Ezine Articles Is banning Like Crazy, Are YOU Next?

320 replies
Hello Warriors,

* EDIT: As some are unclear as to the purpose or drive behind this thread, let me lay out what is actually intended here...

There is a war going on. It's one AGAINST us, and by "US", I mean internet marketers.
...

As for anyone who is sick of the "whining", "complaining" or anything else related to anything below, it's a choice to read and partake in this thread, as always. There are actually many discussions being covered here, as not everyone is affected in the same way.

On a personal level:
I DO NOT believe that their change of rules about "CONTENT" are anything to freak out over, and I personally have NO problem with it. I love it, however in the following pages you can come to see really what the issue of concern was that I wished to address, simply the war on "Affiliate Marketers", which is the EXACT wording used by them.


It has come to many people's attention, the new rules of Ezine Article Submission...and of course by rules, I mean serious crack down on all kinds of things!

In fact, people are being banned all over the place, and as Chris Knight himself has stated:

"We've been firing an average of 2 Premium members every day now as not being a good match. In some cases, we've had to fire members who were Premium, got fired, bought again and then had to be banned from Premium membership. We've had members plead to pay any price for speed or to be unbanned. One guy yesterday offered us $36k to accept his articles on top of our Premium membership fee"
So then, they are banning people, and some people are LUCKY to receive bad reputation on their account. What this means, is that you will lose your "PLATINUM STATUS" should you already have it, and they will either choose to put you into "basic status" or simply "basic".

What this means, is that depending on what kind of content you were previously submitting... they may ask you to do the following:
After a recent quality review of your account, I noticed several areas of concern that I want to discuss with you.

Currently you have articles in problem status the need to be addressed. In addition to that, I am going to offer you suggestions on what we want to see from your account moving forward:

1) Increase your word count to 450-500 words without increasing filler words just to meet a word count goal. We will no longer accept your writing on the same content in each article. I would also like for you to go through your account and remove any articles that are redundant and do not share any new information.

2) Deliver real value in each article... Something unique, something substantial, include bullet point lists or numbered lists... It is not OK to use the same template and share the same information in multiple articles. Each article must stand alone and deliver uniqueness. We will no longer be allowing the "NICHE was listed...but I removed it" articles from you as they all deliver the same rehashed content.

3) Decrease your article volume as you're achieving quantity with very low quality. We love members who do high volume, but never at the expense of quality as it makes us both look bad. Once you get your quality of substantial content UP, you can resume to pursue your quantity goals.

Without reviewing your approved articles, my guess is that many of them will be rejected as being thin or not-substantial. I'd recommend editing them, combining them into 400-500+ word articles, and solidifying their substantiality so that they don't look like thin rehashed content.

Future submissions of articles that do not adhere to our editorial guidelines and contain the same rehashed content will result in the loss of your Premium Subscription. Your account has been downgraded to Basic + due to continued articles being placed in problem status. You now have 25 article submission with which to submit quality content that delivers value.

Any questions, please ask.
Now, as you can see from above, reading the "fine print" they not only ask you to remove what so ever you have created, written etc... but they also tell you they are going to refuse articles from your Niche, should you choose to write them.

They ask to increase the word count, and there has been lots of discussion about them NOT changing their rules in regards to this. They also say "NO FILLER" etc...

So let's say you play by the rules above for the new articles. I know people who at the very moment have submitted nearly 100 articles just to get back to the platinum status, but they have also stated that it will be extremely hard to get back into platinum status if THEY have taken it away from you.

This could mean that some people will literally have to write 200+ articles just to properly re-instate their account, and these articles should be more than 500 words, at least, I am guessing.

I know someone who right now has at least submitted 70+ articles each 500+ words, and still has not been re-instated. What they do now, is they simply say oh, back to basic, back to basic. 25 articles again.

They are getting so many complaints and freak out's as well, that the last time they mentioned their emails, they said they were behind on about 3000 of them, and were asking people to stop sending the same emails over and over.

I have seen so many people get banned within this time frame, and they are cracking down on niche's which are specifically heavily flooded with competition, so it seems, and conveniently, seem to be heavily flooded with garbage as well.


So are you banned by them yet?
#articles #banning #crazy #ezine
  • Profile picture of the author jazbo
    Sounds like article marketeers might need to start looking at other venues?
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    • Profile picture of the author Hamida Harland
      I'm not banned, but I would imagine as a marketer eventually they'll find something they don't like about my articles. Quite a few authors I'd been watching have suddenly 'disappeared' and many more are all of a sudden writing much longer articles, so it looks like they've fallen victim to the Ezinearticles slap.

      I think they're really starting to shoot themselves in the foot with this, and to be honest I think I'll be taking my writing elsewhere. Although what I submit is good, I only submit my best work to my own sites and I have no intention of changing that now.
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    • Profile picture of the author Ghalt
      Originally Posted by jazbo View Post

      Sounds like article marketeers might need to start looking at other venues?
      FIXED:

      "Sounds like article marketers need to actually deliver value in their articles."



      That's all EZA is really asking. Do that, and you'll be fine. If that's too hard, then IM will be a difficult road.

      Dollars always chase value. Shortcuts last but so long. Create value and the dollars will follow.

      /endofrant

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      • Profile picture of the author Black Hat Cat
        Banned
        Originally Posted by Ghalt View Post

        FIXED:

        "Sounds like article marketers need to actually deliver value in their articles."



        That's all EZA is really asking. Do that, and you'll be fine. If that's too hard, then IM will be a difficult road.
        No fixing required.....it was right the first time. The only reason it's hard is because EA is so inconsistent. How is anyone supposed to give EA what they want when they can't seem to make up their mind?

        For many reasons, I suspect that those in charge of EA are a few fries short of a Happy Meal. And if they truly declined a payment of $36,000 PLUS the monthly fee from someone wanting to post there, there's not really much doubt left, IMHO.

        Marketers are screaming for a viable alternative to EA. Opportunity is knocking here, folks....is anyone going to answer the door?
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    • Profile picture of the author Lance K
      Originally Posted by jazbo View Post

      Sounds like article marketeers might need to start looking at other venues?
      If someone isn't compliant with those points, I'd have serious issues with them calling themself an article marketer.

      EZA has needed to be cleaned up for a while now. I for one am glad to see them doing something about it.
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      • Profile picture of the author BobbyTn
        Cant agree with you more, if you are not delivering any quality and are just looking for a quick bock, then you might as well be banned, In todays market people are smarter and are looking for value, you deliver that youre hooked with good customers, you dont your dead
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    • Profile picture of the author JB
      From the 'outside looking in' it all seems pretty fair to me. I went hunting for articles there before to add to a library for my users and I have to say I was very disappointed with the quality of articles. I read through about 150 in my particular niche and only found 1 that was of any use.
      The problem from a users perspective is that almost all of the articles are obviously written by people who are just rehashing watered down information which is pretty useless. It's also abundantly clear that the vast majority of the writers are writing about subjects that they know very little about and are not experts in. As a reader/user when I go looking for an article I want information that I don't already know. Something written by a person who is an expert in that particular niche or field. It's so obvious when you read the difference between an expert and a 'rehasher'.
      I know IM'ers are very passionate about what they do but when it comes to article writing I do think that most suffer from the wrong approach and are not looking at it from outside of the IM'ers point of view. Take a look at that site with a fresh set of eyes and ask yourself this, who the hell would actually want any of these articles? Do they tell you anything you didn't already know? I think the site is doing the right thing in terms of providing a repository of useful information - unfortunately though, it is likely to hurt a lot of IM'ers along the way. End result - a better resource.
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    • Profile picture of the author Neromancer
      Banned in the USA . . . jeesh
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  • Profile picture of the author Ralf Skirr
    Actually I think it's a good idea that they're looking for quality now. If you ever tried to research a topic using their articles, then you've seen how much completely useless content they have.

    If they manage to control quality it will increase readership of real human readers on their site. And that's good news for all article marketers, isn't it?
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    • Profile picture of the author whateverpedia
      Originally Posted by Ralf Skirr View Post

      Actually I think it's a good idea that they're looking for quality now. If you ever tried to research a topic using their articles, then you've seen how much completely useless content they have.

      If they manage to control quality it will increase readership of real human readers on their site. And that's good news for all article marketers, isn't it?
      Couldn't have put it better myself. Way too many "writers" aiming for quantity with no regards at all to quality. No thought at all given to the reader's, just throw some words together and get a backlink(s).

      If I was Mr Knight I would've done it from the start. Unfortunately "writers" seem to think his site is a perfect dumping ground for sparticles (spam articles).

      Bravo.
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    • Profile picture of the author paperkool
      Originally Posted by Ralf Skirr View Post

      Actually I think it's a good idea that they're looking for quality now. If you ever tried to research a topic using their articles, then you've seen how much completely useless content they have.

      If they manage to control quality it will increase readership of real human readers on their site. And that's good news for all article marketers, isn't it?
      I think you're right about the "contextual cleansing" however, although I'm kosher, I hope it ain't me next.
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  • Profile picture of the author acrasial
    This is a great laugh...

    EzineArticles.com Current Job/Career Listings

    LOL check out this! The editor position at the top is $10 an hour. That is only $2 above minimum where I work. No wonder the editors are so LOVELY...

    Duties include editing and approving article submissions while balancing high production and quality control. This position suits a task/goal driven person with solid computing abilities. Internet knowledge and HTML skills are an advantage.
    That just makes things even better!

    I wonder how many writers are out of a job now?
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    • Profile picture of the author Jill Carpenter
      Well thanks. You just made me feel better about not getting a platinum account out of the gate and getting approved for the basic plus. And I'm early enough in the game with them to insure I mix things up a bit.
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  • Profile picture of the author pheonix44
    Overall I think it's a good thing, but I do believe if they keep changing their rules people will simply replace them with someone else. EZA is good, but they have to remember they are not the only game in town. All people have to do is vote with their feet or with their articles by taking them some place else.
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  • Profile picture of the author Danny Cutts
    I think it will definiatly clean things up and also I think that maybe articles will get accepted quicker if the crap stops....maybe?

    I get quite good click throughs and rarely get an article rejected so I hope I am safe but if not there are plenty of other directories out there we can use!

    Danny
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  • Profile picture of the author Marhelper
    Just produce quality articles that provide value to the reader and you should be fine.
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    • Profile picture of the author Kay King
      I think it's great!

      Recently I've noticed a load of articles not long enough to say anything of substance and articles so poorly written they were almost unreadable.

      Another thread here today is complaining about having short articles refused and complaints are that the article was "over 250 words" - to me that's someone who is counting words, not writing articles.

      If you are doing research and writing good, high quality articles of a length that provides real information to the reader, you won't have a problem with EZA.

      If your method of article marketing is to throw up as many quick, short blurbs as you can, you will have a problem now.

      I think it's a good step forward for EZA to protect the quality of the site and its content.

      If you are one of those "authors" writing lines such as "Many people want to diet and lose weight because they doesn't like to be fat and if they don't eats so much food they will not be so fat..." maybe EZA is not the problem.

      kay

      EDIT: 'Premium" and "Platinum" are being used interchangeably in this thread and are not the same. Premium members are paid members - Platinum is earned with quality articles and you do not need to be a paying member to be a Platinum author.
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  • Profile picture of the author MarkH45
    Before everyone starts jumping off bridges, there is a place where you can write whatever you want, don't have to wait for approval, and can have an unlimited amount of affiliate links.

    It's your blog!... start using it
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    • Profile picture of the author StevenSaliba
      Originally Posted by MarkH45 View Post

      Before everyone starts jumping off bridges, there is a place where you can write whatever you want, don't have to wait for approval, and can have an unlimited amount of affiliate links.

      It's your blog!... start using it
      That is a good idea Mark. I thought about it before. I am sure Google counts the backlink. My blog has a PR of 3 (Angela's backlinks) and Ezine Articles has a PR of 7 I think. I would still not get the same traffic though. Ezine Articles is in the top 250 Alexa rank. There are pros and cons to having content on your own blog.
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    • Profile picture of the author mayapearl
      Originally Posted by MarkH45 View Post

      Before everyone starts jumping off bridges, there is a place where you can write whatever you want, don't have to wait for approval, and can have an unlimited amount of affiliate links.

      It's your blog!... start using it
      You are so right!
      Write for your blog first, then write articles to support your blog.
      EZA is a pain, but I have to agree with them a little, there was far too much c*** out there, it got to the stage where I just wouldn't bother reading any of the articles, they got to be so bad. In one instance I checked out someone who had written hundreds of articles most of them total rubbish, just the same articles with slightly different entry words, I wonder if she got banned too!
      Just my two bits worth,
      Maya
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    • Profile picture of the author AnniePot
      Originally Posted by MarkH45 View Post

      Before everyone starts jumping off bridges, there is a place where you can write whatever you want, don't have to wait for approval, and can have an unlimited amount of affiliate links.

      It's your blog!... start using it
      Well said Mark - you've hit the nail on the head

      Your own blog/website should be the repository for all your best work. Write great, unique content and keep it at home. Google will find it and reward you. Why put it out where it can be re-posted minus the 'requisite' resource box (I've had this happen repeatedly).

      EZA has been going down the tubes lately with the content it's been publishing. Many articles have been close to unreadable.
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    • Profile picture of the author shirland
      Originally Posted by MarkH45 View Post

      Before everyone starts jumping off bridges, there is a place where you can write whatever you want, don't have to wait for approval, and can have an unlimited amount of affiliate links.

      It's your blog!... start using it
      That is so true, just may write whatever you want on your blog. I myself have notice that EZA have been very slow in publishing articles. I know that these month are the best time but on your blog you may PUBLISH anytime you want. Great Advantage.
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  • Profile picture of the author StevenSaliba
    I am starting to do article marketing. What is a good article length to have? I think that by having a shorter article, you can get more clicks to your signature file. I don't think that people read all of the articles that they see. The thing is, if I write articles that are over 500 words, I can submit them to other article directories which will get me more traffic. I think I answered my own question.
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  • Profile picture of the author Learnanew
    And this is why we don't put all our eggs in one basket.
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  • Profile picture of the author billaaa777
    Yes, they have certainly changed the rules in the middle of the game without letting the players know before the game stated. If you know the rules you can adapt, but if you don't know the rules, then you are like a fish out of water.

    After submitting over 1,000 articles and having the approved instantly, the last 14 were all hit with problem issues. My CTR on my articles is over 42%, so that is some kind of indication that there readers like some of my content. But not anymore I guess.

    I just checked my stats and my last article only had 35 views but it did have 23 clicks to my site, a 66%. But those articles are no longer good enough. OH, well, what can you do if they don't tell you the rules?
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    • Profile picture of the author TheRichJerksNet
      Originally Posted by billaaa777 View Post

      After submitting over 1,000 articles and having the approved instantly, the last 14 were all hit with problem issues. My CTR on my articles is over 42%, so that is some kind of indication that there readers like some of my content. But not anymore I guess.

      I just checked my stats and my last article only had 35 views but it did have 23 clicks to my site, a 66%. But those articles are no longer good enough. OH, well, what can you do if they don't tell you the rules?
      How many of those clicks are marketers or competition ?

      James
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  • Profile picture of the author Dennis-White
    Those rules sound pretty stranded to me...
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  • Profile picture of the author HeySal
    Looks like quality is coming back into fashion. Kewl. It's about time. I probably have a banned niche in the bunch because of all the crap crud so many in that niche have written so to have them do this doesn't hurt my feelings one iota. I knew that it had to blow sooner or later. Just the same as with ebooks - so much re-hash and crap out there that people just started not buying like they once did.

    Online is no different than offline - give value, you get the big bucks - offer crap and you get to go look for a new business. I'm really amazed to see how many have a real problem with that -------what does that tell us?
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  • Profile picture of the author DonDavis
    I think it is rather obvious that EA is trying to avoid a Google slap of their own. The real trouble comes if Google decides that the content on the EA site is no longer suitable to be shown in their SERPS. Maybe Chris received a "courtesy call" from Big G?
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    • Profile picture of the author steve39
      I agree. Ezinearticle's business is still dependant on Google. One small tweak and they could be wiped out. Nothing lasts forever and the big "G" is as unpredictable as ever. Is it any wonder they want to appear as authoritative as possible? In the end, it all comes down to doing whatever it takes to stay in their good books.

      Steve

      Originally Posted by DonDavis View Post

      I think it is rather obvious that EA is trying to avoid a Google slap of their own. The real trouble comes if Google decides that the content on the EA site is no longer suitable to be shown in their SERPS. Maybe Chris received a "courtesy call" from Big G?
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    • Profile picture of the author Fun to Write
      Originally Posted by DonDavis View Post

      I think it is rather obvious that EA is trying to avoid a Google slap of their own. The real trouble comes if Google decides that the content on the EA site is no longer suitable to be shown in their SERPS. Maybe Chris received a "courtesy call" from Big G?
      This is what I suspect. I think something big is blowing in the wind and this is a canaryin the mine shaft for everyone who does article marketing. EZA has a lot of influence in the article directory niche and I think they got the "word" from Google insiders to clean things up now.

      Possibly a bigger slap is coming for Big G soon.

      It's all about delivering quality content now for the search engine visitor. Article directories that throw up any ole content may find themselves deindexed.
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  • Profile picture of the author TheRichJerksNet
    Sorry just have to say it .. Ha! Ha! ...

    James
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    • Profile picture of the author ajbarnes777
      Originally Posted by TheRichJerksNet View Post

      Sorry just have to say it .. Ha! Ha! ...

      James
      lol! I was waiting for you to show up.

      I totally understand that EZA wants to clean up their directory and start receiving more higher quality content, but my problem is their whole attitude about this situation here. The last time I checked, us article marketers are not their employees....so why do I feel like one?

      Also, I don't mind adhering to rules and policies (given that they are fair and sensible), but how about a little heads up on these rules before the hammer is thrown down?

      Well, all I can say is that I've learned my lesson about diversifying and not putting all my eggs into one basket. So, besides sending "some" of my content to EZA, I'm now focusing more on my blog (with beautiful super high quality content...that will ONLY go on MY blog), and I'm also focusing on other article directories, web 2.0, and a pinch of PPC.

      Improvise, adapt, and overcome.
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      • Profile picture of the author TheRichJerksNet
        Originally Posted by ajbarnes777 View Post

        lol! I was waiting for you to show up.

        I totally understand that EZA wants to clean up their directory and start receiving more higher quality content, but my problem is their whole attitude about this situation here. The last time I checked, us article marketers are not their employees....so why do I feel like one?

        Also, I don't mind adhering to rules and policies (given that they are fair and sensible), but how about a little heads up on these rules before the hammer is thrown down?

        Well, all I can say is that I've learned my lesson about diversifying and not putting all my eggs into one basket. So, besides sending "some" of my content to EZA, I'm now focusing more on my blog (with beautiful super high quality content...that will ONLY go on MY blog), and I'm also focusing on other article directories, web 2.0, and a pinch of PPC.

        Improvise, adapt, and overcome.
        Well I know it is a little childish but I just had to do it .. I feel better ... lol

        I have a problem with their entire attitude all around and misleading people, to me it is unethical but that is my personal opinion.

        Some of us have been saying it for months that people need to branch out and stop listening to those that say "you must submit to eza" .. Blah! Yeah Right! No you do not have to either.

        As I always said you need to deal with an article directory that treats it's authors like gold.. Personally I value each and everyone of my authors and I am doing things more and more to improve their stay and their rankings. Authors are what supply the site with content, no authors = no content.. It's that simple.

        Personally myself I will continue to help my authors, I really do not care what other article directories do because I have always done things differently than others and I always will..

        James
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        • Profile picture of the author Steven Wagenheim
          Now we'll see who's left standing after the smoke clears.
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          • Profile picture of the author Steven Wagenheim
            Okay, all kidding aside, here is what's going to eventually happen.

            If EZA decides to keep ONLY the writers who deliver "their" idea of good
            content, their article submissions are going to hit an all time low. I don't
            understand their business so I don't know what kind of an effect that will
            have on their income, but it can't be a positive one. So eventually, they
            will either have to ease up or something has to give.

            It's like the big bully on the block who, suddenly, nobody wants to play
            with anymore. All of a sudden he realizes that he has no friends. So he
            has 2 choices. He can either start playing a little nicer or go without
            friends. Sure, maybe if he's lucky, he'll meet other bullies and they'll
            become his friends.

            I can just imagine what Friday nights in their backyard are gonna be like.

            Point is, this recent "decision" by EZA isn't going to not have consequences
            for them. They may not all be bad or good but my gut tells me that some
            of it won't be for the best as far as their business goes.

            Ultimately, we'll have to wait this out and see what happens.

            In the meantime, start keeping a checklist of topics you've written about.
            Make sure that when you submit an article it's the kind of quality that
            you'd have no trouble submitting to a major publication. I'm not kidding
            here. EZA means business.

            We can either play by their "new" rules or find another bully to make
            friends with.
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            • Profile picture of the author TheRichJerksNet
              Originally Posted by Steven Wagenheim View Post

              It's like the big bully on the block who, suddenly, nobody wants to play
              with anymore. All of a sudden he realizes that he has no friends. So he
              has 2 choices. He can either start playing a little nicer or go without
              friends. Sure, maybe if he's lucky, he'll meet other bullies and they'll
              become his friends.
              Hey Steven,
              But this is the problem.. Article Marketers made them who they are. Take 35,000 people and give them your link and tell them to go talk about your website on the nternet. Well, not too long and your site would be "assumed" to be an authority site also.

              Many have a misunderstanding and think google loves eza... No it is the fact that almost every article marketer you talk to will tell you "submit to eza" ... So in reality those article marketers are what made them the bully. So yeah either play their game now and find someone else to play with.

              What I find funny is they "fired" authors.. Hmm.. Maybe someone needs a higher quality choice of words...

              James
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              • Profile picture of the author Steven Wagenheim
                Originally Posted by TheRichJerksNet View Post

                Hey Steven,
                But this is the problem.. Article Marketers made them who they are. Take 35,000 people and give them your link and tell them to go talk about your website on the nternet. Well, not too long and your site would be "assumed" to be an authority site also.

                Many have a misunderstanding and think google loves eza... No it is the fact that almost every article marketer you talk to will tell you "submit to eza" ... So in reality those article marketers are what made them the bully. So yeah either play their game now and find someone else to play with.

                What I find funny is they "fired" authors.. Hmm.. Maybe someone needs a higher quality choice of words...

                James

                James, I agree with you 100%. We created this monster and now we
                can't figure out how to put him back in his cage. It's like Dr. Frankenstein
                all over again.

                Wow, and just in time for Halloween.

                Now THAT is some trick, cause it sure as hell ain't a treat.
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                • Profile picture of the author TheRichJerksNet
                  Originally Posted by Steven Wagenheim View Post

                  James, I agree with you 100%. We created this monster and now we
                  can't figure out how to put him back in his cage. It's like Dr. Frankenstein
                  all over again.

                  Wow, and just in time for Halloween.

                  Now THAT is some trick, cause it sure as hell ain't a treat.
                  Steven,
                  You have had my wife laughing for 10 minutes now and she can't stop ...

                  James
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        • Profile picture of the author Marty S
          Originally Posted by TheRichJerksNet View Post

          Some of us have been saying it for months that people need to branch out and stop listening to those that say "you must submit to eza" .. Blah! Yeah Right! No you do not have to either.
          If branching out means submitting to other article directories, forums, blogs and such I think that is rather obvious, but to ignore the premiere article directory on the internet is simply poor advice. Its nearly tantamount to being a video producer and ignoring Youtube. Again not advisable. I have never said you MUST submit to EZA, but you will have to work much harder to make up for ignoring one of the most effective strategies/websites on the internet.

          Of course you should spread out your writing to numerous Web2.0, but from my personal experience EZineArticles put many of my sites "on the map" and I still reap rewards from articles I submitted years ago. You just can't say that about other article directories, most of whom you don't even know will be around too long.

          I have never submitted an article to EZA with less that 400 words and most are at least 500. A while back I read something on EZA saying that the minimum article had to be 250 words and I was shocked. I started looking at some short articles in my market and quickly concluded that even though I did NOT have the most articles submitted (by far), there was MAYBE 2 other writers that actually wrote something of value. The rest were mostly nonsense or poor regurgitations.

          For the OP who is battling this on so many levels I suggest this - submit quality articles to EZA that actually provide the reader with at least one valuable concept. For that to happen in a natural fashion, your article will end up in the 500 word range all by itself - you wont even have to be counting as you type! Put 2 strategic key word links in your BIO and just keep doing it. Focus on quality, not perceived roadblocks.

          EZineArticles is one the most popular websites on the internet because they are VERY well managed. Although these latest policies will obviously reduce the content of their site, it will improve the quality of that site - something Google is very keen on and IMHO will result in even higher rankings for articles that get accepted on EZA.

