Factoidz
87Full of Fraud?
Things have changed at Factoidz. And it's now known as Knoji. The comments on this hub are most enlightening, I suggest you only skim through the information on this page and read the first hand experiences in the comments before you make any decisions on whether or not to sign up for the site.
What are Factoidz?
Factoids are factual and informational articles, much like a hub, though not usually as long, and heavy on useful knowledge.
Factoids are How-To's, DIY's, information and advice on subjects that others can learn from.
The typical Factoid is concise and specific. Tightly focused on one aspect of a topic.
At least 400 words in length, they're bite-sized pieces of knowledge.
Topics are split into channels and relate to the following subjects:
Addictions, astrology, beauty, business, cars, college, crystals, dieting, diy, dog training, dogs, etiquette, exercise, fitness, frugal living, gardening, gift ideas, green living, health, home business, home improvement, how to, internet, jobs, natural remedies, nutrition, parenting, personal finance, pets, photography, pregnancy, psychology, real estate, recipes, relationships, science, self help, self improvement, seo, spirituality, sports, stock market, travel, weddings, weight loss, wellness, wine and writing.
All articles published on the site go through an editorial approval process so the level of quality appears to be much higher than the usual publishing website.
What Factoidz Isn't
- It isn't a place to publish fiction.
- It isn't a place to post poems.
- It's not a landing page. It can't be used it to direct traffic straight to ones own sites or for affiliate links.
- It's not a social bookmarking site.
- It's not a blog. It's not a soap box for a mindless rant or to spout political agenda or religious convictions.
What Factoidz IS is a site for readers to learn. And for writers it's a place to earn.
How Factoidz USED TO Work
Just like HubPages, Factoidz is a tool to publish your unique knowledge as articles and earn revenue.
They want high-quality, original and unique factual articles.
The factoids should describe a topic, present information, give advice or explain how to do something.
Revenue is based on the the traffic they generate.
Articles can be voted up by the community, adding points and prestige to your ranking. The forum also has voting enabled, and even as the person responding you can be voted up (or down, depending on how bad your advice or behaviour is).
Duplicate content is not allowed. Much like HubPages stance on duplicate content, but the difference is while HubPages will give a HubScore penalty and also not allow outbound links on a hub containing duplicate content, Factoidz won't approve it at all.
Factoids, as the name suggests, shoud be be information based on fact rather than something that is purely based on opinion.
Here are some other points I have gleaned from the sites official FAQ and from the forum:
- You must be at least a level 2 contributor (you have published 3 or more factoids) to be eligible for revenue.
- Payments are issued at the beginning of the month for the previous month. You need a minimum of $1 in earnings.
- Factoidz is open to all people, in any country. To earn you just need to have a valid Paypal account.
- Submitted articles must be previously unpublished. Even if you're the original author, they don't want duplicate content. You are allowed to republish your Factoid content elsewhere, but honestly, it won't do you much good trying to compete against yourself.
- Regardless of how little content you add, you could publish nothing, you will continue to receive passive income from the articles you have previously published.
- Affiliate links within your article are NOT allowed
- It's not until your third article that you can begin to accrue earnings (unless you've been referred by another member which will instantly upgrade you to Contributor status and then you start earning from your very first article).
- They actually review every submission. And if its not up to scratch, they'll tell you. I've had a few points suggested, and after making the changes they suggested, I must say, the article was tidier, made more impact and was better off for it.
Factoidz User Levels
Factoids published
| User level
| User title
|
|---|---|---|
0
| 1
| Member
|
3
| 2
| Contributor
|
10
| 3
| Author
|
25
| 4
| Expert
|
50
| 5
| Maven
|
75
| 6
| Guide
|
100
| 7
| Pro
|
150
| 8
| Authority
|
200
| 9
| Master
|
300
| 10
| Guru
|
How Is Money Made Through Factoidz?
Factoidz pays between $1.00 and $5.00 per 1,000 impressions. These rates of pay is not determined by your User Level, but by the profitability of the topic and the quality of your content.
Each Factoid is "graded" by the editorial staff and it has been noted that if a regular topic article has writing that is exceptional, it can receive a higher payout rate.
By the same token, there can be a submission to a High Yield Topic (when you're logged in and you're on your 'dashboard' there is a section which is a list of High Payout Topics) and editorial standards for those are also higher than normal, if they're below par they'll be quickly rejected so be sure to bring your A game.
Factoidz used to be a site that shared Adsense ad impressions, much like HubPages, but a few months ago they changed it to paying per impression. By all accounts and from what I've seen in the forums, most prefer the change and it means more frequent payouts as there is no $100 threshold that Adsense has, you only have to earn at least $1 for the whole month to get paid.
Rates of Pay
Rate
| Payment per 1,000 views
|
|---|---|
High+
| $3.00 - $5.00
|
High
| $2.00 - $3.00
|
Med
| $1.00 - $2.00
|
Low
| $0.50 - $1.00
|
How Payments Are Made Through Factoidz
Payments are made via PayPal, so you'll need to setup a PayPal account if you haven't got one already. And it's a lot easier to get a PayPal account than an Adsense account.
The minimum payment threshold is just $1. So anything over that amount by the end of the month, gets paid out early in the next month.
