The History of Factoidz
The Gall
On March 19th I received the following email:
In the next week, we'll be unveiling a
brand new version of Factoidz.The
new site will have a beautiful design,
and will be packed with awesome
features that truly enhance the
experience for both writers and
readers. We've selected you as one
of our most trusted members who
exemplifies the best qualities of a
great writer and community member
- and would like to invite you to
preview our new and improved version of Factoidz.
We're also contacting you because as one of our most
trusted community members, we'd also like to ask if you'd
be interested in becoming a Moderator on our new site.
Your abilities as a writer will remain unchanged, but as a
Moderator you'll have new abilities to modify, edit and
remove content and overall help us maintain a high level
of content quality. You'll also be featured prominently
as a Moderator and will carry that title across the site.
Awesome
Let Me Announce:
I am one of the many, many people who was ripped off by Factoidz.
I was dropped from Staff Writer (where I had earned the higher revenue) all the way
to Member, where I earn nothing. Although my articles remained visible and were getting hits and earning money for the site... correction; Earning money for the Site Owner I got nothing.
As my work was of such caliber, the Owner and Only Employee, Mike Quac, captured it. This is not unusual.
The best writers of Factoidz, were ripped off by the Owner and Only Employee.
The mundane scribblers who tongue cleaned Quac's toes were kept as Shills.
Slaves to the Master
At the bottom of this article were a large number of comments which loudly, and quite most believably, disputed what I had written.
In fact, from the moment this article was published, until I was forced to remove the Comment Capsule, there were so many offensive comments written by 'guests' it was evident Quac had sent his shills to attack me.
This is a hallmark of the Factoidz culture.
Steal writer's work, claim they 'broke the rules' , yet use he same items that 'broke the rules' to earn revenue for the Owner and Only Employee.
Each Shill, was on pain of demotion, impelled to attack any and all detractors. Each Shill, using as many duals as able, logged on to Attack anyone who dared criticize Factoidz or its Owner.
This practice ended when EVERYONE who wrote for Factoidz, including the Shills, were ripped off by the Owner and Only Employee.
When Neighbour's Beard Catch Fire
My story is not unique.
People were easily conned by Factoidz. This is because it kept a stable of active and rabid Shills who Trawled the Net searching for items which were not complimentary to Factoidz or its Owner.
These Shills could be found in any Forum which questioned Factoidz. One can
read attack after attack made on those who complained about being ripped off.
"You were kicked off for Breaking the Rules!!" They would post.
How would a member of a site know what transpired between that member and
the owner? Especially on a site as secretive as Factoidz?
A site where there was only One Employee?
Let's Google
In a Search Box type Factoidz+rip off.
On March 23, 2012 at 12:23 my time my articles had 77,800 hits.
Considering the number of complaints made against Factoidz, and the fact it was taken down by Law, it is clear that:
Those who live in the United States and file a complaint get paid. Those who do not live in the United States were targeted.
In short, if one did not reside in the United States writing for Factoidz was serving yourself for lunch.
Knoji
As is clear, Factoidz was the standard writing Ponzi scheme.
It began when revenue gained from the new member's articles were used to pay other writers; and pet shills. The member would be moved to 'writer' where they would gain a portion of the revenue earned, then if good enough, moved to Staff Writer, where they gained the most revenue.
Once the Staff Writer had a number of excellent articles they would be dropped to Member, their work confiscated, the revenue used to fill the pocket of the Owner.
The practice continued over the years, and resulted in a reaction.
Factoidz was Forced Closed By American Law Enforcement.
The Owner, taking the money didn't run far. He opened a new site called Knoji. That is far enough away from Factoidz as to make the average user believe this was a new and safe site.
Many users were unaware that Knoji was Factoidz until they typed www.factoidz.com into their browsers and Knoji loaded.
Originally Knoji was full of items taken from Factoidz. Article after article which had been published on Factoidz, but had not been paid for.
Repentance say you?
These articles ought have been deleted or abandoned on Factoidz. Not stolen by the Owner and Only Employee of Factoidz who is the Owner and Only Employee of Knoji, to fatten his pocket.
As is clear from the email quoted in the first paragraph of this article, Knoji was Factoidz in another incarnation. It operated under the same principles.
There were complaints about Knoji so the better items stolen from those who had been ripped off by Factoidz were quietly removed as they were replaced by new writers.
The revenue to be earned on Knoji was cut to about one fifth of Factoidz.
As part of the original Knoji scam the idea was to 'overpay' the new writer, get as much as possible, then drop them to member and confiscate the work.
The New writer would gain a 'bonus' of a $1.00 on every new item. After publishing a few items, this 'bonus' was dropped to 80c, then to 40c, then to 20c, then to 10c.
Considering how few hits an article on Knoji gets, and how many hits it takes to reach a whole One Cent, there was not much earnings.
The complaints began early and Knoji changed into an Online Store Review
and coupon center.
