Every 5th grade physics student knows that hot air rises and that the web is full of windbags letting rip on people they know; lovers, mothers, brothers and others. Some even make a buck or two by being profound, original or plain stupid enough to make people click through to see their attempt at winning a Darwin award.
A comparatively new web site, a cross between about.com, squidoo.com, ask.com and probably more that I know nothing about, came to my attention last night during a Cinco de Mayo Mexican bean feast and few bottles of Corona sporting a green, wedge shaped bottle stopper.
The site’s premise is that you, in the guise of an expert, sign up to answer questions of importance to people who go to the site for answers and then click through to Google Adsense or Adwords.
When people click on your answer (as opposed to the answers from oh, sixty or seventy other experts), ranked by peers as the most valuable (no you can't rank your own, but if you know enough people I am sure they can do it for you), you get the payout that is listed against the questions.
Payout amount depends not on difficulty of question e.g. "explain Einstein’s theory of relativity" but on which questions are likely to attract most people to the answer and generate the most Adwords and hence click through revenue. So questions like:
"How do I completely get rid of fleas in my house?" receive their own front page headline, right next to another burning issue:
"How do I know which grade of motor oil I should use in my car?" Answer - look in the handbook buddy (no I made that one up myself).
The site is said to have patented fraud detection. The question "how does this work?" is neither asked nor answered. Peer reviewing is said to bring the cream to the top. Unfortunately even the top answers leave a bit of a sour taste and are at best similar to those that a Google search generates, which is where it appears most 'experts' appear to have gone for their answers to post.
Of course it’s not about the money for people answering questions. It’s for the fame and prestige of being a published writer, an expert in you chosen field of answering the ultimate question:
Are there any online writing sites that pay for writing?
Yeah right - you mean like this one (by pure coincidence the top answer).
The site is at beta and will be upgraded to remove the emphasis on money and replace it with one requiring writing skills. This can only improve the quality. Take a look, it has promise, but read the small print before posting. Give an answer that infringes copyright, injures someone or something when they follow your sage advice and you, not the website owners, are liable for damages and just about anything else if sued.
Now there's a way to make dollars from other people's thoughts.
http://www.heliumknowledge.com/dn/index.aspx
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