If you were in the Yahoo! TV Superfan program, you should know by now that the first round of eliminations has been completed. (This almost sounds like a TV program in itself.) Some beat writers were cut for various reasons, many stayed. I’m happy to report that I survived the first elimination for all four of the shows I’m covering which is “Criminal Minds”, Blue Bloods”, “House”, and “American Idol”. Our submission limit has been uped to 2 per month and on our assignments, we’re still being instructed to write evergreen content. While I’m glad that our limit has gone up, I’m discouraged that we’re still having to do just evergreen. Recaps get more page views (if they are indexed quickly and are on the right feeds, that is), but from what I understand, if we survive the next few rounds of cuts, we’ll be able to do those recaps with a mixture of evergreen content. (I have to wonder if by then, some of the seasons will be over!)
Another big change in the program is that upfronts have gone down on these assignments slightly. Most people I have talked with actually expected this change and aren’t that concerned about it. While I’m okay with getting a lower upfront, I hope it doesn’t get to the point where we’re only making a couple of dollars a piece on them. I'm not sure any lower upfronts would be worth the research for evergreen or be worth the long review time.
Congrats to everyone who made it through the first round of cuts. May you all have a prosperous month and happy writing!
This post brought to you by TV Slugs.
Showing posts with label yahoo. Show all posts
Showing posts with label yahoo. Show all posts
Thursday, February 3, 2011
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Page View Goals, Subscriptions... All Irrelevant Now
I'm happy at the Yahoo! change over, don't get me wrong. And as the bugs are still being ironed out and things are slowly smoothing, I find myself more and more pleased at the opportunities now being offered. I'm sooooo excited about being a part of the Yahoo!TV Superfan program. I'm extremely pleased about being published on more and more Yahoo! sites and now I've just been accepted as a Featured Parenting Contributor. I've decided to seize these opportunities and do the best with them that I can.
But this change also brings out some things that few may have thought of. This integration has now made standard page view goals and subscriptions almost irrelevant.
When you publish on Associated Content, two things happen. First, a notice goes to those who've subscribed to your work. Second, at each daily page view update, you see your main page views go up. But some contributors regularly have articles that go to Yahoo! sites now. Those articles' page views are separate from our main page views. This makes a heckuva difference when you have thousands of views on the Yahoo! sites and your main views don't go up. That makes getting to be a PV Millionaire with the little badge of honor on your profile a bit harder to reach (as if it wasn't hard enough before). Also, for those articles, a notification doesn't go to your subscribers so they have no clue you've published new content. Not that it really makes a difference on page views (more views come from searches than subscribers with most content), but it could be a little disappointing for those fans who want to read specific topics of yours.
In any case, I'm not complaining, just pointing out a flaw. No longer can I successfully say "I'm going to reach 500,000 by July," when so much of my content is being shifted to other sites and page views are separated.
In any case, the same page view tactics apply to any site. This is not meant to say that anything is different regarding how to get page views on Associated Content, only that it's a different standard now.
But this change also brings out some things that few may have thought of. This integration has now made standard page view goals and subscriptions almost irrelevant.
When you publish on Associated Content, two things happen. First, a notice goes to those who've subscribed to your work. Second, at each daily page view update, you see your main page views go up. But some contributors regularly have articles that go to Yahoo! sites now. Those articles' page views are separate from our main page views. This makes a heckuva difference when you have thousands of views on the Yahoo! sites and your main views don't go up. That makes getting to be a PV Millionaire with the little badge of honor on your profile a bit harder to reach (as if it wasn't hard enough before). Also, for those articles, a notification doesn't go to your subscribers so they have no clue you've published new content. Not that it really makes a difference on page views (more views come from searches than subscribers with most content), but it could be a little disappointing for those fans who want to read specific topics of yours.
In any case, I'm not complaining, just pointing out a flaw. No longer can I successfully say "I'm going to reach 500,000 by July," when so much of my content is being shifted to other sites and page views are separated.
In any case, the same page view tactics apply to any site. This is not meant to say that anything is different regarding how to get page views on Associated Content, only that it's a different standard now.
Thursday, December 16, 2010
I was accepted into the Yahoo!TV Superfan program
The results of the "Superfan" for Yahoo!TV are back. I'll break down the articles one by one to give you an idea of how this happened in my case.
I submitted five articles for the test assignments:
"Blue Bloods" - This article was a recap of a particular episode. It wasn't reviewed or published in a timely fashion (which is key when doing recap articles) so it published on AC. I was accepted into the program to write for this show.
"NCIS" - This article was another recap. Like the "Blue Bloods" article, this article took a very long time to publish. Unfortunately, for this one, I wasn't accepted into the program.