Estimated Monthly Income
Factoids published
| Average monthly article views
| @ Low payout ($1 per 1k views)
| @ Medium payout ($3 per 1k views)
| @ High payout ($5 per 1k views)
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
10
| 100
| $1.00
| $3.00
| $5.00
|
50
| 100
| $5.00
| $15.00
| $25.00
|
100
| 100
| $10.00
| $30.00
| $50.00
|
500
| 100
| $50.00
| $150.00
| $250.00
|
1,000
| 100
| $100.00
| $300.00
| $500.00
|
Maximize Your Earnings
I'll be posting some tips here as I experiment with topics and utilize different methods of traffic generation. In the meantime though I will mention that when you reach Level 5 (Maven... 50 articles published) you can apply to become a moderator of a channel. Moderators earn higher Payout Rates of $4 to $8 per 1,000 impressions on all their writing. 8 bucks per 1k impressions!
But don't try and rush to get there. Quality is high on the Factoidz agenda.
UPDATE
Now that you've read all this, guess what, they've changed the rules.
There have been a lot of changes at Factoidz in recent months, none of which has been improvements.
Sadly, they have taken a good and beautiful thing, and ruined it.
So I've removed my referral links to the site. I highly caution anyone who wishes to sign up to the service..
I will publish more information soon on what changes have been made. If you're new to online publishing, beware of the swindlers and the sharks. I highly recommend signing up to HubPages if you haven't done so already.
CommentsLoading...
Hi Dohn. So far I am very pleased with Factoidz. As they say, don't put all your eggs in one basket!
Darkside - read and digested. I believe I may have found this place then forgotten about it. Anyway, I've clicked your link and have joined proper. Currently mooching on the site and taking on-board what they're wanting.
I like the idea of having to submit (like on Ezine) and would hope they're as strict as you say. I don't believe Ezine always edit too well, I've read many an article that could have been a lot better.
All the same, I'll think up a couple of topics and give it a shot. Have you tried RedGage? Suforged wrote a hub with some info about the site. More for backlinks but they're paid ones.
Have a good one and thanks for this :)
I've published 10 factoidz so far, and 2 required 'modification'.
Here's what they said about one of them:
This article needs some work before it can be published. 1. Please include opening and closing paragraphs - do not just jump into your article points. 2. Your article needs to be more cohesive. Your title needs to be more keyword enriched and descriptive. If you are writing about 7 steps to maximizing your workout program, then title it that. 3. Make sure to use bold subheadings for each topic section you are writing about in the article. Thanks!
After making all those changes I looked at the article and went 'wow, I look good now!'
At the moment I'm gathering resources and ideas and will make a full on assault next month and try and push myself towards Maven status.
I'm glad to know about this whether I actually use it or not.
Thank you, I will take a look at this later so I have bookmarked this hub.
Interesting, I will am going to bookmark this so I can refer to it later.
great review girl, thanks. A lot of work when into this Hub thumbs up from me :o), Kimberly
It would be (almost entirely) worth submitting just for the feedback alone. It must feel great to have something published with them, as their standards are very high. PS. Don't get too excited when your impressions on this one go sky-high... that's just me referring back... and back... and back... Bookmarked and thumbs up.
Interesting , Factoid is a new word for me. Thanks
Thanks, Darkside. I won't stop my Hub publishing, but I may try Factoids someday. Thanks for the excellent heads up. Don White
Thanks for the info and link. I am exploring more into this world of writing.... :)
Thanks for the sharing the info. I really like the format of only FACTS. I plan to check it out. Also thanks for the referral link.
Your health related topics would go well there LW.
Apparently, I had an unused Pre-Existing account, so I cant be Sunforged, but in order to take advantage of the Contributor bump, I jumped on with a brand new account under your link, made my first submission. It looks like a promising site..Maven earnings are sounding good!
success..they accepted my first submission in about two hours time and are giving me the "high" rate on the article. Thanks for the reminder and the recommendation.
Great article here! I didn't know anything about factoidz before I read this ... I'm definitely going to look into it.
Thanks for this information Darkside, this site sounds great. As Dohn said, I wouldn't know about this without your informative article. I'll check out the TOS and come back and join via you if I think its what I want.
A question - if I wanted to join just three sites - aside from Hubpages, what would you suggest?
This is very interesting. Thank you for sharing.
Thank Man! I so appreciate the info you took the time to make available to us. Thanks again!
One question: Is this residual income in the sense that as long as people are viewing your article, you can receive money from that article? Thanks
Ari, there have been some changes at Factoidz. I'll document them soon. Short story is I'm none too impressed with the new direction of the site.
What are some of the changes? I wonder if I should join at all.
All I can say is DON'T JOIN.
Here at HubPages if you change your mind, you can remove your articles. At Factoidz, you can't. You had to ask the Admin to delete them for you. And when I did that I was told I could delete my account but he was going to keep my articles.
Hi Darkside - just clicked above and joined Hubpages. Factoidz is crashed right now or off-line for some reason. While I was trying to find out why I couldn't get on Factoidz I came upon your post here and decided to ck out another site. Things over at Factoidz are in a lot of flux right now. I am however making more money with some of the new changes but the site seems to be up and down and things change quickly. There doesn't seem to be much editorial oversight nor communication with the contributors. But at any rate Factoidz being down drove me to HubPages.
