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Rant Rave Drops the Ball & Still Remains Silent

Posted 15 months ago|137 comments|1,023 views
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As many Rantists and Raveists now know, RantRave.com apparently is no longer being picked up by Google News. While a couple of posts have been written by serious writing members of this site, no official word has yet to be heard from RantRave.com or the faces behind it, that this Rantist has yet to see.

While I applaud RantRave for providing this forum, I am more than a little put off by the lack of communication from its creators/owners/administrators.

In their defense I am knew here and may not know all the ends and outs and could be that my browser is preventing me from finding the information I seek. I do know for a fact, that the page does not display correctly for FireFox, my browser of choice. I also know however, that most of my requests for information from the site have gone unanswered.

It is my sincere hope that the creators/owners/administrators are hard at work restoring or fixing what ever needs to be fixed in order to repair the Google News affiliation. On the same note I'm feeling thoroughly abandoned by RantRave and find the lack of even the most basic of explanations posted to the home page inexcusable.
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COMMENTS
15 months ago: I guess you didn't catch my warning to RR over a month ago...

Call me psychic...

http://www.rantrave.com/Rant/RR-staff-Yo...

Duh...
15 months ago: Not even worth a response TCG, but I did comment on your post anyway. Honest 99er here, sorry to BURST your bubble!
15 months ago: I could give a rats rear that you posted a comment. I was not phishing.

I just pointed out that I called the ball over a month ago. And you folk had something to do with it. Have you noticed that all of the news posts on Google are now dated January 19 and before? Funny how that works...huh?

Please, 99 to someone else. Your crew helped create the problem.
markbyrn
markbyrn
 Moderator
15 months ago: TCG, Maybe you're a charlatan psychic (okay, I'm being redundant) but only Alex Layton knows the real deal on our current status. I've not been informed and in this case, I'd say no news is not good news.

99er, you might have an impression that Rant Rave resides in a glimmering corporate office with eager beaver staffers working tirelessly through the night. The reality is more like a couple of unpaid volunteer moderators sitting at their home and the site owner (Alex) is who knows where but running the business solo.
Out Of The Box
Out Of The Box
 Moderator
15 months ago: What I've been reading is that it can take up to a month before Google responds to a query about GN status. It could be that even the site owners do not know the reasons. Here is something I read:

"My weird news/videos/images website, http://popfi.com, has been in Google News since 2008. This has been quite lucrative over the years, as any Google News site can tell you, but it seems as though randomly, in the middle of the last week, Google News hits have dropped dramatically. I checked Google News via site:popfi.com and nothing since January 25 is showing up. Troublesome, as you can imagine.

Was PopFi dropped without me being TOLD my site was getting dropped? Do I need to resubmit PopFi to Google News? I'm not quite sure what to do next; I don't want to submit again if I don't need to but on the other hand I can't figure out why Google News stopped registering the site if it's still correctly displaying.

Thanks for your help."

http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/ne...
Out Of The Box
Out Of The Box
 Moderator
15 months ago: and the reply he received was this:

"If your content is not in anyway rewritten from another news site, here is what I think might be happening to your site and possibly others as well....

I randomly took a line from one of your stories and did a search for it on Google news. I came up with several sites that have your content. See: http://bit.ly/eDP2kU

Google news does not like sites that run content from other sites. The problem is when the same story appears on multiple sites, How does Google know who owns the story? If the content is not being fed to them via the Google news sitemap, I think they are going by the earliest time their news crawler found the story, which may not have been on your site.

As an example, you publish a story and shorlty after you publish it, another site pulls the new content from your site, publishes it on their site and then feeds it to Google news BEFORE the Google news crawler finds it on your site. I would bet in this case that Google news would see your site as taking the content from the site that took it from you."

http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/ne...
15 months ago: Thanks Markbyrn for your comments.

Please be assured that I'm quite aware this is what Id call a mom and pop operation (no insult intended - they the bread and butter of America and I respect them). All I'm trying to point out is that a number of people have been quite faithful to the site and deserve at least a short two liner as to what is going on.

If that's being unreasonable or asking to much let me know and I WILL SHUT UP.

As I stated in my post, this is all new for me and all I'm saying is that I'm disappointed in not knowing what is going on. I am not a scam artist trying to screw over Google - just trying to pay the rent by slinging a few words over the internet, that for some reason I don't understand and RR has not confirmed, I'm no longer able to do.

I mean no disrespect to RR or its crew and will always sing their praises for the opportunity they have afforded myself and others like me.
15 months ago: TCG - I take great offense at your suggestion that I or other 99er's are trying to pull a fast one! Either show me some evidence or blow off! Got no time for baseless wind and finger pointing because some small ego needs to puff themselves up!
Out Of The Box
Out Of The Box
 Moderator
15 months ago: TCG is right. I don't know if this is why RR got dropped from Googlenews, but yes, 99ers were scamming Google for profit and using RantRave as one of at least ten sites they were all directing each others' click-throughs.

How do I know? That is unimportant right now. The important thing is, if that's why we got dropped, then a few desperate and dishonest people ruined it for everyone.
15 months ago: From my experience those who professes to be in the know are so because they are part of the problem themselves or protecting those that are. I will waste no more time you you either, other than to say shame-shame-shame on you both for not being of the moral character to prevent the worse from happening if you had it within your power to prove the abuse before it became an issue, if indeed it is....PLEASE RR PUT THIS QUESTION TO REST WITH A FEW LINES OF INFORMATION!!!!!
Out Of The Box
Out Of The Box
 Moderator
15 months ago: OMG, can you stop with the theatrics already? If you read TCG's post at least a month ago, he squarely and publicly advised RR, along with the rest of the world, about what was going on. "Methinks thou dost protest too much." (William Shakespeare, Hamlet Act 3, Scene 2, [PARAPHRASED])
15 months ago:
Yeah, sorry but I'm gonna have to call BS on that one. If you have proof then I'm betting you would have laid it out.