          These new industry leading policies are all the MORE reasons to submit to EZineArticles IMHO.
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          • Profile picture of the author TheRichJerksNet
            Originally Posted by Marty S View Post

            I have never said you MUST submit to EZA, but you will have to work much harder to make up for ignoring one of the most effective strategies/websites on the internet.
            Wrong ... That is simply not true, many of us do not submit to EZA and it has not hurt one single bit. Why on earth do I want to submit to a adsense farm for so-called top listings when I can add an article and get top listings with no adsense ads all over my content ... See that is called working smart not harder.

            Sorry but those that say like you just have no clue how beneficial it is to work on your own site and how large the internet really is. It's an article directory and certainly not the "most effective strategies/websites on the internet". I guess by your statement there Allens own forum is worthless ???

            Be careful how you word things.... Again it is an article directory and it may be the largest article directory.

            James
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            • Profile picture of the author Marty S
              Originally Posted by TheRichJerksNet View Post

              Wrong ... That is simply not true, many of us do not submit to EZA and it has not hurt one single bit.
              I don't know the "many" you are representing here, but logically speaking you have no way to prove this statement, since you do not use EZA.

              Originally Posted by TheRichJerksNet View Post

              Sorry but those that say like you just have no clue how beneficial it is to work on your own site and how large the internet really is.
              When did I say I do not work on my own sites? Do I have to know exactly how big the internet is? How could anyone be making a living on the internet and have no clue?

              Originally Posted by TheRichJerksNet View Post

              It's an article directory and certainly not the "most effective strategies/websites on the internet". I guess by your statement there Allens own forum is worthless ???
              You cut my quote off where it suited you and I have no idea what your reference to this forum means.



              Originally Posted by TheRichJerksNet View Post

              Be careful how you word things.... Again it is an article directory and it may be the largest article directory.

              James
              I think I made my point rather clear that it is poor advice to ignore using EZinearticles. I try to be professional in that regard and was hoping you could do the same when responding.
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      • Profile picture of the author clintmyers
        Originally Posted by ajbarnes777 View Post

        lol! I was waiting for you to show up.

        I totally understand that EZA wants to clean up their directory and start receiving more higher quality content, but my problem is their whole attitude about this situation here. The last time I checked, us article marketers are not their employees....so why do I feel like one?

        Also, I don't mind adhering to rules and policies (given that they are fair and sensible), but how about a little heads up on these rules before the hammer is thrown down?

        Well, all I can say is that I've learned my lesson about diversifying and not putting all my eggs into one basket. So, besides sending "some" of my content to EZA, I'm now focusing more on my blog (with beautiful super high quality content...that will ONLY go on MY blog), and I'm also focusing on other article directories, web 2.0, and a pinch of PPC.

        Improvise, adapt, and overcome.
        Great quote! Spread out to some new venues and don't rely on just one source of traffic!
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  • Profile picture of the author 4success53
    I kind of wondered if that would happen. I have only a few articles listed with EZA.

    Article marketing is a big thing.

    If someone is willing to pay $32k to stay as a premium member, they are making some good money through article marketing.

    But, they need to keep their site a quality site. Make Google happy.

    It makes it harder to get an article listed with them and can be frustrating.

    I guess they are just trying to weed out the not so good.

    We will have to wait and see what happens next.
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  • Profile picture of the author abhi1
    Whatever they are doing, I don't really like it...
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  • Profile picture of the author Stallion
    I like how people say write "high quality" content.

    Can you define that for me and will ezinearticle define that?

    What is high quality? EZA doesn't check or verify the information in an article, so how could anyone talk of quality beyond spelling and grammar?

    I can write spectacular 1000 word articles on how doing hand stands cure morning sickness. I can walk people through the best stands they can do and how to started. I can teach them how to strengthen their arms to prepare for such a thing.

    In the end, hand stands don't cure morning sickness and the information is complete CRAP. I'm sure in the eyes of EZA, which doesn't verify information, this would be a high quality article - even though it's not.

    Yet, if I wrote a concise and accurate article (which is short and to the point) it would probably get rejected.

    High quality and low quality are words that shouldn't be used to describe anything EZA is doing.

    There prerogative is to Google and their readers. They're at war with us. It's honest. And I have no desire to be fodder in this war. Real high quality(yes, the real high quality) articles are going on my site or someone is paying me for them.
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    • Profile picture of the author Fun to Write
      Originally Posted by Stallion View Post

      I like how people say write "high quality" content.

      Can you define that for me and will ezinearticle define that?

      What is high quality? EZA doesn't check or verify the information in an article, so how could anyone talk of quality beyond spelling and grammar?
      While I agree in general with EZA having to clean up their directory. I do have a problem with this vague notion of what qualifies as quality. In fact, you are right that as long as you can write an article that sounds like you know what you're talking about, then it will probably pass the muster. Again, EZA can't and maybe shouldn't go as far as checking out how well researched a particular subject is.

      A simple way to define the quality I think they mean is to always do some kind of fact checking on your subject with credible sources. Don't rely on other people's articles only to provide background info.

      They should provide some sort of FAQs on exactly what type of quality they want on their directory.
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      • Profile picture of the author TheRichJerksNet
        Originally Posted by Fun to Write View Post

        While I agree in general with EZA having to clean up their directory. I do have a problem with this vague notion of what qualifies as quality. In fact, you are right that as long as you can write an article that sounds like you know what you're talking about, then it will probably pass the muster. Again, EZA can't and maybe shouldn't go as far as checking out how well researched a particular subject is.

        A simple way to define the quality I think they mean is to always do some kind of fact checking on your subject with credible sources. Don't rely on other people's articles only to provide background info.

        They should provide some sort of FAQs on exactly what type of quality they want on their directory.
        What is quality to EZA is any articles that are going to help get them more ad sense clicks... People should wake up "It Is A AdSense Site" ... So ask yourself this when you build a blog with adsense and you want to get adsense clicks, what type of content do you put on your own blog to get those clicks...

        Answer that and then you have their quality they want..

        James

        P.S. I could be wrong but as I see it .. EZA is nothing more than a adsense farm and they have questionable ethics.

        P.S.S. Many should spend all this energy on posting articles to directories that care about their authors instead of just complaining here which actually will end up doing no good ....
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        • Profile picture of the author Fun to Write
          Originally Posted by TheRichJerksNet View Post

          What is quality to EZA is any articles that are going to help get them more ad sense clicks... People should wake up "It Is A AdSense Site" ... So ask yourself this when you build a blog with adsense and you want to get adsense clicks, what type of content do you put on your own blog to get those clicks...
          Yes, they're using us to make tons of adsense money and we're using them for our own purposes.This doesn't bother me since I know what to expect when I post an article on their site. I provide them with content they can use for Adsense, they provide me with a platform for marketing my articles to a broader audience. This is the purpose of our mutual relationship.

          If an article marketer wants purity in their article directory, then they can find that too. I'm pragmatic, so I care more about how effective EZA is for my personal marketing efforts. Also, is it worth my time to follow their rules?

          Everyone must make their own decision about this.
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  • Profile picture of the author Jason Johns
    Sorry, I don't see what the problem is.

    Firstly, if you write decent articles of decent length then this isn't an issue.

    Secondly, EzineArticles is Chris's house and he can do whatever he likes there. We are guests in his house and we can either abide by his house rules or leave the party. He's doing what is best for his business to provide high quality articles and information which is fair enough.

    If you don't like it, go find another article directory to play in.

    As far as I am concerned, good on Chris - it's makes EZA a better place and provides better quality information. I am pretty sure that if any of the people who have criticised him for this decision owned EZA and was seeing it being taken over by crap articles they would make a similar decision.

    When researching info I never visit any article directories other than EZA because the others are full of junk most of the time. Recently I've noticed researching on EZA has returned short, junk articles (probably due to the recommendations by experts to write 250 word articles so the resource box is above the fold) with very little information on.

    I'm going to continue to use EZA as it's very good for my search engine rankings. I'm also going to continue to post content on my own sites.

    I'm happy to see EZA being cleaned up as it makes more room for quality article writers! Though I do wonder ... how many ghostwriters are going to feel the pinch when their articles are no longer good enough to be accepted by EZA? Is it time for some training videos on how to write high quality articles ?

    All the best

    Jason
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  • Profile picture of the author clintmyers
    Yes, I had 3 articles rejected out of 10 that I submitted. They were all completely new articles and had been copyscaped but were rejected because they were too similar to other articles already submitted. Not sure how I am supposed to know that there are similar articles out there. Hmmmm....
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    • Profile picture of the author Vanquish
      I think the amount of low quality content is a reflection of ezine articles being run on the backs of internet marketers. Also ezine is the largest directory on the net with the most authors and visitors so content is bound to be repeated a few times over. Even if the article is original in your mind and the fact 25 000 other articles in your niche exist you are bound to run into someone with similar content as you. I think Ezine should take that point into consideration when making their new policies.
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  • Profile picture of the author TristanPerry
    I'm not worried since all the articles I write are unique from my head. If they change their rules to say they require more length, I'm not sure if I'll just focus on another article directory or suck it up and write a little bit more.

    But for now I'm not worried, and I had two 250 word articles approved today. So it does seem that for now the quality I'm submitting is okay.

    I'm not a fan of EZA's recent comments, though. If only Google could understand English (if only ), it'd realise that EZA are too snobby and full of themselves. They have left a bad taste in my mouth, and I'd be secretely (wait, what? .. openly) happy if Google slapped them a bit.
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    • Profile picture of the author Steven Wagenheim
      Okay, I realize that this will probably only help people in the MMO niche,
      but folks, I just checked my Warrior Forum blog.

      My articles posted there, what few there are, have more views than just
      about ANY MMO article I have posted at EZA.

      People...start using your Warrior Forum blogs if you're in the MMO niche. I
      don't know how effective they'll be for other niches or if Allen will even
      want you posting articles there that aren't related to marketing, but to me,
      this is a NO BRAINER.

      And since it's been made clear that forum threads are NOT to be articles
      (understandably)...

      It's time to start writing for the Warrior Forum blogs again.
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      • Profile picture of the author Lady_T
        I've always been sort of "long-winded" and
        have never written an article that was less
        than 400 words.

        But when I jumped into the game, I decided
        to use EZA but not as my only resource.

        They haven't kicked me to the curb yet, but
        I won't freak out if they do.

        An associate of mine who rarely got rejected
        has been thrown under the bus and now can't
        get her articles approved save her life.

        She always thought I was CRAZY for writing
        such long articles and using other directories.

        Now it's difficult for her to get into the HABIT
        of writing longer-more meaningful articles.
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    • Profile picture of the author TheRichJerksNet
      Originally Posted by TristanPerry View Post

      I'm not worried since all the articles I write are unique from my head. If they change their rules to say they require more length, I'm not sure if I'll just focus on another article directory or suck it up and write a little bit more.

      But for now I'm not worried, and I had two 250 word articles approved today. So it does seem that for now the quality I'm submitting is okay.

      I'm not a fan of EZA's recent comments, though. If only Google could understand English (if only ), it'd realise that EZA are too snobby and full of themselves. They have left a bad taste in my mouth, and I'd be secretely (wait, what? .. openly) happy if Google slapped them a bit.
      Ok wait a minute.. I'm confused...

      You still submit to EZA (blog post by the way and not articles) but you admit that you wish google would slap them.

      So if I was paying your rent then you would be my friends as long as I kept paying that rent even though "secretly" you do not like me... Is that what you are saying ?

      I don't know, I am just a little confused by your post.

      James
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      • Profile picture of the author TristanPerry
        Originally Posted by TheRichJerksNet View Post

        Ok wait a minute.. I'm confused...

        You still submit to EZA (blog post by the way and not articles) but you admit that you wish google would slap them.

        So if I was paying your rent then you would be my friends as long as I kept paying that rent even though "secretly" you do not like me... Is that what you are saying ?

        I don't know, I am just a little confused by your post.

        James
        I don't think that analogy can be made. I'm not "secretly" using EZA or anything. And at this point I'm considering whether to switch to another article directory (I probably will), since as I've said they seem like unprofessional children at the moment.

        In truth I only ever used EZA for backlinks (but I never spammed; hence why I've never had an article rejected for being too thin), hence why I'm not too concerned about this change. I can just as easily go elsewhere, and probably will.

        There's nothing "secretive" in what I'm doing really. I used to write and submit ~250-300 word articles (all unique, on different topics) to them to get backlinks for micro niche sites. However they are now acting unprofessionally (re: their comments), and have made clear (which is their right) that they want longer, more in-depth articles (which are no good for quick backlinks).

        I'm not using them, and still am not too sure how you got to such an analogy?

        So in summation, to answer your question: no, that's not what I'm saying. I was using EZA for a particular purpose (to get backlinks), and it seems like they're now taking another direction (which is fair enough), hence I'll stop using them/use them less.
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        • Profile picture of the author Liam Hamer
          Of my 57 articles, probably 40 of them are below 400 words. I always try to deliver quality though, my job(the way I see it) is to help the reader dissect their particular problem or need and even if they don't click the link in my resource box, they come away with at least some kind of small gain - perhaps a better understanding of their problem/situation/need. Recently I've also branched out in niches too. Although I don't think this whole situation will affect me(at least I hope not), I still take it as a sign that I should submit more to other directories and put more content on my own sites and blogs. I started out by submitting to EZA, GA, Articlebase, Amazines etc but when I saw most of the traffic was coming from EZA I got into the habit of only submitting my articles there. Putting all your eggs in one basket is usually not a good idea, no matter what shape your 'basket' is in

          I'm really sorry for people who get their accounts banned and articles deleted, but I think a lot of good can come from this too. As someone said earlier in the thread, it should speed up approval times and lessen niche competition EZA and Google clearly have a great relationship, I guess this is one of the ways they are protecting this relationship.
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      • Profile picture of the author Ian Jackson
        When posting on a blog instead is mentioned, can I safely assume this would be a WP blog - on one's own domain/site, rather than say WP.com or Blogger.com?
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  • Profile picture of the author ryanman
    People you are missing the big point here...Not only are they asking you to submit better articles now but they're also asking you to remove any previous articles which might have been low quality according to them.

    So in a way- They are saying...They want you to remove all articles which were accepted by their staff months ago only because now due to their new terms...It's not longer useful.

    Here is a great point from a poster on ezines blog-

    ------------------

    Chris, and team:
    Re: "In the past, we've grandfathered existing articles in when new quality levels are set, except when a live article is edited, today's standard is applied to that content. That means we would typically have allowed old articles that would no longer be accepted with today's standard, to remain live in the site. We've reached a point where we can no longer allow that to happen."

    It's problematic to expect article authors to *retroactively* go back through hundreds of articles submitted in good faith that were reviewed by a human editor and approved. Think about that for a moment -- every article that's "live" on the EZA system was reviewed by an actual person, in addition to whatever automated content filters are in place.

    You're asking authors to comb through articles that have already been submitted in an effort to make them conform to rules that are constantly changing, somewhat arbitrary, and subject to being confusion -- so confusing, in fact, that your *OWN* paid staff members once deemed such content as acceptable.

    Guess how I create my articles? I use a speech recognition software and "talk" about my topics. I'm sure a lot of other people do this too. You've got to have a system in place that gives authors the confidence of knowing that when an article is submitted and accepted, that it's "accepted" -- not subject to having to be reviewed 3, 6, or even 12 months later because the rules changed. Under that type of *retroactive* system, NO article is safe, NO author will be spared... you're robbing authors of a degree of certainty that they need to continue having confidence in their EZA submissions.

    I'm 100% committed to following the letter and the spirit of the rules, but you're introducing a variable that casts a shadow of doubt.

    Tighten up the front door -- make it bulletproof and exceptionally hard for articles to be accepted -- fine! But once an article is accepted, it's EXTREMELY frustrating to have this lingering cloud hanging over one's head -- wondering if we'll be asked to review all of our articles and make them more "unique" or "meaningful" or whatever nebulous standard is being promoted. How can we really know what EZA wants when the article passed the content filters and also was approved by a human editor?

    Please reconsider the *retroactive* element of what you're proposing.

    Respectfully,
    Ethan


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    • Profile picture of the author Ryan700
      Originally Posted by ryanman View Post

      .......but they're also asking you to remove any previous articles which might have been low quality according to them.

      So in a way- They are saying...They want you to remove all articles which were accepted by their staff months ago only because now due to their new terms...It's not longer useful.
      Okay, I don't see anything in Ezine Articles blog Something Unexpected that says they want you to remove any articles which might be low quality. Not in Christopher Knight's posts or in his replies to people. I suspect that if they want to remove a "low quality" article they will email you and let you know that it was rejected and your article will end up in "draft mode" so you can rewrite again to their new standard.



      Originally Posted by ryanman View Post

      Here is a great point from a poster on ezines blog-

      ------------------

      Chris, and team:
      Re: "In the past, we've grandfathered existing articles in when new quality levels are set, except when a live article is edited, today's standard is applied to that content. That means we would typically have allowed old articles that would no longer be accepted with today's standard, to remain live in the site. We've reached a point where we can no longer allow that to happen."

      It's problematic to expect article authors to *retroactively* go back through hundreds of articles submitted in good faith that were reviewed by a human editor and approved. Think about that for a moment -- every article that's "live" on the EZA system was reviewed by an actual person, in addition to whatever automated content filters are in place.

      You're asking authors to comb through articles that have already been submitted in an effort to make them conform to rules that are constantly changing, somewhat arbitrary, and subject to being confusion -- so confusing, in fact, that your *OWN* paid staff members once deemed such content as acceptable.
      ----------------------
      This last part about "You're asking authors to comb through articles that have already....." was never said by Chris Knight. I think this is an assumption made by the author.

      This is the part that seems to be the underlying theme in his message:
      In the past, we've grandfathered existing articles in when new quality levels are set, except when a live article is edited, today's standard is applied to that content. That means we would typically have allowed old articles that would no longer be accepted with today's standard, to remain live in the site. We've reached a point where we can no longer allow that to happen. At risk are articles that are highly derivative based. If you've written original articles from your head and didn't use any software article rewriter, you should have nothing to worry about.
      This just means to me that previously articles that were approved and then resubmitted were sometimes not re-approved - it's happened to me. Now, they say that some of the articles that you may have written and submitted will come up for review and may be rejected according to their new standards. He did not say to go back and cull any "low quality" articles from your library. I assume that this job will be huge and they will probably automate this with software and email people as to which articles they have that will need to be brought up to "snuff" or risk losing this article in their directory.
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  • Profile picture of the author Lightlysalted
    sounds like they are doing a data cleansing exercise. Most of my articles are detailed and carefully written, so no problems yet.
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  • Profile picture of the author darrencochran
    Hi Acrasial,
    Thank you for the post. I'm just starting out and am considering eZine articles but this has given me something to think about!
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  • Profile picture of the author DAS_Matt
    As it always is in business you'll need to adapt or die.
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  • Profile picture of the author mmurtha
    You know what I find very funny? The people complaining about EZA don't get the entire picture.

    I used to own a fairly large article directory, and some of the junk that got passed off as articles was just that - JUNK! Back 3 yrs or so I was not accepting the junk anymore. As a result, it helped the people who wrote good articles because the search engines were listing them well, plus the PR for the site was still rising.

    The people using spinners, PLR articles, or plain copying other people's regurgitated stuff are screwing the hand that feeds them. You can't expect a site owner, whether it is an article directory like EZA or something else, to post junk and still be on top of the search engine listings. That isn't going to happen, particularly where Google is concerned.

    All you are doing is messing someone else's livelyhood up!

    And you think it is the owner's fault. Well it isn't. All you can blame is you if you are using these tactics.

    Try writing good solid information that will help someone else. Then you will get your articles accepted, and get the traffic and sales you want.

    If you don't know how to write well, try outsourcing the work. And if the people you are outsourcing to don't write well or are skimping, get yourself another company to write for you.

    Even at that, be sure to double check their work and don't just take their word for it!

    Btw I think Chris Knight is absolutely doing all of us a big favor by weeding out the junk articles and the people who submit them to his site. It's the best news I heard in a very long time!

    Good going Chris, and thanks!


    Mary
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    • Profile picture of the author Steven Wagenheim
      Originally Posted by mmurtha View Post

      You know what I find very funny? The people complaining about EZA don't get the entire picture.

      I used to own a fairly large article directory, and some of the junk that got passed off as articles was just that - JUNK! Back 3 yrs or so I was not accepting the junk anymore. As a result, it helped the people who wrote good articles because the search engines were listing them well, plus the PR for the site was still rising.

      The people using spinners, PLR articles, or plain copying other people's regurgitated stuff are screwing the hand that feeds them. You can't expect a site owner, whether it is an article directory like EZA or something else, to post junk and still be on top of the search engine listings. That isn't going to happen, particularly where Google is concerned.

      All you are doing is messing someone else's livelyhood up!

      And you think it is the owner's fault. Well it isn't. All you can blame is you if you are using these tactics.

      Try writing good solid information that will help someone else. Then you will get your articles accepted, and get the traffic and sales you want.

      If you don't know how to write well, try outsourcing the work. And if the people you are outsourcing to don't write well or are skimping, get yourself another company to write for you.

      Even at that, be sure to double check their work and don't just take their word for it!

      Btw I think Chris Knight is absolutely doing all of us a big favor by weeding out the junk articles and the people who submit them to his site. It's the best news I heard in a very long time!

      Good going Chris, and thanks!


      Mary

      You are so right Mary.

      And besides, you don't have to write crap articles to get booted out of
      EZA...

      Just have an email address that bounces.

      Actually, I've been reinstated...until the next time my email goes boing.
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    • Profile picture of the author Jeremy Kelsall
      Originally Posted by mmurtha View Post

      You know what I find very funny? The people complaining about EZA don't get the entire picture.
      Mary, I'm not usually one to disagree with you, BUT when content creators are giving content to another site who openly states that they don't like marketers - what other picture is there to see?



      Originally Posted by mmurtha View Post

      The people using spinners, PLR articles, or plain copying other people's regurgitated stuff are screwing the hand that feeds them. You can't expect a site owner, whether it is an article directory like EZA or something else, to post junk and still be on top of the search engine listings. That isn't going to happen, particularly where Google is concerned.
      I would agree with this as well if it were not for the fact that almost every directory brother owner and his brother is trying to sell their writers...wait for it...wait for it....SPINNERS AND PLR.



      Originally Posted by mmurtha View Post

      Btw I think Chris Knight is absolutely doing all of us a big favor by weeding out the junk articles and the people who submit them to his site. It's the best news I heard in a very long time!

      Good going Chris, and thanks!


      Mary
      Yeah, thanks Chris!!

      Thanks for talking down to any and all marketers that are not "big" enough for you - YOU ROCK.

      It's like the rest of us live in the projects and this dude lives up on some big hill or something.
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      • Profile picture of the author mmurtha
        Originally Posted by mmurtha
        You know what I find very funny? The people complaining about EZA don't get the entire picture.


        Originally Posted by Jeremy Kelsall View Post

        Mary, I'm not usually one to disagree with you, BUT when content creators are giving content to another site who openly states that they don't like marketers - what other picture is there to see?
        Hey Jeremy - no, we don't usually disagree, and you are entitled to your opinion.

        To answer your question though Chris Knight is entitled to his opinion too right? And after all, it is his site. Plus that, you cannot blame him for not liking marketers, especially when they are trashing his site.

        I'm sure if the people who use EZA submitted good content, he would respect them a little more as "marketers". Now I can't tell you how he feels about this next statement I'm going to make, but I have no problem stating it.

        There is a big difference in being a marketer and being someone who is trying to make quick money. They are not one in the same - they are two different beasts, and the people submitting junk aren't marketers in my book. Good real marketers don't have a problem with being good at what they do. If they have to write, they will do what it takes to sell themselves and their products. They want other people to get something out of it. This way they get a better following.

        The people who just want to make money have no regard for anything but themselves. They could care less about helping anyone else.

        Originally Posted by mmurtha
        The people using spinners, PLR articles, or plain copying other people's regurgitated stuff are screwing the hand that feeds them. You can't expect a site owner, whether it is an article directory like EZA or something else, to post junk and still be on top of the search engine listings. That isn't going to happen, particularly where Google is concerned.


        Originally Posted by Jeremy Kelsall View Post

        I would agree with this as well if it were not for the fact that almost every directory brother owner and his brother is trying to sell their writers...wait for it...wait for it....SPINNERS AND PLR.
        Lol am I supposed to believe that? Hope you don't. If so, that may be the group you hang around or know. If you ask me, I think people who came out with spinners should be shot because they didn't do us any favors in the long run.

        And as far as PLR goes, this kind of content is okay if rewritten WELL, and limited - not when they are barely touched up or spun and then used or submitted. People should use common sense, but instead they try taking the easiest way out - Not necessarily the best way, but the easiest.

        In reality, very few people have good vission to see what's up ahead or in the future, or how something will effect (or affect) them in the future or things as a whole. When spinners and junky PLR came around, there was little thought or any vision connected to the plans. I call it short-sightedness. The effects of these types of products didn't just come up and bite the owners on the butt, but they've also bitten us all.

        To be a good marketer, you have to have a good vision so you can make long term plans, and if or when the environment you are working in changes, you have to adjust or adapt with those changes. It's either that or get eaten by the dog.


