May 15, 2016 at 3:31 am

Exactly, @morgoodie! If we want to earn from writing online there is also a bit of risk involved. We expect the sites to take a chance on us, so with a new site we must enter into our relationship with an open mind and give the benefit of the doubt.

I do think it’s good to give feedback about site functionality and to make suggestions or requests for features that are missing. I also think it’s important to speak up if something seems amiss.

But unless and until there is a sign that a site is not trustworthy, I won’t assume otherwise. And I think it’s unhealthy for anyone who wants to earn money, to make any kind of public statements that disparage the site. That’s not being cautious; it’s biting the hand that feeds you.

I’ve been told I’m “defensive” of sites when I say things like this, but as I’ve mentioned elsewhere, I am known for taking sites to task as much as I am for reporting plagiarism and spam.

I believe in fair play. And I recognize that we have a symbiotic relationship with the sites we write for. If we want the site to flourish we need to find positive ways to deal with any questions or concerns, and so far I think the staff of LiteracyBase has shown they are willing to respond promptly when asked for information or help. To me, that’s a good sign!

May 14, 2016 at 7:11 pm

I got the message too, and like many of you I hit the report button. It’s great to see the admin took such prompt action in removing the spammer.

It may seem odd that a spammer has found the site, as it is still young. But it’s a sign that the site is gaining in exposure. So despite the inconvenience, it is sort of a sign of something good!

May 14, 2016 at 6:40 pm

@peachpurple It’s good to question and to be cautious. And the truth is that regardless of what the law says, some sites will always behave in a less than scrupulous manner. Sometimes we just have to roll up our sleeves and fight to protect our rights. One of my friends had to do that once with a celebrity whose media team scraped an entire article she wrote, and published it on that celebrity’s blog with neither permission nor credit.

It’s not just the penny sites that make mistakes…

May 14, 2016 at 10:50 am

@bestwriter Actually my comment was meant as a bit of gentle teasing, Grace. You usually enjoy that sort of banter.  I guess you aren’t feeling up to it right now. Too bad, really. Usually you’re so much fun to chat with…

May 14, 2016 at 10:00 am

Congratulations to @peachpurple, @4cryingoutloud, and @sunil! It looks as if many active users are receiving rewards. The staff are watching to see who is participating actively, and they have understood how much benefit there can be to even a small incentive. Keep up the great work, @admin and @support 😀

May 14, 2016 at 9:04 am

#kaka135 I did just sign up for Buffer tonight, as Barb recommends it highly. It seems that with the free version you can only schedule so many Tweets or other social media shares. But I love that you can go directly into Pablo to create a graphic if you need it, and that the app picks up images on any page you share.

I will have to blog about the app later 🙂

HootSuite has been around for a long time. It can be used much the same way that Buffer can. You can use it to shorten links, schedule Tweets or other social media posts, etc. I haven’t used it in a very long while, and I’m sure the features are different now. Will have to check it out again. Barb uses Buffer and HootSuite to complement one another.

May 14, 2016 at 8:56 am

@morgoodie I’ve been creating content online for close to 20 years now. I started out coding in HTML, back when my kids were just little. I started blogging on WordPress about 10 years ago, and then switched over to content writing and later social writing in addition to writing for my own blogs again.

I am still constantly learning! And there is so much that changes as we go along. It’s like housework. It never ends 😉

May 14, 2016 at 8:36 am

I believe the word count could be added to the front-end submit form that we use here, but I’m actually hoping that higher rank will give us access to the back-end “new post” and “edit” functions. This will allow for better control over how posts display, and if combined with certain plugins it could also help users to improve SEO and customize social sharing options (e.g. uploading images that will automatically display in a Facebook, Pinterest or Twitter share so no pics get cut off in the post.)

@bestwriter I agree that a good site should provide word count. But I also think a good writer composes offline and saves her posts 😉

@morgoodie I am having display issues related to a software update at the moment, so I really can’t tell whether pasting in from a word processor is messing up my formatting here. There is a trick that allows you to better control formatting – but only if you can submit/edit in HTML mode rather than in rich-text editor. I don’t believe we can do that at the moment, but fingers crossed that it will come with the increased rank 😀

May 14, 2016 at 3:47 am

Absolutely @morgoodie, it does take time to build up earnings. But people need to remember that even a fraction of a penny at a time is better than no earnings at all. So when other sites are not paying, isn’t it worth trying out a site like Literacy Base to see if it works for you?

