Ezine Articles Is banning Like Crazy, Are YOU Next?

by 320 replies
405
Hello Warriors,

...

As for anyone who is sick of the "whining", "complaining" or anything else related to anything below, it's a choice to read and partake in this thread, as always. There are actually many discussions being covered here, as not everyone is affected in the same way.

On a personal level:
I DO NOT believe that their change of rules about "CONTENT" are anything to freak out over, and I personally have NO problem with it. I love it, however in the following pages you can come to see really what the issue of concern was that I wished to address, simply the war on "Affiliate Marketers", which is the EXACT wording used by them.


It has come to many people's attention, the new rules of Ezine Article Submission...and of course by rules, I mean serious crack down on all kinds of things!

In fact, people are being banned all over the place, and as Chris Knight himself has stated:

So then, they are banning people, and some people are LUCKY to receive bad reputation on their account. What this means, is that you will lose your "PLATINUM STATUS" should you already have it, and they will either choose to put you into "basic status" or simply "basic".

What this means, is that depending on what kind of content you were previously submitting... they may ask you to do the following:
Now, as you can see from above, reading the "fine print" they not only ask you to remove what so ever you have created, written etc... but they also tell you they are going to refuse articles from your Niche, should you choose to write them.

They ask to increase the word count, and there has been lots of discussion about them NOT changing their rules in regards to this. They also say "NO FILLER" etc...

So let's say you play by the rules above for the new articles. I know people who at the very moment have submitted nearly 100 articles just to get back to the platinum status, but they have also stated that it will be extremely hard to get back into platinum status if THEY have taken it away from you.

This could mean that some people will literally have to write 200+ articles just to properly re-instate their account, and these articles should be more than 500 words, at least, I am guessing.

I know someone who right now has at least submitted 70+ articles each 500+ words, and still has not been re-instated. What they do now, is they simply say oh, back to basic, back to basic. 25 articles again.

They are getting so many complaints and freak out's as well, that the last time they mentioned their emails, they said they were behind on about 3000 of them, and were asking people to stop sending the same emails over and over.

I have seen so many people get banned within this time frame, and they are cracking down on niche's which are specifically heavily flooded with competition, so it seems, and conveniently, seem to be heavily flooded with garbage as well.


So are you banned by them yet?
#main internet marketing discussion forum #articles #banning #crazy #ezine
  • Sounds like article marketeers might need to start looking at other venues?
    • [5] replies
    • I'm not banned, but I would imagine as a marketer eventually they'll find something they don't like about my articles. Quite a few authors I'd been watching have suddenly 'disappeared' and many more are all of a sudden writing much longer articles, so it looks like they've fallen victim to the Ezinearticles slap.

      I think they're really starting to shoot themselves in the foot with this, and to be honest I think I'll be taking my writing elsewhere. Although what I submit is good, I only submit my best work to my own sites and I have no intention of changing that now.
      • [ 1 ] Thanks
    • FIXED:

      "Sounds like article marketers need to actually deliver value in their articles."



      That's all EZA is really asking. Do that, and you'll be fine. If that's too hard, then IM will be a difficult road.

      Dollars always chase value. Shortcuts last but so long. Create value and the dollars will follow.

      /endofrant

      • [ 10 ] Thanks
      • [1] reply
    • If someone isn't compliant with those points, I'd have serious issues with them calling themself an article marketer.

      EZA has needed to be cleaned up for a while now. I for one am glad to see them doing something about it.
      • [ 7 ] Thanks
      • [1] reply
    • From the 'outside looking in' it all seems pretty fair to me. I went hunting for articles there before to add to a library for my users and I have to say I was very disappointed with the quality of articles. I read through about 150 in my particular niche and only found 1 that was of any use.
      The problem from a users perspective is that almost all of the articles are obviously written by people who are just rehashing watered down information which is pretty useless. It's also abundantly clear that the vast majority of the writers are writing about subjects that they know very little about and are not experts in. As a reader/user when I go looking for an article I want information that I don't already know. Something written by a person who is an expert in that particular niche or field. It's so obvious when you read the difference between an expert and a 'rehasher'.
      I know IM'ers are very passionate about what they do but when it comes to article writing I do think that most suffer from the wrong approach and are not looking at it from outside of the IM'ers point of view. Take a look at that site with a fresh set of eyes and ask yourself this, who the hell would actually want any of these articles? Do they tell you anything you didn't already know? I think the site is doing the right thing in terms of providing a repository of useful information - unfortunately though, it is likely to hurt a lot of IM'ers along the way. End result - a better resource.
      • [ 3 ] Thanks
    • Banned in the USA . . . jeesh
  • Actually I think it's a good idea that they're looking for quality now. If you ever tried to research a topic using their articles, then you've seen how much completely useless content they have.

    If they manage to control quality it will increase readership of real human readers on their site. And that's good news for all article marketers, isn't it?
    • [ 3 ] Thanks
    • [2] replies
    • Couldn't have put it better myself. Way too many "writers" aiming for quantity with no regards at all to quality. No thought at all given to the reader's, just throw some words together and get a backlink(s).

      If I was Mr Knight I would've done it from the start. Unfortunately "writers" seem to think his site is a perfect dumping ground for sparticles (spam articles).

      Bravo.
      • [ 2 ] Thanks
    • I think you're right about the "contextual cleansing" however, although I'm kosher, I hope it ain't me next.
  • This is a great laugh...

    EzineArticles.com Current Job/Career Listings

    LOL check out this! The editor position at the top is $10 an hour. That is only $2 above minimum where I work. No wonder the editors are so LOVELY...

    That just makes things even better!

    I wonder how many writers are out of a job now?
    • [1] reply
    • Well thanks. You just made me feel better about not getting a platinum account out of the gate and getting approved for the basic plus. And I'm early enough in the game with them to insure I mix things up a bit.
  • Overall I think it's a good thing, but I do believe if they keep changing their rules people will simply replace them with someone else. EZA is good, but they have to remember they are not the only game in town. All people have to do is vote with their feet or with their articles by taking them some place else.
  • I think it will definiatly clean things up and also I think that maybe articles will get accepted quicker if the crap stops....maybe?

    I get quite good click throughs and rarely get an article rejected so I hope I am safe but if not there are plenty of other directories out there we can use!

    Danny
    • [ 1 ] Thanks
    • [1] reply
    • That will be great!
      • [1] reply
  • Just produce quality articles that provide value to the reader and you should be fine.
    • [ 1 ] Thanks
    • [1] reply
    • I think it's great!

      Recently I've noticed a load of articles not long enough to say anything of substance and articles so poorly written they were almost unreadable.

      Another thread here today is complaining about having short articles refused and complaints are that the article was "over 250 words" - to me that's someone who is counting words, not writing articles.

      If you are doing research and writing good, high quality articles of a length that provides real information to the reader, you won't have a problem with EZA.

      If your method of article marketing is to throw up as many quick, short blurbs as you can, you will have a problem now.

      I think it's a good step forward for EZA to protect the quality of the site and its content.

      If you are one of those "authors" writing lines such as "Many people want to diet and lose weight because they doesn't like to be fat and if they don't eats so much food they will not be so fat..." maybe EZA is not the problem.

      kay

      EDIT: 'Premium" and "Platinum" are being used interchangeably in this thread and are not the same. Premium members are paid members - Platinum is earned with quality articles and you do not need to be a paying member to be a Platinum author.
      • [ 5 ] Thanks
  • Before everyone starts jumping off bridges, there is a place where you can write whatever you want, don't have to wait for approval, and can have an unlimited amount of affiliate links.

    It's your blog!... start using it
    • [ 7 ] Thanks
    • [4] replies
    • That is a good idea Mark. I thought about it before. I am sure Google counts the backlink. My blog has a PR of 3 (Angela's backlinks) and Ezine Articles has a PR of 7 I think. I would still not get the same traffic though. Ezine Articles is in the top 250 Alexa rank. There are pros and cons to having content on your own blog.
    • You are so right!
      Write for your blog first, then write articles to support your blog.
      EZA is a pain, but I have to agree with them a little, there was far too much c*** out there, it got to the stage where I just wouldn't bother reading any of the articles, they got to be so bad. In one instance I checked out someone who had written hundreds of articles most of them total rubbish, just the same articles with slightly different entry words, I wonder if she got banned too!
      Just my two bits worth,
      Maya
    • Well said Mark - you've hit the nail on the head

      Your own blog/website should be the repository for all your best work. Write great, unique content and keep it at home. Google will find it and reward you. Why put it out where it can be re-posted minus the 'requisite' resource box (I've had this happen repeatedly).

      EZA has been going down the tubes lately with the content it's been publishing. Many articles have been close to unreadable.
    • That is so true, just may write whatever you want on your blog. I myself have notice that EZA have been very slow in publishing articles. I know that these month are the best time but on your blog you may PUBLISH anytime you want. Great Advantage.
  • I am starting to do article marketing. What is a good article length to have? I think that by having a shorter article, you can get more clicks to your signature file. I don't think that people read all of the articles that they see. The thing is, if I write articles that are over 500 words, I can submit them to other article directories which will get me more traffic. I think I answered my own question.
  • And this is why we don't put all our eggs in one basket.
  • Yes, they have certainly changed the rules in the middle of the game without letting the players know before the game stated. If you know the rules you can adapt, but if you don't know the rules, then you are like a fish out of water.

