A Difficult Decision: Six Years Later, It’s Time to Change

Friends, readers, and accidental internet tourists,

It is with a heavy heart and sober mind, I make the following official and permanent. I will no longer publish articles with the Yahoo network. My six-year body of work will remain available at my old account and I will continue to write and publish mainly here on the old blog.

There were many factors weighed before coming to this conclusion. This in not a decision that was rushed. It started back in May 2010 when Yahoo bought Associated Content (AC). The assimilation of the old AC into the Yahoo network took from then until now and was done in incremental steps. The changes along the way made Yahoo a site that no longer fits my publishing needs. We have grown apart.

Associated Content was a platform where any writer, with anything to say, could publish their work in a supportive environment. Yahoo changed that. They are interested solely in work that aligns with advertisements. It’s a simple case of following the money trail.

My writing was never about ad-alignment. The type of articles I write are either too introspective to find ads to fit them or are humor/satire for which Yahoo has no appreciation. Frankly, AC had no interest in them either, at least not from a monitization aspect, but AC tolerated them and provided a easily accessible platform with good exposure. In my opinion, Yahoo has reverted to site with such tight controls, there is just no sense in my continued use of their platform.

Other changes are just plain annoying. For example, the ability to instantly publish an article for which I was requesting no up-front payment was a bonus with AC. Yahoo is requiring all articles, regardless of payment terms, to go through their “editorial” review process unless you go through some bizarre qualification process of obtaining a certain rank within their contributing masses. I use “editorial” in the loosest sense and with quotation marks because they provide no editorial support. Yahoo content managers simply check the article for viability and give it a pass/fail.

Then there are the technical bugs that remain unaddressed and which make publishing with Yahoo a chore. For example, hyperlinks put in by the author are regularly mangled and even removed by their software before the article reaches the content reviewer. The article is summarily rejected for having dead hyperlinks. It is simply easier to write here, where I know I control the finished product and have more flexibility in the final format. Yahoo still doesn’t support simple HTML code like tables which I find handy on occasion.

I could go on, but I let it be sufficient to say, “We have grown apart.” The spirit of the site that was AC, the spirit which appealed to me, drew me in, and gave me 6 years of satisfying publishing experiences, is gone. The final, symbolic act was the leaving of Luke Beatty, AC’s founder, from Yahoo’s management. Though the changes that make Yahoo no longer a fit for me were already in place, Luke’s resignation was the virtual wax seal on the document of change. The spirit of the old AC site is finally and officially gone and now, so am I.

I am grateful for the opportunities AC, and to some extent Yahoo, afforded me during the last six years. It helped me find my voice as a writer. It helped me make contact with other writers, many I consider my friends to this day. It helped me reach out to a broad audience and interact with readers of all stripes. I will continue to nourish those connections I made. I will just do it outside the confines of Yahoo.

So now begins theBarefoot 2.0 wherein I concentrate on the writing and not the trappings and politics of the site that simply distract from the content’s message. I even have the skeleton of a book in gestation. Here’s to learning when to say when and knowing how to move forward gracefully. My greatest solace is knowing that my readers can still choose to enjoy my writing here or where ever life brings us. We’ll move forward together to hopefully better writing to come.

P.S. The only bitter taste left in my mouth is the forums. I guess because when I found the AC forums, they were little-used. I jumped in with both feet and energized that community. When I started using the forums, multiple people independently contacted me to express their appreciation for my participation, humor, and helpfulness, a trend that continued until my last post, but which is not appreciated by the new owners.

I feel responsible for making the forums the vibrant, fun community it was. Sure, I had my moments of deliberate trollishness, but those were calculated responses to obvious malcontents and trolls. I still take credit for ridding the site of at least two particularly nasty personalities who disrupted the harmony of the community. Under the new regime, I am told that I am the disruptive influence. I’ve seen the same accusation made toward a few others who did nothing than freely contribute their time to mentor new members and answer the many question left moldering by the paid staff. Frankly, that hurts.

I poured my heart and soul into the community forums and there is no clearer sign that it is time to move on than when the place you nurtured tells you your services are no longer required. Being able to read between the lines, I can see that the current staff is too busy trying to keep their jobs among the hundreds of layoffs Yahoo has initiated, that they are unable to actually do their jobs. That is my one and only sour grape. The rest of my time with AC/Yahoo was a positive and productive experience.

