Hey everyone! I'm sure some of you will have heard of the new article writing site, CGP Gallery. In the midst of BubbleWS, crashing and burning, there has been excitement and hope over CGP Gallery. I recently started writing there, and soon found that there's also been an air of mystery, suspicion and a sense of doubt around the site. This week especially has been even weirder, with writers openly expressing doubts around payouts; something the site owners take a dim view of; you're not allowed to complain or discuss non-payment. There's been no response from or any sign of admin presence. Furthermore, some writers have decided to back off until things are a lot clearer about the fate of CGP Gallery. I've also decided to do more lurking than posting for now. Does anyone here have a clue as to what's going on with this site? Do you work there, and have you actually been paid?!
I don't have a clue what is going on , Lushlala but I have a feeling of deja vu. Their lack of communication lately sure does remind me of Bubblews. As for payments, I have four pending with one of them overdue (over the 30 days). I did send them a ticket and got an automated response saying it had been sent to support. I don't know what I am going to do, to be honest. I do love the site but need to be paid. I will admit I'm not as active as I once was and really lack motivation.
Oh hey blueeyes! I was hoping to see you here, as I've not seen you over at CGP Gallery. Many of my favourite writers are missing, with some openly admitting to leaving. There's not much activity over there, last night was like ghost town! The error messages are atrocious. People are really worried about their payouts. I do hope you get that money you're owed. If it really does go pear shaped, I hope we can salvage our material and maybe use it elsewhere. Fingers crossed it's just some teething problems the owners will find a solution to
It's a bit of a PR nightmare for them. While the site is user friendly, the worst way to do business is to be silent and ignore your 'users' or 'customers' because, lets face it the writers are creating content and traffic. Reputation is key at this stage and once they get a bad name people will leave. They don't want articles on payments because it shows up in SEO, but they could avoid this by answering people and then making them feel at ease. They should know not discussing it on the site makes no difference, as people take to other sites and blogs and air their concerns and this shows up in SEO anyhow!
I believe the writing sites aren't doing so well at the moment. Dailytwocents posted an update to telling members they'd have to pay a little less in the future since they weren't doing enough revenue. They even published their numbers, so at least, they got communication and transparency.
Thanks for providing the input. It was a site I was thinking about writing for but I think I'll pause for the moment. And as DTracy3 mentions, Daily Two Cents is also having a few issues at the moment, which is disappointing given that a lot of Bubblews alumni gravitated to there as well. Maybe there's something wrong with the business models.
Wait, so they are not paying? I agree there is a mystery surrounding the website because I never hear people talking whether they did or did not get their money... and the website has been around for long enough that you would think enough people got their payment and send feedback about it. However, as I never hear anyone complaining anywhere (not on the website, not out either), I took it as they do pay, otherwise people would be complaining and yelling scam all over the web... right? I joined a week ago and haven't requested a payment yet, but I'm taking a leap of faith with this website.
Personally I start to believe that maybe just having a good quality blog can become more viable then these sites. If you're using google adsense or something like that you can even earn some money from it. Maybe you don't get rich, but it's not like the other sites pay a lot either and since there's the talk of people not getting paid, it makes you lose trust in them :/
We don't know for sure what exactly is going on. Everybody is getting a little nervous because you're meant to get paid within 30 days of redemption but many people have been waiting for over 36 days. Nobody complains because their rules don't condone discussion around payment or non-payment, which I find strange. I don't know any one person who's been paid, I think they'd be boasting and showing off their proof of payment (which I think is allowed!) But so far, nothing!
In the beginning there were about three people who were paid and they were paid within a week. One was Sam42 and also Smilhie. I forget who the third one was. These payments were made in December and nothing since then. I think what is really troubling is the fact that admin used to be very active with posts and keeping us up to date but they seem to have disappeared. That is never a good sign. I'm still holding on there but admit, I don't do as much as I used too. I am approaching my fifth payout and don't really want to cash out until I see what will happen.
Silence is never good in any business and it is always best to come out with a reassuring statement than to say nothing. When nothing is said, it is either bad news or they can't find the right words to say what is going on. I don't know what the experience is of the people who set it up, however by looking how they have written the terms and conditions, it was very basic and seemed to have be made up by cutting and pasting other terms and conditions. I went on last night and the articles were all poor; moaning and groaning and one of a half naked middle aged man. It was not pleasant and I closed the window.
When you're not getting paid for online work, what will actually happen? In my head people have a right for their payment, since they worked for it, but if they don't pay, what can you do? I can see myself going to my local police with my laptop claiming someone would refuse to pay me. If support isn't responding, you're basically just stranded not knowing how or rather if you'll ever get your money.
I was going to join that site but did a bit of internet research on it and found quite a few reviews where people have complained of not getting paid, or being kicked off the site right before they reached enough money for a payout. I wasn't able to find one positive review. Even the few I found that said they had gotten one payout, said that they were kicked off or never received any further payments. I have heard though of a lot of people writing for them, trying to reach their first pay. I don't know, I got a bad feeling so I didn't join. I hope all the bad reviews are not 100% true because I would hate for people to have lost so much of their time writing for them.
An update on proceeding at CGP gallery: more changes are taking place over at CGP gallery, but still no word from the site owners. The latest development is a new look, sleeker website. It's very easy on the eye, but hard to navigate. Most people have not held back and have expressed their discontent on more than one site.
I checked the Facebook posts and English is not their first language, I think they are from Bangladesh. Although they have posted there are no issue with payment, having seen the update it is a wordpress theme that isn't suited to this format. It looks bad, there is no search bar and it would be impossible for anyone to see your posts unless they were looking for them ( and gave up, I tried to find yours @Lushlala but couldn't even by clicking your name). The format is for reading on a tablet a webpage, so you can only see 3-4 articles in one go. I'm not going to add to it here and spend my time elsewhere.
I am finding it very difficult to navigate the new format. Mind you, I don't think they are done because it has changed 3 times in the last 24 hours. Regarding the payments, they did post on their Facebook wall that money is not an issue and they do have enough to pay everyone. They are having trouble with paypal. Hopefully this isn't a stalling tactic and we will soon see our money.
Once everyone starts getting paid again, and there's a track record again in terms of reliability, I'll think about joining it. But until there's some clarity it doesn't seem worth the risk of investing my time and effort.
That is a huge red flag right there. They just basically admitted that they are not paying people. So you know all the bad stories are true, and that's the excuse they're using. From everything I've seen so far I would be extremely weary of this site. Do you know of anyone whose been paid? If it true that word is suddenly out about this on their site, I would also be weary of new reports surfacing that Oh! yes, I got paid! Unless you know the user, it would be very easy for them to put out false reports like this to quiet everyone down.
Oh my, that doesn't sound good The site continues to keep changing every day. They seem to be putting ALL their time and money on the site. What baffles me is why they can't communicate with us via the website not Facebook because not everyone uses Facebook? I'm being very cautious and have stopped posting articles on the site for about a week now, until I know exactly what's going on! It's comforting to hear the owners have been responding to people's emails very promptly, assuring them that they WILL get paid once they've ironed out whatever problem they're experiencing with Paypal. Fingers crossed
What they also might end up doing is paying the people that complain first/the loudest but without paying the majority. That way they could maintain a semblance of order even if things aren't quite working out well for them. It sounds like this story will run and run...