    After submitting over 1,000 articles and having the approved instantly, the last 14 were all hit with problem issues. My CTR on my articles is over 42%, so that is some kind of indication that there readers like some of my content. But not anymore I guess.

    I just checked my stats and my last article only had 35 views but it did have 23 clicks to my site, a 66%. But those articles are no longer good enough. OH, well, what can you do if they don't tell you the rules?
    • [1] reply
    • How many of those clicks are marketers or competition ?

      James
  • Those rules sound pretty stranded to me...
  • Looks like quality is coming back into fashion. Kewl. It's about time. I probably have a banned niche in the bunch because of all the crap crud so many in that niche have written so to have them do this doesn't hurt my feelings one iota. I knew that it had to blow sooner or later. Just the same as with ebooks - so much re-hash and crap out there that people just started not buying like they once did.

    Online is no different than offline - give value, you get the big bucks - offer crap and you get to go look for a new business. I'm really amazed to see how many have a real problem with that -------what does that tell us?
    • [ 1 ] Thanks
  • [DELETED]
  • I think it is rather obvious that EA is trying to avoid a Google slap of their own. The real trouble comes if Google decides that the content on the EA site is no longer suitable to be shown in their SERPS. Maybe Chris received a "courtesy call" from Big G?
    • [2] replies
    • I agree. Ezinearticle's business is still dependant on Google. One small tweak and they could be wiped out. Nothing lasts forever and the big "G" is as unpredictable as ever. Is it any wonder they want to appear as authoritative as possible? In the end, it all comes down to doing whatever it takes to stay in their good books.

      Steve

    • This is what I suspect. I think something big is blowing in the wind and this is a canaryin the mine shaft for everyone who does article marketing. EZA has a lot of influence in the article directory niche and I think they got the "word" from Google insiders to clean things up now.

      Possibly a bigger slap is coming for Big G soon.

      It's all about delivering quality content now for the search engine visitor. Article directories that throw up any ole content may find themselves deindexed.
      • [ 1 ] Thanks
  • Sorry just have to say it .. Ha! Ha! ...

    James
    • [1] reply
    • lol! I was waiting for you to show up.

      I totally understand that EZA wants to clean up their directory and start receiving more higher quality content, but my problem is their whole attitude about this situation here. The last time I checked, us article marketers are not their employees....so why do I feel like one?

      Also, I don't mind adhering to rules and policies (given that they are fair and sensible), but how about a little heads up on these rules before the hammer is thrown down?

      Well, all I can say is that I've learned my lesson about diversifying and not putting all my eggs into one basket. So, besides sending "some" of my content to EZA, I'm now focusing more on my blog (with beautiful super high quality content...that will ONLY go on MY blog), and I'm also focusing on other article directories, web 2.0, and a pinch of PPC.

      Improvise, adapt, and overcome.
      • [ 1 ] Thanks
      • [2] replies
  • I kind of wondered if that would happen. I have only a few articles listed with EZA.

    Article marketing is a big thing.

    If someone is willing to pay $32k to stay as a premium member, they are making some good money through article marketing.

    But, they need to keep their site a quality site. Make Google happy.

    It makes it harder to get an article listed with them and can be frustrating.

    I guess they are just trying to weed out the not so good.

    We will have to wait and see what happens next.
  • Whatever they are doing, I don't really like it...
  • I like how people say write "high quality" content.

    Can you define that for me and will ezinearticle define that?

    What is high quality? EZA doesn't check or verify the information in an article, so how could anyone talk of quality beyond spelling and grammar?

    I can write spectacular 1000 word articles on how doing hand stands cure morning sickness. I can walk people through the best stands they can do and how to started. I can teach them how to strengthen their arms to prepare for such a thing.

    In the end, hand stands don't cure morning sickness and the information is complete CRAP. I'm sure in the eyes of EZA, which doesn't verify information, this would be a high quality article - even though it's not.

    Yet, if I wrote a concise and accurate article (which is short and to the point) it would probably get rejected.

    High quality and low quality are words that shouldn't be used to describe anything EZA is doing.

    There prerogative is to Google and their readers. They're at war with us. It's honest. And I have no desire to be fodder in this war. Real high quality(yes, the real high quality) articles are going on my site or someone is paying me for them.
    • [ 3 ] Thanks
    • [1] reply
    • While I agree in general with EZA having to clean up their directory. I do have a problem with this vague notion of what qualifies as quality. In fact, you are right that as long as you can write an article that sounds like you know what you're talking about, then it will probably pass the muster. Again, EZA can't and maybe shouldn't go as far as checking out how well researched a particular subject is.

      A simple way to define the quality I think they mean is to always do some kind of fact checking on your subject with credible sources. Don't rely on other people's articles only to provide background info.

      They should provide some sort of FAQs on exactly what type of quality they want on their directory.
      • [1] reply
  • Sorry, I don't see what the problem is.

    Firstly, if you write decent articles of decent length then this isn't an issue.

    Secondly, EzineArticles is Chris's house and he can do whatever he likes there. We are guests in his house and we can either abide by his house rules or leave the party. He's doing what is best for his business to provide high quality articles and information which is fair enough.

    If you don't like it, go find another article directory to play in.

    As far as I am concerned, good on Chris - it's makes EZA a better place and provides better quality information. I am pretty sure that if any of the people who have criticised him for this decision owned EZA and was seeing it being taken over by crap articles they would make a similar decision.

    When researching info I never visit any article directories other than EZA because the others are full of junk most of the time. Recently I've noticed researching on EZA has returned short, junk articles (probably due to the recommendations by experts to write 250 word articles so the resource box is above the fold) with very little information on.

    I'm going to continue to use EZA as it's very good for my search engine rankings. I'm also going to continue to post content on my own sites.

    I'm happy to see EZA being cleaned up as it makes more room for quality article writers! Though I do wonder ... how many ghostwriters are going to feel the pinch when their articles are no longer good enough to be accepted by EZA? Is it time for some training videos on how to write high quality articles ?

    All the best

    Jason
    • [ 4 ] Thanks
  • Yes, I had 3 articles rejected out of 10 that I submitted. They were all completely new articles and had been copyscaped but were rejected because they were too similar to other articles already submitted. Not sure how I am supposed to know that there are similar articles out there. Hmmmm....
    • [1] reply
    • I think the amount of low quality content is a reflection of ezine articles being run on the backs of internet marketers. Also ezine is the largest directory on the net with the most authors and visitors so content is bound to be repeated a few times over. Even if the article is original in your mind and the fact 25 000 other articles in your niche exist you are bound to run into someone with similar content as you. I think Ezine should take that point into consideration when making their new policies.
  • I'm not worried since all the articles I write are unique from my head. If they change their rules to say they require more length, I'm not sure if I'll just focus on another article directory or suck it up and write a little bit more.

    But for now I'm not worried, and I had two 250 word articles approved today. So it does seem that for now the quality I'm submitting is okay.

    I'm not a fan of EZA's recent comments, though. If only Google could understand English (if only ), it'd realise that EZA are too snobby and full of themselves. They have left a bad taste in my mouth, and I'd be secretely (wait, what? .. openly) happy if Google slapped them a bit.
    • [2] replies
    • Okay, I realize that this will probably only help people in the MMO niche,
      but folks, I just checked my Warrior Forum blog.

      My articles posted there, what few there are, have more views than just
      about ANY MMO article I have posted at EZA.

      People...start using your Warrior Forum blogs if you're in the MMO niche. I
      don't know how effective they'll be for other niches or if Allen will even
      want you posting articles there that aren't related to marketing, but to me,
      this is a NO BRAINER.

      And since it's been made clear that forum threads are NOT to be articles
      (understandably)...

      It's time to start writing for the Warrior Forum blogs again.
      • [ 2 ] Thanks
      • [1] reply
    • Ok wait a minute.. I'm confused...

      You still submit to EZA (blog post by the way and not articles) but you admit that you wish google would slap them.

      So if I was paying your rent then you would be my friends as long as I kept paying that rent even though "secretly" you do not like me... Is that what you are saying ?

      I don't know, I am just a little confused by your post.

      James
      • [2] replies
  • People you are missing the big point here...Not only are they asking you to submit better articles now but they're also asking you to remove any previous articles which might have been low quality according to them.

    So in a way- They are saying...They want you to remove all articles which were accepted by their staff months ago only because now due to their new terms...It's not longer useful.

    Here is a great point from a poster on ezines blog-

    ------------------

    Chris, and team:
    Re: "In the past, we've grandfathered existing articles in when new quality levels are set, except when a live article is edited, today's standard is applied to that content. That means we would typically have allowed old articles that would no longer be accepted with today's standard, to remain live in the site. We've reached a point where we can no longer allow that to happen."

