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Saturday, February 13, 2010

Regarding the Cornyman "Scam" expose. Pahleeezzz!! ;op


Today I am posting about;

“Cornymans Money-Blog”
All you want to know about being financial independent... Saving, investing, earning money worldwide opportunities for your personal finances!

The previous being his blog title and by-line respectively.

On Wednesday February 13, 2010, Mr. Corny posted what he felt was an expose ala Heraldo Rivera about certain people “scamming” Entrecard members. An accusation he stated he unearthed via a “secret” test he conducted on the 8th and 9th of February.

Mr. Corny apparently removed the Entrecard widget from his site to see if his account would still reflect the cards of other sites being dropped on his account. Lo and behold to his “shocking” surprise, there were more than “65” despicable scammers out there in the vast wild territory called the internet.

What you need to know about this is that nowhere in the Entrecard system was Dropping Cards in this or similar manner referred to as a “SCAM” or “CHEATING”. The particular method of dropping cards which Mr. Corny referred to as, “A Ghost dropper list or a program that is dropping only on the yellow drop box”. These lists were openly marketed on sites right below the Entrecard Widget via their own widget usually titled something like “300 drops in minutes”. Every dropper has seen them and more than a few have clicked them to see what it was about. When you arrived at a site that offered the so called “ghost list” you were not greeted by a smoke filled dimly lit gritty room but a normal site who believed this to be a service for its fellow Entrecard members. You did not need some secret invite or password to enter this supposed covert world of Entrecard Scammery. If there was some negativity involved, I guess you could accuse the owners of the sites that offered these lists as trying to increase visitors to their sites who in turn would visit several pages and spend a longer period of time on each. I think that we would all like that particular benefit. I know one particular owner of one of these “ghost lists” that placed two of his own sites as the first and second one clicked. I guess he wanted to “scam” himself as well.

The primary concern for this manner of dropping would be that the people that use these lists do not see your current postings unless they make an effort to visit your site outside of dropping on one of these lists. I agree that if somebody did use one of these lists they should only use it at times when there were some issues with download speeds and when time issues prevented them from investing the time visiting upwards of 300 sites a day. Otherwise every other benefit of dropping and being dropped on is being enjoyed by both parties. The dropper shows his support for those on his list by dropping a card on their site thereby elevating that sites popularity score in Entrecard as well as getting the credits needed to place ads on other sites. Where else will these credits end up if not eventually used to buy advertising on Entrecard itself? Is there some syndicate I am not familiar with that trades in Entrecard Credits for the benefit of some terrorist organization?

I sent a message to the Administration of Entrecard about Mr. Corny’s post. Their response was as follows;

Hi David,
We are not affiliated with Cornyman and while we appreciate his investigation, Entrecard does not believe the users he listed are cheaters. We stand by our users.
On Fri, Feb 12, 2010 at 1:50 AM, wrote:
Feedback received from user 13192 ( http://entrecard.com/user_details/13192 philippinepanda@aol.com ):

Following is the message that I sent the Entrecard Administration:

I visited a site called "CORNYMAN" (I think that is correct.) His recent post displayed the cards of several Entrecard members describing them as "Cheaters" and "scammers". My card was among them. I would just like to clarify a few things;

1. While faithfully dropping on sites, I frequently came upon a widget that looked just like the Entrecard widget which was placed just below the actual Entrecard widget. This widget stated, "300 drops in minutes". I never did click this widget. This widget was obviously out in the open for every Entrecard user to see including Mr. Cornyman. He did not have to undertake some secret experiment of deleting the Entrecard widget from his site to see if "ghost clicks" would appear.
2. One day I received a thank you message from a site the I had commented on; (See Attached)

Many thanks for such comments. They are meaningful and full of insights.

Just a thought...maybe there are days you are so busy and have little time to complete dropping 300 ECs in a day...I would like to share with you my personal EC Quickie Dropper (http://hereanythinggoes.info/ec-quick-dropper/) ...this system is free ... you may finish dropping 300 ECs in around 3 to 6 minutes per day...

Regards.


This site is called "Here I am" and you can check my message in box to verify this message. Again, this "quick dropper" was not a secret and open for anybody visiting this site to see.
3. I have never seen anything on Entrecard telling its members not to use this type of system. The widget was clearly displayed on a lot of sites openly offering this service to all Entrecard members. The widget displayed on this sites list looked exactly like the Entrecard Widget with the "Drop" on it.
4. The sites that were on this system were by and large sites that I had already been dropping on. I did not use this system daily but only during those times that I was short on time and wanted to fulfill the commitment that I had made to Entrecard to drop as many cards as possible. I still commented and visited these sites frequently.
There was no malice in my heart using this system those times that I did. I was not aware that using this system was not allowed by Entrecard seeing as how it was so openly "marketed" even here at Entrecard. I take it as a personal insult and slander to be called a "cheater". This person even ranted on about how "these cheaters" should not be dropped on, etc.
I want to know what Entrecard’s position is on my situation. I do not feel that there should have been this blanket statement without knowing the specific circumstance of each individual involved.
I have fully supported Entrecard by giving it top of the fold placement as required by your rules not like many sites that bury the widget at the bottom of the page. I market the site to try to build referrals. Check your system to see how many times the Entrecard widget with my referral id was displayed.
Please respond to me as soon as possible. I really do value my name and the reputation of my site to much to allow it to be besmirched by this part time wanna be private eye who does not ask questions before shooting.

