It was in March of 2007 that myself and several partners founded MuseCrafters.com, an open source Pligg based poetry aggregator and social bookmarking site. It would only take weeks before I would find myself completely disillusioned with the Pligg and all its applications. Tonight I discovered Litmarks-- social bookmarking site for poetry and literature links.

Neither site compared to Bud Parr's MetaxuCafe’ Litblog Network or the Poets101.com poetry aggregator built by Roch Smith Jr of We101.com fame and managed by your's truly.

Pligg based sites are nothing more than spam bait. They require almost constant attention and as soon as the spammers learn of its existence they'll swamp the site in spam completely unrelated to poetry and literature. The open nature of a Pligg based site makes it an easy target and the fact that it's open source makes it even easier to high jack by spammers who sign up to become members.

I wish the owners of Litmarks the best of luck but think they'd have done better with a spam proof application like Blogsboro Poetry Club. Maybe, if we're lucky, Roch will breath new life into Poets101.com using the same application he uses for We101.com.

Aggregation works good to a point but sites based on Pligg are almost always a failure. Even Digg.com and other popular social bookmarking sites are currently loosing market share as corporations pay members to boost their articles to the top while burying any indie posts that show potential. And the social aspect... Well there's nothing social about it.

Good luck, Je' Maverick, you're going to need it. I'll add you to my list of aggregators.

"The infinite monkey theorem states that a monkey hitting keys at random on a typewriter keyboard for an infinite amount of time will almost surely type or create a particular chosen text, such as the complete works of William Shakespeare."

Bullshit! And the very idea that someone would build a business upon the efforts of one million people by insinuating we are nothing more than monkeys with keyboards is bullshit and nothing more. If that were true the publishing industry would be jumping at the chance to buy zoos full of monkeys so that they could fire all their writers and journalists. And I hope there's a publisher out there who is dumb enough to buy a zoo and prove me right.

1000000monkeys.com is nothing more than Web 2.0 Internet Sharecropping that preys on the hopes and dreams of creative people and like the rest of Web 2.0 I'll be happy to see it die.

"An evolutionary writing site. Only the strongest stories survive."

Again, more bullshit. For starters: they don't understand the difference between hypothesis and theory. Early adopters will rise to the top of their caste system (Yes, they really do call them castes) and control what moves to the top based on their own personal agendas just as Digg and other "social networking" websites have already done and the legions of lower caste "members" will be powerless to stop them and will never be paid for their creative works.

In other words, 1,000,000 Monkeys is simply a waste of creative time and energy.

For a creative writer on the Internet today there is only one way to become successful and that is to join with others just as Team Blogsboro has done in founding the Blogsboro Network. Today we are 4, soon we will be 5 and someday we hope to be hundreds of equal peers who go on to live the Blogsboro Dream, but we are not now and never will be monkeys on keyboards.

One Million monkeys typing...why that's almost as crazy as a Yellow Dog running for President.

Update: After getting a comment from Ilya Kreymerman, the founder of 1,000,000Monkeys.com I did a Whois search to confirm he is the owner and show'nuff he's the owner all right. So I did a bit of searching and discovered that Ilya Kreymerman is one of the owners of Adagio Teas which has a colorful history on the Internet with stories like Linkylove or blog fuckwittery? and this. And this isn't the only customer who's ranting about their products.

Anyway, you decide for yourself, my opinion doesn't count for much anyway.

I think I figured out a way to kill Web 2.0 once and for all.

Tina and I had a conversation today. For the longest time I've had this crazy idea that Web 3.0 should pay not only those who create content but those who consume that content. You know, those who read and view the content. I mean, if you're forced to see advertising seems like you ought to get something for it, right?

See, I told you it was a crazy idea but as it turns out there just might be a way to pay at least part of those people who read the Blogsboro Network sites.

No, it won't be a fortune. Fact is: In the beginning it will be a pittance but if we can work out all the ifs, ands and buts there just might be a way. Now that I've taken on partners I'll have to get their approval so for the time being let's just say I'm thinking out loud.

Not every reader will get paid. The persons who stop in one time and never return won't get paid but if this works many of you will eventually earn income from the Blogsboro Network. And the best part is: that will allow us to take on more partners and pay those partners to create more content you can get paid to read. You know, the Blogsboro Dream.

Yeah, I know there's some holes in this plan and I can't really tell you all about how we're going to make it work (not yet, anyway) but I think it can be done which means Blogsboro.com will lead the way to Web 3.0 and the death of Web 2.0 sharecropping.

Stay tuned as it might start happening soon.

I know a lot of people go online in an effort to trace, document and establish their ancestry and genealogy is important but any time I see something used as a Web 2.0 sharecropping scheme I find myself troubled that so very few manage to reap huge profits from the free labor of millions of people from around the world.

Ancestry.com and its parent company, The Generations Network, are headquartered in Provo, Utah and have been cited by the Bad Business Bureau for selling perpetual subscriptions that only end when they are cancelled that continue to amass charges against people even after they die. In 2003, The Generations Network and its venture capitolists, Intel, CMGI, AOL, Kodak, Compaq, Sorenson, Esnet, Vspring and Tango Partners took in $99,000,000.oo (99 million US Dollars) and are thought to be growing at about 33% annually.

A Google search provided more interesting claims against Ancestry.com including the use of "bait and switch".

But wait, that's not all.

Ancestry.com has a service that allows their users to research family histories, add content such as photos, private family records and more to produce a personal book for you to share with your family but did you realize the very same books you work to put together are being marketed to the world via Amazon.com and NONE of the royalties are returned to those of you who do the work.

Yes, my friends, this is Web 2.0 at its very finest and another reason I will celebrate the bursting of the Web 2.0 bubble along with the ushering in of Web 3.0 when people get paid for their work.

Eric pointed me to FreeRice.com, an online learning game that teaches English vocabulary (something I could no doubt use) and I thought, Hey, if we could get parents and teachers to send students there to play their learning games then we'd have better educated kids and less hunger in the world.

As Eric pointed out, FreeRice.com is in some ways an advertising machine but that doesn't change the fact that it could help some people become more literate.

But alas there is a problem with my idea.

You see, for most Internet users there is no way to keep your children playing FreeRice.com. The minute you turn your back the kids type in Disney.com, say, ImABabyGangBanger.com or whatever their favorite gaming site is and zip on off at 56K to play something that might be less of a learning tool and more of a toy or worse. I mean, hey, you're reading BloggingPoet.com and you're supposed to be at work, right?

So that got me to thinking, Isn't there someone out there who can build an Internet application that allows parents and teachers to control which sites children use? I'm not talking about filters, I'm talking about an application (a browser plugin perhaps) that allows adults to pre-screen which sites children are using before the children go online. Not a filter but a blocker that blocks any site you've yet to approve. That way, if you don't feel like ImABabyGangBanger.com is the sort of site you want your kids using then you have the option of turning off access to that site through a login process that requires your passcode before your kids can surf over to any site you've yet to approve.

That way, when your little Johnny comes home and says, "Mom, all the kids at school are playing, IShotTheBitchDead.com, can I play too?" you will have the final say even before little Johnny learns how to load his gun.

And if such a thing is already available I'd like to know more.

Long time readers know I've been ranting about Web 2.0 sharecropping and ditching social networking sites for months and living for the day when Web 2.0 finally keels over and web 3.0 begins.

I can't say for certain but I just came across a new social networking site called Yuwie.com who claims to pay their members for social networking. So I'm giving Yuwie a go to see if it works.

Sign-up was easy but there are a bunch of free offers they want you to sign-up for but I was able to skip through all of the free offers and sign myself up without spending a dime or giving anyone my credit card number.

Like I said, I don't know anything about Yuwie but you have my promise that if I feel I'm being scammed or spammed then I will let you know ASAP.

If you sign up for a ClixSense account through my referral link I get paid. I know this is true because I got a check in the mail from ClixSense just the other day. As a matter of fact I get a check most every month.

So what is ClixSense? Think of it as sort of like getting paid for online window shopping. ClixSense pays you to click on the ads. It's not a lot of money but if you're into window shopping then ClixSense should be right up your alley.

You know, considering all the advertising in the world today isn't it about time someone started paying us to look at their ads?

Does anyone remember Themestream.com? A victim of poor management and the Dot Com Bust,Themestream went belly-up in 2001 owing millions of dollars to writers who never got their last pay checks. As one of those writers I wasn't at all surprised. The fact is: Themestream paid far too much to myself and many more writers to ever stay in business.

Since that time I've seen company after company go belly-up though I sometimes wonder if some of them were simply cashing-in without paying out.

That said, I've noticed a recent resurgence in the number of companies who allow anyone to write for them and while pay scales vary widely they all follow the same Web 2.0 business model: Put up a website, get lots of "writers" to sign-on and stick some Google Adsense scripts all over the pages.

That, my friends, is Web 2,0 Sharecropping. It's also a form of business that simply won't stand up to IRS (Internal Revenue Service) and Federal Wage & Hour regulations.

You see, what these companies are doing is a dodge that has been attempted by trucking companies and construction contractors for many years now. Like the truck and con companies, these Web 2..0 cons will make the claim that as writers you are freelancers and contractors and therefore not employees who are protected by federal regulations but Federal law requires that contractors, even subcontractors, make a minimum investment in equipment, materials and infrastructure that is far more than the cost of your desk top PC.

And the saddest part is: when the Feds finally decide to crack-down on this sort of business it will be the writers they go after first. In my many years in trucking and construction I saw this same scenario play out many times and in every instance it was those at the bottom who paid for the crimes committed by those at the top.

So how does one avoid getting trapped in this Web 2.0 sharecropping scam?

Start by getting your own blog but not a free blog. Instead, go for your own hosting or use a managed hosting service like Squarespace. Squarespace powers this website. Experience has taught me you get what you pay for and those of you who are using free services have no idea what you're missing. Squarespace isn't just a blog, it's a managed network and built-in data base that is light years ahead of the competition.

Then you can sign-up for your own Google Adsense and/or other advertising accounts and not split your revenue with the Web 2.0 straw bosses. Adsense rates are based on keyword bids and how many of your readers click on the ads. Combining Adsense with AdBrite works well too. I've been with AdBrite for almost 5 years now. Upping your pay is a matter of getting lots of readers to your blog and writing about subjects whose keywords are hot in the current marketplace. Most subjects produce ads that pay pennies per click but some subjects produce ads that pay several dollars per click. Ads for wireless telephone services are paying pretty high of late and poetry ads rank near the bottom of the pay scale but if poetry should find a sudden dramatic increase in popularity the bid rates will adjust accordingly.

And with a little bit of luck you might someday be selling ads directly to your customers with the help of a forward thinking Web 3.0 company.

I just joined Personafile and frankly I have no idea what I'm supposed to do with it. The problem is that everything I own is so old it's not listed at Personafile. The idea is that Personafile allows you to list the products you own so that you can get automatic updates. I tried my 9 year old iMac, my 5 year old Fiji Camera and my 1978 Dodge Pick-up but none of them are listed.

And that's the newest stuff I own.

Anyway, supposedly they pay you for something or the other connected with your shopping habits and for referring others so for those of you with money to burn on the latest stuff or those who are into affiliate marketing maybe Personafile will be of some use.

While I'm not I must admit lots of people are getting into social networking sites. Now imagine getting paid for the time you spend social networking online.

That's what the creators of HashBush claim to be doing. You see, all social networking sites depend on their members to create the content that drives the advertising that drives the profits for the website but unlike other social networking sites HashBush claims they'll pay you a share of what they earn just for using their free social networking tools.

Someday I'm going to figure out a legit way to pay my readers but until then I'll keep adding companies like HashBush to my list of Web 3.0 companies that pay their members to drive the traffic that drives their profits. Will HashBush work out? I'll just have to wait and see.