    It's problematic to expect article authors to *retroactively* go back through hundreds of articles submitted in good faith that were reviewed by a human editor and approved. Think about that for a moment -- every article that's "live" on the EZA system was reviewed by an actual person, in addition to whatever automated content filters are in place.

    You're asking authors to comb through articles that have already been submitted in an effort to make them conform to rules that are constantly changing, somewhat arbitrary, and subject to being confusion -- so confusing, in fact, that your *OWN* paid staff members once deemed such content as acceptable.

    Guess how I create my articles? I use a speech recognition software and "talk" about my topics. I'm sure a lot of other people do this too. You've got to have a system in place that gives authors the confidence of knowing that when an article is submitted and accepted, that it's "accepted" -- not subject to having to be reviewed 3, 6, or even 12 months later because the rules changed. Under that type of *retroactive* system, NO article is safe, NO author will be spared... you're robbing authors of a degree of certainty that they need to continue having confidence in their EZA submissions.

    I'm 100% committed to following the letter and the spirit of the rules, but you're introducing a variable that casts a shadow of doubt.

    Tighten up the front door -- make it bulletproof and exceptionally hard for articles to be accepted -- fine! But once an article is accepted, it's EXTREMELY frustrating to have this lingering cloud hanging over one's head -- wondering if we'll be asked to review all of our articles and make them more "unique" or "meaningful" or whatever nebulous standard is being promoted. How can we really know what EZA wants when the article passed the content filters and also was approved by a human editor?

    Please reconsider the *retroactive* element of what you're proposing.

    Respectfully,
    Ethan


    ----------------------
    • [ 2 ] Thanks
    • [1] reply
    • Okay, I don't see anything in Ezine Articles blog Something Unexpected that says they want you to remove any articles which might be low quality. Not in Christopher Knight's posts or in his replies to people. I suspect that if they want to remove a "low quality" article they will email you and let you know that it was rejected and your article will end up in "draft mode" so you can rewrite again to their new standard.



      This last part about "You're asking authors to comb through articles that have already....." was never said by Chris Knight. I think this is an assumption made by the author.

      This is the part that seems to be the underlying theme in his message:This just means to me that previously articles that were approved and then resubmitted were sometimes not re-approved - it's happened to me. Now, they say that some of the articles that you may have written and submitted will come up for review and may be rejected according to their new standards. He did not say to go back and cull any "low quality" articles from your library. I assume that this job will be huge and they will probably automate this with software and email people as to which articles they have that will need to be brought up to "snuff" or risk losing this article in their directory.
  • sounds like they are doing a data cleansing exercise. Most of my articles are detailed and carefully written, so no problems yet.
  • Hi Acrasial,
    Thank you for the post. I'm just starting out and am considering eZine articles but this has given me something to think about!
  • As it always is in business you'll need to adapt or die.
    • [1] reply
    • If you are not spinning tons of articles a day, have an abundance of articles in problem resolution, and generally use your head - you will be fine.

      The sky isn't falling....
      • [ 9 ] Thanks
  • You know what I find very funny? The people complaining about EZA don't get the entire picture.

    I used to own a fairly large article directory, and some of the junk that got passed off as articles was just that - JUNK! Back 3 yrs or so I was not accepting the junk anymore. As a result, it helped the people who wrote good articles because the search engines were listing them well, plus the PR for the site was still rising.

    The people using spinners, PLR articles, or plain copying other people's regurgitated stuff are screwing the hand that feeds them. You can't expect a site owner, whether it is an article directory like EZA or something else, to post junk and still be on top of the search engine listings. That isn't going to happen, particularly where Google is concerned.

    All you are doing is messing someone else's livelyhood up!

    And you think it is the owner's fault. Well it isn't. All you can blame is you if you are using these tactics.

    Try writing good solid information that will help someone else. Then you will get your articles accepted, and get the traffic and sales you want.

    If you don't know how to write well, try outsourcing the work. And if the people you are outsourcing to don't write well or are skimping, get yourself another company to write for you.

    Even at that, be sure to double check their work and don't just take their word for it!

    Btw I think Chris Knight is absolutely doing all of us a big favor by weeding out the junk articles and the people who submit them to his site. It's the best news I heard in a very long time!

    Good going Chris, and thanks!


    Mary
    • [ 9 ] Thanks
    • [2] replies

    • You are so right Mary.

      And besides, you don't have to write crap articles to get booted out of
      EZA...

      Just have an email address that bounces.

      Actually, I've been reinstated...until the next time my email goes boing.
    • Mary, I'm not usually one to disagree with you, BUT when content creators are giving content to another site who openly states that they don't like marketers - what other picture is there to see?



      I would agree with this as well if it were not for the fact that almost every directory brother owner and his brother is trying to sell their writers...wait for it...wait for it....SPINNERS AND PLR.



      Yeah, thanks Chris!!

      Thanks for talking down to any and all marketers that are not "big" enough for you - YOU ROCK.

      It's like the rest of us live in the projects and this dude lives up on some big hill or something.
      • [1] reply
  • Well, I had four articles accepted today, so I guess I'm still welcomed by them. I'm happy that Ezines is working to make it a better article directory. It will probably help me in the long run. But I find their war on marketers a bit disingenuous. Chris Knight is a marketer and doesn't run the site for his love of the language. I consider myself both a writer and a marketer, and I don't see anything contradictory about that.
  • Watchout, those Nazi's read these posts, lol.

    They reall have become duche bags. I have always submitted quality self written articles in my niche(gaming). And recently I started getting articles turned down for the most rediculous things.

    My article provided a positive review and gave a link to learn more...unacceptable!

    My article provided a quality recommendation to use one free product instead of another...unacceptable!

    Here I thought I could give people quality advice on a topic, and provide a link to a related website...what a knuckle head I was.

    I have even had articles turned down because when the article was read it created the desire to follow the link at the bottom for more information.

    I think EZA needs to realize what made them what they are today. It was all the people who put in hours of hard work creating their site that had made it what it is today.

    I've reached a level of success within my niche, and now that I'm starting to get into the make money online niche, I'll definetly be pointing my readers to other article sites, and highly discouraging them from using ezinearticles.

    There are better options out there for link building and traffic generation.
    • [1] reply
  • Articlebase and GoArticles are just as good
  • I'm just gonna say this and them I'm done. EZA is good I'll give them that, but they are acting like the hot girlfriend who believes she's the only girl you can get. It seems to me that they're going to find a reason to not be happy no matter what you do.

    Even EZA doesn't know what they want and this is confusing. I think it's better to find other ways to use your content. Sure it might be more work but I believe you can purpose your content in a way to get the same surge of a couple hundred views to your articles as you would from them being on the recently published page of EZA.

    What do you get from them per article? Maybe 100 views 250 views unless you backlink build. Don't you think if you're a serious content marketer you can get these same views if not way more? Even if you had to pay for some kind of membership site so be it. There are many ways to get your article on the front page. I've put up articles in here that have gotten me 1000 views in a few days.

    It seems like they want people to write mini research papers to give to them and even then they still won't be happy. All I know is one thing, wherever there is a demand there will always be a supply or someone will create one. If that one goes down someone else will create another one and so on. Right now there is a strong demand. Lets see what happens when the smoke clears.
    • [ 2 ] Thanks
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    • Exactly and how many of those views are "real possible customers" - I venture to bet many are other maketers and competition..

      Look at the post above mine "research" yep there you go folks.. I have seen it said many times people go to eza to "research" - These are not customers...

      James
    • I don't build backlinks to articles but to my sites instead. I have articles that have well over 1000 views without any backlinking - all I did was submit good articles.

      There is no requirement that anyone use EZA - you can run a business online and never submit an article to EZA.

      But - if you want to use EZA - you go by their rules whether they change or not and whether you like them or not. For every person that says "I won't use EZA any more" there is another person thinking "I'll use EZA more because the site quality will be better".

      kay
      • [ 4 ] Thanks
      • [1] reply
  • My take is, this is WAAAYYY overdue. Recently went to EZA to research something, and I didn't find one single article that was of any value. Not one. And the grammar, punctuation and overall quality of writing was atrocious, about a C- 8th grade level. There is a whole lot of garbage on EZA. If you are a lousy writer, don't use article marketing, do something else.
    • [1] reply
    • I agree with what most people are saying about it being long overdue and it will benefit the quality submitters in the long run but what I find funny is that all the "spam" - bad quality, bad grammar & punctuation - articles they are trying to weed out came about because their editors let it through in the first place - TWICE!

      If you're not a good writer/speller and/or English isn't your first language but your article gets accepted you "assume" there is not a problem with your writing skills.

      Of course some people are intentionally spamming and yes they may get away with it for a couple of times but a lot of people submit genuine efforts and unless it is rejected will continue to submit the same quality again and again.

      Well, that's just my 2 cents worth.
  • Remove previous articles, too?

    Isn't that going a little too far?

    I had the same thing happen to me as clintmyers. I had original, copyscaped articles that were not approved due to similar articles already written.

    And Steven your account was suspended due to an email bounce?

