The Cow Doesn’t Like Getting Passed
It all started with a simple feature of Entrecard: the blog with the biggest amount of eyeballs (drop count) will be the most popular in his category and in the whole system. John Cow didn’t like it one bit that some blog that was so small in terms of subscribers could pass him as most popular. Then he demanded from the Entrecard community… ARE YOU KIDDING ME???
What he means, as shown in his other posts, is… in the ‘real world’, he’s number one, but in Entrecard, he’s not. And it bothers him, obviously. If you must know, dear readers, problogger is also in Entrecard but I didn’t hear him complaining that he’s not as popular as the others in Entrecard. Now, with John Cow’s indignant view of how Entrecard works, is he saying he’s too big a fish to be in a pond with smaller blogs? I think so.
Why John Cow’s quitting
His quitting Entrecard message revealed what’s really bothering him. It’s Saphrym. You know, that guy who’s giving away 250 dollars to a lucky fellow blogger on his daughter’s birthday? Yeah, yeah… him. The guy who was diagnosed with diabetes and decided that he doesn’t want to die because he loves his family so much, so he started a diet diary (his blog!) where he lists all that he eats and does each day. In the process, he reviews blogs he stumbles upon via Entrecard for free or for EC credits and gives out free advertising opportunity to people who link to him and send him the most traffic. Hoards of bloggers from Entrecard are buzzing with his diet-to-live and school teacher-turned-blogger story and by now, everyone who viewed these blogs knows him.
Saphrym bothers John Cow because Saphrym is the best example of how Entrecard could be used to help other struggling bloggers, and in the process help one’s self gain popularity. Give and take… ‘mutual benefit’ thingie. Saphrym proves that amidst the bounce rate issues and the massive click-dropping… these ‘junk traffic via Entrecard’ are real, breathing people who can read, who stop on a blog when something interesting catches their eye. He has a message to tell the world through his blog, and people who rushed idly by to drop cards actually stopped and listened.
My theory is that people who joined Saphrym’s 250$ contest may be in it because they like him and won’t mind promoting him for the chance to win 250$. Considering that a lot have joined and winning the contest is a long shot, probably people are willing to still devote their blog space to promoting him because he’s a good blogger.
On his RSS subscription rate. Why the hell is it LOW when Saphrym’s so ‘popular’? Before you answer that ask yourself this: Why the hell can I type his name S-A-P-H-R-Y-M off the top of my head when it’s not even a word in the dictionary? My point is, why should an ordinary reader (who doesn’t give a damn about rankings and RSS readers and stuff) subscribe when he/she returns to a blog on a daily basis anyway?
View this next piece.
He doesn’t need it
He’s comfortable where he is ‘in the real world’, that he has a lot of subscribers and followers. He just doesn’t need a system that helps other bloggers network some contacts and promote themselves. He thinks that a blog must grow organically, like as in months to years of posting and getting search engines to notice and subscribers to come… This is great, too, and Jc is obviously someone who rode that wave. But Entrecard wasn’t here when he was starting, was it?
ZZZTTT… ZZZZTTT…. ZZZTTTT
Oh don’t mind that buzzing… it’s just snapshots of Bloggin-ad’s Do not turn into a Bloggin bitch article, which keep flashing like static inside my mind while I’m writing this.
………………….
What do you think???
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I still can’t get over that I have over 20 RSS subscribers! Who knew? ;)
Thank you.
Saphrym’s last blog post..The Personas of Saphrym
You’re taking things out of context here.
1. We demanded nothing.
2. What bothers us is that the ‘popularity’ ranking in Entrecard does not reflect on the real ‘popularity’ of a blog. This is deceiving for those in the entrecard community who think they are going to advertise on a popular blog.
3. Problogger is also in entrecard yes, he gets paid for it.
4. We’re not quitting because of Saphrym, we took him as an example because he was the most expensive card to buy. So once again, don’t take this out of context and say things that aren’t true. We don’t even know saphrym and this was nothing personal. Don’t try to make it something personal.
