I found Entrecard a couple of months ago - around the first week of January, and signed up. I have religiously dropped as many cards as I could over the past few months. Recently, after switching to Firefox as my browser, I have dropped my maximum 300 cards daily. I spend several hours every day dropping cards, working on my blog and visiting other bloggers. I have met some awesome people through blogging and have thoroughly enjoyed visiting everyone's blogs and have seen some fabulous creativity and artistic ability, too. Now, Entrecard has decided it needs a way to generate some money to continue. So, they are accepting paid ads. I don't have a problem with that, I understand their need to generate money to cover their expenses. However I DO have a problem with them allowing the paid ads to usurp and replace the ads already in my queue which were paid for with hard earned credits by dropping on Entrecard blogs! So, I accepted a couple of paid ads at first - the one from Entrecard (I do want to be a team player) and one from another group I belong to - Creative Cafe. They were sending me ads that had absolutely nothing to do with my interests at first - until I set some parameters - and even then there would be 20 or more paid ads in the queue awaiting approval and no ads paid for with credits. So, I have rejected all the other paid ads - and haven't had any appear in my box for almost 24 hours now - the calm before the storm perhaps? At any rate, I did send a message to Entrecard powers that be and told them my views on the subject and was just referred to the forum where the subject was being hotly debated - almost 3,000 posts already at the time I first went there. Most people felt the same way I do. So, I am waiting until they sort all this out before making my decision on what to do next as far as Entrecard is concerned. I want to be a team player and I want them to somehow be able to generate money to pay expenses. But I believe somewhere in the middle is a solution that will please the majority of the people. Many people I know have decided not to play and have removed the Entrecard widget from their blog and cancelled their Entrecard account. I'm on the fence...waiting...and watching.
Living, working and creating fiber art on a fiber animal ranch in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado
18 comments:
I'm waiting and watching too. I accept paid adverts that I feel my readers would appreciate. I hope things end up working out to at least most people's needs.
The real bummer is that if you don't accept them, it says you're going to be bumped to the bottom of your category in favor of those who do. I'm not digging it. Also, thanks for mentioning you were a member of the creative cafe - I declined a paid ad for them because the site looked a little spammy, wish I had known beforehand!
I'm with you on that one. I have accepted some paid ads - but they are crafting blogs. I haven't been accepting ads from blogs I would never read, or have nothing of interest to me.
I have received requests from some blogs that are earning credits "the old fashioned way".
I too have found some awesome blogs and met great people through ecard dropping.
I accept a few, and deny a few...but I am also in watch and wait mode. Besides without EC...I wouldn't have gotten to know your great site over the last few days.
I feel the same. I think the main point is just the sheer amount of paid ads vs. credit ads that appear. It would be no big deal if they were more balanced or even if the ones you approve first run first no matter paid or credit. They are making it a bit obvious that the money is their main concern over anything else this way. I get it, but come on!
Some of those paid ads are very spammy if you ask me. I am watching too, especially on My goat blog. On my other blog I am not as picky...but I was not as picky with the credit ads either.
I agree that the amount of paid ads vs ads paid for with credits is overwhelming. I also agree that if the paid ads would simply move into the queue behind the rest of the ads regardless of which method they were paid for, I would be okay with that. But to pay for an ad with credits and then only get 50% exposure - that is essentially doubling your credits paid! And that, in my mind, is wrong. Why should the time and effort spent to drop cards to gain credits be worth less than money used to buy ads?
Count me in with you guys. I miss widget-hopping, too. That was an awesome way to meet new, active Carders.
there was one blogger who made a good point and idea. Why not have a different widget for the ads this way it wont interfere with the advertisers that uses hard earned credtis. I love entrecard and i hope they get this fix soon.
Add me to one of the ones who agrees with everything all of you are saying. The first day I just accepted them all, not really thinking. Now, I'm being picky about which paid adds I accept.
Move over on the fence. I'm undecided too and am waiting to see. I don't like them cutting in front of the free ads, and I work darn hard to get my credits to get some advertising, so I'm mad on that front. Also, the ads were just sooo skanky. The fence posts are sort of poking me in the hiney.
I am with you all. I approve some and reject some at this point until I can figure out just what the heck is going on. I went over to their forum and I think a lot of this initial mess is trial and error learning. I can accept that - I do a lot of that. So, I am hoping it all calms down soon. I hope you get back on!
I am totally lost here...what is Creative Cafe...Entrecard....
I think I left my brain in Wyoming when we moved. Or maybe it is still packed in a box and in the attic awaiting discovery!
Hah!!!! How ya been?
Hi Bev! Good to hear from you!
Me too....I am about to stop accepting the paid adds too. They should at least have a separate widget for it
My widget will only be for advertisers who bought ads with their EC credits.
Why should I be forced to place ads that only benefit Entrecard? i bust my bust dropping everyday (I have the firefox toolbar and always do my Favs and inbox first)!
I'll be ripped if I get pushed to the bottom for not accepting them! I finally made it in the top 3 rows!
I'm sitting on the fence with you now. I'm getting 20 paid ads to 1 or 2 EC ads. I've decided to wait on approving any more paid ads until I approve at least a dozen EC ads.
Love your blog BTW and credit EC for finding it :-)
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