Jude, you'll be a lot happier here at HubPages. And if for any reason you aren't, it's easy to delete your hubs and walk away. Not so with Factoidz. We had to request to have our articles deleted. And when there were a few of us unhappy with the way the site was being run and we asked for our articles to be deleted, we were told no. That our profiles could be removed, but the owner would keep our articles for himself.
That was both exciting and depressing! LOL thanks for updating at the end. I was all gung ho 80% thru the article and then, I read your last entry and got deflated. The original format sounded right up my alley. Hope they get it together and return to some sanity.
I'd never trust them, and by them I mean Mike Quoc, to do the right thing. He changes the rules far too often, and doesn't let anyone know until after he has done it, and he certainly doesn't update the sites Terms of Service. A Terms of Service that was originally ripped off from HubPages. He even forgot to remove their office details until it was pointed out to him!
very interesting thak-you for sharing never knew that it existed!!
Dawn, you should realize that none of these rules and guidelines still apply. They've been changed. A few times in fact since I've first published this hub. Changes get made all the time, without warning, and without it being beneficial to the author. There are details that also remain secret. They won't tell you now what your article is worth as they did before.
really would love to learn more, if you have any reveling secrets?
I am unable to reveal secrets because I myself don't know them. What I'm saying is the site admin is secretive.
My tip is, don't sign up to Factoidz. I no longer publish articles there. If I felt the same way about HubPages I'd be able to remove my published articles but over there you can't do it, you have to request to have them removed. And when I did that the site admin told me he could delete my account, but he'd keep my articles.
Factoidz use to be a better site - now it's going to hell in a handbasket. All rules are changed. Check out the Terms of Service - you sign over everything in return for a few dollars each month. Even your rights to your articles. If you complain, they demote you and if you complain again, they take away your rights to articles. They use to have a good community of writers who wrote in a community forum, but they took that away so members cannot communicate with each other. All writers have complained they don't answer questions even for months and months. Don't go here if you are interested in having a fair and balanced site - they are secretive, misleading and pay writers according to their own schedule and not the rules. Up to $10 for 1,000 views - Ha - it's more like 50 cents and even less for 1,000 views. The SEO ratings change if your views get too high. And articles are rated by editors who are rating them on their opinion and not content. If there are editors - it's a hush-hush operation. 0 contacts. A rip-off deal. Don't waste your words.
I'm hearing ya Fred!
Michael Quoc has proven to be a greedy little bastard.
I see the members forum has been shut down. Were the natives restless? I hadn't been there for a while. Though I did log in to my account at least once a week.
I no longer earn from the 17 articles I published. Michael Quoc is keeping all the earnings.
Michael Quoc stole his ToS from HubPages and now he's stealing the earnings of his authors.
I just started out on Factoidz about 2-3 months back, have not earned more than a few cents in each month. Have about 15 articles there.
Hi, this is Sara Valor
My profile at Factoidz: http://factoidz.com/profile/Sara_Valor/
I have 221 articles published on that site. I entered with 80 articles when I first walked in the site. I reached Maven status in just a couple of days. Within just a few more days, I had over 100 articles published on Factoidz.
I have driven so much traffic to Factoidz, thinking it was a good site for freelance writers, I was wrong.
To Date and Just My Own:
Factoid views
Today: 2,106
Yesterday: 876 < This is a lie, since I know that the views were up to 1,807
(Also noted by another Factoidz writer)
All time: 390,330
Factoidz sounded like a great place for new writers and I had noticed from some of their older articles that they really needed some good reading over there, since much of what I did find while researching for other things were lacking in any good or beneficial information. If you go back to some of the older articles on the site, you may find some of this yourself.
However, I would not recommend that you click and read anything on that site any more, not even my own articles, since I feel that before it is all over with, Mike will figure out how to cheat any of the writers on Factoidz out of all their hard work.
I was wrong about it being a great place for freelance writers who want to make income with a revenue sharing site that made TOS statements like:
"Regardless of how little content you add, you could publish nothing; you will continue to receive passive income from the articles you have previously published"
To be quite honest and frank, I began writing online so I can work at home and still be with my children. We are living in a trailer that is falling down around us after Hurricane Katrina came through here. I am an older single mother, trying to raise two children by myself.
I found Factoidz, it seemed like a good thing for freelance writers, and I began to build something that according to their TOS (especially that noted above) would still keep working for me and my kids.
In anything I do, this is what I am working for, to be able to buy a home that is safe and healthy again for my children. Factoidz is cheating me and my kids…
As far as Mike Quoc, he is nice and friendly when you are doing something he wants or likes. When you begin asking questions, you are threatened with being banned. The person (I‘ll not say man, since I think that men should conduct themselves much better than the owner of Factoidz, a good man is an honest man), meaning M.Q. is rude, apparently greedy for money or the joy of cheating others out of their own rights. He is terse, short and more than disrespectful if he decides he will grace you with a reply if it‘s not something he is into or agrees with. (At least this is how he acts towards me. However, habits love reoccurrence and there may be others that are treated this very as well. )
Mike Quoc of Factoidz is not straightforward when talking with you via email. It is like trying to figure out which side of the mulberry bush, you should run around to figure out what the heck he means. He leaves the door wide open to confusion for the person he's conversing with or at least that is how he comes off to me.