5. It seems you’re completely missing the point of Entrecard in the first place. It’s a traffic exchange place. You get ‘free’ ads on other blogs. We don’t need free ads because we get plenty of traffic. In case you haven’t noticed, we keep giving away all the entrecards credits we collect ALL THE TIME, to help those that could put it to better use.
6. The real world you’re talking about is what we refer to as the blogosphere. Once again, that’s the main point of a site like entrecard, to get seen by the blogosphere. Its not about being seen by the community inside of entrecard.
We know you’re all happy with entrecard, and that’s fine. Just don’t try to slander us here when there’s nothing to slander about. Go read the blogging bitch article again and see if this time you can actually notice that we’re not blogging bitches according to Mike.
JohnCow’s last blog post..The Last Drop For Entrecard
Read probloggers post re: entrecard, as JohnCow said, he gets paid to be on entrecard..
People join contest to win.. thats it.. not because they like the contest holder.
Im just waiting for Google to find an excuse to penalize ec’ing
-Paul’s last blog post..Photo Hunt: Skinny
Nothing like a bit of controversy to stir up the “select group of EC power-users. They seem to wake up, and go to bed with nothing but EC on their mind”
Neil Duckett’s last blog post..Photo Hunt - Skinny, Usui
@Jc
You gave the impression that you know Entrecard could be good for the starting blogger. Why kill it for your followers who are mostly starting bloggers themselves? We know you can help us be as big as you that’s why we subscribed… to gain tips on how you do it.
We promote entrecard because it helps. So problogger stays in entrecard even if he doesn’t need it because he’s getting paid to do so. His endorsement means a lot, being a rolemodel to small bloggers and all that, and Entre was right in hiring him.
@Neil
EC power users doesn’t make sense. We just dont bite the hand that feeds us right now. Entre allows exposure, and it encourages bloggers to blog better.
@Paul
problogger getting paid to be in entrecard is not much different from me evangelizing the system because it does me good. Something for something. And if problogger allows himself to be paid to provide star power to entrecard, so what?
Woobie, hope you’re not serious. Problogger gets paid to endorse to program, leave him out of this.
We’re not killing EC, the community is, by gaming the system, working too hard to get to the top spots, whatever you want to call it. Its creating a little entrecard universe of its own, disconnected from the rest of the Internet.
JohnCow’s last blog post..The Last Drop For Entrecard
@Jc
I’m actually dismayed that Entrecard did not pay you too to endorse it, though. Would you have?
“We?re not quitting because of Saphrym, we took him as an example because he was the most expensive card to buy.”
It could be someone else who was the most popular right now. And so far, Saphrym worked the system THE HARDEST and at best he could to gain more readers. I know it’s not personal that you posted Saphrym’s picture (caricature) on your post, and you were just using him as example.
In my mind a while back it seemed to me that you quit because you ‘got passed’ as most popular. But the bottomline of it is, I’m also just dismayed that you quit, seriously.
RE:BlogginB*tches by mike
- the whole point of his article to me was ‘looking back to where you started as a blogger’ and ‘don’t ever forget how it felt like to be new’. That’s how I saw it. A lot of bloggers are raving over entre, the exposure, the readership, the alexa rankings… This is how they chose to start, and it works for them (us)… Entre is still just starting, and perhaps being a big fish in a small pond that has its own culture is a turnoff to you, but you have to realize that it’s helping others gain their momentum in blogging too….
@Graham Langdon, stop paying problogger to have widget, see if he sticks around…
-Paul’s last blog post..Photo Hunt: Skinny
@Jc
“t seems you?re completely missing the point of Entrecard in the first place. It?s a traffic exchange place. You get ?free? ads on other blogs. We don?t need free ads because we get plenty of traffic. In case you haven?t noticed, we keep giving away all the entrecards credits we collect ALL THE TIME, to help those that could put it to better use.”
