Somehow it seems Entrecard Does Not Want OUR Drops – so with that said, we’re going to begin the exit process.  we hope that you understand why we’ll be pulling TWO of Our Blogs OUT Of Entrecard Before Christmas.

The Consistent Loss of drops and credits does not add up. neither does the lost time. the problem happens over and over.  randomly during the week we get these penalties and loose the drop day as well.

is this a new power move within the Entrecard Enforcement Strategy when you decide to monitor your paid ads ?

Ahhhhh YES ! Now We Know why this happened – we went into our dashboard and managed the invisible load of ads there were blocking the EC Paid Ads from showing on our widget. Think Back EC Bloggers, Did You Get an Announcement of Any Additional Ads Being Put onto Your Widget, or that you could Preview Them ?

When We Opened the Dashboard to look at the ads, There were 8 paid ads. you are only allowed to block 4 of them.  that means if you are paying for ads with EC’s;  you will be paying for very minimal visibility. At most you’ll get 1/5 of your ec paid impressions; because they are merged with the CASH ADS, NOW.

go test it for yourself and then you can see that this is not a game, nor is this a hoax. Entrecard has put up to 8 additional cards on your widget without your knowledge or the consideration of those who pay for EC Ads with EC’s Instead of Cash.

That’s What Made the Decision for Us Today – 9 ads on our widgets when we should have only been splitting the widget with two others

at first we missed it, but when we went back and noticed that we had such a glut of paid ads, blocking the EC Drop Paid Ad; we made the change and blocked out all except the required Four Ads.

In Case You Haven’t Noticed, some of the same ads were already preventing your EC Paid ads from being shown on widgets that were queued. to test it we refreshed the page up to 6 times to finally see Our EC Paid Ad, Last.

That Sucks

FYI This is a WHOLE NEW PENALTY FLAG

Check out the chart below copied directly from Entrecard’s Book

This Flag Does Not Appear Anywhere, in this list – but it cost us Again,

This is the First of these Penalties – from Two Weeks Ago -

we have alot of credits to spend on ads; and within the next month we’re going to be spending them and advertising even more than before – if we’re not removed before we can.

It seems like such a sorry strategy to block your biggest droppers from dropping, because they are technologically faster than you.  simply put, we use a drop list and we have always used the same list.

the entrecard servers hate drop lists because they can’t track you when you skip their toolbar.  that means you are a wild card to the system until you reach your dashboard, and reach 300 drops.  the system will ignore your drops in the toolbar, and that pisses the servers and apparently the security server scripts off.

Being a Good Blogger means more than dropping, which is why you find our comments all over the place; our notes on peoples dashboards, and lots of interaction within our circle.  we dont’ feel very confident with the rules in the present entrecard rulebook;  since it seems to grow weekly, without notice or need.  sort of like the new penalty flag’s.

Maybe it’s really time to look at what your time is worth, since apparently Entrecard doesn’t think it’s worth the time you spend clicking to Advertise.

Next Week we’ll be exploring Blogging Circles and Advertising Effectiveness; across our Three Blogs.  some posts will help to clarify the situation, since it seems to become muddier all the time.  Entrecard needs to mature and accept that Rules are Rules.  Basically,  if we have to live by them, then they shouldn’t change them daily, to support their point without consideration of their community.

That’s Just Too Much like Voodoo Jello to be good for anybody,

Check out the chart below copied directly from Entrecard’s Book

This New Penalty Flag Does Not Appear Anywhere, in this list – but it cost us Again,

