Welcome to Friday! After having spent the last two weeks in full-on, all-out writing mode, I’m kicking back a little. I have a lunch date with a friend, then two phone calls. Beyond that, the day is nice and easy.
Time for a little venting of those things that make the head thump. This time, it’s one item that warrants the bulk of the discussion. Jenn Mattern of All Freelance Writing (a phenomenal site you should be haunting regularly) uncovered a pretty heinous little practice going on at a site that will remain nameless (only because we don’t want to drive any more traffic their way, right?). Jenn names them, and she gives her impressions here.
This place for WRITERs, this BAY of opportunity, has a contest running. They promise $1,000 to some lucky writer who enters the contest. You simply fill out the registration form, write an article on the topic of your choice, and press the Submit URL button. The front page instructions then say “Once your article is published on the blog, send us the link to your post.”
And there’s the rub: YOU have to find a blog on which to house your post.
Here also is the rest of the “contest rules.” They make you register just to get to this point (I wonder if they have another Regina Ursula Scammy- ruscammy – listed?).
- Examine the guest post list and each guest blog’s requirements
- Contact the bloggers, whose blogs you are thinking about posting on. Make sure you got the right post requirements and make sure the blogger doesn’t mind you posting on their blog. You must also agree on the date of the post. The date has to be within the [9.24.12 – 10.23.12] time frame. Let the blogger know that the link included in the post will lead to (the website).
The list of “rules” goes on – there are three phases to this contest, each one requiring you to jump through a few more hoops to qualify.The general gist of it is the more you post, the more points you earn. And they’ve listed places for you to post –without telling the blog owners. They’re listed by point value: basic, premium, and elite. And yes, the bloggers are expected to include links back to this place.
First, let’s point out the obvious: no one is winning that money. Or at least it’s no one who isn’t known by (or is) the contest organizer.
Second, now they have your name and email address (you had to register to get to this point). Prepare to be bombarded by crap!
Third, the idea that writers should compete to get an invisible, barely attainable prize and include links to this stupid site is exploitative at best. That writers would even consider it shows 1) desperation and 2) a lazy attitude. You’re only motivation is money, and not exactly a solid promise of anything real. They give you a list of blog owners to pester the hell out of, and you’ll just go right on and do what they say. If you do, stick to a day job, for you’re clearly locked in employer/employee mentality.
Fourth, the site itself seeks writers (and pays them very poorly) to write essays for students. So basically, you get to help some slacker cheat his or her way to a degree. Why not write those same papers for your own degree?
Fifth, the exclamation points. I have very few absolutes I live by, but this is a biggie: NEVER (yes, I’m using that word) trust someone who insists on exclamation overload. Exclamations are a lame way of covering up a crap offer.
I could go on. In fact, I just may. But I want your thoughts first — If you like, go to the website, and use my login: freedom17 AT hotmail DOT com and use the password ruscammy2. Read through it if you can stomach it.
What smells are you noticing?
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Manure left out in the hot sun for a week smells better than that.
I think they may have blocked you. At least I can't get in with the sign-on. Are we surprised?
I love that you set up the ruscammy2 account even if I didn't feel like giving them the traffic. But I'm glad Cathy discovered they'd blocked you. Hey! Isn't that Ruscammy's evil twin (or triplet?) Ruscammy3 I see lurking in the corner?
I picture an office of shady marketers plotting out the elaborate scam: "First, we'll promise a cash prize but make it impossible to win. Then we'll require them to provide all of their contact info early on so we can generate and re-sell a mailing list for some on-going ancillary revenue. To make it easier on us, we'll make them track down blogs to post on, then require them to include links back to our site to generate page hits and up our ad rates. There's no downside!" For them.
Bottom line: If someone offers you something for nothing, you'll get just that: Nothing.
Right you are, Devon.
Cathy, that's actually funny! Yes, they did block me. Scruples? Color me surprised!
Paula, I think you've figured them out. I'd bet that's exactly the conversation!
Cathy,
If you couldn't login, it's possible you were on the wrong page. I did that too and thought I might have been blocked.
You can't use your contest login credentials on their homepage. The contest is separate from their hired writer logins, and it's on a subdomain — contest.sitename.com I believe.
Just a quick update — someone from the site did contact me. They removed the target list of bloggers from their site, and they're even planning to update some of their own poor copy after asking for examples (since I criticized that in my post).
It's not a full cancellation of the contest. I still consider it spammy. But at least they aren't actively pursuing specific bloggers anymore. And they were reasonably generous in their response (always good when a company can handle criticism). I'll take what I can get.
I've just read about this at Jenn's blog – absolutely outrageous of *the site* to do this! Hopefully all the other blogs listed will be made aware of the situation too and will refuse to have any part in it.