Bj aka Bill Brown   Hosting and Backup Service provider
Hi Amy,

I have just been looking at the BC's and I started to rate some.
However I keep getting the same 5 sites over and over that I have already rated. and I am not going to keep rating the same site several times in the one session.

I hit refresh but it seems to be stuck in a loop.
I closed the window and clicked again on the logo to open it up again
but still the same 5 sites over and over.

Any ideas?


Bj
Bill Brown aka bjantiques.

Jul 28th 2007 04:29   

Lynn I.   Earning Online Since 1999
Bj,
I have found that refreshing the page helps. Also if you change the category that you are looking at, it will change as well. Lynn
Jul 28th 2007 05:42   

Lynn I.   Earning Online Since 1999
Something is different today...refreshing and changing the category does help...but, it seems only to be a temporary fix....then it sticks again and starts repeating or getting stuck on one abc. Lynn
Jul 28th 2007 05:51   

Lynn I.   Earning Online Since 1999
Make sure that you go to set up your business center and click on "Publish to Business Exchange". Otherwise your abc will not be seen in the exchange. Lynn
Jul 28th 2007 09:06   

Margaret Elmendorf   
LOL, laughing at you Bj, why don't you want to keep reviewing those 5 sites over and over. Hope you are giving them good reviews every time.
margie
Jul 28th 2007 10:52   

Amy  
Hi Bj,
We turned off all the ABC websites last night to add the "Publish to Business Exchange" option, so that might be the reason why you only saw about 5 ABCs running. I just surfed the Business Exchange center and there is a lot more then 5 running : )

For anyone who's curious about the Business Exchange just check it out it's pretty cool : ) Here's the link for a quick look - http://www.apsense.com/bce

I will be reviewing the ABC websites and give my suggestions on them. So please check your "testimonials" to read what others have to say about your ABC. To get there go to "set up my business center" and then click on "testimonials" or click here - http://www.apsense.com/m_bp_testimonial.html

Thanks for being patient with us while we try to iron everything out at Apsense!

-Amy

Jul 28th 2007 12:31   

Karen Weir  Local Internet Advertising Consultant
I've been finding similar issues. More than 5 ABCs come up, but ones that I have reviewed have come up more than twice. I either have to review them again or choose another category, because there is no Next button.

I'm curious how the ABCs are rotated?

~ Karen ~
Jul 28th 2007 15:31   

Brian Ockert  
Thanks for heads up on turning on the business exchange.
Regards
Brian
Jul 28th 2007 16:46   

Lonnie Ellerbee   
Thanks Amy,

I just set mine up and began to review some of the sites. I like this new feature and did not run into any problems. I think once everyone has turned on their business center this will be a big hit.

The more I read , I get this feeling that this program will become the most talked about social network every.

Keep up the good work.

Lonnie Ellerbee
Jul 29th 2007 10:40   

Bj aka Bill Brown   Hosting and Backup Service provider
Hi Amy

Yes that did answer my question and the number of sites is increasing. However I would like to post a word of Caution for members.

If you have not set up your BC make sure it is not set to "Publish in the Business Exchange". Make sure you add some content first then activate it.
By doing it that way you will not get low scores for having no content.
Remember your Score is an average of all votes cast so if you get for example 10 1’s because there is no content then you would need 10 10's just to bring your average to 5.5.
Where as if you wait until you had content then you would not have got the 1’s and would not have an up hill job to recover to a reasonable average.

A second point is I have seen a lot of BC's with absolutely no content in them and some are rating higher than sites with content so the voting system is being abused. The only thing I can think of as the answer is that people are just clicking on cast vote and leaving the vote at the default 5 irrelevant of if the site has content or not.

If we are going to rate a site then we need to look at the various pages in the site and see how much has been done. Not just look at the first page.

Bj
Bill Brown aka Bjantiques

Jul 29th 2007 11:08   

Jenny Stewart   
Hi Amy,

ilove the Business Centres - Ithink they are a very useful tool and a great idea.

The only problem that I can see is that The Traffic Exchange is just like a surf site. You go and visit x number of pages to earn your biz exchange credits and then click onto the next one. I think that very often people doent even bother to change the default rating from 5.

The other point that does concern me is - on what basis are people rating other people's biz centres? A high vote for your friends' A low vote for a competitor. Some vote on visuals and some on conttent. There are many many people here, myself included, who cannot say that they are qualified to judge whether someone else's centre is of good quality either.

Secondly - the business centres themselves are only a indication of how well some knows how to promote themselves and their level of computer literacy. If you ddont know html coding is it is difficult to set up the way you want it.

The quality of your biz centre does not have any bearing on the legitimacy or good quality of your offer - as a poorly done business centre does not mean a bad product or a dishonest promotor.

HOWEVER a bad rating can damn a member's reputation.

I think that , again we have put a voting tool in the hands of people will vote for one hundred different reasons using one hundred different criteria without any responsibility if they abuse it.

So -. as usual - Ii am going to ignore the points sistem and vote high for those centres that I think are good and pass completely on voting for those I think that arent, rather than give a low rating. So no damage done. And I will of course surf them to gain my own biz exchange credits. So you know guy's - if I've been there I'll vote as high as I can.

Jenny
Jul 30th 2007 13:20   

Bj aka Bill Brown   Hosting and Backup Service provider
Hi Jenny

Me thinks you have not tried the exchange today.