Message	Meaning
Get One, Please login	These messages are shown when Entrecard believes that you haven’t logged in. Please go to entrecard.com and log in.
Thanks!	This message is shown when you have successfully dropped a card.
Go! Go!, Alright!, Wicked!, Yeehah!, Awesome!, *WOW*!	These messages are equivalent to Thanks!, they are shown at various numbers of drops per day.
Invalid	This message is shown when you have failed a security check, this can happen by accident once in a while, however if this happens to you regularly you should contact support.
300 per day	This message is what you get when you hit the 300 drops per day limit
600 per IP	This message is what you get when the IP address you are accessing from has dropped 600 cards in a day
Own card!	This is what you get when you try and drop on your own card
No Widget	This message indicates the Entrecard widget scanner does not believe this site has a widget. If you get this error while browsing, please send the URL of the site to phirate via PM.
No such user / Deleted	This message indicates the Entrecard account for this widget has been deleted
Cooldown X hrs	This message indicates that you have triggered security countermeasures. You will not be allowed to drop a card again until the cooldown period has finished (the counter will continue to update). If you have not done anything that should have gained the attention of the security system, please use the feedback form on your Dashboard and we will arrange a security reset. It is likely that you also received a Scripted Drop Penalty which removed credit from your account, this can be resolved as well.

UPDATE – 2:22PM MONDAY 10/19/2009, Please Read Below the Signature to see their plan to scalp us more, me Heartys.

the davy jones locker crack must have blasted the pirates pretty hard because they are now opening up Davy Jones Locker to YOU and I -

Shake You Down..

Why does that always happen when we get a mail from Entrecard?

Today is Music Monday so Check out the Jacksons ahead of your monday mornin scuttlebut; Me Mateys.  Get Up and Shake a Leg before we march ye to the plank..  Remember The Jacksons had a pirate too – JOE,, uh huh..

Ayyyyy Me Mateys – Here’s Our Subject Material from Entrecard’s Mistress Cindy

Adverts credit tax lowered from 75% to 50%

Posted: 17 Oct 2009 09:57 AM PDT

Hi everyone,

We have received some concerns regarding the high 75% tax deducted from the price to advertise on your blog. So for the next 3 months we will be lowering the tax rate to 50%. This means that you will receive 50% of the price it costs to advertise on your blog! The other 50% will be deleted from our system. This is effective as of today. After 3 months, if there are no major problems with the EC inflation, we will keep the tax rate at 50%.

Please continue to email us at support@entrecard.com if you have any problems or concerns. We would love to hear from you. All emails will be answered within 24 hours.

Cindy
Entrecard.com

Oooookay we’re going to try to stay on track and keep this as clear and concise as possible. What does she mean when she says :

After 3 months, if there are no major problems with the EC inflation, we will keep the tax rate at 50%.

They Dropped the Tax to 50 percent without addressing the other large piece of the puzzle, The Drop Bounty.

Yes the Drop Bounty,

many of you who were here before the change will remember that the drop system allowed you to get a drop and give a drop simultaneously. this encouraged return drops. it also built up advertising booty, which they realize and hope that we’ve forgotten. alas, we haven’t and neither have they. we shouldn’t be retrained in the middle of the deal, it’s so Scurvy

now when you drop - that’s what you get A Drop In The Bucket; With a Yo Ho Hoe – into a Dead Mans Chest ..

Co’mon saying somethng as inflamatory as this is certainly war bait from our point of view. we’re not military strategists, but we did read Sun Tzu and apparently this is War.  we’re economists and we can add and subtract easily, without the need of a calculator – Cindy, you took away one ec and that started the retraction and mass migration within days, literally.

They think that our drops should be just that A One Way System

the purpose of dropping and leaving a point for the person whom you dropped in on; was to encourage them to visit you and hopefully if they liked what you had going on, to advertise.  We Must Become Privateers if we expect to survive the keelhauling by these scallywags

under the present administration advertising has bottomed out to the lowest point in the entire history of entrecard. Aaargggg Me Mateys – people are hording their credits more than ever. mostly because of this  Dead Mans Chest policy..

this encourages people to do more one way drops; only as a way to accumulate a single point and to forget the time it takes to comment; or spend too much time on your blog. apparently one ec is just not enough incentive. maybe two weren’t really, but they certainly encouraged more return drops – and ad purchases.

Aye Matey, How’s Your Chest of Eight ? full of doubloons or just stamped with their jolly roger ?

Cindy Says: The other 50% will be deleted from our system.

