I enjoy using Dooyoo and log on fairly frequently to read, rate and write reviews. I also check the site as a consumer for reviews on products that I wish to buy.

I don’t really have too many complaints about the way things work, usual stuff like revenge ratings which I find very childish and therefore ignore, and pointless reviews – you know what I mean, just rubbish to gain miles (I always report those..although I have noticed that those are mostly written in the evening when there is presumably no monitoring on the site)- I don’t see myself as some kind of secret dooyoo spy, I just get annoyed that I have spent time reading nonsense when I could have been reading and rating good reviews. If I get a crown for a review, great, if I don’t, then I am not going to get upset about it. I have never gotten involved in the politics of guides, awards, crowns etc. so I can’t comment on fairness of crowns, guides, guides’ comments or any of the internal workings of Dooyoo. I log onto the site and read, rate and occasionally write a review.

I don’t think I can honestly say that I do it for the money, otherwise I would write more frequently, but I do enjoy watching those little miles mount up as the reads increase. In my case, that means I get to order things from Amazon that I can’t get here in Spain and since Amazon won’t accept my Spanish credit card, I can use my vouchers…kids get their computer games and I buy lots of books, get the sent to a relative’s UK address and brought over on the next visit. So while the amount per read is fairly small, it can mount up and I use my vouchers to order gifts for Christmas, so it is certainly worthwhile doing.

However, over the last few days, I have lost almost 600miles from my account. I only noticed it because I was keeping a close eye on the total as I have things that I want to buy from Amazon and I noticed that it had gone down. Initially I thought that I had gotten it wrong, but sure enough, I signed on later that day and it had gone down again. I emailed Dooyoo and received a very prompt reply explaining the reason why my number of miles had reduced. Apparently when Dooyoo find “clicking cartels” , time-wasters, multiple account holders or other nefarious operators, they either freeze or delete their accounts. This means that all the readings/ratings that they have given, disappear with their account. (Obviously they have read/rated in the first place, hoping that they would receive a return read/rate on their review- something that up until now, I have been quite diligent about doing, feeling that if someone was good enough to read and rate my review, they deserved a reading/rating in return). Now, while I totally understand the logic in the procedure of deleting all the readings/ratings of abusers, especially since they could have several accounts and are racking up reads on their own accounts, and I do appreciate the fact that the site is so well monitored that this sort of behaviour is noticed and dealt with, I feel a bit cheated. Ok, the value is peanuts (60p) after all, but then I don’t write very many reviews….I would feel a lot more cheated if I wrote more reviews (because more of these reads/ratings would disappear) and it may seem a bit pathetic to write a whole review about 60p, but it is the principle that annoys me.

1. - I have (unknowingly) spent a lot of time reading reviews of time wasters (many of which were probably copied from other sites – after all, why would they bother to write anything if their only aim was to gain miles) and that is a great deal of time wasted and miles that could have gone to genuine writers.
2. – Time-wasters have cluttered up the site with reviews in order to gain miles and have probably cashed in their vouchers before they got caught.
3. – They obviously clicked their way through loads of reviews in order to gain return reads, thereby gaining miles unfairly.

4. - I am now suffering by having miles deducted from my account ( yes I know it is only 60p worth of miles, but that is not the point)

Now, it could be argued that had it not been for these people reading/rating, I would never have had those 600 miles in the first place, but, had they not cluttered up the site with reviews, then other genuine readers may have read the reviews…after all, how many of us read every review that is written, I wish I could, but I honestly don’t have the time, so obviously I miss a lot…but if the site did not have the reviews of spurious writers, then I would get the chance to read the reviews of genuine writers…after all, we can only read so many every time we log on.

I don’t know the answer to this because if I only read and rate the writers that I know, then aren’t I, and any others who choose to do the same, guilty of a kind of clicking cartel of our own. That kind of practice is also unfair to new, genuine writers, or those who only write occasionally, because they will never get read.

If I choose to reciprocate reads on my own reviews, then I am possibly handing over miles to some unscrupulous “writer” who will cash in the miles and run, probably before they are caught….then, when and if they are caught, I lose any miles that they have given me with their reads. They win, I lose.

I do realise that if these dishonest people have cheated Dooyoo and have been paid while doing so, then that money (miles) has to be recovered from somewhere, hence the missing miles….but it does grate a bit to think that I have not only helped cheats to gain but have also lost in the process.

Basically what it comes down to is that I have practically written a review for no reward whatsoever…and while the amount of miles/money is not the main issue here, the fact that the balance is going down instead of up, is not making me feel any better.

In all fairness, Dooyoo did explain this very well and promptly and also explained that if they find that the “accused” were not guilty, then the miles would be returned. I suppose I just have to wait for the verdict on that one.

In the meantime, I will continue to read and rate as well as writing the occasional review. I may be a bit more particular in what and whom I read and I will certainly be more vigilant and report anyone whom I think is abusing the system. I will not ignore new writers though, even although it could prove to be a mistake.

Apologies for what now looks like a rant (and all over a paltry 60p) but it might make others aware of where their miles are disappearing to and why.

Ohh, strangely enough, I have just had a look at my miles balance and it has reduced yet again....arghhh