src: picstopin.com
More interesting stuff about Newsvine, an organization that in my humble opinion may just be the ENRON of Social Media.
One of many current Newsvine members have made this same very cogent appeal with regard to Newsvine’s recent money-grab, stealing away the member’s ad revenues so that Newsvine can keep all the money for itself!
I know many people are upset over losing their money with the switch to adsense. I myself lost about 40 dollars. People might calm down a bit if you guys somehow got us that money back.just sayin.#58 - Sat Feb 2, 2013 11:28 AM EST
I’ve written about the Newsvine money-grab in my previous blogs here, in which they took 90% of the ad revenues away from Newsvine members and are keeping all 100% for themselves now. (In Marshall’s case that’s about $40 a month, but when you multiply that by the thousands of Newsvine Community members, you’re talking a lot of money, perhaps millions of dollars stolen from the members by the owners of Newsvine.) As a consolation prize they gave their members the option to sign-up for Google AdSense, which apparently does NOT work for most Newsvine members. Newsvine’s offer of Google AdSense was simply Bait and Switch if you ask me.
The fact is, the Newsvine User Agreement states that Newsvine members will be paid “90% of the net advertising revenue.“ Well, the Newsvine User Agreement used to say that, at least up until January 29, 2013, when I made a offline PDF copy of it. I looked at that same Newsvine Users Agreement today, February 2, 2013, and guess what? The entire section about “Advertising Payments” has been DELETED. Yet, at the top of the Newsvine User Agreement it states clearly that the Newsvine User Agreement was “Last Updated: May 26, 2009″ My friends, that is pure Newsvine BullShit! If an entire section about “Advertising Payments” is somehow DELETED between January 29, 2013 and February 2, 2013, then the damn thing has been UPDATED since May 26, 2009. That is an indisputable FACT! Newsvine is, in my opinion, again LYING to its members. And, in some legal circles that might be termed “perpetrating a fraud.”
These are three (3) sections that are included in my January 29, 2013 PDF copy of Newsvine User Agreement.
Your Liability
You are solely responsible for your activities on our Site, including all User Content that you submit or a third party submits on your behalf or using your account. You agree to indemnify Newsvine and its Affiliates, shareholders, directors, officers, employees, agents, successors and assigns against any and all third party claims, actions, demands, suits and all related losses, liabilities, damages, penalties, costs and expenses (including, but not limited to, reasonable attorneys’ fees) incurred by an indemnified party arising out of or related to: (a) any violation of law or regulation from your use of the Site, (b) any actual or alleged breach by you of any obligations, representations, warranties under this User Agreement, including violations of our Conduct Policy; and (c) any actual or alleged infringement or misappropriation of the intellectual property rights of any third party by all User Content that you submit or a third party submits on your behalf or using your account.
Advertising Payments
Advertising Revenue. Our services may permit registered users to post User Content to a portion of our Site that is identifiable by a third level domain name selected by the user (username.newsvine.com) called a “Subdomain”. As with other areas of our Site, we may post advertisements in the Subdomain (“Ads”). In the event that we post Ads of a third party to a user’s Subdomain, we will pay users as follows:
- ninety percent (90%) of the Net Advertising Revenue derived from a Subdomain that we receive from third parties (the “User Earnings”) will be paid to the registered user of that Subdomain;
- ten percent (10%) of the Net Advertising Revenue (the “Referral Earnings”) will be paid to the registered user (if any) that the Subdomain’s user listed at registration or that we have otherwise identified as the party that referred the Subdomain’s user when the account was set up with Newsvine.
In the event that a referring party is not identified, Newsvine will retain the Referral Earnings. For purposes of this User Agreement, “Net Advertising Revenue” means (a) the amount actually collected by Newsvine from a third party for each page view or impression of an Ad, (b) less any allocated overhead costs, commissions, fees paid to third parties, taxes, bad debt, returns, discounts, royalties, credits, and any other costs and expenses arising from the sale and placement of such Ads.
Payment Terms and Conditions. Within 45 days of a user’s request, we will pay the User Earnings and Referral Earnings that have accrued to a user’s account for any period in excess of 30 days. In other words, a user is not eligible to receive payments for an Ad displayed in a Subdomain until at least 30 days follows the display of the Ad and we receive payment from the advertiser for that Ad. Further, we shall have no obligation to pay User Earnings or Referral Earnings until and unless such earnings exceed $10 in the aggregate. All payments will be made in U.S. dollars by PayPal where possible or otherwise by check or other method selected by us. Checks will not be issued for amounts less that $50. As a condition of payment, you agree that if you fail to cash any check or otherwise collect any amount payable to you within one hundred eighty (180) days of the date payable, then our obligation to pay such amount shall be void and such amounts shall vest in Newsvine. You should regularly access and review your account to monitor accrued and payable amounts.
