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Thursday, February 28, 2008

Ximmy - My Experience - The Next Level

XIMMY|MY EXPERIENCE


Ximmy has been here, officially for less than two months. I have been blogging for a while now about my experience with Ximmy. So far I've learned so much, not just about the actual ximmy experience, but more so about how blogs work and how one can make money using blogs. My Ximmy experience has benefited me more than I ever thought it would have. I now have a lot of friends because of my Ximmy experience. Some of the owners of the blogs I've posted at Ximmy has one way or another became my friends. This Ximmy experience definitely made my online presence very fulfilling. Through this Ximmy experience, I was able to help more people online than I ever thought I could help in a year online. I have felt such a great fulfillment in this Ximmy experience that I'm definitely sticking with it for a long, long time.

My Ximmy Experience

This post was meant to inform you about a new experience from Ximmy that I have had and which from now on will continually be having. Although it's not really directly coming from Ximmy, it has been somewhat brought about by my posting at Ximmy and my creation of this blog. This blog, from now on, will also pave the way for my new endeavors. My Ximmy Experience will be some sort of jumping point for my other projects. I'll eventually be expounding on these things in the near future. For now, all I want you to know is that My Ximmy Experience will now be something better for me. And, hopefully, for those who are regular visitors of this blog, you too will also benefit more.

So don't forget to visit regularly for updates to this post. You'll definitely learn more and make more money online.

Monday, February 25, 2008

Posting Tips To Earn You More Money At Ximmy - The Series - Part 2 - Know Your Audience

MY XIMMY EXPERIENCE


Posting Tips To Earn You More Money At Ximmy - The Series - Part 1 - Choosing What To Post

You've been posting at Ximmy for a while now. Have you noticed that most of your posts don't get voted for? Try using the following strategy for a change.

Know Your Audience

Try to look at the Popular page and try to analyze what similarities do most of the popularized posts have? Can you spot a trend in the way votes are being made?

Just like what we did with the first part of this series, we analyzed what was actually being voted for by majority of the active members of Ximmy. In part 1, we managed to determine that active members of Ximmy usually votes for those posts which can be easily seen and react to, like posted pictures which readily appears in each posts. We saw in that example that most active Ximmy members tend to react and vote for those which are really easy to vote for, where you don't even need to read a single sentence to provide an educated reaction.

In this second part, we will focus more on knowing your audience. Knowing who reacts most and to what do they usually react to.

As an example of this strategy, I would like you to go over some of the popularized posts that I've made at Ximmy.

As you look at my popularized posts, you will see that most of my posts are about odd things. You see, when I first started posting at Ximmy, I saw a trend that most of the active members then were reacting and voting for posts about odd things. So I focused my posting on those odd things and, lo and behold, my posts about odd things made it to the popular pages at Ximmy.

If you stick to this strategy of knowing first your audience before posting at Ximmy, you'll definitely have a greater chance of having your posts popularized by votes and therefore get more points which means more money for you.

That's it for today. Keep up-to-date with my latest posts about My Ximmy Experience, subscribe to my RSS feed or just don't forget to visit on a regular basis. For your questions, suggestions and comments, you can just use the comment box below.

Friday, February 22, 2008

Ximmy Rewards - I MADE MY FIRST ONLINE EARNINGS BY JUST POSTING AT XIMMY.

MY XIMMY EXPERIENCE



In less than twenty (20) days of posting at Ximmy, I already reached the 1800 points which entitled me to $20 U.S. Dollars and another $20 U.S. Dollar bonus upon my first payout. The bonus is valid only until June of this year. I could have done more, but I felt I needed to verify first if Ximmy really fulfills its promise. And now, I know they really do pay, and they pay fast.

How I did it.
I was posting then at my leisurely level submitting online news, video, picture, websites and making personal comments. I also made it a point to focus on reacting to other posted comments and submissions.

I joined Ximmy last January 26, 2008. I received my Paypal payment in less than a day after submitting the required information to Ximmy. I sent the requested information February 21, 2008 at around 9:25 PM, and I received the Paypal email February 22, 2008 at around 1:57 PM. That's less than 24 hours.

You can see the Paypal e-mail sent to me below.


There is now no more doubt in my mind that someone can make a nice supplemental income online using Ximmy.

Let's face it, new bloggers now are usually happy if they make $5 dollars online in a months time. And take note, most of those money you made from ads on your blog usually gets paid after 30 days following the month you have earned it.

On the other hand, Ximmy pays you in less than a day after submitting the required information. With my experience now at posting, I guess, I'll be able to reach the $300 Dollar payout for next month. With Ximmy, payment is almost instant. And you'll also enjoy what your doing anyway.

AAAHHH !!! (A big sigh of relief and satisfaction, LOL)

THANKS XIMMY and more power to you and everyone who made you possible.

Great Ximmy News From A Friend

MY XIMMY EXPERIENCE


Hi guys. I've got some very good news.

A friend and 2nd Top Ranking in terms of Ximmy Reward Points, BennaBaby, has commented on my two previous posts. You can see a screen shot of both below.


As you can see in the screen shots, BennaBaby has already requested to redeem the rewards from Ximmy and had the same problem with the bug that workingtyrone first encountered. However, Benna also talked with Sean and she now has her $ 40.00 in her Paypal account.

