update:
A job with USA Voice would not be unlike a telemarketing job. It wouldn’t be much like a journalism job, either. I’ve completed the application process for this apparently fraudulant publication (all the way up to, but not including, the contract, which I never signed).
The “interview” was a teleconference, and the “teleconference” was more like a powerpoint lecture. Feedback on the line was so awful that the question and answer portion of the teleconference was promptly cut short. I was able to ascertain quite a lot about the company and the job, so I thought I would share that knowledge for the benefit of anyone else considering this.
More information is also collected in a mediabistro conversation entitled Who is usavoice.org?
Here’s how you get paid if you work for USAVoice
You get a share of some google ad revenue if you write for them. That’s the deal.
Reporters at USAVoice will receive 40% of income generated by advertising on USAVoice. Each reporter will earn a percentage of that revenue equivalent to the percentage of total “page views†generated by his/her stories appearing on USAVoice.
They take the total # of page hits, and the total $ of revenue for a pay period, and calculate the value of one page hit. 40% of that is divided among the reportes, who are paid for each page hit generated by any of their articles. (Obviously, this means that page hits including ad hits are more valuable, whereas page hits without ad hits lessen the value of the revenue. How often do you follow internet ad links?)
You’re not paid by the hour, or paid by the word, or compensated for any of your expenses, or your time, and your “press pass” is understandably worthless — so what’s the incentive?! I suppose I could just get a google ad account and put ads on my blog. That way, at least, I’d get the entire profits.
Here’s the work you would do for USAVoice
To help generate readership, you’re required to, in their words “Create Mailing List of people you know to build traffic to your stories” essentially spamming your friends. (Kinda makes you wonder what else is going on with that mailing list…. )
The other way you’re employed to generate readership, and thus the chances of revenue, is to post your “articles” or links to them on any/all of a huge list of forums that the company has collected. (So, you spam the forums basically.)
If anyone out there reading this is involved in this application process, and would like to ask questions, the address is questions@usavoice.org
I set out to resolve a bout of ennui, and applied for a variety of writing positions. Thanks to Yahoo’s illustrious HotJobs classified service, I discovered a new newspaper that has yet to begin its publication called “USA Voice“. The paper describes itself:
USA Voice is poised to become the largest peer-to-peer news organization in the world. USA Voice is to the news industry what CNN once was, namely:
- We are independent
- We are not governed by corporate politics
- We are international
As it happens, they’re looking for an entry level reporter to write for their books section. I applied with excitement. To my amazement, the reply says that I am a strong candidate for the position. They asked me to participate in a telephone conference interview, and to be prepared with a list of questions. I wondered, “now what do I do!â€
I figured any good journalist would start with research. I dashed off a set of emails to people I respect: journalists, publishers, English professors, asking for advice for “the big dayâ€. Then, I set to work learning all I could about the company. I composed the following questions along the way.
My Questions for USA Voice
The home page for USA Voice states “The Editor in each market has total autonomy to run the stories he or she feels are relevant and newsworthy.†Reader feedback is clearly important here, and we’re also told that “Reporters are judged based on their feedback and traffic of their stories.†My question is: as reporters, would we have access to any account of that reader feedback? How are we to know the reading trends?
I understand that your newspaper will be structured in such a way that reporters will receive a percentage of the revenue if readers click on ads next to their stories. Are reporters compensated in any other way?
Please explain why the USAVoice publication has reset its launch date several times, and is this related to the incomplete state of your website, and what about the technical problems besetting the application process thusfar?
The Saint Petersburg Times recently reported suspicions of your company’s fraudulent activity, mentioning that all 1200 job ads for USA Voice have been removed from Yahoo’s job postings lists. I was also able to determine that at least one report has been filed against your company with the federal trade commission. How do you answer to these accusations?
Too Good to be True?
There’s a lot of talk on the internet about the USA Voice Newspaper, and speculation that it might be a fraudulent scam. There is not, however, any proof. So what am I to do?
I’ll feel vulnerable, cheated, embarrassed, and stupid if this turns out to be a scam. The omens are bad.
I think your questions are fantastic. I am in the situation that you once were when you wrote this blog. I am scheduled for a conference call on Monday. I was excited too- I’m still in college, with my first experience being a reporter for the student newspaper. I couldn’t believe I had a chance. Well, after researching them, I’m not too excited now. I think my one and only question will be “How do you feel about being a scam?”
The fact that you have to pose these questions is the proof itself.
No real company would act like that.
Tee Tee, I’m tempted to agree with you, but I still subscribe to this rediculous notion: “Innocent until proven guilty”. A bunch of people whining online because they can’t tell the differenece between a form letter and a spam mail do not constitute proof of guilt. Besides all that, if they are as guilty as they look, I want to hear someone choke and stammer!
Oke, you try it out then and prove me wrong.
I don’t actually think you’re wrong. I’m only trying to be fair, and admittedly a little hopeful.
That is exactly what this scam is all about, Dylan.
Preying on hopes and dreams.
At least you are asking relevant questions.
Many don’t even do that, I guess.
