 pm

It has nothing to do with images. I have asked support to let me know where they found my stuff on the Net.  In all fairness to users they should provide this info.

And as for shutter stock images on pixabay I wonder why they are there at all. No mention is made by pixabay specifically about this unless you have come across something on this. I actually prefer wikimedia commons images where everything is clearly mentioned about who owns those images and stuff.

• This reply was modified 8 years, 4 months ago by  bestwriter.

June 28, 2016 at 2:10 pm

@shaloo walia They have not published one of my posts and when asked this was the reply. I have messaged them.

June 28, 2016 at 2:13 pm

@ruby3881  What is your opinion about comments awaiting moderation. I have posted one here.

June 28, 2016 at 2:17 pm

@bestwriter As an online editor I must make it clear that Pixabay is a sister concern of Shutterstock therefore the first and in some cases 2nd row with watermark should not be used unless you are a paid member or have paid for those particular images. The price is mentioned as per their size. You can only use the images which are free to use. It is very much written right there from where you pick the images.

June 28, 2016 at 3:19 pm

They need to know what they do not not. They might not be expert in dealing with business like this.They lack many things. The best site I know is Blogjob but sad to say it is partially dead.

June 28, 2016 at 3:36 pm

@suny  Are images in this site for free?

http://goo.gl/VN8BAI

June 28, 2016 at 3:54 pm

@bestwriter I am still not quite sure what’s up with these comments held for moderation. I don’t know why some are and others are not held for moderation. To be honest, I don’t make a point of checking to see if they publish. I will occasionally see by chance that one has or has not been added, but I don’t have the time to follow up that closely.

About Shutterstock images, they do appear on a pale yellow background (as opposed to white for the safe images) and are marked as “Sponsored Images.” Each Shutterstock image has a visible watermark (a big X through the photo, and the word “Shutterstock”) – although it’s easier to see this mark on some pictures than on others.

However, do your due diligence and click through from the search results to the page where the image is shown with its copyright info. The Shutterstock logo is clearly shown at the top of the page, and the URL is for the Shutterstock site. You will also see the copyright and licensing info all laid out, same as on Wikimedia Commons.

@lovern To be honest, I think BlogJob just got lucky. As soon as traffic dropped, the panic of the admin became apparent and poor decisions were made in haste. The site will likely never properly recover. At this point, any money they are making on traffic is at the expense of bloggers who keep their content there. And since there is no sign of any concrete plan to restore the rewards program, BJ has probably lost many of its best writers for good.

June 28, 2016 at 4:12 pm

@ruby3881  – Shutter Stock does have many that are free. This particular owner of Shutter Stock as a huge album. And those photos have appeared on pixabay

http://goo.gl/bWtvgs

Coming to the writing exercise on sites such as this it is kind of a sounding board for many such as you who are visible on the Net in a big way. Not poor me whose main aim here is to enjoy writing and in the process appreciate the sound of those cents that jingle in my paypal account.