So, I guess, we can now go full blast with our posting at Ximmy. They have made good with their promise of rewards. I hope to receive mine anytime soon.

Ximmy members, rejoice and start maximizing your points. Let's go back to posting, OK !!!

Thursday, February 21, 2008

Update On My Ximmy Rewards

MY XIMMY EXPERIENCE


I have already sent my username and password to Ximmy.com as per Sean's request. Below is a copy of my letter.

Hi Sean,

Here is your requested information:

Ximmy username: Mark
Ximmy password: xxxxx

Thanks.

----- Original Message ----
From: Sean Wilson
To: Mark
Sent: Tuesday, February 19, 2008 12:59:28 AM
Subject: Re: Contact Form: Requesting to get the Rewards

Hi Mark,

Thank you for your email. Please send us your ximmy username and password
and we will issue the payment to you.
--
Sean Wilson
XIMMY


>
> Sean, I want to get my Rewards.
>
> I tried using the "Request payment for their Reward points" page, but the
> "Get Rewards" button does not work. I'm sending this message not to inform
> you about the non-working button (you were already informed of this when
> workingtyrone tried to get her rewards) but rather to request directly
> from you my Rewards equivalent, more or less, to 20 dollars, plus the 20
> dollars Bonus.
>
> So, all in all, I'm expecting to receive 40 dollars via Paypal through my
> e-mail address markxxxxxxx@yahoo.com.
>
> The following information was taken from my the "Request payment for their
> Reward points" page when I tried to request for the reward. I'm assuming
> you need it for processing my request so I included it below.
>
> Need payment for user id: 541 Login: Mark Email: markxxxxxxxyahoo.com
> Profile link: http://ximmy.com/user.php?login=Mark Points: 1843
>
> Hope to get my rewards soon, to somehow let users of Ximmy know that your
> reward promises are true.
>
> Thanks and more power to Ximmy.com
>

I've also included below a screen shot of the said letter.



Now comes the wait for it's outcome! Regularly check for updates regarding this issue, subscribe to my feed. If you have comments, questions or suggestion, you can use the comment box below. Let's keep our fingers crossed. ;)

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Check out my Guestbook!

MY XIMMY EXPERIENCE





Please don't forget to sign my GUESTBOOK before you leave the blog. Thanks. :)

Reply of Ximmy Regarding My Request To Redeem My Ximmy Rewards

MY XIMMY EXPERIENCE

I've received a reply from Ximmy today. The following is the exact copy of Sean Wilson's reply to my letter of request to redeem my Ximmy rewards.


Hi Mark,

Thank you for your email. Please send us your ximmy username and password
and we will issue the payment to you.
--
Sean Wilson
XIMMY


>
> Sean, I want to get my Rewards.
>
> I tried using the "Request payment for their Reward points" page, but the
> "Get Rewards" button does not work. I'm sending this message not to inform
> you about the non-working button (you were already informed of this when
> workingtyrone tried to get her rewards) but rather to request directly
> from you my Rewards equivalent, more or less, to 20 dollars, plus the 20
> dollars Bonus.
>
> So, all in all, I'm expecting to receive 40 dollars via Paypal through my
> e-mail address markxxxxxxx@yahoo.com.
>
> The following information was taken from my the "Request payment for their
> Reward points" page when I tried to request for the reward. I'm assuming
> you need it for processing my request so I included it below.
>
> Need payment for user id: 541 Login: Mark Email: markxxxxxxxxx@yahoo.com
> Profile link: http://ximmy.com/user.php?login=Mark Points: 1843
>
> Hope to get my rewards soon, to somehow let users of Ximmy know that your
> reward promises are true.
>
> Thanks and more power to Ximmy.com
>

Below is a screen shot of the actual e-mail I received from Sean:



Now, I don't really know how to react to this, because to my mind, I can't understand the rationale for this reply.

Why do they need my ximmy username and password?

So, before I send them my username and password, I'll first would like to ask your opinion on this reply of Sean.

Also I just would like to show you screen shots of relevant data regarding my Ximmy participation:

My Personal Info Page


My Reward Points


My "Request Payment for their Reward points" Page


My Ximmy Affiliate Page


I'll wait for some feedback from Ximmy members before I send my Ximmy username and password to Ximmy.


Monday, February 18, 2008

Tried to Redeem My Rewards From Ximmy.com

MY XIMMY EXPERIENCE


Hi guys. It's been a while since I last posted an article here. I'm back now so I hope to post on a regular basis from now on.

I have already sent a request letter to Ximmy.com to redeem my rewards. This I did to somehow clarify some issues regarding some failure on the part of Ximmy to give the necessary payout for the rewards being claimed.

There was this first incident where a friend tried to redeem her rewards. She found out that the "Redeem Your Rewards" page, somehow, does not work. You can't submit your request. The button does not work. She sent a message through Ximmy's contact page and was only informed that they were thankful for the information and that they'll try to fix it.

I've checked on her recent activities, and, it's obvious that she has already lessened, if not totally stopped, posting at Ximmy.

So, I thought about it, and consequently, I decided to try to redeem my rewards as well.

I tried the available feature for redeeming rewards and just like what my friend experienced, I encountered the same problem.

To circumvent that technical difficulty, I sent the following letter to Sean, through the contact page at Ximmy.

