Monday, December 27, 2010

Come Monday...Vaya Con Dios, Entrecard

“Come Monday…” is a weekly series that will involve a review of, or commentary about,  websites, movies, documentaries, television shows, sports, music, and whatever else may tickle my fancy at the time.  Be assured that these reviews will be generally positive, as in accordance to the Jimmy Buffett song “Come Monday.”  This is subject to change, however.  In fact, I would be most derelict in my duties to neglect going on a rant every once in a while.  For rants promote change, and change can be good—right?  Therefore, since good is generally considered as being a positive force in 99.3% of the parallel universes that I am aware of, even a rant could be considered as being something positive, and a genuine hissy-fit would be even better (so I’m told).



Just in case you missed it, I published [Eyeballin’ Entrecard] six weeks ago on account of how dissatisfied I had become with the service. Be assured that I really did hope that it would serve as another wake-up call, and that [Entrecard] would finally start to at least try to actually address some of the concerns that have been raised by many of their members.

No, I am very much not alone in my dissatisfaction. For hundreds have also voiced their concerns, and a click on the image above while reveal further proof of that.

Now, this is not to say that all of the criticism has been warranted. In fact, I was a loyal supporter of Entrecard when so many were screaming about them introducing paid advertisements to the mix. For I could see where that could potentially be a good money-maker for us all, but my hopes for that have been left unfulfilled.

No, it is not for that reason, but enough is enough. Therefore, I will be deleting my account and removing my Entrecard widget on January 1, 2011.

Be assured that the irony is not lost on me. For it was always upsetting to me to no longer find an Entrecard widget on one of the sites that I used to drop on every day, and now I have heard from several who have wanted me to stay with the service because this is where they frequently drop.

Alas, the battle has been raging in my head for weeks now, and it finally came down to a matter of who is serving who. For Entrecard benefits from my membership—even if only as another site to place a paid ad on while they have made it blatantly obvious that they have no desire to be of service to me by not even taking the time to acknowledge that they received my emails—let alone acting like they actually cared about what they [have said] that they cared about.

Just in case you are curious, links to most of the sites that I found to be in non-compliance of the official Entrecard [Blog Quality Standards] can be accessed [here]. Please keep in mind that it may be different with some now, but I am quite confident that the vast majority of them are still in non-compliance. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if many more sites could be added to the list now.

By the way, you may not be able to pull-up that Google Doc with the non-compliant sites if you are using Internet Explorer 8. It seems to do just fine with Firefox, but not so much with IE8.

Yes, it probably seems so petty, but it should make one wonder what a business that has made it so obvious that they are only concerned with what they consider to be in their best interest may be capable of. After all, I hear that there is money to be made from selling email addresses to spammers—amongst other things.

Please Also Visit: [FishHawk Droppings]

24 comments:

  1. Well said Cracky! In my latest splog list email to support@Entrecard I asked about who the heck (supposedly) vets the new blogs, because they are doing the worse job in history.

    That's assuming, as some have suggested, that they aren't letting these splogs on on purpose, to boost their numbers and hits.

    I'll see how it goes, but I can see me either dropping EC, or just dropping on the few real blogs that remain unless things improve radically.

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  2. Thanks for stopping by again, my dear Chinaren!!! When I sent them the results of the investigation I conducted last October, I received no response. I then sent an email to one of the administrators to make sure that the information got through, and when that was forwarded on, it was also ignored. So, I went ahead and published my findings in "Come Monday...Eyeballin' Entrecard," and I still haven't heard a peep out of any of the powers that be. Maybe they will respond to your efforts? On the other hand, if they are allowing splogs on purpose...

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  3. I understand the feeling and have always been on the verge of leaving EntreCard. I'm using it much less and spending more of my time focusing on Adgitize. I hope you'll stick around there.

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  4. I thought about putting it on my new blog but I guess I won't - over time I have added and dropped it 3x - PITA!

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  5. Thanks for stopping by again, my dear Aldon!!! Yes, I will be staying with Adgitize for the time being. Now, I do have some concerns with it, but they are very minor in comparison to the mess that Entrecard is now in.

    Alas, be assured that I realize how stupid it all sounds to those who don't really care. For the biggest thing I have against Entrecard is that have failed miserably at meeting my expectations--especially in regards to their great disregard for their members.

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  6. Thanks for stopping by again, my dear Grace!!! I think you will pick up a lot of traffic for your new site just by publishing a post about it (along with a link, of course) on your old one before you take it down. For in order to get a significant amount of traffic through Entrecard, you need to work the system as hard as you can. Well, at least that is the way it was for me.

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  7. I'm sticking with entrecard - for now - THIS may be helpful to those wondering if sites are "safe" to drop on. As for "adgitize" - they always boot me and my little blog out of their clique - they always find something about my blog they don't like!

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  8. Sorry to see that you are leaving. I will still be following you via my reader.

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  9. The absence of your blog will definitely leave EC a much darker place. You add light where ever you are - and it is completely their loss. I am only sticking around to advertise my business when I get it to fully go live...then I will be following your lead.

    Thank you for your generosity - too bad EC sucks so badly now. xx

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  10. Its sad to read how they treated your correspondence, I've experienced it myself from them and know just how it feels. Remember, your blog is yours only and I don't think its necessary to defend your decision. :) I'm removing it soon as well for other reasons, I've added you to my bloggroll so I have a shortcut to this nice place. I'll keep following you, a widget less might be a bless. :)

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  11. One of these days I may end up doing the same. I don't really pay much attention to it anymore.

