The downside of Pay-For-Content Platforms. 

The downside of Pay-For-Content Platforms. 

Over the years, I have joined several pay-for-content platforms. The first one was REDGAGE.COM, where I have met a lot of content creators and photographers. Sadly they have stopped paying for years. I think some of them are also here.

I joined several other similar sites. Most of them were good payers, unfortunately, most of them folded for different reasons. 

But this pay-per-content that I have joined has one thing in common. A downside to almost any pay-per-content platform. They are plagued by cheaters who want to earn more than their fair share of the revenues. 

Hello, readers. This is John once again. And this is my post for the Writing Prompt No 6 by @JonicaBradley with the topic: Cheating. 

When I first saw the post, I thought I would pass this time. But when I read through the article, an idea popped up. So, I decided to jump in. 

At the time though, I was finishing up my previous post - How Do You Plan To Spend Or Save Your BCH Earnings?

As I was reading some of the titles for this writing prompt (and they are numerous, I got more ideas regarding this subject. 

Anyways, let's proceed to my topic. 

Cheaters in the Paying Platforms

Paying Platforms always attract the kind of people who would try to cheat their way to earn more and quickly. 

And they have different schemes for doing it. 

I will discuss the most common ones. 

• Different Spamming methods

• Stolen or Plagiarized content

• Exclusive Group support

• Multiple accounts using VPN

Disclaimer & Precaution

Before I continue explaining these cheating methods individually, I want to emphasize that the information I will share here is purely based on my observations. 

These are already probably known by most platform admins. Never try doing any of these on any paying sites or you run the risk of losing your accounts and earnings.

Different Spamming methods

Perhaps this is the biggest drawback in any paying site. It attracts gazillions of spammers. And perhaps the easiest and most popular cheating method.

I have already defined spamming in my post 'What you should know about spamming, plagiarism, and copyright violation'

Spam - unsolicited usually commercial messages (such as emails, text messages, or Internet postings) sent to a large number of recipients or posted in a large number of places.

Source:-https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/spam

Let's classify the spammers into two.

• Content spammers

• Comment spammers

Content Spam

A common form is, for each content, the user will ask you to comment, like, and share his/her with a promise that he/she will do the same.

In NoiseCash, another common form is, the spammer will post that a giveaway will be given to a random user. To qualify, the viewer must comment on a certain word or phrase, like the post, and renoise (repost). Before the system was revised, some users would ask for tips.

Comment Spam

This was rampant in almost, if not all, paying sites.

Sub-for-sub or follow-for-follow, rate-for-rate, like-for-like, and other similar comments. Instead of giving valuable comments about the post, spammers would beg you to return the favor.

Some would say something like: 

"I liked your post, now like mine"

Or

"I subscribed to you now your turn!"

Me? I would respond by blocking or reporting the spammer or do both.

One (or Two) Word Comment Spam. NoiseCash admin calls this 'Brainless' comment. I think they doing this simply to get the attention of the other users. Spammers would comment:

• Nice

• Beautiful

• Great photo.

On every post.

I admit, sometimes I leave two or three words comments. But only occasionally.

Unrelated Comments. Here are some examples:

"I love the photo dear, the scene is really beautiful. Thanks for sharing this".  

Looks like a legit comment, right? But this was posted on one of my drawing posts.

In my article 'What you should know about spamming, plagiarism, and copyright violation', I called this Creative Comment Spam

Why is spamming a form of cheating?

Spamming doesn't add any value to the content of any platform. The users apply this method hoping to get more 'tips' or revenues from the platform quickly and easily.

And if this is not stopped by the admins, the platform will be filled with nothing but spammy content and will surely discourage legitimate content creators.

In one platform, we called them 'spamocalypse tsumbies!'

Stolen and Plagiarized Content

This is still rampant and the most disgusting form of cheating in any pay-for-content platform.

Cheaters will copy and paste information and images from the Internet and post them as their own. And they would expect to earn from doing that.

Plagiarism is an act or instance of using or closely imitating the language and thoughts of another author without authorization and the representation of that author's work as one's own, as by not crediting the original author.

https://www.dictionary.com/browse/plagiarism 

By this definition, if you copy and paste the content, in part or the whole, and post it as your content, that is plagiarism. EVEN IF you specify the source but you don't have the authority or consent of the original author, and you don't add any thoughts of your own, that is still plagiarism.

Also, even if you rephrase, scramble the sentences and paragraphs, and post them as your work, that is still plagiarism.

Using photos taken from the Internet and making it as your main content is just as bad. Or could even be worse.

Some photos are copyrighted and the owner can sue you for using hi/her picture without authorization.

Exclusive Group Support

I have seen this at work in Bubblews and Steemit and on other platforms. Some users will form a group. When a member uploads a post, the other group members will like, comment, 'tip', rate or do anything that will generate income for that post.

I remember seeing a photo in Steemit that earned more than a thousand dollars ( or was it steem dollars?).

Anyways, this form of cheating is guaranteed will bleed any platform dry. I think this is what happened to Bubblews.

Multiple Accounts Using VPN

This is used by tech-savvy cheaters. They use Virtual Private Network (VPN) tools to give their IP address. With VPN, the users can create new accounts as if from a different rental location, pretending to be a different person not related to the original account.

This is used to create fake 'referral' accounts.

When the 'fake' accounts earn, the referring account earns an additional commission if the platform has a referral system.

Or the fake accounts can be used in several ways to generate income for the main account.

There are other forms of cheating that I have observed. Some users do it intentionally. Some, however, are just doing it because 'everybody else is docility.

In Conclusion

Cheating on any paying platform may be a way to earn quick money. But there are two long-term undesirable effects.

• You will get caught and your IP will be banned. This, you will lose your source of income.

• The platform will financially bleed out and shut down. Again, you will lose your source of income and the other legitimate users as well.

Let me close this post with an old idiom:

" Never bite the hand that feeds you"

Thanks For Reading

How about you? What are your thoughts on Cheating?

Join the Writing Prompt No 6: Cheating

The rules are simple.

• Write about questions

• Write 100% original content

• Write at least 600 words

• Tag @JonicaBradley

Have fun!

• Check out my other posts in Read.Cash

• Check out my other Articles in Publish0x.com

• Join me in ForumCoin.Com *

• Follow me in Noise.cash

• Follow me in Twitter