- i know that, but you having an authority could help by giving people the chance to advertise on your blog for “free” without paying your ad space’s expensive price. I think you missed that point too. You flaunt that you have 1200 subscribers, but don’t seem to realize that those subscribers saw entre as a chance to advertise on your blog too…..
A very interesting article and interesting comments too. I can see both sides of this, and no one is forcing JC to do the one thing or the other. I love Entrecard, not because I am on top in my category, but it’s my chance to visit blogs I would never have visited otherwise. This article for example was very well written and is extremely interesting. There’s no way I would have found it without Entrecard. This is true for numerous blog. Yes, 80% of the blogs I visit through Entrecard has no value for me pn any given day, but they might be if they have an interesting article like this. The last 20% is worth being a part of the Entrecard community.
As a new blogger, Entrecard has also helped me get exposure. If I was JC with 1200 subscibers, I probably wouldn’t have time visiting all EC blogs simply because blogging becomes a full-time job. I know that’s not the reason he states, but I think that would be my only reason. Still, like you said, just being a part of EC, gives other people a chance to get promoted for free on a popular blog, and that fact makes me sad that JC is leaving. I’ve never been promoted on JC, but I know that a lot of EC’s have and I’m sure it has helped their blogs.
Anyway, I’m rambling on here. Thanks for a great and insightfult article that made me think on a Sunday morning .
Carry on! :)
soundtrackgeek’s last blog post..Who are the composers to watch for 2008?
@soundtrackgeek
hi. if I ever make it, which i doubt lol (there’s just so little people interested in tarot and love and dating… and what they all mean)… i think i won’t forget the lessons i learned in meeting people online through blogging.
i’m a fan of the cow for sure hence the dismay.
Hi! Interesting new! Well I am just a small ‘fry’ in the world of blogging but I do find entrecard really help to drive visitors to my site & through entrecard I also discovered a lots of site! Interesting site & informative site just like ur site!
Have a nice day!
Horny Ang Moh’s last blog post..No Pokeing! I Can?t Fcuk Tonight!!!
JC, leave Saphyrm alone! The man worked hard to get his blog to where it is. In fact, if this was a reflection of teh true Internet, a lot of top Entrecarders would be at the bottom of the pile. You’re already popular. Why does it bother you so much that your not on top? It serves as free advertising.
Leon’s last blog post..My thoughts on?the world?s cheapest car
[...] writing spawned several additional posts around the blogshpere with people defending his stance or defending Entrecard. I’m going to take neither side in this blog [...]
I think the passion (on both sides) that comes out here and in other places regarding Entrecard is indicative of something special. All you hear about Blogrush is people flushing that widget. No passion at all on either side.
Entrecard is different, no matter what side you are on.
@john
I just hope Jc’s followers still consider using entrecard as a means to get traffic.
[...] you’re looking for the entrecard post, no it’s not deleted, it’s still here. I just want my love story contest update to take center stage on the front [...]
I thought Saphtyarmdnsdm (Yeah I can’t spell it either Woobie) seemed overpriced as well, but it doesn’t bother me much as I simply wouldn’t purchase an ad there. :-)
Entrecard to me appears to be a more productive community than MyBlogLog and BlogCatalog, where I get virtually no traffic, and since it’s new I’m sure as time goes on it will continue to evaluate its system and make improvements where needed.
The Cow is right that the popularity on Entrecard doesn’t reflect real world popularity, but I don’t think it’s meant to.
Looks like I’m going to have to join in on The Cow’s side of this issue. Expect a plug in a future post.
Slam Blogger’s last blog post..Slam Blogger : Victim Of Chow Spam!
Oh-KAY, this is why im dismayed at John Cow’s decision to leave. The LEMMINGS have followed him all over the net, with no reason other than “John Cow’s doing it, so i will too”.