On the article that I posted (and RR removed) I included a link to an article about how last week Google News started cracking down big time on sites with spam problems. RR's posts to GN started slowing on superbowl sunday after the spam wars, and by the next day no more posts were getting through. The day after that they deleted the last months worth of posts. It is obvious what happened.
15 months ago: I agree with your observation TA as I was trying to post at that time and kept getting a spam error message that I was posting to frequently when in fact I had not posted in two days.

After a number of attempts I then sent a query about the problem to RR wondering if they had been hacked. At this time I still have not received an answer to that question and wait patiently for RR to formulate some sort of response.

O
Out Of The Box
Out Of The Box
 Moderator
15 months ago: Autodidect,

What's the bet? Make it interesting.
15 months ago: The claims that you and TCG are making only make me think that the two of you must not really understand how Adsense works. A "network" of 99ers that are clicking on each others ads? Come on now man...

A few of the unemployment writers on rantrave clearly understand how "the game" works, and it also helps that they are writing on a really popular search topic. When articles on a site like this are getting picked up by a behemoth like Google News, the writers who best understand how to get Googles spiders to look at their content will do better than the other writers. This is called "search engine optimization", and MOST people never really figure it out...hence most of the authors on this site. However, the ones who do know how to do this properly will get thousands of hits for their articles on a site that is accepted by GN. I have a pretty good grasp of how this works, but a couple of writers on here are really good at it. Johnny Darkly comes to mind.

Considering this is the virtual world that we're in, we'll have to make it a friendly bet OOTB. I'd be interested to hear what you got...


Out Of The Box
Out Of The Box
 Moderator
15 months ago: Getting ranked isn't all that hard. I had one that stayed at number one using three keywords for almost two days, on a Monday and a Tuesday. I just don't really write about something just because it's popular. And because I'm not very good at it. (truth in media).

OK, here's the bet. If I can't produce proof, I'll write a 500 word essay on what a fraud I am, and how I go around making false claims just to bolster my ego. If I can, then you get to write a 500 word essay apologizing to Cypress and myself, and extol the perceptive powers of TCG. Full rantrave articles, using your current alias and avatar, not something in the comments section. And no mention of the bet in the article. It must sound sincere.

You in?
15 months ago: I'd like to see how this turns out. Something tells me they won't take the bet.

Silence..................
sunny2
sunny2
15 months ago: I just got this in my e-mail box. Who is to blame for all of this. I don't know why everyone fights eachother when we have serious problems to face.

,,,,,As you may know, President Obama's bi-partisan Deficit Commission is considering cuts to Social Security as a way to reduce our national debt.

Social Security is not part of the federal budget, so it does not add a single penny to our national debt. And with high unemployment, cuts to pensions, and the market crash of 2008, seniors need Social Security more than ever.

What do you think: Should Democrats fight Social Security cuts? Please take our quick 2-question survey,,,,,,,,,
15 months ago:
You claim that you can PROVE that:

TCG's rant is 100% correct

and

The 99ers posting on RR are a part of a NETWORK (like a conspiracy?) who are: SCAMMING GOOGLE (ha!) for profit, are all on at least 10 sites posting their articles, and they are all clicking on each others ads on all the said sites/articles.

Do I have that right? I'll take that bet ANYDAY!

15 months ago: Game on!

The ball is in your court OOTB.

I'll be looking forward to someone eating crow.
15 months ago: Ooops, wrong string. =_)
15 months ago: Funny. The proof is in the pudding.

Where did all the 99'ers go once the Google new got pulled? Where are their 20 articles per day?
15 months ago:
The only person I've seen on here posting 20 articles per day is smartygirl.
15 months ago: Auto? Are you going to take Boxes bet? I suggest you start writing your article.
You want proof? Take the bet.
15 months ago:
There is no proof.
15 months ago: Trying to make an honest living somewhere else just like I will if RR dont step up to the plate and explain what happened soon (If you have already RR, I apologize, just have not gotten to it yet)
Out Of The Box
Out Of The Box
 Moderator
Content Removed by RantRave
15 months ago: You do know he is going to call you a liar and ask for the names?
15 months ago:
Thanks for the laugh.

Hopefully you can have your 500 word essay ready for me within the next 48 hours.

Out Of The Box
Out Of The Box
 Moderator
15 months ago: OK autodidect. I will forward the message to you. Emails and PMs directly forwarded are admissible in court, and should be here also. Please contact me with where to send the info.
Out Of The Box
Out Of The Box
 Moderator
15 months ago: I am sending copies of the PMs to markbyrn, the moderator, and he can determine if I have satisfied the criteria.
15 months ago:
I don't necessarily doubt that someone on rantrave sent you those PM's. I do doubt that you can provide proof that the "99ers" on this site are part of a conspiracy to defraud google. One person's message(s) to you does not prove anything unless he/she gave you the RR handles of the other perps in question, and those same people on at least 10 sites total.
15 months ago: Told you. Next time ask the pro. He will never own his tunnel vision.

Mark won't get involved. He will say "work it out".

I say send them to Google so they can back charge and investigate all related sites and IP links along with PPC links and IPs along with their binding contract(s) used by the member(s) along with their IP links to the "friends".

Why waste your time trying to convince a mole that they are a shrew?
15 months ago:
The terms of "the bet" were clear.

TCG - you actually believe OOTB provided PROOF? I won't own my tunnel vision? That makes no sense.

Mole? "They" are "a" shrew? These things also make no sense.

If you guys are too retarded to see that the now infamous "superbowl spammer" caused this GN rejection, then no one can help you.
15 months ago: Better yet. If the emails do not have a non-disclosure clause or a NDA (which all of mine do) forward a copy to me.

You know for a fact that I'm not afraid of posting full content including all of the hidden machine info. I'll post the content along with the paths and server info. Make sure you send the related person(s) notification of the forward. That way they have time to bail before I wikileeeeek on them.

One question...Are they still active on the site?

