I wonder....
Given the supportive and positive nature that the today.com forums USED to have... what might have happened if Dave, rather than turning into the power-tripping jerk from hell, had, when his business partners bailed and he was under pressure, explained the problem and asked us for our input?
Too bad we'll never know... but I have very little doubt that many of us would have been all over pitching in to try to make Today.com viable.
27 comments:
I know that I would have been. I was so gung ho about the whole process that I would have sacrificed pay for potential future earnings. Once the crying by admins started on the forum, I completely changed my tune. Now I'm holding on, hoping I don't get booted in order to collect passive traffic income.
I have little doubt that the majority of bloggers - including all of the ones they kicked - would have been happy to try to help.
I think you're right. There was always so much willingness to talk rationally with the admins as new things were initiated, or various problems arose.
I didn't actually know who Dave was, almost right to the end (I hadn't run into him on the forums). But in the week before I was booted, I was in a thread with him where we were having a great discussion about how good photographs alone could bring in some great traffic, especially from search engines. I actually had a few examples of my own to talk about, and he was mentioning how he was still getting great traffic from photos he'd posted a year ago.
If there could have been more of that, it probably wouldn't have turned the way it's gone. Instead he attacks the people who are most active, who are so interested in the site succeeding that they're asking questions and voicing concerns!
How can a site succeed when the people who are most interested in its success are silenced and removed??
That's so true. I remember in the beginning, we were all so supportive and helpful to each other and wanted success for Today...but then...lunacy on their part.
Kelly
The forum is completely overhauled to be more user friendly. What is funny is that many of our old comments are now visible all over the forum and we are no longer there.
I was never in it for a lot of money so had they worked with us and not been so dishonest I would have been happy to do what I could to help.
I think this is what got me so upset in the first place. When we'd all put so much into it, when we were sitting there trying to figure out a way for Today to still make bloggers happy and working for Today--and we get booted.
I guess it just boiled down to numbers for them. They'd rather get the passive income from our blogs than sharing it with us.
And look, it's "pick a verb tense". No wonder they booted me...lol!!
The whole thing is so unethical it makes my teeth ache.
I think that they just wanted to get rid of us because we had gotten used to being paid per post, and by "clearing the decks," they could bring in new people who had lower expectations.
But they had no right to seize our blogs.
Honestly, I don't know if asking for our help would have made a difference, because I think the whole thing Today.com project is beyond help. That's just my guess, and I could be wrong. But I don't see any way that the network could work as a for-profit business.
Right now there's a survey posted in the VIP forum asking bloggers to give input and feedback on the product affiliate link program... do you use it, why not, what suggestions do you have. I answered very carefully because the last time I did one of their surveys I suddenly found myself removed from the pay per post plan.
I've seen other companies in similar situations handle this much better.
I wrote a few things for a company called "Brijit." I think they hit the same wall that Today.com hit -- that even with the low amounts they were paying their writers, they were still losing money, and once they ran out of their start-up funds, they couldn't keep on going.
But they handled it so much better. They decided to shut down temporarily while they looked for more funding, and they let everyone know, and they paid everything that they owed to the writers.
They ended up not finding the funding and closed altogether, but without any of the hard feelings that Today.com has generated. If the people involved at Brijit ever started up a new project, I would certainly consider being a contributor. I obviously would not say the same for Today.
I saw that survey and wondered whether anyone would even GO there given the risk of being booted if they got an answer wrong.
The problem is that those who know they could be booted for a "wrong" answer have already been booted.
This is probably preparation for the next purge.
My thoughts exactly, purging the final nay sayers.
I just found a today blog while surfing through blogexplosion that is full of other ads (non today affiliated adbrite ads), and has a large request button for donations. Looks like they are really looking through blogs each month to determine if they should "get a raise". Must be a blog on the PPP plan that they haven't bothered to look at because this particular blog has been like this for months.
Unless this is the blog of a today.com owner, does this look standard?
http://ghostingmiranda.today.com/
bidvisor ads and a donate button ... yeah, they're checking things very closely over there. NOT.
Interesting...when I clicked the Advertise link it showed me autism today instead of that one. Same user? Or their advertising system is messed up and giving referrals to whoever just willynilly?
looks like all of our blogs are still in the top 100 too ... hell, I've moved up a few spots!
I for one am not answering the VIP forum request to take the survey. Just trying to not get booted before they pay out for the month of April to get my $50... Sad but true. I already stopped posting over there but I do want what is owed to me too! LOL
grr.... It is so difficult for me to post on my Today blogs. I'm not going to hit $50 this month, MAYBE next month. The only thing keeping me going are the comments from people who stumble on my site and find my posts helpful.
I definitely would have understood and accepted a pay cut if they were open and honest about their financial problems. I had never blogged before Today, so I was always very grateful to the supportive community and the tools provided to make our blogs successful.
I feel like they are shifting from trying to draw quality writers to signing up anyone willing to sell products with their blog. Look how the deal for new bloggers went from $5 a post, to $1 a post, to $0 a post being paid for traffic only (+ revshare). And yes, I feel the UV payment was completely deceiving how different traffic sources are paid different rates. They have never been clear about how that works, and the "premium" for Google search traffic is a joke.
The other thing that bugged me was how they said they would "review" a blog to determine if the pay should go up or down. Again, they were never clear on exactly what they were looking for. The only feedback they gave were the monthly awards. You would think an award winning blog would have what they are looking for, but these are some of the blogs that lost the PPP!
I definitely want to leave, but I'm too close to the payout to just walk away and let them keep that money. This will give me time to use what I learned blogging for them to set up a new blog on my own.
I'm just so glad I've been able to stay in touch with most of the bloggers that left. We are definitely moving on from the problems of today to the possibilities of tomorrow!
Anonymous, be sure to copy the contact info for the people commenting on your blog, so you can let them know where you are when you finally move.
They used to pay $5 per post?
I wasn't that thrilled to get emails from moving Today bloggers, I count and report that as spam--sorry. The ToS say you won't use those addresses other than for verification.
You must have a different set of T & C than I do, Rattitude.
While you're certainly welcome to report whatever you want, claiming that any one here has done anything against the Today.com T & C is total BS.
"We use return email addresses to answer the email we receive. Such addresses are not used for any other purpose and are not shared with outside parties."
www.today.com/privacy/
that "we" would obviously refer to today.com - what does that have to do with the price of tea in China?
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