His reasons are personal, he doesn’t like the service and he doesn’t need it. And entrecard didnt pay him to stay, unlike problogger. A lot has been said on the cow’s sense of giving-back to his subscribers on that point but I won’t go there any more than I already have…
Why can’t everyone just view Entre as it is… an opportunity to promote to new people and advertise on their sites and gain exposure to their readers… Jc doesn’t need it, but not everyone is as big as him. It’s not dead yet so don’t help killing it, people!!!
Was this directed at me? I’m not dropping EC, my blog is brand new, I just think that John should be able to drop EC if he wants. I understand why he did it. It makes sense. If it was something worth bashing him over, you’d see it on Slam Blogger. :P
Slam Blogger’s last blog post..John Chow dot Com : The Downfall of a dot Com Mogul
@Slam
not at you. in general… I got advert requests rejected now saying that they’ve removed the widget. the same entre members who followed Jc and commented on his blog saying “yeah it sucks” If they really thought so why quit only now?
Oh by the way slam blogger, did you know that your site only shows some weird code when people visit? why is that?
there is no such thing as a perfect system. people will always find a way around it. it is always about weighing things and finding out if the benefits outweigh the cost.
it’s just an “ego” thing. after all, why write about yourself and what you eat when you can write better and useful things. nothing personal here.
yes, saphym also writes about himself, but at least he helps others how to lose weight and helps small bloggers as well instead of just than just making money.
cheers to us entrecard slaves!
@BURAOT
hi kuya. i see you’re done with shopping already. :D
now john cow got me confused with john chow now. my bad. i could set up a site with the name John Cho, John How, Jon Cho, Jon Chow, etc..etc…
why don’t we set up a site named goggle or yuhoo instead. you see, it’s all about the traffic… and the money of course.
yep woobiebabie, just a little bit. ;)
@Buraot
actually, you’re not alone. until about a month ago i thought they’re one and the same person. :D
Many bloggers have been ragging on Entre lately and I cannot understand why. How many bloggers are members now? You have no obligations here. Network,get traffic and continue GOOD Quality content and that will keep them returning. Who gives a rats ass if John Chow’s disciples are leaving? John Chow himself probably doesn’t care.
Gurl in tha City’s last blog post..Valentines Day: Lingerie or Just Skin?
@gurl
it’s johncow, sweetie, he’s the one who left. john CHOW is still in Entre probably getting paid to stay also. But that’s nice isn’t it, getting paid to stay means he (the CHOW not the COW) gets something out of letting smaller blogs advertise on his site. Hopefully, CHOW stays longer so he can help smaller blogs get exposure.
As for those who “take sides” without exploring the possibilities and maximizing the advantages of a networking, promotion and advertising system while it’s still free… let them. they probably think they’re big enough and don’t need it anymore.
evilwoobie’s last blog post..The One Heck Of A Giveaway Contest
Personally, I do think Entrecard do give small time bloggers like myself more opportunities to be known. :-) I’m of course realistic. I don’t expect a few hundred visitors.. but then for a small blog like mine, I’ve no complains. :-)
Hi Woobie,
I know it’s John Cow who’s leaving. I was saying he’s just one of the John Chow disciples, thinking he can emulate the original success. I really have no comment on people leaving Entre; new people take their place. I never give much love to carbon copies anyway. Thanks!
Gurl in tha City’s last blog post..Valentines Day: Lingerie or Just Skin?
@gurl
Oh ok. :D sorry I misunderstood. Some people are confused over the 2, including those I told the story to offline, lol. Anyway, Im so liking your latest post. :D
[...] Fellow Pinoy blogger, evilwoobie, got into a little bump with JohnCow with her post The Cow Doesn’t Like Getting Passed. [...]
*nose-bleed*
hehehe.. napadaan lang :D this post is too hot huh? :D hehe..
Jehzeel Laurente’s last blog post..Does My Header Suck?