If so, send it ASAP...Like two hours ago... I burn their rears so fast they won't have time to wait on the fire department after the call to 911.
15 months ago:
The anonymous messages OOTB posted above are most likely from smartygirl. I tried calling her on her BS too, but nobody really wanted to hear it.
15 months ago: Not exactly. OOTB provided proof that was redacted. I knew as soon as I saw it you would call that simple minded argument. Yes, you have tunnel vision. A Mole is not a Shrew. Your a rookie and I suggest you keep working on those that are nice guys. January 17th? does that date ring a bell?

You want names? Let's see if OOTB (which did not redact his email address) sends me the info.

I'll post them. Along with the entire source code that shows everything.
15 months ago: too retarded? Does addressing "retarded" people make you feel superior?
You want to play?
15 months ago:
No. He provided loose (at best) evidence. Evidence and PROOF are not necessarily the same thing.

You knew squat. I want a lot more than names...re-read the terms. It is not simple minded to require proof. Let's see if your mind is more-than-simple enough to wrap itself around that concept.

I didn't say a mole was a shrew. You mixed your singulars and plurals (like a "rookie") and I called you on it...but I'm sure you "already knew that". Again, re-reading is going to be required on your part.

OOTB doesn't have names.

15 months ago:
Do I want to play? Gimme a break.
15 months ago: Evidence (even loose) is still evidence. I guess PROOF using your standard is standing over someone while they enter the info and hit the enter key. OK. So beit.

Your right. I knew squat. Therefore I am not and was not corrupted. So knowing squat arguement does you no good. I do know character and hold OOTB higher than most.

My mind? More than simple? Still on the "retarded" mode?

OOTB doesn't have names? No? Maybe he does not want to crush someone with their own truth.

I'll answer your other post here so I don't have to add another line...

You want to Play? Gimme a break.

I figured so much.

Go for it.
15 months ago:
You're basically asking me if I want to keep making you look stupid. I don't have time to "play" with a dirty old internet stalker who exhibits poor grammar skills. I'll just let you keep making yourself look stupid instead.
15 months ago: Go for it! Yes! since I'm retarded and now elderly.

Any other protected group you would like to insult?
15 months ago: I also got a similar e-mail from a RantRave member, probably the same member as above. So there is a group that are running up Page Views on RantRave and maybe AdSense Ad clicks too, although they did not expressly say they were clicking Ads.

Here's the e-mail

> I belong to 5 other blogs.
>
> http://www.infobarrel.com/ - This one is another adsense blog
>
> blogger.com - Adsense Blog
>
> http://hubpages.com/ - Adsense Blog
>
> Suite101.com - Paypal Blog
>
> Yahoo Contributor Network - Paypal Blog
>
>
> I post only one document on each one of these blogs per day.
> Blogger.com will allow you to post a link from you rant rave page, you
> do not have to change the content unless you want to.
>
>
> I also work with other 99ers. We are just a group of people that met
> on blogs online. We decided to start blogging because no one was
> finding work. We promote each others pages on facebook and twitter.
> There is no spamming because we all have different followers. We
> rotate who send the tweets and facebook links. We have worked to
> together for the last several months and it is working out nicely. We
> help each other make a decent amount of money blogging.
>
> Unfortunately, I do not feel like I can do that with everyone on
> rantrave.com. The people there are a bit nasty.

I am not a part of the group and I got no further information.
sunny2
sunny2
15 months ago: Cypress don't say that about yourself.
sunny2
sunny2
15 months ago: I wouldn't answer that one.
15 months ago: Wow Otto! Could it be? A second witness with a second bit of email?
15 months ago:

Wow Crypuss! Could it be? OOTB and Cully both got those emails from the same person! I say smartygirl...again, I'd be willing to bet on it. I'll win that bet too.

15 months ago:
smartygirl
11 days ago: I also work with a group of 99ers and we work together and help promote each other's web sites. No one in the group is a back stabber like people are on this web site. This is by far the nastiest group of people I have ever seen in my life. I am not surprised by the fact that no one does a good job in promoting their web pages.

Out Of The Box
11 days ago: smartygirl

I think Culley is looking for advice, not trying to be mean. I too would like some pointers. You seem to have it figured out, and a big "you go, girl!!!" to you.

What he was asking is "do you post the entire article on your other sites too."

I went to some of your other blogs, and I see you have original content there that I didn't see on RantRave. What Culley wants to know, as he is trying to get his following and hit count up also, as he is also a 99er, is how do you get your other blogs to point here without just posting the same article all over the place.

Thanks for the help. I'm sure Culley would help the 99er group.
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Cully Waggoner
11 days ago: Yes, Box that is what I meant. Does smartygirl post the same thing on each site or just a link back to the original?

I started a Blog on Blogger.com and rather than copy and past my RantRave post I had a simply one sentence intro an put up the link. I could not tell if Blogger automatically sets me up with another AdSense lead or not since I use the same Google LogIn.

What I post on RantRave is original, with the exception of my very first post, which most of was a copy and paste of the same article I wrote on other sites. However, on Rant Rave I updated my original post and changed it a little bit.
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smartygirl
11 days ago: Did you see my email?
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Cully Waggoner
11 days ago: Yes, I replied.
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smartygirl
11 days ago: Ok I am sending you an email now.
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Out Of The Box
11 days ago: @ smartygirl

Yes, i would.
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smartygirl
11 days ago: Did you see my email?

15 months ago: " I also work with a group of 99ers and we work together and help promote each other's web sites "

No conspiracy eh? What is the effect of "Promote"? What is the reason?

PPC plain and simple. Like I said. Scam. Like I said. Contrary to Adsense TOS. Like I said.

You still want to say I am wrong?

" This is by far the nastiest group of people I have ever seen in my life. "

Because they might be more honest than the rest of the clique? Because they might turn your dishonest scam into Google?

I wonder what the clique will be saying in the morning?
15 months ago:
I was the one who called out smartygirl as a scammer, not you crypuss.

OOTB and Cully both went to her defense, and then they found out that I was right -- as I have demonstrated.

The fact that smartygirl is a fraud, and has a couple of other fraudster friends, doesn't mean that all "the 99ers" on RR are a part of some conspiracy network like you and OOTB have claimed.

