Eroyalties System NOVEMBER
Income Share - 11/03/2009
Advisor Bonus - 11/03/2009
Mod & CL Bonus - 11/03/2009
Hot List Sweepstakes Payout - 11/03/2009
OCTOBER
Most Popular Lists - 10/26/2009
Advisor Bonus - 10/26/2009
Income Share - 10/22/2009
Mod & CL Bonus - 10/06/2009
SEPTEMBER
First Review Sweeps Payout - 09/28/2009
Most Popular Lists - 09/10/2009
Advisor Bonus - 09/04/2009
Income Share - 09/03/2009
Mod & CL Bonus - 09/03/2009
AUGUST
Most Popular Lists - 09/02/2009
Advisor Bonus - 08/28/2009
Income Share - 08/27/2009
Back to School Write-off - 08/27/2009
Pay-Per-Post Promo - 08/18/2009
Mod & CL Bonus - 07/31/2009
JULY
Most Popular Lists - 07/23/2009
Advisor Bonus - 07/17/2009
Income Share - 07/17/2009
Mod & CL Bonus - 07/07/2009
Final Winners for the Epinions October Sweeps! Posted: Tuesday, November 3, 2009
The last set of winners of the Epinions October Sweepstakes are Blindsider and Dustinnikki!
Congratulations!
Christal & The Epinions Team
November Sweepstakes Posted: Friday, October 30, 2009
For the month of November, Epinions will be hosting another set of sweepstakes!
Winners for the Epinions October Sweeps! Posted: Tuesday, October 27, 2009
The next set of winners of the Epinions October Sweepstakes are Bigd99999 and ChromeKiller!
Stay tuned for the final winners to be announced early next week!
Christal & The Epinions Team
Epinions New York Focus Group Session Posted: Tuesday, October 27, 2009
We are planning to hold an Epinions Focus Group Session on Saturday, November 14th. The session will run from 11:00am - 3:30pm. The exact location is still being determined, but we anticipate that it will be in Midtown Manhattan.
If you would like to attend, please RSVP with Christal. There is limited space, so the sooner you RSVP the better.
We look forward to seeing you!
The Epinions Team
More Winners for the Epinions October Sweeps! Posted: Tuesday, October 20, 2009
The next set of winners of the Epinions October Sweepstakes are
Texas-swede and Coldsteel7!
Stay tuned for more winners to be announced this Friday, October 23rd!
Christal & The Epinions Team
First Round of October Sweepstakes Winners! Posted: Monday, October 12, 2009
The first set of winners of the Epinions October Sweepstakes are
Jps246 and Shopaholic_man!
Stay tuned for the next set of winners to be announced this Friday, October 16th!
Christal & The Epinions Team
October Sweepstakes! Posted: Thursday, October 1, 2009
For the month of October, Epinions will be hosting another set of sweepstakes!
The first sweepstakes is the Epinions First Review Write-off Sweepstakes, which is focused on getting reviews added to products that currently don't have any reviews. The second sweepstakes is the Epinions October Sweepstakes, which is again focused around our Epinions Twitter account. Follow us on Twitter, write a review on Epinions, tweet it, and win an Apple iPod Shuffle! There will be a weekly drawing for this sweepstakes, so don't miss out on the fun!
The Final Winner of the Epinions September Sweepstakes! Posted: Wednesday, September 30, 2009
The last winner of the Epinions September Sweepstakes has been selected and is Popsrocks!
Congratulations to all the September Sweepstakes Winners! Stay tuned as the new October Sweepstakes will be posted shortly.
Christal & The Epinions Team
Epinions September Sweepstakes Winner! Posted: Thursday, September 24, 2009
The next Epinions September Sweepstakes winner has been selected and is Dlstewart!
Stay tuned for the next winner to be announced next Wednesday, September 30th.
Christal & The Epinions Team
Next Winner of the Epinions September Sweepstakes! Posted: Thursday, September 17, 2009
The Second Winner of the Epinions September Sweepstakes is Jedikermit!
Stay tuned for the next winner to be announced next Wednesday, September 23rd.
Stay tuned for the next winner to be announced next Wednesday, September 16th.
Christal & The Epinions Team
Happy Anniversary Epinions! Posted: Wednesday, September 9, 2009
The staff at Epinions would like to take this time to thank all the community members who have contributed to the site over the last 10 years! The site wouldn't exist without our community and we appreciate your dedication.
Congratulations to all the winners and thank you for participating!
Christal & The Epinions Team
September Sweepstakes Posted: Wednesday, September 2, 2009
For the month of September Epinions will be hosting another set of sweepstakes!
The first sweepstakes is the September Hot List Sweepstakes focused around popular products that need review coverage. The second sweepstakes is the Epinions September Sweepstakes, which is again focused around our Epinions Twitter account. Follow us on Twitter, write a review on Epinions, tweet it, and you can win an Apple iPod nano! There will be a weekly drawing for this sweepstakes, so
don't miss out on the fun!
New Category Lead Announcement! Posted: Thursday, August 27, 2009
We are pleased to announce that we have new Category Leads in Kids & Family and Music.
Smiles33 has joined Marytara and Sblaydes as a Lead in Kids & Family. Roheblius is back and has joined the ranks of DrFaustus as Category Lead in Music.
Let's give them a warm welcome and also give a big thanks to Lambchops for her tenure as Category Lead in Music.
A big congratulations to all new Advisors & Top Reviewers as well!
Epinions August Sweepstakes! Posted: Friday, July 31, 2009
For the month of August Epinions will be hosting two different sweepstakes!
The first sweepstakes is the Epinions Summer Sweepstakes focused around our Epinions Twitter account. Follow us on Twitter, write a review on Epinions, tweet it, and you can win an Apple iPod Touch!
The second sweepstakes is the First Review Write-off Sweepstakes. Be the first member to write a review on a product or service that doesn't have any reviews and you can win $$!
Thank You from Epinions! Posted: Wednesday, July 15, 2009
After almost three years with Epinions & Shopping.com, I have made a difficult decision and have decided to leave the company. My last day in the office will be Monday, July 20th.
I’m leaving for an opportunity to get in on the ground floor of an exciting new venture. I’m sad to leave as I have truly enjoyed working with you all. It’s been very rewarding to me personally and I thank you all for the opportunity.
I'm leaving you in good hands with Christal, Damon, and my manager, Miko (miko_m). They will continue to be your contacts. I will be "watching from the sidelines" as the new platform continues to develop.
Sincerely,
Yoel
June Hot 500 Products Sweepstakes Winners! Posted: Tuesday, July 14, 2009
The first place winner is elvisdo, who will receive $300 in eRoyalties.
The second place winner is pestyside who will receive $200 in eRoyalties.
The third place winner is marytara, who will receive $100 in eRoyalties.
July Pay Per Post Promotion Posted: Tuesday, June 30, 2009
The Pay Per Post Promotion is back again for the month of July!
This month members will be paid based on each review per category. A maximum total of 25 reviews can be submitted per participant to qualify. Each review after 25 will not qualify for the promotion or be paid.
By participating in this promotion, you agree to the Official Rules. Reviews must be 200 words or longer and rated at least 'Somewhat Helpful' by the community to count towards the promotion.
Learn more by visiting the Pay Per Post Promotion Official Rules page.
Back To School Write-off Posted: Thursday, June 11, 2009
There's no time like the present to start preparing for Back to School!
Beginning June 12, 2009 through July 31, 2009, Epinions.com will host a Back to School Write-Off Sweepstakes. Write an essay filled with ideas of what you, your children, or grandchildren will need to prepare for this school year here. Your essay must contain at least 100 words and have an overall rating of "Very Helpful" or "Helpful" or "Somewhat Helpful". Express reviews are not eligible. A maximum total of (1) essay can be submitted per participant to qualify. In your essay, you can link to product reviews you have written on Epinions that are relevant to Back to School.
To complete the submission of your essay as a Write-Off entry, you must register the essay before the end of the submission period. Epinions.com will select 20 winners that will receive $25 in eRoyalties.
June Hot 500 Products Sweepstakes! Posted: Friday, May 29, 2009
Epinions.com needs more review coverage! For the month of June, write a review on any of the products found on the Top 500 Products page and have the chance to win the following:
* The first place winner will receive $300 in eRoyalties
* The second place winner will receive $200 in eRoyalties
* The third place winner will receive $100 in eRoyalties
* Seventeen additional winners will receive $25 in eRoyalties
Father's Day Gifts Write-Off Posted: Thursday, May 14, 2009
This is your chance to share your gift ideas for Father's Day!
Beginning May 15, 2009 through June 15, 2009, Epinions.com will host a Father's Day Write-off Sweepstakes. Write an essay about your ideas for great Father's day gift ideas here. Your essay must contain at least 100 words and have an overall rating of "Very Helpful" or "Helpful" or "Somewhat Helpful". Express reviews are not eligible. A maximum total of (1) essay can be submitted per participant to qualify. Each essay on this topic after that will not qualify for the sweepstakes. In your essay, you can link to product reviews you have written on Epinions that are relevant to great Father's Day gift ideas.
To complete the submission of your essay as a Write-Off entry, you must register the essay before the end of the submission period. Epinions.com will select 20 winners that will receive $25 in eRoyalties.
Scheduled Read Only Mode Posted: Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Maintenance on Epinions.com is scheduled for Tuesday, May 19, 2009 from 3:00PM PST to 6:00PM PST. At this time members will only be able to read content on the Epinions.com site.
We thank you for your patience.
The Epinions.com Team
Graduation Gift Ideas Write-Off Posted: Friday, May 8, 2009
As new grads enter new phases of their lives, they'll have many needs. Now is the best time to host a write-off centered around Graduation Gift Ideas.
Beginning May 8, 2009 through June 12, 2009, Epinions.com will host a Graduation Gift Ideas Write-Off Sweepstakes. Write an essay about your ideas for Graduation gift ideas here. Your essay must contain at least 100 words and have an overall rating of "Very Helpful" or "Helpful" or "Somewhat Helpful". Express reviews are not eligible. A maximum total of (1) essay can be submitted per participant to qualify. Each essay on this topic after that will not qualify for the sweepstakes. In your essay, you can link to product reviews you have written on Epinions that are relevant to Graduation gift ideas.
To complete the submission of your essay as a Write-Off entry, you must register the essay before the end of the submission period. Epinions.com will select 10 winners that will receive $25 in eRoyalties.
May Pay Per Post Promotion Posted: Friday, May 1, 2009
The Pay Per Post Promotion is Back for the month of May!
This month members will be paid based on each review per category. A maximum total of 25 reviews can be submitted per participant to qualify. Each review after 25 will not qualify for the promotion or be paid.
By participating in this promotion, you agree to the Official Rules. Reviews must be 200 words or longer and rated at least 'Somewhat Helpful' by the community to count towards the promotion.
Mother's Day Gifts Write-Off Posted: Thursday, April 16, 2009
With Mother's Day just around the corner, we thought it would be great to host a write-off focused on great ideas for Mother's Day Gifts.
Beginning April 16, 2009 through May 9, 2009, Epinions.com will host a Mother's Day Write-off Sweepstakes. Write an essay about your ideas for great Mother's day gift ideas here.
Your essay must contain at least 100 words and have an overall rating of "Very Helpful" or "Helpful" or "Somewhat Helpful". Express reviews are not eligible.
A maximum total of (1) essay can be submitted per participant to qualify. Each essay on this topic after that will not qualify for the sweepstakes. In your essay, you can link to product reviews you have written on Epinions that are relevant to great Mother's Day gift ideas.
To complete the submission of your essay as a Write-Off entry, you
must register
the essay before the end of the submission period.
Epinions.com will select 20 winners that will receive $25 in eRoyalties.
New Category Lead Announcement! Posted: Monday, April 6, 2009
We are excited to announce that we have new Category Leads in Online Stores & Services and Books.
MeaganDowney has joined Joubert as a Lead in Online Stores & Services. Dramastef has joined the ranks of Panguitch and Pestyside in Books.
Let's all give them a warm welcome!
We would also like to thank Arianej for all her hard work and dedication to the Books category during her tenure.
The Epinions Team
April 2009 Write for the Good of a Charity Promotion Posted: Tuesday, March 31, 2009
You voted and now the results are in!
Submit a review to Epinions.com beginning April 1, 2009 (12:01 AM Pacific time) through April 30, 2009 (11:59 Pacific time). Epinions.com will donate $1.00 (One US Dollar) for each qualifying review written and submitted. At the end of the Promotion, Epinions.com will donate an evenly distributed dollar amount to these three charities:
We also want to give a big thanks to Psychovant and Pattytherre for their tenure as Category Leads in Movies and Online Stores & Services. Job well done!
A big congratulations to all new Advisors & Top Reviewers as well!
The Epinions Team
Charity Voting Results are in! Posted: Thursday, March 26, 2009
For the month of April the Community has selected the following charities to write for:
Thank you all for voting and participating in the write-off!
Christal & The Epinions Team
Charity Voting Begins! Posted: Thursday, March 19, 2009
Epinions.com is allowing our community to vote for the charities they wish to write for in the April Promotion. The poll is open until Wednesday, March 25th. Once the poll closes, we will select the top three charities that the community will write for in the April Promotion. An essay about each charity listed below can be found here.
Please note that we ask that you select a maximum of three charities when voting.
Let the voting begin!
February 2009 Lean & Mean Review Challenge Winners! Posted: Tuesday, March 10, 2009
The first place winner is susidee34 who will receive $300 in eRoyalties, plus a set of Epi dolls.
The second place winner is mql1208 who will receive $200 in eRoyalties, plus a set of Epi dolls.
The third place winner is talyseon who will receive $100 in eRoyalties, plus a set of Epi dolls.
The Community Block and Ratings Recalculation Posted: Monday, March 9, 2009 Community block
The community block feature has been updated. Our apologies for not communicating this before the changes were made. Given the lack of documentation on the feature we were unaware as to how many in the community knew about it or used it.
Recent activities on the site had brought this feature to our attention. After doing some research we felt like this feature was not creating the best user experience, especially for new members. In our continued effort to improve the community experience and transparency of the community we decided to make some changes. In early February the algorithm for the community block was modified, but not disabled. This change was followed up by a recalculation of old blocks based on our modification. The recalculation occurred last week.
You, the community, should continue to rate, trust, and block based on our guidelines. If a member is abusive they should be reported to community care.
Ratings Recalculation
We recently determined that advisor ratings were not being given their correct weight in some categories. We've started to roll out this change and recalculation today, Monday March 9th. It will continue to run throughout the week. Please hold off on reporting any "strangeness" with old reviews and ratings until next week.
Yoel & The Epinions Team
Epinions Charity Write-off 2009 Posted: Thursday, March 5, 2009
Our plans for the April Promotion begin with an Epinions Charity Write-off. We are letting our community help select the charities that we will donate to for the month of April.
March Pay Per Post Promotion Posted: Friday, February 27, 2009
The Pay Per Post Promotion is Back!
For the month of March, participants will be paid based on each review per category. A maximum total of 25 reviews can be submitted per participant to qualify. Each review after 25 will not qualify for the promotion or be paid.
By participating in this promotion, you agree to the Official Rules. Reviews must be 200 words or longer and rated at least 'Somewhat Helpful' by the community to count towards the promotion.
Time: Information session from 2:00:-4:30 PM ; cocktails from 4:30-6:00 PM
Cost: Free! Epinions members may also bring a guest.
Food: Hot hors d'oeuvres with beverages, followed by cocktails.
RSVP: Send an email to Christal if you plan on attending. More detailed information will follow in the weeks to come and the agenda is subject to change.
February 2009 Lean & Mean Review Challenge! Posted: Sunday, February 1, 2009
(Thanks to sleeper54 for allowing us to borrow the name of his write-off.)
Epinions.com challenges you! Write a Very Helpful or Helpful review in 500 words or less and win. The challenge is simple! Continue to write product reviews as you do, but keep it short and to the point. Just the essentials! We want these reviews to be lean, but at the same time informative.
Here is what you can win.
The first place winner will receive $300 in eRoyalties, plus a set of Epi dolls.
The second place winner will receive $200 in eRoyalties, plus a set of Epi dolls.
The third place winner will receive $100 in eRoyalties, plus a set of Epi dolls.
Thirty-two additional winners will receive $25 in eRoyalties.
Updates and Bug Fixes for February 3, 2009 Posted: Friday, January 30, 2009
In this release we've focused our efforts on new users, removing unnecessary and unused features.
We will start rolling this code out on Friday, January 30th and site-wide by Tuesday, February 3rd.
To promote a more open community we are removing the ability to hide usernames when rating content. Old ratings with hidden usernames will stay hidden. The "Opinion Rating Anonymity" setting will cease to function immediately even though present in the site settings page until February 3rd.
To help new users feel more welcome we are removing the "blocked content" text from their profile pages and experimenting with publishing content before it is rated.
Enhancements/Improvements/Fixes
Remove the ability to hide username when rating a review.
Reviews are published and visible to logged-out users before being rated.
Replaced product RSS feeds from product pages with category level feeds.
Removed the "content blocked" message from profile pages.
Resolved the over $600 redemption problem.
New Focus for Epinions Posted: Wednesday, January 21, 2009 New Focus for Epinions
We have exciting news to share! In 2009, Shopping.com, our parent company, will direct its efforts to help shoppers answer the question, "What to buy?" . This new organizational focus aligns perfectly with the Epinions mission of empowering you, the community, to help shoppers with their buying decisions.
While Shopping.com has always valued the Epinions community and content, beginning this year it will make online community a cornerstone of its business. Shopping.com is committed to building on what Epinions has been successful at for almost 10 years.
New Epinions Staff
To meet our 2009 goals, the team has grown in size. Joining the team are two product managers, Eugene
Mizin(emizin05) and Yu Chen(chenyu), an engineering manager, Jon Handler (epijonhandler), and a Progam Manager, Anthony Perry(aperryoboe). We're in the process of looking to hire more engineers in the coming weeks.
Starting something new
The current Epinions technology platform - legacy code base and infrastructure - does not meet the needs of the community and severely limits our ability to deliver new features and functionality. We are now embarking on the road to re-think and re-build the platform.
This means we'll put little effort into fixing issues with the current Epinions platform. That said, we are
committed to keeping the business running, paying out income share, and investigating critical bugs.
We want to bring back the fun to the community while delivering more opportunities for you to help shoppers. We plan to open our catalog to your input, whether it be ease in adding products, tagging reviews, or flagging mis-categorized products or missing/incorrect images. Our new search engine will do a better job surfacing your content. We will also be expanding globally - launching a simple review writing functionality on the Shopping.com International sites in the next months.
Your feedback is important
Your feedback is important to us. We will create a "feedback" message board forum focused on sharing your ideas in the coming days, it will be posted here. We will continue to have meet &
greet meetings with a focus on getting your feedback. We also plan to bring community members into the office for focus groups/working sessions.
Yoel & the Epinions Team
Epinions Bay Area Meet-Up Posted: Friday, January 2, 2009
Dear Epinions Members,
This is a little short notice, but we have decided to have a small meet-up in the Bay Area. This event will be structured more like a focus group.
We plan on revealing our plans for the future of the site. We also would love to collect your feedback and have you share your ideas as well.
The event will be held on Saturday, January 10th from 1-4pm at the following location:
Steelhead Brewery
333 California Drive
Burlingame, CA 94010
Cost: Free! Epinions members may also bring a guest to this event!
Food: Banquet style lunch with cocktails, beer, wine, and soda bar.
If you would like to attend, please RSVP with
Christal.
Christal & the Epinions Team
Epinions Pay Per Post Promotion Posted: Wednesday, December 31, 2008
We're trying something a little different this month.
For the month of January, participants will be paid based on each review per category. A maximum total of 25 reviews can be submitted per participant to qualify. Each review after 25 will not qualify for the promotion or be paid.
By participating in this promotion, you agree to the Official Rules. Reviews must be 200 words or longer and rated at least 'Somewhat Helpful' by the community to count towards the promotion.
Optimizing Your Reviews for Traffic Posted: Monday, December 8, 2008
With the holidays upon us, shoppers are going to rely on sites like Epinions to research and buy gifts for their friends and family. This is a great opportunity for us to provide some tips on optimizing your reviews so they can be easily found.
How do visitors get to your reviews?
Most web visitors get to your reviews in one of two ways:
1. via Epinions product pages
2. from search engines like Google, Yahoo, and MSN
Optimizing for relevance and click through
There are a lot of similarities between how Epinions and external search engines use and present information in your review to readers. We all utilize your review title and summary information (bottom line, pros, cons) in the search results pages. This doesn’t mean that the rest of your review body isn’t important. But the title and summary elements provide the best way for users to quickly scan a review before deciding to read further. Fortunately, these elements of your review are entirely within your control to optimize for relevance and click through.
Tips
* Make sure your title is informative and unique, and refrain from adding HTML tags like bold or italics in your review title.
* Provide descriptive review summaries in the bottom line, pros, and cons section.
* Include keywords commonly associated with the product that you’re reviewing. Put yourself in the shoes of shoppers and think about the keywords they would type when researching products. For example, if you’re reviewing a plasma TV, you might want to mention whether the TV is good for movies, gaming or other common factors associated with plasma TVs
* Users make quick decisions on whether to read your review based on the title and summary information. Make sure that they’re both intriguing and informative to entice readers to click through and read more.
These Tips are brought to you by our very own SEO Specialist-
Johnny Jiang
Epinions December 5 for 5 Promotion Posted: Monday, December 1, 2008
Let's continue writing!
For the month of December, write 5 reviews and earn $5. Your reviews must be submitted on a product in any of these (5) categories: Books, Games, Movies, Music, and Wellness & Beauty in Epinions.com's database, excluding all other categories, editorials, buying guides, comments about Epinions.com, member advice, and the writer's corner. Reviews in the Clothing, Clothing Accessories, Jewelry, Shoes, and Sunglasses categories within the Wellness & Beauty category are ineligible for payment under this Promotion.
Maximum payout is $25 per participant during the promotion period.
By participating in this promotion, you agree to the Official Rules. Reviews must be 200 words or longer and rated at least 'Somewhat Helpful' by the community to count towards the promotion.
Thank You from Epinions! Posted: Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Dear Epinions Community,
We wanted to take this time and thank each and every one of you for your continued support.
You may notice a little something special in your Eroyalties account today. We realize that times are tough and wanted to distribute a true holiday bonus this year.
Without our community, the site would not be what it is today. We cannot thank you enough. Let's enjoy the Holiday Season ahead of us!
The Epinions Team
The Epi- Lounge is Live! Posted: Friday, November 7, 2008
Members mentioned that they wanted to have more fun on the site and because of this we have created the Epi Lounge.
Come chat about things other than Epinions.
Check it out here!
Epinions.com periodically updates pricing and product information from third-party sources, so some information may be slightly out-of-date. You should confirm all information before relying on it.
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