The above screen shot is the copy which I forwarded to myself, of the request I made on the Ximmy contact page.

As of today, I'm still waiting for the reply. I'll try to keep you up to date on whatever will follow.

Don't forget to subscribe to my rss feed for regular updates on this issue.

Saturday, February 9, 2008

Posting Tips To Earn You More Money At Ximmy - The Series - Part 1 - Choosing What To Post

MY XIMMY EXPERIENCE



Posting Tips To Earn You More Money At Ximmy - The Series - Part 2 - Know Your Audience

Let's be honest. Most people who joined Ximmy.com are in for the money. Most of us used to be fans of social networking review/voting sites. We were used to networking/posting/voting for fun. Then Ximmy came along and it opened our eyes to the opportunity of making money while doing the same things we did at Digg and other similar sites.

This is my second blog series which shall cover some tips for posting to help you make more money at Ximmy.

Part 1 of this series is all about choosing what to post.

Ximmy allows its members to post any of the following:
1. News;
2. Video;
3. Pictures; and
4. Website.

From my experience, I usually post anything that catches my fancy. However, while I was having an exchange of comments with a friend, it dawned on us that most of her posts that made it to the Popular page were mostly, if not all, just beautiful pictures.

So, I thought of it for a while, and eventually, I decided to analyze the trend of posts that makes it to the Popular page. Then after analyzing the current trend in what posts actually reach the Popular page, I was surprised to see that the majority of those in the Popular page are pictures.

The pictures that usually make it on the popular page are beautiful pictures of ordinary things like flowers, barns, beautiful places and things.

So, if you have pictures that you are willing to share, I would suggest you post it at Ximmy. Post as many as you can. And, most probably, your pictures will eventually make it to the Popular page. You just have to be patient.

Whenever I try to rationalize or analyze the reason why these pictures usually make it to the Popular page, I keep coming up with the same rationalization, that it is because it's easier to vote and comment at something you can readily see and admire.

The other thing I noticed and which I suggest should be the basis for your choice of what to post is the fact that those submissions which are either weird, funny, extraordinary or a combination of the three, are usually on the Popular page.

So, to sum up my tips for choosing what to post, I suggest you focus on submitting:
1. Beautiful Pictures; and
2. Stuff or stories which are weird, funny, extraordinary or a combination of the three.

If you have any questions, comments or suggestions, you can use the comment box below and I'll try to reply as soon as possible. For regular updates please subscribe to my blog. If you somehow found my site useful, please add me to your favorites at Technorati.

Friday, February 8, 2008

Things We Can Do For Ximmy - The Series (Part 4) - Subscribe

MY XIMMY EXPERIENCE



In this blog series, I'll be neat picking on the best things we can do to help the Ximmy community in general.

Subscribe is part 4 in this series. The first was about Inviting Friends which you can review HERE and the second was Digg Your Ximmy Post which you can read HERE. The third post is Make It A Daily Habit which can be found HERE.

Let's face it. Ximmy needs to be profitable in order to survive.

How can we help Ximmy become more profitable? The answer is simple and is based on the premise that advertisers needs to see how many people Ximmy can reach in order to motivate the advertisers to advertise on their site. The more people Ximmy can reach the more advertisers will become interested in placing their ads.

Reach, as far as I'm concerned, is all about the number of people who actually subscribes to their site.

Question: What should we be doing to increase the Ximmy subscribers?

Answer: Subscribe

You might say, "What, we're already here, doing the posting and stuff, and we still need to subscribe?". Well, yes, if we really want Ximmy to succeed, we must somehow help Ximmy show some numbers. Besides, it will also allow us to see what's happening without actually visiting the site or while we're doing other things.

My first suggestion, which I think is the best way of doing that, is that we subscribe ourselves to Ximmy feeds. There are currently two feeds that we can subscribe to. The first is that of subscribing to the Ximmy / Popular feed. The second is that of subscribing to the Ximmy / Upcoming feed. I would suggest we all subscribe to both feeds. More feeds, more reach, right? Please correct me if I'm wrong, okay?

Below are two screen shots of the subscribe button, one for Ximmy / Popular feed which you'll see when you click on the Popular tab. The other for Ximmy / Upcoming feed which you'll see shen you click on the Upcoming tab..


You need only click the RSS icon to subscribe and follow the prompts.

So, now, you might say, "Is that all? We can easily do that!". Well, actually it should not end there. That should just be the beginning.

You see, not everyone is interested in posting at social review/voting sites. But almost all are interested in exploring more of what the internet can offer. This is where Ximmy comes in along with each and everyone of us, members. If everyone of us tries to convince at least 2 of our friends, relatives, or loved ones to somehow subscribe, even though they don't want to join the community, they can at least, well, subscribe. If they're really our friends, relatives or loved ones, that should not be an issue, right?

Okay, so now what? Well, each of us should now start subscribing and start sharing.

If you have questions, suggestions or comments, feel free to make use of the "post Comment" button below. For regular updates to my posts, please subscribe to My Ximmy Experience.

Vote and Bury System At Ximmy

MY XIMMY EXPERIENCE



Okay, I've been asked this question a while ago. What does "Bury" a post mean?

Well, as used in Ximmy, it's the opposite of voting to publish a post. When you "Bury" a post, you are voting not to publish the post.

