Helium.com has created a very different website model. Anyone can create an account on Helium.com and post articles under a wide range of subjects. Many people write articles to the same topic. These articles are peer rated for quality. The best articles, like helium, should rise to the top. The worst should sink to the bottom. The best Helium writers make money from their online traffic. Unfortunately, the site doesn't really work the way they say it does.
Having been an active member of Helium.com for nearly a year now, I have noticed serious problems with the site. A recent promotion has brought these difficulties to a head.
Helium is now promoting its Rewarda-thon, which permits its users to be paid for all articles submitted between January 7 and April 15, 2008, so long as all conditions are met. The author must have at least one writing star, and three rating stars by tax time in order to qualify for payment.
While I found it surprisingly easy to gain three writing stars, the rating stars have been elusive. Helium apparently has an algorithm which can judge the "quality" of a Helium member's rating. This algorithm is a carefully guarded secret, and no one on the Helium site seems to have cracked the code. You can gain rating stars with amazing rapidity, and then lose them just as quickly.
I began rating a tremendous number of articles several weeks ago, and saw my rating stars shoot up to 5. Apparently I was supposed to rate 500 articles before I could get a 5 star rating, yet I was sure I hadn't rated that many.
Then I began to post to the Helium Marketplace, which is a place where Helium members can compete to sell their work for a higher price. The average payment on the Marketplace is $40. On Helium, rating more articles increases the chances that your articles will get rated. So I began rating more to increase the rating and exposure of my Marketplace articles. However, the more I rated, the more my stars went down. Presently I only have two rating stars despite having spent hours rating hundreds of articles.
Having been an active member of Helium.com for nearly a year now, I have noticed serious problems with the site. A recent promotion has brought these difficulties to a head.
Helium is now promoting its Rewarda-thon, which permits its users to be paid for all articles submitted between January 7 and April 15, 2008, so long as all conditions are met. The author must have at least one writing star, and three rating stars by tax time in order to qualify for payment.
While I found it surprisingly easy to gain three writing stars, the rating stars have been elusive. Helium apparently has an algorithm which can judge the "quality" of a Helium member's rating. This algorithm is a carefully guarded secret, and no one on the Helium site seems to have cracked the code. You can gain rating stars with amazing rapidity, and then lose them just as quickly.
I began rating a tremendous number of articles several weeks ago, and saw my rating stars shoot up to 5. Apparently I was supposed to rate 500 articles before I could get a 5 star rating, yet I was sure I hadn't rated that many.
Then I began to post to the Helium Marketplace, which is a place where Helium members can compete to sell their work for a higher price. The average payment on the Marketplace is $40. On Helium, rating more articles increases the chances that your articles will get rated. So I began rating more to increase the rating and exposure of my Marketplace articles. However, the more I rated, the more my stars went down. Presently I only have two rating stars despite having spent hours rating hundreds of articles.
A closely guarded algorithm on Helium.com judges a rater's quality. If you don't rate according to its secret formula, you will lose rating stars.
Comments
Helium fugitive
(Guest)
(Guest)
12/14/2009
Helium is a disgrace. Articles are censored, forums are censored and members are treated badly by the snooty stewards. I also suspect that Helium takes a far larger cut of the site's income for itself than other similar, but better, places. In addition, most articles are written blandly and unimaginatively, like school essays.
I don't believe that Helium is a scam. I do believe, though, that they offer writers a very bad deal. They lure writers in with promises of winning "Rewardathons" without giving them an inkling of just how hard it's going to be. Right now they have another Rewardathon going. Writers with five stars might get three dollars an article if they can get three rating stars by the deadline. Well, that's just not fair. You can't control how many stars you have. If you're going to pay somebody for a service, you should just pay them. Saying that they "might" get paid for their incredible efforts "if" these conditions are met is unfair and insulting.
Sara
(Guest)
(Guest)
08/19/2008
My personal feeling is that Helium is a scam. It is site that abuses writers. It is akin to a sweat shop. It takes far too long to acquire payment, and writing and rating stars are withdrawn seemingly on a whim.
In addition,Helium's contract continually morphs and the original agreement writer's signed changes so often that it is impossible to keep up.
Perhaps people can contact the Massachusetts state attorney general's office to file a complaint. If enough people do so, the site may be shut down.
Hi, folks. Just a follow-up. I did eventually get my third rating star back, and earned a fourth to boot. However, it required incredible amounts of time and perseverence. I earned $445 from the rewardathon, and also made some money on the Helium marketplace. I'm not sure, though, whether it was worth the time spent. I have made quite a few sales on the Helium marketplace, but I find that you can end up writing a tremendous number of articles which don't sell. I have switched to writing almost exclusively for eHow through Demand Studios, which pays a practically guaranteed $15 per article to approved writers as long as they follow the guidelines. You must apply to them, send them a resume and a sample of your writing. My husband is writing for them now as well, so we're making a lot more money.
Candy Girl
(Guest)
(Guest)
05/15/2008
Helium should be sued for false advertising. They promise the world to the writers, then undermine them with sneaky tactics to make sure the writers don't earn their money. If we all ban together we could get a class-action law suit. Enough is enough, they should be held accountable for their actions.
I joined Helium when I joined AC and have to admit that I like AC more. Helium is just different and I feel better writing for AC. Although the money I made from the Reward-A-Thon was nice.
Sandy
(Guest)
(Guest)
04/16/2008
Possibly Mr.Ranalli doesn't realize that some of his own staff are pulling the rug under him or -shall I say- behind his back.
Mr. Ranalli is well-respected widely for his brilliant idea and the way he nurtured it.
So as CEO, he need not be in the know of what is happening. He cannot be there 24 hours to keep an eye on his errant staff.
But without the help of some of his conniving staff, the small chosen coterie of writers who spend most of the time chatting on the message board could not have cornered most of the external publisher contracts.
Because, all those articles needed lengthy research, the cronies of the staff, who spent most of the time networking in the chatroom couldn't have done the writing and editing of too many articles in too short time while they chatted online all the time.
That only proves that some if not most hapless innocent lambs are being duped of their rightful pay for their work and are being told their works are not selected. Innocent nonf
Thank you for writing this, Helium certainly baffles me as well.
Oh, and I did want to mention that no, I did not panic and stop rating. I am consistently rating in a responsible manner every single day. I've even slowed down my rating even though probably it isn't necessary. The unfortunate fact is that many of the articles on Helium are very poorly written and I can tell in a second that they need to be rated down in relation to the other article. I will continue to rate every single day. If I lose that money, it will be through no fault of my own.
Interesting article Jennifer. :-)
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