Epinions

[Pixie_Dust]

Does anyone do this, and how do you earn? I tried emailing them but they never answered. I wanted to know how they know when another member reads your review. Is there an automatic cookie, or do the members have to log in manually before they start reading in order for someone to get credit?

Thanks

 

[wdwguide]

I did research on a variety of reward programs for my guide book a while ago, and I quite liked Epinions. It's not quite what it once was, but they basically pay you for writing product reviews, including Walt Disney World attractions and accomodations. You receive $0.01 per member view, plus a monthly distribution of income share based on the non-member views and some other factors (this this may have changed, it's been a couple of months since I last checked). They do cookie the members that sign in, and the members will usually rate your review, which in turn determines how high up on the list of all reviews on a topic yours shows up.
From what I understand, it can be quite lucrative if you write regular reviews, and are a visible community member, i.e. rate and comment on others' articles.

A few links:
Walt Disney World Epinions (general)
Walt Disney World Accomodations Epinions
Walt Disney World Attractions Epinions

Hope this helps!

 

[Pixie_Dust]

Thaks for your reply; Epinions never sent an answer to my question.

I wish I knew the answer about the non-member views as there is someone on another board who constantly links people to her Epinion site instead of answering the questions directly on the DIS board (without telling that the link is to Epinions!), and once I realized what she was doing I felt very used, and also angry that she has used tons of DIS-ers, long term, in this way. I don't feel I can alert the moderators until I know the absolute answer of whether non-member views lead to Epinion profits.

On this board I know people are not allowed to solicit referrals or otherwise try to profit from fellow DIS-ers, so it seems that Epinions profiteering should also be prohibited. But if not, then heck, we should all just provide links to Epinions instead of answers on these boards. Should I make it a poll?

Cheers

 

[wdwguide]

Originally posted by Pixie_Dust
I wish I knew the answer about the non-member views as there is someone on another board who constantly links people to her Epinion site instead of answering the questions directly on the DIS board (without telling that the link is to Epinions!), and once I realized what she was doing I felt very used, and also angry that she has used tons of DIS-ers, long term, in this way. I don't feel I can alert the moderators until I know the absolute answer of whether non-member views lead to Epinion profits.

It is important to understand that Epinions members agree to not duplicating their posts in any form online on web sites or forums to which more than five individuals contribute. Therefore, if a DIS members posts relevant information on Epinions, it seems legitimate for them to refer to it, because she would violate their ToS by re-posting it here.
Non-member views also don't directly generate profits for the author aside from them being a rumored component of the income share formula, but nobody quite knows how that works or if that rumor is true.
It would probably be advisable for that person to make clear that she is referring to an Epinions article to avoid any confusion, however.

On this board I know people are not allowed to solicit referrals or otherwise try to profit from fellow DIS-ers, so it seems that Epinions profiteering should also be prohibited. But if not, then heck, we should all just provide links to Epinions instead of answers on these boards. Should I make it a poll?

I agree with you that excessive "linking" is annoying, although it is often redundant (or in Epinion's case against the ToS) to repost content over and over again when it is available elsewhere. Considering that, as I mentioned, authors don't really profit from non-member views in practice, and the primary function of the site, very much like this one, is to help consumers make educated decisions when it comes to spending money, I would personally think it would cause more bad than good to "ban" Epinion links (unless things get really excessive), but things like that are for the owners to decide.

I hope this helped a little bit!