Since Ximmy is a Digg clone, we can safely say that just like in Digg, users are allowed to vote stories up (digg them-Digg/Vote to publish-Ximmy) or vote stories down (Bury- Digg / Bury-Ximmy).

The Vote and Bury system is supposed to make the system a democratic one allowing the users to determine the destiny of a post.

So, for example, even if people vote for a post, if there are other people who bury the same post, it is very unlikely for that post to reach the "popular" page.

Now, just like any other democratic system, this system is very susceptible to abuse, so, I think, that is the reason Ximmy implemented the Karma system to allow some sort of check and balance. Although this point about the Karma system is just my speculation as of this time, I have already sent an inquiry to admin@ximmy.com to somehow clarify the use of Karma at Ximmy. Alas, I digress, I'll just tackle the Karma issue on a future post.

Now lets move on and go to the next logical question which is...

How Do You Vote Or Bury A Post.

It's actually very simple. Look at the screen shot below.


You first have to look for the post you want to Vote or Bury. In the screen shot above I've chosen the article posted by Bennababby entitled Big Man Little.

Usually, if you have already voted for the post, the option to Bury disappears.

I've highlighted the Vote button yellow and the Bury button green in the screen shot above.

You just click on either one of these buttons to either Vote or Bury the post and that is it.

If you any questions, suggestions or comments, you can use the comment box below and I'll try to get back to you as soon as possible. For regular updates please subscribe to My Ximmy Experience.

Things We Can Do For Ximmy - The Series (Part 3) - Make It A Daily Habit

MY XIMMY EXPERIENCE



In this blog series, I'll be neat picking on the best things we can do to help the Ximmy community in general.

Make It A Daily Habit is part 3 in this series. The first was about Inviting Friends which you can review HERE and the second was Digg Your Ximmy Post which you can read HERE.

For the first two parts of this series, I have focused on reach and exposure which somehow helps the community grow. Here, the focus is on sustainability.

We all know for a fact that for a community to really function, there must be active participation on the part of all stake holders. When I say stake holders, I mean all those, one way or the other, will benefit from the community in general. So, this includes all the members, administrators, programmers, and other concerned workers in this community. However, this post will be more concerned on the participation of all the members.

The third part of this series is concerned with your sustained daily participation.

What Daily Habits Are We Supposed To Make?

Active participation on a daily basis is what I'm talking about. This includes doing daily at least one of any or all those stuff that you get rewarded points for or for which others are given extra points. This includes submitting news, videos, pictures and/or websites; and, giving or replying to comments and voting.

Why Make It A Daily Habit?

The rationale behind the need to make it a daily habit is, as some of you may well know, because rankings or counters for web sites, for statistical purposes, are usually computed on a daily basis. So, for Ximmy to get a favorable number in its statistical data, there should be a consistent or gradually increasing influx of visitors on a daily basis. If you have a blog and something similar to feedburner, you'll know what I'm trying to say here.

Advertisers needs to see this. They need to know that the community is very much alive. Advertisers use this to bid higher for advertising spots. And, if the community gets really big and really active, this will give Ximmy enough elbow room to ask for higher advertising premiums.

Of course, it will also help all active members, since they'll be able to maximize their earning potential by earning the maximum number of points they are allowed to get per day from posts , votes and comments.

Remember that each member is only allowed a maximum of 30 submissions per day, 100 comments per day and 100 votes per day. If you failed to make the maximum allowed for you to do, and get points from, in a day, there's no chance for you to recover those lost points.

So make sure to make your participation in Ximmy a daily habit.

If you have questions, suggestions or comments, feel free to make use of the "post Comment" button below. For regular updates to my posts, please subscribe to My Ximmy Experience.





Thursday, February 7, 2008

6 Steps To Change/Edit Posted Submissions At Ximmy

MY XIMMY EXPERIENCE



Here is a tutorial on how members of Ximmy can change/edit their already posted submissions at Ximmy.com.

This is in response to the following comment made by my friend:

You see, Benna posted a submission entitled Ledger's autopsy results. The submission link was suppose to go directly to the linked Yahoo article. The problem I encountered when I clicked the title was that instead of the link going directly to the Yahoo article, it went directly to the main page of Yahoo.

So, I commented on Benna's post (highlighted green in the screen shot above) that the link does not work to which Benna replied (highlighted yellow in the screen shot above) that she wanted a change in Ximmy which will allow mistakes in posted submission to be changed.

Now, I've been into similar situations before, and from what I have experienced I can say that there really is a need to add some additional features, however there is actually an option for changing/editing posted submissions. This option though is not applicable to changes in the posted submission links. It only applies to all other aspect of the submission except the links.

Six Steps To Change/Edit Posted Submissions At Ximmy:
1. Go to the post that you want to change. I've highlighted a screen shot of a sample submission that I've made.


2. Click on the "admin links" section just below the title of the post you want to change/edit. It is the right most clickable link. I've highlighted it yellow in the screen shot below


3. Now, upon clicking the "admin links" a new clickable link appears just below the "Category" of the submitted post, it is the "Edit the title or description" link.


4. When you click the on "Edit the title or description" link, you'll see the page where you can change/edit the articles details of your submitted post.


As you can see there are actually two sections in the page. The first section is the un-editable portion, the "Source URL". The second section is the editable portion, the "article details".