I’ve got a conference call scheduled with them on Wednesday, as an editor, and I’ve got a lot of the same questions. My digging into them, as no one seems to have ever heard of this site, led me to this page.
The site has changed, and there are articles posted, but it’s really hard to track anything. My thought is that this is a scam, but like you I want more proof. If this is a fraudulent company, I’m finding it hard to see what they get out of it other than contact information. Maybe that’s enough, but I have not seen an increase in spam or anything like that. How are they making money off this?
I’m going to go forward with the conference call as it’s possible that this is simply a matter of a start up company that’s having trouble getting enough people on board to launch properly. If that’s the case then I’m reluctant to work for them as that indicates a poor business plan, but I want to wait and see what they tell me before I make any decisions.
Jen — I’m wary of the part of the interview process designed to confirm your telephone number (and/or the confirmation of your telephone interview). I’ve been employed as a telemarketer before, and I know that there are “idiot lists”, numbers of people who have proven to be gullible. If this is a scam, don’t be suprised if you begin to get calls about sweepstakes and other fishy windfalls.
I did the phone in and now i have a call back on this monday. Go to this link, i think we are being had.
http://www.klaasdevriesjr.nl/k-files/talentrock/usa_voice_usavoice_org.htm
After weeks of trying to communicate with USAVoice after my initial application, I too believe this is a hoax. They sent me the same e-mail letter back from “careers@usavoice.org” that everyone describes, making it sound like you’re so great you walk on water, and asked me to sign into their website to answer more questions. This was signed by “Kyle Stone”. That was the level where they ask why you want to be a reporter and what subjects. I did so, and a few days later got a note that they had lost my 2nd level info, please sign back on. This time, I had to enable the highest level of cookies (guess what THAT means!) to get in with the “sign-on” they gave me. Then it wouldn’t let me go all the way in the process. I wrote back and about 10 days later they sent a letter saying “sorry you had problems, we are sure you would be an excellent reporter, please go here and pick a conference call time” signed by someone else..”Hugh Richards, CEO”. I got to the “select a time for the Conference call” and again couldn’t go any further. I attempted to find a phone number but there is none anywhere. I began searching the web and that’s when I found this “Interview with USA Voice” blog, and THANK YOU FOR IT!!!! In my attempts to do more freelance writing and reporting, I can’t believe I fell for this. I’m going to report it to the “www.truthorfiction” website.
Shari,
From yours and everyone’s comments, I can tell that the application process and everything about it was purely automated. Every interaction with it is the same.
According to the contract, anyway, USAVoice’s principle address is 1425 K Street Northwest Ste 350, Washington, D.C. 20005
truthorfiction.com might be a good way to determine whether this is a hoax or not, but I’ve heard that some people are even considering reporting USAVoice to government legal authorities.
The more I look into this, the more convinced I become that this is a scam of some sort.
Just out of curiosity, has anyone been asked for writing samples, portfolio, letters of recc., transcripts, etc? Personally, all I got was form letter flattery. During any interview, were you asked about what you’ve done and where? Were you questioned about the contents of your CV, and asked to discuss the contents? I have decided to not call in for the conference call/interview thing, because it sounds like a waste of minutes.
What I am considering, however, is reporting them to the NYS Attorney General.
The automated “application process” does not include anything about a resume, qualifications, etc. Comments on the mediabistro website even suggest that there is blatant disregard for journalistic integrity — questions were answered to the effect that sources did not need citation, etc.
I think a report to the Attorney General is a good idea.
Does anyone have more info. about how to report this?
I was scheduled to do the phone interview yesterday, August 14, 2006. I signed in according to their instructions and waited for 20 minutes. No one came on line so I hung up. I would not recommend pursuing this. It is either a fraud or a very poorly run startup company. If it is the later, then there is a risk doing work you will not be compensated for. They had some articles published by the same person. In my opinion, someone who may work for them who just copied a bunch of articles on related issues and placed them on the website in an attemp to make it look populated.
Just an aside here. I checked the usavoice website and it appears to be live. There are articles posted anyway. However, there are no reporter bylines and no references cited. They’re also poorly written and do not appear to have been edited at all.
The section I would have written for is still blank.
Wait a minute… On an article like this one, for example, there aren’t even any ads! If “reporters” are supposed to be paid according to ad clicks, then why no ads?!
I am still waiting for a reply to the interview questions I mentioned in this post.
“Wait a minute… On an article like this one, for example, there aren’t even any ads! If “reporters” are supposed to be paid according to ad clicks, then why no ads?!”
There’s not even any author credit given, which bothers me.
Author credit appears to be given on section front pages, but not as bylines on articles themselves, and you’re right, that’s very bothersome.
Is author credit the same thing as “posted by”? That, to me, smacks of a loophole to get out of paying reporters. The question would then be, are authors responsible for posting their own articles, or is that the editor’s job? It’s clear to me that there is not a lot of editing going on, either there are none, or they’re not very good, but still. Even an incompetent editor can still, presumably, post an article to a website.
This, actually, is making me reconsider my earlier position of not calling in to the editor’s conference call. I’m curious now about what they’d tell us. For one thing on my auto response, mention was made of health insurance, etc. and that indicates a different pay schedule if nothing else.
