February 12th, 2010 by John 
in Categories: 
Droppers, Readers, Commenters and Cheaters, Oh My!
I’m sure all you EntreAddicts out there have heard about the accusations made by Cornyman in his blog post, EntreCard members get scammed by these members! When I first read Cornymans post, I was quick to react. Too quick. I was really ticked. Mad. How dare these no good SOB’s cheat the system, when I spend HOURS everyday visiting and dropping on my 300 blog “drop list”. My selfish little demon took over and I almost immediately jumped on the band wagon. I left a comment on his blog, condemning the accused. Condemning them with little thought, allowing my emotions to control my keystrokes.
After further reflection and cooling off, I had second thoughts about my reply. I spent some more time reading some of the many thoughtful comments, particularly Aldon’s two replies on Cornymans blog and later, Aldon’s post. I decided that my actions were in step with the herd, the “lynch mentality”, as someone had stated. I made a mistake coming out so quickly with my comment. Not enough time and therefor thought, went into my response.
With that being said, I would like to publicly apologize to the accused. I am sorry. I and others, jumped the gun. We didn’t give the accused the benefit of the doubt. You know, innocent until proven guilty. No one should be hung in the court of public opinion, like the “villain of the day” on Nancy Grace. The results of Cornymans “experiment” should probably have been turned over to EntreCard for them to discretely sort out and investigate. Hind sight is 20/20.
Don’t get me wrong. I don’t like or condone cheaters. I am a firm believer in playing by the rules. Both online AND in the “real world”. Even when others don’t. But I also believe justice should prevail. Everyone should have their day in court.
Just so everyone involved knows, I have visited and dropped on my regular “drop list” for the past two days. AND I plan to continue to do so, until I am presented with convincing evidence that would change my mind. In the meantime, Entrecard announced tonight that they have fixed the code that allowed the “ghost dropper” scripts to cheat the system. They also stated that they would address any future problems that may occur. Additionally, they offered a reasonable explanation as to how someone could drop on the widget and appear to be cheating, when they are not. Find it here.
One thing I think Cornyman nailed and drove home is the fact that many of us are so busy dropping that we neglect to stop, read and comment on our favorite blogs. I am guilty of this, as well. We should all try to take more time to support our favorite blogs. I am going to try and dedicate more time each day to pursue this, how about you? What do you think about this latest Entrecard drama bomb?
As the ECWorld turns…
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My name is John.
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{ 36 comments… read them below or add one }
John,
You know what? I have no doubt at all that some of the initially listed were never “ghost droppers” and were caught by Entrecard’s time/drop system ( and it’s terrible that they’ve been caught up in this) but I do believe most listed were part of abusing the system.
I also think that being caught out by an old cache is the same as ghost dropping – there is no visit to your site.
I am a Taurean and if I see a red flag I rush in like a bull at a gate which of course is foolish at times but I stand by my comments however hot blooded: there, here, on my blog and on Aldon’s.
This was an experiment and he posted HIS findings and HIS conclusion, and I believe there is truth in his conclusions – so much just doesn’t make sense otherwise.
I think Entrecard needs restructuring. I’ve said that even as a newbie, on my blog and in comments today at Orient Lodge.
Actually, I regret writing I hope they all get banned! I should have said I hope all those who use a system to rort entrecard get banned. (rort – Australianism – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rort)
Cheers,
Robyn
Robyn @ Get Out of Credit Card Debt´s last blog ..Entrecard Wall of Shame!
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Entredrama is a great name for this whole thing. I too, jumped the gun a bit without thinking it out first. A few of the people mentioned on that list do more than just drop, they actually comment and participate on my blogs from time to time.
I was just so incensed to think that someone would be out here cheating that I completely forgot about those people when I commented. We all have our stories about how hard it is to drop all these cards, and the thought of such a long list of folks just zapping it all out in 15 minutes made some of us a bit pissed the moment we read about this supposed “ghost dropping”.
Anyway, I’m glad that this thing is being cleared up. I see that quite a few of the accused got hurt from these accusations, and I’m sure that if I were on the other end of this, I’d be a bit hurt, too. Nothing worse than being accused of something you’re not doing.
We all work hard on our blogs for whatever reason, and your reputation is very important out here, especially in this small yet large blogging community. For a variety of reasons.