Besides, she made the point that her "blogger network" is not comprised of people from RR because:

" This is by far the nastiest group of people I have ever seen in my life. "

She also didn't admit to "clicking on each other's ads" as you and OOTB have claimed.

Face it crypuss, you are wrong.
15 months ago: I'm backing OTTB and TCG on this one. If they are working together to raise Page Views then they could be doing Ad Clicks too to make some money.

Google being as big as they are could (and probably does) track all of this and maybe that is why RantRave was cut from Google News.
15 months ago: Except RR Page Views pay NOTHING and AdSense Ad Clicks DO! All I was wondering was how some people get well over 1,000 page views on RR. I've only had one Rant top that and I found out that because it was about Sarah Palin a lot of other Sarah Palin blogs posted links back to it.
15 months ago:
Cully,

I already addressed that:

The Autodidact
21 hours ago: The claims that you and TCG are making only make me think that the two of you must not really understand how Adsense works. A "network" of 99ers that are clicking on each others ads? Come on now man...

A few of the unemployment writers on rantrave clearly understand how "the game" works, and it also helps that they are writing on a really popular search topic. When articles on a site like this are getting picked up by a behemoth like Google News, the writers who best understand how to get Googles spiders to look at their content will do better than the other writers. This is called "search engine optimization", and MOST people never really figure it out...hence most of the authors on this site. However, the ones who do know how to do this properly will get thousands of hits for their articles on a site that is accepted by GN. I have a pretty good grasp of how this works, but a couple of writers on here are really good at it. Johnny Darkly comes to mind.

Considering this is the virtual world that we're in, we'll have to make it a friendly bet OOTB. I'd be interested to hear what you got...
Out Of The Box
Out Of The Box
 Moderator
15 months ago: Sorry, guys, I was out making sure the real world was still running smoothly. It's all under control now.

First off, let me thank Culley. I was going to wait and see if he would step forwardm which he did. And thank you Cypress for arguing this so well. You seem to have that Columbo thing going on. Hee he.

Now I never said that all the 99ers were in on the scam. And if it weren't wrong, or even downright illegal, there wouldn't have been so much secrecy about it. You don't get paid for someone reading your article. You get paid when someone clicks on your ads.

Props also to Autodidect. He sensed something was up, but he was a bit off base. She wasn't spamming by the definition of the term. But she was cheating Google out of revenue by having her buddies click her posts, and probably her ads.

But ok, what further proof do I need? Do I need to list at least 10 sites where this network of unemployed bloggers operated?
15 months ago:

Cully,

Google wouldn't remove RR from GN for people conspiring to click on each other's ads. They would delete those peoples individual adsense accounts.
Out Of The Box
Out Of The Box
 Moderator
15 months ago: That wasn't the bet. The bet was about the existence of a conspiracy of some 99ers to increase page views and ad clicks.
15 months ago:

Hey, there you are OOTB.

Hopefully you found the real world working as well as you had left it yesterday. Anyway, to answer your question, I was thinking that you would have more evidence than just a confession from smartygirl. There are several people on this site that I would consider to be "99ers" because that's all they write about, but she's just an all around fraud, and I already knew as much. I figured you would provide some dirt/proof with a few names/handles that we would all know or recognize. There have been some pretty successful "99ers" on this site, and smartygirl isn't one of them, and unless you've talked to others that claim to be working with her then she's probably lying about that too.
15 months ago:
This was the bet you signed up for:


You claim that you can PROVE that:

TCG's rant is 100% correct

and

The 99ers posting on RR are a part of a NETWORK (like a conspiracy?) who are: SCAMMING GOOGLE (ha!) for profit, are all on at least 10 sites posting their articles, and they are all clicking on each others ads on all the said sites/articles.

Do I have that right? I'll take that bet ANYDAY!
15 months ago: While I'm sure this goes on it is absolutely not the only way that posts get a lot of attention. I have several posts over 2k views and believe me I dont have any friends. Online or off.

I write about what I like to read about. And I write for people who like to read what I like to read. If that makes any sense. If I write an ultra serious post. I get no views. When I write about the evil apple empire taking over the world or how HTC is trying to flood the market with their phones. I get a ton of hits. because thats what people are looking for.

Every click Ive gotten has been an honest one. Every word I write is my own for the brief period of its use. I agree that there could be a great conspiracy. I also think if there is Google will catch it. It's what they do. And maybe its what they did.

Out Of The Box
Out Of The Box
 Moderator
15 months ago: Well, I'm honest to a fault. Although it was proven that there is or was a conspiracy of self-professed unemployed people (who is to say that all the people who say they are 99ers really are, or that people who say they have great jobs really aren't living under a bridge and using the public library's computers),

But, it appears that autodidect wins the bet on a technicality. In the wording of his confirmation, he used the term "the 99ers"...not "some 99ers", implying that all the 99ers were culpable. And even though we all know that this was not the spirit of the bet, I didn't clarify before the wager began, and the Devil is in the details.

I'll have my post up within 48 hours.
Out Of The Box
Out Of The Box
 Moderator
15 months ago: But nobody said what kind of words they have to be. LOL. I choose Yuchi. Since RR's terms of service require the posts to be primarily in English, I expect it would be flagged for deletion promptly.

Hee hee, just kidding.
15 months ago:
Well, I think it was fair and square OOTB, but I have to say that I do respect your ability to take a loss like a winner.

Tell you what...let's wait to see what Alex Layton has for us. If it turns out that a conspiracy ring of 99ers had anything to do with RR getting booted from GN then I won't hold you to the bet. If, however, it was due to anything else then we start the 48 hour countdown. Does that sound fair?

Who knows, maybe we're all wrong and GN will magically come back. I sure hope so...Alex Layton has a healthy newborn baby boy to feed!
15 months ago: Otto, didn't your alter ego post a bunch per day? How's the trailer park these days?
15 months ago:
Wrong again Crypuss. I think you meant to direct that one at happygolucky. I'm way better at this detective game than you are.
15 months ago: You said "When I write about the evil apple empire taking over the world or how HTC is trying to flood the market with their phones. I get a ton of hits. because thats what people are looking for."

