Why is society so cliqueish? I have never been one of those people who sticks with a certain group and avoids everyone else. I embrace everyone equally. In school I was a cheerleader, and my friends were geeks, jocks, goths and everything else. At work, none of us are alike. But we get along so well. I love diversity. But it never fails that where ever you turn, there’s a big wall up blocking people from progressing. Whether it’s a work or at school or on World of Warcraft. Now, I get to deal with the same shit on Entrecard.
If you don’t know about Entrecard, then most of this, if not all of it, will make no sense.
I drop 300 cards consecutively. Every damn day. And if I don’t do 300, I’m dropping close to that. How many do I get back? 90! What the hell is that? And the people in the top 3-4, they have to be getting 200+ drops a day. It’s such bullshit. The top three get rewarded, and not just temporarily, but on daily basis over and over. Most people go and just hit the top sites in certain categories which leads to the top three getting consistent drops and it’s those drops that determine your ad cost and placement. You benefit in the smallest portion from dropping your card. It really doesn’t even play into the equation. The system is faulty and needs fixing. I do my part and get what in return? A pile of stinky poo, and waste of valuable time I could have spent yelling at Paula Abdul for making no sense on American Idol.
Needless to say, I’m pissed. I guess in order to progress there, I need to pull some money out of my rotund behind and BUY some credits on Ebay and then wait until one or two of the people on the top has an available spot for 8 million credits and buy ad space from them. Yeah, that makes sense. I have to pay my way to success. And why do I have to pay? Because I get credits from DROPS (which I barely get any of) which then allow me to purchase ad space, which then helps boost my ad cost and placement. There is no guarantee who I drop on will drop back - obviously! So, I have no control over anything. My hard work means poopycah.
Don’t get me wrong. I love Entrecard. Because of it I have met some amazing people who I doubt I would have gotten to known otherwise. Many of those people I hope to have lifelong friendships with. Plus, it’s increased traffic to my site. A little bit.
Anyway, THANK YOU to those who actually reciprocate a drop. You all rock. The rest of you suck.
/rant off
And now for Link Love Lriday.
Top 10 Entrecard droppers:
- A Time and Place
- Turnip of Power
- Reality is Over Rated
- Dogz N Catz
- My World
- A Singaporean in London
- EZ DIY Electricity
- Wildclips
- Cromley’s World
- Juliana’s Lair
- Fantasy Baseball (tied for 10th)
This weeks favorite sites who are getting added to my blogroll are:
- Happy Alone - How brave to get up and start life all over again, on your terms. I did that when I was 20something. I threw a dart at a map and moved to Wisconsin. It was the best decision I have ever met.
- Fabulously Jinxed - I just really enjoy this site
- Tip Diva - Who doesn’t need tips? And from a Diva at that!
- TMPOV - It’s her point of view, and we all know how much I love real blogs.
I now do head scratches and Hmmmm’s on Wednesday’s. Way too many crazies on the web for me to try to pick just one on Friday.
{ 12 comments… read them below or add one }
Monique: Check out ahkong.net and look in the forum on entrecard.com to find EC bloggers who say they are “reciprocal” droppers. Deimos always returns a drop, I do as well… the most active entrecarders generally will reciprocate - and guess who the most active EC-ers are? The “popular” blogs!
Make sure you’re dropping on the “right” blogs - the ones that will return a drop to you. Feel free to email me off line as well, and I’ll walk you through my strategy, which hasn’t gotten me on the “popular” page, but it HAS gotten me to the top of my (small) category by a fairly wide margin!
Namaste,
A. Caleb Hartley
http://www.environmentastic.com
A. Caleb Hartley’s last blog post..iBlogCup Semi Finals
Monique, I think if you were more active in the entrecard forums, people would visit your site to find out who you were. It’s free advertsing whether they agree with your opinion or not. Just look for todays threads that are hot and have at least 1 post. I wouldn’t even bother posting on old threads.
I drop 300+ a day, and try to update my bookmarks frequently. If somebody isn’t updating their blog, they probably aren’t dropping cards either. There a firefox plugin called “Bookmark duplicate detector” that helps with this. If a blog looks dead, just go to bookmark it again. The plugin will detect the duplicate and give you some options. Choose “move” and move the bookmark to another folder so you don’t waste your time with that site any longer.