Now that the dramatics are dying down a bit, I think a lesson has been learned by quite a few of us, at least about jumping on a bandwagon too quickly. Next time, get some proof first, and by all means, allow the accused to respond and defend if they need to before drawing any conclusions.
Well, if this wasn’t enough drama for any blogger’s day, I don’t know what else is!
The Fitness Diva´s last blog ..Fantasia Looks Fantasic!
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Well put John!
Good job that we don’t hang people nowadays, many would lbe swingng from trees right now without a trail.
I myself was shocked in assuming all the names parties were cheating. and like you Alden calmed the first reaction.by his comments.
Good to know that in the main there are decent entrecarders out there and even better that Entrecard (Cindy) has stopped the ghosting system now.
Take care
Martin
Martin In Bulgaria´s last blog ..Winter In Bulgaria – The Problems
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“emotions, controlling your keystrokes” Yep, guiltyguiltyguilty. But, like you, I hate cheaters. I would have also, hated being on the ass-end, of the “experiment”, and known, Ididn’tdoit.
In the end, as a brandnewbie, to all of this, I am going to make my stand. I will focus, on my blogs content, first. Then, blog maintenance, management. And last, good research. Which I define as, (I will stop using the term, dropping, for one) Visiting, Reading(sometimes, a lil, sometimes, a lot), then commenting, when I feel the need.
If this practice, results in 300 visits, fine. 72, good too.
Me, thinks(tryin not to use, I so much…makes me sound like a narcissist), putting things in the proper prospective, will allow the cream, to rise to the top, naturally. Without any unnecessary gyrations.
Lot’s of us could use, the proverbial chill pill, and realize we are participating in one of the great freedoms, afforded to us, on this wonderful planet of ours.
Nuff said.
Peace.
Don E. Chute´s last blog ..OBSERVATIONS FROM A BLOWN FUSE 02.05.2K10
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I know that, as I increase the blogs I follow, I can hardly keep up! I now spend about fifteen hours, minimum, a day on the computer, in blogland or “dropping.” I know I’m retired but I really do need to try to find work again since this pension and social security are not enough
to live on!
Carmen Henesy´s last blog ..Sad Valentine – Flash 55 Friday
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Like so many others I was also annoyed to see many of the blogs that I regularly drop on appearing on the list. Hopefully the situation has been fixed but I’m sure someone will come up with a way to get round it.
I’ve been a member of EC for over a year and I have always visited the sites that I drop on. A lot of sites I will read the content but not necessarily comment. I do my dropping from my inbox early in the morning and go through it as quickly as I can to get the 300 drops. Later in the day, when I return home from work, I will return to my inbox and select the sites I’ve dropped on to read the content. It is at this time that I will usually make comments if I actually have something constructive to say!
Cheers!
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First off, I know for a fact that some of the bloggers Corney Man accused of ghost dropping do actually stop and read my blog because they often leave appropriate comments so i did not put much stock in his little experiment. I am no longer caught up in that rat race of get my “drops” all in every day. (I think I’ll do a whole post on this–I have too much to say for a comment). The bottom line is that I do not care what others do–I am not the EC patrol.
One of my favorite verses is James 1:19b “…Let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath. This is so applicable when we leave comments online that can’t be deleted.
Karen & Gerard Zemek´s last blog ..Do Bees and Don’t Bees
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I didn’t even know anything about it until I got the email from Entrecard. And truthfully I still don’t even really understand what it is all about – lol.
Sue´s last blog ..WW #94 – "Tri-Ominos"
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Like you, I had the same initial reactions after reading Cornyman’s blog…but after going through his list, I saw they included some of my proven regular reciprocal droppers.. so i held up any conclusion regarding the issue…I thought they may have been victims themselves of entrecarders promoting their droplist with the ghost dropper script. Up to now, I can’t believe anyone can hack Entrecard’s code unless he has been privy to it in the past! Anyway, I still keep on dropping on my list but I regularly review it (every end of the month)! Happy dropping to all!
bigdaddyrichard´s last blog ..THE TALE OF VILLAR’S SCANDALOUS 543 MILLION POLITICAL AD EXPENDITURES
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Well like Sue, I didn’t know anything about this until I read the Business Sphere blog this morning. I am just going to continue to go to the blogs and drop if there is a widget to drop on and I also read the blog and if I think I can make an educated comment, I will. So I don’t do anywhere near 300 drops. My old computer can’t handle that 300 list deal. So I have to just plug along and hope that people will come visit my blog. And maybe some day I will be up there on the google list. I just enjoy making lots of blogging friends.
