EarnersForum gets major update — Sitepoint Rival?
WickedFire’s rival, Earners Forum, recently recieved a major update. Lee has added new sections: articles, blogs, updated marketplace, new tools, keyword/backlink checker, and more.
I also noticed the interview section includes an interview with yours truely (It might sound a little rehearsed, I spent two hours writing the answers, and then they asked me to do a phone interview!)
There is also another contest giving away a bunch of stuff totalling $10,000 — Affiliate Summit East Miami passes, SEO Book, t-shirts, PS3/XBox360/PC (take your pick.)
Check it out and tell me if I sound as dorky as I did on the Affiliate Summit West panel.
More like SitePoint knockoff. I always thought before that Lee lacked any original ideas, this just seals the deal.
The featured article contains both a legal error (saying names are copyrighted, they’re not, they’re trademarked, how much did the author really research the topic? I’m guessing not at all), and he keeps spelling proprietor wrong (no MS Word?), and that is just the first 2 paragraphs on the homepage.
He included a knockoff of DP’s keyword tracker tool because he knows that is what originally built that forum. Then he appealed to the vanity of bloggers by asking them for interviews so that they would promote and mention his site for him. (I know you don’t sell posts for money Andrew, I see that big red circle, but there are other ways to buy posts than with money).
I know how Lee works, he asked me to do the same thing when he originally launched that site. I of course said no.
I guess my overall impression of that site is like a bag of store brand potato chips. Flashy packaging that you know you’ve seen somewhere before, but when you open it up its not even half full and all the chips are broken.
Comment by Chris Beasley — March 8, 2007 @ 7:59 am
You know, I have to agree with Chris on this one (even though he bashed the crap outta me on his forum, haha!). He pretty much summed up everything I would have said, but without the profanity.
Just to add to your post Andrew, EarnersForum is no longer a rival to WickedFire. The only reason that it may have been was because we both launched it within 2 weeks of one another (wickedfire was first biatch!), and he quickly grew his member base and post/thread count by tacking on some no name defunct forum he purchased. WickedFire kicked his ass in members and posts in a few months, without buying another forum and tacking it on. We have these people on our forum called real affiliates, not newbies asking ridiculous questions, or pompous self proclaimed “gurus” bragging without ever revealing a damned thing.
The new EF design is a 100% rip off of SPF. Even though SitePoint Forums isn’t what it used to be, you need to give them credit for making a pretty unique and professional system, and Lee just ripped it off, and tacked on another crap contest to make it look legitimate.
Sorry Lee, but that won’t bring you a better forum. The only thing you may gain are more scammers looking to sell stuff, and a lot of pissed off people wondering why you can’t start a unique or original concept of your own already. Be original for once, you’ll see it pays off in the longrun.
The irony of EarnersForum as a whole is that Lee came out of nowhere and was dubbed as a forum expert, and many of us believed it, even yours truly for a very long time, UNTIL a month or two after EF was released. It’s a complete failure in terms of being run by someone who is supposed to be this high and mighty forums expert.
I think this post is silly and definitely backfired for Lee. Using “his” new marketplace and all of the other things “he” launched tells him that it’s okay to blatantly rip off ideas and designs from others. I say there needs to be a boycott of this. Not because it’s Lee, but because this is just a low thing to do. I’m not one to talk by far as for ethics/morals are concerned, but when you make yourself out to be a rockstar in the industry and then copy other sites and steal their ideas and designs, well, that’s just crossing the line.
Comment by Jon — March 9, 2007 @ 2:27 am