Granted, I was new to article submissions and such when I got on the site, I still have a lot to learn about many online things.
However, after reading the TOS, and reading other articles I saw that some of them were adding affiliate links to their articles; one of the other writers even published an article there encouraging us to add our affiliate links to our Factoidz articles. That was a Published article on the Factoidz site, Published by Factoidz.
I figured ok, if this helps add funding to my personal mission of buying a safe and healthy home for my kids it‘s a good thing, so I joined Amazon and then added some of my own links in the next few articles.
Well, then the TOS was changed and that was against Factoidz rules, even though that particular article may still be there... (I did explain all this to Mike Quoc the owner of Factoidz, as far as I know the article is still there, it was the last time I looked. I imagine Factoidz is probably still making money on that one too even though it is not within the TOS rules of Factoidz)
Google Adsense is what Factoidz were using when I first started on the site I joined in there too. Then just a little while afterwards, some of the other freelance writers were talking about making money and they changed us from Google Adsense to Factoidz paying us monthly.
That worked out nicely to begin with; however, in hindsight, we all should have realized that eventually with all the confusing protocol of Factoidz and their constantly changing TOS to suit the owners of Factoidz personal needs, with no true regard for the writers, would eventually take away some of our rights as writers of original content. It may be Mike Quoc’s ideal change of TOS, since we are still padding his own pocket. In the world I live in, this is called THIEVERY.
According to the dictionary, Thievery means Steal: to Steal something, or Steal things. This, just about everyone with good sense knows is Bad Business protocol.
Also, Factiodz did insist on giving due credit where credit is due, while using photos for the site.
I had won a years supply of handmade soaps by DeShawn Marie. Great handmade soaps btw, give them a try. Well, I decided since I had won this free year of monthly handmade soaps and they are good, that I would write product reviews on them. I asked DeShawn Marie if I could use the photos of her handmade soaps along with my product reviews, she said yes. So, while submitting three different articles concerning the subject, I added the photo per each and then gave due credit and a link back.
I had seen that other writers had added links back to a site they were giving due credit too. I thought I was doing the right thing, since at the time the TOS did not say anything about using the photos of others and not giving credit or a link back. I thought I was doing the proper thing by adding the credit and link for the photo use on the Factoidz site.
Also, there are or were articles by other freelance writers on Factoidz that would discuss a subject and then provide links to some of their other articles on the Factoidz site that were relevant to the subject. Apparently, when I did this, Mike didn’t want me too; however, while conversing with me about this, he did not say to me, “Do not place links for photo credit and do not place links to your other articles“. Although, there are many others who were adding the same types of links to their articles. While trying to talk with Mike Quoc, I find him to be shady in his way of wording his communications; he causes confusion while conversing. And then will not answer after confusing you, which unfortunately leads to negative feelings or thoughts on the matter. Perhaps, this is just his way of being able to slip around and turn things around on you while trying to talk or work something out. I do not know, I have tried figuring this out on my own but am still confused. I would be interested in knowing his birthday, that might help me figure out why he acts like this…
Now, he will tell you, or he told me that I had received four warnings. I will tell you this is a lie.
Not once, did I receive any type of official warning and if I did, I never realized it, since there is not means of official warning that I am aware of and with his words, he is confusing. There was never, ever an email with a Warning message of subject title, which is how I would imagine that other reputable websites might use. So, if he did warn me 4 times, I never knew that is what they were. So, I still stand on the comment that it is not true and this is a lie.
I am a good team player when everyone is playing by the rules. Most of the time I am quite charming and flexible. Changing the rules to cover your own self and interests without regard to those who are working by writing and then driving traffic to a site is a bad game play.
I am not someone who goes around making trouble or doing my best not to follow the rules. I think
It's like a Ponzi scheme. It worked in the beginning I'm told - $4.00 to $10.00 for 1000 views - then it changed and changed to "up to $10.00 for 1000 views but it depends on content, SEO, and other BS that no one knows. It appears they have 'favorites'. Most writers say they get between $.50 to $1.00 for 1000 views. No one answers questions, they took out the community forum and squelch communication; if you ask questions they censor you by taking away your messaging and comments. If you ask why, they demote you to Member - and guess what? They keep ALL your residuals. It said in a webpage on writing sites that 'if no one talks to you in an email or person in a couple of months' it is a red flag to not write there. The turnover is fast and new unsuspecting writers come in thinking it will be good and it is bad - very, very bad. They are supposed to be investigated - maybe things will improve. Where is the ACLU?
Valory, I am so glad you shared your story. My own personal experience is of the same result.
My account has been downgraded to that of a member (instead of a writer) and I no longer earn a single cent from my published articles. But of course someone is.
And the members forum has been closed down. So now he doesn't have to be annoyed by people asking uncomfortable questions.
You and I aren't only persons saying it. There are others who have experienced or witnessed what has happened. It's one big online con job.
You are most welcome darkside. Freelance writers need to know that Factoidz is cheating people while constantly changing their TOS to suit their mood or financial needs.
Right now, I'm ready to start talking to anyone who will listen, Google, Yahoo, Bing, NBC, CBS, Fox, Oprah, Ellen DeGeneres, and any interested Writer Advocate or anyone else for that matter and I will use SEO to do so.
