SFI wants to thank you for your visit and participation. Comments, following, adding, tweeting, etc., etc., are very much appreciated and reciprocated. ;o)

Sunday, February 28, 2010

Entrecard Marketplace now it's own site. ;o)


Entrecard marketplace just went "Craigslist". Well they are not acutally craigslist but did use the famous marketplace site's name to describe what it's new Marketplace site looks like.

As a kicker they even offered 2,000 EC to the first 50 people to place an ad and post about it on their site. First you must place an ad which might look something like this.

After placing your ad you must post about it on your site which might amazingly enough look something like what you are reading now. ;o) Finally, just email Entrecard at support@entrecard.com and advise them of your site's URL and EC user profile then if you are one of the first 50 people to complete the task you will be given the 2,000 EC.
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Monday, February 22, 2010

If you "Drop" visit a friend of mine ;o)

With the recent hullabaloo over at Entrecard regarding the use of the dastardly and dreaded "Ghost Droppers" lists out there, I want to introduce you to a friend of SFI that feels he has developed the answer to the dilemma facing both groups. One side abhorring the idea of a "ghost list" because the person using it does not actually visit your site yet will still get credit for clicking on your Entrecard Widget. (Which by the way; as the clicked site you still received your credit as well for the visit.) The real harm in this was that if you "regularly" updated your blogposts, your hard work would not be read by the person using the ghost list because they were not actually visiting your site. The other side of the coin were the people using these lists. I believe that the list was used as primarily a time saver. Dropping 300 cards a day can take a long, long, long, time.

The site I am writing this post about is called, Dropzone. You can find it via the following widget;

Dropzone

When you arrive at this site, you will be lead to a series of thirty buttons. The author of this site says that "You will save 270 clicks per day and avoid carpal tunnel syndrome". Who can argue with that logic? ;o) When you click on a button, a total of ten sites will open on your browser (Firefox is the recommended browser) and you will be able to visit and see the most recent post on each site. If your internet connection is good this can be accomplished very quickly using this system. Another thing that I really like about this service is that the sites he includes on is list all place the Entrecard widget "Above the fold" mostly right below the header. No Fuss No Muss.

If I could give some unsolicited advice to this site, it would be to monitor the sites on the list to make sure that the included sites post regularly. In this way, the users of this list will be sure that they are dropping on the sites of active authors who will be interested in participating in the Entrecard program the way it was envisioned by delivering quality traffic to our sites that participate by commenting and dropping. Take care my friends. ;o)
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Sunday, February 14, 2010

Martin of Cornyman Apologizes. This is a Good thing ;o)


Martin of Cornymans Money-Blog has apologized and removed the cards of those Entrecard Members from his blog thus ending once and for all the unfair indictment of those he labeled as "scammers" and "cheats". Following is the comment I left on his site regarding his apology;

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.


There will be those of you out there that will feel that the damage has been done and that the apology was not an open release of his unjust indictment. Just as with Martin having a right to his opinion, you too have a right to yours. Regarding the damage done, I agree it is impossible to retrieve a bullet once it has been fired. What we can learn from this is that we should all endeavor to be more careful in our dealings with others because we can all say or do something that we may someday regret. This lesson alone will make us all better husbands, wives, friends, etc.
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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)

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Thursday, February 11, 2010

Part 4 of "Belief" Let's discuss it. ;o)


This is part 4 of the "Belief" series. I hope that you enjoy it. ;o)

....The fantastic thing about all this is that you just have to decide that you believe in whatever it is that you want. Initially you may need certain things to help you focus the will of your intent. Meditation, religion, philosophy, education, lucky rock, rabbit’s foot, crucifix, dream board, self help books, crystals, and seminars; whatever. Intent is a power in and of itself, and just like a bolt of lightning; it can be harnessed and focused towards the accomplishment of any goal. As more and more positive opportunities come your way and you are able to take advantage of them, the easier it will be for you to accept the reality of the fact that it really is not that hard to create your own universe. You have to decide that this course of action is not only what you want, but that you are going to actually start living the life that you want for yourself. Yes, it is that easy. It is if you BELIEVE it is. Nike says, “Just do it” I like to say, “Just LIVE it”. Is Warren Buffet any more brilliant than any other mega investor in the world? Arguably yes he may well be, but I believe that he is so successful not only because of his brilliance in and of itself but also because he believes that he is the best and as such will make decisions based on entirely his own interpretation of whatever information he is given to the exclusion of the advice of many others who would have never made the same investment. Every time that he is right, this bolsters his self belief and thus makes him even more powerful. He just simply wills things into existence. Cool right?

The fantastic thing about all this is that you just have to decide that you believe in whatever it is that you want. Initially you may need certain things to help you focus the will of your intent. Meditation, religion, philosophy, Are we talking about magic or some arcane telepathic power? Well if these thoughts make it easier for you to grasp the ideology, why not, but in fact; no we are not talking about magic or anything of the kind. Just like anything worth having in life, you have to work for it and have patience in the realization of its fulfillment. If you plant a watermelon seed today, will you wake up tomorrow to giant sweet watermelons the next morning?....

Sometime soon I will be posting part 5 of "Belief". Take care my friends. Please comment or ask questions. ;o)
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Monday, February 8, 2010

Is your site GOOD or EVIL?

In the course of my internet journeys I happened upon a site that had a widget which displayed how "evil" (yes I said EVIL) that site was. It actually quoted a percentage amount in a widget located on that sites side-bar. Of course I was immediately intrigued by this. I mean I pride myself for having a positive site geared towards helping and creating good will and peace through self security. Well as you can see by the results below, my site is not perfectly benevolent after all...;o)

This site is certified 74% GOOD by the Gematriculator

This site is certified 26% EVIL by the Gematriculator

The following is an explanation of how this site comes up with its numbers...

"The Gematriculator is a service that uses the infallible methods of Gematria developed by Mr. Ivan Panin to determine how good or evil a web site or a text passage is.

Basically, Gematria is searching for different patterns through the text, such as the amount of words beginning with a vowel. If the amount of these matches is divisible by a certain number, such as 7 (which is said to be God's number), there is an incontestable argument that the Spirit of God is ever present in the text. Another important aspect in gematria are the numerical values of letters: A=1, B=2 ... I=9, J=10, K=20 and so on. The Gematriculator uses Finnish alphabet, in which Y is a vowel.

Experts consider the mathematical patterns in the text of the Holy Bible as God's watermark of authenticity. Thus, the Gematriculator provides only results that are absolutely correct."


It actually gives you a full breakdown of every word in your site and all the commensurate values it gives to each. If you have a site try inputting your site to see what score it gets. If you do not have a site, you can input any site's address. Let me know via the Mcklinky. (Might as well get a little link love for participating) (Links not giving a score from the above source will not be kept in the Mcklinky.) This is just something interesting I found along the way. Have some fun with it. I am not endorsing nor am I bashing any belief in numerology or any other similar idea or belief. (Just read my "Belief" posts.) Take care. ;o)

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