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Shilling For Suckers

Updated on May 27, 2021

Step Right Up!!!

Every scam begins with some kind of 'endorsement'.

Someone has invested and doubled his money. Someone claims he has
just won the Three Card Monty . Someone claims they have found a new
writing site that pays twice as much.

Those who hear this think; 'if he could do it, So Can I!"

Judas Goats

If you look at the above photo you will see an actual Judas Goat. This Goat is leading the sheep into the slaughterhouse.

Notice how happily they follow the goat. No need to force them, no need to entice them. They willingly follow the goat to their deaths.

Shills, like the Judas Goat, know exactly what is going to happen. They've gotten their Marks bubbling with enthusiasm. They've chuckled as they bragged about how much money they made. They know what is going to happen..

They know that New Blood will get that first payout, and then nothing more.

Do Your Own Investigation

Using a Now defunct site, Factoidz, anyone who had read the Terms of Use would not have published there.

Simply put, on that site, as on many others, anything you publish there becomes the property of the site. The writer loses all rights.

This wasn't hidden, it was in the Terms of Use. But no one read the Terms. All they knew was that Factoidz paid 6x more than Triond.

Anyone who actually looked at the site would have seen many articles published
by 'Members' .

If you read the rules you find that 'Members ' CAN NOT publish. Common sense should alert that these Members, were at one point a Staff Writer, paid for their work.

Now, as 'Member' even with one hundred bubbling articles, getting over 26k hits, that Member gets ZERO Revenue.

Zero.

Anyone who had done 'due diligence; would never have joined Factoidz. The truth was right in their face; their copyright would be taken, their work would be stolen, and after they published 100 articles that they would be dropped to Member, there work confiscated, and get no revenue.

So where did the Revenue go?

Lots of Scams, Lots of Shills

Many so called writing sites spring up, grab your work, and go down. Some, such as Bubblews have a long term rip off plan.

What all the Scams have in common is that they are supported by people just like you they have not yet ripped off.

All users were paid the 1st time, then only a percentage the second, yet people who were NOT PAID continued to post.

Bubblews was, despite protests and 'proofs' created to be a scam. The facts do not lie. That Bubblews had to be closed to prevent the owners going to prison is a fact.

The two owners took the money they had gained through ripping off the writers at Bubblews created a new site; Sweeble, where they can continue their trickery.

The key feature is how a person who was not paid for January continued to write and put in, and was not paid for February, and continued and was not paid, makes one look at that Judas Goat with a bit more admiration.

I Never Knew...

Almost every Newbie goes through a period of gush as if they have finally found the one Publishing Site that really Pays!!!

They hop from one writing site to another, race to message boards and fora to extol this wonderful site.

They write their fingers off for this Publishing Site that really Pays and race back to defend the site against any attack.

These Newbies, getting their first or second pay out have become Shills. They have taken upon themselves the task of bringing in New Blood.

When they are kicked to the pavement, and try to warn others, they are attacked by the New Shills who have taken their place.

Understand

Anyone who has written online knows that the $$ comes from the Ads. Advertisers pay the site to put their ads on the page.

It is the revenue from the views (or clicks) which pays the writer.

We know it isn't much.

How a site can pay 1c per every view as well as pay for leaving a comment on another's article had to send up red flags.

But the Shills, most of them so stupid they can't tie their own shoes, are paid. They write the worst garbage, but are paid. And paid again.

Why?

They are paid to rope in suckers. They are not paid for their unread rubbish, they are paid their 1c to go onto a site, like Hubpages, and rave about the Scam so that twenty or more suckers are roped in.

These suckers will write readable prose. These suckers will get hits.
These suckers will get that first payout.

These Suckers who may have taken a month to earn $25 because they have lives, will now write a frenzy, turning out four or more items a day.

And the revenue those articles earn will pay the Shill.
The writer will get nothing.

When the writer complains the Shill will attack. Shills attack unpaid users. The Owners know they didn't pay them, so don't bother to respond.

Bubblews was created to be a scam.

Unlike Factoidz, which began as a real site and then, due to economic problems became a ponzi, Bubblews was created to Be a Ponzi.

Bubblews was created to rope in as many people as possible. To reward the most stupid for being a Shill, to steal the best articles from the wisest, and not pay them, and gather the greatest income for the Owner.

The reason the stupidest are paid is because they are stupid. They can't write to any standard. They are so stupid they don't realise they aren't paid for the scribbles, they are paid to make them accomplices in ripping off the better writers.

The best writers are not paid because their articles are earning for the Owner on the site as well as other sites where he republishes them.

Learning from Mistakes

Literacybase was a decent enough site. It paid 15c for every article of 300 words. To slow down the redemption there was remarkably slow moderation.

An item posted on Sunday might not appear until Tuesday, unless it was slapped down for 'plagiarism'.

In most cases, there was no plagiarism. This was a trick to prevent the writer from reaching the redemption.

Paying slowly, the site existed for over two years, then, suddenly, stopped paying.

Virily copied Literacybase. It had very slow moderation, and eventually did pay some writers, then stopped.

People still write there; i.e. a rabid Anti-Semite publishes four or more articles every day because she knows there is no moderation.

All you can do to protect yourself is watch your revenue, see if it moves, how slowly, if you do get paid, continue until you aren't.

AND NEVER TOUT A SITE.

working

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