    Now, I am getting mad.
    Maybe everyone needs to use another article directory at the same time?
    • [2] replies
    • Dude - You should have been using 30 or 40 article directories at the same time... Putting everything into one site is the fasteat way out of business..

      James
    • That's right. And you know what? Chris can write to me and tell me that
      he's banning me because I'm ugly.

      It's HIS directory.

      I suggest people look up the word "mine" in the dictionary.

      It's one of the most powerful 4 letter words in it.
  • Oh no, Steven - don't start people on 4 letter words! LOL

    Interesting thread, interesting happenings.

    <just watching>

    Allen Graves
  • James,
    Need to clarify.

    I did submit my articles to other directories besides EZA.

    You are right, you should not put all of your eggs in one basket. So true.
  • Steven,
    I guess we all need to check that our email addresses are working.
  • Eza still needs articles in the more controversial niches because these are high paying adsense niches. It requires sticky and substantial content, which encourages the reader to read the article on it's site. EZA can then judiciously place adsense ads all around this substantial article.

    However if the article it places is merely a taster or a tidbit which is merely bait to get the reader to click a resource link away from eza as soon as possible, then EZA deplores these sort of articles.

    Remember EZA is an adsense site and it wishes to be viewed as a content rich site by google not a MFA site with thin content. The talented article writers amongst us, and there some of them present on this thread, will be the kingpins in this changing environment.
    • [ 1 ] Thanks
    • [1] reply
    • As will a select few article directories that evolve and conform.

      The rest will wither and die. Watch...

      Allen
      • [1] reply
  • I gave up the article game long ago in favor of buying the traffic I need. That way, I don't have to rely on the "kindness" of strangers like G or EZA, and I can scale up my volume while others are getting slapped and delisted.

    Jonathan
    • [1] reply
    • All things being equal I'd buy traffic, too. But if we compare your bank account and my bank account we'll see, sadly, that all things are not equal. =:p

      - - -

      Although I'm going through a "debate" with EZA right now over something I see as idiotic, in general I like the direction in which they're moving.

      Jay Jennings
  • Hi Warriors

    I want to share my experiences about Ezine Articles. I stated to write first article already in this month and got accepted in 7 days. Then I wrote and submitted another article two days after first one was online and that took about 15 days to get into phase 4 out of 5. What happened next is that somehow my article were reviewed again and I got email from Ezine Articles that what went wrong.

    I fix those problems and resubmitted my artcile again and surprise in 2 days my article were accepted and was already online. When my second article were approved I got somehow Expert Author status. I don't know how in the world I got that but I'm satisfied and happy
  • I think this is actually great news.

    EZA was getting absolutely buried in useless drivel. They were long overdue to start tightening the rules up. I think it also shows a lot of foresight on the owners part.

    Sure, they may get a lot of google love presently, but how long is that expected to last if the quality of their content continues to swirl down the toilet?

    In the long run (and immediately as well) they've done all of us a service by enforcing some standards.

    Cheers,

    Steve
    • [1] reply
    • You know what all this bitching and complaining really comes down to?

      People don't want to take a good long, hard look in the mirror and admit
      that they don't want to do work.

      They don't want to have to put the brain power into sitting down and
      writing an outline for their article, making a list of bullet points, gather
      research material, and write the kind of article that they'd be proud to
      have run in Time or Shape, or Best Health.

      People want to whip together a 5 minute piece of crap to get a backlink
      and somebody to go to their site, regardless of whether they've written
      anything worth a brass furling. My apologies to Basil Rathbone.

      Well, the roosters have come home to roost and now everybody who has
      been screwing the pooch is wondering why the pooch is finally kicking
      back with its hind legs and biting at your nuts.

      You folks brought this all on yourself and now you're looking up in surprised
      amazement like the Cosby kids after the mother screams "I have had
      enough!" to their acting like jackasses.

      If EZA ever kicks me out of their directory, it'll be because I have a big
      opinionated mouth.

      Not because I write crappy articles.

      End of rant.
  • For back link purposes these are all very close
    in effectiveness (and there are others too):

    Home Page PR:

    EzineArticles.com = PR6
    GoArticles.com = PR6
    ArticleBase = PR5


    Content Marketers:

    I was following a test by a Warrior a few months back and
    she had everybody write 1 post a day, (for 30 days),
    to their brand new blogs.

    Before the 30 days was up, they were seeing
    100+ visitors to their New blogs!

    Isn't THAT what You Really want to do...

    Build your own quality space on the net
    and stop building someone else's
    business, (EZA.com).

    Jim ><>
    • [1] reply
    • Yep that is what you should be doing but many will never see that ...

      I would like to point out one thing though.. what good is a PR 6 when you can outrank it easily ....

      James
      • [1] reply
  • How would YOU like to go through and remove MANY of your articles, in a competitive niche on EZA because they tell you to?

    This is what they are telling people to do! They are saying that now it's not acceptable, when the same people, same editors, and of course the same WEBSITE accepted these not too long ago.

    I love how they just kicked themselves in the balls here... because literally they are saying that their editors accepted JUNK before, when the whole point of hiring an editor, was to weed out junk in the first place. Now everyone has to pay, because the editors just let any old thing pass through?

    OH and they blame us then, for this.

    I don't think this even relates to content, because they are saying that alot of what was acceptable back then, when re-submitted now would not be acceptable... and I just think about their statement of outdated topics... they tell you now not to write on anything which could easily become outdated...


    So this means that even if you had a really fantastic article, covering every point, if they think it can become "OUTDATED", they can easily refuse it, or tell you to delete it.

    They are also cracking down on hot and competitive niches- which in turn they are telling people NOT TO write on their own things! They are also telling people to DELETE their own articles related to this.

    Does this mean that everyone out there has bad articles then, because they literally cracked down on EVERYONE in the hot niches...

    I love this:

    Yet they are telling people to increase the word count, and saying that less is not something to be proud of, all at the same time! This was posted on Chris' blog as well... from "our war with affiliate marketers"... so it goes like this: "write more, but write less, don't increase your word count, increase your word count".
  • If you do get told to remove your articles, or they get deleted from EZA, dont let them go to waste. Submit them to the top 10 other article directories. That content can still be used, EZA is not the be all and end all.
  • Id get them deleted before your entire account is deleted for you, INCLUDING those articles and all the rest of them.

    Crap gets old and it stinks.

    Allen
  • Listen to you all.

    You really think "marketing" is the be all and end all, don't you?

    Chris K is running a public service website. He wants the articles on his site to be beneficial to members of the public.

    Informative. Helpful. Insightful. USEFUL.

    Some folks here reckon he's being unreasonable.

    Take a look in the mirror. The world doesn't revolve around your shallow desire to make money from a naive audience.

    Here's a sample WSO:

    1. Write some crap. As little as possible
    2. Don't give the reader any valuable info
    3. Pimp your resource box

    If I were Chris Knight, I'd ban you too.

    Article marketing is essential. And it's essential you do it right. Doing it right means NOT being some kind of short-term bloodsucker.

    Not only does it devalue the service for the average Jane consumer, it ends up in debates like this once you've screwed it up for your peers.

    Steve
    • [ 8 ] Thanks
    • [1] reply
    • Yeah you go Steve .. Could not have said it better.

      I love it when others want to control someone elses website ..lol Did many of your know the time you have spent here complaining about a adsense farm site, you could have been posting your articles to real directories that treat their authors good and you could have been getting traffic by now ...

      James
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    • [DELETED]
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  • I don't have an account there right now. I do have one problem with them though.
    They do not allow an adjective as a name, even if it is your legal name. This rules out any Native Americans with traditional Native American names! Even if it is the name on the birth certificate, they refuse to accept it.
    That means if you were born Great Elk (as an example, since he is famous and writes under his own name... or did before he passed) you are only allowed an account if you use a pen name.
    I emailed them even though it is spelled out in their public TOU. They seemed unaware of the ramifications of having published discriminatory policies and didn't care whether it was a real name or not.

    So while I am sure this new rule enforcement will be better in the long run, they're rules are a bit arbitrary and discriminatory for my taste. & It is only a matter of time before someone brings them up on Federal Discriminatory Civil Rights Violations, so I am not sure it is worth my time to write for someplace whose policies are designed to doom them to extinction sooner or later. Someone who knows him ought to get him to comply with Federal law?

    Just a thought

    (But I agree with Steve, it sounds like he wants to have a quality site. I think anyone can agree that is a nobler and better way to go about making money than with junk and Adsense people click just to find a way out of the article! It could be he might just force some to step it up and I would bet in the long run their income will increase. He is probably doing you a favor and you just don't see it yet. He has more than just article guidelines to change though. IMHO.)
    • [1] reply

    • I am sorry to hear about this. I think not being able to use your real
      name, even if you provided them a fax birth certificate is wrong and if
      they are in some legal violation, it will come back to haunt them.

      However, like it or not, it's their site and they can do what they want.

      If what they want ends up ultimately getting them shut down (either for
      legal or economical reasons, such as no contributors) then that's their
      prerogative too.