"Criminal Minds" - This article was a best quotes type article and even though it was more evergreen than a recap, it was published on AC. The format slightly screwed up within the article which makes it look bad, but it's getting page views at least. I was a bit worried about this one. It was the last to be reviewed. I'd been told by an AC staffer some time ago that quotes don't count toward total word count on an article, however, the assignment details specifically stated that "Best of" quotes could be a theme idea for the test article. Even though this article was published on AC, like "Blue Bloods", I was accepted to write for this show.
"American Idol" - This article was in a format of "Where are they now?" which I've had published on Yahoo!TV before. This one focuses on the past 3rd place "Idol" contestants and what they've done since AI. It was published pretty quickly on Yahoo!TV. The funny thing is, while I have followed AI for many seasons, I actually had no intention of watching it again because of all the changes. But I was actually accepted to write for this show so I will be watching it. It's a pivotal season for them and I am sure there will be many interesting things to write about!
"House" - In my opinion, this was my best article out of all of them. I did a comparison of House on Vicoden vs. House on Cuddy. It was delivered to Yahoo!TV but sits in limbo land waiting to be published. I wonder if they are waiting on a string of new "House" episodes before publishing it. But anyway, I was also accepted to write for this show.
Not quite what we expected
Several Y!CN members began their excited chatter about what shows they were going to write about and we discovered that it wasn't quite the exclusivity that we thought it would be. I'm not the only contributor who will be writing on the shows I was accepted for. It wasn't that I thought it would be exclusive but I actually didn't think that SO MANY people would be dipping into the same shows. "American Idol", for example, has so many writers on board that I wonder how productive it will be for Yahoo! to pay upfronts for so many articles focused on the same episodes.
In addition, there were contributors who claimed some of the test assignments but for one reason or another, ended up releasing them instead of submitting them. Some of them were accepted into the program. I know, say what? But it gets better. There were a few contributors who said they never applied and were accepted. This concerns me. It makes me feel like the hard work I did on mine was for nothing.
ETA: Now I'm being told that some acceptance emails were sent out in error. Y!CN is working to correct the problem. I'll update about this program after the first of the year.
Looking forward to the experience
Even though it isn't what I expected, I'm still excited about it and will be putting on my game face with each assignment that comes my way. I'm going to enjoy it as much as I possibly can.
Congrats to all others who also made it into the program! Let's look forward to the beginning of our assignments in 2011.
Seasons Greetings and Happy New Year!
On that note, this will be the last post of the year on this blog for me. I'll come back in 2011 with new helpful information concerning the Yahoo! Contributor Network. Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, Season's Greetings and all that jazz. Here's hoping you don't get too wasted on New Years!
I submitted five articles for the test assignments:
"Blue Bloods" - This article was a recap of a particular episode. It wasn't reviewed or published in a timely fashion (which is key when doing recap articles) so it published on AC. I was accepted into the program to write for this show.
"NCIS" - This article was another recap. Like the "Blue Bloods" article, this article took a very long time to publish. Unfortunately, for this one, I wasn't accepted into the program.
"Criminal Minds" - This article was a best quotes type article and even though it was more evergreen than a recap, it was published on AC. The format slightly screwed up within the article which makes it look bad, but it's getting page views at least. I was a bit worried about this one. It was the last to be reviewed. I'd been told by an AC staffer some time ago that quotes don't count toward total word count on an article, however, the assignment details specifically stated that "Best of" quotes could be a theme idea for the test article. Even though this article was published on AC, like "Blue Bloods", I was accepted to write for this show.
"American Idol" - This article was in a format of "Where are they now?" which I've had published on Yahoo!TV before. This one focuses on the past 3rd place "Idol" contestants and what they've done since AI. It was published pretty quickly on Yahoo!TV. The funny thing is, while I have followed AI for many seasons, I actually had no intention of watching it again because of all the changes. But I was actually accepted to write for this show so I will be watching it. It's a pivotal season for them and I am sure there will be many interesting things to write about!
"House" - In my opinion, this was my best article out of all of them. I did a comparison of House on Vicoden vs. House on Cuddy. It was delivered to Yahoo!TV but sits in limbo land waiting to be published. I wonder if they are waiting on a string of new "House" episodes before publishing it. But anyway, I was also accepted to write for this show.
Not quite what we expected
Several Y!CN members began their excited chatter about what shows they were going to write about and we discovered that it wasn't quite the exclusivity that we thought it would be. I'm not the only contributor who will be writing on the shows I was accepted for. It wasn't that I thought it would be exclusive but I actually didn't think that SO MANY people would be dipping into the same shows. "American Idol", for example, has so many writers on board that I wonder how productive it will be for Yahoo! to pay upfronts for so many articles focused on the same episodes.
In addition, there were contributors who claimed some of the test assignments but for one reason or another, ended up releasing them instead of submitting them. Some of them were accepted into the program. I know, say what? But it gets better. There were a few contributors who said they never applied and were accepted. This concerns me. It makes me feel like the hard work I did on mine was for nothing.