        Originally Posted by mmurtha
        Btw I think Chris Knight is absolutely doing all of us a big favor by weeding out the junk articles and the people who submit them to his site. It's the best news I heard in a very long time!

        Good going Chris, and thanks!


        Mary


        Originally Posted by Jeremy Kelsall View Post

        Yeah, thanks Chris!!

        Thanks for talking down to any and all marketers that are not "big" enough for you - YOU ROCK.

        It's like the rest of us live in the projects and this dude lives up on some big hill or something.

        Jeremy, oh you're just being plain sarcastic.

        Now how in the heck did you come up with that anology? I most certainly didn't get that from any of his statements.

        To be honest with you that mentality about upper and lower class will hold you back from seeing many possibilities. No one is bigger or smaller. And nothing is keeping you from being in the same arena as him or anyone else.

        People take things differently from each other, and yes, you have a right to disagree, but if you continue to carry that chip, that burden will get heavier and weigh you down.

        I for one would rather see you become what you have shown you can become. YOU ARE BETTER THAN THAT!


        Mary
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        • Profile picture of the author Jeremy Kelsall
          Mary,

          I'm not carrying a chip...because I could care less what EZA does

          I've never said that I think what he is doing is wrong - I just don't care for what he says.

          I'll take the whole discussion a step further though...

          For those of you saying that you write "good content" so, you will have no issue...

          What you think is great content isn't so good to the next guy. I truly believe that half of the editors there may very well be half illiterate. I'll admit that I in the past submitted a ton of content to EZA and some of it wasn't exactly well researched But, even today, articles being approved left and right with sentences and paragraphs that read like they were written by a 2 year old with Kevin Rileys whiskey in their bottle.
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          • Profile picture of the author mmurtha
            Originally Posted by Jeremy Kelsall View Post

            Mary,

            I'm not carrying a chip...because I could care less what EZA does

            I've never said that I think what he is doing is wrong - I just don't care for what he says.
            Hey jeremy,

            That's what I got from your statement here:

            It's like the rest of us live in the projects and this dude lives up on some big hill or something.
            Sorry if I read you wrong, but I don't know of too many people that view upper and lower in this way that don't have somewhat of a chip on their shoulders.


            But, even today, articles being approved left and right with sentences and paragraphs that read like they were written by a 2 year old with Kevin Rileys whiskey in their bottle.
            LMBO! Ain't that the truth. Can't argue with you there ...
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  • Profile picture of the author cclou
    Well, I had four articles accepted today, so I guess I'm still welcomed by them. I'm happy that Ezines is working to make it a better article directory. It will probably help me in the long run. But I find their war on marketers a bit disingenuous. Chris Knight is a marketer and doesn't run the site for his love of the language. I consider myself both a writer and a marketer, and I don't see anything contradictory about that.
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  • Profile picture of the author Victor Edson
    Watchout, those Nazi's read these posts, lol.

    They reall have become duche bags. I have always submitted quality self written articles in my niche(gaming). And recently I started getting articles turned down for the most rediculous things.

    My article provided a positive review and gave a link to learn more...unacceptable!

    My article provided a quality recommendation to use one free product instead of another...unacceptable!

    Here I thought I could give people quality advice on a topic, and provide a link to a related website...what a knuckle head I was.

    I have even had articles turned down because when the article was read it created the desire to follow the link at the bottom for more information.

    I think EZA needs to realize what made them what they are today. It was all the people who put in hours of hard work creating their site that had made it what it is today.

    I've reached a level of success within my niche, and now that I'm starting to get into the make money online niche, I'll definetly be pointing my readers to other article sites, and highly discouraging them from using ezinearticles.

    There are better options out there for link building and traffic generation.
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    • Profile picture of the author TheRichJerksNet
      Originally Posted by Victor Edson View Post

      There are better options out there for link building and traffic generation.
      You got that right ...

      James
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  • Profile picture of the author Cash37
    Articlebase and GoArticles are just as good
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  • Profile picture of the author pheonix44
    I'm just gonna say this and them I'm done. EZA is good I'll give them that, but they are acting like the hot girlfriend who believes she's the only girl you can get. It seems to me that they're going to find a reason to not be happy no matter what you do.

    Even EZA doesn't know what they want and this is confusing. I think it's better to find other ways to use your content. Sure it might be more work but I believe you can purpose your content in a way to get the same surge of a couple hundred views to your articles as you would from them being on the recently published page of EZA.

    What do you get from them per article? Maybe 100 views 250 views unless you backlink build. Don't you think if you're a serious content marketer you can get these same views if not way more? Even if you had to pay for some kind of membership site so be it. There are many ways to get your article on the front page. I've put up articles in here that have gotten me 1000 views in a few days.

    It seems like they want people to write mini research papers to give to them and even then they still won't be happy. All I know is one thing, wherever there is a demand there will always be a supply or someone will create one. If that one goes down someone else will create another one and so on. Right now there is a strong demand. Lets see what happens when the smoke clears.
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    • Profile picture of the author TheRichJerksNet
      Originally Posted by pheonix44 View Post

      I'm just gonna say this and them I'm done. EZA is good I'll give them that, but they are acting like the hot girlfriend who believes she's the only girl you can get. It seems to me that they're going to find a reason to not be happy no matter what you do.

      Even EZA doesn't know what they want and this is confusing. I think it's better to find other ways to use your content. Sure it might be more work but I believe you can purpose your content in a way to get the same surge of a couple hundred views to your articles as you would from them being on the recently published page of EZA.

      What do you get from them per article? Maybe 100 views 250 views unless you backlink build. Don't you think if you're a serious content marketer you can get these same views if not way more? Even if you had to pay for some kind of membership site so be it. There are many ways to get your article on the front page. I've put up articles in here that have gotten me 1000 views in a few days.

      It seems like they want people to write mini research papers to give to them and even then they still won't be happy. All I know is one thing, wherever there is a demand there will always be a supply or someone will create one. If that one goes down someone else will create another one and so on. Right now there is a strong demand. Lets see what happens when the smoke clears.
      Exactly and how many of those views are "real possible customers" - I venture to bet many are other maketers and competition..

      Look at the post above mine "research" yep there you go folks.. I have seen it said many times people go to eza to "research" - These are not customers...

      James
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    • Profile picture of the author Kay King
      I don't build backlinks to articles but to my sites instead. I have articles that have well over 1000 views without any backlinking - all I did was submit good articles.

      There is no requirement that anyone use EZA - you can run a business online and never submit an article to EZA.

      But - if you want to use EZA - you go by their rules whether they change or not and whether you like them or not. For every person that says "I won't use EZA any more" there is another person thinking "I'll use EZA more because the site quality will be better".

      kay
      Signature
      Saving one dog will not change the world - but the world changes forever for that one dog
      ***
      One secret to happiness is to let every situation be
      what it is instead of what you think it should be.
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      • Profile picture of the author Steven Wagenheim
        Originally Posted by Kay King View Post

        I don't build backlinks to articles but to my sites instead. I have articles that have well over 1000 views without any backlinking - all I did was submit good articles.

        There is no requirement that anyone use EZA - you can run a business online and never submit an article to EZA.

        But - if you want to use EZA - you go by their rules whether they change or not and whether you like them or not. For every person that says "I won't use EZA any more" there is another person thinking "I'll use EZA more because the site quality will be better".

        kay

        Once again, the voice of common sense and reason.

        That's about it in a nutshell folks. You can bitch and complain all you
        want about what EZA is doing. I don't have any personal love or hate for
        them myself. They are just an article directory where I submit my articles.
        If I can't submit them there, I'll go someplace else.

        They are not the be all and end all.

        Nothing in this world is.

        Not Google, not EZA, not Twitter, not Digg, not WordPress...

        NOTHING.

        Any one thing, if it died tomorrow, we could still earn a living online.

        The sooner people understand that, the better off they will be.
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  • Profile picture of the author AllyW
    My take is, this is WAAAYYY overdue. Recently went to EZA to research something, and I didn't find one single article that was of any value. Not one. And the grammar, punctuation and overall quality of writing was atrocious, about a C- 8th grade level. There is a whole lot of garbage on EZA. If you are a lousy writer, don't use article marketing, do something else.
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    • Profile picture of the author Allison_W
      Originally Posted by AllyW View Post

      My take is, this is WAAAYYY overdue. Recently went to EZA to research something, and I didn't find one single article that was of any value. Not one. And the grammar, punctuation and overall quality of writing was atrocious, about a C- 8th grade level. There is a whole lot of garbage on EZA. If you are a lousy writer, don't use article marketing, do something else.
      I agree with what most people are saying about it being long overdue and it will benefit the quality submitters in the long run but what I find funny is that all the "spam" - bad quality, bad grammar & punctuation - articles they are trying to weed out came about because their editors let it through in the first place - TWICE!

      If you're not a good writer/speller and/or English isn't your first language but your article gets accepted you "assume" there is not a problem with your writing skills.

      Of course some people are intentionally spamming and yes they may get away with it for a couple of times but a lot of people submit genuine efforts and unless it is rejected will continue to submit the same quality again and again.

      Well, that's just my 2 cents worth.
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  • Profile picture of the author 4success53
    Remove previous articles, too?

    Isn't that going a little too far?

    I had the same thing happen to me as clintmyers. I had original, copyscaped articles that were not approved due to similar articles already written.

    And Steven your account was suspended due to an email bounce?

    Now, I am getting mad.
    Maybe everyone needs to use another article directory at the same time?
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    • Profile picture of the author TheRichJerksNet
      Originally Posted by 4success53 View Post

      Remove previous articles, too?

      Isn't that going a little too far?

      I had the same thing happen to me as clintmyers. I had original, copyscaped articles that were not approved due to similar articles already written.

      And Steven your account was suspended due to an email bounce?

      Now, I am getting mad.
      Maybe everyone needs to use another article directory at the same time?
      Dude - You should have been using 30 or 40 article directories at the same time... Putting everything into one site is the fasteat way out of business..

      James
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    • Profile picture of the author Steven Wagenheim
      Originally Posted by 4success53 View Post


      And Steven your account was suspended due to an email bounce?
      That's right. And you know what? Chris can write to me and tell me that
      he's banning me because I'm ugly.

      It's HIS directory.

      I suggest people look up the word "mine" in the dictionary.

      It's one of the most powerful 4 letter words in it.
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  • Profile picture of the author Allen Graves
    Oh no, Steven - don't start people on 4 letter words! LOL

    Interesting thread, interesting happenings.

    <just watching>

    Allen Graves
    Signature
    Every day I check the obituaries. If I don't see my name there, then I know it's going to be a good day!
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  • Profile picture of the author 4success53
    James,
    Need to clarify.

    I did submit my articles to other directories besides EZA.

    You are right, you should not put all of your eggs in one basket. So true.
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  • Profile picture of the author 4success53
    Steven,
    I guess we all need to check that our email addresses are working.
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  • Profile picture of the author madison_avenue
    Eza still needs articles in the more controversial niches because these are high paying adsense niches. It requires sticky and substantial content, which encourages the reader to read the article on it's site. EZA can then judiciously place adsense ads all around this substantial article.

    However if the article it places is merely a taster or a tidbit which is merely bait to get the reader to click a resource link away from eza as soon as possible, then EZA deplores these sort of articles.

    Remember EZA is an adsense site and it wishes to be viewed as a content rich site by google not a MFA site with thin content. The talented article writers amongst us, and there some of them present on this thread, will be the kingpins in this changing environment.
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    • Profile picture of the author Allen Graves
      Originally Posted by madison_avenue View Post

      The talented article writers amongst us, and there some of them present on this thread, will be the kingpins in this changing environment.
      As will a select few article directories that evolve and conform.

      The rest will wither and die. Watch...

      Allen
      Signature
      Every day I check the obituaries. If I don't see my name there, then I know it's going to be a good day!
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      • Profile picture of the author Jill Carpenter
        Originally Posted by Steven Wagenheim View Post

        Now we'll see who's left standing after the smoke clears.
        Why did I just picture you on a dirt road with the tumble weed rolling behind you - your trusty puppet in one hand and a gun in the other. I actually heard the hollow sound of the barrel as you gently blew over it. Nice hat by the way.

        Originally Posted by Jeremy Kelsall View Post

        James hit the nail on the head with his post....

        I'm hoping that they start to mass delete articles by the tens of thousands like they are threatening to do...

        Man, will that be one hell of a google slap when the spiders come and find that tens of thousands of pages are gone
        YES! and the poor saps like me who feel so far behind may actually have a chance. LOL
        Signature

        "May I have ten thousand marbles, please?"

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  • Profile picture of the author Jonathan Mizel
    I gave up the article game long ago in favor of buying the traffic I need. That way, I don't have to rely on the "kindness" of strangers like G or EZA, and I can scale up my volume while others are getting slapped and delisted.

    Jonathan
    Signature

    Your First Paid Traffic Campaign
    www.MarketingMonopoly.com

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    • Profile picture of the author Jay Jennings
      Originally Posted by Jonathan Mizel View Post

      I gave up the article game long ago in favor of buying the traffic I need. That way, I don't have to rely on the "kindness" of strangers like G or EZA, and I can scale up my volume while others are getting slapped and delisted.
      All things being equal I'd buy traffic, too. But if we compare your bank account and my bank account we'll see, sadly, that all things are not equal. =:p

      - - -

      Although I'm going through a "debate" with EZA right now over something I see as idiotic, in general I like the direction in which they're moving.

      Jay Jennings
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  • Profile picture of the author Lokki08
    Hi Warriors

    I want to share my experiences about Ezine Articles. I stated to write first article already in this month and got accepted in 7 days. Then I wrote and submitted another article two days after first one was online and that took about 15 days to get into phase 4 out of 5. What happened next is that somehow my article were reviewed again and I got email from Ezine Articles that what went wrong.

    I fix those problems and resubmitted my artcile again and surprise in 2 days my article were accepted and was already online. When my second article were approved I got somehow Expert Author status. I don't know how in the world I got that but I'm satisfied and happy
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  • Profile picture of the author SPress
    I think this is actually great news.

    EZA was getting absolutely buried in useless drivel. They were long overdue to start tightening the rules up. I think it also shows a lot of foresight on the owners part.

    Sure, they may get a lot of google love presently, but how long is that expected to last if the quality of their content continues to swirl down the toilet?

    In the long run (and immediately as well) they've done all of us a service by enforcing some standards.

    Cheers,

    Steve
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    • Profile picture of the author Steven Wagenheim
      You know what all this bitching and complaining really comes down to?

      People don't want to take a good long, hard look in the mirror and admit
      that they don't want to do work.

      They don't want to have to put the brain power into sitting down and
      writing an outline for their article, making a list of bullet points, gather
      research material, and write the kind of article that they'd be proud to
      have run in Time or Shape, or Best Health.

      People want to whip together a 5 minute piece of crap to get a backlink
      and somebody to go to their site, regardless of whether they've written
      anything worth a brass furling. My apologies to Basil Rathbone.

      Well, the roosters have come home to roost and now everybody who has
      been screwing the pooch is wondering why the pooch is finally kicking
      back with its hind legs and biting at your nuts.

      You folks brought this all on yourself and now you're looking up in surprised
      amazement like the Cosby kids after the mother screams "I have had
      enough!" to their acting like jackasses.

      If EZA ever kicks me out of their directory, it'll be because I have a big
      opinionated mouth.

      Not because I write crappy articles.

      End of rant.
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  • Profile picture of the author jimfurr
    For back link purposes these are all very close
    in effectiveness (and there are others too):

    Home Page PR:

    EzineArticles.com = PR6
    GoArticles.com = PR6
    ArticleBase = PR5


    Content Marketers:

    I was following a test by a Warrior a few months back and
    she had everybody write 1 post a day, (for 30 days),
    to their brand new blogs.

    Before the 30 days was up, they were seeing
    100+ visitors to their New blogs!

    Isn't THAT what You Really want to do...

    Build your own quality space on the net
    and stop building someone else's
    business, (EZA.com).

    Jim ><>
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    • Profile picture of the author TheRichJerksNet
      Originally Posted by jimfurr View Post

      For back link purposes these are all very close
      in effectiveness (and there are others too):

      Home Page PR:

      EzineArticles.com = PR6
      GoArticles.com = PR6
      ArticleBase = PR5


      Content Marketers:

      I was following a test by a Warrior a few months back and
      she had everybody write 1 post a day, (for 30 days),
      to their brand new blogs.

      Before the 30 days was up, they were seeing
      100+ visitors to their New blogs!

      Isn't THAT what You Really want to do...

      Build your own quality space on the net
      and stop building someone else's
      business, (EZA.com).

      Jim ><>
      Yep that is what you should be doing but many will never see that ...

      I would like to point out one thing though.. what good is a PR 6 when you can outrank it easily ....

      James
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      • Profile picture of the author J Bold
        Originally Posted by TheRichJerksNet View Post

        Yep that is what you should be doing but many will never see that ...

        I would like to point out one thing though.. what good is a PR 6 when you can outrank it easily ....

        James
        I saw you on some other topic saying you should not use sites like ezine. So is your philosophy to just post articles only on your own blog? My next question is, what to do for backlinks?
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        • Profile picture of the author TheRichJerksNet
          Originally Posted by redicelander View Post

          I saw you on some other topic saying you should not use sites like ezine. So is your philosophy to just post articles only on your own blog? My next question is, what to do for backlinks?
          All your answers are right here - http://www.warriorforum.com/main-int...eza-first.html

          All 9 pages .. Get a cup of coffee, pen and paper.. Take notes and create a plan and follow it ...

          James
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  • Profile picture of the author acrasial
    How would YOU like to go through and remove MANY of your articles, in a competitive niche on EZA because they tell you to?

    This is what they are telling people to do! They are saying that now it's not acceptable, when the same people, same editors, and of course the same WEBSITE accepted these not too long ago.

    I love how they just kicked themselves in the balls here... because literally they are saying that their editors accepted JUNK before, when the whole point of hiring an editor, was to weed out junk in the first place. Now everyone has to pay, because the editors just let any old thing pass through?

    OH and they blame us then, for this.

    I don't think this even relates to content, because they are saying that alot of what was acceptable back then, when re-submitted now would not be acceptable... and I just think about their statement of outdated topics... they tell you now not to write on anything which could easily become outdated...


    So this means that even if you had a really fantastic article, covering every point, if they think it can become "OUTDATED", they can easily refuse it, or tell you to delete it.

    They are also cracking down on hot and competitive niches- which in turn they are telling people NOT TO write on their own things! They are also telling people to DELETE their own articles related to this.

    Does this mean that everyone out there has bad articles then, because they literally cracked down on EVERYONE in the hot niches...

    I love this:

    Do not increase your word count for word count sake. More words that say nothing is not better than fewer words that say nothing.
    Yet they are telling people to increase the word count, and saying that less is not something to be proud of, all at the same time! This was posted on Chris' blog as well... from "our war with affiliate marketers"... so it goes like this: "write more, but write less, don't increase your word count, increase your word count".
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  • Profile picture of the author RebeccaL
    If you do get told to remove your articles, or they get deleted from EZA, dont let them go to waste. Submit them to the top 10 other article directories. That content can still be used, EZA is not the be all and end all.
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  • Profile picture of the author Allen Graves
    Id get them deleted before your entire account is deleted for you, INCLUDING those articles and all the rest of them.

    Crap gets old and it stinks.

    Allen
    Signature
    Every day I check the obituaries. If I don't see my name there, then I know it's going to be a good day!
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  • Profile picture of the author Steven Fullman
    Listen to you all.

    You really think "marketing" is the be all and end all, don't you?

    Chris K is running a public service website. He wants the articles on his site to be beneficial to members of the public.

    Informative. Helpful. Insightful. USEFUL.

    Some folks here reckon he's being unreasonable.

    Take a look in the mirror. The world doesn't revolve around your shallow desire to make money from a naive audience.

    Here's a sample WSO:

    1. Write some crap. As little as possible
    2. Don't give the reader any valuable info
    3. Pimp your resource box

    If I were Chris Knight, I'd ban you too.

    Article marketing is essential. And it's essential you do it right. Doing it right means NOT being some kind of short-term bloodsucker.

    Not only does it devalue the service for the average Jane consumer, it ends up in debates like this once you've screwed it up for your peers.

    Steve
    Signature

    Not promoting right now

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    • Profile picture of the author TheRichJerksNet
      Originally Posted by Steven Fullman View Post

      Listen to you all.

      You really think "marketing" is the be all and end all, don't you?

      Chris K is running a public service website. He wants the articles on his site to be beneficial to members of the public.

      Informative. Helpful. Insightful. USEFUL.

      Some folks here reckon he's being unreasonable.

      Take a look in the mirror. The world doesn't revolve around your shallow desire to make money from a naive audience.

      Here's a sample WSO:

      1. Write some crap. As little as possible
      2. Don't give the reader any valuable info
      3. Pimp your resource box

      If I were Chris Knight, I'd ban you too.

      Article marketing is essential. And it's essential you do it right. Doing it right means NOT being some kind of short-term bloodsucker.

      Not only does it devalue the service for the average Jane consumer, it ends up in debates like this once you've screwed it up for your peers.

      Steve
      Yeah you go Steve .. Could not have said it better.

      I love it when others want to control someone elses website ..lol Did many of your know the time you have spent here complaining about a adsense farm site, you could have been posting your articles to real directories that treat their authors good and you could have been getting traffic by now ...

      James
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      • Profile picture of the author Steven Fullman
        Originally Posted by TheRichJerksNet View Post

        Yeah you go Steve .. Could not have said it better.

        I love it when others want to control someone elses website ..lol Did many of your know the time you have spent here complaining about a adsense farm site, you could have been posting your articles to real directories that treat their authors good and you could have been getting traffic by now ...

        James
        Two words:

        Entitlement Mentality.

        Steve
        Signature

        Not promoting right now

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    • Profile picture of the author Tina Golden
      [DELETED]
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      • Profile picture of the author Steven Fullman
        Originally Posted by TMG Enterprises View Post

        I'm sorry, but reading articles in a directory is not research. The directory does not fact check that information whatsoever and if you are relying on using them for research, you are playing with fire.


        Tina
        Tina,

        If it weren't for us (that's the "royal" us), maybe article directories COULD be a valid research medium...

        Steve
        Signature

        Not promoting right now

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        • Profile picture of the author Steven Wagenheim
          As a marketer, I am also a consumer as well.

          When I need to research ANY topic, article directories are the LAST place
          I look.

          That should tell you something about the quality of the content that I find
          at MOST directories.

          And I use the word "quality" in the loosest sense.

          Need health info?

          I go to WebMD.

          Need debt relief info?

          I go to debtreliefinfo.org

          Need marriage counseling info?

          I go to marriage-counseling.com. The guy is a clinical psychologist...not
          a hack.

          I do not go to submit-your-crap-articles-here.net
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          • Profile picture of the author Fun to Write
            Originally Posted by Steven Wagenheim View Post

            As a marketer, I am also a consumer as well.

            When I need to research ANY topic, article directories are the LAST place
            I look.

            That should tell you something about the quality of the content that I find
            at MOST directories.

            And I use the word "quality" in the loosest sense.

            Need health info?

            I go to WebMD.

            Need debt relief info?

            I go to debtreliefinfo.org

            Need marriage counseling info?

            I go to marriage-counseling.com. The guy is a clinical psychologist...not
            a hack.

            I do not go to submit-your-crap-articles-here.net

            Excellent advice, Steve.

            I've learned to do this as well. In fact, article marketers should develop their own homegrown resource list of places they can get reliable information. Here's a tip: Yahoo.com has all kinds of categories that have great information on them about various subjects.

            Wikipedia is good, also you can visit various newpaper and niche magazines that have websites with journalistic style articles. These are all great for getting facts to add to your own articles.

            Expand your knowledge base, people.
            Signature

            Focus+Smart Work+Persistence=Success

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  • Profile picture of the author DogScout
    I don't have an account there right now. I do have one problem with them though.
    They do not allow an adjective as a name, even if it is your legal name. This rules out any Native Americans with traditional Native American names! Even if it is the name on the birth certificate, they refuse to accept it.
    That means if you were born Great Elk (as an example, since he is famous and writes under his own name... or did before he passed) you are only allowed an account if you use a pen name.
    I emailed them even though it is spelled out in their public TOU. They seemed unaware of the ramifications of having published discriminatory policies and didn't care whether it was a real name or not.

    So while I am sure this new rule enforcement will be better in the long run, they're rules are a bit arbitrary and discriminatory for my taste. & It is only a matter of time before someone brings them up on Federal Discriminatory Civil Rights Violations, so I am not sure it is worth my time to write for someplace whose policies are designed to doom them to extinction sooner or later. Someone who knows him ought to get him to comply with Federal law?

