P.T. Barnum was right

[conradd]

and so far, 115 suckers have signed up. I received an e-mail tonight from www.pearlsoup.com with an invitation to become a writer on their site. I'm not sure how they got my name, but the e-mail listed the benefits of sharing my wisdom with a captivated audience, improve the lives of countless others, and gaining the respect of the community by reading, rating, and commenting on the pearls that others post.

There's no money involved. They are recruiting amateur authors (I can't imagine any professional - or anyone with a grain of common sense, for that matter - giving this a second glance) who are willing to write in return for "community support points". There are 4 levels of recognition: visitor, supporter, thinker, and philosopher.

It sounded very altruistic and high-minded . . . until I read the TOS.

By contributing or submitting pearls, message board postings, photographs, or any other Content, you automatically grant (or warrant that the owner of such rights has expressly granted) us an irrevocable, royalty-free, transferable and worldwide right and license to use, copy, modify, adapt, publish, translate, create derivative works from and sell and distribute such materials or incorporate such materials into any form, medium or technology without compensation to you. In addition, you warrant that all so-called moral rights in those materials have been waived. None of the materials shall be subject to any obligation of confidence on the part of PearlSoup.com.

LOL, what are my moral rights? At least Epinions gives me that shred of decency. What a nifty way to gather a critical mass of Chicken Soup type stories without having to bother with those pesky authors and royalties.

I may be an amateur, but I'm not ignorant. Don't think I'll be signing up any time soon.

Deb

[Joubert[$]]

I got one too - sent to my EA mail address. Since the only place I post that is here and back at Epinions, I guess they just ran the lists of users to create a distribution list.

[Grouch]

Yep. I got one, too.
Promptly stuffed it into the trashcan along with all the other garbage selling me miracle cream to enlarge my bust size (no thanks--not in the mood to go shopping for a manziere*).


*with apologies to Jerry Seinfeld

[juliette]

Is it just me, or does the interface on pearlsoup look kind of... familiar?

[emeleel]

Yep, you're right! It looks like very, very old Epinions.

So, what's the translation rate between Deweys and Pearls?

[theeye]

All right, call me a sucker. I just went over there and found several very nicely written "pearls". Nice enough that I decided to join and contributed about half a dozen or so ratings to them.

(See -- I really don't do it for the money. )

[juliette]

Originally posted by theeye
All right, call me a sucker... I decided to join...

Okay me too. Because I am a compulsive e-mail writer (hi Cindy!) I have a whole bunch of stuff that is appropriate to that site just sitting in a (huge) email archive file, or as I fondly call it: Stupid Stuff That Has Happened in My Stupid Life That I Just Can't Shut Up About.

I figure it could turn into one more way to drive traffic to my personal website, the wandering i...

[conradd]

I replied to the e-mail, explaining that I expected to retain rights to any material I might share and here's the response I received:

Dear Deb,

You are correct in your assessment of our member agreement. Websites cost money and time to produce. With our *non-exclusive* license to the work that authors are submitting, we are hoping someday to earn some income from the site, thereby allowing us to keep running it, preferably without any banner advertising, and perhaps without any advertising or sponsorships at all. Now that you have brought this to our attention, I can see that we should make our policy on this matter more prominent on the site.

We believe that we are creating value for the community of authors and readers who contribute to or read the site by creating free access to the submitted materials. We provide the tools for authors to write and publish, an audience, and a feedback channel. We have created a mechanism for the community to evaluate the contributions, so that readers can more easily find the high-quality work, and more easily benefit from the wisdom those stories contain. We sincerely wish to have a positive impact upon the world.

We hope that you will contribute your own wisdom, but if not, that is your choice. You have to make your own decision about whether you receive adequate value for your efforts. The value you will receive from PearlSoup as an author or as a reader is not directly financial, but we believe it is potentially substantial.

Sincerely,
Alexander Ismail

[kurt_messick]

I signed up -- at least they're not lying to me about the amount of money I'm going to make...

Of course, I have yet to write for them.

[jnbmoore]

Hey at least they pay better than this gem I got the other day

bold is mine:

A member of our staff saw your writings on writtenbyme.com and wanted to introduce you to a brand new Christian site called FaithWriters.com.

Unlike most sites for writers, FaithWriters.com is dedicated to providing only quality Christian content. There is no need to worry about filtering through material that would be offensive to you or any of your family members.

Our goal was to provide a simple user interface for Christian writers to effectively maintain and expand their writing career while contributing to a safe Christian environment. If you're not a serious writer, then you can develop and grow your very own online ministry that will be seen around the world!

As a member you can:

-Submit articles and view them online immediately.
-Contribute in any of 23 different Christian categories.
-Edit or delete articles at anytime.
-Track article readings, member comments, and ratings.
-Rate articles written by other members.
-One click selling option.
-Access growing list of Christian publishers.
-Learn tips and tricks to enhance your writing career.
-PLUS MUCH MORE...