5. Make the necessary changes to anything editable in your "article details".

6. After making the changes you can then click on the "Preview and Submit" button below the "Category" box at the bottom of the "article details" section.

After that, well, you have all the changes you made saved and it will instantly appear on your submitted post.

If your problem, though, is the "Source URL", the current setup of Ximmy does not allow this to be changed. However, one idea that I have to somehow solve, in a way, this problem is just to re-submit the article with the correct source url then just comment on the posted submission with the wrong source url and provide a link to the new submission with the correct source url.

You can read how to make internal comment links in this post HERE.

If you have any suggestions, questions or comments, please use the post your comment button below. For updates on My Ximmy Experience please subscribe to my RSS feed. Hope this article has somehow help you. Thanks for visiting.

Things We Can Do For Ximmy - The Series (Part 2) - Digg Your Ximmy Posts

MY XIMMY EXPERIENCE



In this blog series, I'll be neat picking on the best things we can do to help the Ximmy community in general.

Digg Your Ximmy Post is part 2 in this series. The first was about Inviting Friends which you can review HERE.

Part 2 focuses on helping promote the Ximmy community using other social review/voting sites.

As most of us already know, Ximmy was patterned after the very popular social review/voting site known as Digg. However, unlike Digg, Ximmy users are rewarded for participating in the community.

It was already discussed in part 1, of this series, that the life blood of all online communities is in its members. The more the members, the more alive the community becomes.

In order to gain more members, Ximmy.com's exposure should be enhanced. One way of enhancing Ximmy's exposure is to submit posts in Ximmy to other social review/voting sites.

Primary focus should be given to the Digg site for the simple reason that it's users will have no difficulty understanding the Ximmy concept. However, all social review/voting sites should be viable prospects for enhancing the Ximmy exposure.

The question that might be looming now in your minds is how. How are we to promote our posts to other social review sites?

The answer to that question is simple and has been right in front of us every time we view the different submissions at Ximmy.com. If you look closely at a page with existing post made by members, you'll see that there are several links just below the description of every submission made, one of which is the Add this link to... button. If you click on this button you'll see several links that will pop out. You can see a screen shot of it below.



In the screen shot above you can see that there are 6 "Add to" links there: del-icio.us; digg; reddit; pligg; myweb2; and, bookmarks. Clicking any one of those will send you to the posting area of the corresponding site.

If you are not a member yet of that posting site, you need to register first to become a member and then continue adding the Ximmy post there.

That's it. It's that simple. Short and sweet. By adding it to the new site, you have enhanced the exposure of Ximmy.com to a greater number of audience.

For your suggestions, questions or comments, please use the post comment link below. Subscribe to My Ximmy Experience RSS feed to keep up to date with the latest happening at Ximmy.com.

Maximize The Potential Power Of Your Votes at Ximmy

MY XIMMY EXPERIENCE



After the big news about the daily limits now imposed on submissions, comments and voting, a question immediately formed in my mind regarding the limits on a member's votes.

Why in the world would Ximmy limit the number of votes allowed per member?

I let go of that thought for a while, but when I was doing my rounds on submissions posted by other members, the answer to the question just came to me...

They needed to do it to minimize the impact of having to give more 15 point rewards for popular votes.

I pondered over that thought for a while, and then it hit me. Ximmy members must now use their votes wisely in order to maximize the potential power of their votes.

HOW?

It's really very simple if you think about it.

You only need to limit your votes to those submissions made by your friends or potential friends which have yet to reach the Popular page.

So let's say for example that you see that your friend's post has yet to make it on the Popular page, vote for it. If however, your friends post is already in the Popular page, just skip voting for that post and move to another post which has yet to reach the Popular page.

Why?

If the purpose of your vote is to help your friends/potential friends reach the Popular page and get the 15 points they deserve, then you'll be doing them a favor if you don't waste your votes on their submissions that has already reached the Popular page and just focus on voting for those submissions that have yet to reach the Popular page. That way all your votes count.

Now, this strategy is applicable now under the current reward scheme implemented by Ximmy. If for example, Ximmy adds to this scheme that of giving rewards to those with the highest points for the month or for the year, a new strategy should be implemented.

So, just like in anything else, your strategy should be based on your over-all goal, which in this case, is to maximize the potential power of your votes at Ximmy.com.

Do you have questions, suggestions or comments, just leave a comment below and I'll reply to it as soon as I can. For regular updates to what's happening at Ximmy.com please subscribe to My Ximmy Experience.

How To Make Use of Comments To Promote Your Post

MY XIMMY EXPERIENCE



While posting some comments on Ximmy, I accidentally discovered something.

You see when you post a comment at Ximmy all HTML linking are supposedly disabled. Here is a screen shot of what you'll see when you're about to post a comment.


As you can see in the screen shot it states that the HTML is disabled, however, you can also see above the Send comment box, there is a comment I made in reply to the comment of workingtyrone. You can see that there is an active HTML link that I managed to include in my comment.

So, I believe that although HTML linking to sites outside Ximmy is not allowed, it is allowed for posts within Ximmy.

Now, I see that with this HTML linking obviously allowed, everyone can promote their previous posts which were somehow neglected and/or buried under the newer posts.