    Just a thought

    (But I agree with Steve, it sounds like he wants to have a quality site. I think anyone can agree that is a nobler and better way to go about making money than with junk and Adsense people click just to find a way out of the article! It could be he might just force some to step it up and I would bet in the long run their income will increase. He is probably doing you a favor and you just don't see it yet. He has more than just article guidelines to change though. IMHO.)
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    • Profile picture of the author Steven Wagenheim
      Originally Posted by DogScout View Post

      I don't have an account there right now. I do have one problem with them though.
      They do not allow an adjective as a name, even if it is your legal name. This rules out any Native Americans with traditional Native American names! Even if it is the name on the birth certificate, they refuse to accept it.
      That means if you were born Great Elk (as an example, since he is famous and writes under his own name... or did before he passed) you are only allowed an account if you use a pen name.
      I emailed them even though it is spelled out in their public TOU. They seemed unaware of the ramifications of having published discriminatory policies and didn't care whether it was a real name or not.

      So while I am sure this new rule enforcement will be better in the long run, they're rules are a bit arbitrary and discriminatory for my taste. & It is only a matter of time before someone brings them up on Federal Discriminatory Civil Rights Violations, so I am not sure it is worth my time to write for someplace whose policies are designed to doom them to extinction sooner or later. Someone who knows him ought to get him to comply with Federal law?

      Just a thought

      (But I agree with Steve, it sounds like he wants to have a quality site. I think anyone can agree that is a nobler and better way to go about making money than with junk and Adsense people click just to find a way out of the article! It could be he might just force some to step it up and I would bet in the long run their income will increase. He is probably doing you a favor and you just don't see it yet. He has more than just article guidelines to change though. IMHO.)

      I am sorry to hear about this. I think not being able to use your real
      name, even if you provided them a fax birth certificate is wrong and if
      they are in some legal violation, it will come back to haunt them.

      However, like it or not, it's their site and they can do what they want.

      If what they want ends up ultimately getting them shut down (either for
      legal or economical reasons, such as no contributors) then that's their
      prerogative too.

      See, in a capitalist society, it all works out in the end.
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  • Profile picture of the author Bill_Z
    As far as I'm concerned I will take it for what it's worth. I will still use EZA and count on them for some traffic but they are not the only answer. I really don't mind these changes at all, it's their site and they can do what they want. The only laughable part in my opinion is the fact that they ask authors to go back and delete content that has already been approved. They should have thought long and hard about this point, because it's laughable.
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  • Profile picture of the author J Bold
    I would suggest perhaps if a Native American with a name like "Running Bear" would submit a birth certificate they would be allowed to write in their name, or at least should be. I am not clear with DogScout if this ever happened or if they just would not accept it arbitrarily. But yes, if they do not, then that is definitely grounds for a lawsuit, etc.
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    • Profile picture of the author DogScout
      Originally Posted by redicelander View Post

      I would suggest perhaps if a Native American with a name like "Running Bear" would submit a birth certificate they would be allowed to write in their name, or at least should be. I am not clear with DogScout if this ever happened or if they just would not accept it arbitrarily. But yes, if they do not, then that is definitely grounds for a lawsuit, etc.
      I had offered to fax a birth certificate (not mine) but they said it wouldn't matter. So while I only wanted to use a Native American pen name, they wouldn't allow it even if it were my real name. (They let me be Dog Scout here Lol.)
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      • Profile picture of the author J Bold
        Originally Posted by DogScout View Post

        I had offered to fax a birth certificate (not mine) but they said it wouldn't matter. So while I only wanted to use a Native American pen name, they wouldn't allow it even if it were my real name. (They let me be Dog Scout here Lol.)
        I see, DogScout, thank you for clearing that up. That makes me pretty angry, really. Clearly discriminatory. It seems like you were going to be putting up articles for another person and wanted it in that person's Native American name?
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  • Profile picture of the author newBum76
    Hmmm.....I just looked through different categories on ezinearticles, and I'm still seeing articles getting published today by the same authors, that say basically the same thing. AND a lot of them are under 300 words.

    HOWEVER.... these articles are all "readable".

    I think the key here is just to make sure your articles don't have broken english and offer something of value, plus not make them all the same with just a few words changed here and there.

    Make a genuine effort to make your articles sound somewhat intelligent with some useful info, and not make them carbon copies of each other (i.e. significantly change the wording/paragraphs), and I think you'll be fine.
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    • Profile picture of the author Kevin Riley
      I for one applaud the move by Ezine Articles. Time to clean out the garbage and only keep good articles. I read one article a few months ago that was pure, unadulterated crap. That kind of regurgitated, badly written garbage doesn't do anyone any good. It doesn't help the marketer who wrote it (who is going to click through after reading a steaming pile of codwallop?), it doesn't help EA (they start looking like a directory of little value), and it sure doesn't help the reader (who gets a bunch of useless information).

      Yay Ezine Articles. Let's have quality, not quantity.
      Signature
      Kevin Riley, long-time Warrior living in Osaka, Japan

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      • Profile picture of the author Steven Wagenheim
        Originally Posted by Kevin Riley View Post

        I for one applaud the move by Ezine Articles. Time to clean out the garbage and only keep good articles. I read one article a few months ago that was pure, unadulterated crap. That kind of regurgitated, badly written garbage doesn't do anyone any good. It doesn't help the marketer who wrote it (who is going to click through after reading a steaming pile of codwallop?), it doesn't help EA (they start looking like a directory of little value), and it sure doesn't help the reader (who gets a bunch of useless information).

        Yay Ezine Articles. Let's have quality, not quantity.
        Hey Kevin, how was your visit to the states?

        Have fun?
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      • Profile picture of the author Fun to Write
        Originally Posted by Kevin Riley View Post

        I for one applaud the move by Ezine Articles. Time to clean out the garbage and only keep good articles. I read one article a few months ago that was pure, unadulterated crap. That kind of regurgitated, badly written garbage doesn't do anyone any good. It doesn't help the marketer who wrote it (who is going to click through after reading a steaming pile of codwallop?), it doesn't help EA (they start looking like a directory of little value), and it sure doesn't help the reader (who gets a bunch of useless information).

        Yay Ezine Articles. Let's have quality, not quantity.
        I agree, Kevin.

        BUT. . .

        EZA decided to accept these type of "slim value" articles a long time ago. I believe that this was a business decision on Chris Knight's part. Now, something is up (Big G will no longer tolerate crapola from article directories), so they are clamping down and slapping people. Cool, but let's not pretend that they weren't fine with all sorts of articles just a short while ago.

        It's funny. When I first started article marketing a few years ago, before BUM marketing blew it up in popularity, I ignored EZA and refused to post my articles there because they charged a fee to post. I said to myself, why should I pay to post an article there when I can post at all these other places for free?

        I was doing just fine without EZA.

        Ok, so EZA finally gets a clue that in order to get a lot of people to post articles in their directory, they've gotta drop this fee thing.

        After they became a free directory, one day I discovered that I had several articles posted on EZA. I was puzzled, because I know I never set up an account there. So I find out that they have automatically set one up for me. How nice of them!

        They liked my articles so much that they brought me over to their directory . . . I then followed their lead and officially started posting with them. Obviously, they no longer have to go out looking for article authors because of their overwhelming popularity.

        Right now, I'm still on their good author list. If they should decide to kick me off, then I'll be just fine. My articles thrived before I came to EZA, and thrive online at other places as well. The key is to find a good article directory where other web publishers go to find good, free content - yes, there are still people who want and need free articles for their blogs and websites.
        Signature

        Focus+Smart Work+Persistence=Success

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        • Profile picture of the author Killer Joe
          Originally Posted by Fun to Write View Post

          Cool, but let's not pretend that they weren't fine with all sorts of articles just a short while ago.
          The entire internet landscape is changing very rapidly, and, at an accelerated pace.

          These things tend to happen in steps as opposed to slopes. What worked 'just a short while ago' is yesterday's news and doesn't have much relevence today.

          We all have to get used to things not being the same as they were in the past. And our ability to embrace change is going to need to be brought up to speed, as well.

          KJ
          Signature
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          • Profile picture of the author Allen Graves
            Originally Posted by Killer Joe View Post

            The entire internet landscape is changing very rapidly, and, at an accelerated pace.

            These things tend to happen in steps as opposed to slopes. What worked 'just a short while ago' is yesterday's news and doesn't have much relevence today.

            We all have to get used to things not being the same as they were in the past. And our ability to embrace change is going to need to be brought up to speed, as well.

            KJ
            Yep, times change, rules change.

            Either evolve, or get out of my way.

            This is business. There's no crying in business! At least, not until you've lost.

            Allen
            Signature
            Every day I check the obituaries. If I don't see my name there, then I know it's going to be a good day!
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          • Profile picture of the author Fun to Write
            Originally Posted by Killer Joe View Post

            The entire internet landscape is changing very rapidly, and, at an accelerated pace.

            These things tend to happen in steps as opposed to slopes. What worked 'just a short while ago' is yesterday's news and doesn't have much relevence today.

            We all have to get used to things not being the same as they were in the past. And our ability to embrace change is going to need to be brought up to speed, as well.

            KJ
            I've been online long enough to know this is true. Change is part of doing marketing online. While some of the changes at EZA are a bit annoying, it won't change the way I do article marketing, since I already know how to write quality articles.
            Signature

            Focus+Smart Work+Persistence=Success

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    • Profile picture of the author Killer Joe
      In the long run this sounds like it will be the best thing that ever happened to a lot of article marketers.

      You're having problems submitting articles because others have submitted articles on the same subject and yours get rejected because they have other articles that say the same basic thing. Well, here's your chance to shine.

      You have to clean the closet out every now and then. How much stale garbage is in that directory, anyway?

      So they raised the bar...good for them. Good for the internet. Good for the folks who really produce quality content.

      I say Bravo.

      I've tried reading some of the junk on there and from my tiny world perspective this looks like it will be a long overdue cleansing.

      KJ
      Signature
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  • Profile picture of the author Alumni
    This has pros and cons im a newbie and when u get past the fluff article marketing is the first clear cut action towards traffic and sales i have been a member for going on two months and have yet to have an article approved!!!! Had me thinking this money online was a big scam. I use articlebase now.
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  • Profile picture of the author David Wolfman
    There might be an issue with content quality which hurts EZA in search engine rankings. Huge portion of their profits comes from adsense and bad content increases bounce rate. Their PR is 6 which is not so good in comparison to some specialized article directories (judging on EZAs age and popularity).

    Since article directories became an easy profit sources, build bsicaly by users, the competition increased significantly. On top of that there is the cost of processing the articles due to highly increased service popularity.
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  • Profile picture of the author Steven Carl Kelly
    Nope, I will NOT be next!
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  • Profile picture of the author dominodivine
    Ezinearticle is not the only game in town.
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  • Profile picture of the author J Bold
    Fun to Write, so where does your success come from besides ezinearticles? If you could be so kind.
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    • Profile picture of the author snazzy
      I went over to EZA to find out what kind of articles they have approved today. Here are some snippets of so-called "quality" articles.

      The US lenders understand the pain once go through while doing paperwork and faxing like formalities.
      and

      The degree at which the fear of accidents is depends on what sort of things they have seen.
      If these are examples of good quality articles, I would like to know what a poor quality article is.

      Before I submit any more of my hard work to them I want to know exactly what it is they want with CERTAINTY. "Quality" is too subjective, especially if today's articles are any indicator.
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    • Profile picture of the author Fun to Write
      Originally Posted by redicelander View Post

      Fun to Write, so where does your success come from besides ezinearticles? If you could be so kind.
      My main article directories are:

      EZA
      Articlesbase
      Go Articles
      Isnare - I use their paid distribution

      I also have a list of secondary article directories that I can post to.

      I often find that my articles from these directories get posted to websites and blogs. This is great for link juice for my websites (and some traffic as well).
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  • Profile picture of the author acrasial
    How many of you think the content is useful on ezine articles? When you need to find something, is EZA your first choice of finding that information? Steve made a good point about this, in saying where people ACTUALLY go to find information.

    But then again, we are experienced marketers, so maybe that's why we look all around for the gold. Other people may just click the first thing that comes up, and if someone has played their cards right, it may just be their article from EZA.

    They also mentioned about how long they are going to keep articles live, and Chris claims that they never said once that they were going to keep any article live for longer than 6 months, so anyone submitting there was gambling from day 1...unless he/she had their time invested elsewhere too.
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  • Profile picture of the author Marcel Hartmann
    Love the changes, love the challenge. I will still submit 50 articles on one keyword and not get smacked. Natural selection at its finest!

    Question to all: what software/service is recommended to submit to the top, say, 20 directories?

    Article Marketing Automation + UAW take care of all the lowly ones for me, but I need something for the top 20 besides Ezine Articles.

    ArticleSubmitAuto looks good but I have not received a reply to my PM regarding it's ability to submit to just a few directories at a time (I basically want to untick Ezine Articles, if possible, and do that manually myself).
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  • Profile picture of the author Jay Jennings
    How many of you think the content is useful on ezine articles?
    Well, that's one thing that pisses me off, because to my way of thinking it's SUPPOSED to be useful content -- and the articles I write reflect that.

    Then I see other stuff that gets approved and I just don't get it. Which is why the latest moves by EA are, I think, long overdue.

    If someone submits an article to EA or anywhere else that's NOT useful, and it's only a marketing tactic, then that person sucks. They just plain ol' suck.

    Jay Jennings
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  • Profile picture of the author Amir.S
    I think it's a good move by Ezine at least now we will get rid of all the junk on there. This is good news for real IM who deliver content.
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    • Profile picture of the author Kay King
      They also mentioned about how long they are going to keep articles live, and Chris claims that they never said once that they were going to keep any article live for longer than 6 months, so anyone submitting there was gambling from day 1...unless he/she had their time invested elsewhere too.
      So what? Six months of free exposure is what it is. How on earth is that "gambling"? What do have to lose? The arguments are sounding like determination to be right and nothing else.

      You own the article you wrote - you can submit to EZA and get six months of free exposure, you can put it on your site and submit to other directories.

      The complaints about EZA, Squidoo, etc we've seen lately seem to be from those who feel they have a right to use those sites as they want. These are free platforms to use for those willing to adjust to the terms of those sites.

      The only place online where you have control is on your own domain/site/blog. Using these free platforms to help promote your site makes sense but not if you begin thinking you can also control the free platforms.

      kay
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  • Profile picture of the author UBotBuddy
    Mine has not been touched. Quality and being original will keep you honest and safe from the witch hunt. If there is one.
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  • Profile picture of the author cesarsan
    "High Quality Articles" is just a pompous way to keep selling Snake Oil. As these articles directories do not check the information they publish you can still put crap with good grammar and 1,000 words on them.

    I wonder how they were not yet sued due to the "high quality" medical advice you can find on them. I doubt a judge would let them pass as they profit from these contents.

    It is always good to remind people that EZA is just a glorified and arrogant MFA site, not the end all, be all.
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  • Profile picture of the author guptara
    This was long tim coming..People have abused ezinearticles for quite a while..
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  • Profile picture of the author Folusho Orokunle
    After getting almost 3 Million Visitors to my sites, I got to say that this fascination with Ezinearticles is amazing.

    If you have good content, put it on your site first.

    If you look at any other successful site or online business, would they put their best stuff on another site just to get a link?

    If EZA shut down today, what would happen to all your traffic and links?

    If they change their rules and remove your articles, what would happen
    to your sales?

    I have about 5 content sites that make me a very significant income and
    if I add up all the articles that I have on my sites, It would total well over
    3,000.

    Some of it is junk and is ranked on the first page of Google.

    Some of it is great and ranked on the first page of Google.

    Some of it is just a 50 world blurb and still ranked on the first page of Google.

    So all this talk about Junk is only relevant if you're trying to follow someone
    elses rules and make them money.

    STOP POSTING YOUR BEST STUFF TO EZINEARTICLES....

    Grow your own internet business from your site.

    Ask yourself this question.......

    If you post an article to your site and in one month it get you 30 visitors OR
    you post an article to EZA and in one month you get 60 page views and 20
    clicks, which one is better?

    I think you see where I'm going with this. The math just doesn't make sense.

    I hope this helps somebody out there.
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  • Profile picture of the author David Mcalorum
    That's a rough blow they're dealing to those new article marketers. The dream gets harder.
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  • Profile picture of the author jjpmarketing
    SEO Optimized Quality Content = Article Longevity.

    Short winded, keyword stuffed Content = Article Suicide.

    Dennis
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  • Profile picture of the author Will Edwards
    Sorry for those who are affected, but in my opinion, this is good news for those who have been committed to providing value all along. IMHO it was bound to happen sooner or later - it's part of the natural evolution of the web.

    Will
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  • Profile picture of the author mayapearl
    I really cannot see what is wrong with writing better articles with good original content. If EZine want to clean up the directory, well good for them.


    Now reading all those comments makes me wonder about one thing: if there are so many other directories out there why worry?
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    • Profile picture of the author acrasial
      Originally Posted by mayapearl View Post

      I really cannot see what is wrong with writing better articles with good original content. If EZine want to clean up the directory, well good for them.


      Now reading all those comments makes me wonder about one thing: if there are so many other directories out there why worry?

      Last time I heard, EZA delivered more traffic than the other TOP 10 article directories combined.This may be the reason why people are bothered, because the traffic and benefits they can get from ezine articles alone may not be matched by their competitors.

      Another thing, is that Ezine Articles is literally now asking many people to write 450+ word articles. In competitive niches, and virtually any niche this can be a problem to an internet MARKETER. From a writer's point of view, yes content is being added, etc...

      But from a marketer's point of view, this may decrease click through's and conversions, because there is so much to read. We all go through those moments where we see a long post, or something long and we go ..."aaaah... it's so long". And guess what? Most people won't in fact read it and will move on.

      That doesn't mean that the content was bad, or that the person writes in a boring manner. Simply something to do with our human nature. People take information best in short bursts. If you were to look at any sales page, you don't see too many huge paragraphs these days, they are all small 2-3 sentences.

      This may also be a reason why it's not ideal to someone who wants to market a product. But as someone else said, don't market and don't try to sell something, but rather get into the person's shoes and simply try to answer and solve their problem.

      Another person pointed out here as well, some of the content STILL getting into Ezine Articles with bad grammar and english. Which makes me believe that they are simply cracking down on people who are more effective at marketing, and not those who cannot write at all.

      I say this, because some niches were really flooded with competition. Now they are attacking everyone who submits to these niches, or more so... people who have submitted MORE to these niches.

      Anyone else seems to still be getting in fine, and doing fine... even if they are literally writing garbage, as some people above have pointed out.

      So who is the WAR ON? US. Even the title of their blog says "our war with AFFILIATE marketers". This is US, our group of people.

      Not anyone else, but US.


      Ezine articles claims to be AT war, with everyone who is an affiliate marketer... that's the problem, my friend.

      Now, I CHALLENGE everyone who posts after me, to tell me if you even read my entire post, or this entire thread for that matter? People don't have time to sit there reading so much either, they get bored fast even in the most interesting things... If you need a great example of this, just look around on this forum.
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  • Profile picture of the author TheRichJerksNet
    OMG!!! Just move on already ... I cannot get over the fact that this is still going on..

    Very interesting thread, I had a huge laugh... Fact is though all this energy put into a thread complaining about EZA many of you could have been working on your business and posting other articles to other places and getting traffic and making sales..

    If you do not like how someone runs their website then -----> | there is the door use it and move on ...

    James
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    • Profile picture of the author Steven Wagenheim
      Originally Posted by TheRichJerksNet View Post

      OMG!!! Just move on already ... I cannot get over the fact that this is still going on..

      Very interesting thread, I had a huge laugh... Fact is though all this energy put into a thread complaining about EZA many of you could have been working on your business and posting other articles to other places and getting traffic and making sales..

      If you do not like how someone runs their website then -----> | there is the door use it and move on ...

      James
      James, don't hold back now. Why don't you tell us how you REALLY feel?

      I agree. This whining is so counter productive that it's almost criminal.

      No wonder 97% of the people who try to make money online fail.

      They spend all their time bitching about how hard it is.
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  • Profile picture of the author JayXtreme
    lol...

    3 pages of this craziness...

    I can't believe that anyone running their own business would put so much weight into EZA to make it such a problem if they got "banned"..

    If you got "banned" from EZA....It'd be a blessing in disguise to most people, they just don't realise it..

    Do yourself a favour.. buy domains like sweeties and submit content to them instead, your building assets!!

    Peace to y'all

    Jay
    Signature

    Bare Murkage.........

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    • Profile picture of the author Jays80
      At times 4th page does deliver!!!

      Originally Posted by JayXtreme View Post

      lol...

      3 pages of this craziness...
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    • Profile picture of the author ajbarnes777
      Originally Posted by JayXtreme View Post

      lol...


      If you got "banned" from EZA....It'd be a blessing in disguise to most people, they just don't realise it..

      Jay
      Great point. I stopped focusing too much on EZA for the past two weeks (EZA was responsible for 80% of my income), and you know what, with shifting into other areas such as article marketing on different directories, my own blog, etc., I'm STILL getting great traffic, and I'm earning just as much as I did with EZA....but WITHOUT the headaches!

      You know, it feels pretty good to put MY quality content on MY website(s) for a change....
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      • Profile picture of the author Kay King
        I can see the headline now -

        "500 WF members abandon EZA in a mass attack of analysis paralysis. chiponshoulder fatique and whatif-itis."
        Signature
        Saving one dog will not change the world - but the world changes forever for that one dog
        ***
        One secret to happiness is to let every situation be
        what it is instead of what you think it should be.
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        • Profile picture of the author acrasial
          Originally Posted by Kay King View Post

          I can see the headline now -

          "500 WF members abandon EZA in a mass attack of analysis paralysis. chiponshoulder fatique and whatif-itis."

          EZA would do this: Literally, if everyone just deleted their accounts from there and boycotted it. Now I am talking about the effective marketers, and also the people who seemingly are the top "expert authors" on EZA as well. They most certainly would think twice then.

          It's like a relationship, EZA needs people to write quality articles, create good content etc... so they can make some moolah from adsense etc... Then the writers need traffic to help them with their marketing, so that they too can make some moolah.

          If one just suddenly removed themselves, the other would most certainly be standing there like this:

          Now EZA didn't exactly remove themselves yet, but instead they handed some divorce papers to a few writers...

          Then there are a bunch of writers sitting there with this look: saying "How dare you reject me!... after all I did for you! I loved you!"

          Just like a dysfunctional relationship...

          Then some of these people would go around thinking "You cheated on me Ezines, how could you! You were so disloyal!"
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          • Profile picture of the author JayXtreme
            Originally Posted by acrasial View Post


            Just like a dysfunctional relationship...
            ahhh... the memories...
            Signature

            Bare Murkage.........

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    • Profile picture of the author Kelly Verge
      Originally Posted by JayXtreme View Post

      Do yourself a favour.. buy domains like sweeties and submit content to them instead, your building assets!!

      Jay

      Jay, the issue is that they want quality articles on their own blogs as opposed to the junk they submit to EZA.

      (Side note: I find it humorous that the same person who staunchly defended her 700-articles-in-seven-days position is upset by EZA's position on article quality...)
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      • Profile picture of the author acrasial
        Originally Posted by Kelly Verge View Post

        Jay, the issue is that they want quality articles on their own blogs as opposed to the junk they submit to EZA.

        (Side note: I find it humorous that the same person who staunchly defended her 700-articles-in-seven-days position is upset by EZA's position on article quality...)

        Hello Sir,

        1. It wasn't my thread to begin with. I just said it can be done, as many others have.

        2. I never said that I was upset by anything here, or even the quality position. I simply stated something for a discussion, and everyone sure has been discussion it. If you were to read my other posts in this thread, you would come to know my stance.

        But since no one reads between the lines, and they simply make assumptions, I will leave you to it.

        I am not banned, nor are any of my articles removed. I hadn't said that I was, read the original post, it's a GENERAL topic. I guess I wasn't clear about it?

        ================================================== ========

        To Susan M, who said that they now want people to write about those things, that is incorrect, as the original statement said they would be finely filtering articles which go into that niche, and he listed other "hot" niches which were next on the list.

        Does anybody else find it funny that they only want their ideal members to submit articles on penis enlargement?
        They allow people to submit on any niche, but as mentioned, the niches listed above will have a hard crack down, wherein anyone who DOES submit to those niches during this time, could risk being a part of this crackdown, and thus getting their articles rejected.

        There have also been people who were told not to write on a certain topic/subject, where-in ezine articles has told them not to write on that niche at all, and any articles submitted in that niche from them would automatically be rejected, basically.

        I had shown a reference to this, in the original post, where some people are asked not to write on a specific niche.

        So to Kelly Verge, what does such a thing tell you then? If these people who are being told this by EZA write the best quality article, but simply because EZA cannot handle anything from certain niches, they are basically SOL.

        Kindof like how Squidoo and other websites banned certain topics. One bad egg can ruin it for everyone sometimes... and a few bad eggs have done this on EZA.
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  • Profile picture of the author TheRichJerksNet
    Late Breaking News

    EzineArticles Makes Changes - Authors Go Crazy And Shoot Themselves

    Made a post on my forum with that and got 30 views in no time from twitter ..lol

    James
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  • Profile picture of the author acrasial
    Just imagine this: The Ezine Articles Relationship Story:

    In the perfect world, in a perfect place somewhere:

    Once upon a time, there was a man named Ezine Articles and a woman named Writer'S. They fell in love, and soon developed a very good relationship. They had alot in common, and were always able to get each other out of the rough times. In fact, Ezines helped writers further her business, and Writer'S helped Ezines further his business too!