ETA: Now I'm being told that some acceptance emails were sent out in error. Y!CN is working to correct the problem. I'll update about this program after the first of the year.
Looking forward to the experience
Even though it isn't what I expected, I'm still excited about it and will be putting on my game face with each assignment that comes my way. I'm going to enjoy it as much as I possibly can.
Congrats to all others who also made it into the program! Let's look forward to the beginning of our assignments in 2011.
Seasons Greetings and Happy New Year!
On that note, this will be the last post of the year on this blog for me. I'll come back in 2011 with new helpful information concerning the Yahoo! Contributor Network. Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, Season's Greetings and all that jazz. Here's hoping you don't get too wasted on New Years!
Friday, December 3, 2010
November 2010, Month End Review
So for the past two months, I've been whining about my page views on AC. There's a sweet spot where if I pick a topic that gets good views and stick with it throughout the month, I do well. For September and October, I never hit it. November was a bit different and my page views once again increased enough for me to make a descent amount in performance pay before Christmas. I've even managed to get my Hot 500 badge back! (It now says "Hot 500 Yahoo!" and is no longer a cute little flame, but that's cool.)
But there were many more things that went on in November. First, entertainment contributors were offered the opportunity to apply for a regular Yahoo!TV gig. We opened an application window, told them what set us apart as television contributors, check marked what shows we kept up with on a regular basis and sent it in. A short wait later, we received descent paying assignments that would test our ability to write for those shows on a regular basis. For me, it included five shows, "Criminal Minds", "House", "American Idol", "NCIS", and "Blue Bloods".
As of right now, I've had the "NCIS" article and "Blue Bloods" article, which were both episode recaps, published on AC. Now, I'm not sure if that means that I won't get those spots. Recaps were allowed as part of the test articles but their timeliness in publishing is what makes page views. The staff did not get around to publishing them until they were a few weeks past air date so inevitably, they went on AC and page views suck because they weren't timely. Going to Yahoo! TV was more evergreen content. My "American Idol" article has already been published over there and my "House" article, which is a comparison of House on vicoden vs House on Cuddy, was delivered to Yahoo! TV yesterday but hasn't been published yet. My "Criminal Minds" article, which was a "best quotes" type thing, is still sitting in my queue waiting review. I'm anxious, as I'm sure everyone who applied for the positions is, to see who gets the gigs.
November also saw the change from our status as an Associated Content contributor to the Yahoo! Contributor Network (has a nice ring to it). There are still glitches to be worked out but I have confidence they will be remedied. As long as I can publish and I'm getting page views and am getting paid, I can live with the glitches without getting too upset. Annoyed at no notifications, yes. Angry, no. There's no point to it. This was a huge roll out and was inevitable. It still can't compare to the disaster that was Examiner.com's "upgrade". After that, I can deal with the stuff YCN is going through. (Once I hear back from Yahoo! about logo use, there will be a change in this blog's header, too, hint, hint!)
So November was a rising point for me. And I continue on.
Be looking for an upcoming special post within the next week or two about the Yahoo! Contributor Awards. Check your account page on YCN if you have no clue what I'm talking about. I am planning a day devoted to reading and nominating my choices for these awards and I will post my choices on this blog in case you'd like to nominate them, too. :)
I hope all the U.S. contributors had a lovely Thanksgiving. Hope your Christmas (or whatever you celebrate this time of year) goes well.
-Pamela
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But there were many more things that went on in November. First, entertainment contributors were offered the opportunity to apply for a regular Yahoo!TV gig. We opened an application window, told them what set us apart as television contributors, check marked what shows we kept up with on a regular basis and sent it in. A short wait later, we received descent paying assignments that would test our ability to write for those shows on a regular basis. For me, it included five shows, "Criminal Minds", "House", "American Idol", "NCIS", and "Blue Bloods".
As of right now, I've had the "NCIS" article and "Blue Bloods" article, which were both episode recaps, published on AC. Now, I'm not sure if that means that I won't get those spots. Recaps were allowed as part of the test articles but their timeliness in publishing is what makes page views. The staff did not get around to publishing them until they were a few weeks past air date so inevitably, they went on AC and page views suck because they weren't timely. Going to Yahoo! TV was more evergreen content. My "American Idol" article has already been published over there and my "House" article, which is a comparison of House on vicoden vs House on Cuddy, was delivered to Yahoo! TV yesterday but hasn't been published yet. My "Criminal Minds" article, which was a "best quotes" type thing, is still sitting in my queue waiting review. I'm anxious, as I'm sure everyone who applied for the positions is, to see who gets the gigs.