      See, in a capitalist society, it all works out in the end.
  • As far as I'm concerned I will take it for what it's worth. I will still use EZA and count on them for some traffic but they are not the only answer. I really don't mind these changes at all, it's their site and they can do what they want. The only laughable part in my opinion is the fact that they ask authors to go back and delete content that has already been approved. They should have thought long and hard about this point, because it's laughable.
  • I would suggest perhaps if a Native American with a name like "Running Bear" would submit a birth certificate they would be allowed to write in their name, or at least should be. I am not clear with DogScout if this ever happened or if they just would not accept it arbitrarily. But yes, if they do not, then that is definitely grounds for a lawsuit, etc.
    • [1] reply
    • I had offered to fax a birth certificate (not mine) but they said it wouldn't matter. So while I only wanted to use a Native American pen name, they wouldn't allow it even if it were my real name. (They let me be Dog Scout here Lol.)
      • [1] reply
  • Hmmm.....I just looked through different categories on ezinearticles, and I'm still seeing articles getting published today by the same authors, that say basically the same thing. AND a lot of them are under 300 words.

    HOWEVER.... these articles are all "readable".

    I think the key here is just to make sure your articles don't have broken english and offer something of value, plus not make them all the same with just a few words changed here and there.

    Make a genuine effort to make your articles sound somewhat intelligent with some useful info, and not make them carbon copies of each other (i.e. significantly change the wording/paragraphs), and I think you'll be fine.
    • [2] replies
    • I for one applaud the move by Ezine Articles. Time to clean out the garbage and only keep good articles. I read one article a few months ago that was pure, unadulterated crap. That kind of regurgitated, badly written garbage doesn't do anyone any good. It doesn't help the marketer who wrote it (who is going to click through after reading a steaming pile of codwallop?), it doesn't help EA (they start looking like a directory of little value), and it sure doesn't help the reader (who gets a bunch of useless information).

      Yay Ezine Articles. Let's have quality, not quantity.
      • [ 1 ] Thanks
      • [2] replies
    • In the long run this sounds like it will be the best thing that ever happened to a lot of article marketers.

      You're having problems submitting articles because others have submitted articles on the same subject and yours get rejected because they have other articles that say the same basic thing. Well, here's your chance to shine.

      You have to clean the closet out every now and then. How much stale garbage is in that directory, anyway?

      So they raised the bar...good for them. Good for the internet. Good for the folks who really produce quality content.

      I say Bravo.

      I've tried reading some of the junk on there and from my tiny world perspective this looks like it will be a long overdue cleansing.

      KJ
  • This has pros and cons im a newbie and when u get past the fluff article marketing is the first clear cut action towards traffic and sales i have been a member for going on two months and have yet to have an article approved!!!! Had me thinking this money online was a big scam. I use articlebase now.
  • There might be an issue with content quality which hurts EZA in search engine rankings. Huge portion of their profits comes from adsense and bad content increases bounce rate. Their PR is 6 which is not so good in comparison to some specialized article directories (judging on EZAs age and popularity).

    Since article directories became an easy profit sources, build bsicaly by users, the competition increased significantly. On top of that there is the cost of processing the articles due to highly increased service popularity.
  • Nope, I will NOT be next!
  • Ezinearticle is not the only game in town.
  • a good move by ezine to clean the house...
  • Fun to Write, so where does your success come from besides ezinearticles? If you could be so kind.
    • [2] replies
    • I went over to EZA to find out what kind of articles they have approved today. Here are some snippets of so-called "quality" articles.

      and

      If these are examples of good quality articles, I would like to know what a poor quality article is.

      Before I submit any more of my hard work to them I want to know exactly what it is they want with CERTAINTY. "Quality" is too subjective, especially if today's articles are any indicator.
      • [ 2 ] Thanks
    • My main article directories are:

      EZA
      Articlesbase
      Go Articles
      Isnare - I use their paid distribution

      I also have a list of secondary article directories that I can post to.

      I often find that my articles from these directories get posted to websites and blogs. This is great for link juice for my websites (and some traffic as well).
  • How many of you think the content is useful on ezine articles? When you need to find something, is EZA your first choice of finding that information? Steve made a good point about this, in saying where people ACTUALLY go to find information.

    But then again, we are experienced marketers, so maybe that's why we look all around for the gold. Other people may just click the first thing that comes up, and if someone has played their cards right, it may just be their article from EZA.

    They also mentioned about how long they are going to keep articles live, and Chris claims that they never said once that they were going to keep any article live for longer than 6 months, so anyone submitting there was gambling from day 1...unless he/she had their time invested elsewhere too.
  • Love the changes, love the challenge. I will still submit 50 articles on one keyword and not get smacked. Natural selection at its finest!

    Question to all: what software/service is recommended to submit to the top, say, 20 directories?

    Article Marketing Automation + UAW take care of all the lowly ones for me, but I need something for the top 20 besides Ezine Articles.

    ArticleSubmitAuto looks good but I have not received a reply to my PM regarding it's ability to submit to just a few directories at a time (I basically want to untick Ezine Articles, if possible, and do that manually myself).
  • Well, that's one thing that pisses me off, because to my way of thinking it's SUPPOSED to be useful content -- and the articles I write reflect that.

    Then I see other stuff that gets approved and I just don't get it. Which is why the latest moves by EA are, I think, long overdue.

    If someone submits an article to EA or anywhere else that's NOT useful, and it's only a marketing tactic, then that person sucks. They just plain ol' suck.

    Jay Jennings
  • I think it's a good move by Ezine at least now we will get rid of all the junk on there. This is good news for real IM who deliver content.
    • [1] reply
    • So what? Six months of free exposure is what it is. How on earth is that "gambling"? What do have to lose? The arguments are sounding like determination to be right and nothing else.

      You own the article you wrote - you can submit to EZA and get six months of free exposure, you can put it on your site and submit to other directories.

      The complaints about EZA, Squidoo, etc we've seen lately seem to be from those who feel they have a right to use those sites as they want. These are free platforms to use for those willing to adjust to the terms of those sites.

      The only place online where you have control is on your own domain/site/blog. Using these free platforms to help promote your site makes sense but not if you begin thinking you can also control the free platforms.

      kay
      • [ 2 ] Thanks
  • Mine has not been touched. Quality and being original will keep you honest and safe from the witch hunt. If there is one.
  • "High Quality Articles" is just a pompous way to keep selling Snake Oil. As these articles directories do not check the information they publish you can still put crap with good grammar and 1,000 words on them.

    I wonder how they were not yet sued due to the "high quality" medical advice you can find on them. I doubt a judge would let them pass as they profit from these contents.

    It is always good to remind people that EZA is just a glorified and arrogant MFA site, not the end all, be all.
    • [ 2 ] Thanks
  • This was long tim coming..People have abused ezinearticles for quite a while..
  • After getting almost 3 Million Visitors to my sites, I got to say that this fascination with Ezinearticles is amazing.

    If you have good content, put it on your site first.

    If you look at any other successful site or online business, would they put their best stuff on another site just to get a link?

    If EZA shut down today, what would happen to all your traffic and links?

    If they change their rules and remove your articles, what would happen
    to your sales?

    I have about 5 content sites that make me a very significant income and
    if I add up all the articles that I have on my sites, It would total well over
    3,000.

    Some of it is junk and is ranked on the first page of Google.

    Some of it is great and ranked on the first page of Google.

    Some of it is just a 50 world blurb and still ranked on the first page of Google.

    So all this talk about Junk is only relevant if you're trying to follow someone
    elses rules and make them money.

    STOP POSTING YOUR BEST STUFF TO EZINEARTICLES....

    Grow your own internet business from your site.

    Ask yourself this question.......

    If you post an article to your site and in one month it get you 30 visitors OR
    you post an article to EZA and in one month you get 60 page views and 20
    clicks, which one is better?

    I think you see where I'm going with this. The math just doesn't make sense.

    I hope this helps somebody out there.
    • [ 2 ] Thanks
  • That's a rough blow they're dealing to those new article marketers. The dream gets harder.
  • SEO Optimized Quality Content = Article Longevity.

    Short winded, keyword stuffed Content = Article Suicide.

    Dennis
  • Sorry for those who are affected, but in my opinion, this is good news for those who have been committed to providing value all along. IMHO it was bound to happen sooner or later - it's part of the natural evolution of the web.

    Will
  • I really cannot see what is wrong with writing better articles with good original content. If EZine want to clean up the directory, well good for them.


    Now reading all those comments makes me wonder about one thing: if there are so many other directories out there why worry?
    • [1] reply

    • Last time I heard, EZA delivered more traffic than the other TOP 10 article directories combined.This may be the reason why people are bothered, because the traffic and benefits they can get from ezine articles alone may not be matched by their competitors.

      Another thing, is that Ezine Articles is literally now asking many people to write 450+ word articles. In competitive niches, and virtually any niche this can be a problem to an internet MARKETER. From a writer's point of view, yes content is being added, etc...

      But from a marketer's point of view, this may decrease click through's and conversions, because there is so much to read. We all go through those moments where we see a long post, or something long and we go ..."aaaah... it's so long". And guess what? Most people won't in fact read it and will move on.