    They spent many days together, progressing and working through all the kinks. Although neither always liked what each other did, they always made compensation and tried to improve day by day.

    Finally they tied the knot and got married, and life was great and fantastic.

    But then one day....

    Ezine Articles is told by a friend that Writer'S was with another man. Naturally Ezines inquires of his friend, who this man was, and what he looked like. Ezines is told that the man was some bozo' named "Bad Content". Appalled, Ezines comes home and asks Writer'S about it, but she promptly replies: "I love you! I would never cheat on you! You know that!"

    So Ezines tries to trust her again, and they continue on and everything seems fine for now, although Ezines keeps his supicions still.

    After some time passes, Ezines comes home and finds Writer'S in bed with not one, not two, but three guys! Not only was Bad Content there, but so was some guy named Plagiarism, and even some stickly looking loser named "Thin Content".

    Apalled, Ezine articles kindly asks his Wife to leave. She doesn't want to, and starts crying, and starts telling him how much she loves him! She even freaks out in front of him. But Ezines has seen enough, so he kicks her out and tells her they are through.

    Writer'S gets angry, and decides that it's all Ezine's fault for not trusting her enough, and for not warning her sooner. She starts blaming him, and calling him a "Jerk", thinking to herself that it's all his fault anyways. She then continues to get more hateful, although she still wishes she hadn't cheated on him.

    But it's too late to take anything back now.
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  • Profile picture of the author pheonix44
    You're a very talented writer acrasial. I hope you're putting this creativity to use to make some cash.
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    • Profile picture of the author Steven Wagenheim
      Since this train wreck is still going on, let's take a look at it from another
      point of view...EZA's.

      You're Chris Knight. You have this article directory with tons of authors
      submitting articles and generating you tons of Adsense money. Life is good.
      You have a PR 6 or whatever the hell it used to be (PR is dead now) and
      you're the top of the heap.

      Then Google comes knocking on your door, usually in the form of a not so
      nice email, informing you that 80% of the content on your site is crap and
      if you don't clean up your act soon, your site is going to go the way of
      those other dinosaurs. I think they were called MFA sites (MFA stood for
      Made For Adsense but really should have stood for Mother F*****G
      Attrocities)

      So now you're in a real pickle. You have this business that has been
      built over a great deal of time, you have tons of staff, you're paying out
      a small fortune in salaries and suddenly you're looking into an abyss the
      size of the Big Dipper.

      What do you do?

      I know what I would do.

      For starters, I'd make it a Premium Directory ONLY.

      I'd then require authors to submit 10 articles of their work before they
      even get approved.

      I'd then go through my directory and delete every piece of crap on it.

      Yes, I understand that they allowed this to happen, and for that, they
      have nobody to blame but themselves. Nobody forced them to approve
      all those articles.

      But the day of reckoning is here folks. It's either us or them. And trust me,
      I don't think Chris Knight likes any of us more than he likes to eat.

      This is business...nothing more, nothing less. He's not being vindictive.
      He's not out to screw you because his hemorrhoids are acting up.

      He is fighting to keep the integrity of his directory so that Google doesn't
      land his whole shootin match into the supplemental index.

      Anybody who doesn't get that shouldn't be in business anyway, because
      they obviously have no understanding about business.
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      • Profile picture of the author Allen Graves
        Originally Posted by Steven Wagenheim View Post

        For starters, I'd make it a Premium Directory ONLY...I'd then go through my directory and delete every piece of crap on it.
        Now there's a nice idea!

        LOL

        Allen
        Signature
        Every day I check the obituaries. If I don't see my name there, then I know it's going to be a good day!
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        • Profile picture of the author Jill Carpenter
          OR current members can stay - but they must submit x amount of articles per year to keep any free accounts active, and these articles must be approved.

          This way, they will get good content regularly without alienating those who may not be able to pay and who really do want to just submit some great content.

          Once someone stops submitting, they risk being erased.
          Signature

          "May I have ten thousand marbles, please?"

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      • Profile picture of the author steve39
        Originally Posted by Steven Wagenheim View Post

        Then Google comes knocking on your door, usually in the form of a not so
        nice email, informing you that 80% of the content on your site is crap and
        if you don't clean up your act soon, your site is going to go the way of
        those other dinosaurs.
        I can't imagine that Google would send them a personal email. Yes, they are Ezinearticles, but they are still nothing more than a grain of sand in the vast Google universe. Do you think Squidoo got an email before Google slapped them silly a few years back? I think when something like this happens, it just happens. Boom - gone.
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        • Profile picture of the author Steven Wagenheim
          Originally Posted by steve39 View Post

          I can't imagine that Google would send them a personal email. Yes, they are Ezinearticles, but they are still nothing more than a grain of sand in the vast Google universe. Do you think Squidoo got an email before Google slapped them silly a few years back. I think when something like this happens, it just happens. Boom - gone.
          Maybe, but you don't have to be a genius to read the writing on the wall.

          Perhaps he's noticed a drop in traffic. Maybe he realizes that he has to
          increase the quality. I don't know. I'm just guessing. Obviously he didn't
          just wake up with a bug up his ass one day and decide to not allow anymore
          crappy articles.

          There has to be a reason behind it...and a sound business one.
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          • Profile picture of the author Ryan700
            Originally Posted by Steven Wagenheim View Post

            Obviously he didn't just wake up with a bug up his ass one day and decide to not allow anymore crappy articles.
            Oooops! I guess it's my fault! I'm the one that told him he had crappy articles on his site! lol! He must have checked it out!
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            • Profile picture of the author acrasial
              Originally Posted by Ryan700 View Post

              Oooops! I guess it's my fault! I'm the one that told him he had crappy articles on his site! lol! He must have checked it out!
              This is funny. (the above).

              On a completely different note:

              I notice on here that every time a thread is posted, and people enjoy it's topic, once it gets to page 3, people start hating the topic. Not only this, but everyone comes in and starts telling how useless the thread is suddenly, and then some people even throw in a few videos. All of you sat here partaking in it, so not sure why you are complaining.

              Likewise with the Ezine Articles problem, everyone sat there at one point and time partaking in a relationship with them as well, and are now complaining about something or rather related.

              Maybe some are NOT complaining about being banned, but they are complaining about the competition, or about crappy articles they see getting passed through, or about weird guidelines being put in place, or about the people complaining about EZA... either way someone's still complaining.

              It sure does get old, but I enjoyed the thread, regardless. I love how others always come in and say "imagine if you had worked" or "written an article with these books".

              People will do what they want to do. If they damn want to write an article for themselves, the sure will. If they want to come get some entertainment, they will do that as well.

              Now back to EZA, alot of people are saying to BOYCOTT it, or simply back up their articles elsewhere (on their own website, blog etc...), and others are saying not to put their eggs into one basket. I hope then, that someone at least got something out of this thread, aside from thinking it's stupid, even after they sat in here and argued.

              There are many options here, for anyone who hates, loves, or simply doesn't care about Ezine Articles, and everyone can take what they like from this.

              At the end of the day, it's still someone ELSE'S website, not your own.... so no one can REALLY complain when the rules change, or their articles disappear... and even if Ezine Articles got slapped- NO ONE can complain, because it's not their website.

              It's like going into someone else's home, sleeping there, maybe you pay rent too (platinum membership). You eat there, live there and are fine. A few roomates make a problem, and then they end up accidentally burning the entire house down.

              Now none of you have a place to live, so what are you going to go back to the land lord and complain then? or are you going to go find a damn place to live which YOU own?
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              • Profile picture of the author bravo75
                Originally Posted by acrasial View Post

                This is funny. (the above).

                On a completely different note:

                I notice on here that every time a thread is posted, and people enjoy it's topic, once it gets to page 3, people start hating the topic. Not only this, but everyone comes in and starts telling how useless the thread is suddenly, and then some people even throw in a few videos. All of you sat here partaking in it, so not sure why you are complaining.

                Likewise with the Ezine Articles problem, everyone sat there at one point and time partaking in a relationship with them as well, and are now complaining about something or rather related.

                Maybe some are NOT complaining about being banned, but they are complaining about the competition, or about crappy articles they see getting passed through, or about weird guidelines being put in place, or about the people complaining about EZA... either way someone's still complaining.

                It sure does get old, but I enjoyed the thread, regardless. I love how others always come in and say "imagine if you had worked" or "written an article with these books".

                People will do what they want to do. If they damn want to write an article for themselves, the sure will. If they want to come get some entertainment, they will do that as well.

                Now back to EZA, alot of people are saying to BOYCOTT it, or simply back up their articles elsewhere (on their own website, blog etc...), and others are saying not to put their eggs into one basket. I hope then, that someone at least got something out of this thread, aside from thinking it's stupid, even after they sat in here and argued.

                There are many options here, for anyone who hates, loves, or simply doesn't care about Ezine Articles, and everyone can take what they like from this.

                At the end of the day, it's still someone ELSE'S website, not your own.... so no one can REALLY complain when the rules change, or their articles disappear... and even if Ezine Articles got slapped- NO ONE can complain, because it's not their website.

                It's like going into someone else's home, sleeping there, maybe you pay rent too (platinum membership). You eat there, live there and are fine. A few roomates make a problem, and then they end up accidentally burning the entire house down.

                Now none of you have a place to live, so what are you going to go back to the land lord and complain then? or are you going to go find a damn place to live which YOU own?
                For someone who doesn' t like complaints, you sure complain a lot. That should give you something to complain about
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                • Profile picture of the author acrasial
                  Originally Posted by bravo75 View Post

                  For someone who doesn' t like complaints, you sure complain a lot. That should give you something to complain about

                  Thank you so much! I love your enthusiasm for the topic at hand, glad to be a part of your day.


                  Originally Posted by cherylwright View Post

                  When I joined EZA I had like two articles - they emailed and said because of the quality they elevated my status to platinum (I think it was platinum - a high level anyway).
                  :confused: What? They emailed you and upgraded you? Wow, and then a slap in the face? Cheez... I would consider that slap in the face then...



                  Originally Posted by cherylwright View Post

                  Like I said before, we're bringing them revenue. People come to their site, click the Google Ads and they get adsense income. Without their authors, they lose revenue. They need people like us - so why are they being so petty?
                  Yup, that is exactly the point here, and some people aer not only brining them revenue, but are also PAID members, so that's a double whammy for "revenue". But of course, it's a CHOICE as of now to be a "paid member", but it doesn't get one any more privileges than other writers, at the end of the day...

                  Because one's articles could be removed, rejected etc... regardless of the status.
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                  • Profile picture of the author cherylwright
                    Originally Posted by acrasial View Post


                    :confused: What? They emailed you and upgraded you? Wow, and then a slap in the face? Cheez... I would consider that slap in the face then...


                    These two actions happened at least a year apart (and probably more like two), so not quite the slap they could have been.





                    Cheryl
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    • Profile picture of the author waken
      Originally Posted by pheonix44 View Post

      You're a very talented writer acrasial.
      In fact She is!
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  • Profile picture of the author Chris Stigson
    I think this is good! It opens up for a lot easier rankings if you know what you are doing. I'm sure some of my articles will get kicked out, for the simple reason that I didn't know how to write a few years back and those will surely be gone...

    No matter what, I think quality is a great thing and all my courses are based around establishing value.
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    • Profile picture of the author Ryan700
      I just had this idea. Instead of rewarding people by posting the top authors by the amount of articles they have written they should come up with a page of top authors that are most read.
      I bet if that information was available - instead of clicking on each article to see how many readers viewed it - it would shed a whole new light on the "top authors". Then the cachet of being a top author by quantity will lose it's sparkle.
      There are people who have goals of getting to the top author's page in their niche. It may be useful to them to get more exposure but to the reader ,in some cases, it is no guarantee that they will even find a readable article.
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      • Profile picture of the author Kay King
        Great story, Acrasial -

        cliffnotes version:

        girl cheats
        girl lies
        girl cheats again
        girl gets tossed out on her bumpkiss

        ....but it's not her fault (so she thinks)

        girl begs for another chance
        girl whines "not fair"
        girl gets angry
        girl complains bitterly

        Doesn't change the fact that girl is a liar and a cheat:rolleyes:
        Signature
        Saving one dog will not change the world - but the world changes forever for that one dog
        ***
        One secret to happiness is to let every situation be
        what it is instead of what you think it should be.
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        • Profile picture of the author bitsdawg
          Hi, I haven't been here much, but I had to jump in here. I agree with many different points of view on this thread.

          1. EA needs to clean up its crap for lots of reasons. They are diluting their own SE ranks by publishing a lot of crap. They are also ruining their reputation with publishers, authors, and readers. Sometimes more is not better, and even SE bots are much smarter than they used to be. Besides, I love the fact that competition will decrease!

          2. I found out from publishing my own small article website that 80% of submissions are written in "robot language" or something like that, and that makes editing painful and editors grouchy. Plus, after getting my own rankings batted down one, I learned it is better to publish 10 fair to good articles a day than those 10 articles plus 100 gawdawful ones.

          3. And finally, EA isn't the only place to publish articles. In fact, I do better by mixing it up and using different resources. Besides, how hard is it to get another EA logon id and work your way up to Platinum status? I'm sure any clever marketer could figure out how to do that if they cared that much.
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        • Profile picture of the author cclou
          Originally Posted by Kay King View Post

          Great story, Acrasial -

          cliffnotes version:

          girl cheats
          girl lies
          girl cheats again
          girl gets tossed out on her bumpkiss

          ....but it's not her fault (so she thinks)

          girl begs for another chance
          girl whines "not fair"
          girl gets angry
          girl complains bitterly

          Doesn't change the fact that girl is a liar and a cheat:rolleyes:

          Extended version:
          Girl was from Country X. Guy decides that all girls from Country X are evil, and insults them and says that only girls from Country Q are worth dating.

          Some citizens of Country X get miffed, even though Guy certainly isn't the only (or even the best) fish in the sea.
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  • Profile picture of the author TheGodfather
    Hey guys,

    I say that we break from the chains of EzineArticles and show them who made them what they are today!

    If it wasn't for us, both affiliate and Internet marketers, they would not have risen and gained the power that they have today. We were the ones posting most of the content and we murder one's who made them rise in their rankings.

    They have decided to terrorize us now, with their "new rules" and will not stand for it!

    "The customer is always right" or so the saying goes, it's what founded capitalism to degree that it is developed today!

    Who are they, too tell a paying customer that his money, his contributions, he is value to the niche is no longer welcome because "the feel" that he isn't providing enough unique content.

    I say that we take the power back that they claim to have and show them, by moving to another article directory, that we steal are the ones who made them and can break them. It is time to make them walk the plank and let them see what it is like to be on the edge of ruin.

    My measures may be drastic, I may be an extremist, but there is no other way than to show them that we made them who they are today!

    "It is time to make them an offer they just cannot refuse"

    Sincerely,
    TheGodfather
    Signature

    TheGodfather

    Perception is reality

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    • Profile picture of the author Steven Wagenheim
      Originally Posted by TheGodfather View Post

      Hey guys,

      I say that we break from the chains of EzineArticles and show them who made them what they are today!

      If it wasn't for us, both affiliate and Internet marketers, they would not have risen and gained the power that they have today. We were the ones posting most of the content and we murder one's who made them rise in their rankings.

      They have decided to terrorize us now, with their "new rules" and will not stand for it!

      "The customer is always right" or so the saying goes, it's what founded capitalism to degree that it is developed today!

      Who are they, too tell a paying customer that his money, his contributions, he is value to the niche is no longer welcome because "the feel" that he isn't providing enough unique content.

      I say that we take the power back that they claim to have and show them, by moving to another article directory, that we steal are the ones who made them and can break them. It is time to make them walk the plank and let them see what it is like to be on the edge of ruin.

      My measures may be drastic, I may be an extremist, but there is no other way than to show them that we made them who they are today!

      "It is time to make them an offer they just cannot refuse"

      Sincerely,
      TheGodfather

      You're welcome to the lead the way. For every 1 person who leaves,
      there will be 10 to take his place.

      EZA does not need any of us to survive. Those who believe that are
      either naive or seriously delusional.

      Yes, we made them, but they're now left with 2 choices if my theory as
      to why this is all going down is correct.

      They can weed out all the crap and become a "respected" source for
      information.

      Or they can continue to let the crap in and let Google slap them into the
      next Galaxy for being nothing more than a glorified MFA site.

      When confronted with nothing to lose by pissing off those who want to
      submit crap to their directory, they'll gladly piss you off and hope for a
      chance at remaining listed in the SERPs.

      My friend, that's what it all comes down to. And if you don't get that, well,
      there's not a lot I can do.
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      • Profile picture of the author mmurtha
        Originally Posted by Steven Wagenheim View Post

        You're welcome to the lead the way. For every 1 person who leaves,
        there will be 10 to take his place.

        EZA does not need any of us to survive. Those who believe that are
        either naive or seriously delusional.

        Yes, we made them, but they're now left with 2 choices if my theory as
        to why this is all going down is correct.

        They can weed out all the crap and become a "respected" source for
        information.

        Or they can continue to let the crap in and let Google slap them into the
        next Galaxy for being nothing more than a glorified MFA site.

        When confronted with nothing to lose by pissing off those who want to
        submit crap to their directory, they'll gladly piss you off and hope for a
        chance at remaining listed in the SERPs.

        My friend, that's what it all comes down to. And if you don't get that, well,
        there's not a lot I can do.
        Hey Steven,

        Yeah, I totally agree with you there - they don't need any of us to survive. And 10 more will come in place of every person who leaves. EZA is a successful business, and has been established for years now. There are all kinds of people outside of the IM arena that use EZA too, so we are not sustaining them either.
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      • Profile picture of the author TheGodfather
        Originally Posted by Steven Wagenheim View Post

        EZA does not need any of us to survive.

        Well let's do some math: let's take an assumption that there are about 10.000 Internet marketers using EzineArticles as premium members.

        Premium membership costs about 97 $ per month that equals to roughly 100.000 $ per month of loss should they choose to leave the EzineArticles.

        Would you, or any other business, risk and income of 100.000 $ a month in order to "clean up" your own act, and after that to get even more crap from probably the same article writers.

        If anything, what they should actually do, is a fire the article quality team that actually allowed that kind of "crap" to be even published on the site. The users it self are not to blame for posting such content, but the editors that actually published the article live on the site should take most of the blame for not doing their job right.

        The premium members that paid 100 $ for membership should not be banned, nor should their accounts and subscriptions be closed down-that's just very bad working ethic.

        Would it be so hard, since they have such huge income, to hire some additional editors that would go to each of the categories search for the articles that were approved but didn't meet the standards and just delete the articles from the site. It will take several weeks or maybe a few months but they wouldn't need to ban all the users out there that paid them to be efficient.

        Myself, I have written several articles to the EzineArticles in a niche that isn't saturated, and I wrote it from my own perspective, by that I mean it was original content with about 400 or 500 words per article. And since then they have banned me from the the article directory. Let me also emphasize that I was a basic member, I've posted only 3 articles, no articles had any problems getting approved and I followed all their guidelines.

        Should you look a while back on the forum, I already started a similar topic on the subject off the EzineArticles banning users.

        If you take a look at their terms of policy you will notice that they reserve the right to delete your account for any reason without prior notice. If you think about it a little bit they can charge you to 97 $ and then ban you for no reason and not even refund you. Because you agreed to their terms of service that gave them the right to take your money and have you banned.

        What I suggest is that all the members from the warrior forum gathers together and united create an article directory [with all our SEO experts] and make it similar to the EzineArticles market model, by that I meant the free and the paid versions of the accounts. The money that we would gather would be used to pay several chosen members who would administer the site, check articles for quality, and make sure that no crap is posted there.

        Who is with me!?!

        TheGodfather
        Signature

        TheGodfather

        Perception is reality

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        • Profile picture of the author seolake
          That's a great idea to have a new article directory made by the professionals.

          Originally Posted by TheGodfather View Post

          Well let's do some math: let's take an assumption that there are about 10.000 Internet marketers using EzineArticles as premium members.

          Premium membership costs about 97 $ per month that equals to roughly 100.000 $ per month of loss should they choose to leave the EzineArticles.

          Would you, or any other business, risk and income of 100.000 $ a month in order to "clean up" your own act, and after that to get even more crap from probably the same article writers.

          If anything, what they should actually do, is a fire the article quality team that actually allowed that kind of "crap" to be even published on the site. The users it self are not to blame for posting such content, but the editors that actually published the article live on the site should take most of the blame for not doing their job right.

          The premium members that paid 100 $ for membership should not be banned, nor should their accounts and subscriptions be closed down-that's just very bad working ethic.

          Would it be so hard, since they have such huge income, to hire some additional editors that would go to each of the categories search for the articles that were approved but didn't meet the standards and just delete the articles from the site. It will take several weeks or maybe a few months but they wouldn't need to ban all the users out there that paid them to be efficient.

          Myself, I have written several articles to the EzineArticles in a niche that isn't saturated, and I wrote it from my own perspective, by that I mean it was original content with about 400 or 500 words per article. And since then they have banned me from the the article directory. Let me also emphasize that I was a basic member, I've posted only 3 articles, no articles had any problems getting approved and I followed all their guidelines.

          Should you look a while back on the forum, I already started a similar topic on the subject off the EzineArticles banning users.

          If you take a look at their terms of policy you will notice that they reserve the right to delete your account for any reason without prior notice. If you think about it a little bit they can charge you to 97 $ and then ban you for no reason and not even refund you. Because you agreed to their terms of service that gave them the right to take your money and have you banned.

          What I suggest is that all the members from the warrior forum gathers together and united create an article directory [with all our SEO experts] and make it similar to the EzineArticles market model, by that I meant the free and the paid versions of the accounts. The money that we would gather would be used to pay several chosen members who would administer the site, check articles for quality, and make sure that no crap is posted there.

          Who is with me!?!

          TheGodfather
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        • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
          Banned
          [DELETED]
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          • Profile picture of the author TheGodfather
            Originally Posted by Alexa Smith View Post

            There's an interesting club for you to join here: you'll fit right in.
            there is really no need to be offensive
            Signature

            TheGodfather

            Perception is reality

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          • Profile picture of the author J Bold
            Originally Posted by Alexa Smith View Post

            There's an interesting club for you to join here: you'll fit right in.
            Goodness, lady, you are smug. Happy with your retorts? In how many threads can you use this stupid joke? Grow up.
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        • Profile picture of the author steve39
          [DELETED]
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          • Profile picture of the author TheGodfather
            just like steve39 said, LET'S DO IT!
            Signature

            TheGodfather

            Perception is reality

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        • Profile picture of the author steve39
          Originally Posted by TheGodfather View Post

          Well let's do some math: let's take an assumption that there are about 10.000 Internet marketers using EzineArticles as premium members.

          Premium membership costs about 97 $ per month that equals to roughly 100.000 $ per month of loss should they choose to leave the EzineArticles.

          Would you, or any other business, risk and income of 100.000 $ a month in order to "clean up" your own act, and after that to get even more crap from probably the same article writers.

          If anything, what they should actually do, is a fire the article quality team that actually allowed that kind of "crap" to be even published on the site. The users it self are not to blame for posting such content, but the editors that actually published the article live on the site should take most of the blame for not doing their job right.

          The premium members that paid 100 $ for membership should not be banned, nor should their accounts and subscriptions be closed down-that's just very bad working ethic.

          Would it be so hard, since they have such huge income, to hire some additional editors that would go to each of the categories search for the articles that were approved but didn't meet the standards and just delete the articles from the site. It will take several weeks or maybe a few months but they wouldn't need to ban all the users out there that paid them to be efficient.

          Myself, I have written several articles to the EzineArticles in a niche that isn't saturated, and I wrote it from my own perspective, by that I mean it was original content with about 400 or 500 words per article. And since then they have banned me from the the article directory. Let me also emphasize that I was a basic member, I've posted only 3 articles, no articles had any problems getting approved and I followed all their guidelines.

          Should you look a while back on the forum, I already started a similar topic on the subject off the EzineArticles banning users.

          If you take a look at their terms of policy you will notice that they reserve the right to delete your account for any reason without prior notice. If you think about it a little bit they can charge you to 97 $ and then ban you for no reason and not even refund you. Because you agreed to their terms of service that gave them the right to take your money and have you banned.

          What I suggest is that all the members from the warrior forum gathers together and united create an article directory [with all our SEO experts] and make it similar to the EzineArticles market model, by that I meant the free and the paid versions of the accounts. The money that we would gather would be used to pay several chosen members who would administer the site, check articles for quality, and make sure that no crap is posted there.

          Who is with me!?!

          TheGodfather
          Signature

          {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[1306501].message }}
        • Profile picture of the author TheRichJerksNet
          Only problem with your post and this is what Steven meant..