November also saw the change from our status as an Associated Content contributor to the Yahoo! Contributor Network (has a nice ring to it). There are still glitches to be worked out but I have confidence they will be remedied. As long as I can publish and I'm getting page views and am getting paid, I can live with the glitches without getting too upset. Annoyed at no notifications, yes. Angry, no. There's no point to it. This was a huge roll out and was inevitable. It still can't compare to the disaster that was Examiner.com's "upgrade". After that, I can deal with the stuff YCN is going through. (Once I hear back from Yahoo! about logo use, there will be a change in this blog's header, too, hint, hint!)
So November was a rising point for me. And I continue on.
Be looking for an upcoming special post within the next week or two about the Yahoo! Contributor Awards. Check your account page on YCN if you have no clue what I'm talking about. I am planning a day devoted to reading and nominating my choices for these awards and I will post my choices on this blog in case you'd like to nominate them, too. :)
I hope all the U.S. contributors had a lovely Thanksgiving. Hope your Christmas (or whatever you celebrate this time of year) goes well.
-Pamela
Monday, November 15, 2010
The New Yahoo! Contributor Network and Reaching Clout 10
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| My Yahoo! Contributor Profile |
So it's been a whirlwind of a weekend.
First, AC contributors knew that AC would be going down for maintenance Sunday evening. We were told there would be a big change. So I hung around Facebook between 8 and 9pm last night waiting for the word from fellow contributors while also checking Associated Content's site for any sign that we were kicking again. Not that I was waiting to publish anything. I just wanted to know what was going on. Pretty soon, Marie Anne St. Jean wrote, "AC is up!" and it was on from there!
My first stop was at the new Associated Content homepage. I was blown away. I really like the new front page (and hope at some point, I can make it on there).
Now, of course, there's gonna be a few glitchy parts here and there, for example, payment reports are a bit screwed up. They are still showing 0 for the month and I have a notice of 4 pending payments when I'm not owed anything right now. So definitely there's some adjustments to be worked out but all in all, I think this is a fantastic change.
And the best part is that contributors are now being offered performance pay on Yahoo! sites. Some of our previous Yahoo! published content have shown up in our accounts with back pay attached; even though we had a legal agreement that we wouldn't be paid page views for those pieces. This, in my opinion, was the step that I talked about in previous posts when Yahoo! was publishing our DO content.
At this point, I'm certain the forum is rife with questions and discussions of the new Yahoo! Contributor Network. I, personally, am avoiding the forum for now until I've caught up with work today because I know it will be a long read that will probably take some time to sift through.
On that note, if there is anything substantial to add after-the-fact, I will post at a later date. So far it looks great and the opportunities are exciting. I'd also like to direct your attention to contributor Lyn Lomasi's blog where she provides some good information: Associated Content and Yahoo! Reveal Yahoo! Contributor Network.
Great job, AC and Yahoo! team!
And on to a second note...
I reached Clout 10 this weekend!
I wasn't really expecting this for another couple of weeks. Getting to Clout 10 was slow going. My little percentage bar on my account page had been leisurely inching along. The last I looked, I was sitting at 95% and then suddenly, I had almost 10,000 page views in a span of two days! So I've topped out on AC performance pay. My next milestone will be the half million page view mark. Hopefully, it won't take me but a few months to reach it.
Enjoy the new AC and keep checking back here for any additional info when I come across it. As always, if you have a question, feel free to ask. If I don't know the answer, I'll find someone who does.
Monday, November 1, 2010
2 Year, 2 Months - Month End Review
October is over and I doubt very seriously that I'll get my Hot 500 badge back for October. My page views were even lower than September.
While this hasn't been a very good month overall for any $ project, I did get a one of my highest upfront offers ever for a general article (excluding Featured Contributor assignments). I got a good offer because my article relates to NaNoWriMo which actually begins today. I also believe that I got a good offer on it because of my personal and professional experience with the topic. If you care to take a look, click the title below.
There is No Such Thing as a Perfect Rough Draft
Another good thing that happened at AC this month was that I had another Yahoo! pickup. One of my FC assignments was flagged by AC for Yahoo! Editors to look at. While the article sits now in the "Partner" tab on my account page, I have to keep an eye out manually on the Yahoo! TV blog for when it might be published. If Yahoo! rejects it, it will be published on AC, and I get to keep the extra compensation, but I think with it sitting in my Partner tab, it might have already been accepted. Not sure.
In any case, I've had the opportunity to apply for a regular Yahoo! TV writing gig. I'm currently waiting to hear if they want me to send a sample article. I would be so psyched to write for Yahoo! on a regular basis!
In any case, here's hoping November will not only provide me more page views and upfronts, but also that I have more time to pursue those page views and upfronts. I seem to be caught up enough to do just that.
Have a great November, everyone!