That's why I complained about you on Alex_'s "Time is Money" post: like others, you write only because of money -- survey the market for what twinkie snack it wants and give it to them. It's just like fast food, but it's greasy processed "news" about crap consumer products. The more this consumer junk is promoted, the worse off our culture is. This is far worse for R&R than these other temporary problems noted above, as the chronic problem is that much of the junk posted on this site is solely written to drive ads, and therein, lacks meaningful, original purpose.

People couldn't earn a dime on an original thought -- personally, I would never want an audience of readers who were the type to click on those stupid and dumb ads, and that's why I can't be bothered to set up an ad account.

You are what you eat, and what you think.

15 months ago: You are good aren't you? How good? Can you write an article on any subject and get top search engine posting and increased traffic? Would the SEO you use be real or a form of black hat? Any subject? Can I pick one?
15 months ago: What does this mean -- is it in English? "Would the SEO you use be real or a form of black hat?"

SEO what?

I already have a difficult enough subject, writing about how our economy is a fragile plutonomy, with more than half of our country's growth in wealth and assets, hinging on the successes and failures of just 1% of the population.

15 months ago: Sorry Pluto. That was directed to Autodidact. He is fully aware of what black hat means.

You can google " black hat seo ". It's not a system you would want to get caught using.
15 months ago: @plutonomister

You say "The more this consumer junk is promoted, the worse off our culture is." And that is your personal unqualified opinion and I will ignore it as such. As I said earlier I write about what
I am interested in. I suppose perhaps the internet is really only good as a forum for malcontents with more issue then intelligence to spout the half truths and downright misinformation they have been spoon fed and raised on. Not saying that your one of them only that there is a lot of pure contrarian rhetoric thrown about online and you seem to think that's what is good for the culture.

You also said "People couldn't earn a dime on an original thought" I just wanted to apologize for your failure. If you keep at it maybe you will have one.
markbyrn
markbyrn
 Moderator
15 months ago: ...personally, I would never want an audience of readers who were the type to click on those stupid and dumb ads...

Than why are you posting your plutonomy lectures to a site that's supported by ad revenue? You need to find an ad-free site to ensure that you don't waste your vast intellectual capital on the dummies that might click on the ads. Of course if you didn't realize that already, maybe you're not as smart as think you are.
15 months ago: Hey Automode. I ask again...
"You are good aren't you? How good? Can you write an article on any subject and get top search engine posting and increased traffic? Would the SEO you use be real or a form of black hat? Any subject? Can I pick one?"

I already have a subject. How much time do you need to research it? 1 hour, 3 hours, 6 hours, a day, a week or a month?

Are you as good as your mind tells you?

Please show us. Talk is cheap.
15 months ago: There are those who perpetuate/ participate in the least sustainable and meaningful aspects of our culture, and those who complain about it.
15 months ago: And then there are those who click.
15 months ago:
Sure crypuss, make Google News come back for us and I'll do it over and over again.
sunny2
sunny2
15 months ago: You know I am a 99er, and I have been through a lot these past months. I'm not working yet, and I don't look to make a couple of pennies off of sites. When I saw the sub titles regarding 99ers, I thought that this was a place where people simply could talk about the issues. I really didn't know that 99ers were not welcome. I was genuinely interested in the people's comments. Oh well. I also have been writing for many years, and I have traveled from one coast to another to pick up awards. Nothing great, but yet acknowledging. I find most writers to be pretty quiet people and mostly convey their thoughts to paper.
sunny2
sunny2
15 months ago: I wrote an Article during the time of Desert Storm which a pretty large circulated newspaper picked up as their Lead Article. When you care enough about something, you can write about it. I wrote about the boys who couldn't make it back home for Thanksgiving to be with their families. The Article was well received, and it made me very proud because I wrote about something from my heart, something I was experiencing emotionally. Seeing an empty chair on Thanksgiving Day simply moved me to write about how much those people were missed by their families and the Country. That's what I feel writing is about. I think life experience, going through the motions of elusive time, and the thought and energy put into ones ability to write can move mountains with pen and ink. But, then again that's just me. I never asked myself or anyone else if I am good enough, I just don't care. I couldn't care less about cheap postings on sites and people grubbing for a couple of pennies. That turns into a competition of wastefullness, and not a show of real skill. I don't think a real writer has anything to prove to anyone when they have a passion to write. One's passion says it all and researching a subject when need be comes easy. Anything else is forced and fake.
15 months ago: I have got to tell you, I'm one of those who wrote many "unemployment, benefits, extensions, and 99er's articles without regret. I've known too many fellow writers who have been knocked off Google and I for one wouldn't risk the click-throughs. I was never approached and never asked to do it.

If this was the case, then that is truly disappointing. Those articles for the most part were informational and many times newsworthy. Something that affects more than 14 million Americans is something many people want to read about.

Let's hope this is just a glitch and that we might have the opportunity to continue with this site and write good stuff...
markbyrn
markbyrn
 Moderator
15 months ago: As I understand it, the site was mega spammed and than we were out of Google News; whether the two events are tied together or whether it was coincidental is speculation but I doubt it was due to the 99er posts. I sent a message to Alex a couple of days ago asking what's up and I'm still awaiting a response.

15 months ago: Thanks for the update and support!
15 months ago: Hey OttoVanSchmuck. How about the suggestion I made over 15 months ago?

http://www.rantrave.com/Rant/RantRave-Da...