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Me too! When i first read about this ghost dropping I saw red…for a few minutes. I calmed down pretty quickly as good sense told me there was probably some truth as well as ‘other’ to be found in the story. I am a rule follower, love rules, they make life more orderly. I also DO NOT like cheaters.
I’m glad that entrecard has stepped up quickly and fixed this issue and now, let’s move on from the latest ec drama.
Buggys´s last blog ..No Toilet Paper!
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John, I said the same thing in reply to another blog. We all jumped the gun a bit, myself included.
As I said in the Cornyman’s post, I have no patience for cheaters. That said, the issue and not those accused should have been the focal point which unfortunately was not. I think everyone involved from EC to all those replying about the issue learned from this one. It should have been in EC’s hand in the first place, and they have addressed it. Well, let’s all hope it’s water under the bridge now for us all.
Take care, John.
David Funk´s last blog ..BEWARE OF HACKERS & PHISHERS
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I was very surprised when I came online last night and read the e-mail from Entrecard so I went to Cornymans blog and read his post. Some of the blogs he had posted there were blogs I read and I didn’t believe for one minute that they were guilty of what he was accusing them of. I thought the whole thing was handled badly and feel really bad for those bloggers that were falsely accused. Have a great weekend.
Jude´s last blog ..Taking A Break
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Hey John,
some of the members on the Wall of Shame may abuse the system and while I initially thought that all of them fall under the cheaters category and jumped on the bandwagon, I took a closer look and recognized quite a few who I have interacted with and I am 100% convinced they do not abuse the system at all.
I think this showed us that we need to be much more careful before we call out any members and accuse them of cheating the system. The list over at Cornyman did raise my awareness but I keep on dropping though my inbox and have not altered my dropping habits.
I do agree that we need to sort out those who really cheat the system. We all know that those of us who drop 200-300 cards a day, drop for credits and have our 20-30 blogs which we enjoy to read and actually spend time reading. The rest is a drop and bounce, no secret.
Even if there are a handful of cheater who show up in my inbox, I am sure I drop and bounce on them and unless they are removed it will take even more time to not click on them then it takes to click on them.
When it comes down to it, you only have a certain degree of quality traffic which you already attract and the rest is clicked for credit. I would like if EC would limit the max you could drop as it may increase quality traffic, but who knows…it may not do anything.
Apollo´s last blog ..The Bird-Shit Investment Strategy…
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John,
Thanks for the well thought out post, as well as for the link love. As much as I disliked the jumping to conclusions and the lynch mob mentality that seemed to emerge, Martin raised very important issues.
One is how flawed the EntreCard system is. They are making efforts to fix it, which wouldn’t have happened, I believe, if it wasn’t for Martin’s important post.
Another is about the importance of slowing down, reading the blog and the comments, and sharing comments. I hope everyone takes a few extra moments and pays a little more attention to the blogs they visit.
One person has suggested starting a quality dropper program. I really like that Idea and am thinking about how to set up something like that. More on that later.
Aldon
aldon @ orient lodge´s last blog ..#cttu – Aldon Hynes, Internet Novelist
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Thanks for having the brains to think things through and apologize. I appreciate that. It’s shame Corny can’t do the same.
Margaret (Nanny Goats)´s last blog ..Lacy Goes to Tucson (Pronounced TooSahn)
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David Tamayo reply on February 14th, 2010 11:36 pm:
Well all things come to an end. This too has come to pass. Please stop by my blog to see SFI’s take on the whole situation. ;o)
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I’ve said from the onset on this drama that there shouldn’t be a rush to judgment. I watched a lot of good people get hurt in all this. Entrecard can be replaced or fixed, hurt friendships often suffer a lifetime.
Mar Matthias Darin´s last blog ..Cheating EntreCard, Adgitize and other services
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the ones who should apologize are Cindy Ung and Entrecard.
first for not listening to members LIKE ME, for Months talking about how the widgets cause havoc and fines. if anyone remembers that scenario that I went through this past fall with loosing more than 5000 credits to their widget problems ? I wrote about it, over and over and over. I showed more than enough evidence to entrecard of their widget faux paus; yet I was ignored. I am a java programmer. I was looking at the code in the widgets and telling them what the problem was.
so why was I ignored and Corneymans’s post given more attention ?
that’s what I’d really like to know ?
everyone is focusing on his post, not the problems with Entrecard’s Lack of Technical Support – what about their part in causing all this?
have we forgotten that many people have told them about this flaw over and over and paid the price in fines and being removed – yet the problem was ignored until corneyman said people were cheating.
what about his post got their attention ?
that’s what we need to focus on, why he was not ignored – does he have a real inside link that we all ignored before this ?