Oh, for a tip, get your Thanksgiving articles wrapped up this week and then start working on Christmas articles. You want to have those Christmas articles up and indexed by the time the major searches start happening in order to take advantage of rising page views. :)
While this hasn't been a very good month overall for any $ project, I did get a one of my highest upfront offers ever for a general article (excluding Featured Contributor assignments). I got a good offer because my article relates to NaNoWriMo which actually begins today. I also believe that I got a good offer on it because of my personal and professional experience with the topic. If you care to take a look, click the title below.
There is No Such Thing as a Perfect Rough Draft
Another good thing that happened at AC this month was that I had another Yahoo! pickup. One of my FC assignments was flagged by AC for Yahoo! Editors to look at. While the article sits now in the "Partner" tab on my account page, I have to keep an eye out manually on the Yahoo! TV blog for when it might be published. If Yahoo! rejects it, it will be published on AC, and I get to keep the extra compensation, but I think with it sitting in my Partner tab, it might have already been accepted. Not sure.
In any case, I've had the opportunity to apply for a regular Yahoo! TV writing gig. I'm currently waiting to hear if they want me to send a sample article. I would be so psyched to write for Yahoo! on a regular basis!
In any case, here's hoping November will not only provide me more page views and upfronts, but also that I have more time to pursue those page views and upfronts. I seem to be caught up enough to do just that.
Have a great November, everyone!
Oh, for a tip, get your Thanksgiving articles wrapped up this week and then start working on Christmas articles. You want to have those Christmas articles up and indexed by the time the major searches start happening in order to take advantage of rising page views. :)
Friday, October 15, 2010
Is AC/Yahoo lifting articles again? What about AOL buying Yahoo?
Okay, first, I'm going to address the AOL thing. If you haven't heard this, here's the story. From what I understand, this is not concrete. There is more to the process then someone saying that AOL is bidding on or saying they are going to buy Yahoo. To be honest, I know absolutely crap when it comes to stuff like this. I don't understand the jargon and when it comes to reports like this, I don't know what to believe. What I do know is that this is just talk right now. As far as I know, we are not all suddenly going to be thrust into AOL. For right now, AC has more important things to worry about.
So moving on....
Is Yahoo! lifting DO articles again? For a bit of background on what has happened, read this. Apparently a contributor thought that a DO of hers was put on Yahoo! recently but to my knowledge, the content was actually a non-exclusive.
Okay, so as far as I know, the feed error is not happening again BUT this doesn't completely cover all the issues that contributors have over the whole Yahoo! thing. I've actually learned some things since that last post that I will share and try to explain.
First, giving $5 to contributors for the distribution of content to Yahoo! seems like a slap considering the number of page views Yahoo brings in and how many page views can be taken from the original. But contributors are certainly within their right to go with the flow of that if it suits them.
Next, contributors are of the mindset that Yahoo! can't be interchangeable with AC while at the same time being a "partner" that can pick up content. Actually, at this stage, yes, they can be both. This leaves all the rights with Yahoo/AC and NO rights with the contributors. If Yahoo! wants to pick our content and throw a minimal amount of money at us for it, they can. Additionally, according to these policies, Yahoo! can also take whatever else they want without paying us or even without notifying us. It's their site and they can do whatever they want, right? From the responses, legally, yes, they can. While AC and Yahoo! are still in the initial stages of the "merge" or "integration" as they call it, they are legally covered. They can pick up DO's or anything they want. The writers of the site, the ones who are doing the leg work for AC, apparently have no rights whatsoever. That's the way it appears anyway. The only issue that stands out is that the original agreement means that we're supposed to be paid performance for every article unless specifically arranged otherwise. This is really the only legal leverage we have.
So now comes the obvious question. If this is the case, why aren't many of the more experienced writers running for the hills? This has obviously caused many contributors to be leery; some contributors are publishing a lot less and some have stopped publishing altogether. But while the writer's rights are minimal to none while this happens, the honor system of AC is something that has enough merit to me to continue. I believe AC when they say they would never intentionally republish our DO content. I believe AC when they say they are working toward integrating page view payments for content published on Yahoo!. While my trust is leery after having discovered the feed error on my articles myself (it wouldn't have been so bad if AC had alerted us that it might happen) , AC has always paid me what they agreed to and I've not had any other outstanding payment or display problems with them.
Think about it. What good would it do Yahoo! or AC to completely alienate the contributors, to piss us all off enough that we not only look at legal options but also enough that we stop writing for them? AC would be worthless without continuous content. We are the base of what keeps the site going.
There are still matters to clear up and I doubt this will be the last of the story but here's my take on it. I would encourage contributors to continue to write, pay close attention to the rights and distribution rights when you publish, and keep an eye out on your content on any other site (which is something I hope you do anyway). Hopefully, we'll all get answers and a resolution soon. In the meantime, let's encourage the integration so we can start getting some Yahoo! page views!