Also, as an FYI here is a link to the NYS Attorney General’s internet complaint department: http://www.oag.state.ny.us/internet/complaintspage.html. Seems not every state has this available yet but there are links to where folks can go for more info. My instinct is that there is going to be a question of jurisdiction here. USAvoice is not a NY based company, but I’m a state resident so this is where I’m going to start. I figure if nothing else reporting them to ANY government agency is a place to start in order to get an investigation up and running. And I’m sure USA Today would have something to say about use of their logo.
We’re either dealing with criminals or idiots, or some unholy combination.
W
This just in: USA Voice.org Plagiarizes CNN!
Criminals, scamming gullible wannabees who ask no questions.
This is the character behind it
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=defrawy+job+scam
It’s an interstate thing, also report to http://www.ic3.gov
i wonder what they were thinking, trying to scam professionals the field of journalism, when this blog is a clear indication of how seriously we all take doing a little bit of RESEARCH. Jen, I’m going to go with ‘idiots’.
Thanks for the site and info. I got the same e-mail in response to my posting my resume. They said they loved the resume and wanted me to be an editor, so I did some research first. Now I won’t waste my time going any further.
I do not see the scam here, other than getting information for a mailing list they can sell. If you did not provide your ss# or bank accounts there is no potential for harm. The information provided in the application through the Internet is basic information anyone can obtain. I do think this is someone who had an idea to start this company and they are poor managers and planners. Also, their venture is poorly funded. I would caution anyone who is hired as a reporter with this organization to have an alternate source of income. Rule of thumb, a company that can not have a relatively smooth start, there will be some complications but not that many, creates a financial risk factor to anyone who works for them. I do not think the ones who responded to the solicitations are idiots, I think we were people who saw an opportunity to do something we always wanted to do and followed the leads just to find out it was a false proposition.
Yeah, they’re idiots. Evil idiots. The thing is thought that for all of us who did the minimum amount of googling required to get to the bottom of this, there are some who just went ahead and sent in all their contact info and are now writing crappy articles for a fake news site. And who aren’t going to see a dime. But I supose that’s what separates the profssionals from the not.
I was duped as well. I am an educated individual with writing ability, and thought that volunteering my time for practice would be a good thing (whether or not I got paid by the word). An ad scam is not what I looked for. I can submit legit work to legit e-zine’s to get my practice (which I’ll do in the future).
Nothing comes cheap, easy or free. I should have known that.
Oh, and for those of you looking into a fraud complaint. This is an interesting page.
http://www.easybackgroundcheck.com/alecdefrawy.html
Keep googling all, and I appreciate all the info that I’ve gotten over the past few days about this issue! I was going to call in tonite, but have since decided to dedicate my time to something more productive. Granted I used 2 hours of leave time, but I have it available. No worries.
Take care all!!
Kari
Jose,
I think you’ve made some good points there. No serious harm will probably come to anyone who responded to the offer of “employment” with USA Voice, nor are they idiots that applied, but I think the scam lies in the deception, the switch and bait, where they promise a journalism job, and deliver… what, exactly?
The plans for revenue generation do not match the structure of the publication
Articles are unattributed, at best, or stolen, at worst
… and there is a lot of speculation and heresay that worse things are afoot.
Hell, we all responded to them at some point, that’s why we’re here now. I’ve got an MS, and was looking at the editor position as a way to earn a bit extra while I pursue my doctorate. A part time job I can do at home is just the thing I need. Personally I’m mostly annoyed because this seemed like an ideal situation. Now I’m going to have to stick with freelance a bit longer. There was a time when I thought I’d never fall for a scam, but I suppose there’s bait for everyone.
And what I suspect is that the big scam would lie in the editor position, because in the email they promise salary, insurance, 401K, etc. Things that require a social security number as well as bank info. But as I did not call them this afternoon, I only suspect this.
I’m taking this as a valuable lesson learned and passing what I’ve learned along to others.
Hello All,
I am in the same boat as the rest of you. I applied and have a conference call set up for 3pm tommorow. I am more curious now then I was originally. Also, I saw that Dylan posted an address in D.C. for USA Voice. I live about 20 minutes from D.C., so sometime in the next two days, I am going to go into the city and see what the place looks like and see if anyone is even in the office.
Steve — do tell what you discover when you go.
Man… I had my conference call just now then someone actually came on and addressed that people have been saying that it’s a scam. I was most interested in hearing what they had to say about this. Lo and behold, all she said was that this was probably done by someone who has a beef with some of their reporters and she said what did they have to gain by scamming or something like that. She sounded outraged (maybe because we were right) and by the way, that slideshow was ridiculously short.
First, thanks for the site. Yeah, I fell for it, too. I HAD a call scheduled for 3PM today. If I’m not doing anything, I think I’ll take a second to get on the phone, announce it’s a scam, and tell everybody to do their Googling.
Other than that, life goes on.
Doug
I did the conference call and are still not conivnced that it is a scam.
It probably is some type of scam – since it is too good to be true.
I am just not conivnced.