I think I’ve seen enough of him and his clickfarms. no more visits from me corneyman. no more games and no more clicking for nothing.
if we are bloggers, let us blog and move back into our circle without the destructive and demeaning interactions with clickfarms. lets comment, research and write. enough is enough and this should be clearly enough to say goodbye and good riddance.
I hope you will take a moment and check out my post on the whole series of bs caused by entrecard. it’s all there for you on http://pod313.com/
every last detail for months, all the entrecrimes and entregames.
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I also believed it instantly when he posted the allegations, and two of my commenters are bloggers whose widgets are shown on his post. But then when I read the comments, Aldon’s post, and the BusinessSphere along with Cindy of Entrecard posts, I said to myself that it’s not fair to just air it out right there without reporting to Entrecard first.
I also used the cached browsing to drop combined with clicking the widget shown on my inbox. Everyday, I go to my inbox, and see whose widgets are there shown, and I would click the widget to drop. But some blogs take time to load, and we , as we all know as Entrecard members are “drop-and-run” droppers most of the time, we are pressed for time. So what I do, as I click a widget and wait for it to finish loading, I open a new tab, and type in the browser the first few letters of the blog widget that is shown on my inbox. For example, if I click the widget of Mom’s Place from my inbox, I will open a new tab and type in your blog’s title first few letters such as “ezgr–”, then it will bring up your blog, and I will click on it, so it will load your page. Then while waiting for your page to load, I go back to Mom’s Place tab, and drop, then go to another tab where your page is , and drop.
I don’t drop if you don’t drop on my blog and that is why I only drop based on what I see on my inbox. I don’t have that Entrecard drop list within 10 minutes device/ system because sometimes I like to read my favorite blogs and comment. When I open a blog page thru Entrecard, normally I just drop unless the first 2 posts on the top of your page pique my interest , then I will read…I read and then if I want to comment, I comment.
I made a comment again at Cornyman’s post and said that cached browsing is still legit visit to your page because your page was opened. Unless some kind of paranormal activity is going on to view your blog or you have a device that remotely opens a blog page from wherever you are even without logging in to your computer, then that is ghost-dropping.
I told him, that this is my method of dropping yet it is not ghost-dropping since I am there , clicking the widget, and opening a new tab, typing in your URL or title , and dropping.
As Cindy of Entrecard said quoted from BusinessSphere post, it is possible that an Entrecard drop widget shows up if it’s opened from a cached browsing system. This means, opening a page, means visiting your blog, even if the widget is there or not.
I am alive…not a ghost.
bingkee´s last blog ..VALENTINE’S DAY TRIVIA (AND TOP TEN VALENTINE GIFTS FOR YOUR PARTNER)
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I still don’t understand why any of this is news or important. If anybody is making money off click fraud, it is EC itself. That’s been obvious to me from when I first joined and started filing tickets about the bugs in the system. The response to those bugs (I had about 50 opens last summer) was to shut down the ticket system.
When I started opening topics on the forums about click fraud, other ads running where I had purchased space, or the fact that many of my blog comments had gone unapproved for months, EC shut down the forums.
I removed my widget for a couple of months and posted on several occasions about continued drops on a non-existent widget, and I didn’t get suspended, receiving only one warning for not complying with the TOS. I figured Cindy was riding the Symbian and too thrilled to pay attention.
I put the widget back up because I was bored and curious about what difference it makes.
It makes some. I get visitors I wouldn’t have expected, and I don’t see any real correlation between my drops and drops on me. The click farmers have been constant for several months. Sometimes I reciprocate, sometimes I don’t. Sometimes I report them to EC, sometimes to Homeland Security. As if it makes any difference anywhere for anything.
Do I care? Of course not. I gave up caring about anything half a century ago. What can EC do to make me give a shit? Not a fucking thing.
They could lick the Klingons from my Uranas. I think that’s worth about 2 EC.