This post brought to you by AC Contributor Becca Badgett.
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Yahoo! and Associated Content's GREAT BIG Blunder to AC Writers
The Yahoo!/AC "Blunder"
Last week, as I was following up on reports of a site (completely unrelated to Yahoo! and AC) that many people were saying was plagiarizing AC content, I came across a feed that showed a television review of mine. I clicked on it and was absolutely shocked to see an article I'd written on the 10th of August on the premier of "Bachelor Pad" in its entirety directly on Yahoo!News. The only link backs to me on AC was links that I had placed within the article myself. My name was not even linked to my profile. Several things were immediately evident to me.
- The article had been a DO (display only) article and Yahoo! didn't have the permissions to publish it on their site.
- I had not been notified by Yahoo! or AC that my article was published.
- I had not been paid for the display of it on Yahoo!
- The article on Yahoo! was up for almost a month, competing with my original article's page views.
- I didn't get a Google alert for the article so I wondered how many more articles of mine were displayed illegally.
As it turned out, there were others with similar problems. DO articles completely lifted and placed on Yahoo! (such as in my case), others who have had no extra payment for articles displayed on Yahoo! but instead offered more work as a "Thank you", misled information relating to assignments and more.
Copyright violation is a serious offense to a writer and this was, in mine and many others' opinions, a perfect copyright violation. (I should note here that AC and Yahoo! deny this is any sort of violation and I'll explain that further down.) What makes it even worse is that evidence suggests that AC was aware of this. They had sent notifications to some contributors (oddly I wasn't one of them) that there were feeds being tested. I have no clue what was going on in their heads even after they found out they were publishing full DO articles. And even worse... this practice continued.
Listen, I completely get that there are bugs that happen when testing things but when you know that something is going wrong, it should be stopped. According to one contributor, even when this was brought to AC's attention, the response was that there was nothing they could do about it and that we (contributors) should just suck it up. Not the exact words but similar in meaning. Only when it burst into full force in the forum was there a scramble to make up for lost time.
The Response
I waited and fretted most of last week over the issue. You'd think as against copyright infringement (oops, sorry, non-permissive usage (towmaytoe, towmawtoe)) as most reputable online sites appear to be, that the issue would have been addressed immediately. But that's neither here nor there. It was eventually addressed Saturday but I had taken the weekend off and didn't see it until yesterday morning.
On first glance, it looked like those of us who had our content lifted were going to be patted on the head with $2. Sorry, guys, $2 for a piece used without permission is like trying put a band aide on a wound that needs stitches.
I've said before that when I find an article of mine copied without permission on another site, the first thing I do is send an invoice to the owner of the site and I charge them more for reprint rights than I would someone who asks for permission. Neither one of those amounts come close to $2.
The Second Response
Sensing that the masses were unhappy with the $2 insult and with outstanding legal questions, the guy with the unfortunate task of relaying the messages to us came back with a $15 appeasement gift per each DO that was published without permission. The reason is NOT because they used it without permission but because they took so long to fix it (and it's not even fixed yet; read more). I'm rolling my eyes at this. An apology that they did us wrong (and are continuing to do us wrong) is in order but I doubt we'll see it.
While this doesn't completely cover the brunt of the violation that occurred, it was, in my opinion, a step in the right direction. But there's more.
Those who were crying "Copyright infringement!" (including me), needn't retain lawyers just yet. According to the Master Licensing Agreement, because it owns AC, Yahoo! is considered "The Company". So in other words, Yahoo! has every right to take our content, place it on a Yahoo! page, let it suck page views from our AC published articles of the same name and not pay us for it. In the same breath, they say that they would never intentionally do it. At least they recognize the practice as highly unethical.. or at least I hope they do.
But it Hasn't Stopped!
The article I found has been pulled from the Yahoo! site and so has several others and while I haven't found any more of my own (and believe me, I've been looking), some other contributors have... even as late a YESTERDAY. I don't know everything about tech issues but this ranks right up there with the huge Examiner.com upgrade fail. The more they keep trying to put a lid on the bugs, the more it keeps spilling over. Now contributors are wondering why it's taking so long, why there are some contributors' articles still being affected, etc.
What Now?
Do I think this is an intentional attempt at stealing articles?
No. I feel like this is an error in both technology and in the way it was handled after the fact.
What will Yahoo! and AC do about it?
As already stated, many articles have already been removed from Yahoo! sites and I hear they are in the process of removing all of them. I hope they are taking care of the feed problem as we speak. We're being compensated $15 per lifted piece. I do believe them when they say that they wouldn't intentionally do such a thing but I'm still upset at what happened and what appears to be continuing to happen. (And trust me when I say this ONLY because it's AC and Yahoo!; someone I wasn't associated with wouldn't be so lucky.) We were violated, legalese or not, this was a violation of our rights and our trust. As a writer, one of the biggest insults to me is when someone takes my work without even so much as asking much less not even paying for it.