      That doesn't mean that the content was bad, or that the person writes in a boring manner. Simply something to do with our human nature. People take information best in short bursts. If you were to look at any sales page, you don't see too many huge paragraphs these days, they are all small 2-3 sentences.

      This may also be a reason why it's not ideal to someone who wants to market a product. But as someone else said, don't market and don't try to sell something, but rather get into the person's shoes and simply try to answer and solve their problem.

      Another person pointed out here as well, some of the content STILL getting into Ezine Articles with bad grammar and english. Which makes me believe that they are simply cracking down on people who are more effective at marketing, and not those who cannot write at all.

      I say this, because some niches were really flooded with competition. Now they are attacking everyone who submits to these niches, or more so... people who have submitted MORE to these niches.

      Anyone else seems to still be getting in fine, and doing fine... even if they are literally writing garbage, as some people above have pointed out.

      So who is the WAR ON? US. Even the title of their blog says "our war with AFFILIATE marketers". This is US, our group of people.

      Not anyone else, but US.


      Ezine articles claims to be AT war, with everyone who is an affiliate marketer... that's the problem, my friend.

      Now, I CHALLENGE everyone who posts after me, to tell me if you even read my entire post, or this entire thread for that matter? People don't have time to sit there reading so much either, they get bored fast even in the most interesting things... If you need a great example of this, just look around on this forum.
  • OMG!!! Just move on already ... I cannot get over the fact that this is still going on..

    Very interesting thread, I had a huge laugh... Fact is though all this energy put into a thread complaining about EZA many of you could have been working on your business and posting other articles to other places and getting traffic and making sales..

    If you do not like how someone runs their website then -----> | there is the door use it and move on ...

    James
    • [ 1 ] Thanks
    • [1] reply
    • James, don't hold back now. Why don't you tell us how you REALLY feel?

      I agree. This whining is so counter productive that it's almost criminal.

      No wonder 97% of the people who try to make money online fail.

      They spend all their time bitching about how hard it is.
      • [ 1 ] Thanks
  • lol...

    3 pages of this craziness...

    I can't believe that anyone running their own business would put so much weight into EZA to make it such a problem if they got "banned"..

    If you got "banned" from EZA....It'd be a blessing in disguise to most people, they just don't realise it..

    Do yourself a favour.. buy domains like sweeties and submit content to them instead, your building assets!!

    Peace to y'all

    Jay
    • [ 8 ] Thanks
    • [3] replies
    • At times 4th page does deliver!!!

      • [ 1 ] Thanks
    • Great point. I stopped focusing too much on EZA for the past two weeks (EZA was responsible for 80% of my income), and you know what, with shifting into other areas such as article marketing on different directories, my own blog, etc., I'm STILL getting great traffic, and I'm earning just as much as I did with EZA....but WITHOUT the headaches!

      You know, it feels pretty good to put MY quality content on MY website(s) for a change....
      • [1] reply

    • Jay, the issue is that they want quality articles on their own blogs as opposed to the junk they submit to EZA.

      (Side note: I find it humorous that the same person who staunchly defended her 700-articles-in-seven-days position is upset by EZA's position on article quality...)
      • [1] reply


  • EzineArticles Makes Changes - Authors Go Crazy And Shoot Themselves

    Made a post on my forum with that and got 30 views in no time from twitter ..lol

    James
  • Just imagine this:

    In the perfect world, in a perfect place somewhere:

    Once upon a time, there was a man named Ezine Articles and a woman named Writer'S. They fell in love, and soon developed a very good relationship. They had alot in common, and were always able to get each other out of the rough times. In fact, Ezines helped writers further her business, and Writer'S helped Ezines further his business too!

    They spent many days together, progressing and working through all the kinks. Although neither always liked what each other did, they always made compensation and tried to improve day by day.

    Finally they tied the knot and got married, and life was great and fantastic.

    But then one day....

    Ezine Articles is told by a friend that Writer'S was with another man. Naturally Ezines inquires of his friend, who this man was, and what he looked like. Ezines is told that the man was some bozo' named "Bad Content". Appalled, Ezines comes home and asks Writer'S about it, but she promptly replies: "I love you! I would never cheat on you! You know that!"

    So Ezines tries to trust her again, and they continue on and everything seems fine for now, although Ezines keeps his supicions still.

    After some time passes, Ezines comes home and finds Writer'S in bed with not one, not two, but three guys! Not only was Bad Content there, but so was some guy named Plagiarism, and even some stickly looking loser named "Thin Content".

    Apalled, Ezine articles kindly asks his Wife to leave. She doesn't want to, and starts crying, and starts telling him how much she loves him! She even freaks out in front of him. But Ezines has seen enough, so he kicks her out and tells her they are through.

    Writer'S gets angry, and decides that it's all Ezine's fault for not trusting her enough, and for not warning her sooner. She starts blaming him, and calling him a "Jerk", thinking to herself that it's all his fault anyways. She then continues to get more hateful, although she still wishes she hadn't cheated on him.

    But it's too late to take anything back now.
  • You're a very talented writer acrasial. I hope you're putting this creativity to use to make some cash.
    • [ 1 ] Thanks
    • [2] replies
    • Since this train wreck is still going on, let's take a look at it from another
      point of view...EZA's.

      You're Chris Knight. You have this article directory with tons of authors
      submitting articles and generating you tons of Adsense money. Life is good.
      You have a PR 6 or whatever the hell it used to be (PR is dead now) and
      you're the top of the heap.

      Then Google comes knocking on your door, usually in the form of a not so
      nice email, informing you that 80% of the content on your site is crap and
      if you don't clean up your act soon, your site is going to go the way of
      those other dinosaurs. I think they were called MFA sites (MFA stood for
      Made For Adsense but really should have stood for Mother F*****G
      Attrocities)

      So now you're in a real pickle. You have this business that has been
      built over a great deal of time, you have tons of staff, you're paying out
      a small fortune in salaries and suddenly you're looking into an abyss the
      size of the Big Dipper.

      What do you do?

      I know what I would do.

      For starters, I'd make it a Premium Directory ONLY.

      I'd then require authors to submit 10 articles of their work before they
      even get approved.

      I'd then go through my directory and delete every piece of crap on it.

      Yes, I understand that they allowed this to happen, and for that, they
      have nobody to blame but themselves. Nobody forced them to approve
      all those articles.

      But the day of reckoning is here folks. It's either us or them. And trust me,
      I don't think Chris Knight likes any of us more than he likes to eat.

      This is business...nothing more, nothing less. He's not being vindictive.
      He's not out to screw you because his hemorrhoids are acting up.

      He is fighting to keep the integrity of his directory so that Google doesn't
      land his whole shootin match into the supplemental index.

      Anybody who doesn't get that shouldn't be in business anyway, because
      they obviously have no understanding about business.
      • [ 7 ] Thanks
      • [2] replies
    • In fact She is!
      • [ 1 ] Thanks
  • I think this is good! It opens up for a lot easier rankings if you know what you are doing. I'm sure some of my articles will get kicked out, for the simple reason that I didn't know how to write a few years back and those will surely be gone...

    No matter what, I think quality is a great thing and all my courses are based around establishing value.
    • [1] reply
    • I just had this idea. Instead of rewarding people by posting the top authors by the amount of articles they have written they should come up with a page of top authors that are most read.
      I bet if that information was available - instead of clicking on each article to see how many readers viewed it - it would shed a whole new light on the "top authors". Then the cachet of being a top author by quantity will lose it's sparkle.
      There are people who have goals of getting to the top author's page in their niche. It may be useful to them to get more exposure but to the reader ,in some cases, it is no guarantee that they will even find a readable article.
      • [ 1 ] Thanks
      • [1] reply
  • Hey guys,

    I say that we break from the chains of EzineArticles and show them who made them what they are today!

    If it wasn't for us, both affiliate and Internet marketers, they would not have risen and gained the power that they have today. We were the ones posting most of the content and we murder one's who made them rise in their rankings.

    They have decided to terrorize us now, with their "new rules" and will not stand for it!

    "The customer is always right" or so the saying goes, it's what founded capitalism to degree that it is developed today!

    Who are they, too tell a paying customer that his money, his contributions, he is value to the niche is no longer welcome because "the feel" that he isn't providing enough unique content.

    I say that we take the power back that they claim to have and show them, by moving to another article directory, that we steal are the ones who made them and can break them. It is time to make them walk the plank and let them see what it is like to be on the edge of ruin.

    My measures may be drastic, I may be an extremist, but there is no other way than to show them that we made them who they are today!

    "It is time to make them an offer they just cannot refuse"

    Sincerely,
    TheGodfather
    • [1] reply

    • You're welcome to the lead the way. For every 1 person who leaves,
      there will be 10 to take his place.

      EZA does not need any of us to survive. Those who believe that are
      either naive or seriously delusional.

      Yes, we made them, but they're now left with 2 choices if my theory as
      to why this is all going down is correct.

      They can weed out all the crap and become a "respected" source for
      information.

      Or they can continue to let the crap in and let Google slap them into the
      next Galaxy for being nothing more than a glorified MFA site.