Aria
How funny–I just read my post and realized me (possibly Freudian slip) of putting the v after the i BOTH times that I typed convinced. Was I really thinking of the word–coniving!
Maybe my subconscious even knows what my conscious does not want to believe–
that it it walks like a duck…….well, you know the rest!
Aria
Aria, If you had the same interview that I did, you should know by now that the idea is that you would be making money via advertisements on the website. Do you ever actually click on any of those advertisements? Do you suppose that many people wouldn’t? How then, would you make very much money by working for them — especially since you only get a cut of an amount you must trust to be accurate. I’d rather get paid by the word, or for my time, scam or not.
I am increacingly convinced that it is a scam, and increacingly concerned for anyone who persues this.
Dylan,
What you are saying makes a lot of sense—I have been digging around to see what else I could find out about USA Voice. I think that on the conference call–they said that if someone clicks on a page that our article is on — then that is where the compensation comes in. But, regardless of that–I’d rather get paid for my writing and time.
Aria
To all who posted information and comments on their interaction with USA Voice –many thanks. I, too, (like most of you) received an email from USA Voice saying they wanted to set up a conference call blah, blah, blah, yada, yada, yada. I was going to set up my time, but my spirit kept telling me something wasn’t quite right about this. But, I was willing to listen to what they had to say. Something told me, though, to google and yahoo “USA Voice” to see if there was any information out there about the news organization. I was also wondering and curious as to what went down with the people who had their conference call last week. After reading the comments, I have decided not to go any further with this. I am way too old and bothered to fall for the okey-doke. Peace
They always say to listen to the little voice of reason. I didn’t hear mine until I got scammed to do the conference call. I am young and desperate to get out of my current job that I was hopeful. “FOOLED YOU” they must be saying now! I thought the teleconference thing was phishy! As soon as the conference leader said that it is about hits on ads and trickle down payments…then my hopes of giving my two weeks were shattered. I read about all the scams through google…who is suppose to be a partner? I hope not! Since the first email and all the fake emails after, I have gotten more solicitors from funky employment sites. In today’s society, we don’t this kind of crap. Why do these scamming companies find better things to do with their creativity and time.
Stick to Monster, Careerbuilder, Yahoo, and want ads for your job searchs!
I had the conference call today, but did not sign the agreement. Uncertainty about the legitimacy caused me concern. Someone on the conference call said she called just to warn everyone it is a scam. The hostess had addressed the issue much as I read someone recap it in a previous note, that someone had an ax to grind with the company, and a libel suit was in progress. I wondered what kind of ax could a person have to grind with a company not yet off the ground? I am disappointed to feel it is a scam. I can not see the benefit of scamming everyone out of their dreams. I do not know what they are after, but it doesn’t set right.
Did Steve find an office or otherwise in D.C. ?
After reading all of this I feel like such an idiot. Now my worry is what these people can do with the information I gave them. My name, address, phone etc.
I was just looking for something part-time while the kids are in school and this was so perfect that I was I was blinded by that I guess.
I have had one conference call, one person to person phone call and am to have the Editor training next week. What kills me is the fact that the woman I spoke to on the phone used to live close to me and we talked about things in the area and such. How can people live with themselves knowing that they are up to no good? I have phone number on my caller ID where she called from but she said she was moving offices and that her number would be changing. Its amazing what people will believe. Here I am, college educated, my husband and I own our own business and yet I still fall for stuff like this. Its a sad world we live in these days.
Thank you for the information. I was lead in to USAVoice like a sheep to slaughter. I did approve the agreement but saw nothing that would harm me financially as the agreement did not call for a cash investment—only a commitment to basic conduct rules and agreeing to provide a dedicated phone line that answers “USAVoice.
I have been very frustrated with the organization from the get go and consider my efforts to have been a complete waste of personal time and personal resources. My experience has been that from the very begging of the application process their have been fatal error’s with the web-site. After receiving the good news that you have been selected as a finalist for the position I was unable to negotiate the second half of the on-line application process successfully. Numerous attempts were made to e-mail the people named in the pre-application and subsequent e-mail notifications from the organization- all resulting in returned mail do to fatal errors with the site. The site provides no link for a web site administrator thus the error reports are useless because that is who you must contact to forward the report for solution to the problems.
The telephone conference that you experienced was much worse in my case. The conference was a complete uncoordinated failure with everyone on the line attempting to talk at once. The USAVOICE representative had to make numerous stern remarks to mute people with multiple background conversations going on, continuous intermittent beeping from late applicants being allowed to access the conference and the added problem of the representative’s connection to the slide show presentation going down forcing her to do the company pitch from memory. The conference was ultimately cut short, I learned very little, and considered it a complete waist of time. I was only allowed to break in once to ask a question for which I received an abrupt no as an answer with no hesitation to express other concern or continue any dialogue. We were given the e-mail questions@usavoice.org to ask further questions which did apparently work that one time—however I never received a response. I have in the aftermath made several attempts to use questions@usavoice.org but have failed because of problems with the site’s mail delivery. I have been unsuccessful in finding a mailing address or management phone numbers of any kind for the organization and the web-site provides only automated responses flawed by fatal web site errors.