What will I do now?
I'm going to continue writing for AC with extra attention being paid to the wording of rights. I will be leery about Yahoo! and AC in much the same way I was when they first attached to each other. I'm only continuing with AC because I don't feel like this was something that was brought about by intentional deception. If I had thought otherwise, this post would be entirely different. I do feel like, though, it was with a lack of respect for our intelligence that it was handled the way it was. And it takes awhile to build trust back up after it's been betrayed.
What do I expect to happen now?
- I expect whatever it is AC and Yahoo! are doing TO STOP. Despite the legal coldness of it, I don't think AC or Yahoo! really believes that it's ethical to place our articles in dual to compete with one another without express permission from us. To do so without our initial knowledge robs us of page views and money not to mention erodes our trust. It is my hope that they are making this their priority.
- I would like to know why this was tested the way it was without a payment system in place to protect your writers in the first place. I understand there are kinks but I have to wonder whether my lack of page views last month was a casualty of this nonsense. It makes me feel like we're not valued as contributors.
- I expect AC to be more upfront about these issues. I realize it's not the most legal-etiquette way of handling things but when you're spouting cold legalese when so many people would like a simple apology and an acknowledgment that what's been done to them was WRONG, it goes a long, long way in rebuilding trust.
- I expect AC and Yahoo! to address the other issues that have come up as a result of this but to do so in due time after the feeds have stopped and no one else is complaining about more of their work showing up unexpectedly on Yahoo!.
I will just state here that I'm really dismayed and disappointed. More care should have been taken and the AC staffer who knew about the problem before I even knew about it but did not respect the impact of it should be counseled on identifying a real problem and taking appropriate action instead of letting it go in the interest of "testing a feed". Additionally, I expect that Yahoo! and AC will take further care in the future and that something like this NEVER happens again.
I'm still excited about what the future holds for AC contributors and Yahoo!. The possibilities look really promising and I can't wait to see where it goes. If you're running into this blog and you're not a contributor, please don't let this deter you from giving it a go. Every integration has it's problems; this just happens to be a big one. But I'm willing to stick it out for now and see what happens only because AC has been a great place to be.
But I shall proceed with caution.
*Note: If you would like to check for your articles on Yahoo! do a search in quotes for "your name" site: yahoo.com or for the title of your article (or unique phrase from your articles) in quotes "title or phrase" site: yahoo.com.
Thursday, August 26, 2010
My First Yahoo! Assignment
Usually I'm not quick enough to grab a partner assignment like this but I happened to be sitting at the computer working on another project when the email came in. There are other times when the assignment doesn't pertain to me at all. But this one did. I'm a regular watcher of "Royal Pains" on the USA Network so when Yahoo! wanted an article about the strangest medical cases on "Royal Pains", I immediately logged on to AC and to my surprise, I was able to claim it. The assignment details were on point and gave me tips for the style and tone they wanted as well as what they would pay me. I reviewed the examples and the next weekend sat down for some research.
It's rather exciting to be able to say that I've been published on one of the largest websites ever. To me this is a big deal. It's why I heart AC! If you want to read the article on Yahoo!TV, here it is: The Most Bizarre Medical Cases on "Royal Pains".
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
My Thoughts on the Yahoo! Buying Associated Content Thing
I've been messing around with other little bits of work this morning, really trying to avoid this subject altogether. I had planned on writing about AC's image gallery and page view boosts but I need to write on this today. I'll tackle those subjects later.
If your here looking for soothing words from me, I have none. To be honest, I'm a bit apprehensive myself. As the Barefoot says in the video below, I don't have all my eggs in one basket. I write for Examiner.com and have a number of good blogs. But AC is my highest source of income and if I lose that, I might as well bite the bullet and go out to get a traditional job again.
What does it all mean? Again, I don't know. I know, a lot of help I am, right? What I've gathered from reports is that Yahoo! spent millions on AC and all the staff is "happy" about it but they want to keep their jobs so they have to seem happy, whether they are or not. Darnell couldn't very well tell us otherwise. To do so would be like opening the panic doors even further than they already are.
I pretty much agree with what the Barefoot says in the video about being nervous but I'm not going to be as pessimistic as he is being about it. So I am viewing this transaction with light anxiousness. But "Shutting down" AC in the third quarter could mean that Yahoo! will absorb the site into their own massive web but still allow contributors to do what they are doing. Does it make sense to get rid of contributors when it is the contributors who have made this site what it is? Not really. But I'm still cautious, as everyone should be.
There will almost certainly be changes. That's a given fact when a new company takes over something. Some we might like, some we won't. It's what change is all about.