May 14, 2016 at 3:03 am

I love this idea! Let me give it a try….

Right now I want to go back to sleep until my husband and kids return home, instead of sitting up working!

I want to move my family to a homestead where we can grow a huge vegetable garden, plant cereal crops, and have some livestock for eggs, milk and meat.

I want to have a huge kitchen equipped with absolutely every tool and gadget I could ever need.

I want a root cellar, a cold room for storing home canning, and a massive pantry to store dry goods.

I want to have more time to cook and garden, and to do creative things with my girls.

I want to be strong again physically, so I can take long walks with hubby like we used to and go hiking and camping with the kids.

I want to never have to worry about money, and to always have enough to know that we can give ourselves a treat when we want to.

I want to be a better traveller, so I can enjoy going to new places and visit the lands of my ancestors.

I want to make hubby get home sooner, so I can pick up my crochet hook and start a new project 🙂

May 14, 2016 at 2:21 am

Congratulations to @kaka135 and @grecy095 for the bonuses! I also received a bonus, though smaller than yours because the two of you are more active than I am by quite a bit! It was a nice surprise, and I want to thank @admin and @support for the encouragement 🙂

As you know, I don’t like to get too much into the specifics of earnings. But I can verify that I’ve published a post of more than 1,000 words that received 15 cents. I hope that encourages some people to publish ore of the lengthy pieces, as search engines today prefer that longer length.

May 13, 2016 at 5:31 pm

@kaka135 I think that on FB groups the control of spam is a matter of having a consistent presence and a strong sense of community. This is why during our initial phase, my group is closed. I control everyone who joins, and nobody is allowed in without proof of current writing activity. This will continue to be the case once we take the group public.

The main difference between the closed and private groups is that posts from the public group are seen in the public FB timeline. That means that anyone who searches a keyword or clicks on a tag can see posts from the group that match the search criteria. I’m hoping this will help increase exposure for those who share links.

May 13, 2016 at 5:24 pm

@swalia I love that you have explained the etymology of the word guru. I like to begin any kind of exploration with a look at the vocabulary and the origins of the words. I find it helps to deepen our understanding of any subject.

But much the same as I reject the Christian concept of sin, I cannot accept the concept of humans just naturally being in a sort of spiritual darkness. Most religious and spiritual paths have some sort of concept that humans are created by and imbued with the divine spark of something that transcends the physical world. If we accept this, there is no reason to believe we are naturally in the dark or that we need anyone outside ourselves to enlighten us.

If we observe small children, we often remark how naturally spiritual they are and how unspoiled. How often do we say children are wise in unexpected ways? The child is not in darkness as many adults are. Rather the darkness comes over us as we spend time in the workaday world, focus too much on the material and neglect the emotional/intellectual/spiritual. It grows as we are exposed to, and even sometimes try to fit in with, people who have accepted to live in darkness.

Some people who become this way may indeed benefit from the guidance of a spiritual teacher. But no, I cannot accept that this is a natural state for all human beings.

May 13, 2016 at 5:08 pm

I like to think that both individually operated blogs and writing sites have their advantages. The writing sites offer a sense of community, a place to share resources and learn from other bloggers, and a chance to increase exposure and gain new followers. They can also represent a source of earnings for a blogger who is still building up a self-hosted blog.

The biggest advantage of a personal blog is the freedom and control it offers, and the fact that content can have a stable home that is not really provided on the writing sites. Personal blogs are not penalized by search engines in a way that content writing sites often are, and if the writer chooses a niche and writes well focused posts, the blog will rank well in search results.

May 13, 2016 at 4:18 pm

@kaka135 I feel that each of us must decide whether or not to participate on a site, based on our own reading of the TOS and our gut feeling about the site. It’s good to look out for our own best interests, and I have actually avoided certain sites because I felt they demanded too many rights in exchange for too low a compensation.

But I draw a line between being cautious and being actively suspicious, especially when it comes to a question such as the nationality of the site owners. That, and I think there is nothing at all suspicious about a large number of people from our community arriving here in a short time. The timing was simply right. BlogJob had suspended rewards, and people were looking for somewhere new.

I think you are right to remain optimistic. Literacy Base has shown that it has a support team who are actively involved and pretty quick to answer questions. There is reason to believe the team will be open to user suggestions, as well.

I’m sure you are close to attaining your goal of $10. If you are paid according to the published schedule, that will be encouraging for us all.