Regards,
David Tamayo

---
Entrecard.com, linking bloggers together.
Please let us know if you have any other questions.

Entrecard Support
http://entrecard.com/docs/

I appreciate the quick response from Entrecard and its subsequent defense of those on this list of alleged “scammers” to which I have been included.

I believe that Mr. Corny owes those sites he defamed by outwardly calling them “scammers” and publicly humiliating them an apology and a retraction of his post or removal of specific sites and their corresponding images from his site and the defamatory post. He has a right to his own personal opinion of the issue but he does not have the right to slander others and convict them as “scammers” without any type of due process hearkening to “shoot first and ask questions later”.

In closing, please visit Mr. Corny’s site. He apparently needs the visitors badly. I hope that you will also comment on his posts and tell him how brilliant he is because I believe that all of this was about a small man that needs to be puffed up. There was a better more “educated” way to approach this subject. I just wish that Mr. Corny himself can open up his evidently vast consciousness to this reality.

Add your site to my Mcklinky list and state your opinion as well. Take care. ;o)

9 comments:

Unknown said...

I find your article very interesting.your blog is nice keep up the good work.

Unknown said...

Nice post. I agree that so-called ghost lists are contrary to the spirit of blogging. We can't be the only ones enabled by Entrecard to visit and read such a wide and inspiring spectrum of blogs.

Cheers,
James
http://zheist.blogspot.com

New York's HOTTEST Blog! said...

I use a “web accelerator” which heavily caches. I have to because I’m on dialup.

I made Cornyman’s list.

Sometimes my icon appears in the MyBlogLog or Twitter gadgets, other times it does not. There’s also that widget that tells where your visitor is coming from. Sometimes I show up on those and sometimes not.

Sometimes when I visit my own blog it doesn't "register" on the sitemeters.

What I really don’t get is how some blogs display a paid entrecard ad on another blog, but when you click on “drop” it changes to “invalid” or “no such user.” What’s happening there?

John Terrence Michael said...

Hi David! I planned on writing a post on the subject expressing those same sentiments you have articulated. Now, maybe I don't have too.You did a brilliant job.

I do not know whether my blog is on that list but that is immaterial. It is that "nazi" "shoot first and ask questions later" tactic that really gets me fuming. Now, I think I should go ahead and write that post before this comment get's to be an article.

All the best!

John B said...

Great post David. Sounds like you did a good job of documenting everything and like others were blown off by Entrecard. I see Cornyman has offered up an apology of sorts and removed the avatars of those bloggers he accused of cheating. I applaud your efforts to try and get Entrecard to handle the situation. Too bad they seem to always turn a deaf ear. Take care my friend. :) Happy Valentine's Day to you and yours!

Unknown said...

Good post.
thanks
hans

David Tamayo said...

Thank you all for your comments. Like John stated Martin did post an apology and removed the cards of the offended parties from his site. I have posted a comment to his site which I have pasted below. ;o)

Please accept my heartfelt concern for your child. Having personally experienced having a child being hospitalized for an extended period of time I full understand the stress that you had and may well still be enduring. I sincerely look forward to your child’s full recovery.

Regarding your apology, I want to say thank you for doing the right thing by making a public apology and by removing the cards which publicly indicted as “cheaters” and “scammers” those concerned from your site. It is obvious, even within your apology, that you still feel there are some out there whose sole intent it is to scam Entrecard and its members, I respect your right to hold that opinion.

It is unfortunate though that a certain few of those felt the need to remove their sites from Entrecard as a result of your post. Whether your post was the straw that broke the camels back or the primary reason makes no difference. I hope that they see fit to return to Entrecard once they see your apology and know that Entrecard appreciated your efforts but did not agree with labeling any of its members as cheaters.

We all have concerns or input about how Entrecard, “shoulda, coulda, woulda”. It is for us to convey these thoughts to Entrecard via whatever channels of communication might exist. It is for Entrecard to implement, censure, or further discuss any items they feel will benefit the greater good of its members at which time the members must decide if Entrecard still serves it needs.

With or without Entrecard we all still must remember that it is not the Entrecard Widget that engenders comments or interaction with our sites, it is good content and an aesthetically pleasing site that will get them to stop and take the time to let you know what they think.

Now that this is all behind us, I look forward to moving on and all of us being friends again. ;o) I will post this comment on my site as well as a link to your apology.

Citizen S said...

Entre card is for clicks, not 100% for serious blog reading. If it was for serious blog reading ONLY it would not accept so many worthless blogs that just copy nonsense from elsewhere online. My site isn't like that but I bet half the Entrecard sites are. Why should I waste my time reading that crap?
Sorry, but this blog and many others are good and worth reading, but many are not.
cornyman is now a self-appointed Blog Police and I can't imagine anything more worthless than that activity. Someone else joined the fray recently and sent me a righteous email abot dropping on her blog when she had the widget removed. What a bunch of self-appointed hall monitors. Get a life! this isn't 2nd grade! If you think ANY drop scheme doesn't include cheats, you life in la-la land.
Either participate or don't, but there is nothing more annoying than people who think they are above it all.

Thanks for letting me vent. When I first saw Cornyman's article I was pissed off and now that others have joined his "caused" even more so. Who died and appointed them the Blog Police??

Entrecard is free. There are going to be cheaters. Big F-ing deal.

thushy said...

thanks for the great post,keep up the good work