Doctor Faustroll´s last blog ..Breaking gnus
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I ran a similar experiment at the beginning of February, removing my widget for 7 day. I received about 5 drops every day (down from an average of 60).
Is it so important to drop 300 cards a day that it’s worth cheating the system for? I’d rather visit 50 blogs and have time to read and occasionally comment
John´s last blog ..My Entrecard Inbox After Removing the Widget!
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Since the time that I first joined the Entrecard community I have come across all kinds of situations. My first port of call is usually the blogger themselves as many will know as I send messages if something doesn’t appear to be right. I think we should all give people the opportuntiy to ammend any situation preferably in privacy. (Give the benefit of the doubt in the first instance.)
There are many bloggers in our little community who rely heavily on their blogging incomes to survive. Some earn so very little that their blogging incomes are a lifeline to a reasonable living wage. That being the case I think perhaps we all should sometimes step back just a little.
I think it has become apparent to us all in recent months, that despite reasurances that the price of adverts would fall and remain much lower than they used to be in the time when we received a credit for a visit as well as a credit for a drop – the have now risen to extraordinary amounts of credits which have no cap on them. This will lead to cheating by some especially as dropping from the Entrecard site is very slow. Some days the drop sign goes completely blank and the page needs refreshing over and over again. This means to complete 300 drops on blogs may in some instances turn into a full time job.
On the other point of commenting – as you can see by this comment alone – mine tend to be on the long side! I do however enjoy the blogs I drop and visit on. Sometimes I spend more time reading them than on others … that is surely the same for us all.
Polly´s last blog ..52
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Thanks John for this well thought out post on the Entrecard controversy. It’s a shame that more thought wasn’t given in Cornyman’s post. He’s very quick to point fingers and make judgments. I know for a fact that there were some in that list that do not “cheat” the program. They’ve left comments, participated in giveaways, and blog hops on my blog.
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I was able to read the comment thread at Corny’s post and I must admit I was disappointed. People were too quick to pass on their respective judgments and didn’t one bit gave the accused benefits of the doubt. It’s like they were judged without fair trial.
Many of us have been patronizing the EC system for years. There were so many issues that made people leave yet so many pioneering members decided to stay for a while longer. It’s mainly because of the wonderful people behind the blogs that we’ve come across with.
There is no problem that couldn’t be resolved without having to talk it out privately with the persons involved. The issue could have been handled properly had Martin contacted each one first and asked them why they were in his inbox minus the widget. Dealing with it tactfully would have made the difference.
I believe the people that were wrongly accused deserves a public apology. Their integrity as persons were somehow ruined just because one person called them cheaters/ scammers and a lot of people jumped on the bandwagon.
I am hats off to you, John for this post. You were man enough to say S O R R Y.
With this hullabaloo, nothing can still beat the power of commenting. It’s something that we all have taken for granted because of the daily blogging rush.
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I was directed to Corny’s blog through another blog since I never visit one of his drop- aka ghost blogs. I left this comment on his blog and on some of the accused:
Corny, you start making allegations on a rather unethical way. I am an International Communication Manager who deals with PR, Advertisement and Journalism. I am a serial expat and worked directly with people from all over the world face-to-face (my counter somewhere stays on 53 different nationalities but I might be wrong, so please forgive me when I didn’t count right).
I visited your sites(s) often since I was curious why people were dropping on your blogs. Now I know; these are drop blogs or ghost blogs. And besides that, your obsession with ‘money making’ in the blogosphere is hilarious; how can a blog makes money with 300 times clicking on other blogs? With the same droppers? You’re kidding me.
Anyway, since you see yourself as the guardian of EC, and did some rough ‘investigation’ without knowing how 2.0 really works, you made accusations and start hurting people who, opposite from your ‘ghost or drop blogs’, refresh their blogs each and every day with new content.
None of the accused people did something illegal, intentionally wrong or bad. The only person who cross borders of people their integrity and privacy and attacked them is you. And I think that EC can do a wonderful job without ‘spies’ like you.
(I will put this comment on some blogs, out solidarity, but I don’t want to bother our regular readers with all these nonsense)
—————————————————————————-
With ‘our regular readers’ I mean, visiitors who follow Internations for years.