I'm not sure what Fz is thinking, but I do not think the world wants to know that he is cheating not only hard working freelance writers, but small Hurricane Katrina Victims as well.
If there is some type of investigation, I have screen shots of my dashboard showing the inconsistency of view counts. And I'd be happy to offer any information I know or have to help make this right!
Again, thank you darkside for exposing this to the online world, you have done a good thing to protect others!
Sara, I've enabled the contact link in my profile now. Email me. We need to talk.
I received the following information from Dustin LaBarge, the writer who has attracted more page views than any other on the site at about 822,371 (pulled off of his profile page at http://factoidz.com/profile/dlabarge/ at approximately 11:34 AM 29SEP2010). I am presenting facts and hard numbers here, not impressions. The following is NOT intended to be a defense of or an assault against Factoidz, but merely to relate the earning statistics that writer Dustin LaBarge gave to me. If you desire to confirm any of this information, you can send an e-mail to him at xcdustin@gmail.com.
The following is a direct quote from an e-mail sent to me by Dustin yesterday, 28SEP10:
"I will be passing over the 820,000 page view mark sometime tomorrow. I joined this site at the end of February of this year. As of today, I have earned (and received in my PayPal account) a total of $236.33 from Factoidz. The simple answer is that Factoidz has paid me a grand total of 34.7 cents per 1000 views since I joined them (you can achieve the same answer by dividing 820,000 by 23,633).
As of today, I have 233 articles published, with 105 achieving a Medium, 6 getting a High rating, and the remaining 122 achieving a low rating. By comparing these numbers and my earnings to the TOS, one can see that the result is only marginally consistent.
Factoidz has paid the money that it has claimed to owe me each and every month I have been a member, with the exception of last month. Recently, Factoidz introduced an "Activity Bonus," and this feature did not perform as advertised last month. I will be happy to tell you if it does this month."
Those were the contents of Mr. LaBarge's e-mail. I took the liberty of copying the following text from the terms of service at http://factoidz.com/help/seo-rank-faq.php.
"While the specific payout rates will fluctuate, in general, a High SEO Rank article will earn approximately $2.00 to $4.00 per 1,000 views and a Very High SEO Rank article will earn between $4.00 to $10.00 per 1,000 views. Med ranking articles generally earn $0.50 to $2.00 per 1,000 views, and Low ranking articles earn less than $0.50 per 1,000 views. Our system is designed to give outsized rewards to high-ranking articles and to authors who consistently produce pieces that rank well. In other words, a few hits can carry your earnings each month - so your time is best spent focusing on a few great pieces rather than publishing a high quantity of work."
It would perhaps be more helpful in the future to publish specific numbers. I hope Mr. LaBarge will not mind my volunteering his information, but others might find their comments more credible if they are accompanied by hard data. Any questions and responses to my post are welcome. Using the previous information, I invite you to judge for yourself the validity of the Factoidz site.
I will note that Dustin, is an avid writer and promoter of his articles, the reason for his high views. It would seem that Factoidz would reward Dustin with more cash for all the traffic and views he brings to the site. Others have had over 100,000 views and they, too, brought in from 34 cents to 50 cents for 1,000 views.
In Factoidz' original TOS, it was quoted as payment of $4.00 to 10.00 for 1,000 views. Then it went to 'up to $10.00 for 1,000 views' based on new TOS terms of SEO words, high quality content and search ranking.
Someone {(?) it is never revealed or answered} ranks them and you can go from V. High to Med in a short period of time - sometimes immediately. And your pay is decreased. Someone {?} judges 'high-quality' content and that, too, is never explained or answered. And your pay is cents. No one ever answers emails or comments - so it is wondered who does this.
Factoidz claims it has 'experts' - their writers - who answer questions -in a Q&A Forum - but they are not credited experts, but writers who have submitted 20 articles and in some cases Factoidz new members answer questions who have written no articles and no one knows anything about them, but their names and they are obvious fabricated names. They are experts?
Since Factoidz' communication is none-existent, they don't answer any emails and they do not respond to writers' pleas to explain the earnings. Factoidz instead chose to 'censor' the writers by either demoting them or deleting their messages in the now defunct forum. The new TOS says the writers should read the TOS and it is their responsibility to abide by them. If they don't, and abide by the ever-changing TOS, they are demoted to Factoidz Writer and if they ask why or want an explanation, they are demoted further to Member whereby members status writers no longer receive $$ on residuals - which was Factoidz' original draw to the writing community. Now Factoidz must keep the residual pay? Who else would get the money? Factoidz doesn't tell writers that in their TOS. It is unethical for a writing site to make rules, and say you have to abide by them and by doing so, you are approving them. Wrong. If writers have saved their receipts of unopened emails to Factoidz where the writers say they don't want to abide by those rules, then Factoidz has put themselves in a shaken corner where they don't communicate, don't listen, can't be reached, change their rules for their benefit, intimidate the writers to not 'make waves', delete their comments, demote them and then reap the benefits when they collect all the member's residual monies. This site needs to be investigated for exploiting writers with unfair business practices.
Hi Dustin, you can add these numbers to mine if you like, I created all this traffic to the Factoidz site, since you ask for some numbers, these are what I will offer you.
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Very helpful info on Factoidz! I just became a writer but have not submitted any articles and am now inclined to simply forget it! Please post any new information, folks!