I was listed on the site as having been hired as a freelance reporter for the organization but have not since been contacted in any way—For several days now when I log in with my access code I am told to allow one day to get access to the employee system of the site. I also applied for the position of Editor, was enthusiastically accepted as an applicant, and have now waited over a week for the guaranteed within three day response.
If this organization does tern out to be a complete scam I will be most disappointed in both the people involved as well as Google. I will be even more disappointed in myself for being such a blind sided sap. My view up until I read your experience with the organization and research was that the organization had very bad management problems, had most probably already invested more time and money in development than expected, and were putting the cart before the horse in eagerness to begin prematurely generating revenue. In retrospect, when all the facts are in, it may very well be another of the many scams that are plaguing the world wide web.
I have read this sites comments having come across it in my search for information on USA Voice. Id like to offer my experience if I may.
I have gone through the application process, asked to submit my resume, and cover letter. I initially applied to be a reporter as I feel my researching ability coupled with my writing skills, would be an asset to any news service.
I was however asked to apply for the position of Editor for my metropolitan area.
I have completed the phone conference and confirmed my attendance. The conference wait was less than 5 min. The process was not over done with unimportant detail, it cut to the chase and I appreciated that. The connection from my land line was clear, and I had no trouble understanding the person giving the presentation, nor the questioners. I would have liked to pose some of my questions but felt I had enough information to end the call and did. I have received confirmation of my training call, and have had no problems thus far with this process. I do not think this company is attempting to perpetrate a fraud. I do not think they are evil. It Is my understanding it is not the clicks on the ads. that generate revenue but clicks on submitted and published stories.
Internet business, working from home, is in my opinion the way of the future for many employers and employees. It makes sense with current trends of occupations that in reality do not require a commute and office space to be productive.
I am interested in viable information, and am making my own inquires into this company. Rest assured that I am checking all available resources for any indication that USA Voice is not on the up and up. They did not ask me for my banking information, Swiss bank accounts or SS#. They also did not ask me to stare into a spinning disk and quack like a duck. They did however go so far as to warn would be editors and reporters from spamming. They brought forward the information that some of us may have heard of some pending legal litigation from a disgruntled reporter, Who had applied and apparently was not accepted. I do think the entity\’s posting here could tone down the hysteria a tad until all information and evidence has been completed and it confirms or denies any fraud on the part of USA Voice.
Thank you
Ista
Ista,
I think you make some very good points here. Fraud has not been confirmed or denied, merely suspected. I think I said something to that effect earlier. Although I’m willing to wager the amount of your first paycheck that you won’t have one (because I wouldn’t even stand to loose much) I am, of course, hopeful that a job such as this could be real and legitimate. It was that hope that inspired me to apply for the job, in the first place. I think it is also that hope, now dashed, that has inspired so much of what you call “hysteria”. People commenting here, they only mean well, and intend to help others avoid what they perceive as undesirable.
While I agree with you that it is best to withhold final judgment until all the facts are in — plagiarism, for one thing, is undesirable, fraudulent, and proven to have been committed by USA Voice. See for yourself. You can read my post about USA Voice and plagiarism, but that post refers to an article on USA voice that has mysteriously vanished.
Instead, you could read this article on USA Voice, and then read identical passages thereof, on BBC News. You’re a journalist. Spot the plagiarism. (note that these are not Associated Press stories, and that USA Voice is not a member of the AP anyway).
If that’s not proof enough, try it yourself. Read an article, take a significant phrase — or even the headline in some cases! — and search for the exact phrase with search engine (using quotes). You might just find, as I have, twice, that the phrase exists, alongside other identical copies, in an article from a respected news source. (To be fair, do the same with an article in a different publication. With the exception of syndicated stories, the degree of similarity you encounter will be less, if any.)
By all means, if you encounter success as a reporter, or an editor, for USA Voice, show me the proof, and I’ll be happy to recant my complaint(s) against them.
kh: I got the same email and was excited. But you know if I am one of the best candidates. . . . I have no journalism background and did not take any courses. I was laid off from a college but have always been an Admin. Asst. Not sure on this one.
I still after two weeks wait the 3 day response from the editors application. I continue to wait for the “allow one day” to access the backdoor employee access after having supposedly been hired as a reporter. Absolutely no responses to my previous e-mails asking questions or addressing my concerns. Do not believe I will hold my breath for a response nor waist any more of my valuable time attempting to communicate with this obviously suspect organization. It is a shame that this conduct can continue to be allowed access to employment seeking site’s that are presumably replicable– taking advantage of honest job seeking internet users. Best wishes to all of you. Neal Lipka http://www.getstarquest.com
I agree. I have completed the process too. It is a SCAM! If anyone reads this it is a waste of time. Don’t do it.
Thank you to all that posted about USA Voice. I too “fell victim” to the call of USA Voice. I had worked in news back in college and on and off in my professional career before giving it up to become a stand-up comedian. Even though I left journalism, I’ve always kept a warm place in my heart for it, so when USA Voice came along, I jumped at the chance. It seemed like the perfect way to get back into news without sacrificing my other career.