I drop selective, mostly on blogs I like. But not on blogs which refresh their content once and a while.
kindest
Hans (Dutch in Turkey – therefore USA and many other countries9>
Hans´s last blog ..Day Opening – February 13
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Thanks for the post. I was one of many who fell victim this individuals’ latest quest for attention. From what I’ve been told, it’s a long list of quests.
From my point of view, there were some slanderous and even ‘Hitleresc’ allegations made on unscientific (at best) findings. Seriously, what is going on here? The lynch mob mentality took over the bloggosphere for what can be termed, his 15 minutes of fame (or quested traffic). Now, people like yourself are coming to their senses and looking at things logically.
I am lucky enough to have many entre-followers who know I do visit their blogs on a daily basis and even leave comments. I have also heard from many people who are outraged more by the post, it’s methods and allegations rather than the idea of ghosting.
I hope that soon we are all able to move on, learn to take care of ourselves, and appreciate blogger’s as people.
Harriet´s last blog ..Join me in sharing Comment Love this month!
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As a followup, people have asked for more information about the analytics I’ve been doing as well as talking about the idea of how to track and highlight quality droppers. I’ve written a little more on this topic for anyone that is interested.
aldon @ orient lodge´s last blog ..Using Google Analytics API and PHP to Ghostbust EntreCard
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Thanks for your honesty John, I to was quick to react and you know my feelings on all of this I pretty much left them over at Corneyman’s in his last post. I feel as thou I am back in high school and some people are the “in” crowd while most of us are just wanna bees.
No need to investigate any further because really, what is done is done. It raised issues and anger, but in the end these really are just click farms as RE – Entrepod already explained.
How someone can build a script to tell how good a quality is the person visiting is really getting a bit out of hand in my opinion, because in all reality what is any of this have to do with blogging? I appreciate Aldon trying to come up with a good solution. But a solution to what? To see how long a person stays and how many pages they visit? If we put out better quality, then isn’t that the catalyst that will bring in readers? What happens to all the people that have no interest or idea about these programs, what will they get out of any of this. Is any of this post helping John bring in new readers? Maybe those who like to see a bunch of bloggers cast fingers.
If you want a program that tells you if the person stopping at your blog is of good quality, they can be easily found! They usually try and leave a comment. That’s how I judge, not that they leave one every time but when they have the time they do. That is quality and no analytic program needs to tell me that.
We write mainly for ourselves and hopefully the people that stop by come because they want to and see something that interests them. Not because they need to do a requirement in order to advertise on someone else’s blog. Which is what mainly all these programs are. Between dropping 300 on one program and another 50 to 100 on another and now yet another service has us doing the same without at least a requirement is pretty crazy if you ask me.
When are we suppose to write a post and one good enough for people who do not blog or are not part of these few services, who actually come to your blog to read and enjoy it?
Why do we have a blog in the first place?
I used these services like most all of us did, to make people aware we are out there. After a few months I would think the people that like your blog and have become friends or regulars will continue. The rest stop by simply to drop and go. These people in my opinion are not really the people that will stop by if you no longer had a widget for them to click.
I hope this all can ends with the solution of writing better content and not worrying so much about spending time clicking away to attract non quality traffic.
Man Over Board´s last blog ..Lighter Doesn’t Always Mean Fitter
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Whoooowwwweeeeee, John. Talk about time, droppin. It took me an hour just to get, from up there, to down here! Man-O-Man, I wish other topics, would generate this kind of BUZZZZZ. :>)
I have been all over the entrecard map, on this, and one of the nicest things I have gleaned, is that a lot of GOOD, will come from some, BAD.
From entrecard, wisein up, and fixin stuff, to Codepooba Aldon, developing, a real “valued droppers” list, you for teaching us it’s ok to say “oops” sometimes, and “Wonder Women”, Robyn, tossin a Aussie Match, on the whole deal. My Kudos, to all who contributed to this whole mess.
In regard, to the BAD. The only for sure, is God knows, who you are!
Peace.
Don E. Chute´s last blog ..A BUMPY RIDE 2.8.2K10
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Thanks to everyone for joining the conversation and expressing your thoughtful responses. It is obvious that this whole subject really hit home with many in the Entrecard community. It is too bad that it takes an event like this to pull us all together. But any reason is a good reason as far as I’m concerned!
It has been a wonderful experience to see so much interaction across multiple blogs and social networks.
