Helium.com

I know it's not strictly a reviewing website, but it has some review-y bits and might be of interest to those looking to stretch their writing ability.

What do you guys think of Helium?

Personally, I hate it, but I'll get into that in more detail later.

I have never tried it.

I remember reading a review on it once and the dooyoo member claimed helium threatened him with the FBI if he did not stop pestering them about something or other.

I just couldn't get to grips with it, there was far too much talk of God in the reviews. I also hate having to read several reviews in quick succession on the same topic.

When I joined (May 2007 ish) I went for it in some competition thing where I had to write reviews on topics I knew nothing about such as fungus. I got $20, but it was a lot of work (such as researching fungus) to get it.

I know things have changed since then, but every few months I so I log in, and I still cannot understand it at all, and the stars that you need in order to get money and how to get them.

From what I know of Helium I can't stand it really......

God help me.

I don't like it much. I liked the rating was anonymous, although I would have prefered to choose what I rated. I didn't like the layout, it just seemed like there was no much crammed onto a page.

I liked the principle of the anonymous rating and the sorting ...however I hated the fact I was forced to read certain categories (in my case travel).

I dont really fit the profile of the average helium writer as it is more debatey and so on and not product and service centric, which I tend to review.

I struggled with the whole add a suggestion as a result as I couldnt figure it out sensibly.

I made $25 once as i focused on it for a comp but unless you are a prolific and serious SC reviewer I wouldnt recommend it.....

Cat19 wrote:

I have never tried it.

I remember reading a review on it once and the dooyoo member claimed helium threatened him with the FBI if he did not stop pestering them about something or other.

Hmm, yes I know that is, he does have conspiracy theories about most things though so I didn't take that particular claim too seriously......

I also posted a couple of reviews over there, didn't like it much and made about $0.06!!

I would advise anyone that's interested in Helium to spend some time reading around the site and on the forums BEFORE posting any work. Helium refuses to let you close your account, so once you've posted your work, you're kinda tied in. Also... inactive writers don't get paid so once you stop rating, you stop earning. This may or may not have changed since I last logged on.

Personally, I had a lot of problems with Helium right from the start and the fact they're earning money off of my work and won't let me close my account (I have asked) despite making rather severe changes to their terms and conditions leaves me feeling that they've been/are being rather underhanded about the whole thing.

I thought Apple fanboys were rather enthusiastic, but Helium's own fanboys are on another level entirely.

I would agree on the need to love speakers corner to thrive there. I also gave in with the same issues as everyone else. I certainly encountered the fan boy element cf talks of.

I remember me and the duke trying to provide suggestions and feedback on heliums forum and either being ignored or lambasted throughout. It is weird as despite having anonymous rating it is still a site of huge egos and popularity contests.

For me the only decent area is the market place

Didn't realise you couldn't close accounts, mind you I'm not that bothered....even if people do come across my fungus review.

I haven't really interacted with anyone on there. I posted a couple of articles (I would much rather write about politics than reviews) but then got bored and confused by the payment system that seems to make no sense at all.