I too got the flattering letter, but thought nothing of it because I was very extensive in giving my news background and felt that I was a good fit for the company. I signed up for and even listened to the conference call.
It was at the call that I became concerned. The 2 things that really stuck out were that a conference call that was said to last from 90 minutes to 2 hours lasted only about 10. I understand having a large question and answer period, but 80 minutes and only 10 minutes of presentation? Seemed strange.
The second and more important point came when a potential reporter asked who was behind USA Voice. A very resonable question. Who was going to be signing our checks and who were we going to work for?
The answer stunned me. The speaker told us the “company behind USA Voice wished to remain anonymous.” What?!?!?! So, you’re telling me that this “company” wants to launch the “biggest” news organization in the world, but doesn’t want to tell anybody who they are? Plus, we as employees are supposed to blindly put faith in this company that their checks and their word will be good without knowing who they are? I mean seriously, we’re Journalists for Christ’s sake. Journalists are the most skeptical and curious people out there do they think we won’t find out?
Also news like many other public forums is an ego business and if it were I who had started USA Voice I’d be talking to everybody about it.
That’s when it dawned on me the thing that was nagging at me from day 1 that I ignored: Where were the reports and articles on USA Voice? I mean a new news source claiming to be the biggest in the world, claiming to be for online news what CNN once was for cable news IS news in itself. Surely some reporter somewhere would have written or talked about how great/awful this new “news outlet” would be. So, I started my search. And so far I have found…..nothing. That’s right nothing. Not one news clipping, not one news commentary, not one headline or rant or even mention of USA Voice at all. It seems the only people taloking about USA Voice … is USA voice or web bloggers. And those web bloggers have nothing good to say. In fact many of them have done a good job of making links to the whole thing being a scam. Someone on here noted the plagerism of CNN and BBC and another site has connected USA Voice to a man who’s got a rap sheet longer than my arm (including child abuse, idenity fraud, among many others) and more aliases than Jennifer Gardner’s TV character.
In conclusion I was contacted by USA Voice and asked to submit an article and to schedule an editor interview to finalize the process. I replied back questioning USA Voice’s validity and their dealings with this lifelong criminal. I also asked once again who is running USA Voice and for proof of their validity. I told them should I not hear back or should USA Voice not be able to answer these simple questions then I would warn others aginst dealing with them… As I type, I’ve heard nothing, but who knows, if these people are criminals maybe some guy will be waiting for me at my house to give me a “talking to”
I do hope I’m wrong, because I think something like USA Voice could really by fantastic, (hell somebody here should start a real “USA Voice”) Sadly, I feel I have to agree that this is a scam and that I’m a dope for falling for it.
This is a scam – pure and simple.
Do a web search for “Alec Defrawy” to learn all you need to know.
I am not entirely saddened to see that the power of the web catches even those who should know better. The web has been loaded with cheap shills almost from the start, some better than others. It is not important what their scam is, only that it is not legitimate. Like the actress that works as a hooker until she lands that first big role, these guys started bad, and will end that way.
The larger point here is that it has worked so well. How do college educated citizens of the most advanced society heretofore fall for this? I dare suggest that we really don’t mind being scammed, if there is a percentage chance we get some reward, call it roulette of the ego. I’m sure the planners of this e-zine understand this as they perpetrated their devious deeds.
Most of those who wrote above should consider this experience a valuable one, perhaps equal to a semester at the fine univerities that failed to teach that the world can be a dastardly place.
Good luck to all, and please, don’t take any wooden nickels.
don
When I wrote my comment the last time, I thought that was all I was going to say. By after reading the comments that have come in afterwards, especially from those who work for “the fakeass USA Voice,” I feel I need to make them hip to something.
I agree that this is just one of life’s lessons. As I live, they will not be unavoidable. This surely wasn’t the first and will not be the last. It even wasn’t one of the worst.
However, I wasn’t looking for an ego boost. If that is what I wanted, I have people around me for that. I don’t need it from strangers.
Like most of those who wrote, I was looking for employment. A job. A career. It is what puts a roof over my family’s heads, clothes on my family’s asses, and food in my family’s mouths. Provisions for them is not going to fall from the sky. That for damn sure. There is nothing self-serving or egotistical about that. I wasn’t looking to turn one dollar into a million in the blink of an eye.
As for the scam, it didn’t work. That’s the whole point of this webpage. People have enough sense to question instead of accepting something at face value. My point (as I stated before) is that I don’t have time to waste on the okey-doke. I posted my resume online for employment positions, not to be used for some bull. If you want to play, go to Toy-r-Us or Chucky Cheese. I don’t have the time nor the energy. There was no personal reward in telling me you have an employment opportunity for me when you know damn well you don’t.
My “fine” university taught me book sense. My family taught me common sense. Anybody with any sense will know the different between the two.
I do.
Peace
but, please, this web site was clearly a scam from get-go. How to explain those who should be able to see this not seeing it? Perhaps I just need some help here…
Don,
this conversation wouldn\’t be possible without two conditions. The first is that the \”scam\” was convincing enough to fool people, initially at least. The second is that, of course, the evidence is out there to adequately imply the fraudulant activity. Your question, then, is how can these two things co-exist? That\’s a good question.