          1. For every 1 that leaves 10 will join because all your marketers out there has pushed EZA for years and told every single newbie "You Must Submit To EZA"... You cannot make that kind of exposure just go away. It is hammered in some people's mind.

          2. Although 50%+ of their traffic is from marketers, competition, article rippers, and so called researchers - The other 35% or so that is consumer traffic clicks on adsense ads, those ads alone keep EZA in profit. They do not need the $97 a month to survive.

          3. I still have no idea why this thread is even going on .. It is pointless - How many of your still posting have actually worked today ? I see some huge post which takes time to write, you could have spent that energy on writing a new article and getting traffic from it...

          James

          Originally Posted by TheGodfather View Post

          Well let's do some math: let's take an assumption that there are about 10.000 Internet marketers using EzineArticles as premium members.

          Premium membership costs about 97 $ per month that equals to roughly 100.000 $ per month of loss should they choose to leave the EzineArticles.

          Would you, or any other business, risk and income of 100.000 $ a month in order to "clean up" your own act, and after that to get even more crap from probably the same article writers.

          If anything, what they should actually do, is a fire the article quality team that actually allowed that kind of "crap" to be even published on the site. The users it self are not to blame for posting such content, but the editors that actually published the article live on the site should take most of the blame for not doing their job right.

          The premium members that paid 100 $ for membership should not be banned, nor should their accounts and subscriptions be closed down-that's just very bad working ethic.

          Would it be so hard, since they have such huge income, to hire some additional editors that would go to each of the categories search for the articles that were approved but didn't meet the standards and just delete the articles from the site. It will take several weeks or maybe a few months but they wouldn't need to ban all the users out there that paid them to be efficient.

          Myself, I have written several articles to the EzineArticles in a niche that isn't saturated, and I wrote it from my own perspective, by that I mean it was original content with about 400 or 500 words per article. And since then they have banned me from the the article directory. Let me also emphasize that I was a basic member, I've posted only 3 articles, no articles had any problems getting approved and I followed all their guidelines.

          Should you look a while back on the forum, I already started a similar topic on the subject off the EzineArticles banning users.

          If you take a look at their terms of policy you will notice that they reserve the right to delete your account for any reason without prior notice. If you think about it a little bit they can charge you to 97 $ and then ban you for no reason and not even refund you. Because you agreed to their terms of service that gave them the right to take your money and have you banned.

          What I suggest is that all the members from the warrior forum gathers together and united create an article directory [with all our SEO experts] and make it similar to the EzineArticles market model, by that I meant the free and the paid versions of the accounts. The money that we would gather would be used to pay several chosen members who would administer the site, check articles for quality, and make sure that no crap is posted there.

          Who is with me!?!

          TheGodfather
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          • Profile picture of the author Fun to Write
            Originally Posted by TheRichJerksNet View Post

            3. I still have no idea why this thread is even going on .. It is pointless - How many of your still posting have actually worked today ? I see some huge post which takes time to write, you could have spent that energy on writing a new article and getting traffic from it...

            James
            Ha ha ha. Yep, I'm procrastinating doing my work by reading this thread.
            Signature

            Focus+Smart Work+Persistence=Success

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          • Profile picture of the author Steven Wagenheim
            Originally Posted by TheRichJerksNet View Post

            3. I still have no idea why this thread is even going on
            Because it's being powered by this guy.

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            • Profile picture of the author TheRichJerksNet
              Originally Posted by Steven Wagenheim View Post

              Because it's being powered by this guy.

              YouTube - First Energizer Bunny Commercial
              If it's one thing I noticed steven - everytime some company does this or that there will be a hot thread at WF with people just sitting by waiting for the next reply or what someone is going to say..

              For all you newbies, let this thread be a lesson for you "if" you can see past all replies and the rants and the even the praises. There is a message here for you to learn and "if" you paid any attention at all you would realize it's called...

              Controversy

              And it sells like hot cakes, that is why the national gossip mags are still in business even after the internet boom..

              James

              Disclaimer: What google did and it still doing deserved to have a rant thread...
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          • Profile picture of the author Marty S
            Originally Posted by TheRichJerksNet View Post


            3. I still have no idea why this thread is even going on .. It is pointless - How many of your still posting have actually worked today ? I see some huge post which takes time to write, you could have spent that energy on writing a new article and getting traffic from it...

            James
            LoL - says the guy with these stats -

            James
            Join Date: Aug 2008
            Posts: 4,310

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            • Profile picture of the author TheRichJerksNet
              Originally Posted by Marty S View Post

              LoL - says the guy with these stats -

              James
              Join Date: Aug 2008
              Posts: 4,310

              Maybe so but I have got a good laugh out of this thread honestly.. Plus the fact that I have 3 computers going right now and have 6 browsers open.

              * Writing a few articles (MacSpeech Dictate Is Wonderful)
              * Submitting to Bookmarking sites
              * Providing Support on 2 of my sites
              * Posting a few blog messages on several blogs
              * Answering a few questions in one of my groups
              * Working on a FaceBook App and Other Upgardes

              It's called Multi-Tasking and I learned to do it years ago ....

              James
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              • Profile picture of the author acrasial
                Originally Posted by TheRichJerksNet View Post


                It's called Multi-Tasking and I learned to do it years ago ....
                There was a study (or a few) done on this, which confirmed that multitasking is bad for your mental health...

                Here is one source:
                http://science.slashdot.org/article..../01/27/2221228

                And the newest source:
                UNDERNEWS: MULTITASKING WORSE ON IQ THAN POT
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                • Profile picture of the author EndGame
                  Originally Posted by acrasial View Post

                  There was a study (or a few) done on this, which confirmed that multitasking is bad for your mental health...

                  Here is one source:
                  http://science.slashdot.org/article..../01/27/2221228

                  And the newest source:
                  UNDERNEWS: MULTITASKING WORSE ON IQ THAN POT
                  Do you enjoy winding people up and stirring the pot?

                  Do your attempts at winning meaningless debates in a forum help you sleep at night?

                  That is possibly the least relevant/helpful contribution to this thread or forum that I have seen for a long time.
                  Signature

                  NA

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                • Profile picture of the author TheRichJerksNet
                  Originally Posted by acrasial View Post

                  There was a study (or a few) done on this, which confirmed that multitasking is bad for your mental health...

                  Here is one source:
                  http://science.slashdot.org/article..../01/27/2221228

                  And the newest source:
                  UNDERNEWS: MULTITASKING WORSE ON IQ THAN POT
                  Wait a minute ... You mean the article is not on the largest and most popular website to ever hit the internet (EZA) ?:confused::rolleyes::confused:?

                  Hey writers there goes your new Niche for EZA.. Now Write articles and submit them ..

                  James
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                  • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
                    Banned
                    [DELETED]
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                    • Profile picture of the author Killer Joe
                      Originally Posted by Alexa Smith View Post

                      The "multitasking" niche? No, not for me anyway: men can't do it and women don't buy e-books.
                      I'm not sure about the e-book part, but if men weren't good at multitasking there would be a lot more unsatisfied women on the planet then there are as it stands.

                      I think you're underestimating our talents...

                      KJ
                      Signature
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                  • Profile picture of the author acrasial
                    Originally Posted by TheRichJerksNet View Post

                    Wait a minute ... You mean the article is not on the largest and most popular website to ever hit the internet (EZA) ?:confused::rolleyes::confused:?

                    Hey writers there goes your new Niche for EZA.. Now Write articles and submit them ..

                    James

                    No, it's not. There were more legitimate sites, but for whatever I searched these just came up first, so my keyword wasn't right, I guess. Have you seen the thread talking about an article which had a really outrageous title, something like "act like an animal and grow taller"! So people can most certainly make a niche from virtually anything...and write about it then, or in this case, vice versa.
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              • Profile picture of the author JayXtreme
                Originally Posted by TheRichJerksNet View Post

                Maybe so but I have got a good laugh out of this thread honestly.. Plus the fact that I have 3 computers going right now and have 6 browsers open.

                * Writing a few articles (MacSpeech Dictate Is Wonderful)
                * Submitting to Bookmarking sites
                * Providing Support on 2 of my sites
                * Posting a few blog messages on several blogs
                * Answering a few questions in one of my groups
                * Working on a FaceBook App and Other Upgardes

                It's called Multi-Tasking and I learned to do it years ago ....

                James
                Bleh!!

                Wasting all that CP usage on work..

                I'm reading F1 news in German

                Peace

                Jay
                Signature

                Bare Murkage.........

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            • Profile picture of the author acrasial
              Originally Posted by Marty S View Post

              LoL - says the guy with these stats -

              James
              Join Date: Aug 2008
              Posts: 4,310


              Dare I mention that this same guy has also contributed to this thread, which in turn has helped keep it running? :confused: But Someone is sure happy to see it running still, so that's good! But as James mentioned, the more it's talked about, the more exposure "(e)zine (a)rticles" gets, so it's great for them still.
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        • Profile picture of the author Steven Fullman
          Originally Posted by TheGodfather View Post

          Well let's do some math: let's take an assumption that there are about 10.000 Internet marketers using EzineArticles as premium members.
          OK.

          Originally Posted by TheGodfather View Post

          Premium membership costs about 97 $ per month that equals to roughly 100.000 $ per month of loss should they choose to leave the EzineArticles.
          OK.

          Originally Posted by TheGodfather View Post

          Would you, or any other business, risk and income of 100.000 $ a month in order to "clean up" your own act, and after that to get even more crap from probably the same article writers.
          Yes, Sir. If it was damaging the long term potential of my business.

          Originally Posted by TheGodfather View Post

          If anything, what they should actually do, is a fire the article quality team that actually allowed that kind of "crap" to be even published on the site. The users it self are not to blame for posting such content, but the editors that actually published the article live on the site should take most of the blame for not doing their job right.
          Here's where you're going wrong. You blame the site for publishing "crap"

          Look, do you come from a publishing background?

          I do.

          Most of "the crap" probably came from folks who CONNED their audience into believing you can "publish" a bunch of nonsense on EZA and retire two months later.

          Short term-ism gone mental...but then again...newbies are DESPERATE for a short term fix, aren't they?

          I reckon EZA has changed their rule as a direct response to the type of articles some shady "marketers" are encouraging their customers to write...

          I.E. Not worth reading.

          ...and that's pretty damaging to an article directory. Especially the biggest one on the web...

          Originally Posted by TheGodfather View Post

          The premium members that paid 100 $ for membership should not be banned, nor should their accounts and subscriptions be closed down-that's just very bad working ethic.
          You pay, therefore you're exempt?

          Uh? No.

          You pay for certain PRIVILEGES...within the rules of the site.

          Break 'em, you're toast. Just like the free members.

          Originally Posted by TheGodfather View Post

          Would it be so hard, since they have such huge income, to hire some additional editors that would go to each of the categories search for the articles that were approved but didn't meet the standards and just delete the articles from the site. It will take several weeks or maybe a few months but they wouldn't need to ban all the users out there that paid them to be efficient.
          That sounds like a whine. So it's the editors fault...or the LACK of editors...

          It's never the contributor's problem, eh? :rolleyes:

          Originally Posted by TheGodfather View Post

          Myself, I have written several articles to the EzineArticles in a niche that isn't saturated, and I wrote it from my own perspective, by that I mean it was original content with about 400 or 500 words per article. And since then they have banned me from the the article directory. Let me also emphasize that I was a basic member, I've posted only 3 articles, no articles had any problems getting approved and I followed all their guidelines.
          Sorry to hear that.

          Originally Posted by TheGodfather View Post

          If you take a look at their terms of policy you will notice that they reserve the right to delete your account for any reason without prior notice. If you think about it a little bit they can charge you to 97 $ and then ban you for no reason and not even refund you. Because you agreed to their terms of service that gave them the right to take your money and have you banned.
          Standard fare.


          Originally Posted by TheGodfather View Post

          Who is with me!?!

          TheGodfather
          Who's with me?

          Steve
          Signature

          Not promoting right now

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          • Profile picture of the author TheGodfather
            Originally Posted by Steven Fullman View Post


            Here's where you're going wrong. You blame the site for publishing "crap"
            Well isn't that what they are PAYING their EDITORS and QUALITY REVIWERS?!?

            It's as much as their fault as it is ours. But, then again, it was up to THEM to act on the "crap" when it was posted and not approve the article. Put it in the problem section and tell the author to correct the articles or better yet stop writing crap.

            In the capitalism the saying goes: "the costumer is always right" so if you PAY them for their EXPERT editors to READ your article as soon as possible and publish it if it fits into their QUALITY criteria, then you should at least not be banned, you should have at least be permitted to use up your "membership", for which you PAID for ($97 per month ain't cheap) or they should divide your membership into equal parts and refund you for the rest of the remaining days that the membership wasn't used up.

            From where I come from, that is done by all the serious and professional businesses. I work for a telephone company in telesales and it is completely normal to refund the costumer or bill him less for the month for which he couldn't use the service, EVEN THOUGH our terms of service state that we may unplug you for any reason what so ever....

            Like I said... it's just bad business ethics.... This way by banning premium members and degrading the platinum and basic + members they are just pissing of people. Perhaps not someone who relies only on them but the marketers and "experts" that write a lot of content and that contributed to the directory.

            It's like: you climb a mountain, and once you got all the way to the top i come to you and say: "sorry but I don't like the way you climbed up here, your left foot was very annoying me for no apparent reason... you'll have to climb again..."

            just a bunch of BS from EZA that is trying to show us who's boss, not realizing that we are the ones that are in charge.

            And even so, if for every one of us that left there would be 10 other "marketers" who'd come in our place... they will soon be banned also...

            Peace,
            TheGodfather
            Signature

            TheGodfather

            Perception is reality

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            • Profile picture of the author susanm
              from Something Unexpected:

              "Our next big pass at curbing low-value content submissions will come in the form of banning certain types of content that are currently in too high of market supply (think "**** berry" type articles) and other commonly spammed articles with highly derivative content (think penis enlargement, get your ex back, dating articles, some types of finance articles). We've been slow to reach this point because we're looking for ways to allow legitimate good ideal members to submit content on these topics while singling out the gamers who only want to submit really thin low value content."

              Does anybody else find it funny that they only want their ideal members to submit articles on penis enlargement?
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              • Profile picture of the author tmitchison
                Does anybody else find it funny that they only want their ideal members to submit articles on penis enlargement?

                Lol how exactly would they determine who was legitimate to write about this?

                The only concern of mine is that I have been waiting on 2 different accts to be upgraded for nearly 2 weeks now. The niche is not one of these currently under fire, and the articles are all (according to their description of such) good content.

                I understand they are busy playing Operation Ninja Nazi or whatever they call it, but thats no reason to take a dump on people who actually do what they ask. Maybe Im just too needy
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              • Profile picture of the author acrasial
                Originally Posted by susanm View Post

                from Something Unexpected:

                "Our next big pass at curbing low-value content submissions will come in the form of banning certain types of content that are currently in too high of market supply (think "**** berry" type articles) and other commonly spammed articles with highly derivative content (think penis enlargement, get your ex back, dating articles, some types of finance articles). We've been slow to reach this point because we're looking for ways to allow legitimate good ideal members to submit content on these topics while singling out the gamers who only want to submit really thin low value content."

                Does anybody else find it funny that they only want their ideal members to submit articles on penis enlargement?
                Ok let's try this again,....

                They said they will ban and filter out alot of content which comes from heavily populated niches. This means, that penis enlargement was the first one they began filtering out, and started banning alot of articles in this niche.

                They also will begin doing such in other niches, as the "hot" niches contain most of the JUNK content they were talking about.
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          • Profile picture of the author machia
            Re: Are YOU Next?

            Not likely.

            I have to say that I've been impressed that EZA has had the balls to publish some of my stuff. Some of the articles can't even be presented with Adsense around them, but they
            publish them anyway. There have been a few times they just couldn't bring themselves to
            include some of my writing and I'm more than happy to use that content on my sites instead where I can say whatever I want.

            I know I've written a quality article when I actually enjoy rereading it myself. When I started, my focus was laser sharp on what would people interested in this subject want to see, read and hopefully be helped with.

            Get your aim right from the beginning and you won't have to worry about EZA or anyone. You all have it within you to be creative enough to offer more than enough distinctive value to get nearly anything published.
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        • Profile picture of the author Fun to Write
          Originally Posted by TheGodfather View Post

          Well let's do some math: let's take an assumption that there are about 10.000 Internet marketers using EzineArticles as premium members.

          Premium membership costs about 97 $ per month that equals to roughly 100.000 $ per month of loss should they choose to leave the EzineArticles.

          Would you, or any other business, risk and income of 100.000 $ a month in order to "clean up" your own act, and after that to get even more crap from probably the same article writers.
          From what Steve W just posted, Chris Knight is more than willing to let EZA take a short term financial hit to gain long term quality.
          Signature

          Focus+Smart Work+Persistence=Success

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        • Profile picture of the author Fun to Write
          Originally Posted by TheGodfather View Post

          What I suggest is that all the members from the warrior forum gathers together and united create an article directory [with all our SEO experts] and make it similar to the EzineArticles market model, by that I meant the free and the paid versions of the accounts. The money that we would gather would be used to pay several chosen members who would administer the site, check articles for quality, and make sure that no crap is posted there.

          Who is with me!?!

          TheGodfather
          I suggest you start this yourself. Good luck trying to find lots of members here to help you get this started. It would take a ton of time and work to pull it off. It's much easier to just up your game and learn how to write longer articles that provide the reader with good information.

          Sorry, you got banned, but many of us are not in your shoes and don't intend to be.
          Signature

          Focus+Smart Work+Persistence=Success

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    • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
      Banned
      [DELETED]
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      • Profile picture of the author Jeremy Kelsall
        Originally Posted by Alexa Smith View Post

        I have news for you: they made them what they are today. (And that's obviously partly why they're trying to do something about the situation).

        If every single affiliate marketer decided to stop submitting articles there tomorrow, it wouldn't affect EZA's rankings at all, would it? (The average quality of their articles would increase, though.)
        Actually, it WOULD affect their rankings in the serps over time...

        A perfect real life example is our own blogs. If we update them once or twice a day for a couple of months - our rankings skyrocket. If we stop, they start to slip over time...

        The other thing that you have to take into consideration is that the sheer density of keywords on some topics have propelled EZA into the top spots on the front page of Google...

        Why do you think some niches will rank on EZA's internat pages and others won't?

        Reverse cell phone flooded eza for a while...guess what? The keywords started to rank...

        Same with Grants

        Same with ****

        Same with colon cleansers

        Same with acne keywords...

        Now go to eza and search for a niche that is not popular and doesn't get much content submitted - You usually won't find anything that ranks.

        Originally Posted by Alexa Smith View Post

        This is business. What they're doing makes good business sense for them. They care about their business just like I care about mine.
        It is their business so, whatever they decide to do is the RIGHT thing, but that doesn't make it a RIGHT decision when it comes to business
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  • Profile picture of the author cesarsan
    But as people pointed before there are still lots of almost unreadable articles being approved by their *human* editors. Articles that wouldn't be acceptable by the Word spellchecker standards. Where's the quality?

    Frankly people, if you do NEED ezine articles for your business you are doing something very wrong.

    I don't think they are worthy all the work and headaches. Treat them like just another article directory, Googgle will slap them sooner or later so be ready for that.
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  • Profile picture of the author Alminc
    I hate EZA!

    They 'reinstated' my basic plus account 4 times, I submitted nearly 100 articles (only
    quality articles, 450+ words) and they are still not giving me the platinum status.

    I am not going to submit more good articles to those #¤!@!!

    There are other article directories, thanks God!
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    • Profile picture of the author Steven Wagenheim
      Originally Posted by Alminc View Post

      I hate EZA!

      They 'reinstated' my basic plus account 4 times, I submitted nearly 100 articles (only
      quality articles, 450+ words) and they are still not giving me the platinum status.

      I am not going to submit more good articles to those #¤!@!!

      There are other article directories, thanks God!
      Hey, here's a thought.

      Did you ever try writing to them and ask them why they weren't
      upgrading you to Platinum Status?

      You might actually get an answer.
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  • Profile picture of the author Adam Carn
    I'm new to EZA and haven't got banned yet but they don't allow me to put my site ListSwapper.com in my resource box and their reason is totally rediculous.

    Adam
    Signature
    Taking a break...
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  • Profile picture of the author Slin
    I have had no articles banned, in fact I believe my articles are usually pretty dang helpful.

    In fact most articles I have read on ezine are helpful, I mean you are limited as what you are allowed to do (Step by step instructions with pictures is impossible)

    However, they should not be changing the rules and then getting rid old articles that do not follow the new rules! If they change their wordcount rules then all of my future articles will meet their standards.

    But my old articles should still be up, as I honored their standards at the time I wrote them.

    But so far...no problems
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    • Profile picture of the author Steven Wagenheim
      Okay, I have been writing to Chris about this issue and have just now heard
      back from him and he has allowed me to share this with the forum and my
      personal blog ONLY.

      The decision to accelerate our quality standards faster than we normally do have come from pressures I've been feeling that we're letting down our million daily visitors with substandard articles that just don't cut it any more.

      Imagine for a moment that you work hard for a decade to get a million people to come to your party every day, every month with hopes to grow the size of the party... but if the quality of your content isn't up to par or above par, those millions slowly bleed away to other sites.

      We feel immense pressure to protect all of the efforts 200k+ members have invested with us for the benefit of those million daily visitors, and we can't do it over the long-term if we don't significantly raise quite a few very specific standards that will be shared in our blog as we work through the data to guide us as to highest perceived return for lowest disruption to ideal members.

      Lastly, I may have chosen my words wrong as we're not in a war with marketers. We're marketers too and I love sales & marketing personally. The fight is with thin content / derivative article plr rehashed producers who pump us thousands of garbage articles a day and burn up a thousand+ labor hours weekly to sift through what our AI can't as efficiently yet. In the short-term we're prepared to take whatever hit we must in order to ensure a happier long-term for our end users. If the end user is happy, all other needs works itself out.

      Sincerely,
      Chris Knight, CEO
      http://EzineArticles.com/
      Ask Christopher Knight A Question

      Hopefully, this will clear up any assumptions that people have, including
      myself, as to why all the changes.

      For the record, I agree with Chris 100%.
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  • Profile picture of the author Hijynx427
    Banned
    [DELETED]
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  • Profile picture of the author Jay Jennings
    But from a marketer's point of view, this may decrease click through's and conversions, because there is so much to read. We all go through those moments where we see a long post, or something long and we go ..."aaaah... it's so long". And guess what? Most people won't in fact read it and will move on.

    That doesn't mean that the content was bad, or that the person writes in a boring manner.
    Yes it does.

    And in answer to your question, I read your entire post and this entire thread (and yes, I still got a lot of work done, Steven! =. Why? Because article marketing and that world is something that's important to my business.

    If you can't get people to read "past the fold" then your articles are not very good or not targeted to the right market.

    Ezine articles claims to be AT war, with everyone who is an affiliate marketer
    As I read on another blog today, content isn't king, CONTEXT is. And you're taking that out of context. In context the title of EZAs blog post is, "Our War With Affiliate Marketers Who Add No Value."

    And what's wrong with that?

    Jay Jennings
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  • Profile picture of the author waqyum
    Does that mean we need to move to other article submission sites.
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  • Profile picture of the author TheGodfather
    James,

    The reason why my posts are so long is because I can write them really quickly since I use a voice recognition system that allows me to type extremely fast by using my voice in all it took several minutes to write that article and I really don't think that those several minutes with jeopardize my work.

    Personally I will do my work in advance and have it posted on my site/blog on a scheduled date so I don't have to worry for some time about "work".

    If EzineArticles does not need the 97 $ a month to survive than the white the heck do they have the membership option available if not for profit?

    Alexa, a site that promotes the earth to be flat, and telling me that I would fit in such a society, is offensive no matter how well intended your remark was. Well, since you apologized the only thing left is for me to accept your apology and I do-so apology accepted.

    As for the 10.000 members that paid the 97 $ a month, it was just a figurative number used to describe my point.

    TheGodfather
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    TheGodfather

    Perception is reality

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    • Profile picture of the author MikeCollins
      Wow, I can't believe I just read 4 pages of this! It's amazing how much of a controversy this is causing. Let me just say a few things and then I'll quietly go back to my corner.

      1. Too many marketers (myself included) have fallen so in love with EZA that we've become dependent on it. Imagine what would happen if their servers exploded one morning and everything was gone without a trace. Bottom line...you should be using EZA as part of your marketing plan. But if you're totally reliant on it you're asking for trouble.

      2. A few people mentioned that no one goes to EZA when researching a topic. That's not true at all. If it was none of us would be submitting articles there would we? As marketers we know how article directories work but the general population has no idea and accepts their content as fact. My wife and I had a baby just 2 weeks ago and my wife was looking up some newborn topic or something. She showed me an article from EZA and I said, "What are you crazy? Any schmuck could have written that."

