About as Fun as Rubbing your Bare Hands against a Cactus!
Written: Jan 20 '01 (Updated Jan 30 '01)
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The Bottom Line
Don’t use this search engine! If you gonna use it, use it for the click for money service, even if it is a mediocre one.
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| Full Review |
In my ongoing quest to find lost civilizations, err, products which have been rated only once or twice I found this search engine at the end of a long list of more prominent and not so prominent search engines. I had never heard of SearchCactus as I’m sure you’ve never heard of it either so I was intrigued as to what I’d find as the site’s homepage loaded...
The Interface
When it loaded I shuddered in my seat at the sight of a really ugly green interface which looked like it was designed by the Green Hornet. Still my eyes grabbed hold of a looping animation which incorporated images of stacks of money (me like!), and a brand new computer (ahhhhh!) with words like “Win Cool Prizes”, “Get $2 for Signing Up”, “Earn Cash referring Friends", “Get Paid to Search”, and as if a command that I must obey “Register Now It’s Free!” in big bold letters. I was being bombarded with subliminal messages, but was to absent minded to notice as I clicked on the animation...
Becoming a Member
I filled in all the usual required information such as my name, my location, and email addy etc. Then I hit continue to what is usually the optional information but to my dismay, and personal amusement it was required. After filling in all the fields I was a single male who was 13-17 years of age, and had 5 or more children (the word contraceptive obviously wasn’t in my vocabulary.) At this point one could say I’m destined to be on Jerry Springer but surprisingly I had a Ph.D., and made 200,000 dollars or more in Law. I maybe called promiscuous, and reckless, but at least I could pay my child support bills!
After this it was just a few more steps such as selecting my username, and the all important referral page to notify others of my amazing search engine discovery!
Here now is Sample Invitation from the site with some, umm, personal modifications:
Hello (potential victim of this sham of a search engine),
I've been using a new website called SearchCactus.com (which has a really grotesque green interface). It's a new search engine (actually its powered by Google so I guess its not really that new after all) that pays you cash for searching the Web (a whole 2 cents for clicking on websites that have paid SearchCactus to be the ones first displayed). It only takes a few seconds to sign up (and get past the annoying forms which should be optional) and now I'm getting the best search results (which are mostly commercial websites that like credit card numbers) on the web while getting paid at the same time (2 cents!). Best of all, you get a $2.00 bonus just for signing up (for this useless site that only uses a search engine as a gimmick to entice people to it). They also have this new feature called "Quick Cash". You can earn over $100.00 in 5 minutes (that’s if you like buying junk with your credit card number a lot, and enjoy receiving countless amounts of newsletters). If you like to search the web, like I do (with Google, Altavista, and other good search engines), why not get paid at the same time (remember the 2 cents!). To check it out, use this link:
http://www.searchcactus.com/member/welcome.asp?XXXXXXX
Sincerely,
Tristan V (the seeker of truth, and cheap PC games)
Searching
After all that time I spent being mesmerized by a looping animation, and becoming a member I almost completely forgot that this site was a search engine; you know, a web portal thingy.
Since it was powered by the almighty Google I thought I would compare the two too see if I would get the same search results, and load times.
Search Results & Load Time
Using the keyword “Napster” I found that Google provided a list of sites you would expect to see, and want for that matter. The place where you can download it, and various sites that provided relevant information on Napster. With a 56.6k modem it took all of 0.04 seconds to load the page.
With SearchCactus I expected to find the same results, but found quite the opposite. The first two results which you could get 2 cents for were from companies that sell Napster T-Shirts (whoopee!). The third 2 cent site was basically a site that provided news from the MP3 world, and the fourth was a link to a list of RIAA vs. Napster sites. Of the remaining sites only two could be described as relevant to Napster. One to Napster itself, and Epinions reviews of Napster with the rest being totally useless. As well the descriptions for all the non-paying sites had some sort of “bided result” from Britannica. And to top it all off the load time took an enormously long 7 seconds.
Another thing that SearchCactus lacked was an advanced search.
Show me the Money!
Unusual in the search engine world, but not entirely rare SearchCactus as I’ve alluded to earlier pays you 2 cents for clicking on sites that have paid to be displayed. At first this might sound like a good deal, but as I just said the sites aren’t always very relevant to what your searching for. Of course if your a person who has a high speed connection, lotsa time to spare, and an high-threshold for mind-numbing repetition you have to get 20 dollars in order to get a check.
Quick Cash
As the sample invitation mentioned you can get up to 100 dollars (actually its $130.75 but whose counting) for signing up to the numerous services. The ones that don’t involve a credit card number only give you a small amount of money like 70 cents or so while the bigger ones in the 6-50 dollar range are your usual 30 day free-trial gimmicky services... Hmm a lot like this site.
The Referral System
With the all important referral system its not that bad. You earn 25% of your direct referrals earnings with no limit as to how many people you can refer or how much you can earn. However there is no level system so you won’t be earning any percent of your referrals, referrals.
Final Words
Its doubtful I’ll ever use SearchCactus ever again either for its search engine, or money program. It has a terrible search engine, and its money program is just a waste of time. I might sound harsh in these comments, but I only speak the truth or a reasonable facsimile anyway.
Recommended:
No
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About the Author
Location: Between Here and There
Reviews written: 15
Trusted by: 31 members
About Me: After a 2 Year Hiatus I'm Back! Did you Miss Me?
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