No? Post Limits? No?
sunny2
sunny2
15 months ago: Don't mind me I'm just here for the pure enjoyment of reading your comments.
sunny2
sunny2
15 months ago: I don't know I just think writing something down should be because you care enough to.
15 months ago: wow the 99ers are always a target on this site. I don't understand why some people find a problem with the 99ers voicing there views on a very important issue in this country. The long term unemployed need to be heard and this site is a great place for that. The 99ers are not scamming anyone on here. I don't click on any ads or use ads for people to click on. Even though it is a legal option on here if we choose to. I am sure other people do it and are not 99ers either. Why just point the finger at 99ers. Adsense is a option on here for all to use.
sunny2
sunny2
15 months ago: This seems like a bar brall is going on. I was thinking the same thing, what are they thinking. Sometimes you just approach something because you think other people want the same thing, the best for their Country. Our Country should always come first. This morning the e-mail I got from a site upset me.
"As you may know, President Obama's bi-partisan Deficit Commission is considering cuts to Social Security as a way to reduce our national debt.
Social Security is not part of the federal budget, so it does not add a single penny to our national debt. And with high unemployment, cuts to pensions, and the market crash of 2008, seniors need Social Security more than ever.
What do you think: Should Democrats fight Social Security cuts? Please take our quick 2-question survey regarding social security". Oh, well I guess they can't stop.
Alex Layton
Alex Layton
 Administrator
Puyallup, WA
15 months ago: Hi everyone.

Sorry I have been quiet. The timing of all of the spam was very poor. I did most of the deleting of posts and posters from a Labor and Delivery room, in between my wife's contractions.

The good news is we have a healthy baby boy! The bad news is I haven't had much of a chance to pick up the computer.

I will be back in the office on Monday, where I will try to get you guys a more thorough explanation.

Sorry again for the lack of communication and thank you for hanging in there.

Alex Layton
Site Administrator
15 months ago: Alex

Congratulations!

Thank You for running RantRave. I know running a web site is a lot of work as I've worked on them before. It's a thankless job sometimes and people don't always understand. I'm sure you'll fix things soon enough.

Cully
15 months ago: Congrats Alex. Glad to hear Mom and child are well. I hope his name is not Alex Jr. that way he can be his own person. You only think you will have more time later.
Alex Layton
Alex Layton
 Administrator
Puyallup, WA
15 months ago: I agree. Let him be his own man. His name is Charles and we're calling him Charlie.
Out Of The Box
Out Of The Box
 Moderator
15 months ago: Charles Layton. Has a good ring to it. Congrats, poppa.
sunny2
sunny2
15 months ago: Congrats on your new born little boy Alex.
15 months ago: girlsmarty was my favorite anyone got her number :)
Out Of The Box
Out Of The Box
 Moderator
15 months ago: Still not mine. He was just plain mean. No excuse.
15 months ago: yeah he was mean but still funny in away.
15 months ago: @autoaddict
The claims that you and TCG are making only make me think that the two of you must not really understand how Adsense works. A "network" of 99ers that are clicking on each others ads? Come on now man.

Do YOU know how Adsense REALLY works? Your statement leads me to think that you don't, at least not fully. Why is it unreasonable to think that a group of people found and abused a site because of the generous Adsense rev share program?

You are using Adsense on here, so you better get down with the rules. Click fraud groups are extremely common. There's no doubt that people are running game.

I'd like to know more about the network ring. Not about getting involved though. Heck no! ANYTIME people CONSPIRE to inflate views, votes, clicks, etc., it is considered click fraud. Google tracks your every move and you will go down.

Autoaddict, I don't understand why you say it (okay, I read it) in an exasperated way "A "network" of 99ers that are clicking on each others ads"?

Is smartygirl a fraud, I don't know. Some statements DO raise a red flag for me, like the "work together to promote' one and this crap here, "I am not surprised by the fact that no one does a good job in promoting their web pages." Her stuff is content anyhow, not like Dinary.

I can promote the hell outta my stuff. Wait, actually, on the other sites and my own website, I write well enough that I don't even have to promote to hit #1. I make money writing online. ALL ORIGINAL CONTENT WITHOUT ANY NETWORK. Hm. Skill? Yeah, I busted my butt to learn how to do this in a respectable way. It blows that people tarnish the whole Adsense thing because their disrespect of the program impacts me. When one site gets slammed by Google, we all get penalized.

Too bad if people did it right they'd earn a lot of money over time. This is like an investment plan. Some greedy ****s just busted the bank.

I don't blame ALL 99ers, FYI. But some didn't help.
15 months ago:
A licks,

YES i know HOW adsense REALLY works? do YOU?

i ALSO know THAT most OF the "99ers" who do really well ON this SITE are DOING so because of JUST PLAIN old SEO KNOW-how, and not BECAUSE of some network of ADCLICKERS that they BELONG to.

how DO i KNOW??? because if you KNOW what YOU'RE looking FOR then you can TELL just by READING their articles. its AN art, and only A few AUTHORS that I'VE seen on here REALLY know what thEIR doing.

15 months ago: Well help me out then and tell me what Im doing wrong...two weeks and only $2.27. NOT going to pay the rent with that! HELP PLEASE!
15 months ago:
Google News is...was...half the equation. If Google is out of the picture then nobody will be getting many viewers from now on, and using proper SEO techniques won't matter.
15 months ago: It is a skill.

You don't have to be a dick. I didn't slam you, so don't be a douche. I asked why it's such a hard thing to believe that SOME would do it. If you know as much as you claim about this then you also know that click fraud, etc., is rampant.

Since you're such an SEO guru then you'd also know there are low quality articles on the site that use some of the terms around unemployment to draw views.

Unless you know each of the people writing personally then you cannot say with 100% certainty that they are NOT using a community method to inflate their views. It seemed pretty clear that smartygirl posted as being part of a group. Who the group members are I don't know.

You should also know then that when sites have low quality content on them as well as plagiarized content that they will eventually get dinged. Just like RR did.

15 months ago:
Relax. Apparently you forgot the little anagram you made out of my handle, huh?
15 months ago: I never saw it but from what I have seen it probably fits.

What was it?
15 months ago: @99er Auction

There are some really basic things that people do wrong. You don't want a burst of traffic, you want steady traffic over time. I know you're unemployed, but writing only about that will piddle out over time. Articles saying "give us ___ now" wont last in the search engines. Some hurt themselves w/their content.

http://www.rantrave.com/Rave/How-99ers-C... (article w/tips to make money here and check ad performance)

Writing for rev share is not a get rich thing. You can build a steady flow of income over time though.