On the flip side, while I still remain cautious and a bit fearful at what will happen next, I also can see the things that could happen that would be great for us. Yahoo! could feature some of us on their front page occasionally. There could be an opportunity to move up in the world of writing. We could get bigger offers if we still can get upfronts. I don't know. But it seems like in imagining the worst, maybe you could switch that to see the best, too.
What I do wish would happen is straight forward talk between Yahoo! and AC's contributors. The AC staff may or may not have been told what immediate plans are so don't suggest that they know something other than what they are telling us. Whether it's right or not, the suggestion is impolite. Please realize that they have jobs they wish to protect as well. We know all on our own that the reports we've all read have been all over the place. Yahoo! says one thing, AC says something different.
So it is my official request that Yahoo! and AC confer, get their report straight and release a statement together via the AC Blog, as an AC article, or in the forums if they wish it to be kept between them and contributors. It would relieve the rampant panic and speculation. I feel like the staff and Yahoo! owe it to us to give us more information then what we can find. After all, we're the cheap labor (that's what all the reports say anyway) that keeps the site going. Don't piss off the bread for your butter.
Thanks and have a great day everyone.
ETA: I'm had the opportunity to read Luke Beatty's blog post and a FAQ's page. I feel a bit better for now but I still remain apprehensive. Like I said earlier, I can see the good this can do with our views, status, and exposure. I hope it comes out the way it's being told.
Will I be slacking off on submitting content? Are you crazy? Hell no! I'm at the peak of my game as of late, averaging almost 1500 page views daily and enjoying what I do immensely. I've sped through to clout 9, am sliding my way through to 200,000 page views (and just think, my original goal was hitting just 100,000 by June 1). While I'm still a little nervous at the "newness" of all this, I will tread on and show that I'm not gonna hide when something I don't know about comes along. Let's see where it takes us.
If your here looking for soothing words from me, I have none. To be honest, I'm a bit apprehensive myself. As the Barefoot says in the video below, I don't have all my eggs in one basket. I write for Examiner.com and have a number of good blogs. But AC is my highest source of income and if I lose that, I might as well bite the bullet and go out to get a traditional job again.
What does it all mean? Again, I don't know. I know, a lot of help I am, right? What I've gathered from reports is that Yahoo! spent millions on AC and all the staff is "happy" about it but they want to keep their jobs so they have to seem happy, whether they are or not. Darnell couldn't very well tell us otherwise. To do so would be like opening the panic doors even further than they already are.
I pretty much agree with what the Barefoot says in the video about being nervous but I'm not going to be as pessimistic as he is being about it. So I am viewing this transaction with light anxiousness. But "Shutting down" AC in the third quarter could mean that Yahoo! will absorb the site into their own massive web but still allow contributors to do what they are doing. Does it make sense to get rid of contributors when it is the contributors who have made this site what it is? Not really. But I'm still cautious, as everyone should be.
There will almost certainly be changes. That's a given fact when a new company takes over something. Some we might like, some we won't. It's what change is all about.
On the flip side, while I still remain cautious and a bit fearful at what will happen next, I also can see the things that could happen that would be great for us. Yahoo! could feature some of us on their front page occasionally. There could be an opportunity to move up in the world of writing. We could get bigger offers if we still can get upfronts. I don't know. But it seems like in imagining the worst, maybe you could switch that to see the best, too.
What I do wish would happen is straight forward talk between Yahoo! and AC's contributors. The AC staff may or may not have been told what immediate plans are so don't suggest that they know something other than what they are telling us. Whether it's right or not, the suggestion is impolite. Please realize that they have jobs they wish to protect as well. We know all on our own that the reports we've all read have been all over the place. Yahoo! says one thing, AC says something different.
So it is my official request that Yahoo! and AC confer, get their report straight and release a statement together via the AC Blog, as an AC article, or in the forums if they wish it to be kept between them and contributors. It would relieve the rampant panic and speculation. I feel like the staff and Yahoo! owe it to us to give us more information then what we can find. After all, we're the cheap labor (that's what all the reports say anyway) that keeps the site going. Don't piss off the bread for your butter.
Thanks and have a great day everyone.
ETA: I'm had the opportunity to read Luke Beatty's blog post and a FAQ's page. I feel a bit better for now but I still remain apprehensive. Like I said earlier, I can see the good this can do with our views, status, and exposure. I hope it comes out the way it's being told.
Will I be slacking off on submitting content? Are you crazy? Hell no! I'm at the peak of my game as of late, averaging almost 1500 page views daily and enjoying what I do immensely. I've sped through to clout 9, am sliding my way through to 200,000 page views (and just think, my original goal was hitting just 100,000 by June 1). While I'm still a little nervous at the "newness" of all this, I will tread on and show that I'm not gonna hide when something I don't know about comes along. Let's see where it takes us.
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