I’ve Lost My Faith

I’ve lost all faith in the page-view counts from the Yahoo Contributor’s Network (YCN), formerly Associated Content. There are too many glitches, too many reporting delays, too many reporting inconsistencies, and too deep of a dive to attribute to seasonal dips or any other reason. There are too many stories I’ve corroborated with too many other members to ignore the problem. There are too many facts/numbers I’ve analyzed from too many other sources to just take it on faith that YCN is keeping a correct or even decent tally.

Yahoo has financial woes and has laid off hundreds of employees. That is the proverbial straw on the proverbial camel’s back. Even if Yahoo isn’t doing it intentionally to save a buck, they just don’t give a rat’s posterior that the numbers are right. It still saves their tiny, little, struggling start-up an @$$-load of money to under pay the writers.

I’ll take what they give me, but I don’t write primarily for the money. Even less than half of what I was making only 3 months ago is still more than I pay myself to write on my blog. For those who make this a living, I see greener pastures on the digital horizon. My prediction is a slow, but steady migration of the best talent there to venues that pay a reasonable wage for the effort.

I apologize for sounding so doom-and-gloomy, but this is more than just sour grapes and a gut feeling. After months of discussions with my fellow writers, months of swapping numbers, this is just something I’ve finally faced up to. Yahoo just doesn’t care and within the year, it will show.

Yahoo Contributor Network – Publishing Options

Here are the various rights and payment options you may select when publishing with Yahoo Contributor Network (YCN). This at-a-glance matrix¹ should quickly clarify any questions you may have about publishing times, rights, etc. If you are new to YCN, your first three articles will be reviewed no matter what options you select. The following applies to your forth article and beyond. Note: ALL YCN content that remains on the site is eligible for performance or “per click” payment regardless of rights or other payments you may receive.

Payment→ / Rights↓	Upfront (plus performance) Pay	Performance Payments Only
Exclusive	Publishes after review4 All rights transfer to YCN Distribution is automatic2	This combination is dumb Always ask for upfront w/ Exclusives All rights transfer to YCN Distribution eligibility is automatic2
Non-exclusive	Publishes after review4 You retain rights including re-publishing Distribution eligible2	Publishes w/o review You retain all rights Distribution eligible2
Display Only	Invalid combination YCN does not pay upfront for previously published work	Publishes w/o review You retain all rights Distribution ineligible Can edit anytime Can delete anytime3

¹This matrix does not apply to items submitted under the News template. All news is reviewed regardless of the options you choose.
²Distribution outside the YCN network is the sole discretion of YCN. You will receive a small payment if your work is selected for sale.
³You will lose any pending payments.
⁴Review times (other than news) vary, but should not exceed 2 weeks. News is usually reviewed within 24 hours.

Hopefully, this clarifies the publishing options. You may also review an expanded tutorial of this information in a companion video at YouTube.

No Rest for the Wicked and I’m as Wicked as They Come

On paper, it looks like I have a month to add two new features to a software application at work. In reality, I have four or five days. There is another project looming that will require my full attention starting Thursday or, if I’m lucky, after the Memorial Day break. No worries. I have a magic keyboard that always writes perfectly compiled software on the very first attempt. You believe that, right? Would you like to purchase this bridge?

That introduction is simply to let you know that work will not let me be away. The conundrum is, my wife wants to get away. She wants – brace yourself – to spend time with her mother-in-law. I know! Crazy, right? Who wants to spend time with their mother-in-law? In my wife’s case, she does have a spectacular mother-in-law. My mother happens to live six hours away in Arkansas.

Being the kind, loving, generous, kindhearted, unselfish, altruistic, thesaurus-owning, husband I am, I’ve agreed to drive the twelve hour round-trip just to drop her off. There were three conditions. One, I get to spend the night so I’m not too tired. Two, I get to spend a little time with my mom during the lay-over. Three, there are no guarantees I’ll be back to pick her up. OK, that last one I just made up…in my imagination…my fertile, fertile, imagination. Give me a moment to compose myself. I’m having a tearful moment with my imagination.