Plutonomy makes it sound dishonorable. Autoaddict makes it sound like the only thing that made people earn here was Google News after saying 99ers earn because of their excellent SEO. RR writers who use SEO and write original content will succeed, but it does involve certain knowledge, just like any other job.

The fact is that Google News was a huge plus for the site because our articles were almost immediately pushed out to the news and indexed. That gave them the chance to get picked up and passed on by others, etc., plus people have Google Alerts set up for certain terms so they get alerted and read the articles in their niches and pass it on. I had a professional organization comment on one of my earlier articles. It was so cool!

You can make money here at RR by learning some skills. It sucks big time that Google News is gone. I hope it gets re-instated but I think for that to happen RR will have to change its content rules.

Check your RRs for things I mention in the article. If you have questions, contact me. I write for other rev share sites. You don't want all your eggs in one basket because when it breaks the chickens die! I only use ethical practices. I'll help.
15 months ago: Dyslexia - sorry, it wasn't intentional. It's just what my brain saw.

I actually thought that maybe you were a car guy...
15 months ago:
Alex_,

At first I thought it might have been a mistake, but you did it twice...so then I assumed it was intentional. No harm, I actually thought it was kind of funny, but I just wanted to mess with you back.
15 months ago: They must be republicans posing as 99ers you know how evil they are ........just kidding !!
Content Removed by Kqm2010
15 months ago: Wow, I did not know my little rant was going to cause all of this...ALL I WAS AFTER was for RR to spill the beans . . .
sunny2
sunny2
15 months ago: You aren't doing anything wrong. I've been there.
15 months ago: Thanks!
15 months ago: So while cleaning out 120' trench all day, I had time to think, you know, connect the dots, as it were, and I believe I might have one part of the reason GN booted R&R, and it goes like this (some of you will most surely agree):

I came across an uber-liberal bigwig by the name Joel Hirschhorn, and passed onto him my little book, "Plutonomy." Over the course of several e-mails, and visiting this site here to see my stuff, he grew increasingly meaner, angrier and cruel to me like no one has been in a long time, folks here at R&R don't even come close. I told him most of my "Plutonomy" excerpts from R&R had been picked up by GN, when he asked if my stuff had gotten out anywhere, and he just railed at the state of news, bloggers, writers and all the like, using me as the prime example.

So while digging along the ditch today, I thought, wow, he's so annoyed, he probably made a complaint to GN about the heresy spewing out of R&R -- I wouldn't put it past him, the timing is perfect. I'm sure if he saw other stuff on this site he'd have had a conniption fit. [OK, disclaimer: probably not the case at all, but ya got to think of something, and laugh a bit while digging a ditch. Perhaps markbyrn and slimpikers will take some consolation in this idea.]
15 months ago: I knew it was all your fault Plutonomy! :)

That's interesting though because right now there actually is a huge debate happening about the quality of content that is climbing its way to the top of the search engines, namely Google.

It's too bad that you got caught in the middle of that especially since you chose not to utilize the Google Adsense program. It would have made a big difference if you had chosen a blogging platform w/o any ads at all, such as Wordpress. You cannot put ads on a Wordpress blog unless you own the domain name.

People can files complaints to Google about websites, either in part of whole, and Google looks at it. Google encourages it because it's like us flagging things here. Google is only so big, so they have spam forms and forms for plagiarism.


@others - If you think that a person is copying or plagiarizing then take a sentence from the middle of the article and put it in quotes in Google. If you find the article elsewhere then check the page source for the date to find the original. Talk is one thing, but proof is another. Google does remove these things. They're cracking down hard.
15 months ago: A 120 foot ditch without a bigger hole at the end for joel hirschronical?
What? you could not find a rock to scratch a JH christ on????
15 months ago: OK, I think we all know who is doing this and why they are doing this. If Alex Layton wants me to forward him the e-mails I will. He needs only to ask for them.

Anyhow here is the body of the second e-mail the RantRave Author in question sent me.

"I am not a vengeful person, but even I have my limits. The 99er group
that I work within are great and dedicated to making money. Because
of them I made $1000.00 my first month blogging. We work as a team.
I have since bought software that send out automatic tweets for me.
It is called Tweet Adder. You should also promote on a myspace page.
I now have a solid following of people that come to my blogs on a
regular basis. A few people have my link on their web pages too.
That will take time to establish, just be patient."

Sense the ONLY way to make money is Ad Clicks there does seem to be a group of people (who may or may not be 99'ers) that was (may still be) using AdSense and RantRave to make money.

Recipes would be a very easy thing to Copy and Paste from another web site, I am NOT saying smartygirl DID copy others work, only that it would be easy for anybody to do. Unless you are the author of a Cook Book, how or why would you have so many?

15 months ago: Cully. I just flagged your post. Not to be deleted or because it crossed the TOS.

I flagged it so the site would not have a choice but to read it.

Please copy it to a file on your computer.
15 months ago: Good call Cypress.
15 months ago: OK. I hope I did not do anything wrong by posting it. I'm guessing the Admins are watching this thread already.

15 months ago: Your cool on this one Cully. I have your back. And several others have my back.
15 months ago: This whole business model of making money through ad clicks/sense is fraught with problems -- it's in beta, no zeta -- mode but no one will admit it. It's morally questionable since the writing content is driven solely by the dollar, and the capacity for even mediocre, unemployed people to game the system is shameful, disgraceful and dishonest. This is much of the reason I keep away from the business end of this thing, aside from the fact I think the whole ad model is culturally depraved and is evidence of us all swirling around the drain.
15 months ago: There was one selfish person on here who continued to post items directly from another website. Someone on here pointed out she was doing it and they got bashed for doing that. "Prove it" was all she said. Well I guess allrecipes.com got tired of the nonsense and reported it to Google.
15 months ago: Yeah, I complained in the comments section about smartygirl spamming the food section with bogus recipes from elsewhere -- she obviously did not make them up, she was plagerizing the words!