Loxxy, publishing at Factoidz is the worst thing you could possibly do.
Unfortunately it's not the kind of site where you can read the ToS and skim through the forum and have a good idea of how well (or how badly) its being run. As the ToS is often out of date because the rules get changed, and the forums... well Mike Quoc deletes every thread that has the slightest hint of questioning and as that little adventure in censorship must have been too effort for him to keep up, he just deleted the whole members forum anyway.
I know of quite a few who still have articles up but he downgraded the accounts from Writer to Member so they no longer get any revenue. But they'd still be earning, just that he gets to keep the money for himself.
Why are we all letting this snake Mick Quac screw us over? Lets grow a goddamn backbone and pay him a visit at his house. He will not get away with this, at least not as long as my articles are up. He must leave his house sometimes, and I imagine one of those times he does, he will be met by people he has screwed over. Man he has got some balls, but people like this always get theirs. It's just a matter of time.
I just found this in Google search, it is something brand new, just a few weeks old, a covering of butt no doubt.
http://www.bbb.org/greater-san-francisco/business-
However, with the increase of the amount of voices of objection to the BBB site will make a significant mark against whatever is on there now.
Also, you can contact not only the BBB, but the
American Civil Liberties Union
California Attorney General Website
http://www.dca.ca.gov/publications/guide/comptable
Here is a Sample of Compliaint Letter for the site above
http://www.dca.ca.gov/publications/guide/complain.
I'd recommend all the Factoidz writers who find themselves in this situation to contact every resource available to them.
Took a peek at the BBB information for Factoidz. Not content to lie elsewhere,even this information isn't accurate: first of all, how can your title be "CEO" when the business is a "sole proprietorship"--then, I note that although a California address is shown, the company is a NEVADA LLC. The TOS specifies San Francisco as the venue for legal issues, but the Attorney General of CA isn't going to have much to say about how a Nevada LLC is run.
Haven't received payment from Factoidz yet, as I have only been there for 3 weeks. But it is the only site I know where you can make $40 in the first three weeks (take me for example).
One more thing, you get around $.70 per 1000pvs but also receive perks called Activity Bonus for publishing and marketing your articles and that way should make around $7 per 1000PVs (as in my case)
Ne1 who has written for Suite101 should not have an issue with the Factoidz editorial system.
Anish, let us know how you go in 12 months time if you've had a problem and try and get answers.
And if you do have a problem, be sure to stop by the Forum: http://factoidz.com/user-forum/
Oh no, wait, it says "Oops! The Help Forum is temporarily down for maintenance."
And temporary seems to be a looooong time at Factoidz world.
Just the facts, sir. Thanks for the review.
Hey all, I've written with Factoidz since Dec 2008 and haven't had any issues. They did change their system a lot, they used to use Adsense now they pay by Paypal, and I think that caused some issues for some. They moved their forum to http://factoidz.com/forum/.
Natasha, if I were you I'd be thankful. Because as soon as you have a problem or a question, that's when you find out that the one man band isn't all that keen on communication.
And the changes have been ridiculous. Why? Because it's akin to moving the goalposts. A change is made to the Terms, though Mike Quoc didn't update the Terms that everyone could see (the original Terms of Service having been stolen from this very site, the dufus forgot to change the office address) and then somehow we're supposed to know this?
And the forum has not been moved, it's a different forum. This one http://factoidz.com/user-forum/ was where contributors could discuss things. Where posts and whole threads would go missing, because people asked questions he didn't like or disagreed with changes (and quite civilly I might add). He shut down the forum and for a long time it said that it was "temporarily" offline. Now it just redirects to the front page.
This is the fishiest writing site outside the ocean - Been ripped off and feel stupid for writing as many articles as I did before I saw the dupe- now I only hope nobody reads what I wrote. Buyer (writer) beware of Factoidz
Hi Darkside, just leaving a link for anyone trying to do more research on this situation
More voices crying out to be heard.
of course i read some articles and i wonder some have more than 100 articles then demoted to become members.that truly unfair. some writer need to come out in the open for a writer the right to freedom of expression must come to tell the truth not conceit a site which steal writer articles..and the moderation process is turtle now days..
And now Factoidz stoops to Slander!
Anyone else being slandered by Factoidz?
Or am I just the biggest loud mouth right now and they are picking on me because of the attention?
Updated:
http://seekyt.com/website-review-factoidz-the-expe
I am curious though, why would Mike Quoc of the Factiodz scam make me an offer to come back if I ever did those things they are saying I did?
Good website owners will not offer to have a scammer come back to his site and never have to write another word for his site, so what is up with that?
Do you think an honest webmaster would ask a scammer to come back to his site?
Sounds like a scam. I wonder why they'd ruin their own business. If they don't scam people, they can continue doing business with many serious online writers. With what they did, many will just stay away from their site.
You're spot on the money there BeatsMe.
Obviously not a long term strategy. And strengthens my theory that some people are just predisposed to being scammers. The types of people if they did actually make an effort to go legit would be very successful, but they can't keep from screwing people over. It's hardwired into their nature.