FaithWriters.com made a decision to charge a small membership fee so that we can continue to develop the most comprehensive site for Christian writers and ministries on the web. The cost is only $5.95 per month! That's less than .20 cents per day! Why do we charge for membership? First, we have the ability and expertise to attract many more visitors to read your articles than you may be able to accomplish on your own. This is done through advertising and promotion at no additional cost to you! Second, many large and popular online communities have recently closed their virtual doors. This includes some well known writer's communities. With the downturn in the economy, it was just not possible for them to stay online. Most of them had a free service, grew rapidly, but could not keep up with the cost associated with running a thriving web based community. Give-aways and free promotions also took their toll on these companies. This trend is going to continue unless sites begin to charge a membership fee. Advertising revenue just does not work. Why put all of your hard work into a writer's community just to have it lost sometime down the road?

Our philosophy at FaithWriters is that it is better to stay in business with fewer members than to go out of business with a gigantic FREE membership base.

Please stop by and check out FaithWriters.com.
"The home for Christian Writers"
http://www.faithwriters.com/

God Bless,
Brian

[rich2003dm]

Well, excuuuuuuuuse me!

Am I the only one on Epinions who was not invited to join this place?

They must have read some of my stuff.

Damn, these folks must be good!

Rich

[realtraveller]

Yeah, I got this e-mail, read a few of the pearlsoup stories (which are watered down versions of Chicken Soup stories) and promptly deleted the message. How hard up do they think writers are to get us to spill our guts, spend hours of work only to give the work away to a business who will probably turn around and produce a line of little "pearlsoup" books at no cost to them?

[erik_kosberg]

Just call me Little Mr. Nitpicky, but P.T. Barnum didn’t coin the phrase that there was a sucker born every minute; David Hannum said it about people who were suckered by Barnum:
http://www.discovery.com/guides/hist...refbarnum.html

[conradd]

Thanks, Erik, isn't that just like Mr. Barnum?

I apologize for suggesting that anyone who signs up for the site is a sucker. At least they're honest about their plans to legally own all the work submitted - online, offline, in any media format - and to change it in any way they choose. And, they're a publisher, not a platform. I don't plan on signing up (even for a shot at the title of Philosopher) but I'll be interested in seeing how this plays out.

Deb

[jenninca]

Gee, that was just one of the many e-mails that I deleted without even opening a couple of days ago. Look at the opportunity I missed!

[kurt_messick]

I wonder what it means that I was never invited to join FaithWriters?

I'm a 'Thinker' on Pearldrop (or whatever it is) already, just by putting my picture and some biography information. Hmmmm....

[pluckyduck]

Well, I didn't get an invitation to PearlSoup and I didn't get an invitation to the site Bridgette was talking about either.



Clearly I'm not appreciated as either a Thinker or a person of Faith.

Fine. I'll just go review a toaster for .20 in IS. Apparently appliances pay more than faith or thought.

In Kitchenaid I trust,
Andrea

[jrk]

Apparently appliances pay more than faith or thought.

I've found that they do a much better job of browning bagels, too. :p

Being one of the suc . . . er . . . folks that signed up over at the Pearlywhatsit site, I was curious about the rankings. All I did was sign up, and yet I had more bonus points (or whatever it is they call them) than quite a few of the people who signed up before me. Must have something to do with my official rat # or something, huh?

I felt no inclination to donate any content. (Hey, I'm just not the warm, fuzzy type!) Thanks, Deb, for pointing out their lovely TOS. Now I only feel half-suckered.

[kurt_messick]

Ok, I stuck a few things up at Pearlywhites.com

A few papers I had from my first year of seminary (2-pg. reflection papers, very fluffy) and one little piece I penned just for them...

Nothing that I wouldn't mind be spread far and wide for whatever reason by whomever, and they'll never make a dime for anyone, I'm sure (although, come to think of it, I made some $$$ from these same papers at Themestream).

Pearlypearls doesn't seem to have an edit/delete function, either. So, I doubt I'll be putting lots and lots up there. Probably (as I did for TS) things I write for other venues, and things that just pop into my mind.

[jankp]

Well, I got the email about pearlsoup, but haven't checked it out. I'm too busy writing a play, reading, watching movies and reviewing for Epinions to even think about going to mouthshut or writing essays, too.

Jan

[rich2003dm]

I don't think folks should feel like suckers for joining this new place. (I haven't, but might in the future.)

It's all a matter of perspective.

Real writers, and by that I mean folks who already write for real money and not just a few pennies a month, would probably feel that way. But guys like me who have low expectations and just want to have some fun now have one more place to post their stuff. That goes for aspiring writers too, of which Epinions has many.

That's not too bad.

As it stands now, I can write for this new place for nothing, or for Epinions for next to nothing. Not much difference.

Place looks a little too touchy feely to me though.

Emotions!

Bah!

Real men don't have emotions.

We have needs, and itches in strange places, and gas; but not emotions.

Rich

[jankp]

Kurt, I'm surprised you didn't call it pearlygates.

Jan