Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Is Helium a Scam?

Opinions often change as circumstances do. Just when I was beginning to believe that Helium had cleaned up its act, they let me down.

I’ve been writing and posting a lot of articles there lately, and the monthly payments were rolling in on a regular basis. Perhaps I was making too much money (about $100 over the year since I’ve been a member).

At any rate, I was accused of plagiarism on two recent articles and of course I challenged them on their accusations. I asked them to show me where the allegations came from. Not only did they not respond, but they’ve now shut down my access to their data base and refuse to respond to my e-mails.

This makes me really mad because I was due for another $25 payment for the month. Not only will I not be paid for my new articles, but won’t receive residual payments on the 119 articles currently under their copyright.

I won’t go so far as to say Helium is a scam, but they are operating under extremely unethical business practices. I am deleting all links to articles they will be paid for and now have to start all over again.

Don’t get involved with Helium!

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yes it is. This is Chavie Cyn and I lost 300 plus articles from Helium for no reason all all. Helium is a scam. I am doing BETTER at Odesk in such a short time since I've left Helium.

heliumasia.com

We Can't Tell You said...

Hey Chavie, haven't I warned you a long time ago that Barbara Whitlock is THE evil witch in the Helium sagas. I love your site Chavie but seems despite losing 300-you-say articles that you've deluded yourself that Ms. Whitlock is good and the rest of the stewards are bad. What if I tell you that I am a Helium steward?

The Bread and Pastry Blog said...

I recognize your name Chavie, especially from the writing contests.
I'm going after them through BBB, IC3 and Phonebusters (in Canada).
What I'm really surprized at is that they have not removed my "about me" page, which links here. Not a bright move on their part.

The Bread and Pastry Blog said...

Scratch that. Better Business Bureau doesn't deal with this type of complaint. I'll post a process when I find one that works.

We Can't Tell You said...

Did you see what that witch Whitlock write at Chavie's site? Barbara now says that spam filters are to blame for disappearing articles. How stupid does she think we are?

Unknown said...

You guys are gonna be more upset if I tell you that you can go to Odesk.com, write the same kind of 400 words article and then make real money immediately -- like I get paid NOW four dollars per article like those that were NEVER paid right way at Helium. It also was mighty stupid to say that articles an simply be "deleted" without any VALID reason really.. as I said, best revenge,is making a LOT MORE elsewhere!

Anonymous said...

Is helium a scam?

You better believe it. It is more than that; it is a terrorist site that will delete your articles (just because they do not like your point of view, no matter how true or well documented it is).

They will not let you edit your articles (unless their rating community – mostly 4-th grade educated individuals – will approve your editing)

You have no control and no say about deleting your own article; they feel they own it.

Even if you leave the site in disgust they will still MAKE money out of your work while you get NOTHING

Should you ever dare to put on the forum an inconvenient question be prepared; the 5 stars Channel Site Stewards will tear you to pieces.

They will stop at nothing: they will insult you, they will call you names and they will threaten you

Should you be brave enough not to give in the pressure and keep on taking them on, they will cancel the thread and will ban you from the forum.

Are you still not convinced?

Read my articles “Freelance income fantasy” and “Helium Nightmare” published both in Associated Content and Hub pages.

http://hubpages.com/hub/helium-nightmare said...

Is helium a scam?

You better believe it. It is more than that; it is a terrorist site that will delete your articles (just because they do not like your point of view, no matter how true or well documented it is).

They will not let you edit your articles (unless their rating community – mostly 4-th grade educated individuals – will approve your editing)

You have no control and no say about deleting your own article; they feel they own it.

Even if you leave the site in disgust they will still MAKE money out of your work while you get NOTHING

Should you ever dare to put on the forum an inconvenient question be prepared; the 5 stars Channel Site Stewards will tear you to pieces.

They will stop at nothing: they will insult you, they will call you names and they will threaten you

Should you be brave enough not to give in the pressure and keep on taking them on, they will cancel the thread and will ban you from the forum.

Are you still not convinced?

Read my articles “Freelance income fantasy” and “Helium Nightmare” published both in Associated Content and Hub pages.

Anonymous said...

Helium has closed my account recently, accusing me of plagiarism. They refuse to pay me the $95 accumulated in my account. It was getting increasingly difficult to meet their standards. They don't give enough time to writers to prepare their articles The site should be for writers of all levels, not only elite writers. The editorial team seems like a bunch of rigid and stern school teachers.

I have found a better site:

http://www.bukisa.com/join/7877

Anonymous said...

Since Helium stewards can pick and choose which articles to rate, I am convinced that they target people who have voiced dissent on the forums. Articles that were in the top spot for months suddenly sank after I was vocal on the forums. If I submit articles now, they usually get to the top after a day or to. However, after a week or so, they suddenly sink to the bottom. I also find every single leapfrog I try is rejected. From information posted by Rex Truelove, it only takes 2-3 ratings for a leapfrog to be accepted or rejected, so again this could be easily manipulated by the stewards.

The Bread and Pastry Blog said...

Dear Anonymous - January 21st...I too had a huge number of leapfrogs rejected...even when only a few words in the entire article remained.

The question is, "is it the stewards who make these choices or are they made at a higher level when folks start making more money?"

Anonymous said...

Helium is misleading writers and changing their contract far too frequently.

The only way to get Helium to act fairly is to file a complaint with the state attorney generals office in Massachusetts.

They need to receive a lot of complaints before they can act on behalf of writers. People can complain anonymously.

Apparently based on the below linked blog, if enough writer's complain Helium can be held accountable.

Meanwhile there are many other sites that have fair and upfront contracts that do not change frequently.

http://onlinewritingadvice.blogspot.com/2011/01/helium-is-scam-one-writer-speaks-out.html

About Me

Bread and pastry baking is an art which requires the freshest ingredients, exact proportions, proper techniques and strict attention to the rules of food chemistry. For example, using pastry flour (low in gluton) to bake bread (which requires high gluton to rise) will result in failure. Dry ingredients should always be weighed, so you'll have to invest in a small (4 lb/1814.4 gram) kitchen scale.