...and the story deepens as Factoidz cohort tampers with my Yahoo Buzz Up account. You can read the message sent to various Yahoo twitter accounts in hopes of there actually being an honest person behind those twitter user names.
http://www.twitlonger.com/show/9tudrq
...and here is an edit reply, because I wanted the message to Yahoo! to be crystal clear that they have a corporate employee that holds more loyalty to the owner of this business scam than he or she may hold for their position at Yahoo!
http://www.twitlonger.com/show/9u0jpk
After finding my Yahoo account tampered with by a yahoo employee, unless of course someone hacked Yahoo to get to my account, I decided that using http://twitter.com/ to send the message with better odds of the owners being alerted that their site has a trusty cohort of Mike Quoc's in their mists.
I Did Not want to take the chance of this important message to Yahoo! to be intercepted by a shady character. So, here it is for all the world to see!
Enjoy and please learn something from these real life experiences that freelance writers are trying to let you know about.
Help save some other poor work at home mom or work at home dad. Share these links you find with everyone on your social networks. Click those buttons people, please. Share honest info, since a lot of the info online concerning the factoidz scam is actively being hidden from you.
Can we say Bad Business Scam?
Can we say Censorship?
The next question is why and then for how much longer?
Click those network sharing buttons and help save a freelance writer today!
I did write for Factoidz, but was never very noticed. Never did make much money. Can't say I experienced anything "scammy" but after reading some of these posts, I decided I didn't need that mess on my already full plate.
Hi Darkside, I just want to make a note of the latest update on my blog.
http://seekyt.com/website-review-factoidz-the-expe
As of now, it seems that all my work has been removed for the second time from the offending site.
I'm thankful!
Thanks for the update!
I am not seeing dollars per 1000 views. Views earn a penny maybe a few pennies.
Bonuses for product comparisons etc, that are up to $10, or $20, etc end up being less than one-half of those amounts. If a comparison bonus is $10 max, expect to get paid $4-5 at best. The earnings continue to drop.
Great new article concerning the factoidz scam, but you need to check it out before it is deleted. Read, share and let others know before this info is gone...
Just a note to let you know the link above is no longer working to prevent the public from learning more about the truth behind the Factoidz scam owned by Mike Quoc. It stayed up for about 2 days before being hidden from public viewing. Clicking it now will only take you to the front page of the Factoidz scam...
I am a Factoidz victim. There are hundreds like me. It is definitely a ponzi scheme. It is the game of a single swindler. I was lured into the trap about a year ago.
The trap is set like this. There are a few writers of the site who are with the fraudster and they are given a share of the loot. The would tom tom their gain and new writers sign up. They would be paid higher than other sites and they would work more. When it reaches above 100 articles, the grab starts. First you may be demoted from a staff writer’s status to a writer’s. For this some fake violation may be alleged. Then you may be made just a member without any pay.
First the income will go up. Then it will stay for a month. Then it will begin to decline. Finally it will reach a few dollars or cents, virtually your content is stolen.
You cannot delete your content. If you delete it from each page. The thief will reload it. Even if you ask for an answer a hundred times, you will not get a reply.
When I reached 50 articles, I got nearly $50. So I worked hard and reached 80 and I got nearly $100. I was excited and in a few days I reached 100 and next pay was around $100. I was still excited and reached 250 within a month working most of my time. Then my payment came down to $60 dollars. I asked for an explanation. I was demoted to “writer”. I again wrote; a few of my articles were deleted and I was banned alleging a fake violation. I had raised the issue at the forum. Similar many other issues were alive at the forum and the stink was spreading. So the writers’ forum was shut down without any explanation. No I am placed as a writer with a monthly payout of around $4. I have repeatedly requested to delete my account and content. But no avail. The thief has stolen my 265 articles. All unique content. The initial payment lasted only for 2 to 3 months. A ponzi scheme.
A lot of victims have written about the story of the thief at several online forums. Now to escape it he is writing on his own site in others’ names defending the site. Also he writes at many places on the Internet in others’ names to defend the site. You must read this link http://thissitetaken.weebly.com/mike-quoc-creator-
Other link for further research on the factoidz scam
-http://seekyt.com/website-review-factoidz-the-expe
http://soni2006.hubpages.com/hub/why-it-is-believe
Wow, I am so happy I searched this subject on HubPages before I tried out this particular site. Your article and the comments have really given me pause. And for that I am grateful. Thanks to everyone who shared your experiences!
Duchess, and others, Factoidz is a Ponzi. Quac bathes in the money he rips off. His Shills, poor sick animals, aren't as vociferious as before.
I have a positive experience with Factoidz and have been writing for the site since Jan 2010. Factoidz is indeed the best paying website on the internet. I get my highest earnings from factoidz. And with the new activity bonus the earnings have increased a lot. I have come across many people complaining but in reality if you stick to factoidz and write regularly you can indeed make a decent amount monthly. I have expereince with helium, triond, bukisa and many other writing websites but to me Factoidz is the top writing website.
Ruby, what you have written is NOT TRUE. Factoidz is a Ponzi. You may, unwittingly, have been made one of Quac's shills, to run around and claim how wonderful the site is.
The vast MAJORITY of writers WILL be ripped off. They will have their earnings plummet, or they will be locked out of the site.
If you read all the posts, esp. Darkside, you will have a very accurate portrait; first elation and lots of $$, then rejection, drop in earnings, then...lock out.
Any website that is large enough will have a few disgruntled people..