Anyone? What made you \”fall for it\”? Don\’t be afraid to look stupid. I think we all, at least for a second, considered the possibility that this might be the real thing — or else how could we have determined that it wasn\’t?
I \”fell for it\” becvause I was out-of-work, and I applied for absolutely everything that came down the line. On the internet, this is easy to do. (You know \”shoot everything that moves\” — and USA Voice was moving to the tune of thousands of employment ads.) Generally, an approach like that gets results out of only a small percentage of the overall attempts, thus the large number of attempts. In my haste, I got sloppy, and some critical details evaded me.
Another one of those highfallutin university lessons to be unlearned — do a lot of work at once, and let the chips fall where they may.
The reason that i “fell” for this is because I am going to be graduating college soon and have been putting up my resume online and was so tired of the whole job hunt that I was wanting to believe that what they are offering is true. I mean, I have always loved writing and probably would’ve been an english major or something related to that if I didn’t have strong opposition from my mother.. and in my culture, you do not go against your elders. Anyway, I knew something was wrong during the interview process. I only signed up my info on the site and never bothered to look at what they’ve been doing with the site because I figured they were just a new company and getting started. Then I got on the conference call and just felt like the organization seemed iffy. That was further confirmed when a woman came on the phone during Q&A and asked about the scam thing. The reply was less than satisfactory and led me to a hunt for what this business is all about. Now I know better.
…upon recieving the email, comfortably resting in my junk mail box, I read the first few lines and took the liberty upon myself to imagine what such a product would look like. The link wasn’t active so I pasted and went to what looked to be, at best, bad spam. Cluncky, thin, the kind of template you can pick up anywhere for nothing, but curiously no local stories, no people, no humanity…
So what would a legitimate usavoice.org have looked like I wonder still, and more importantly, who would read this? What the world needs now is another web-zine, like I need a hole in my head, (credit to Cracker). People signing out with “peace”, or people writing in stream of conscience, while driving nude down the Dan Ryan after a long lost wk.end would be the best we could hope for. Could we really expect people with “Excellent Writing skills
Innate ability to find the truth
Ability to be objective and leave personal biases behind” to bring in the readers, and revenues needed to make this mighty task happen? I would suggest that those who have written here have been much more interesting than what the reality of usavoice.org would have been. This is accidentalism at its best, and why I love the web so much.
Thanks to all, and I do mean that
As stated before, this was for employment reasons, the end -case closed. For all of us (including me) who clicked the link from USA Voice on, whether it came to your inbox or “rested comfortably in my junk mail box,” the fact that you looked at it or thought about it, or is still talking about it, says that you were curious as to what the deal was. Also, from the responses on this page, they were pulling all types of people from those with families, to college grads, to people looking for a second career, young, old,etc. It takes all types, even those who talk about “wooden nickels,” “fine universities,” and “people writing in stream of conscience while driving nude down the Dan Ryan after a long lost wk.end” to make anything work, even if you question the mind set and sanity of what some people write.
And just because we did so, doesn’t make anybody stupid or uneducated; we made a mistake. And again, as I stated before, I am thankful to those who posted to let me know what USA Voice was up to before I went any further with them.
Peace
Hello All,
I was recently offered an Editor position for the Twin Cities. Silly me! I did the conference call and listened. It all sounded easy and appealing. I waited for the email to follow-up after the call. Never did get the 1-on-1 I was told would happened afterward.
Anyway, I too fell victim to the scam but and now choosing to be the victor and turn as many people off to this as possible.
Notice, there is not contact info on the site. Even the “passwordhelp@…” email has been returned to me serveral times, stating it’s not a valid address.
It’s too bad as I’ve always wanted to work in journalism.
Sincerely,
Amy
too much oatmeal I think.
how droll life must be for some. Yes there were those who were stupid, taken in, and lead by who knows what to entertain this sordid scam, so what. I spend most of my time being stupid, I find it very relaxing. The point is that this road side table on the www is very entertaining. Go ahead and glue a quarter on the floor and spend your afternoon watching people try to pry it up into their greedy little hands. Rather uncivil, low brow stuff, and your morals wouldn\’t allow it, but there are times when this is what we need in life, or so, shallow self-indulgent people like myself do. The previous example was a metaphor by the way. But, I will pray tonight that whatever else I may become, or whatever delusions I may succumb to, that I will never bloviate in such a way as the passage above; all due respect.
People here continue to ponder how people can do what they do, be how they are, lick their wounds in the company of the wounded. Forget it. This is good stuff. It\’s humanity.
Should the perps be put up on the block, publicly spanked, made to give a five thousand word apology? Someone should do it, but I wouldn\’t waste my time. usavoice.org is doing its thing, preying on hope and dreams, and perhaps, producing better writers, in an incremental way. The lesson here will not produce positive results for all, but this is not dreamland, and peace will more than likely have to wait for another day.
Don asked a couple of interesting questions, and I’ve been persuing them myself too. What would a real USA Voice look like? Would it work? How could it avoid accidentalism at its worse, while promoting its best: good writing, useful content, etc.?