Avast Fair Cindy !  As You Can See, with the entrecard economy bottoming out and members migrating away to other blog social networks; pretty soon the value of the ec will be undeterminable, because it, like the owners is pretty much Fluid.  just a buncha doubloon hunters,,

How can they expect to maintain any standard of an economy if there is no elasticity to encourage that free exchange of EC’s ?  there isn’t a contest or give away to be found anywhere in entrecard – after Martin cancelled his Million EC Give Away.

Why ? Simple -

The Pirates Claim they are Dumping Them from their chest, but where mateys are they dumping them ?

In Davy Jones Locker ?

for these Swashbucklers, that wouldn’t work to prove value to their advertisers… They Need those Pieces of Eight

In Case Ye Missed the Sweet Trade, These Buccanners have  ads being phased in which are clickable – but blogs, without ec widgets; we saw them this weekend. we’re Corsairs, so we click 900 times a day Ayyyeee..

the entire dynamic of their management style is just that Fluid. they pass through with the intention of leaving nothing; like a flying dutchman in the night; pillaging and sweeping up as much as possible. that is pure piracy.

Remember, Pirates Don’t Respect Anyone – Especially Individuals

Pirates function as profiteers – by plundering and pillaging. we can see now clearly that this is the pillage and plunder phase. keep that widget in place matey because trust us, there is a wisdom to riding out their rampage.

these sprogs don’t know what they have, yet we do. we are the basic value of entrecard. take away the Bloggers and What do you Have ?

A Ship Fulla YO HO HOES..

Shiver Me Timbers Mateys, now lets pull that wishbone, cause it’s soft and pliable and we know it’s not gonna snap. Pulllll it till it’s stringy. that’s the only way to dismantle this plundering. let them keep whittling away their worth, while we network and become stronger. we need eachother because WE Are Strong – Single Bloggers are just a joke to them; which is why they worded their announcement this way; scallywags.

so lets see through the fog mateys, I can feel the time is right for going  on the account; for a long winter. lets plunder and pillage their coffers more than ever.

Lest You Forget It’s US that They Got IT ALL FROM

Yes Me Mateys – We ARE THE TREASURE, AAARRRGGGGG !

UPDATE – 2:22PM MONDAY 10/19/2009

the davy jones locker crack must have blasted the pirates pretty hard because they are now opening up Davy Jones Locker to YOU and I -

Of Course it’s a RAW Deal – and Not A Square Deal – those are OUR POINTS. Why Would We Buy their Throw Aways -  Like We Asked, Where are they Dumping Them – Now We Know, Yo Ho Hoeeeeee,

Hi Entrecarders,

For a limited time only, we are lowering the price of our credit sale by 50%! Below are the new rates.
If you are interested in purchasing additional credits, please <a href=”http://entrecard.com/r/buy_credits“>login</a> to your dashboard and click on the “buy more” link on the top right hand corner.

4,000 credits  = $12
8,000 credits  = $23.20
16,000 credits = $44.80
32,000 credits = $84.40
64,000 credits = $166.40

Please note that this is a limited time only and prices can adjust back to the normal price anytime.
Thank you for being a valued member. Email support@entrecard.com if you have questions. All emails
are answered within 24 hours.

Cindy
Entrecard.com

Talkin out both sides of your mouth and you still ain’t sayin nothin, because whether you know it or not – the membership has spoken -

Pimpilicious – you are not Entrecard..

“The Wu Style is Mentally Strong”

Hello Entrecarders,

We just wanted to update everyone that the sponsor ads will be postponed for another week, until Oct. 5, 2009. When it is implemented, users will have the option to opt out of the sponsor ads program completely for a small fee. For just $50 a year, you can have your widget free of sponsor ads. We have provided this option for those of you who are concerned about the sponsor ads. Thank you for your support.

Now we get this $50.00 Hoe Ticket. that’s what it is and regardless of what they call it or how they try to dress it up – it’s a Hoe Ticket.

Why would they say this after less than two months of really bad changes in succession especially when they said “No To Paid Ads” ?

well it plays out like this kiddos, they have Money to Make and Pies to Bake !