Only active user accounts are eligible to receive payments. If a user does not log in to his or her account for a year or more, the user account will be terminated and any accrued earnings will be forfeited. If a user terminates his or her account for any reason or if we terminate the account for cause (including violations of this User Agreement or our Conduct Policy), any accrued earnings that the user has not yet redeemed or requested for redemption will be forfeited. Once an account is terminated, any correlation between the terminated user account and any other existing user account is terminated so no further Referral Earnings will be paid.
No Guarantee. Newsvine does not guarantee that any user will receive any minimum level of payment as a result of the placement of Ads on our Site. Newsvine has sole discretion as to the selection and placement of all Ads and the look and feel of the Site, including any Subdomain. Earnings are paid as an incentive for the continued use of our Site and are not in consideration for the submission of any User Content. We reserve the right to add, remove, modify, rename, move, delete or discontinue the Subdomain or any Materials or User Content therein at any time in our sole discretion. We further reserve the right to change or discontinue the payment of Earnings or Referral Earnings at any time. Your continued use of our Site and maintenance of an account with us after any such change will constitute your acceptance of the new terms. In the event that you do not agree to such change, your sole and exclusive remedy is to cease using the Site and to terminate your account with us. Any such termination will not alter any of our rights under this User Agreement, including our license rights described above.
Trademarks and Service Marks
“Newsvine,” “Newsvine.com” and Newsvine’s logos are trademarks, service marks or registered trademarks of Newsvine or its suppliers and licensors, and may not be copied, used or imitated, in whole or in part, without the prior written permission of Newsvine or its suppliers or licensors. You may not use meta tags or any other “hidden text” using any of the above-referenced marks without Newsvine’s permission. Additionally, all page headers, graphics, icons, and scripts are service marks, trademarks, and/or trade dress of Newsvine, and may not be copied, imitated, or used, in whole or in part, without Newsvine’s prior written permission. All other Newsvine names or logos mentioned on the Site, or any other trademarks, registered or otherwise, are the property of their respective owners. Reference to any products, services, processes or other information, by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, supplier or otherwise does not constitute or imply endorsement, sponsorship or recommendation thereof by Newsvine.
As you can clearly see, the “Advertising Payments” section is right there after “Your Liability” and before “Trademarks and Service Marks”.
Now, go to this link to the current Newsvine – User Agreement currently posted online, click on the link: Newsvine – User Agreement. Then, check out two things.
- Note the “Last Updated” date (which today is listed as May 26, 2009)
- See if YOU can find the section titled “Advertising Payments”. (It should be on page 3 of 8, but you won’t find it, because it’s not there anymore. Newsvine DELETED it!)
As I said, I have copies of the Newsvine User Agreement I captured in PDF format on January 29, 2013, and the one I captured today on February 2, 2013. When I compare the two, the entire section labeled “Advertising Payments” on page 3 of 8 has been completely DELETED in the February 2, 2013 version, which, I remind you, states it has NOT been changed since May 26, 2009. Oh, and by the way, the previous copy was 8 pages, but the February 2nd copy is only 7 pages. Is Newsvine telling yet another lie to its members? Is that a FRAUD!
But why would Newsvine do such a thing as to lie to its own members? Perhaps this comment from another Newsvine Community member may shed some light on this shadowy activity.
There is an agenda – and it doesn’t include what the long time users want. I’m beginning to think that the powers that be are happy to see a lot of us go.
#55.11 - Sat Feb 2, 2013 11:50 AM EST
Since the Newsvine Powers That Be just increased their own ad revenue income by 90%, by stealing it from the members, as even Marshall James realizes, then Newsvine can literally AFFORD to let “a lot of members go!” They just gave themselves a 9 to 1 revenue increase by stealing all those ad revenues from their members. They, Newsvine Powers That Be, can literally afford to let 9 out of 10 Newsvine Community members get pissed-off at the new changes and leave. They don’t care. It not about the members. In my opinion it is all about the MONEY.
IS THERE A LAWYER IN THE HOUSE? Do Newsvine Community members and former members have a Class Action here in which to sue Newsvine, Inc. I would really like a legal opinion on this if you have one.
COMMENTS?
————————————————————-
FOR MORE on NEWSVINE: http://newsviner.wordpress.com/ - and - http://muckibr4.wordpress.com/
NOTICE: All quotes and text clipped from Newsvine, are within the scope of Fair Use provisions 17 U.S.C. § 107 of U.S. copyright laws as well as the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.
Again, all true and backed-up with documented evidence. If there are any lawyers reading this, I would be interested to know if there may be a Class Action here and how we might get that process started. Thanks!
I got fed up with Newsvine over a year ago and deleted my account. It is, like many other business concerns, a self-serving entity that prioritizes money above ethics. I also deleted my Facebook account for similar reasons. Most users would not consider such drastic action, but it may be the only way to change corporate behavior. As long as businesses remain profitable, they have little incentive to treat their customers fairly. I say, hit them in the pocketbook because it’s the only thing they understand.