Yeah so I said critical things of her and Alex Layton pretty much blew it off and deleted my comment due to its content. Here's the link to see it:

http://www.rantrave.com/Rave/Just-Three-...
sunny2
sunny2
15 months ago: It would be nice if all of you guys would remember that there are other people here too that are really very interested in the valuable things you have to say, although, I do sometimes enjoy your back and forth rhetoric. I think woman just get tired of hearing it and really are interested in solutions to our serious problems. This ad clicking is rediculous takes away from the real discussions. I look forward to your intellect.
15 months ago: The site was ruined by people trying to make a buck and did it in a shameless manner. The American way. Taking other people's work and posting it here to make a few bucks. It isn't a man vs women issue. In this case it was just a certain person who who post pirated things on here. Shelfish and short sided. Allrecipes.com took note and chatted with Google. If you didn't see what was happening it's your own fault.
15 months ago: Just in the past 30 days there are over 30 "recipes" from this this person. Enough is enough!!!
sunny2
sunny2
15 months ago: People like to squat on sites and cause as much trouble as possible. I never saw such greed. Thanks for telling me I didn't know, and it was nice that you took the time to tell me. I take courses and study during the day trying to get into a new field. I miss some things along the way. I'm sure all of you took care of them.
sunny2
sunny2
15 months ago: I read everything and I agree with you.
15 months ago: Thanks. It is sad that a selfish person like that ruined a great site. Now that the well has dried I am sure she will disappear. Selfish Bitc$.
15 months ago:
Happy,

I'm thinking that you are the masked man behind 'girlsmarty', no? If so, please take credit...now everybody knows that 'girlsmarty' was right. Also, if you are her/it, thanks for many a gut-busting laugh.
15 months ago: I think Happy is girlsmarty too, I said so in another thread when "she" first appeared.
15 months ago: I wish I was girlsmarty. He/she has a great talent. If I had that talent I wouldn't be wasting it on here.
sunny2
sunny2
15 months ago: I just saw the recipe. Isn't that the Pillsbury recipe from the television ad that has been running?
15 months ago:

Probably. All her recipes were clearly just copied. If you want to see where I first called her out then check out her french bread pizza "recipe". Girlsmarty, who could also see what she was doing, tore into her right after that. It was funny.
15 months ago: RantRave is NOT Anti-99'er or anything else for that matter. RantRave did have a lot of 99'er articles and some just seemed to regurgitate each other without offering anything new or original. After a while those stories get old.

smartygirl came on RantRave and was posting, by her own admission at least one recipe and one story per day. I always thought that the recipes were too easy to copy from other sites, but I never accused her of doing it. She did once "write" a post called "Snow in 49 out of 50 States in the US" http://www.rantrave.com/Rant/Snow-in-49-...

The picture she used was the same and it was almost word for word from a story Huffington Post had put online called "Snow In 49 States Right Now" and I posted a link to the original story in her thread. If smartygirl were copying recipes she might be copying other stories too. Again, let me stress that I am not accusing smartygirl of ANY wrong doing. smartygirl demanded proof of such from Happygolucky, I have not bothered to compare her posts or look for where she might have copied them from.

It is very clear that there is (or at least was) a group of people using RantRave and other similar AdSense web sites to generate a little bit of money for themselves. They each wrote blogs and each cross referenced each others blogs in order to build views and Ad Clicks. Google AdSense has some strict rules about clicking Ads and it would appear that this group was violating those rules. If you noticed, smartygirl has not posted on RantRave for the last 3 days, yet she has had a streak of posting 2 or 3 articles everyday for a month and a half now.

Almost everything is traceable on the Internet and Google is by all means one of the best companies at tracing everything on the Internet. So groups that try to cheat the system get caught, which is what seems to have happened here. Some people used RantRave to scam Google AdSense and it was RantRave that paid the price, not the people doing the scamming that will no doubt just change screen names and move one. Now RantRave's participation in Google News is up in the air and may very well be over and done. Not only has RantRave been cut off Google News, they pulled posts all the way back to January 19th as well.

It's sad that a small group of people screwed up things for everybody else. I don't think RantRave dropped the ball, nor have they remained silent. Like a lot of other smaller web sites, RantRave is run by guys making very little if anything for moderating and maintaining the web site, RantRave is not a huge operation. Now that Google News cut RantRave are the AdSense Ads next? RantRave, like every other "free" web site needs to have advertising funds to operate. I hope RantRave gets back on Google News and we can get back to the way we were.

15 months ago: So did i miss Alex Layton's post explaining what is going on here?
Alex Layton
Alex Layton
 Administrator
Puyallup, WA
15 months ago: Sorry, I've been working on it this morning. It will be up today.
15 months ago: Alex You've got a brand new baby, so I think all of understand you are really busy right now.
15 months ago: Please take some time to give some "about us" info and a little backstory to this website and yourself/ whomever else is involved with R&R. It is beyond weird how there is such a firewall between the reality of R&R and the responsible parties. It is reasonable to want to know if there's a "there" there, the standard, who, what, where, when, why and how.

I get it loud and clear R&R is what you see, and the members are the "stuff" of the organization, but clearly, that is not what I and others are looking for. And now with a gaff as bad as the superbowl spamming/ ad sense abuse and the loss of Google News, we all deserve an answer, or we and others will eventually choose to go somewhere else.

Aside from the pressure of your flock, I do hope you can put all this in perspective, and realize that having and caring and loving a baby is really all that matters in this world, and WE are the small people, who having already been born, are acting like our GN toy was taken from us.

15 months ago: It now looks like RantRave has been wiped off Google News completely. It only shows on Rant, A Unemployment Benefits Extension Bill Proposed‎. Earlier it showed Rants and Raves up to January 18 and 19, 2011.
15 months ago: Yep. If you click on "See all accepted posts" only one shows up.

Every post ever written (except one) by every member is off the news service.
Alex Layton
Alex Layton
 Administrator
Puyallup, WA
15 months ago: http://www.rantrave.com/Rant/RantRave-Google-News-and-Refocused-Efforts.aspx

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