Management have already taken some action.
As to what I will let you enjoy discovering what. lol

A hint is no more blind clicking just to get points.

Bj
Bill Brown aka Bjantiques.



Jul 30th 2007 13:31   

Karen Weir  Local Internet Advertising Consultant
Hey Jenny,

Guess what? I agree with you!

I'm waiting for that "Next" button so that I can bypass those ABCs that are not yet set up (as it is now you are forced to vote, change categories, or post a review).

As you may have guessed, I am not in favor of a "rating" system at all. A traffic exchange with points simply for viewing would get my vote!

Bj, I did note that improvement you hinted to... and I'm sure that will help. If we must have a rating system, I think it would be great to have some criteria and some sort of accountability on the part of the person giving the rating...

~ Karen ~
Jul 30th 2007 16:08   

Lynn I.   Earning Online Since 1999
Karen,
Refreshing the page doesn't work for you? I have been using that method since day one of the exchange. A '"next" button would be nice though :) Lynn
Jul 30th 2007 17:41   

Jenny Stewart   
Hi All,

Yes Bj i have just gone and inspected the rating system for the Buxineses Centres. and I see we can now post a review and add our links.

Question - does the buxiness centre owner get a choice in the matter - to accept or reject the other members links? i hope so.

or are we adding a link to their centre from ours??

I STILL AGREE WITH KAREN (and this time there will be no charge Karen! lol)

"If we must have a rating system, I think it would be great to have some criteria and some sort of accountability on the part of the person giving the rating..."

WELL SAID. in fact I think it is essential.

However, as Lynn has pointed out - we can still refresh the page and move on to the next one until we find one we can say something nice about!!

We dont HAVE to say anything when we rate it - i just experimented - so the anonymous bad rating is still possible.


As we re still free to choose our own criteria for voting - Tell me which category your's is in - and I'll give it a great rating when it appears on on the surfing!!! I dont know which section to surf! lol
Jul 30th 2007 18:39   

Lynn I.   Earning Online Since 1999
Hi Jenny,
When a member adds their link it goes under resources. And yes you have the option to accept links or not. This is in the business center setup page. Even if you decide to let members add their links, you still get to approve them. Lynn
Jul 30th 2007 20:30   

Lonnie Ellerbee   
When using the center I will rate each site that comes up. Alasycia, I agree with you on some guide lines for rating someone's center. My only question to that would be who would set the rules and would that be fair?

I do know this, when someone has really work on his or her page and made an effort to fix graphics then I will give them a better rating. If one comes up that has no work on it the rating goes down.

The challenge is to work on one's center and raise the content to a high level. Man, this is great, the world gets to see you grow, you skill level improve, and massive exposure to your business center.

I look at it this way. When my business center comes up I will always be looking for that 10. So, I cannot stop making improvements untill I achieve it. For all I know that could take years. Take what you get and keep working on it.

Jul 31st 2007 02:47   

Eric Smith   Online Professional
I like the idea of the BCE, its a great way of getting traffic without being concerned about bugs etc self loading on a computer like often happens with typical TE's.

Does the score have any current (or future) benefit to the ABC's ? For example - ABC,s with higher scores will be seen before lower ones etc, ?

If not, would it be easier to have a "Match shape" feature like other traffic exchanges to avoid the problems mentioned with people deliberately rating a business lower...
Jul 31st 2007 05:13   

Bj aka Bill Brown   Hosting and Backup Service provider
Hi Jenny

The post review and add links has been there from day one as far as I know.

I will clarify it for you.
You can no longer just sit and click the vote button blindly leaving it at a default setting of 5, once it has completed its count down.

Try it and see what happens.
Do not touch anything and when the vote button turns active at the end of its count down click it.



Bj
Bill Brown aka Bjantiques.

Jul 31st 2007 06:08   

Bj aka Bill Brown   Hosting and Backup Service provider
Hi Lonnie,

Like you I rate each site that comes up. I look at every page and then base my decision on what content they have put in each page.
Naturally the testimonial page is not included in my assessment; there is no crime in not having any testimonials.
I also do not take Audio into consideration. I am sure there are many members that may suffer from a speech impediment for one reason or another.
I know for sure of one deaf person, I also know a very sharp mined member who is an absolute whirlwind in their promotional efforts but their speech is impaired because they suffer from Cerebral Palsy. So to take make a judgment based on if the site has Audio or not is wrong, you might just be unknowingly committing discrimination against a disabled person.

What does influence me with Audio is, does it start as soon as I open the page or do I have the option to click on it and listen if I want to?
I do not like sites that have auto play active.


I look for the following points

Home page.
Is the content cut and paste ads, or cut and past content from the website that they are promoting? Or have they made an effort and done their own write up.

The products page when you go to more detail on a product again is it just a link to somewhere else or a cut and past ad, or have they made some effort and done a personal write up.

I personally don’t think any site should be given a 10 this early in the game no matter how good it is.

There will always be room for improvement no matter if you are the best programmer, content writer, and design layout person in the world, all rolled into one.

The target of 10 is your driving force to keep improving.

Another thing that I will be looking for in the future, its too early right now, is has there been any work done on the site? Or was it set up and forgotten about.

I know I am constantly looking and tweaking and I will continue to do so. It will never in my eyes be perfect.

Bj
Bill Brown aka Bjan
Jul 31st 2007 07:09