Every operating system, and they do pay in the UK now! (Update) (clickdough.com)

Member Name: stmatth

Product:	clickdough.com
Date:	24/08/00 (69 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: no downloads, all operating systems

Disadvantages: none

Originally this opinion was titled "don't pay outside the US yet". This has changed now, so here is a complete update on Clickdough. I left the original opinion at the end.

Clickdough is a paid-to-surf scheme in which you get paid for having a viewbar with adverts on your screen. There are many different paid-to-surf companies, but most require you to download a special programme in which the adverts appear. Clickdough is different, it uses you normal browser and opens a small browser window. This has a huge advantage: You can use it not only on your own PC, but also at work, university or school where you don't have permission to install you own software. Furthermore, it can be used on any computer with an internet connection, not only PCs, but also MACs and UNIX - particularly important if you are a (science) student!

Every 10-20 minutes, the Clickdough window displays a selection of numbers, and you have to click on one so that they can check that you are still there. The time from your last click is only credited if you click the correct number, and sometimes I did loose some of my time when I was concentrating on my work and didn't notice it. But in general, the clickdough window is not too intrusive, if you set it to "no popup" but keep it on an empty bit of your screen (easy when you are working with a huge UNIX workstation monito, a bit more difficult on a PC).

The adverts are reasonably interesting and diverse, and interesting enough that I actually clicked on some and spent a while on the website. A lot is geared towards the US though, but it does not look as if they are running out of advertisers soon.

The rates are not enormous, they are now at $0.12 per hour of surfing (for August), whereas other companies promise up to one pound. However, most other companies require that you are actively surfing or that you move your mouse around, whereas Clickdough can be used whatever you do. I f
ound that other programmes effectively only log a small percentage of the time I actually use them. Secondly, there is no limit on the hours that you can use Clickdough, whereas other programmes set very low time limits.

I have been a member for 3 weeks now, and because I have the clickdough window open whenever I work on the computer, I have collected some 45 hours surfing time for the last week of August (and already 70 hours for September). Today they calculated the balance, and my account was credited with almost 5.60 pounds, i.e. approx $0.12 per hour.

So, if you are permanently connected to the internet and can get 100 hours per months while you are working, you might well earn a considerable amount - even without any referrals (I don't have any referrals, but if you do want to sign up, why not give my referral id, which is stmatth).

Last but not least one should also consider that they work on the principle that the actual advertising revenue is distributed, rather than promising a fixed amount. This means that rates go up and down (mostly down because there are too many schemes and too few advertisers), but it also means that they don't promise more than they can deliver. They will probably be still around when some of the cowboy schemes have long gone bust. And what use is it to collect $50 in a few weaks in a cowboy scheme which goes bust before they pay?

Although the amounts are calculated in Dollars, they now have a deal with Thomas Cook to provide payments in Pounds from october onwards.

I total, given that the rate is not enormous, I would mostly recommend it to people who can have the window open during work and get many hours, or for those who can wait a long time before they get a cheque. Remember, if you do want to sing up, you may want to consider giving them my referral id (stmatth).


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Here is my original review (24.8.00)

In general, I hesitate to write a rev
iew about a product which I have only used for a few hours.
However, I feel that it might be useful to point out one aspect of clickdough.com that may not be obvious, and that seems not to have been mentioned in previous reviews here.

"Currently, only residents of the United States can request payments." It seems that you can find this statement only after you signed up (at the signup, they DO give the option of choosing UK as country!), in the section "Request payment", which is probably a section where you would only go after having been in the scheme for quite a while.

However, they do explain that they are about to sign a deal that would payments in local currencies outside the US possible. Now, I do not want to speculate on how likely this is going to happen, nor in how near a future. Furthermore, as a very new user I cannot comment on how reliable they are and how they are going to change the rates in future etc. (although it seems to be common in this dooyoo section to speculate a lot about these things ....).

I will continue to use clickdough for the moment, because it is the only scheme known to me that runs in a normal browser window and doesn't need downloads. This is particularly relevant for users who either don't have the permission to install new software on their comapny computers, or work on networks at different machines, or work on UNIX networks where Windows-based adbars are useless. For me, in an academic setting, all three reasons are relevant. As it doesn't cost anything, I might as well collect some points for a while and hope that they do pay in local currencies some time.

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Summary: