Changes
Due to some end of the month reports that came in the beginning of this month, we are in a position where we are noticing that some countries are not generating enough income to keep the exchange rate sustainable.
For that reason, we are no longer permitting members from India or the Philippines from joining the site. The reason is simply that we have the traffic numbers from those countries, but the ad revenue does not line up. So therefore, we are handing out more than we are earning. To get the numbers to line up, this is a first step. Additional steps may need to be taken, but we will address that when the time comes. We want to welcome everyone, but we are going to allow current members to contribute coins to other members. If we allow new members from those countries then we run into a situation where some are contributing coins and some are not and that can cause confusion. I do apologize for this, however we have no control over the amount of revenue that the traffic generates from any country.
We will allow all current members from those countries to contribute coins while logged in. However, all public (non-member) traffic from any country outside of the US, UK and Canada will not contribute coins to the any user on the site. This will help close the gap and line up the coins that are going out to the ad revenue coming in. We will still allow members from other countries to join, however until we will not know for sure how much traffic is earning until we reach a certain level. We have reached that level with India and the Philippines. As other countries are observed and increase in traction, decisions will be made to classify them to accurately hand out coins.
We will also be implementing some additional checks into the ad blocker detection algorithm to ensure accuracy. Finally, all members who are in the INACTIVE status for a period of 90 days will begin to lose coins daily. We will post another article in detail when this is implemented.
I know this is short and sweet, but feel free to ask about any additional details and I will elaborate as needed.
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Comments
hkiptok wrote on March 17, 2015, 7:52 AM
Thank you for this informative piece of writing.Keep us always updated.
Hollyhocks100 wrote on March 17, 2015, 7:59 AM
I am living in Spain just now, but relocating back to the UK very soon. When my IP address changes will that mean I have the potential to earn more ?
1bestwriter wrote on March 17, 2015, 8:02 AM
Thank you.
1elitecodex wrote on March 17, 2015, 8:03 AM
For existing members, it doesn't really have much an effect unless you have a large following outside of the US, UK or Canada. If you have a large following in Spain then you would see a difference. So it isn't so much were you are from, but where your traffic is coming from.
2scheng1 wrote on March 17, 2015, 8:10 AM
Will you give a warning to those who use ad blocker?
elitecodex wrote on March 17, 2015, 8:11 AM
No automatically, but if requested we can setup test pages for specific users for them to confirm if they are passing our ad block detection. We do not want to provide too much information in this regard as it would give people a means of testing against our defenses in an effort to game the system. However, if individual users are concerned then we can check for them to see if everything is working as anticipated.
1CalmGemini wrote on March 17, 2015, 8:26 AM
Thank you very much,elitecodex.
FreyaYuki wrote on March 17, 2015, 8:46 AM
Thank you for the update.
I don't use an ad blocker but it's good that you're trying to ensure the detection algorithm to ensure its accuracy.
AliCanary wrote on March 17, 2015, 8:55 AM
I know that we are all glad that you are working hard to ensure the viability of the site. Thank you!
Hollyhocks100 wrote on March 17, 2015, 8:56 AM
Thanks for that. I don´t think I have any followers now from Spain at all, so I shouldn´t notice a difference then.
maxeen wrote on March 17, 2015, 9:35 AM
Thank you for making things clear and less intransigent. ' It's not what you say,but the way that you say it ' eh! was that a song...?
nitsbubb wrote on March 17, 2015, 9:36 AM
Thank you for this to the point communication. Hope things get better for India and Philippines in future!
1Feisty56 wrote on March 17, 2015, 10:28 AM
I appreciate this explanation and your continuing diligence to keep Persona Paper a growing site. The amount of time and effort that both you and Heather must continuously do in the background is likely not understood by many of us, but appreciated nevertheless.
alexdg1 wrote on March 17, 2015, 10:37 AM
Short and sweet, but honest.
I prefer brevity, honesty, and openness to rambling, self-serving bromides from less-than-honest "entrepreneurs."
Thanks for keeping us posted.
lookatdesktop wrote on March 17, 2015, 10:45 AM
Thank you for keeping me updated. I will start writing more articles after breakfast and hopefully do my part.
luisga814 wrote on March 17, 2015, 11:05 AM
Thanks for keeping us updated and we are looking for a more positive results soon.
erikalui wrote on March 17, 2015, 11:18 AM
Are the rate of coins going to be affected as well in future? The rate is 0.0015 as of now and we earn 2 coins per view. So will this rate be affected?
msiduri wrote on March 17, 2015, 11:56 AM
Short and sweet, but to the point. That is what matter. Thank you.
crowntower wrote on March 17, 2015, 12:27 PM
I hope the whole Persona Paper also will come to a solution where the Philippines and India's blogger can help so that this site will be open again in our country. Two of my friends is asking for a site where they can writ, but since this happened, I can't give them anything... because there is no credible site aside from PPErs rigth now and hubpages... but we know it is hard to earn from hubpages if you don't know how to write there. Hope MaeLou , elitecodex and the whole Ppers will come to a solution or will find a way.
nbaquero wrote on March 17, 2015, 12:32 PM
elitecodex Thanks, this message provides a clear explanation of the changes and the reasons that prompted those changes. It is good to see open and honest communication even in situations like this.
MaeLou wrote on March 17, 2015, 12:35 PM
As of right now, we're not changing the rate or how many coins you receive per view. The exchange rate can go up and down depending on the ad revenue being brought in however, but as of right now, there are no plans to adjust that.
MaeLou wrote on March 17, 2015, 12:37 PM
As of right now, unless the advertisers start paying for those countries, we don't have any option left. We'll continue to look for one in the mean time though.
1WordChazer wrote on March 17, 2015, 5:55 PM
There are other sites which seem to pay ONLY members from India and Philippines, crowntower . I'm sure your friends will find them in due course. Why not encourage your friends to search for these on any reputable search engine?
WordChazer wrote on March 17, 2015, 5:56 PM
Happy so see you well enough to post again elitecodex . Have missed you around the place, although MaeLou has done a wonderful job in your absence in keeping us updated.
BodieMor wrote on March 17, 2015, 6:27 PM
Appreciate your comprehensive explanation. Thank you...
inertia4 wrote on March 17, 2015, 8:13 PM
elitecodex Thanks for the update. It is greatly appreciated. This seems to be the census all over the internet with sites like this. It seems certain countries just do not generate enough ad revenue. So the moves you are making make total sense.
Colibry21 wrote on March 17, 2015, 9:13 PM
Thank you for sharing this update. It's good to know.
MelissaE wrote on March 17, 2015, 9:21 PM
I don't think that I have a following from anywhere. Ha, ha!
Paulie wrote on March 18, 2015, 1:07 AM
Thank you very much for the updates. I can only hope that the country where I reside now, Thailand, is not blacklisted for new members.
Dawnwriter wrote on March 18, 2015, 2:36 AM
SLGarcia wrote on March 18, 2015, 10:16 AM
Completely understandable. Thank you for continuing to provide updates.
FreyaYuki wrote on March 18, 2015, 11:16 AM
alexdg1 and dawnwriter - LOL. I saw that post too.
I agree that I prefer the honesty and the straight-to-the-point approach without beating around the bush or using flowery words that make the post longer than necessary.
LadyDuck wrote on March 18, 2015, 12:44 PM
I live in Switzerland and it is among good ads paying country. I hope I can continue to work on this site.
McIntire wrote on March 18, 2015, 1:29 PM
This makes sense so it's understandable why you're taking this step. Other writing/blogging sites have made this same decision.
alexdg1 wrote on March 18, 2015, 2:13 PM
I don't mind long posts, as long as they're well-written.
1What I do mind are Mr. Dixit's rambling, self-serving posts that offer empty promises about exciting new changes and all that rot.
FernandoSHA wrote on March 18, 2015, 4:34 PM
You say that you will allow us (current members from India and the Philippines) to contribute coins, can we earn coins for ourselves too? Sorry if I did not fully get you well.
BarbRad wrote on March 18, 2015, 6:53 PM
As always, I appreciate your willingness to keep us all in the loop so we never have to guess what's happening.
MaeLou wrote on March 18, 2015, 7:29 PM
If you mean when you comment, yes, you will still earn a coin for a comment more than 30 characters. When you visit a member, they will still get the 2 coins from your views (provided ad blocker isn't enabled of course)
FernandoSHA wrote on March 18, 2015, 8:12 PM
Thanks for this clarification, Ms. Heather ( MaeLou )
elitecodex wrote on March 18, 2015, 9:40 PM
Absolutely - all current members won't be affected by this change. Sometimes it is just numbers, and if we can increase the numbers for other countries they will follow suit.
manni wrote on March 19, 2015, 3:22 AM
Do we earn from external views also?
FreyaYuki wrote on March 19, 2015, 6:55 AM
Yeah, long posts are okay as long as there's a point to it and it's interesting on top of being well-written.
alexdg1 wrote on March 19, 2015, 10:56 AM
Oh, geez. If Mr. Dixit truly believes he's a good writer, then I have the deed to a certain New York landmark I can sell him for a song.
alexdg1 wrote on March 19, 2015, 11:01 AM
As a reader, word count is not a huge issue if the writing is engrossing and well-done. Some of Stephen King's best novels are over 700 pages long and they're so good that you don't say, "Wow, that was a long book!"
I've come across modestly-sized books that are so badly written that I have put them aside and never bothered to finish them.
For me, it's not quantity of words that matters; it's quality.
RonElFran wrote on March 19, 2015, 4:05 PM
Thanks for taking needed action to keep the site viable, and being up-front and honest about it.
FreyaYuki wrote on March 20, 2015, 9:07 AM
Agree. Quality is definitely more important than quantity.
johnmariow wrote on March 20, 2015, 8:44 PM
I appreciate the update and hope the revenue problems are resolved soon.
CoralLevang wrote on March 21, 2015, 12:44 PM
As always, thank you for your commitment to keeping this a viable site.
motrojam wrote on March 21, 2015, 8:25 PM
I am glad to have joined the site before this happened but sad that I cannot invite friends to join anymore.
1Alexandoy wrote on March 21, 2015, 11:36 PM
Is it still wise to post articles here? Can we in the Philippines still earn from this site? It said that's the FIRST STEP - banning new members from Phil and India. The SECOND step might be another bursting bubble.
Alexandoy wrote on March 22, 2015, 12:16 AM
Do you mean active members from the Philippines can earn fairly and squarely regardless of the low revenue in that country?
1elitecodex wrote on March 22, 2015, 8:46 AM
Yes. All current members will not affected by these changes. However, that is the reason we are not allowing additional members from those countries. So all views from members in the Philippines for example, will still count (so long as ads are loading properly). However, non-member (or public) views will not count at all.
1elitecodex wrote on March 22, 2015, 8:47 AM
So far, only from the US, UK and Canada. We will be constantly monitoring other countries and if we find that other countries are meeting enough to maintain our exchange rate then we will include those as well. There are other countries that are close, but I feel just need more traffic to confirm.
elitecodex wrote on March 22, 2015, 8:51 AM
It is unfortunate but we feel it would be the best thing going forward. Going forward in this manner, it is more clear. Allowing additional members in that do not contribute views to others would just make things more confusing. Plus it would begin to cause a divide in the community of "my views are better than yours" which would just make for an unpleasant atmosphere.
I hope one day we can re-open the doors to everyone or find another means of allowing people to post and interact.
elitecodex wrote on March 22, 2015, 8:57 AM
We outlined this in a previous article which was removed due to issues in terminology. There were a list of three items that we were contemplating. The first step was this one, in an effort to not permit views from countries that we could confirm were not paying enough. The second step is not distributing coins for comments for those who are blocking ads and the third is to institute a coin recovery campaign in where people who are no longer active and do not wish to maintain their account, we will begin to remove coins from their account as a 'hosting fee'.
1We went into more details in a post regarding this, and will again when it the last one becomes active. We want to notify everyone in our community first and give them time to save the coins if they so desire.
elitecodex wrote on March 22, 2015, 9:00 AM
No, the only countries that we are not accepting new members from currently are India and the Philippines. We only included them because we have both sides of the equation. We have decent traffic numbers and can show we have low income from those countries.
Other countries won't be added until the traffic for those countries increases to a point where we can prove they do not pay enough. Once they do, we will make a decision then to prevent new members.
shaggin83 wrote on March 22, 2015, 1:59 PM
I am glad that these changes won't effect me. I know it will effect some on this site and I feel bad for them but I do see why you would have to make this change.
Alexandoy wrote on March 22, 2015, 6:47 PM
Thank you for the quick reply.
Alexandoy wrote on March 22, 2015, 6:50 PM
I'm really impressed with the very responsive Admin here. Pardon my being inquisitive - manifestations of my recent trauma with a writing site - trauma after trauma after trauma, waheehee. I hope the trauma stops here. Let me make my first post. Thank you.
2AsADrivenLeaf wrote on March 22, 2015, 11:49 PM
What about Australia? Thank you.
celticeagle wrote on March 23, 2015, 10:45 PM
Thank you for keeping us in the know about what going on. I appreciate your brevity and honesty as well.
Koalemos wrote on March 29, 2015, 4:23 AM
This is a situation that many sites have encountered, which as you say is beyond your control.
1It is good to see a honest and open post about it.
keishafaye100 wrote on April 2, 2015, 12:10 AM
wow thank your for posting this article! i am so glad that i clicked on this.. or else i would have been completely confused later.
momathome wrote on April 4, 2015, 8:18 PM
elitecodex MaeLou I admit to having used ad blocker on here but I started doing it shortly before I took my last hiatus because I was having problems with pop ups and forced downloads from ads on here. I have no problem with disabling the ad blocker while on Persona Paper, provided those issues have been dealt with?
trufflehunter wrote on April 5, 2015, 6:07 AM
Thanks for the important update. I sincerely hope that revenue improves for Persona Paper then organic views from all over can be taken into account.
elitecodex wrote on April 5, 2015, 9:01 AM
I have not received any complaints recently about such things, but we can't say for sure as the ads served are outside of our control. The ad networks make that decision, and while they do try to keep it clean they are not perfect.
momathome wrote on April 5, 2015, 10:25 AM
elitecodex I'll disable it again for Persona Paper but I will have to reable it if I start getting those forced downloads -- the last time I had to reboot and restore my computer in order to get one of the downloads off my computer.
olare wrote on May 6, 2015, 3:19 AM
Such a nice read. Keep posting buddie!
Anja wrote on May 17, 2015, 9:18 PM
Does inactive mean a lack of activity or not having logged in?
FreedomWriter wrote on June 7, 2015, 6:07 AM
Hey, I am from the Philippines, I created my account before this post (or changes here at persona paper). I am currently trying to gain coins, if I do, can I still release a pay-out when I reach the 20$ minimum pay-out? I hope I can wahehe. Looking forward for positive response. Thank You.
carmela wrote on June 13, 2015, 12:01 AM
i am from the Philippines so therefore i am no longer welcome here in this community. i dont see any reason for me to keep my account active so with a heavy heart i bid Persona Paper goodbye and i wish you all the luck in this world. i hope you will be successful in generating all the funds to keep all your members happy! thank you Persona Paper for the warm welcome and for the sweet memories i will hold dear forever in my heart. byeybye :(
saxguy wrote on June 13, 2015, 9:19 AM
seems to me that the rules are increasing and the VERY meager pay is decreasing.
irenen1 wrote on June 13, 2015, 11:15 AM
That is too bad but explains the problem these sites have with payouts. India tends to account for a high piece of the pie when it comes to activity and views. However, the U.S., Canada and UK have the highest rate of contributing to revenue generated by the advertisers.
jetskie wrote on June 13, 2015, 10:28 PM
waah this will be a bad news for my fellow filipino who wants to join the site..
Alexfields341 wrote on June 15, 2015, 7:08 AM
Thanks for telling us what all will be happening. I'm sure we all appreciate it :).
acelawrites wrote on June 18, 2015, 5:15 AM
Just read the announcement. Sorry for being absent from the site for so long. But I felt sad for this, but anyway, we know you are doing this for the good of the site. Thanks for the info.
debolinac wrote on June 25, 2015, 8:25 AM
So, I being from India, cannot contribute to this site ?
brown-paw wrote on June 27, 2015, 3:09 PM
Well, I decided to delete my account. Kindly tell me how to delete it, please? Thanks.
EmilysPen wrote on July 3, 2015, 12:28 AM
Thanks for the update.
elitecodex wrote on July 3, 2015, 5:05 PM
No, you are still contributing to the site and we welcome all the content you wish to share. But we had to put a limit on the number of coins handed out for views coming from India. Regretfully the views are not generating enough income to sustain the exchange rate we have set.
RapidBlue wrote on July 8, 2015, 10:01 AM
Do I get paid for commenting my self or for receiving comments from other writers?
EmilysPen wrote on August 13, 2015, 9:53 PM
Thanks for the info
LoudMan wrote on August 23, 2015, 3:49 PM
Man! I'm REALLY LATE to this party. How are elitecodex and MaeLou doing lately?
Saramarie wrote on September 2, 2015, 11:15 PM
Thank you for letting us all know. I appreciate that. Hopefully you will allow those countries in the future.
ellyse2003 wrote on September 3, 2015, 6:40 PM
How is this conversation going? No new updates yet? I hope to see a progress soon.