      3. There is a lot of crap on EZA. I realize they accepted it in the past but Chris deserves credit for trying to eliminate the garbage and increase standards across the board. In the long term its a sound business decision. It makes it a bit harder for us marketers, but in the end maybe it's a good thing.
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  • Profile picture of the author bob_sikorski
    Google is on the war path about all the "junk" content people are publishing. That goes for review sites as well as article marketing. The bottom line is: Submit quality content, google will accept it. Submit poor content and google won't.

    It will be interesting to see how many article directories are still in business by the first of the year.
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    • Profile picture of the author TheRichJerksNet
      Originally Posted by bob_sikorski View Post

      Google is on the war path about all the "junk" content people are publishing. That goes for review sites as well as article marketing. The bottom line is: Submit quality content, google will accept it. Submit poor content and google won't.

      It will be interesting to see how many article directories are still in business by the first of the year.
      Come on now Bob... They just made a deal with twitter to post all the spammy tweets on search results ... Let's get real quality content they are not after, they have more in the works and more planned then what we know.

      James
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  • Profile picture of the author susanm
    I quoted that paragraph straight from their blog. I didn't say they now want people to write about penis enlargement. I said they only want their ideal members to write about it. Aside from the obvious pun, it just seems funny to me that their idea of quality is a darn good penis enlargement article.
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  • Profile picture of the author susanm
    Okay, again, "we're looking for ways to allow legitimate good ideal members to submit content on these topics."
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    • Profile picture of the author acrasial
      Originally Posted by susanm View Post

      Okay, again, "we're looking for ways to allow legitimate good ideal members to submit content on these topics."

      I get you now. I think they were referring to the topics they were cracking down on specifically, as some people may take what they said...(coughs) as in a ban for everyone. For now it's safe to write on other topics and no problems, but these topics are causing issues, and are where most of the bad traffic generates from.

      So they want to clean this up, and they can only do this by banning and heavily filtering out. They won't remove these topics just yet, as they get the most views and most traffic for EZA in general (moolah for them), and in the end, then, they will ask what they said above.

      But your point is good too, now that I get it cheez...
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  • Profile picture of the author susanm
    Might as well find the humor in this when we can. ;-)
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  • Profile picture of the author cherylwright
    I used to really like Ezine Articles. A couple of months ago they refused to publish one of my article because in one of my articles -- wait for it -- I told people how to use 404 pages to earn money.

    They rejected it, I complained. After several emails back and forth the senior editor told me the article was rejected because I was telling people to do something that wasn't legitimate. Here are her exact words:

    "promotion of the use of 404 Page for profits is deceitful to the end users".

    I made a personal complaint to Chris Knight, because as I told him, millions of marketers use this method, and it isn't up to his editor to decide I'm using "deceitful" methods.

    He promised to look into it personally and get back to me in a few days. I'm still waiting at least six weeks down the track.

    I've not bothered with them since.



    Cheryl
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    • Profile picture of the author TheRichJerksNet
      Originally Posted by cherylwright View Post

      I used to really like Ezine Articles. A couple of months ago they refused to publish one of my article because in one of my articles -- wait for it -- I told people how to use 404 pages to earn money.

      They rejected it, I complained. After several emails back and forth the senior editor told me the article was rejected because I was telling people to do something that wasn't legitimate. Here are her exact words:

      "promotion of the use of 404 Page for profits is deceitful to the end users".

      I made a personal complaint to Chris Knight, because as I told him, millions of marketers use this method, and it isn't up to his editor to decide I'm using "deceitful" methods.

      He promised to look into it personally and get back to me in a few days. I'm still waiting at least six weeks down the track.

      I've not bothered with them since.



      Cheryl
      Hey cheryl,
      Yep know what you mean, that is about when I fell out with them. I had an article "approved" 2 days later was rejected becuase it had the word "spinner" it in..

      I was told that was unethical methods and eza did not allow those type of articles in their directory. So I sent an email also and also sent them some articles that I knew was spun in their directory. Basically I asked how is the word "spinner" unethical when they had spun articles in their directory.

      I am still waiting for a reply... That was months ago.

      My article was 100% unique and not spun, it just mentioned the word spinner.

      James
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      • Profile picture of the author acrasial
        Originally Posted by TheRichJerksNet View Post

        Hey cheryl,
        Yep know what you mean, that is about when I fell out with them. I had an article "approved" 2 days later was rejected becuase it had the word "spinner" in it

        James
        Yup, like I said, the war is on US, not anyone else. Other people can get their junk through, we put in real hand written/typed articles, which we thought about and spent time to create... and get them rejected, removed, and even banned.

        This is exactly what I meant in the first place...I'm not whining about their so called crack down on "quality content", because if they had ACTUALLY been doing this the entire time, everything would have been fine.

        But instead, they point the finger at internet marketers and say "hey, there's a bunch of wise guys... let's get them!". The real people, who can be found all over their website, are actually still submitting.

        Then Chris claims that, well if they have a ghost writer, etc... and are not caught, then they have fine content, but once again, as others have pointed out, one can easily find useless articles with bad grammar and english on there.

        The other day, I saw an article which was exactly 255 words in a hot niche. The article was supposed to be telling people who to repair something, but said nothing of the sort. Instead, it was like 4 introduction paragraphs babbling on, and that was it.

        That was approved. Other people literally come in there with 500 word, clear articles, and Ezines says "no" to them. Did I mention yet, that the editor's starting wage is $10 an hour? That may also be a part of it.
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        • Profile picture of the author Paxton
          It's been said already so at the risk of repetition:

          Why the big fuss???

          If the amount of effort involved in preparing your articles to the quality / word count / whatever EA want's is counter-productive, use a different directory. Plenty of them around.

          Yes, they might be seen to be nitpicking, but then again, we've probably all done that with our own sites or blogs. Hands up anybody who's ever moderated a comment on one of their blogs. Same thing.

          I get loads of spammy, c**p comments on my blogs and I remove these. My personal choice is to remove comments that go against my clearly posted TOS and preferences. I don't feel I have to make any apologies to people trying to post c**p on my blogs. Operative word there being MY.

          If EA decide they will only accept articles of 10,000 words written in Latin, well that's their right. My right to decide if I want to learn Latin or submit my articles so alternative directories.

          One thing I don't like is the retroactive grading of articles. It hasn't affected me but it might well in the future. Enforce new quality rules by all means, but don't backdate things.

          Again though, it's their directory and they can pretty much do as they please.

          For the time being at least, my gains from EA outweigh the effort involved, so I still use them.
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          • Profile picture of the author cherylwright
            Originally Posted by Paxton View Post

            It's been said already so at the risk of repetition:

            Why the big fuss???
            Hi Paxton,

            The 'big fuss' is that we're the people who bring income to them. They accept c**p articles all the time, but when they're faced with good quality articles, they pick the s**t out of them. why?

            I do think they're picking on marketers. I have about a dozen articles on the craft of writing on that site, but not one of them has even been rejected or questioned. The second I add marketing articles, the trouble begins.

            Interesting don't you think?




            Cheryl
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            • Profile picture of the author Paxton
              Originally Posted by cherylwright View Post

              Hi Paxton,

              The 'big fuss' is that we're the people who bring income to them. They accept c**p articles all the time, but when they're faced with good quality articles, they pick the s**t out of them. why?

              I do think they're picking on marketers. I have about a dozen articles on the craft of writing on that site, but not one of them has even been rejected or questioned. The second I add marketing articles, the trouble begins.

              Interesting don't you think?




              Cheryl
              You've already got the solution. You mention your articles about the "craft of writing" being accepted without any problems. Nobody says marketing articles don't have to follow the same principles of good writing. I've got over 100 articles in EA, all for the purpose of selling stuff and none of them have even been rejected.

              The email from EA about "Substantive Articles" sent to all registered members outlines what they want to see. You're probably applying all these already in your "craft of writing" series, which are probably there to make sales about something.

              Apply the same principles to articles in a different niche and you won't have any problems with EA.

              Yes we do bring income to them, but that's a two-way street. EA sends a fair bit of traffic to my sites and a percentage of that traffic converts into dollars in my affiliate accounts.

              If the only point of the relationship was generating income for EA, why bother?

              Simple position really. Stop using EA or continue to submit articles there. For the time being they are an important element of my business. If it gets to be too much of a pain in the rear-end, then I won't use them anymore.
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              • Profile picture of the author cherylwright
                Originally Posted by Paxton View Post

                You've already got the solution. You mention your articles about the "craft of writing" being accepted without any problems. Nobody says marketing articles don't have to follow the same principles of good writing. I've got over 100 articles in EA, all for the purpose of selling stuff and none of them have even been rejected.
                All my articles follow the same principals whether they are marketing articles or writing articles.

                They are all written to inform, and to bring traffic to my sites - nothing more, nothing less.

                It's only the marketing articles (for a marketing site) that have been an issue. None of the others have ever been questioned or rejected, nor have I been asked to tweak any of them.

                But you know what annoys me more? That Chris promised to look into the discrepancy and contact me again in a few days but never did.

                To me, that's unforgiveable.





                Cheryl
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                • Profile picture of the author acrasial
                  Originally Posted by cherylwright View Post


                  But you know what annoys me more? That Chris promised to look into the discrepancy and contact me again in a few days but never did.

                  To me, that's unforgiveable.
                  You know *HE* may also BE on this very FORUM. (HINT HINT). So perhaps he will see how unfortunate the situation has turned...
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                • Profile picture of the author chrisknight
                  Originally Posted by cherylwright View Post

                  But you know what annoys me more? That Chris promised to look into the discrepancy and contact me again in a few days but never did.
                  To me, that's unforgiveable. Cheryl
                  Cheryl,

                  Please forgive me.

                  You contacted me when I was out of the office on August 21st. I promised that I'd look into the situation on Saturday August 22nd and get back to you by Tuesday of the following week or August 25th.

                  We had a management discussion about your situation and I wrongly assumed someone on our team was going to respond to you. The person who I thought was responding to you on this issue thought I was responding and left a note on your account that an email was sent. We both dropped the ball and it's my fault for not making certain that your email received a response. Sorry.

                  My apologies again. A private email was sent to you a minute ago.
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                  • Profile picture of the author cherylwright
                    Originally Posted by chrisknight View Post

                    Cheryl,

                    Please forgive me.

                    You contacted me when I was out of the office on August 21st. I promised that I'd look into the situation on Saturday August 22nd and get back to you by Tuesday of the following week or August 25th.

                    We had a management discussion about your situation and I wrongly assumed someone on our team was going to respond to you. The person who I thought was responding to you on this issue thought I was responding and left a note on your account that an email was sent. We both dropped the ball and it's my fault for not making certain that your email received a response. Sorry.

                    My apologies again. A private email was sent to you a minute ago.

                    Hi Chris,

                    I didn't get your email; I don't know what happened.

                    You basically got caught up in the fact I'm sick and tired of people making promises and not keeping them.

                    Your staff were incredibly rude to me and it wasn't necessary -- that p'd me off even further.

                    If I tell someone I'll do something, I do it. So many people break promises these days that I've really had enough. (And you did tell me you would respond personally...)




                    Cheryl
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                    • Profile picture of the author Burtgummer
                      I'm starting to become a bit frustrated now....

                      One staff member tells me one thing, and another tells me a completely different thing.

                      I've got a website that is titled "Mafia Wars Bots and Cheats". However, it starts off saying that cheating is not the way to go, and the rest of the article is about strategies that are completely legal to use in the game.

                      I write articles on Mafia Wars about "tips" and "strategies", once again, completely legal and allowed under the Mafia Wars TOS.

                      2 days ago an article was rejected, but it was later approved because the staff member looked at the content on the link and saw that it wasn't really about cheating the game illegally. She said that she placed a note on my account so there would no longer be any confusion for future articles.

                      Now, 3 articles were not approved today with that same link, because they said it is not allowed under the Mafia Wars TOS..........

                      So 2 different staff told me 2 completely different things, and the supposed note didn't do anything.

                      I was basically told in another email today, from a different staff member, that "this content is no longer allowed". So I can't write about Mafia Wars at all any more? Great. Thanks. Now I have to rebuild everything in another niche, and being a newbie at IM makes it seriously hard to restart.

                      Now, I have no problem at all with article being of value. I write my articles so they DO give information to the reader, because I believe in establishing trust with the reader. But these are getting Disapproved because of my link, and now it sounds like they won't even accept articles about Mafia Wars at all.

                      Seriously frustrating.
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                      • Profile picture of the author Jeremy Kelsall
                        lol...

                        SURVEY SAYS:

                        EZA has NO CLUE what content they want - what they don't want - or anything else about consistency.

                        Here's the deal...

                        I understand what EZA is doing. Hell, I think they are doing the right thing

                        BUT the way they are implementing it SUCKS.

                        Before someone jumps in and says if you don't like it don't submit your content there....POUND SAND.

                        I very RARELY submit content to EZA anymore. I have someone else do it - Well, I have several people do it and here is what I have found.

                        Person 1 can submit content about X niche

                        but

                        Person 2 cant

                        Person 3 can direct link to a particular offer

                        BUT

                        Person 4 cant.

                        I'm not mad - I'm actually mildly amused. As I've gotten reports today from different people the sheer lack of any direction or consistency has given me and my the people that do some work for me a few chuckles.

                        Anyway, I personally don't think that they are doing anyway with ANYTHING in particular. I think they are getting rid of people that have displayed certain habits which is fairly obvious if you look at the no consistency factor across the entire author base.

                        If they don't like you - FIRE THEM

                        If they do like you - MILK THE TRAFFIC FOR ALL IT'S WORTH

                        But for the love of god - Stop whining about it.
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                        • Profile picture of the author Vanquish
                          So does anyone know exactly why Chris at Eza is doing this?

                          I know the main reason would be to clean up the directory but he is running a business and a business main purpose is to produce profit so i'm sure despite the bad content the shear volume of articles being submitted approved and viewed would create more $ for Chris.
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                          • Profile picture of the author Allen Graves
                            Originally Posted by Vanquish View Post

                            So does anyone know exactly why Chris at Eza is doing this?

                            I know the main reason would be to clean up the directory but he is running a business and a business main purpose is to produce profit so i'm sure despite the bad content the shear volume of articles being submitted approved and viewed would create more $ for Chris.
                            Another main purpose of a business is to meet or exceed your long-term goals. In my opinion, this is why the whole thing is happening.

                            Allen
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                        • Profile picture of the author acrasial
                          Originally Posted by Jeremy Kelsall View Post

                          lol...

                          SURVEY SAYS:

                          EZA has NO CLUE what content they want - what they don't want - or anything else about consistency.
                          Where did you pick this up from?


                          Originally Posted by Jeremy Kelsall View Post


                          Person 1 can submit content about X niche

                          but

                          Person 2 cant

                          Person 3 can direct link to a particular offer

                          BUT

                          Person 4 cant.
                          Is there a reason behind this? Such as in mistakes made by each submitter, or simply no reason?

                          Originally Posted by Jeremy Kelsall View Post

                          I'm not mad - I'm actually mildly amused.
                          SHHH don't tell people that, they will get mad! Being amused at this topic is bad for one's health, as they may be seen as a troll, or drama rama leader!


                          Originally Posted by Jeremy Kelsall View Post

                          I think they are getting rid of people that have displayed certain habits which is fairly obvious if you look at the no consistency factor across the entire author base.
                          I am not sure they are getting rid of those people for long. Just like this forum gets "spammers", they always pry their way back in. Like you mentioned, that you have other people submit, a clever "spammer" to EZA would easily do the same. Of course they may continuously be banned, but to some the more challenging something is, the more they want to do it.

                          Also, to some, EZA is the best directory out there, so that's why they try and get back in.
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                          • Profile picture of the author Stephen Meyer
                            I've posted articles on EZA for a couple years and the only problem I've ever had was with posting Affiliate links. I changed my sig to point to my websites and have never had a problem since.

                            Makes me wonder what the real problem is?
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                            • Profile picture of the author acrasial
                              Originally Posted by Stephen Meyer View Post

                              I've posted articles on EZA for a couple years and the only problem I've ever had was with posting Affiliate links. I changed my sig to point to my websites and have never had a problem since.

                              Makes me wonder what the real problem is?

                              Affiliate marketers, such as in articles written about hot niche topics. Some have issues, others don't. There isn't a huge PROBLEM, but rather just a long overdue crackdown from EZA, which is also affect some people in the wrong manner.

                              A couple of dummies ruined things for others so to speak.
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                • Profile picture of the author Steven Wagenheim
                  Originally Posted by cherylwright View Post

                  All my articles follow the same principals whether they are marketing articles or writing articles.

                  They are all written to inform, and to bring traffic to my sites - nothing more, nothing less.

                  It's only the marketing articles (for a marketing site) that have been an issue. None of the others have ever been questioned or rejected, nor have I been asked to tweak any of them.

                  But you know what annoys me more? That Chris promised to look into the discrepancy and contact me again in a few days but never did.

                  To me, that's unforgiveable.





                  Cheryl

                  Cheryl, I have known Chris now for several years. He is one of the most
                  upstanding people I know, at least in my opinion. If he didn't get back to
                  you, it wasn't an intentional slight. As you can see by his response above,
                  it was just one of those things where there was a miscommunication.

                  It happens.

                  Unforgivable?

                  I hope for your sake that you never make a mistake in your life that you
                  have to be forgiven for.
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        • Profile picture of the author TheRichJerksNet
          Originally Posted by acrasial View Post

          Yup, like I said, the war is on US, not anyone else. Other people can get their junk through, we put in real hand written/typed articles, which we thought about and spent time to create... and get them rejected, removed, and even banned.

          This is exactly what I meant in the first place...I'm not whining about their so called crack down on "quality content", because if they had ACTUALLY been doing this the entire time, everything would have been fine.

          But instead, they point the finger at internet marketers and say "hey, there's a bunch of wise guys... let's get them!". The real people, who can be found all over their website, are actually still submitting.

          Then Chris claims that, well if they have a ghost writer, etc... and are not caught, then they have fine content, but once again, as others have pointed out, one can easily find useless articles with bad grammar and english on there.

          The other day, I saw an article which was exactly 255 words in a hot niche. The article was supposed to be telling people who to repair something, but said nothing of the sort. Instead, it was like 4 introduction paragraphs babbling on, and that was it.

          That was approved. Other people literally come in there with 500 word, clear articles, and Ezines says "no" to them. Did I mention yet, that the editor's starting wage is $10 an hour? That may also be a part of it.
          That's ok I just blew a few authors well written articles on EZA out of position #1 and kicked them down to #6 because I hold positions #1, #3, #5

          And it took a whole 2 hours .... Wow image that ...

          Oh and that is from a brand new article I just written - 2 hours for the whole process and I have not even "distributed" the article yet...

          James
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  • Profile picture of the author DougBarger
    My question... Since when did 10,000 members x's $97/mo become roughly only $100,000/mo?

    Isn't it a little closer to roughly [Dr. Evil laugh] One Million ($1,000,000.00) ?

    And if not, then how much, roughly, is $9.70 x's 10,000 members a month? ;-)
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    • Profile picture of the author acrasial
      Originally Posted by DougBarger View Post

      My question... Since when did 10,000 members x's $97/mo become roughly only $100,000/mo?

      Isn't it a little closer to roughly [Dr. Evil laugh] One Million ($1,000,000.00) ?

      And if not, then how much, roughly, is $9.70 x's 10,000 members a month? ;-)

      Everyone keeps saying the 97$ per month, but I think this is silly as well. The higher the prices go, (if you are really going to be using this monthly), then get the 3 month one or the 500$ one. IT saves you money in the end, if you know you are going to be constantly paying each month.

      If a person is not, and won't get their 97$ back either (as in from the article marketing itself), then I have to wonder what kind of financial planning and budgeting this person learned previously?

      Sure it seems like alot, but we are internet marketers, if someone wants their articles speeded through the "approval" process, then it's simply their patience that they are PAYING for. I doubt they have that many people paying, although I am sure it's quite a few, and recently (since they "FIRED" some), less.

      But, if they made their entire site "paid status", that doesn't solve their problem either, because as Chris claimed, some "writers" got really clever and started pumping through the junk, sneakily.

      What was even more sneaky, was that they were able to do this and get it past THE EDITORS. Imagine that! I wonder if people are sleeping on the job sometimes.
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    • Profile picture of the author TheGodfather
      Originally Posted by DougBarger View Post

      My question... Since when did 10,000 members x's $97/mo become roughly only $100,000/mo?

      Isn't it a little closer to roughly [Dr. Evil laugh] One Million ($1,000,000.00) ?

      And if not, then how much, roughly, is $9.70 x's 10,000 members a month? ;-)
      ups...i left out a zero.... *goes and stands in the corner*
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  • Profile picture of the author WinsonYeung
    Damn it, I hate the EZA rules and their upgrade. Although it's a good move from EZA to ensure that their articles are high quality at the expense of making it harder for us internet marketer to earn $$$
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  • Profile picture of the author marioilking
    I have had several articles regarding PLR refused by EZA lately. They stated that PLR was against their rules. Yet a quick search on their site for PLR brings up a multitude of articles.
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    • Profile picture of the author acrasial
      Originally Posted by marioilking View Post

      I have had several articles regarding PLR refused by EZA lately. They stated that PLR was against their rules. Yet a quick search on their site for PLR brings up a multitude of articles.

      A quick search on their website, and you can find articles with tons of cuss words too! F bombs, B bombs ALL approved. You can also find horrible grammar, and articles which DO NOT represent what the title says.

      You can also find, as James pointed out, articles which have been spun, poorly ghost written, and other things. Just like I have been saying, I'm not whining about their new rules, heck that's fine.

      I am pointing out their war against us.
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  • i say penalize the **** out of crappy content. it's a good thing.

    i don't write my own articles for ezine or any external sites for that matter. but when i hire out freelance, i have a few guidelines:

    500+ words
    quality writing (must be in good english no broken english or bad grammar)
    original content (it cannot be rehashed stuff that is already out there)

    Yes, these are really basic concepts, but so far I've had every article approved. I pay a little more to get the articles, but they stick around, and they bring in quality traffic.

    What you put out, becomes your image. So why would you want to look like crap?
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    • Profile picture of the author WinsonYeung
      Agree with that especially your image part
      You have a huge profile photo over there <=====


      Originally Posted by ThePassiveIncomeBlog.com View Post

      i say penalize the **** out of crappy content. it's a good thing.

      i don't write my own articles for ezine or any external sites for that matter. but when i hire out freelance, i have a few guidelines:

      500+ words
      quality writing (must be in good english no broken english or bad grammar)
      original content (it cannot be rehashed stuff that is already out there)

      Yes, these are really basic concepts, but so far I've had every article approved. I pay a little more to get the articles, but they stick around, and they bring in quality traffic.

      What you put out, becomes your image. So why would you want to look like crap?
      Signature
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    • Profile picture of the author acrasial
      Originally Posted by ThePassiveIncomeBlog.com View Post


      What you put out, becomes your image. So why would you want to look like crap?

      Pretend I am EZA right now, and I just come to you and ask you to remove some of your older articles, and take away your status, and also tell you that your future submissions may be banned under certain topics.

      What about your quality content now? Obviously people here are not INTENTIONALLY trying to make themselves look bad. Look at James above...look at Cheryl, who wrote quality articles, but were refused. Look at Steve Even, he was "banned" randomly out of nowhere! I am sure there are many people with similar stories, who are not mentioning it, simply because as you say, it makes them look like "crap".

      Then people would start suggesting that the person didn't write good, where in, if you take a look around at the posts in here, do these people look like the kind who really don't take their work seriously? I doubt it.

      This is what has been going on in the sidelines, from what it sounds like, for some time now. Then they decided to really crack down on "Affiliate marketers", and there are others who may not be affiliate marketers, who have also had issues.

      So all I am saying is that they let your articles in, right? Now imagine them suddenly saying those articles are no good, and you should remove them...regardless of the word count, or who wrote them.


      Originally Posted by TheRichJerksNet View Post

      That's ok I just blew a few authors well written articles on EZA out of position #1 and kicked them down to #6 because I hold positions #1, #3, #5

      And it took a whole 2 hours .... Wow image that ...

      Oh and that is from a brand new article I just written - 2 hours for the whole process and I have not even "distributed" the article yet...

      James
      I can imagine it, there are "monopolies", but there are people who are more clever than the "monopolies" who get in there. Fantastic.
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      • Profile picture of the author TheRichJerksNet
        Originally Posted by acrasial View Post

        I can imagine it, there are "monopolies", but there are people who are more clever than the "monopolies" who get in there. Fantastic.
        Correction I just took over 1, 2, 3 positions ...LOL

        Hey this is fun ... Sorry to the poor dudes articles on EZA that is no longer in position #1

        James
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        • Profile picture of the author acrasial
          Originally Posted by TheRichJerksNet View Post

          Correction I just took over 1, 2, 3 positions ...LOL

          Hey this is fun ... Sorry to the poor dudes articles on EZA that is no longer in position #1

          James
          Give me some of what you are having (motivation wise), I really need a huge dose of it! Having fun are we? :p Yup, your solution seems to really work, and I have seen some of your other talks/threads/suggestions on the subject as well.