Ah, sorry, I’m better now. So, where was I? Oh, yes, my wife will get to spend three weeks with the best female role model over 70 in the world, soaking in family stories and sage wisdom, and I will get to spend the next three weeks as an over-worked bachelor with zero bachelor benefits.

I’m not making any promises, but I may have some surprises for her when she returns. If I work it into my busy schedule, of course, I’ll blog about it and make a video or two.

Speaking of videos, I didn’t have the time or constitution to vlog today. I’ll catch up when I return Sunday or Monday. Watch for them on my YouTube channel. I was inspired and able to write an little piece and publish it on Associated Content today. It’s entitled Meeting My Maker & Buying a Pasta Maker & Fire, Lots of Fire. It’s an imagined conversation with God, wherein the Almighty divulges the meaning of life to your humble servant. I hope you enjoy it.

Stay safe and I will attempt the same.

Yahoo! Buys Associated Content

Yahoo! bought Associated Content. These are my thoughts on what it means for the average Associated Content member (content producer).

Link to video at Youtube.

Good luck to us all and may God have mercy on our souls. According to Yahoo itself, they plan to close the AC web site after the 3rd quarter.

Not Liking What I’m Seeing At Associated Content

Associated Content (AC) has gone through some major changes and problems lately. I’m not getting a good vibe from it either. As ya’ll know, I’ve been publishing with AC for about three years. I’ve stuck with them through the bad and the good. I’ve always been honest when I express my feelings about Associated Content. I praise them for what they do right and call their mistakes what they are.

Lately, AC has created several glitches. Some they have corrected. Some have been corrected, but subsequently reappeared. Some they refuse to acknowledge. As always the communications, both internally and externally, appear lacking. The most serious problem right now,one AC refuses to admit is a problem, is the de-indexing of AC articles.

The problem started in late 2008. AC writers (note, I refuse to buy into AC’s new, dehumanizing terminology and call their members “sources”) began noticing that Google would index articles as it always did, but then de-index them. The articles would show up about a week later with a much lower placement. To add insult to injury, the newly index article would have its abstract jumble with HTML code. Many articles did not get indexed by Google at all. I noticed this when the weekly Google alerts I had set up, stopped coming. When they did trickle in, the links were only to blogs and other sites that mentioned my articles, never the AC article.

The forum was awash in complaints about the problem, but they Associated Content staff seldom reads their own forum. The one guy who did participate in the forum, the one guy who kept members informed of problems and the status of the solutions, was let go from AC today along with the AC staffer who ran AC’s blog.

I’m not a conspiracy nut. I like to think there are simple, logical reasons for happenings in this universe, but the time line of events all point to one conclusion…AC has lost its mojo. The two things AC had going were its built-in audience and a special relationship with Google. That relationship has been debated and speculated numerous times, but the debate is moot. The love affair between AC and Google is over.

Here’s a brief time line that led me to this conclusion.

• Late 2008, the de-indexing of AC articles starts.
• December 2008, some AC members think the problem is a change to the article’s link because AC adds a “?cat=#” to all articles.
• January-ish 2009, AC members start comparing notes and posting examples.
• February-ish 2009, AC ignores the forum chatter completely.
• Late February 2009 AC begins deleting articles due to “questionable content and poor grammar/spelling.” This unannounced rule change, though probably for the best, was an attempt to get back in the good graces of Google.
• March-ish 2009, AC says they’re looking into it.
• April-ish 2009, AC says there is no problem with articles being indexed. AC says it’s working like always and they don’t control what Google does anyway.
• May 2009, despite dozens of forum posts and hundreds of emails with examples of the problem, AC continues to say, “There is no problem.”
• May 2009, after getting a new CEO and $6M in investment funds, AC fires some of the people who have been the best communication link for their writing members.

Conclusions:

• AC lost it’s Google mojo.
• AC doesn’t want to admit they no longer have a special relationship with Google
• AC has new management and is trying to clear out the old guard
• Oceania has always been at war with Eurasia.