It been REAL, it’s been FUN, but I for one am ready to move on. Truthfully, I wish I had never stepped in this virtual poo. A corny-quagmire, as it were. ( j/k Martin, no offense intended :^)
On a positive note, it looks as though Entrecard has finally taken the initial steps to get rid of the REAL cheaters. I think we can all agree, that’s a good thing. NOW, if they could only do something about the malicious scripts, trojans and virus’…hmmmm…
On that note, here are some links to useful FREE software, you may or may not be aware of:
AVG – Anti-virus
http://free.avg.com/us-en/homepage
Spybot – Anti Spyware
http://www.safer-networking.org/index2.html
Malwarebytes – Malicious software removal
http://www.malwarebytes.org/
Firefox – Safer browsing
http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/
NoScript – Firefox addon – block malicious scripts
http://noscript.net/getit
If you have any questions about ANYTHING, contact me through Entrecard, Facebook or email me: john (at) ezgreatlife (dot) com
Thanks for stopping by and I’ll see you tomorrow!
John b
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there alot of people that drop and run,this is true.I do take time to “smell the roses”but do not comment like I should.
mike golch´s last blog ..PRAYER REQUEST.
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Wow . . .
Entregate
I saw something like this coming but I thought it would have happened a long time ago.
In the summer I came across a ghost script and actually tried it out but I didn’t like the idea of not going to the actual site so I didn’t go back.
When I drop on a site, I am usually logged into Blog Catalog, Mybloglog, Google Friend Connect and several other networks that show an avatar of visitors. I always gave that exposure more value (at least in my own mind) than the exposure I got from Entrecard but found that Entrecard was the best or quickest way to “open” or “surf” different sites to get my avatar out there on the other networks.
For the longest time I used the Entrebar Inbox but there were so many trojans re-directs, deleted blogs and other bad sites that I decided to make my own clean drop list – The Dropzone, http://ezee.ca/quickdrop.htm
It’s just a set of buttons that open pre-screened sites without all the problems that come with the Entrebar and it doesn’t strip out the drop button like the ghost scripts.
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I still maintain that Martin is right — right in the sense that there are or were ghost droppers and I can prove it. They had been dropping from the comfort of their sites using their script, with their drop list containing all the blogs’ avatars or images, with the word “Drop” and when you hit the button, your drop was registered on Entrecard and you were given credit for it.
Except that now, the Drop button was replaced with “Invalid”. I’ve seen three sites with that ghost dropper script. As a result of Martin’s (Cornyman) post, Entrecard took action and the problem was fixed.
But I have no comment as to the bloggers whom Cornyman has accused as ghost droppers. All I’m saying is that ghost droppers exist or has been existing and I’ve personally seen three sites with that script.
Eli @ Business Sphere´s last blog ..Kung Hei Fat Choy!
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@Eli, the problem here is that EC is not a secure I-net community. If somebody ‘ghost drop’ on ‘ghost blogs’ that’s his or her problem. EC has to make this community secure. And ıf you refresh your blog every day with some nice content, you don’t need all this drops.
There are a lot of good blogs in EC. And everybody is dealing with one thing: how do I get attention. That some of ‘the accused’ used a sript or whatever…it’s not illegal.
90% of the blogs I drop on I read (once a week) and I never make it to the 300. THis dropping obsession takes too much time and energy. Start blogging and then start dropping and take people serious.And if I dont drop on you, that means; I dont have time or your blog is not worth (in my opinion). So simple is that.
Thanks for giving me the space to vent my anger!.)
Kindest
Hans A Dutch in Istanbul (the most exiting city in the world..)) I lived in Miami, London, Paris, Miami, Rome…and nothing beats Istanbul.)
Hans´s last blog ..Day Opening – February 13
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Hi John, Thanks for your visit and the usual fantastic comment. Well at least this is behind us and on we go to yet new undiscovered territories. ;o) I did see the apology and posted about it today. Stop by and check it out if you have some time. Wow, what a furor. ;o)
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I do not know if my name was on that list. However I do drop on Martin and I physically visit every blog. Sometimes I do not leave a comment but I do read the new post. I read about the cache system and I do remember reading Martins Ghost post. I was confused because I did not understand what he meant since I did see the EC widget on his post. I do not know what the problem is or how bloggers can Ghost drop. but I have notice a decrease in my traffic. I hope bloggers will read this and know I do not ghost drop. do not even know how to do that.
Auntie E´s last blog ..Monday News-We’re on the road again.
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