Turnip’s last blog post..Entrecard’s Must Face It’s Biggest Issue
Yeah! What you said!
Anyway, it was just today that I got the bright idea to check my inbox and reciprocate on JUST THOSE PEOPLE.
I had been using one of the Power Dropping lists after dropping on my favorites. But I don’t read most of those blogs anyway.
Screw em!
Angelika’s last blog post..About yesterday’s Thursday 30 & Whatnot
I am sorry about that Monique. I can understand how you feel. I get half back.
Jojo’s last blog post..How do you define LOVE?
I hear ya sistah! I started out gung ho on Entrecard and spent a few hours every day dropping cards. While my traffic did increase, I realized most people were there only long enough to drop their card. I have made a few good connections and am grateful for that. However, after a few weeks, I realized the time involved was not worth the return on investment. Now, I just use Entrecard a few times a week. Doing so, has helped me meet YOU!
The Cheap Gourmet’s last blog post..Vegetarian Chickpea Burgers
I have to agree with you about entrecard. I spend a lot of time commenting and dropping on people’s site and less than half of them return the favor. There really isn’t a way for people who don’t get many drops to come up. The only time I benefited from Entrecard was when I first signed up. I got a lot of drops then. Once I got slowly pushed off of the “recent” list, it’s been an uphill battle.
Mimi’s last blog post..Oh No!
I use my inbox thingy to return drops too. I can’t promise that I get everyone but I try to. I’ve dropped thousands more cards than I’ve received as well. I do agree that you should try and have a go in the forums. It will just get your image noticed a bit more. If people “recognise” you, they are more likely to drop on you. (I think.)
clairec23’s last blog post..Japanese Whale Hunts
I agree on entrecard, though I am getting returns and increased traffic, so I keep with it. The problem is, the people you are trying to pass at the top are the ones who return the cards, so it’s a lose lose situation. What can you do? Not a whole lot, except to hope that you can get others to drop back on you in return too. It’s a tough scenario, really. I drop on you though, cause I <3 you.
Kevin’s last blog post..Go Ahead?Make My Day.
Hi, thanks for the link! I have mixed feelings about life in the top 3. I have two top-3 blogs and I don’t get nearly the amount of drops returned as I drop, though my ShopDogDiaries fares better than DogzNCatz. But I’ve noticed that many of my droppers are regulars, so I don’t attribute their dropping to the fact that I have a top-3. It’s more likely the fact that I happened to be bookmarked in their browser. But yeah, I am floored by people who get over 200 cards a day dropped on them. I don’t drop a daily 300. For each blog I might drop 300 every 3 or 4 days, but I try to reciprocate the 98 in my inboxes daily when life doesn’t get in the way! But I never drop on the same 300 all the time. I drop on a couple folders in my bookmarks, then I’ll pick a category and chain drop through it.
heidi’s last blog post..My cat Moses
I have noticed the same thing. I was chain dropping from my inbox to get to my 300 and yesterday my stats were similar to yours. I tried to just go through my inbox today, but it’s taking forever so I’m going back to my old strategy for the time being.
My relationship with Entrecard is almost love/hate. It’s bringing me great traffic and some more active readers, but then my bounce rate has gone through the roof. I just have to figure out a way to make droppers a captive audience.
B Carter’s last blog post..Making Changes in Our Layout - Round 1
Wow you drop over 300 cards. I just happen to drop mine when I see one on another site, I hardly ever look at my stats..is that bad? Well society is what it is whoever they may be. I too am like you and prefer diversity..don’t pay your way to success, I think you have a pretty great blog already, just keep posting and stay visible.
I’ll work on that crazy 8 meme, looks like fun.
Natural Woman’s last blog post..Bad Penny
I’ve never been able to approach 300 but I do know that I get roughly half dropping back. And how many comment? In the last couple of weeks or so, perhaps four! And half of them are “Hi! Nice post” ie meaningless. I know many of my posts aren’t easy reading, but still ….
A.’s last blog post..A walk to St Catherine’s Hill
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