Andrew.. ur ruh who ever this character in the Entredrama is; has decided that it’s time to take the gloves off and see how the entrecarders will react to his stiff hand technique. Personally I’m a big fan of Wu Tang and Kung Fu Flicks so I recognized it as “Stiff Hand” or in america “Pimp Hand” immediately.

The only remedy my Fellow Entrecarders is to either bow to the master and accept his “Pimp Hand Ticket”; or say that Your Wu Tang is Stronger and get busy in the dojo. we live at the dojo so you kno;

We know our Wu Tang is Quite Strong. So We’re going to see how they push their plan across the table on Oct 5th. We’ll continue to see the battle from the inside for as long as our hummer holds out. then we’re off to the bunker.

So What’s It Gonna Be Carders – The Pimp Hand Ticket or A Stronger Wu-Tang ?

Why Don’t You tell us what your plan is for the Entrewar,

The Entrecard Virus Season has started again – Oh Wait, when did it end ?

Has This Happened To You, Browsing and BAM a Pop Up ?

Queen Katherine has written on her blog about the latest round of “Virus Baiting – Thanks Pranks” as we like to call them.

there are widgets displaying Thanks as though they’ve been dropped on, even when they haven’t.  it’s caused mass confusion and havoc with lots of Entrecarders computers. many of these Entrecarders got the same virus that appears to be again making it’s rounds on Entrecard – by way of some very unscrupilous characters.

my statement to them is the same as it was the first time I made it ” If You Hate Bloggers So Much – Stop Blogging and and Get Out of Entrecard“.

now undoubtably someone with really sore little balls will see this and think I am specifically targeting them.  well Lil Balls, to quote my mentor Bob ” Jah Rastafari” Marley – “If The Cap Fits, Let them Wear It“.  so to you today We dedicate this post.

This is the Doctors Prescription for Entrecard Virus Protection :

If You’re In the Drive Through Lane – Click Here Fast

Check out Our Podcast of This Post, complete with a Bangin Reggae and Ska Soundtrack – Entrepod Has the Prescription

First Get Your Copy of these three free pieces of software -

1. Malwarebytes  Anti Malware Software
2. Ad Aware Anti Adware Software
3. Spy Sweeper Spybot  Remover Software

Next Take a Day Off of Entrecard -

Clean Up Your Computer;  Clean and Detrash Each Hard drive Separately.  then run Defrag to get your space back.

This Video will tell you HOW To Fix This Mess

Next Take a Good Look at your drop pattern – Seriously Doh,

is it consistent ? do you visit the same blogs daily ? if you have more than 150 blogs in your friends blogs list on entrecard, maybe it’s time to really look at what’s on those blogs that make them Your Favorites.

Somewhere in this list of Friends who drop consistently is a blog that somehow you enjoy, but maybe they don’t think the same of your blog.  Yes I’m speaking of “ Blog Envy”. many folks don’t admit it, but there are many blogs that we visit and wish that we were that popular; or our template was tweeked just so. yeah, I said it.  Blog Envy.

take a few minutes and look at those blogs you envy – what is it about that blog that makes you like it ? is it the design, the layout, the amount of interaction and comments ?  You’re  looking at your growth plan when you examine these elements.

Next take a look at your inbox and see who from this list of Blogs You Envy drops on you consistently.  this is what you want to assess. why do the folks who drop on you comeback ?  if you don’t know, drop them a comment or even a note and ask them – what keeps them coming back.

next look at those blogs in your drop list who consistently visit, but don’t update or comment – These Are The Problem Blogs – or as I call them the  Coverts who are covering up why they are visiting you and others regularly, without interacting.

there is one thing Entrecard needs to do – create a way to Block Drops from those who may have possibly been in some way a bad blog experience for you.  if Entrecard allowed this – do you think it would stop this Blog Envy and present the ability to really enjoy Entrecard for you ? I’d say YES.

there are clickfarmers still raping our blogs and many of them are doing it with bad intention. Entrecard still has not owned up to their part in enabling this behaviour. until they look at it as an abuse issue, instead of ignoring it – the problem  will only intensify.