You only need to go to the post you want to promote. Copy the posting address which can be seen at the lower portion of the comment title or at the address bar of your browser. Paste it on the comment box and include some intro or description.

I'd advise that you only do this if there are related information or inquiries which was somehow discussed in the comment section of the submission page you are promoting your link to.

If you have tips, questions or suggestion you would like to share, you can always give your comments below. Please subscribe to My Ximmy Experience to get regular updates to my posts.

Wednesday, February 6, 2008

Maximum Cash You Can Now Make With Ximmy

MY XIMMY EXPERIENCE



I've been trying to do the math lately. With the limits now imposed by Ximmy on the posts that can be made daily, how much can one make on a monthly basis? This is the question I'll try to answer with this latest post.

Let's review the limitation imposed first:

"So to reiterate what was in the official statement of Ximmy regarding the limits imposed on Comments, Submissions and Voting- they have implemented a 30 submissions, 100 comments, and 100 vote limit that a user is able to post per day. These limits are extremely high that most users will not reach. Their goal is to not allow a user submitting thousands of unimportant links just to boost up their points (although it has not happen yet). That they will change this number in the future depending on the growth of the community."

That's : 30 = submissions per day = 30 points
100 = comments per day = 100 points
100 = votes per day

So, that's 130 points per day.

At 30 days per month that would be 3,900 points.

If all your submissions per day gets into the Popular page, it's possible to make 550 points per day. (30 * 15 = 450 + 100 = 550)

At 30 days per month that would be 16,500 points.

Now let's review the reward points sliding scale:

Points Earn:
1 point - Story Submitted
1 point - Comment
15 points - Popular (homepage)
Points Rewards
1,000 $10
1,800 $20
3,200 $40
6,000 $80
12,000 $160
20,000 $300

So, with 3,900 points (130 points per day), in a months time you can redeem your points for $40.

With 16,500 points (550 points per day), in a months time you can redeem your points for $160.

Note: The 550 points per day is only possible if you have a following of at least 6 people who will vote for your posts daily.

Now, is $160 dollars the maximum cash you can make now with Ximmy, per month?

Well, the answer to that question is...not really. You see, Ximmy allows you to invite friends, and for every friend who signs up, you're rewarded an extra 15 points.

That's 1 friend = 15 points.

Under the current sliding scale, the most you can exchange for your points is $300 dollars.

That's 20,000 points = $300

Assuming your goal is 20,000 points, if you are making 550 points per day, 16,500 points per month, you still need to make 3,500 points to reach the 20,000 point level. In order to make that 3,500 points, you'll need to invite at least 234 friends per month. That's 7 to 8 friends daily.

In conclusion, I think it is safe to say that you can actually make $300 dollars with Ximmy in 30 days.

Things We Can Do For Ximmy - The Series (Part 1) - Invite Friends

MY XIMMY EXPERIENCE



I was just replying to several new comments at Ximmy when I realized that there are a lot of things we can do for Ximmy which will in return benefit us more. It reminded me of the "Ask not what your country can do for you" speech of John F. Kennedy.

In this blog series, I'll be neat picking on the best things we can do to help the Ximmy community in general.

The first in this series is about Inviting Friends.

As we all know, an online community's life blood is in its members. The more members, the more alive the community becomes. It then follows the domino effect.

What's in it for Ximmy.com?

Well, of course, with more members, they'll be able to make more money from their advertisers. With more money, they'll be able to provide a better reward program and they'll also have enough funds to further develop and improve their site.


What's in it for the Invited Friends?

They will be able to have fun posting at Ximmy and at the same time get rewarded for having fun. It's very easy and free to join so there's really no problem even for those just starting in this kind of thing.


What's in it for the Inviter?

15 reward points for every invited friend who signs up. Assuming they're really your friends, they'll definitely vote for your posts. So, if you have five or six of these friends online everyday, and you post 30 submissions (please see HERE my post regarding the new limits imposed by Ximmy on submissions, comments and votes) everyday, you'll have all your 30 submissions in the popular page everyday. Now you can see in my post HERE how much you can now make monthly with Ximmy if you have those friends with you.

In conclusion to the first part of this series I would say that one of the best thing, if not the first thing, we should do for the Ximmy community is to INVITE FRIENDS to join so that we will be sowing good seeds that will logically bear good fruits, so to speak.

If you liked this post or if you have ideas about this topic or things you would like to share or ask, please don't hesitate to comment below. Also, since this is the first part in this series, please subscribe to My Ximmy Experience and receive updates on a regular basis.

Official News from Ximmy As Of Feb.5, 2008

MY XIMMY EXPERIENCE



Okay, so at least now Ximmy has an official statement regarding what's happening there. You can read all about it HERE.

It's about time they did and I thank them for it.

So to reiterate what was in the official statement of Ximmy regarding the limits imposed on Comments, Submissions and Voting- they have implemented a 30 submissions, 100 comments, and 100 vote limit that a user is able to post per day. These limits are extremely high that most users will not reach. Their goal is to not allow a user submitting thousands of unimportant links just to boost up their points (although it has not happen yet). That they will change this number in the future depending on the growth of the community.

Now, what could that last sentence mean.... that they will change the number of limits in the future depending on the growth of the community.

If it grows big... will it mean less or more limits will be imposed on a daily basis?

I'm not really sure how they'll answer this question, but one things for sure, they are out to keep this going for the long haul.