Given the facts, I don’t think any of this is a random collection of events. AC is changing. AC is hiding something. AC isn’t looking so well these days. Google has devalued the AC domain so severely, it now just ignores articles posted there. If the average surfer can’t located an AC article with a search, traffic will be reduced significantly. No traffic? No per-click payments. AC’s biggest draw disappears. It’s really no wonder AC doesn’t want to admit this is a problem.  If Google is going to ignore the AC domain, there is really no incentive to put up with the other glitches and formatting limitations.  I can have more formatting options and complete control over my writing here on my blog and still get ignored by Google.  If the pay is the same, why bother jumping through AC’s hoops?

That’s my take on the situation.  It’s not one I jumped to without some serious thought. It’s one that fits the facts.

P.S. Sam we’re going to miss you, but I think you may have gotten off the AC ship at just the right time. I’m sure there are many AC members who will be following you. AC is becoming more trouble than it’s worth.

Associated Content Tip of the Day: Web Writing Ground Rules

Here’s today’s web writing tip/article. Web Writing: The Ground Rules that Make a Good Web Article
This is what makes a good web article be it for AC, Mashable, or even C-Net magazine.

Web content has rules. Let’s get right to this. The primary rules of web writing are:

Titles must be search-engine friendly
A well-constructed article title in cyberspace means the difference between 10 people stumbling on it and 10,000 people actively finding it. Good titles include key words and key phrases. They have low competition, but still use common terms that the average information seeker would type into a search engine. Don’t use Oryctolagus cuniculus when you can use “rabbit.”

This and at least five more rules for web articles. These are the rules. There are no exceptions. Give it a read.

Associated Content Officially Announces Daily Page View Updates

We enter a new epoch of the Associated Content page view beta era. Over the last two years, AC has steadily decreased the time between page view updates until it is now happening daily. Technically, it’s been happening daily for a couple of weeks now, but in a move very unlike AC, they waited to make the official announcement until they we’re sure they could pull it off.

Here is the message AC sent out Thursday, 5 March 2009:

Associated Content now updates every Content Producer’s estimated page views on a daily basis. This means you’ll have consistently up-to-date information about how your content is performing. This is something our Community has been requesting for a long time, and we’re thrilled to be able to offer it to you.

Keep in mind that these numbers are only estimations until we’ve had a chance to verify them. We verify all page views at the end of the month before processing Performance Payments, and adjust the numbers when necessary. If you have questions about changes made to your page views, please send a message to admin@associatedcontent.com. And if there is an issue that prevents page views from updating daily, we will resolve it as quickly as possible.

We hope you’ll enjoy receiving daily insight into the popularity of the content you publish on AC!

Now you can watch your article’s progress in near-real time. What will you do with this information? Make a graph? Put it in a spreadsheet? (You’d do that with the PV Report Converter, by the way.) Twitter it?

Honestly, I think it’s a nice feature/service. It shows that AC listened and responded to their CP community. I just don’t obsess over page view counts as much as some, I guess. I like that when I do check, I can be confident that I’m seeing yesterday’s numbers. I don’t have to look around for “date of last update” and do math in my head. That’s cool, but it doesn’t make a difference in what or when I’m paid for those views.

So, whether you’re a compulsive count checker or a slacker like me, we can both enjoy the new daily updates. Now if, after two years of having the page view program, AC could just stop calling it a beta, I’d be even happier.

Associated Content to Start User Verification

As is becoming standard practice on my sites, Associated Content will be offering, nay, insisting that you verify your account via phone or text message. Their blog post, User Verification Launching Next Week, says this will start next week. It also outlines some pretty stiff penalties for those who don’t verify their accounts. The stiffest is losing all your bonus money.

Don’t let this slide folks. Read the entire blog post and beat the rush.

Associated Content Tip of the Day 26 Feb 2000: Promotion Techniques

Carol Bengle Gilbert dropped a great resource today with her Tutorial: Guide to the Basics of Content Promotion. Not only are the contents of the article spot on, the construction of the article is a template for effective web writing. You could read just the first paragraph and walk away with important knowledge.

Content promotion starts with the first strike of the computer key. Write content that facilitates promotion, and it will promote itself. The guide will show you how to make sure your content is doing its own self-promotion as well as introduce you to some helpful content promotion
tools to give your article a boost.

You’ll have to click the link to read the rest of all her great tips. My recommendation is read it, bookmark it, and read it about once a month. This is the kind of advice that never gets old.