Back in 2006 when the idea of getting paid to post to one's own blog was first becoming widespread I decided to give it a try in hopes of earning a living.

Of the five or six companies that I signed-up to write paid reviews for two of them, PayPerPost.com and ReviewMe.com seemed the most promising even though the concept both pitched wasn't quite what they pitched. You see, a review reflects having actually tried a product or service but both of these companies (like all the others) expected you to write reviews based on your perception of a product or service based on the customer's website and nothing more.

In the beginning the pay was good with lots of high paying offers from PayPerPost.com and ReviewMe.com offering me $100.oo (or was it $200.oo?) per review. I wasn't 100% comfortable with the idea but as I was able to pick and choose what products and services I wanted to write about I gave it a shot. But after less than 6 months I found myself sick to my stomach even thinking about doing paid reviews.

It wasn't that the price had gone down (even though it had) but the fact that the advertisers continued to get closer and closer to the bottom of the barrel that caused me concern. I was no longer being asked to participate in product branding (the only noble form of advertising) but was relegated to being a pitch man for products and services that I simply could not trust. And while both companies imply that all reviews are to be honest and forthright they have both developed systems that allow advertisers to rate the bloggers who pitch their products so there's little doubt a negative review will result in fewer offers at lower rates of pay.

I haven't written a paid review in almost one and one half years but I retained my logins and still get updates from ReviewMe.com and PayPerPost.com. Why just tonight I got an e-mail from ReviewMe to write a "review" of a coupon site for the grand total of five whole dollars. That's right, what once guaranteed $100.oo now pays only $5.oo.

So why do I still keep my PPP and ReviewMe accounts active? Because that's where I search for new Web 2.0 websites I love to trash and expose for the scum they are.

On another note: I'm not sure of the exact time and date but in roughly 2 weeks my Canadian and possibly Filipino readers will be able to catch me on Discovery Channel Canada. As soon as I know exact dates and times I'll be sure to pass then along.