          Poor Chris...what a night mare this is for him... While marketers are having fun... he is ripping his hair out.
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          • Profile picture of the author TheRichJerksNet
            Originally Posted by acrasial View Post

            Give me some of what you are having (motivation wise), I really need a huge dose of it! Having fun are we? :p Yup, your solution seems to really work, and I have seen some of your other talks/threads/suggestions on the subject as well.

            Poor Chris...what a night mare this is for him... While marketers are having fun... he is ripping his hair out.
            He He .. Yep I am having a grand ol time... EZA is going crazy, Article Marketer is out of business and I am having fun taking over top listings ..

            Gee what a wonderful way to start the weekend. When EZA starts losing more top listings maybe some will get the idea that they are not the king of the hill ... Sure they got more money than I do, sure they got more traffic than I do.

            But I got something they don't - Low overhead and I can sit here all day knocking off top positions.

            James
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            • Profile picture of the author Allen Graves
              Originally Posted by TheRichJerksNet View Post

              He He .. Yep I am having a grand ol time... EZA is going crazy, Article Marketer is out of business and I am having fun taking over top listings ..

              Gee what a wonderful way to start the weekend. When EZA starts losing more top listings maybe some will get the idea that they are not the king of the hill ... Sure they got more money than I do, sure they got more traffic than I do.

              But I got something they don't - Low overhead and I can sit here all day knocking off top positions.

              James
              Come on James - let's see your new top 1,2,3 rankings!
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              • Profile picture of the author TheRichJerksNet
                Originally Posted by Allen Graves View Post

                Come on James - let's see your new top 1,2,3 rankings!
                Sorry dude no can do ... If I did that then others could just do what I do ...

                It is documented.

                James
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    • Profile picture of the author cherylwright
      Originally Posted by ThePassiveIncomeBlog.com View Post

      What you put out, becomes your image. So why would you want to look like crap?

      None of this has to do with quality.

      When I joined EZA I had like two articles - they emailed and said because of the quality they elevated my status to platinum (I think it was platinum - a high level anyway).

      I'm a professional writer, and all my articles are high quality. This is not about quality, it's about marketers being targeted because we're marketers.

      I had no issues with any of my articles until I added a marketing bio and began writing articles that were targeted at marketers instead of writers.

      That told me a lot.

      Like I said before, we're bringing them revenue. People come to their site, click the Google Ads and they get adsense income. Without their authors, they lose revenue. They need people like us - so why are they being so petty?





      Cheryl
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  • Profile picture of the author Allen Graves
    Cheryl,

    In all fairness, he is a very busy person. I have had emails fall throughthe cracks before too. But when the person sent me another email as a reminder, I dropped everything and responded to them...knowing I had dropped the ball.

    Did you ever send him a follow up email? Maybe he did look into it and had an answer for you - but simply forgot to respond to you. It happens.

    Allen
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    • Profile picture of the author acrasial
      Originally Posted by Allen Graves View Post

      Did you ever send him a follow up email? Maybe he did look into it and had an answer for you - but simply forgot to respond to you. It happens.

      Things sure got personal, right? Man, Poor guy... and she said its' UNFORGIVABLE. But true, we do forget to do things, sometimes.
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  • Profile picture of the author acrasial
    Wow that most certainly was not surprising...not one bit. But see Cheryl, just as I said.

    Now isn't that service, when you aren't looking for it!

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  • Profile picture of the author Bev Clement
    I agree with Steven, Chris is a great guy, and yes it is possible to make mistakes, we all do.

    What I find amusing about this thread is certain people claim to be newbies, yet have been posting to EZA and making a killing each month (or so they would have us believe). Yet they seem to know all about what happens, and seems to have access to all the people who gripe about EZA and yet don't do anything. Maybe, just maybe its because they are in the niches which are going to be dropped, and if that's the case they lose their income.

    James what have you been up to.
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    • Profile picture of the author acrasial
      Originally Posted by Bev Clement View Post

      What I find amusing about this thread is certain people claim to be newbies, yet have been posting to EZA and making a killing each month (or so they would have us believe). Yet they seem to know all about what happens, and seems to have access to all the people who gripe about EZA and yet don't do anything. Maybe, just maybe its because they are in the niches which are going to be dropped, and if that's the case they lose their income.

      I wonder who this refers to? , but as mentioned, anyone who is SERIOUSLY affected by this, probably wouldn't admit that publicly...as a lot of people may take that person as someone who had bad content.

      But still, I am not surprised here either with what was just said.


      Originally Posted by Bev Clement View Post

      I agree with Steven, Chris is a great guy, and yes it is possible to make mistakes, we all do.
      .


      Yesh, but I figured something would get him into here one way or another. But like I said before, "poor guy".

      Wondering how he deals with all of this stuff? Seems to be alot to have to deal with, just from one website, and as I understand he has a few? Has a good attitude, for someone who has to see a bunch of c**p quite often.

      -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
      All aside, this thread just became hilarious to me. Chris walks in, everyone goes "OHHH what a great guy", and just before it was a different story.

      Others were JUST waiting to comment on this one. Loved it.
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      • Profile picture of the author Steven Wagenheim
        Originally Posted by acrasial View Post

        -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
        All aside, this thread just became hilarious to me. Chris walks in, everyone goes "OHHH what a great guy", and just before it was a different story.

        Others were JUST waiting to comment on this one. Loved it.
        Yeah, sure looks like everyone to me.

        For the record, if you read my previous posts on this subject, I never once
        said one bad word about Chris.

        The only negative thing I said about EZA in all of this is that they allowed
        those crappy articles into their system in the first place so for that they
        have nobody to blame but themselves.

        But...Chris is NOW trying to clean up the joint and he's explained why. The
        explanation makes perfect sense to me. Hell, if it was MY directory I'd do
        the same thing and probably more. In fact, in one of my posts I said
        exactly what I would do if it was my directory.

        One thing I am not is a cheerleader. I call a spade a spade and will do it
        to the person's face. It's what's ended up getting me banned from this
        forum for a week. People who know me know that I do NOT mince my
        words.

        Chris is a great guy. He's done some things in regard to running his directory,
        that in hindsight he probably wishes he hadn't done. But that doesn't make
        him bad.

        It just makes him human like all the rest of us.
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        • Profile picture of the author acrasial
          Originally Posted by Steven Wagenheim View Post

          Yeah, sure looks like everyone to me.

          It just makes him human like all the rest of us.
          I said that everyone, after HIM posting, was saying how great of a guy he was- whereas the TOPIC before hand sure wasn't as great. I never said you said that, I never said Tina said that, or Bev. This was put into my mouth, as all of you had something good to say AFTER.

          I am talking about the atmosphere of the thread before and after he posted, that was what I had meant.

          If this is still misunderstood, then I cannot help it then, and I guess I will just simply shutup, as that seems to be what people would like now (from me). That's the drift I have gotten.

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          • Profile picture of the author Kay King
            If this is still misunderstood, then I cannot help it then, and I guess I will just simply shutup, as that seems to be what people would like now (from me). That's the drift I have gotten.
            It's not the topic or the complaint in this thread. It's the continued remarks to anyone who disagrees or has a different point of view. You are good at playing with words - but at times in these threads it does seem you are only playing.

            When you go back (as you did) and edit the original post in a thread - you lose credibility big time.
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          • Profile picture of the author Allen Graves
            Originally Posted by acrasial View Post

            I said that everyone, after HIM posting, was saying how great of a guy he was- whereas the TOPIC before hand sure wasn't as great. I never said you said that, I never said Tina said that, or Bev. This was put into my mouth, as all of you had something good to say AFTER.

            I am talking about the atmosphere of the thread before and after he posted, that was what I had meant.

            If this is still misunderstood, then I cannot help it then, and I guess I will just simply shutup, as that seems to be what people would like now (from me). That's the drift I have gotten.


            How are we supposed to believe you or give you any credibility whatsoever when you keep going back and editing your posts. I've seen you do this several times in this very thread. Including the post quoted above.

            Cheez. LOL

            Allen

            <edit>looks like Kay beat me to it </edit>
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    • Profile picture of the author TheRichJerksNet
      Originally Posted by Bev Clement View Post


      James what have you been up to.
      Oh getting into trouble, having fun, enjoying life ...lol

      Actually my head hurts but thanks for asking .. - How are things in your corner of the world ?

      James
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  • Profile picture of the author Bev Clement
    Or maybe some of us have only just got to this thread and saw Chris posting. Some of us were at the warrior event, and didn't bother to read the forum, and have been traveling since and only posting on certain threads.

    Some of us know Chris, and have a business relationship with him, not just through EZA, so your comment about "poor guy" is so condescending, especially as you don't know him. But, a nice try to try and find out his business model and how he deals with stuff. If you need to know that badly, why not contact him and ask.

    But, it's good to know you know exactly our motives and how we act and feel.
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    • Profile picture of the author acrasial
      Originally Posted by Bev Clement View Post


      But, it's good to know you know exactly our motives and how we act and feel.
      Not sure about WE, but I could definitely understand how YOU feel about me.

      ================
      Tina: Yesh, Ma'am, I do for the second one, but not the first! Why not have a good discussion about something for once, at least that's what occurred.

      Oh, and I never said everyone, I said "others". Never said that there weren't people sticking up for EZA already in this thread. IT was people saying yay, or nay.
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  • Profile picture of the author Bev Clement
    James, my corner of the world is your corner of the world as we are in the US at the moment.

    Acrasial, interesting as you have no idea of my thoughts, so quit trying to guess them.

    The way you are posting shows you think you know how we all feel and think, take a look back at some of them.
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    • Profile picture of the author Tina Golden
      [DELETED]
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      • Profile picture of the author acrasial
        Originally Posted by TMG Enterprises View Post

        Of course you did - I quoted directly from your post...lol.

        Tina

        It's true, everyone literally DID say this after he came in, as no one else had really talked since then (about the topic being discussed before he walked in). Kindof shut people up, so to speak. That was what I had meant, and most certainly that was a fantastic moment...don't you think?

        Before my words get twisted: *excluding myself.
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        • Profile picture of the author Bev Clement
          Originally Posted by acrasial View Post

          It's true, everyone literally DID say this after he came in, as no one else had really talked since then (about the topic being discussed before he walked in). Kindof shut people up, so to speak. That was what I had meant, and most certainly that was a fantastic moment...don't you think?

          Before my words get twisted: *excluding myself.
          In that case why didn't you say what you meant, and not expect everybody to be a mind reader.

          Or maybe some of us don't have a problem with what EZA is doing, and are willing to let those who post crappy articles, in crappy niches, whine and bitch because they can't have things their own way.

          This wasn't a great discussion but an opportunity for people to complain because they don't want to play by Chris' rules.

          If people don't like them, go elsewhere
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          • Profile picture of the author acrasial
            Originally Posted by Bev Clement View Post

            In that case why didn't you say what you meant, and not expect everybody to be a mind reader.

            Or maybe some of us don't have a problem with what EZA is doing, and are willing to let those who post crappy articles, in crappy niches, whine and bitch because they can't have things their own way.

            This wasn't a great discussion but an opportunity for people to complain because they don't want to play by Chris' rules.

            If people don't like them, go elsewhere

            I don't appreciate the language there. People got their steam out. It's out now. Not so much whining going on anymore. Someone even got her problem cleared up! That's a plus.

            I'm also not sure that anyone who "complained" in this thread, had "crappy articles" in "crappy niches". We are on the warrior forum, and as I mentioned, and others as well, people on here take their work more seriously than alot of others.

            FYI, I am NOT banned, my articles have NOT been removed, NOR altered, and were ALL hand written BY ME. Thus far, there are also NO issues either, with my Ezine Articles account. So who exactly are you referring to?



            This is an edited post, because I can't keep replying many times, so I add alot of things to the same posts, and Yes, I do edit things, mostly to ADD more, as I did above, as there is a misunderstanding (but that is my fault).


            Originally Posted by Allen Graves View Post

            How are we supposed to believe you or give you any credibility whatsoever when you keep going back and editing your posts. I've seen you do this several times in this very thread.
            <edit>looks like Kay beat me to it</edit>
            I didn't realize that I was going for credibility here? I am wondering what exactly I was asking people to believe? This was a topic open for discussion, people discussed it. I edit my posts as I get ideas, or other things come to mind. Is there anything else you would like to address? This feature is offered on here, I didn't realize it was TABOO to use.


            Once again, I am editing a post:

            Originally Posted by Kay King View Post

            It's not the topic or the complaint in this thread. It's the continued remarks to anyone who disagrees or has a different point of view. You are good at playing with words - but at times in these threads it does seem you are only playing.

            When you go back (as you did) and edit the original post in a thread - you lose credibility big time.

            I cannot just continuously post, post, post as in make a NEW post. So, this is ONE thing that I do at least. As for editing the original post, I did not REMOVE anything that was originally there, but added to it. Anything else on your mind as well?
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            • Profile picture of the author Bev Clement
              Originally Posted by acrasial View Post

              I don't appreciate the language there. People got their steam out. It's out now. Not so much whining going on anymore. Someone even got her problem cleared up! That's a plus.

              I'm also not sure that anyone who "complained" in this thread, had "crappy articles" in "crappy niches". We are on the warrior forum, and as I mentioned, and others as well, people on here take their work more seriously than alot of others.

              FYI, I am NOT banned, my articles have NOT been removed, NOR altered, and were ALL hand written BY ME. Thus far, there are also NO issues either, with my Ezine Articles account. So who exactly are you referring to?
              What language don't you appreciate, sorry I don't do mind reading. I suggest you look again at the thread if you can't see any whining going on before Chris walked in. Again, I didn't say where it was done, so don't pre-guess it was a comment about after Chris came in because it wasn't.

              Just because we are on the warrior forum, doesn't mean anything. People here write crappy articles, and this isn't new, and don't get your knickers in a twist because you want to have the centre of attention when it wasn't about you.

              When did I mention you being banned, or anyone else being banned, having their articles removed, or anything else you suggest. You don't do a good job reading minds.

              Why can't I make a comment about the whole thread, or did I miss something, that it is all about you now?
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          • Profile picture of the author Paul Myers
            I am talking about the atmosphere of the thread before and after he posted, that was what I had meant.
            You really don't 'get' what you just saw, do you? Given your penchant for drama, that's a bit surprising.

            Have you ever seen a group of people talking nasty about someone, and how they shut up when that person walks into the room?

            That's what just happened. If they come back, there's a good chance they'll be even nastier than they were before.


            Paul

            PS: Yes. I've read every word of every post in this thread. I am going to go get coffee to wash the taste out of my mouth.
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            • Profile picture of the author Paul Myers
              Allen,
              How are we supposed to believe you or give you any credibility whatsoever when you keep going back and editing your posts. I've seen you do this several times in this very thread. Including the post quoted above.
              I don't think she has any grasp of how seriously that is taken here.

              Acrasial... You probably do not want to keep doing that. Now or in the future. That is classic troll-like behavior, and not guaranteed to bring a useful outcome.


              Paul
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            • Profile picture of the author acrasial
              Originally Posted by Paul Myers View Post


              PS: Yes. I've read every word of every post in this thread. I am going to go get coffee to wash the taste out of my mouth.

              I don't mind that you read things here or anywhere for that matter? I hear alot of people "washing the taste out".
              Originally Posted by Paul Myers View Post

              Have you ever seen a group of people talking nasty about someone, and how they shut up when that person walks into the room?

              That's what just happened. If they come back, there's a good chance they'll be even nastier than they were before.
              I sure have seen things like that. I am not sure anyone is "coming back". I foresee the future of this thread either being locked or removed, that wouldn't surprise me either. But hey, that would just ADD to my credibility.
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              • Profile picture of the author Paul Myers
                I foresee the future of this thread either being locked or removed, that wouldn't surprise me either. But hey, that would just ADD to my credibility.
                Pure drama.

                Ma'am, at the moment you have no credibility. None. Editing a post to change the context of another person's comments is a deal-killer.


                Paul
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                • Profile picture of the author Steven Wagenheim
                  Look, I don't know what everybody's personal relationship with Chris is, but
                  I had a serious problem at one time where every single one of my articles
                  was being rejected because the editor couldn't tell that the link in my
                  resource box was to a site I actually owned.

                  Finally, I had to contact Chris. He had me personally send him a list of all
                  my domains and had them manually attached to my account.

                  Since that time, I have NEVER had one article rejected for a signature
                  violation.

                  As I stated previously in this thread. EZA is a business model for me, nothing
                  more and nothing less. I have nothing personal against them or for them. I
                  use them to build my business. Chris has never let me down when I have
                  had a problem that needed to be addressed. Therefore, in my eyes and in
                  my opinion, that makes him a standup guy.

                  Do I personally like the new policy?

                  Well, it sure makes me have to really buckle down and write some killer
                  articles, maybe a little better than normal. Certainly it will have me more
                  conscious about what I write.

                  But like it or not, and I have said this from the beginning, I understand why
                  Chris is doing this. It's business. It's not personal. He's fighting to keep
                  the integrity of his directory.

                  I now have 2 choices.

                  1. I can continue to write for his directory submitting the quality required.
                  2. I can submit someplace else.

                  Why some people here can't seem to grasp that and instead want to
                  bitch and complain about what is going on is beyond me.

                  Like I said, we created this monster with our trash.

                  So now we have to pay the piper and we're not happy about it.

                  That's ultimately what this all comes down to in a nutshell.
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  • Profile picture of the author JayXtreme
    Originally Posted by Paul Myers View Post

    I am going to go get coffee to wash the taste out of my mouth.
    It'll take more than a coffee, sir.



    Peace

    Jay
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    Bare Murkage.........

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  • Profile picture of the author acrasial
    OK then, to everyone who felt annoyed by me: I am sorry.

    Regards,
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  • Profile picture of the author DogScout
    Go to an Amish country Bed & Breakfast and RELAX!
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  • Profile picture of the author Bev Clement
    I hadn't realised EZA was at war with anyone. It's their site to do with as they wish.

    I'm so glad I'm not an IMer (as in being in the IM niche) because I'm not at war with EZA or anyone else.
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  • Profile picture of the author jacksonlin
    Hmmm...

    I don't know about quality content.

    I have hand written articles that got rejected by EZA.

    Yet I have rehashed articles "spun" with Content Boss that were accepted.

    I'm sure this is the case for a lot of people.
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  • Profile picture of the author parzlou
    IMO It all comes back to the BIG G......... I really think that ezine is aligning there site and the content on it to conform to new google policy... and you cant blame them, or any site owner for that matter to ensure they are up to what google deems as worthy ..

    All of my articles have been accepted in a timely manner...I have only had to rework one article and that was not due to content but rather to the site the resource box was pointing to.
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  • Profile picture of the author mrizos
    Man...it's about time! There are TONS of articles that flat out SCREAM I'm SELLING SOMETHING TO YOU!!! or...they're written absolutely HORRIBLE. ....again...it's about time. :p
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  • Profile picture of the author KatyaSenina
    I do get the value part... but unique content? Please...

    In my opinion, I think most articles are rehashed content, the concept is the same, only written in different words.

    Do they want writers to re-invent the wheel? No one can be COMPLETELY unique! That's not possible!

    I mean, define unique!
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    • Profile picture of the author acrasial
      Originally Posted by KatyaSenina View Post

      I do get the value part... but unique content? Please...

      In my opinion, I think most articles are rehashed content, the concept is the same, only written in different words.

      Do they want writers to re-invent the wheel? No one can be COMPLETELY unique! That's not possible!

      I mean, define unique!

      True, most of the things people know came from other people. We wouldn't learn english as our mother tongue, if it weren't for our parents. So there's an influence, and we behave like we do because of the environments we grew up in, so there's another influence.

      Most of what people are, has been influenced by others, and much the same with how they think, write etc... I guess EZA is hoping then, that there are enough influences in each person, that they can still write something that isn't completely the same as the next guy, and the next guy...

      But there is a thing going on in EZA, where everyone is literally taking the same topic and beating it till it's dead... if someone wrote about "get rich, in 5 steps", suddenly everyone is writing "get rich in 5 steps", and not only this, but the steps in the other articles are similar or nearly identical to the original article.

      I think this is what they may be referring to. However, they most certainly are suggesting perhaps that maybe they don't want the wheel re-invented, but rather made to be better.

      Consider the first wheel built, it was pretty plain. Then we learned we can make this with rubber, increase the friction and then add grooves and other kinds of things to the tires as well. Now we have all terrain vehicles and other things which can run really smoothly.

      So perhaps they are simply asking that the wheel be improved. After all in almost every thing in life, there is something improving. In sciences, maths, social areas and of course internet marketing.

      Most certainly, though, I have heard people telling me "how many different ways can you say the same thing?". However, someone else had also pointed out that topics can be researched within each niche, to get a variety of things to write about in the first place.
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      • Profile picture of the author Ian Jackson
        Now I'm not assuming all the new clamp downs are already in place - frankly I don't read EZA rules every day/week but just try to use common sense and no software of any kind...

        I just did a quick test for myself and submitted 2 250-300 word articles - on E-book publishing (saturated niche?) they were accepted in about 2 days from submission date.

        I consider I write quite good quality info, but at the same time I (nor anyone) can reinvent the wheel. My articles were written in the same style I've been using all along (I use nothing but the formats/blueprints that one receives in article how-to products). I have about 300 published articles now with EZA and nothing's been flagged up... yet.

        I'm not suggesting trouble may not lie ahead, and this post is no more than a bit of a quickie heads-up report from a my recent experience.
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        • Profile picture of the author Burtgummer
          What annoys me is how they determine if they simply like you links or not.

          I mean, come on. I can see if it was completely unrelated to the article, or if it was adult/inappropriate content, but there is some serious pickiness going on.

          If they would just read the content on my link, they would see that it isn't about how to "cheat at mafia wars illegally". They are legal strategies, but EZA can't seem to do 1 line of reading to find out that my content is NOT against Mafia War's TOS.

          I write quality content, and to have articles suddenly not accepted because of a link that has been used in previous articles for months is seriously annoying.

          So now I have to make a completely new blog with a DIFFERENT TITLE (that's it) for my articles to be accepted.
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          • Profile picture of the author wordwizard
            Originally Posted by BrenneM View Post

            I have only been writing for EZine since June. They have accepted all 39 of my submissions, but approval has taken on the average of 3 weeks. I use only primary sources for my articles, and write high quality articles, but still, I am still stuck in BasicPlus status. I have seen people with as little as 3 articles published at the Platium level. Go figure! I made a request 2 weeks ago to be granted Platium status, but have not heard anything yet. So, will keep you posted!
            Wow, what a thread. I'll have to chime in (once I finished reading all the 6 pages.

            In the meantime:

            About the Platinum authors with 3 articles...

            I believe this is a case of a Platinum author posting under a pen name (or three). Any pen names will all have Platinum Status too since the main author has Platinum status. There's no funny stuff going on.

            In fact, I just checked to make sure this is how it works (in my own account where I have a couple of extra names that have fewer than 10 articles yet they have Platinum status).

            Hope this clears up THAT particular mystery.

            Elisabeth
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    • Profile picture of the author robert25
      Originally Posted by KatyaSenina View Post

      I do get the value part... but unique content? Please...

      In my opinion, I think most articles are rehashed content, the concept is the same, only written in different words.

      Do they want writers to re-invent the wheel? No one can be COMPLETELY unique! That's not possible!

      I mean, define unique!
      I totally agree with you. If I am writing article on "Treatments To Grow Taller" there are only 6 major treatments available in the market, how can one write the seventh one.
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      • Profile picture of the author Paul Myers
        SHHH don't tell people that, they will get mad! Being amused at this topic is bad for one's health, as they may be seen as a troll, or drama rama leader!
        I have a sneaking suspicion that Jeremy knows better than you what is good and bad for one's health, forum-wise.

        For the benefit of those of you who're new 'round here...

        Being amused is not at all unhealthy. Being a drama queen (of either gender) just gets you looked at funny by serious people.

        Trolling, such as with the comment above, is a game best left to people who understand the risks. Don't put out bait if you're not comfortable with the possibility of what you might attract with it.


        Paul
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  • Profile picture of the author Allen Graves
    Actually, I believe they would take a small hit - a SMALL one - but Chris said he is willing to take that hit, whatever it may be, for the future of his website.

    Allen
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  • Profile picture of the author Bev Clement
    And the bottom line is nobody here knows exactly why Chris is doing what he is doing. None of us are sitting in board rooms and seeing how he brainstorms the next phase of his business.

    All we have is quotes from his blog which give part of the story and doesn't give away all of the secrets.

    I for one am glad to see this thread going, even if it gets locked, because it has shown again who not to work with.
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  • Profile picture of the author Noktral LLC
    I really think a bigger deal is being made out of this then there should be.
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  • Profile picture of the author kenharthun
    I'll weigh in right now with my own firm position on the matter: If you're a junk marketer/spammer or completely clueless newbie who's trying to sell the crap that we all see in our spam folders every day, or, you use "articles" you got from some free "15000 niche articles mega-pack" without working them over and making them truly useful (yes, it's OK to use them, just turn them into something useful and don't copy them verbatim), you deserve to be banned from Ezine Articles.
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