Put your head back in the ground and shut your mouth (mouthshut.com)

Member Name: dave27

Product:	mouthshut.com
Date:	28/08/01 (76 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Well laid out, Good program

Disadvantages: Uncertainty of value or payout

As far as Internet money making schemes go, I must have tried just about every one of the full range of programs, whether it be website banner ads, paid e-mail, viewbars, pyramid schemes and all the rest, but without doubt I've found that the best, most reliable and most lucrative to be the opinion sites, primarily Ciao and Dooyoo.

You can imagine my intense interest, then, when some months ago, in common with a lot of other Ciao contributors, I received an e-mail from an enthusiastic young chappie known only as Jimmy.

Jimmy was gleefully trying to drum up trade (and referrals) for a program called Mouthshut (www.mouthshut.com), an Indian website which mimicked the basic principles of Ciao and Dooyoo in that it paid you to write reviews of consumer items.

Jimmy's mass e-mail marketing campaign came over very much as a scam and spam, so at the time I took little notice at all of it, dismissing it as one of a hundred get rich quick schemes, and we all know how good they normally are.

Then about a month ago, I saw an op about Mouthshut on either Ciao or Dooyoo (I forget which exactly) and it revived my interest, so I thought I'd spend a bit of time checking things out.

I signed up and spent a while exploring the site, and have to say that I was quite impressed.

The site was pretty well designed and laid out with good accessibility and easy navigation. It looks good and operates quite efficiently, although moving between pages sometimes takes a touch longer than it should.

The basic principle of the site is the same as other opinion sites in that you get paid for your contributions, but there some differences in the detail.

The site's currency is something called MS (Mouthshut) points, and you earn ten in your account just for registering. You get 5 MS points for each opinion you write and 2 every time one of your opinions gets read. The difference with Mouthshut, however, is that
you get another MS point when you rate opinions by other writers, and neither Ciao nor Dooyoo do that. You also get 10 points every time you get anyone to sign up on your referral and then you earn 5% commission on their earnings, which is pretty good.

Downsides on the earnings front are that you cannot cash in any balance on your account until six months after you join and you have to have at least 600 in your account. It's also not clear what the value of each MS point is, but after three weeks the balance in my account was over 500, so they're quite simple to earn. The 6 month qualifying period also gives some reassurance that this program isn't going to be swamped by churners, who are generally in it to turn a quick buck, but I'd much prefer it if I knew what the value of the points is. As I'm also yet to be convinced that Mouthshut actually pay out, I'm going to keep a wary eye on things and not put much effort in until I've had a payout if that ever happens, but you earns your points, and you takes your chances, I guess.

In one respect, however, Mouthshut can teach both Dooyoo and Ciao a thing or two and that's in the area of circle of trust.

Mouthshut shows those other writers who trust you and whom you trust, but the difference is that you can DISTRUST people as well, and others can distrust you. Now that might also cut down some of the abuse you get on other op sites, although I can just imagine some of the battles that might go on if either Dooyoo or Ciao tried such a development, because there's enough rivalry and bad feeling on both sites, and this would just invite disputes.

Just a word on the rating front - the categories of rating are Highly Recommended, Recommended, Somewhat Recommended and Not Recommended - how can anything be Somewhat Recommended?

The site's home page shows the five most recent opinions and there's a one click link to the 30 next most rec
ent, but from looking at how quickly they move, there are fewer opinions being written on the site.

As far as subject matter goes, Mouthshut is much the same as either of the other two main sites, although it is mainly populated by Indian contributors and so many of the subjects are Indian in origin, but there's plenty to interest writers from the West, although the sport section is almost exclusively based on cricket.

There are many good writers on the site, and plenty of acquaintances from both Ciao and Dooyoo, but I have to say that the general quality of writing isn't of as high a standard as either of the other two. You get a lot of duff writing, although I've not come across any churners or abuse so far. I intend to stick with things and make the odd contribution, although as I've already said, I'll wait until I've had a payout before I take things too seriously.

If you're a keen writer, there's nothing to be lost apart from time by checking the site out, but it would be nice to know that they're going to come up with the goods. There's a nice community feel to the site and a lot of friendly writers around, including Wulise and Ashford from Ciao.

Summary: