- Report: #375899
Complaint Review: Ehow - Internet
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Ehow
http://www.ehow.com Internet, U.S.A.
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Ehow The find every reason in the world to keep from paying people Internet
I was a member of that shoddy site for over a year with no problems. Then, this Melissa Lauer woman came along and started deleting people's accounts. Only the accounts of those of us who were making money. She cites obscenities and plagiarism in her allegations.
Ehow is notorious for allowing obscene postings that are readily available for minors to read. My 7 year old found an article on fellatio, and I was MORTIFIED!
Melissa will not remove the obscene content, yet my article on how to make a hooded cloak (I'm a seamstress by trade, and that was MY pattern) was deleted for being obscene??????
Loofah
los angeles, California
U.S.A.
Ehow is notorious for allowing obscene postings that are readily available for minors to read. My 7 year old found an article on fellatio, and I was MORTIFIED!
Melissa will not remove the obscene content, yet my article on how to make a hooded cloak (I'm a seamstress by trade, and that was MY pattern) was deleted for being obscene??????
Loofah
los angeles, California
U.S.A.
5 Updates & Rebuttals
V.G. Hart
Beardstown,Illinois,
Yes but you still abused your contributing writers!
#2Consumer Comment
Sun, June 30, 2013
Yes eHow is a reference site... but at one point, your company did abuse its contributing writers. I am one of those writers. I had written many articles that were not popular but they were generating me up to $10 per month per article. One in particular that I can remember that I had written was an article about choosing the right type of shampoo and conditioner for your hair type.
My article was removed by an editor and the removal reason was cited as "This information is common sense."
But let me tell you what sort of "common sense" articles eHow refused to remove from their website:
How to Tie a Shoe
How to Boil Water
How to Shop at a Pottery Barn
This was years ago, keep in mind, and I do not know if the articles remain today.
When a sweep was conducted on the site, some authors were automatically joined to the new writing platform of Demand Studios while others had to apply with their resumes (and many were later rejected). eHow also used to bury important information regarding the author compensation program. Within the pages deep terms of service was a clause that allowed the company to use these articles on other websites as well. These websites, such as eHow UK, syndicated the original article and the author received no compensation.
My experiences took place in 2008 or 2009. I had many articles that remained at eHow but due to the company's dodgy nature when answering questions, their lack of editorial discretion in defining what is and isn't "common sense," and their treatment of its writers, I subsequently removed all of my articles from the eHow.com website.
Constance
United States of AmericaEhow..
#3Consumer Comment
Thu, December 03, 2009
Rich "the employee" is an a$$ just like any other "employee" that 'works' at Ehow.
I wrote for them over 2 years and once they started expanding, they tried to catch up by changing rules, without notice, giving false reasons why there were doing what they were doing, becoming very unprofessional in the process, deleting accounts without any reason, including banning and blocking accounts. Granted, there is an area in their TOS about this, but that was added AFTER they had so many complaints about what was going on - illegally.
I know it was added after because with having OCD, as I do, I copy and pasted the entire TOS and guidelines when I signed up 2 years prior. They claimed, once they were called on it, RICH said "This has always been a part of our TOS since we started" - BULL CRAP!!
They DO close down accounts that are making good amounts of money - and I noticed that happening the month before I closed my account. You can still go over to the forum (you don't have to be a member) and check that out - unless they deleted them (which they probably did seeing that if anything was said in a negative manner about Ehow; they would delete it- pronto -and without giving any answers to what started it in the first place, instead they make it seem like "It never happened" or "never was there" "never was written" - making us, as members, seem like we're crazy)
I went as far as looking them up in BBB, FTC and another website to find out exactly how much they actually have budgeted to give out to their writing members. They are only budgeted to give out $900.00 for the year 2008-2009, even though, you have RICH and other members who have "been there a long time" claim they make well over 1,000's of dollars every month. I don't see how that's possible if they only are budgeted to give out $900.00 in a whole, to ALL it's members....and yes, I did officially check that out and that's 9 hundred.
About the taxes....They don't send your 1099 until a week before it's supposed to be turned in/filed - the end of Feb. They wait until the very last minute...you make $10.00; you have to turn it in -according to my accountant. So by that time, you're rushing, sweating and worrying. There are a couple of members over there that are in back taxes and it's because of Ehow. They talk about it often in their forums.
They claim, mainly, to keep from paying you, that your articles are deleted because they "didn't fit their guidelines" (or other reasons they see fit at that time) even though, if you go and search, YOUR article remains on the site, and it doesn't even get taken down. It's not an internet glitch where whatever is on the internet, stays on there - this is where they claim to delete it, but actually, all the do is rearrange the web address to another link - away from yours... on top of it, they take the best articles, delete it, then have one of their "Expert Editors" (expert? no- just another person they're using to keep from paying the real members and you can tell this just by reading an "Expert" Article) - rewrite it and claim it as their own. I've had that done to 4 of my own articles, and they were my best paying articles. That was the last straw for me.
If you complain to the staff, whether in the forum, you'll "speak to" 'good ol' RICH.
He tells you the same old thing, over and over, and honestly, only those that "work for Ehow" (such as those that have been there "a long time") appreciate what he has to say... which isn't much to solve the problem - It seems to be the same thing, over and over.
I closed my account and within 2 months of doing so, I had received 3 separate emails claiming my articles where taken down to plagiarism. Not only did that piss me off, but that was impossible, seeing that when I cancelled my account, I had DELETED all my articles and taken them with me - they were not posted anywhere else at that time - and still aren't to this day.
Once you sign up, you are bombard with people wanting to "Be your friend"... when you read the forum, you'll read about how people have over 100+ members trying to get them to "recommend them" so they can get money. "You do me, I do you" - It's a site where you must be a member to rate another member and they more you rate, the better your pay is. I think of Ehow as the Mafioso.
They're a rip off and not worth your stress waiting the end of the year for your 1099.
Simple & Plain: they aren't worth spending YOUR time, writing YOUR articles, so THEY can take ALL the credit and YOUR hard earned money too.
Drop'em - Go to Associated Content - at least they have an A with the BBB and it's legit.
dawn
Orangeburg,South Carolina,
USA
Ehow still hasn't paid me...
#4Consumer Comment
Wed, October 21, 2009
I have been writing with Ehow for over a year, and up until my hard work really started paying off, I had no real complaints. However, I tripled my Ehow article submissions and thusly tripled my earnings. Now mysteriously, I am not being paid. I have written to the site managers, member services and have received no updates, explanations of any kind as to why they suddenly can't pay me. I am starting to distrust this site and feel its customer service is sorely lacking. I have no reason to expect to be paid for October either. My question is, where is my money, and did Ehow have to wait to receive money off of my articles, like I have? I'm still hopeful this issue will be resolved but I am realistically doubtful.
Rich
Santa Monica,California,
U.S.A.
eHow is a reference site
#5UPDATE Employee
Wed, July 29, 2009
We would like to make it clear that eHow.com is a reference site and we cover the gamut in terms of How To information. The site is available to everyone as an educational source. Our editorial team is quite diligent about vetting USER submissions and submissions are accepted or rejected based on our eHow editorial/submission guidelines.
Bern
Los Angeles,California,
U.S.A.
eHow Supports Plagiarism!!
#6Consumer Comment
Sat, May 09, 2009
eHow.com is a rip off site. They support plagiarism, copyright, trademark and patent violations. They should be removed from the Internet for being a scam website!