I wish I could delete my account, but I was banned, as is fully explained in my articles here. I have repeatedly asked them to delete my content, but they refuse. Thus, they inspired this series of articles I have written, and hope to get noticed elsewhere. I never had a FaceBook account, but tried News Talkers for a few days, until they abruptly deleted my group and article because they were afraid of retribution from Newsvine. I just recently signed up for Google Plus, and hope to use that as a conduit to reach a wider audience with my Newsvine articles. If you know of anyone still on Newsvine it would be great to have them read my articles here and carry some of it back with them to post on Newsvine. Those who are still there are really getting royally screwed right now!
muckibr, I too was banned from NV in October of 2010
.
I had an article about hair that generated almost 12,000 comments. It had to be broken into 2 parts because it began locking up on me. I contacted Josh, one of the tech guys and he advised me to create a 2nd account to access the article. I did and it worked. I let everyone know that I would be known as “dkacz” instead of “dkaz” until NV fixed the problem. The members advised me to create a Part 2. Everything I’m writing is in the article, so if you need proof, it’s all there. In fact, I got goofed on by the members and they started sending “dkacz” friend requests, which I accepted. If you could see my friends list from the old format, you’d see nearly everyone had both accounts on their lists. For reasons only a handful of members know, I was banned for having duplicate accounts. When I had a member act as my mouthpiece and let TPTB know of Josh guiding me, he (Josh) had a case of amnesia. If only I was an email keeper.
I had a 2nd article regarding Valentine’s Day. It was present to all the male Viners. The females were great in allowing me to post their photos. Some were semi-nude. Because of that, when I got banned I emailed Tyler asking him if he would close my page down. He refused. I emailed him again and asked him to at least close down the Valentine article out of respect for the female Viners who participated. He again refused. To this day, my entire page and it’s contents are still up.
I enjoyed the Vine very much. I made a lot of good friends there. I had never been admonished, slapped on the wrist or suspended. So to be outright banned on a first offense which was created due to Vine management has left a bad impression to me and many other members.
I’m sorry about what happened to you but I learned something about NV. It’s a clique as are so many other social sites on the internet . You have to be a Stepford wife or you’re out.
As far as any money that I earned, I was told by a Viner 2 weeks prior to my banning, to take out the almost $100 that I had. I don’t remember her reason but I do remember her saying she was a witch and to just do it. So how’s that for a friend?
dkaz, I have read about your banning from Newsvine, and know it was even more unfair than my own. Your story has actually become somewhat legendary as folks still refer to it more than two, almost three years after the fact as if it happened just recently. I’m honored that you found my little blog(s) and left your comment for me. Thank you!
Your last comment about “the witch” who advised you to get your earnings just before you were banned is very very strange! Why would someone do such a thing, unless they knew something ominous was coming? But, the whole story I have read, describing your banning out of the blue, is totally bizarre! It highlights the incompetence and hints strongly at the potential fraudulence of those who run and work at Newsvine.
As you can probably tell, I am still just a tiny bit angry about my banning from Newsvine. It was totally unjustified and completely unfair. But, as I have asked in these blogs of mine, doesn’t it look like just about everything TPTB at Newsvine do is to follow a consistent pattern of under-handed and unfair actions? Doesn’t it seem like just about everything they do is so they can gain something at someone else’s expense? I ask these questions hoping that someone out there will have the answers. I can’t say for sure, now that I am on the outside looking in. But, I can keep asking the questions and hope that it will cause others to ask these same and similar questions until Newsvine finally provides some honest answers for a change!
Thank you for stopping by dkaz! You are welcome here on my blogs any time and your comments are always welcome!!! Take care!
“Your last comment about “the witch” who advised you to get your earnings just before you were banned is very very strange! Why would someone do such a thing, unless they knew something ominous was coming?”
Who knows. She was a crazy red head who I had the pleasure of calling “a very good friend” until we had to part ways.
“But, as I have asked in these blogs of mine, doesn’t it look like just about everything TPTB at Newsvine do is to follow a consistent pattern of under-handed and unfair actions? Doesn’t it seem like just about everything they do is so they can gain something at someone else’s expense?”
When I heard that the members earnings were confiscated, I was stunned. I would have never guessed NV would do something like that. TPTB claimed they posted a comment on someones page, informing the members they had a certain day to pull their earnings out otherwise it would become the property of NV. Now, here’s where they were wrong. NV, when it decided to pull the strings on the way they USE to allow you to make money should have sent each and every member an email to let them know what was coming and they didn’t. Instead, they quietly posted a comment. I was also told that NV did in fact post an article, but if you ask the majority of the members about this, they’ll say “What article?”
“I ask these questions hoping that someone out there will have the answers. I can’t say for sure, now that I am on the outside looking in. But, I can keep asking the questions and hope that it will cause others to ask these same and similar questions until Newsvine finally provides some honest answers for a change!”
Newvine owes me nothing. As I said earlier, I collected. But they do owe a big explanation to its members as to why they changed their rules without notification, why didn’t they inform their members properly and when will they reimburse the members who earned every cent they made from the advertisers due to the wonderful articles they either wrote or seeded themselves in order to keep Newsvine going. It’s a sad state of affairs. One that I’m afraid we’ll never know answers to.