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  12. Ah! The Entrecard dilemma. I am at a loss, because as you are not alone, I also know Entrecard has introduced me to wonderful bloggers as yourself. Sure, I wish some of the practices were changed, bettered, etc. However, what I dislike about Entrecard doesn't trump what I love about it. People. Thoughts. REAL. Sure we get bombarded with SPAM sites now and then. But those sites don't last. It's the people that provide real content that I enjoy. When I get frustrated, I take a break from dropping. Set my card to accept all. And visit my favorites when I get a free moment. I was very happy to see some of those that left Entrecard come back.

    Let me make sure I get your widget to put on my blog "friends" before you leave, okay?

    But I hope you reconsider.

    Kimmy

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  13. Damn! My dear FishHawk is a blow to the heart for me. I do not want to lose a friend who has problems with entrecard circuit. is possible, that can respond to mail you sent, and I hope a little bit of cleaning should be done. Entrecard is interesting to discover new blogs and sites. But as in all places there are the rotten apples from the trees to be removed from administrators.

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  14. Thanks for stopping by, my dear Dave!!! I wonder what is going on with you and Adgitize? For I couldn't see anything that might get you in trouble with their standards. Could it be that you have not bowing your head in reverence enough, or maybe not paying off the right people?

    By the way, I have added you new(er?) site to the list for a future Sites To See here. I will let you know when it is actually included, which will be a while because of how many were already on the list.

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  15. Thanks for stopping by again, my dear Mike!!! Be assured that I greatly appreciate that. I have been subscribing to both of your sites through Google Reader for a while now.

    By the way, I hope you didn't get too upset over the crack that I took at Ohio drivers in the comments section of Dickster's post about driving 55. It really was meant in jest, and we certainly have to contend with our share of rolling roadblocks here in Missouri.

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  16. Thanks for stopping by again, my dear Queen Katherine!!! It sounds like I owe you some more money.

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  17. Thanks for stopping by again, my dear Oyvind!!! Be assured that I greatly appreciate you wanting to keep in touch. I have been subscribing to your site through Google Reader for a while now.

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  18. Thanks for stopping by again, my dear Ann!!! I have been debating whether or not to just stay with it while not participating much, but then "it came to me" that they would still be benefiting from my presence. So, since this has gotten somewhat personal to me, it is time to just go away.

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  19. Thanks for stopping by again, my dear Kimmy!!! Be assured that I hear what you are saying. For I have had the same attitude. Then, the management of Entrecard made it abundantly clear that I am not worth their time, and I do not want to support such arrogance.

    As with the others, I have been subscribing to your site through Google Reader for quite a while now. So, don't be too surprised when I come down from my own ivory tower and leave a comment someday.

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  20. Thanks for stopping by again, my dear David!!! I have been subscribed to your Funky Town Disco Music for quite some time now, but I just discovered that I had neglected to also subscribe to your Digital Rebel site. So, that has been remedied, and your are more than welcome to email me anytime about anything at FishHawk7@gmail.com.

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  21. Hi FishHawk, even with the circuit adgitize, I am satisfied, but by the rules, as it should be, the friend, Ken Brown, showed me that Funky Town, has no personal items such as digital rebel. But I'm happy anyway. The circuit is selective, and many bad apples are not present.

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  22. Thanks for stopping by again, my dear David!!! I can see where Ken (and the others) are coming from with the rule about having to have at least some personal items, but in the case of your Funky Town site, you are acting as an historian of music that is not heard very often anymore. Therefore, I would think that an exception should be made. Maybe if you would start adding your take (as a review of sorts) of each particular song or album, they might look upon it differently?

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  23. oooooooooooo... SMASH, Crash, Crumple finally. probably feels good to know that the folks who visit and comment on your blog do so because they truly enjoy reading and blogging; And not for the purposes of blowing your stats through the wall in the wrong way. I especially enjoyed this quote from the link

    EntreCard had essentially become a social exchange system more than an advertising system. “Power Droppers“, people who dropped 200-300 cards a day, had high advertising prices due to the amount of activity they generated. That’s why someone with a feed count in the low double digits and little Alexa traffic could have a blog that costs 100’s of credits to advertise on while someone with a much better stats would be cheap in comparison. It was all based on one’s popularity within the system and not on things that web site advertising is normally based upon.

    That's The Whole Entire Truth, and God Loves A Truthteller. Always Remember That Fishhawk and Keep Telling The TRUTH. Notice who's not visiting and then realize who they were from the beginning by counting their comments on your site. Yeah, Right - see you one day soon again my friend. that's what I say and I'm proud to repeat it here.

    You are a great blogger and you deserve a good audience, not a bunch of oneclick bandits.

    You Go Boy !

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  24. Thanks for stopping by again, my dear BadGal!!! Yeah, you tried to tell me about them a long time ago, but with me being me, you know that I have to get the "stuff" on me before I'll believe that it stinks. (I'm now imagining Flava Flav saying to me, "Well, that's about stupid," which it is.)

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Since the Blogger spam filter has been found sorely lacking lately, I will start moderating comments. Be assured that I am only interested in deleting spam. So, if you feel a need to take me to task over something—even anonymously, go ahead and let 'er rip, and I will publish it as soon as I can.