      When confronted with nothing to lose by pissing off those who want to
      submit crap to their directory, they'll gladly piss you off and hope for a
      chance at remaining listed in the SERPs.

      My friend, that's what it all comes down to. And if you don't get that, well,
      there's not a lot I can do.
      • [ 1 ] Thanks
      • [2] replies
    • Banned
      [DELETED]
      • [1] reply
  • But as people pointed before there are still lots of almost unreadable articles being approved by their *human* editors. Articles that wouldn't be acceptable by the Word spellchecker standards. Where's the quality?

    Frankly people, if you do NEED ezine articles for your business you are doing something very wrong.

    I don't think they are worthy all the work and headaches. Treat them like just another article directory, Googgle will slap them sooner or later so be ready for that.
  • I hate EZA!

    They 'reinstated' my basic plus account 4 times, I submitted nearly 100 articles (only
    quality articles, 450+ words) and they are still not giving me the platinum status.

    I am not going to submit more good articles to those #¤!@!!

    There are other article directories, thanks God!
    • [1] reply
    • Hey, here's a thought.

      Did you ever try writing to them and ask them why they weren't
      upgrading you to Platinum Status?

      You might actually get an answer.
  • I'm new to EZA and haven't got banned yet but they don't allow me to put my site ListSwapper.com in my resource box and their reason is totally rediculous.

    Adam
  • I have had no articles banned, in fact I believe my articles are usually pretty dang helpful.

    In fact most articles I have read on ezine are helpful, I mean you are limited as what you are allowed to do (Step by step instructions with pictures is impossible)

    However, they should not be changing the rules and then getting rid old articles that do not follow the new rules! If they change their wordcount rules then all of my future articles will meet their standards.

    But my old articles should still be up, as I honored their standards at the time I wrote them.

    But so far...no problems
    • [1] reply
    • Okay, I have been writing to Chris about this issue and have just now heard
      back from him and he has allowed me to share this with the forum and my
      personal blog ONLY.


      Hopefully, this will clear up any assumptions that people have, including
      myself, as to why all the changes.

      For the record, I agree with Chris 100%.
      • [ 9 ] Thanks
  • Banned
    [DELETED]
  • Yes it does.

    And in answer to your question, I read your entire post and this entire thread (and yes, I still got a lot of work done, Steven! =. Why? Because article marketing and that world is something that's important to my business.

    If you can't get people to read "past the fold" then your articles are not very good or not targeted to the right market.

    As I read on another blog today, content isn't king, CONTEXT is. And you're taking that out of context. In context the title of EZAs blog post is, "Our War With Affiliate Marketers Who Add No Value."

    And what's wrong with that?

    Jay Jennings
    • [ 1 ] Thanks
  • Does that mean we need to move to other article submission sites.
  • James,

    The reason why my posts are so long is because I can write them really quickly since I use a voice recognition system that allows me to type extremely fast by using my voice in all it took several minutes to write that article and I really don't think that those several minutes with jeopardize my work.

    Personally I will do my work in advance and have it posted on my site/blog on a scheduled date so I don't have to worry for some time about "work".

    If EzineArticles does not need the 97 $ a month to survive than the white the heck do they have the membership option available if not for profit?

    Alexa, a site that promotes the earth to be flat, and telling me that I would fit in such a society, is offensive no matter how well intended your remark was. Well, since you apologized the only thing left is for me to accept your apology and I do-so apology accepted.

    As for the 10.000 members that paid the 97 $ a month, it was just a figurative number used to describe my point.

    TheGodfather
    • [ 1 ] Thanks
    • [1] reply
    • Wow, I can't believe I just read 4 pages of this! It's amazing how much of a controversy this is causing. Let me just say a few things and then I'll quietly go back to my corner.

      1. Too many marketers (myself included) have fallen so in love with EZA that we've become dependent on it. Imagine what would happen if their servers exploded one morning and everything was gone without a trace. Bottom line...you should be using EZA as part of your marketing plan. But if you're totally reliant on it you're asking for trouble.

      2. A few people mentioned that no one goes to EZA when researching a topic. That's not true at all. If it was none of us would be submitting articles there would we? As marketers we know how article directories work but the general population has no idea and accepts their content as fact. My wife and I had a baby just 2 weeks ago and my wife was looking up some newborn topic or something. She showed me an article from EZA and I said, "What are you crazy? Any schmuck could have written that."

      3. There is a lot of crap on EZA. I realize they accepted it in the past but Chris deserves credit for trying to eliminate the garbage and increase standards across the board. In the long term its a sound business decision. It makes it a bit harder for us marketers, but in the end maybe it's a good thing.
      • [ 1 ] Thanks
  • Google is on the war path about all the "junk" content people are publishing. That goes for review sites as well as article marketing. The bottom line is: Submit quality content, google will accept it. Submit poor content and google won't.

    It will be interesting to see how many article directories are still in business by the first of the year.
    • [1] reply
    • Come on now Bob... They just made a deal with twitter to post all the spammy tweets on search results ... Let's get real quality content they are not after, they have more in the works and more planned then what we know.

      James
      • [ 1 ] Thanks
  • I quoted that paragraph straight from their blog. I didn't say they now want people to write about penis enlargement. I said they only want their ideal members to write about it. Aside from the obvious pun, it just seems funny to me that their idea of quality is a darn good penis enlargement article.
  • Okay, again, "."
    • [1] reply

    • I get you now. I think they were referring to the topics they were cracking down on specifically, as some people may take what they said...(coughs) as in a ban for everyone. For now it's safe to write on other topics and no problems, but these topics are causing issues, and are where most of the bad traffic generates from.

      So they want to clean this up, and they can only do this by banning and heavily filtering out. They won't remove these topics just yet, as they get the most views and most traffic for EZA in general (moolah for them), and in the end, then, they will ask what they said above.

      But your point is good too, now that I get it cheez...
  • Might as well find the humor in this when we can. ;-)
  • I used to really like Ezine Articles. A couple of months ago they refused to publish one of my article because in one of my articles -- wait for it -- I told people how to use 404 pages to earn money.

    They rejected it, I complained. After several emails back and forth the senior editor told me the article was rejected because I was telling people to do something that wasn't legitimate. Here are her exact words:

    "










    • [1] reply
    • Hey cheryl,
      Yep know what you mean, that is about when I fell out with them. I had an article "approved" 2 days later was rejected becuase it had the word "spinner" it in..

      I was told that was unethical methods and eza did not allow those type of articles in their directory. So I sent an email also and also sent them some articles that I knew was spun in their directory. Basically I asked how is the word "spinner" unethical when they had spun articles in their directory.

      I am still waiting for a reply... That was months ago.

      My article was 100% unique and not spun, it just mentioned the word spinner.

      James
      • [1] reply
  • My question... Since when did 10,000 members x's $97/mo become roughly only $100,000/mo?

    Isn't it a little closer to roughly [Dr. Evil laugh] One Million ($1,000,000.00) ?

    And if not, then how much, roughly, is $9.70 x's 10,000 members a month? ;-)
    • [2] replies

    • Everyone keeps saying the 97$ per month, but I think this is silly as well. The higher the prices go, (if you are really going to be using this monthly), then get the 3 month one or the 500$ one. IT saves you money in the end, if you know you are going to be constantly paying each month.

      If a person is not, and won't get their 97$ back either (as in from the article marketing itself), then I have to wonder what kind of financial planning and budgeting this person learned previously?

      Sure it seems like alot, but we are internet marketers, if someone wants their articles speeded through the "approval" process, then it's simply their patience that they are PAYING for. I doubt they have that many people paying, although I am sure it's quite a few, and recently (since they "FIRED" some), less.

      But, if they made their entire site "paid status", that doesn't solve their problem either, because as Chris claimed, some "writers" got really clever and started pumping through the junk, sneakily.

      What was even more sneaky, was that they were able to do this and get it past THE EDITORS. Imagine that! I wonder if people are sleeping on the job sometimes.
    • ups...i left out a zero.... *goes and stands in the corner*
  • Damn it, I hate the EZA rules and their upgrade. Although it's a good move from EZA to ensure that their articles are high quality at the expense of making it harder for us internet marketer to earn $$$
  • I have had several articles regarding PLR refused by EZA lately. They stated that PLR was against their rules. Yet a quick search on their site for PLR brings up a multitude of articles.
    • [1] reply

    • A quick search on their website, and you can find articles with tons of cuss words too! F bombs, B bombs ALL approved. You can also find horrible grammar, and articles which DO NOT represent what the title says.

      You can also find, as James pointed out, articles which have been spun, poorly ghost written, and other things. Just like I have been saying, I'm not whining about their new rules, heck that's fine.

      I am pointing out their war against us.
  • i say penalize the **** out of crappy content. it's a good thing.

    i don't write my own articles for ezine or any external sites for that matter. but when i hire out freelance, i have a few guidelines:

    500+ words
    quality writing (must be in good english no broken english or bad grammar)
    original content (it cannot be rehashed stuff that is already out there)

    Yes, these are really basic concepts, but so far I've had every article approved. I pay a little more to get the articles, but they stick around, and they bring in quality traffic.