In the mean time, let's just continue enjoying what we have, what we can do, and, what we will receive.

If you have comments or suggestions, please dont forget to leave a comment below or you can just subscribe to my RSS feed to keep up to date with the latest at Ximmy.com.

Tuesday, February 5, 2008

Ximmy's Join and Login Features Refined

MY XIMMY EXPERIENCE



I've been noticing a lot of new features lately at Ximmy.com. I'll just be touching on two that I have recently encountered.

There is now a new Affiliate Join and Login link which can be found at the footer of almost all pages at Ximmy.com. You'll hardly notice it because most of the actions we undertake involves features which we can access on top of the page. Below is a screen shot of the current new links.



As you can see, the position of these new links are inconspicuous. You can hardly tell they are there unless you really scroll down the page. These two links go directly to two entirely new, pages which looks like more refined and/or professional Join and Login pages.

Screen shots of the two new pages to which the links are pointing are below:





Looks like the Ximmy.com team is really stepping up the pace in refining the look and features of the site. This is a very welcome development.

If you have noticed anything new, or if you just have something you want to share, please don't forget to give your comment below or subscribe to my RSS feed to keep up to date with what's going on at Ximmy. com.

Ximmy.com Now Limits Number of Reviews And Posts Per Day

MY XIMMY EXPERIENCE



I used to post a lot at Ximmy.com. I even managed to post a maximum of 150 reviews and comments a day. However, I noticed lately that there has been a newly implemented limitation on the number of posts you can make per day. A limitation which, I'm not sure, but I guess is only applicable to my account because I haven't heard of other members complaining.

I encountered this first when I was posting reviews for several websites several days ago. I think I just posted sixteen (16) website reviews for that day when all of a sudden, while I was trying to post a new submission, a message just popped out stating that I have already reached the maximum posts for the day.

It was very odd, since my previous posts per day was more or less 150 posts. I don't really know what happened. So, I tried to see if there was any change in the terms and conditions of service, or whether there was any kind of notice with regards to the implementation of limits to the number of review and/or comment posts that can be made per day.

I tried to read everything posted on the site regarding Ximmy.com including those in the Blog. I found a lot of new things they added, however, I did not find any information relating to the implementation of any kind of limit to the number of reviews or comments that can be made per day.

Then, today, as I was replying to several comments made on my previous review posts, after posting about 20 comments, more or less, I don't really remember, a new message appeared. It stated that I have exceeded the number of comments allowed per day.



Can you imagine how I felt? Oh, well, that's life!

As to what exactly is the limit for posting reviews and/or comments is beyond me. Without any kind of official or unofficial announcements regarding these limits, we'll never know what's the real score.

So I started publishing this blog, which I have already started before, but have not really published any posts to.

This is my experience. If you have the same experience or if you have some thoughts you want to share, please don't hesitate to comment below.

I'll be posting all my experiences with Ximmy in this blog. If you want to keep up to date with what's really going on at Ximmy, you can always subscribe to my RSS feed.

How I Lost 240 Ximmy Reward Points.

I am currently the second person with the most number of reward points at Ximmy.com.

For almost two days, more or less, on the first week of February, I managed to make and hold on to 1,503 Ximmy reward points which placed me at the top of the ranks. However, on February 3, 2008, when I started posting new comments and reviewing web sites, I saw a comment made by one of my friends with whom I was, in a way, competing in the ranks with. She hadn't posted anything the previous day so when she saw my rank she commented that I somehow managed to get a large lead (about 300 points) from her. So I replied to her comment and afterwards I checked my ranking. What I saw shocked me.


My points was somehow decreased by almost a hundred points. So I refreshed my browser to determine whether it was just a problem with the browser or if it really was the case. To my shock again, my points decreased by, what I believe, was almost a hundred points.


I started panicking and I posted several messages stating my situation at the same post where I last made my replies. Then I checked my rank for the third time, and saw that another, more or less at first glance, hundred points was deducted from my reward points. It was driving me nuts. I continued posting messages about what I was experiencing. I checked the ranks again and saw anther 50 points, more or less, deducted from my reward points. I was so angry, I didn't know what to do. I calmed my self down and I sent an inquiry about the incident using the contact form at Ximmy.

I waited for the reply, and after, several hours, I received an explanation of what happened. Sean Wilson, the Admin at Ximmy.com, sent me the following message:

Hi Mark,

There was an error yesterday regarding submissions that were made
"popular" to the home page. It seems that new submitted story with only 1
vote made it to the home page and 15 points were given to the user for
each story. We had to fix the error and move those submission back to the
"upcoming" section. Of course, you have the most submission and you are
the most effected. We are so sorry for the mess up.

--
Sean Wilson
XIMMY


>
> Good day.
>
> I just would like to know what happened to my Reward Points? I just lost
> 240 points, more or less. What happened?
>
So I sent the following reply which I posted through the Contact Form at Ximmy.com:

Hello Sean,

Thanks for the reply.

I would like to get your permission to post all our communications in a blog that I'll be starting about Ximmy and my experience.

People should be informed about what really happened. You can't just delete already rewarded points without at least posting something about what happened or informing all concerned members and telling us what needs to be done. I was very shocked to see almost 240 points, more or less, within minutes, disappear right before my eyes. Some of my friends online even saw it happen. It was very discouraging.