My final bit of advice is to avoid blogs that offer you NO Interaction – No Comments, and nothing but using Your Blog as a source of credits.

Entrecard needs to mature in the sense that bloggers should be Respected. Blogs should also be given a fairer assessment in terms of credit value.

how can a blog which updated 3 months ago still be valued at 512 credits per day – when they have nothing to offer different than the last 89 days you saw it ? STUPID and one of the causes of Extreme Blog Envy.

Instead of asking for more realestate on blogs – Entrecard needs to learn to manage what space they have already on your blog more effectively. Do Not Allow a Blog which is more than 25% Ads INTO Entrecard – Simple.

if you are not a Blogger – Become an Advertiser. Stop Ruining the Blogging experience for so many others who consistently find time to write, interact and comment. those who’ve found friendship and like mindedness in bloggers who they visit daily, because they Enjoy The Writing and Experience, Not because they want to raise your bouncerate and devalue your blog by infecting it with a virus, on your return visit to them.

Courtesy is important, but Safety is Much More Relevant in this case

If You’ve dropped on me and I haven’t returned the drop – stop dropping on me. it’s because you aren’t writing about anything I find interesting. probably I’ve read your blog the first time you milked me, and felt the drop fever, not the love.  that means I won’t be back.

why not take the hint and be a good egg and find somewhere else to deposit your clicktrash like on a fellow clickfarmer.

Ever Think Maybe.  Entrecard needs to invent a category just for Clickfarmers

We think if they did, no one would willingly join it – but maybe if you were caught clickfarming or virusbaiting – you could be put there by fellow entrecarders; who would then know Who You Are and What You’ve Done.

Check out Our Podcast of This Post, complete with a Bangin Reggae and Ska Soundtrack – Entrepod  Has the Prescription

As SmartCarders, Isn’t it time We Started Dropping Smarter instead of  being Baited Harder ?

Lookie Cookie – the Referral Program at Entrecard has started

the program gives you 300 ec’s for every new user sign up you recruit through the use of your specific banner code.

I only have one comment to make - this is a second entrecard widget. why didn’t they just include the code in the original widget – instead of asking for Even More Real Estate ?

Honestly, I wonder why didn’t they design it that way ?

KISS – Keep It Simple Stupid, Duhhh..

My Theory is simple – they want to take as much space on your blog as you will give them, without regard to function or design.  You as a blog owner and designer are now faced with the chore of deciding if you want to allocate another slip of  High Page High Value UNPAID REAL ESTATE on your blog.  is it really worth it for 300 ec’s on a MAYBE ?

Only Time Will Tell, as I have no idea how many people who are not entrecarders will see the widget and click it. maybe the flashing will drive someone to abstraction and they’ll click it to stop it from flashing relentlessly.  personally I have enough blinking, flashing, and scrolling things on my page already. to add one more is going to be a hard decision – especially from entrecard.

Honestly speaking – there are many days I contemplate removing the entrecard widget itself. I just don’t see the changes happening quickly enough, to fix the problems; and make the system pay off – for those who’ve stuck it out through all the drama and craziness.

of course I stay because of my kinship with many bloggers who fill my day with great reads, and fantastique friendships from far away. that is what Entrecard is really all about to me – not the points.

I do not see the reasoning in their new widget design – so I don’t see why I should give up any more real estate for it.  to work effectively it would have to be near the top of your page or in a rich content area. that means it’s vying for attention with your other apps; which are designed to keep you on the page. that’s soooo not good.

We Call This “TRICKNOLOGY”

Honestly, I’m not sure if this is a Whoops or a Whoopie !

To access your referral widgets, you log into your dashboard, click the link that says Referrals Program. It’s Brand New, as it just appeared This Morning – 09/17/09.

Per Cindy’s Latest Blog – If the user stays with Entrecard for 14 days and retains the widget during this time, you will receive 300 Entrecard credits as a thank you. You can see your existing referrals on the Referrals page.

Tell Me, What do you think ?