timers and cheat links

[pontiacgirl]

Something that really bothers me lately is seeing more links that have timers that have to count down before being allowed to click the next link. I give each link an equal amount of attention but like to open each one in the email and then go back to each one. I'm still going to open the link even if I have to let the previous link countdown. I know this is setup to help catch cheaters but to me it becomes more and more a bother. I also don't like how sometimes the cheat links are marked well--I've accidentally clicked a cheat link and lost money several times. I try to be careful but sometimes when you are in a hurry it isn't always possible.

[cherokee]

Yea I had same problem with some programs... what I did is waited till payout and then unsubscribed. Not worth the effort they make you go thru, there are plenty others who dont make those problems for you.

[taxlady]

To insure the success of any program, reputable webmasters will inconvenience their members for the sake of advertisers getting their money's worth.

After all, without Happy advertisers who keep running ads weekly, there is no money coming in to pay out.

So if a timer bothers you, or some like me set it up so you can't open more than one at a time, to insure that you are at least looking at a site rather than using something like crazybrowser or avant, that let you open a bunch you may never look at any then you don't care whether a program survives or not.

Sorry guys, but i'll inconvenience my members, and if some unsubscribe that's fine, but my advertisers can be sure they get their money's worth. Or at least that i've made every effort to insure they do.

And if that irritates some members who just click for the pennies, and don't even look at the offers, so be it!

[pretender]

i agree with the times only when the advertising is paid decently and payout is aceptable! but most of site give users less than 1 cent per click and they expect users to wait for times to go out? FFS, i thing is you pay 5cent or more per email other is pay less than a penny

[pretender]

other thing: delete an user bcoz of a cheat link? is okay if site pays users decently for the time they spent read carfully the email, if site dnt pays decently or payout is very high is just bcose the cheat link is just SCAM!

[taxlady]

I don't send cheat links,

The only thing i ever sent close to a cheat link, was a link to the useredit page, asking them to edit their payout preferences, or their country if they were from india, china, japan which 99% of the cheaters were from. Those that clicked the link and didn't do as requested got deleted, those that did what they were asked to, didn't.

[taxlady]

Another one i sent close to a cheat link was a raffle link where members clicked to enter a $1 raffle for a 50/50 split of the pot.

They had 60 seconds to close the browser if they didn't want to participate.
Those that clicked and waited the 60 seconds had $1.00 deducted from their accounts. Those that didn't have $1 ended up with a negative balance and were instructed to pay the $1.
Those that didn't pay the $1 were deleted, as they obviously don't read, and just clicked the link as they do any other paid mail.

Those 3 things are the only links sent out that even resemble a cheat link.

To just send cheat links is ridiculous.
We all know not every member reads mails.
Some read 95% so why delete them for the 5% they don't.

But when i timed a link for 60 seconds taking them to a page that contained a link to click to enter raffle, and they enterd the raffle from the 2nd link on the page, they deserved to be deleted if they didn't close their browser.

It's obvious a lot of them don't read english, and i w ouldn't consider them cheating or call them cheats, but they still shouldn't join an English speaking paid2read site when they can't read the ads.

Then of course there are those who join, do nothing, but block me for spam so i get tons of undeliverable bounces....

[StashuJ]

I belong to about 60 sites and I've noticed that more and more are adding cheat links and timers, as well as fixing it so you can't open more than one page at a time. I can live with it unless the pages take forever to open and then I just say to heck with it and go on.

I sort of blame the webmasters for not telling advertisers that they need to ditch all the sound bites, fancy graphics and what not that make pages take more time to open. I sure won't wait around for more than thirty seconds for a page to open unless I'm making at least five cents. But, to be honest, I find the pop-ups that make my computer screen act like a popcorn machine until they crash my browser a hundred times more annoying than any of that. I quite two sites recently because they won't ban pop-ups.

From an advertiser's stance, I fully understand the cheat links and the timers as a means of assuring ad exposure. There are sites I won't advertise with because I have no reason to believe that my ad will ever be seen. I've sold a lot of stuff through my ads on the PTR's over the past year and I've added a lot of people to the downlines of the ones I promote.

As for the taxlady's hard nosed attitude, I belong to enough sites run by normal people to know there is absolutely no reason for any webmaster to rant and rave at the people who participate in their programs. The webmasters of PTR's all face the same problems but 99% of them recognize that there are human beings out there.

We don't like to be called stupid; we don't like to be belittled when English is not our first language; and we don't appreciate a box full of caustic e-mail reiterating the rules every other day just to earn a couple bucks a month--especially when we can do it somewhere else with a lot less grief. Poor woman will never learn. Every time I see her launch one of these tirades on the boards, I can't help but wonder why she doesn't just close up her site or sell it out and go do something less taxing to her blood pressure.

[pontiacgirl]

I don't blame any webmasters for wanting to ensure that their sites remain profitable. The only thing that bugs me is that some sites that promoted that weren't ever going to do this changed their minds midstream and added timers. I also don't mind the cheat links as long as they are marked as such. I also don't like the big penalities that some webmasters have on these cheat links. I think everyone ought to be given at least 1 or 2 chances without a penalty and if you can't read well enough to leave them alone after that then you suffer the consequences. I hate that a few bad apples have to spoil everything for the honest members of these programs.

[StashuJ]

Yeah, I know what you mean about changing horses in mid stream on various issues. I think that comes from being a surfer who turned into a webmaster and said things before they realized that some things are a necessary evil. It really is a shame that the crackpots out there make it such a struggle for the people who honestly try to get and keep these type of programs running. I'm guessing they will all dry up sooner or later so I'm getting my pennies while the getting's good. LOL

[pretender]

stupid cheat links, once i wanted to enter a paid email site to delete my acount, guess in what link i clicked by mistake? yes on a cheate link, luckly they saved me time with such feature