I learned to love Ximmy even if I've only been a member for 10 days. I was so thrilled about the ximmy concept that I poured a lot of my time sharing most of the sites I like and commenting on other's posts and comments. Some of the members who saw what happened were very discouraged and they seem to have lost their enthusiasm in posting new sites and comments.

I think that in order to somehow lessen the impact of that incident, an explanation must be put forward.

I really want Ximmy to succeed so I'll try to explain in my blog what really happened. I'll be telling them about the glitch and inform them that all is fine now provided you agree that next time, if something like this happen, you'll be more considerate of your members and first inform the members about what happened and what needs to be done.

Hoping for the best. Thank you and more power to Ximmy.com.

When I sent this reply, I tried to post some comments and submit some sites. I saw some of my previous comments in the Latest Comment Module so I clicked on it. I was surprised to see that almost all of my post regarding what happened was deleted. And I thought to myself.... wow, their fast at cleaning evidences.



Of course, I agree with what they did, that of deleting things which could, in the long run, ruin Ximmy.com. However, they still failed to notify me, before deleting those comments.

Sean eventually replied:

Hi Mark,

Thank you for sharing your thoughts with us. You are right, we should have
made post about. It was an error caused by our programmer and he resolved
the problem once he realized what happened without consulting with us
first.

You're welcome to share your Ximmy experiences on your blog. But it would
not be the "official" channels for Ximmy updates.

Again, thank you very much for your feedback and we value you as a Ximmy
member.

--
Sean Wilson
XIMMY
So, that's it. Just like that, 240 points down the drain.

I'm still hopeful that things will become better in the future. So, I'm still posting and having fun at the same time.

This is my experience. If you have the same experience or if you have some thoughts you want to share, please don't hesitate to comment below.

I'll be posting all my experiences with Ximmy in this blog. If you want to keep up to date with what's really going on at Ximmy, you can always subscribe to my RSS feed.

Pligg Or Ximmy??? Layout and Features

Ximmy.com's layout and feature is typical of a Web 2.0 open source content management system. It looks and feels very much like a Pligg site.

You can visit a demo Pligg site here and the Ximmy site here. I've taken screenshots of both sites below.



As you can see, they look very similar.

Ximmy.com most probably is a Pligg site. I have no issues with that though. I am totally for open source. There's nothing wrong with that. If people can make money using open source software and systems, the better. And, so far, I like how it works although I'd definitely appreciate some more user friendly features.

Since I joined, I've noticed that they are slowly, but surely, making some improvements in their layout and features.

The following is a run-down of most of Ximmy's layout and features including some of the latest and just activated features:
1. The Ximmy logo. On the upper left corner of almost all pages.
2. Help, Register, Login links and Search box on the upper right corner of almost all pages. This changes to Help, Profile, Logout links and Search box upon logging in the site. The Help feature is still inactive.
3. General content tabs:
ALL, NEWS, VIDEOS, PICTURES AND WEBSITES.
4. Each general content tab has sub tabs below, except for the ALL tab.
5. Several side modules are available in almost all pages except the Blog site:
Ximmy Social Network
Submit to Ximmy
Menue
Affiliate Program
Top Today
Up Coming
Latest Comments
Top 30 Tags
6. The Footer module which has links to details and other site features. Some of the latest additions here are the newer Join and Login links.
7. Google Adsense ads just below the general content tabs, and another below the Top Today side module. I only noticed the ads about two to five days ago.

I noticed that a lot of changes to the layout and features are made on the fly. I mean one second there's nothing there and then all of a sudden it just pops out.

So far, so good. If Ximmy is a Pligg site, so what!!! As long as it keeps on improving, in terms of what they can offer their members, well, It's fine with me.

Will Ximmy Make It Big!??.... We'll see.

I am a Ximmy member. My user name at Ximmy is Mark. This blog is a journal of my experience with Ximmy.

For those who don't know a thing about Ximmy, well, it is basically a social review and voting site similar to Digg, but, unlike Digg and the rest of the social review and voting sites on the Internet, Ximmy promises to compensate users for several activities like sharing content and posting comments on submissions of news, video, pictures, and web sites. Certain activities are given specific points and a sliding scale translates these points into real money. 1,000 points, for example, translates into $10.

I came to know about Ximmy through a Techcrunch article entitled Ximmy: A Digg Clone That Offers Users Money to Participate. The concept, as the article points out, is not really new. However, Ximmy seems to be the first to offer it to the general public. So I followed the link and browsed the entire site. I noticed that it was still in Beta, hence very new, with a lot of bugs and problems of all sort. In general, however, it looked like a good site. The Techcrunch article really was a good hook for new sites.

I got curious so I joined last January 26, 2008. I though to myself, that since I've already been posting reviews and voting for some of the web sites I find online, which are interesting to me, at several social review and voting sites, I might as well make some cash while doing it.

With that in my mind, I posted like crazy after joining and in a weeks time I managed to get to the top rank and I am now eligible to redeem my rewards. However, after analyzing the sliding scale of points and dollar equivalents, I decided to save my points until I reach the peak of the scale, which is 20,000 points = $300.

I am enjoying the experience... so far. I made friends with several members already. Hope it stays that way.

PLEASE SIGN MY GUESTBOOK