I am a proud writer on the Factoidz website and personally prefer it to any other out there!
Censor much?
I am convinced now that Darkside is not credible.
My comment about Factoidz was deleted.
Darkside.. please do not stop us from simply telling the truth about our experience at Factoidz.. it is better than any other site and I stand by it!
So I'm not credible because you are unable to understand the message "Your comment has been submitted. However, it may not appear until it has been approved by the author." after you've made your post?
I am on the fence about Factoidz, I have several good writing friends who are long time writers with the site, and they have said great things about it and recommended it to me. Now that I read this discussion I'm a little confused and concerned.
Another point of confusion: when researching Factoidz I investigated their history with the Better Business Bureau they have an A- rating, and when I looked there were no reports of anyone having issues with the site. Why haven't people here taken steps to protect other writers and report your problems to the BBB? If you just report it, it would show up at least, and be a signal to other writers (many look up the BBB record before signing up).
I'm going to ask some more people and see what they say...
Beware of Knoji. Different name, same sinister owner.
knoji.com is a wolf dressed up in sheeps clothing.
Many of those who posted 18 months ago gushing about Factoidz are now complaining because the same knife stick sheep, stick goat.
The policy at Factoidz has been, for the past two years, to get about 100 good articles from a user, paying a bit more than other sites, then drop them to member, confiscate their articles, use the revenue those articles generate to play the shills and to top up new writers accounts.
Due to the various LAW SUITS Quoc has changed the name of Factoidz to Knoji. He hopes to fool the public into joining what is Factoidz; a copyright eating ponzi scheme.
Re: Factoidz, now doing business as Knoji.com has transferred my articles to their new site after I repeatedly ask them to be deleted from Factoidz. I own these aticles, not Factoidz nor Knoji; they are copyrighted and used on my own website. People write me that Factoidz-Knoji is plagiarizing my articles. I do not get attribution, payment, or a profile on Factoidz or Knoji - it says the author - who is me and un-named, has 0 articles 0 votes 0 followers when in fact I have and had over 100 articles, over 200,000 views and 257 followers. If Factoidz a/k/a Knoji does not remove ALL my artiicles I will continue to write on Facebook these injustices by singling me out and not others on their site(s). I will continue to give attention to this matter until it is taken care of until Mike Quoc deletes my articles and anything that has to do with me on this this site. That includes putting them under another name like you've done to others in the past and still do. That is major corruption. I never signed anything or agreed to the terms that this site continually changed. I stand by the original terms which they have breached. My titled articles are googled right to Factoidz/Knoji(F-K) and still have advertisers on them which means F-K are receiving income on them, income I never received as stated in original TOS. I will be the first negative on Knoji's Better Business site and issue a statement on Google that I am the owner of these articles and not you. I trust you will do the right thing and delete all mention of my name and all of my articles as you have done for past Factoidz/Knoji writers and I expect the same consideration for me.
There is a spreadsheet circulating of all the many, writers who have been wronged by this website. They were never told why they are 'cut' off and their articles are still being published by them. Many of them have the original TOS which states they will receive future remuneration for their articles. The TOS have been changed many times without notice and/or these writers agreeing to them. Once you write for them, they will demote you, never contact you personally to tell you why, will ban you from the site and your statistics, not allow you to update, delete or change your articles and use your breached copyrighted articles for their monetary purposes.
BTW...The Factoidz/Knoji Shills are out! One has used the nick Hellen and another Martin and left an email address..Ride@ymail.com.
Can you believe these jerks?
I started with Factoidz and then it went to Knoji for less than 5 months I have published over 300 articles and all of a sudden I got suspended because my articles did not meet their editorial standards. I have over 85,000 views and I have made less than a dollar on my views. I also write articles for 2 newspapers and 3 magazines so I know I can write. I also have a degree in journalism. They do not know this. I love to write so am looking for a site I can publish animal and travel articles on. I also like to submit recipes.
I agree with you the site is getting bad and there is no support for the writers. It was a good site so I really hope they get thing fixed. They have tightened up their requirements on publishing that you will have to be a professional.
Lydia, it won't get fixed.
It is run and always has been run by a very corrupt individual.
300 articles and a poor excuse that you did not meet up to their editorial standards. If you didn't, then there shouldn't be a problem with those articles being deleted from Knoji. But no, Mike Quoc will continue to benefit and earn from them, while you do not.
Even if you did get a dribble of money thrown your way, you'd still not be earning what those articles are worth. He'll always be the one making the most money, and unfortunately due to his greed, he wants 100% rather than the 99% he was making off it when you were able to contribute.
May I suggest you check out this hub: http://hubpages.com/hub/zujava for a site that won't rip you off. Or even get started here at hubpages: http://hubpages.com/hub/howhubworks
The Shills have fallen a bit quieter since Factoidz became Knoji. Firstly, the Cockup at Factoidz had the advisory going out to Members not to Staff WRiters. Secondly, Knoji is joke. It gives an activity 'bonus' of 30c and the articles are of very very low quality.
dohn121 Level 3 Commenter 2 years ago
Wow! Thanks, Darkside for writing this hub! I don't think I would've learned about it were it not for you. I'm really interested to see how well you do...Maybe I'll do a couple (3-5) to start. I really like the quick payout every month. Awesome info.