ClickDough Annoys Me
Written: Nov 13 '00 (Updated Nov 13 '00)
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I have been a ClickDough, now MoveAbout, member since April `00, but have not been an active user for many months for several reasons. ClickDough, was and still is, a leader in the pay-to-surf industry, but the industry as a whole seems to be a lost interest for both the advertisers and the customers.
ClickDough is a basic pay-to-surf program where users get paid for using the internet. ClickDough, unlike some pay-to-surf programs does not require the user to be actively surfing the internet. Users get paid simply by being connected to the internet and having a “Personal Window” open which displays an advertisement every few seconds. Advertisers pay ClickDough to show their ads and ClickDough in turn pays its users up to 50% of that payment for viewing the ads.
Signing up with ClickDough is simple and easy. Once signed up, users have the option of filling out some personal information in its entirety to upgrade their Regular Membership to a Premium Membership. By being a Premium Member, one used to be guaranteed 20 cents for every hour the Personal Window was open, displaying ads. Regular Members received about 5 cents an hour. Accessing the window is as easy as going to the ClickDough webpage from any computer, logging in, and opening your window. Things have changed due to lack of interest by advertisers in pay-to-surf programs. In September, Premium Members only received 12 cents per hour and then only 10 cents per hour in October. A recent email from ClickDough (MoveAbout) now says that members will only receive the regular payout for up to two hours per day. Any excess each day will be reduced to one cent an hour.
ClickDough allows for eight levels of referrals to help increase your earnings. Users receive 20% for each referral earnings, 10% for theirs, and 5% for all remaining extended referrals up to four more levels. It theoretically sounds like a good idea, but I have not known many people that have been able to get many referrals, period. I myself only scrounged up five direct referrals and zero extended. The five I had soon stopped using the program. I should have followed suit, but didn’t. I thus had to make the bulk of my earnings alone. With a minimum payout of $20, receiving a check at such a low rate took me about four months. I did receive a check in the mail, and ceased use of ClickDough.
Why did I stop using ClickDough?
I stopped using the service due to a combination of the payout being so low and the Personal Window annoying me. I could probably find more money lying around in the street in one hour than I could using the Personal Window. I could easily find more than the penny they pay you for time surfed after two hours have elapsed. The window itself, to me, is rather large. Other companies have slimmer, less obtrusive windows. ClickDough has taken care of this problem by allowing you to hide the window and still earn credit for having it open. Although it makes the user happy, it probably does not sit well with the advertiser who is paying ClickDough to show their ads to no one (since the ad is hidden).
The Personal Window, if not hidden, pops up whenever a new ad is shown. When I first began using the program, there was no feature that allowed you to hide the window, so these pop-ups ever few seconds were annoying. If you were typing, these pop-ups were a nuisance because you would have to click back into the window you were typing in to continue. I also found that if the window continuously tried to pop-up while I was scrolling down while reading an article, it would log me out.
ClickDouch has also installed a safety feature into their window to deter cheaters. When they first began, the window would idle out after about 20 minutes and you would have to click on a button to keep your window logged in. This allowed for people to open their window, leave, and earn 20 minutes worth of time. People also created programs where the window would be reactivated and be run all day without the user ever being there. Of course this is not good for ClickDough or the advertisers, so a safety measure was installed whereby every 12-18 minutes, a large number will appear in the box. Eight other smaller numbers will appear within the window, one of them being the same as the large number. The user must click on the corresponding number to validate the time earned. Thus, if after 18 minutes, a validation is needed, but the user is not in the room, all 18 minutes are lost and the user is logged out.
This sounds like a good system, but I do not like it. There have been many times where the box will need a validation and I click on the correct number, but it logs me out anyway, losing all the time I had earned. There are also plenty of times when I’m too interested in the website I’m looking at, or happened to look away just as the validation is needed. I’ll miss the validation and lose all the time I’d earned. It’s times like those when I get upset since I was sitting there, saw the ads, but was not paid for it. I feel like ClickDough is scamming me by getting paid to show me ads, but get to keep the money that was supposed to be given to me.
Overall, ClickDough is one of the last of its kind. It is reputable and it tries hard to please its users. Low rates due to lack of interest in advertising on pay-to-surf sites does not make the users happy, and it makes it difficult to gain referrals. Without referrals, it is nearly impossible to earn the minimum payout. If users don’t mind that it takes up to six months to earn one $20 check, then by all means, give the program a try. You can always change your mind and stop. I for one do not use the program anymore and would not recommend it to friends or family. They would probably kill me for wasting their time.
Recommended:
No
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rodeo7
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Member: Eddie
Location: Virginia, USA
Reviews written: 29
Trusted by: 71 members
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