    What you put out, becomes your image. So why would you want to look like crap?
    • [3] replies
    • Agree with that especially your image part
      You have a huge profile photo over there <=====



    • Pretend I am EZA right now, and I just come to you and ask you to remove some of your older articles, and take away your status, and also tell you that your future submissions may be banned under certain topics.

      What about your quality content now? Obviously people here are not INTENTIONALLY trying to make themselves look bad. Look at James above...look at Cheryl, who wrote quality articles, but were refused. Look at Steve Even, he was "banned" randomly out of nowhere! I am sure there are many people with similar stories, who are not mentioning it, simply because as you say, it makes them look like "crap".

      Then people would start suggesting that the person didn't write good, where in, if you take a look around at the posts in here, do these people look like the kind who really don't take their work seriously? I doubt it.

      This is what has been going on in the sidelines, from what it sounds like, for some time now. Then they decided to really crack down on "Affiliate marketers", and there are others who may not be affiliate marketers, who have also had issues.

      So all I am saying is that they let your articles in, right? Now imagine them suddenly saying those articles are no good, and you should remove them...regardless of the word count, or who wrote them.


      I can imagine it, there are "monopolies", but there are people who are more clever than the "monopolies" who get in there. Fantastic.
      • [1] reply

    • None of this has to do with quality.

      When I joined EZA I had like two articles - they emailed and said because of the quality they elevated my status to platinum (I think it was platinum - a high level anyway).

      I'm a professional writer, and all my articles are high quality. This is not about quality, it's about marketers being targeted because we're marketers.

      I had no issues with any of my articles until I added a marketing bio and began writing articles that were targeted at marketers instead of writers.

      That told me a lot.

      Like I said before, we're bringing them revenue. People come to their site, click the Google Ads and they get adsense income. Without their authors, they lose revenue. They need people like us - so why are they being so petty?





      Cheryl
  • Cheryl,

    In all fairness, he is a very busy person. I have had emails fall throughthe cracks before too. But when the person sent me another email as a reminder, I dropped everything and responded to them...knowing I had dropped the ball.

    Did you ever send him a follow up email? Maybe he did look into it and had an answer for you - but simply forgot to respond to you. It happens.

    Allen
    • [1] reply

    • Things sure got personal, right? Man, Poor guy... and she said its' UNFORGIVABLE. But true, we do forget to do things, sometimes.
  • Wow that most certainly was not surprising...not one bit. But see Cheryl, just as I said.

    Now isn't that service, when you aren't looking for it!

  • I agree with Steven, Chris is a great guy, and yes it is possible to make mistakes, we all do.

    What I find amusing about this thread is certain people claim to be newbies, yet have been posting to EZA and making a killing each month (or so they would have us believe). Yet they seem to know all about what happens, and seems to have access to all the people who gripe about EZA and yet don't do anything. Maybe, just maybe its because they are in the niches which are going to be dropped, and if that's the case they lose their income.

    James what have you been up to.
    • [2] replies

    • I wonder who this refers to? , but as mentioned, anyone who is SERIOUSLY affected by this, probably wouldn't admit that publicly...as a lot of people may take that person as someone who had bad content.

      But still, I am not surprised here either with what was just said.


      .


      Yesh, but I figured something would get him into here one way or another. But like I said before, "poor guy".

      Wondering how he deals with all of this stuff? Seems to be alot to have to deal with, just from one website, and as I understand he has a few? Has a good attitude, for someone who has to see a bunch of c**p quite often.

      -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
      All aside, this thread just became hilarious to me. Chris walks in, everyone goes "OHHH what a great guy", and just before it was a different story.

      Others were JUST waiting to comment on this one. Loved it.
      • [1] reply
    • Oh getting into trouble, having fun, enjoying life ...lol

      Actually my head hurts but thanks for asking .. - How are things in your corner of the world ?

      James
  • Or maybe some of us have only just got to this thread and saw Chris posting. Some of us were at the warrior event, and didn't bother to read the forum, and have been traveling since and only posting on certain threads.

    Some of us know Chris, and have a business relationship with him, not just through EZA, so your comment about "poor guy" is so condescending, especially as you don't know him. But, a nice try to try and find out his business model and how he deals with stuff. If you need to know that badly, why not contact him and ask.

    But, it's good to know you know exactly our motives and how we act and feel.
    • [1] reply
    • Not sure about WE, but I could definitely understand how YOU feel about me.

      ================
      Tina: Yesh, Ma'am, I do for the second one, but not the first! Why not have a good discussion about something for once, at least that's what occurred.

      Oh, and I never said everyone, I said "others". Never said that there weren't people sticking up for EZA already in this thread. IT was people saying yay, or nay.
  • James, my corner of the world is your corner of the world as we are in the US at the moment.

    Acrasial, interesting as you have no idea of my thoughts, so quit trying to guess them.

    The way you are posting shows you think you know how we all feel and think, take a look back at some of them.
  • It'll take more than a coffee, sir.



    Peace

    Jay
    • [1] reply
    • Send him some whisky/whiskey and he will be fine. John and Kevin won't miss theirs

      Heading to PA tomorrow, any good places to visit?
      • [1] reply
  • OK then, to everyone who felt annoyed by me: I am sorry.

    Regards,
  • Go to an Amish country Bed & Breakfast and RELAX!
  • I hadn't realised EZA was at war with anyone. It's their site to do with as they wish.

    I'm so glad I'm not an IMer (as in being in the IM niche) because I'm not at war with EZA or anyone else.
    • [1] reply
    • [DELETED]
      • [1] reply
    • Hmmm, except I believe on their blog Chris mentioned the "war on affiliate marketers" or something like that...
  • Hmmm...

    I don't know about quality content.

    I have hand written articles that got rejected by EZA.

    Yet I have rehashed articles "spun" with Content Boss that were accepted.

    I'm sure this is the case for a lot of people.
  • IMO It all comes back to the BIG G......... I really think that ezine is aligning there site and the content on it to conform to new google policy... and you cant blame them, or any site owner for that matter to ensure they are up to what google deems as worthy ..

    All of my articles have been accepted in a timely manner...I have only had to rework one article and that was not due to content but rather to the site the resource box was pointing to.
  • Man...it's about time! There are TONS of articles that flat out SCREAM I'm SELLING SOMETHING TO YOU!!! or...they're written absolutely HORRIBLE. ....again...it's about time. :p
  • I do get the value part... but unique content? Please...

    In my opinion, I think most articles are rehashed content, the concept is the same, only written in different words.

    Do they want writers to re-invent the wheel? No one can be COMPLETELY unique! That's not possible!

    I mean, define unique!
    • [2] replies

    • True, most of the things people know came from other people. We wouldn't learn english as our mother tongue, if it weren't for our parents. So there's an influence, and we behave like we do because of the environments we grew up in, so there's another influence.

      Most of what people are, has been influenced by others, and much the same with how they think, write etc... I guess EZA is hoping then, that there are enough influences in each person, that they can still write something that isn't completely the same as the next guy, and the next guy...

      But there is a thing going on in EZA, where everyone is literally taking the same topic and beating it till it's dead... if someone wrote about "get rich, in 5 steps", suddenly everyone is writing "get rich in 5 steps", and not only this, but the steps in the other articles are similar or nearly identical to the original article.

      I think this is what they may be referring to. However, they most certainly are suggesting perhaps that maybe they don't want the wheel re-invented, but rather made to be better.

      Consider the first wheel built, it was pretty plain. Then we learned we can make this with rubber, increase the friction and then add grooves and other kinds of things to the tires as well. Now we have all terrain vehicles and other things which can run really smoothly.

      So perhaps they are simply asking that the wheel be improved. After all in almost every thing in life, there is something improving. In sciences, maths, social areas and of course internet marketing.

      Most certainly, though, I have heard people telling me "how many different ways can you say the same thing?". However, someone else had also pointed out that topics can be researched within each niche, to get a variety of things to write about in the first place.
      • [1] reply
    • I totally agree with you. If I am writing article on "Treatments To Grow Taller" there are only 6 major treatments available in the market, how can one write the seventh one.
      • [1] reply
  • Actually, I believe they would take a small hit - a SMALL one - but Chris said he is willing to take that hit, whatever it may be, for the future of his website.

    Allen
  • And the bottom line is nobody here knows exactly why Chris is doing what he is doing. None of us are sitting in board rooms and seeing how he brainstorms the next phase of his business.

    All we have is quotes from his blog which give part of the story and doesn't give away all of the secrets.

    I for one am glad to see this thread going, even if it gets locked, because it has shown again who not to work with.
  • I really think a bigger deal is being made out of this then there should be.
  • I'll weigh in right now with my own firm position on the matter: If you're a junk marketer/spammer or completely clueless newbie who's trying to sell the crap that we all see in our spam folders every day, or, you use "articles" you got from some free "15000 niche articles mega-pack" without working them over and making them truly useful (yes, it's OK to use them, just turn them into something useful and don't copy them verbatim), you deserve to be banned from Ezine Articles.

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