A recent article in The New Yorker addresses some of these questions, with regard to the wikipedia. The wikipedia is an open publication, with a sort of anarchy as an editorial policy, yet they’ve managed to create a worthwhile “publication”.
I think a news publication online, with a setup like the one USA Voice proposed, would have to navigate a similar passage, finding a comprimise between open participation and good editing. I’m working on a post for early this week about this sort of thing. Meanwhile, take a look online at “The National Gazette”.
You guys are writers, photographers, and editors, what do you think? Should we try again, to participate in something like that?
I don’t mean to complicate this whole situation but I feel the need. I saw the links here and on several other boards where some klaas devries jr guy said defrawy was behind USA Voice. yet I couldn’t find anybody or anywhere else that linked USA Voice with defrawy. There is little doubt in my mind that defrawy is a bad dude and deserves whatever he gets. I was and still am suspect of USA Voice, but there is no proof I can find linking the two besides Klaas (if someone can find information that proves me wrong please post it here). Klaas admits to working for USA Voice and defends it (even asks people to google his name, which I did) here:
http://www.sportsjournalists.com/forum/index.php?PHPSESSID=07156865aa3a4bfae2fa8a7100a80fd0&topic=28181.msg731359
I did some background checking on klaas and found this as an interesting source, however this article is all I could find on klaas jr since I don’t know dutch or whatever language half the pages google turned up were written in. anyhow, the one source I found is:
http://easybackgroundchecked.com/klaasdevriesjr.htm
the original article at the bottom of above link can be found here, it was copied exactly :
http://express-press-release.com/17/Les%20Henderson%20and%20Klaas%20DeVries%20Jr.%20the%20biggest%20internet%20scam%20artists%20today.php
Anyhow, just thought I would share my research with you people. I will let you draw your own conclusions.
I actually thought I was going to the USA Voice site, but saw the links at the bottom about a “scam” and ended up here. I have read all these comments, and many confirm the uncomfortable feeling I have had about the organization.
I wanted to give them the benefit of the doubt, as they are a start-up company, so I was willing to overlook the sign-up problems on their website. However, when I participated in the conference call, little “alarm bells” started to go off:
1. The slide show was woefully lacking in detail. The revenue share was not adequately explained. Was this revenue from upfront ad buys (which could be very lucrative) or revenue from what are called click-throughs? Maybe I would make only 14 cents a story!
2. In the Q&A period, the speaker started off by saying they were modeling this not on USA Today, but rather on the National Enquirer. That gave me pause right there.
3. The speaker stressed that they wanted people to express opinions. However, when a question was asked about whether such opinions should be stated as such by reporters in the context of the story, the guy had never thought of this, and it became clear to me that no journalistic standards whatsoever had been set for this publication.
4. A further question about whether reporters would have access to the wire services (AP or Reuters) for source information was met with an “I don’t know”. In short, the guy had no idea what wire services were. In short, this told me that this was not being run with real journalists, but rather strictly as an enterprise.
5. Next, it troubled me a bit that their primary concern was getting me to give them my mailing list for their “viral marketing” plan. It was as if they not only wanted us to provide content but also handle their circulation? Come on!
6. The dedicated phone line requirement really annoyed me, and I had been thinking of writing an anonymous letter to their legal department (assuming they have one) until I saw this site we are on now. First, it is stated that we are sub-contractors in the contract. We are not employees and they are not paying for the phones so how can they require us to answer our own phone “USA Voice”? In my opinion, it would be fraudulent to imply that a caller was actually reaching “USA Voice” when in fact they would be reaching my cell phone or whatever. Also, I believe it to be a violation of my First Amendment Rights to dictate how I answer my own phone. Lastly, the dedicated part of it meant they were expecting me to fork out $20 a month for an extra line I don’t need.
7. The last interesting little item that came out in the conference call was that while they were saying how great it would be that we could be assigned to cover a convention by one of their editors, a follow-up question revealed that they were not going to reimburse any expenses for such assignments!
I wanted to give them the benefit of the doubt because I love to write and I was getting quite excited about a column I wanted to write. What disturbs me the most is that with the proper journalistic integrity, sufficient start-up capital and a proper revenue-sharing business model, the whole concept could have been great. It is a crying shame that the founders, whoever they may be, clearly don’t give a damn. And now, neither do I.
I am so glad I stumbled on this blog. Thanks for the forewarning y’all, I won’t be wasting my time talking to these people. Sincerely, Pepper
usavoice.org seems to be an information gathering machine. Information is king in web land, it becomes the bricks for empires, the means are often unimportant. Kind of like the mining of diamonds I suppose.
This conversation is a good effect to a bad cause.
So again, what did the developers of this nastiness tap into that provoked their desired response. Yes, they knew some things about a market that is competitive, and those who want to get in. But easy picking also suggests that those who wanted in were alluding to a desire to see a birth of this “product”. Call it an accidental survey that confirms the idea was a good one, (delivered by a vampire). Why does it warm my heart to think of some good thing coming out of this? One possibility is that no prosecutor or judge would be involved in that path to justice, but there is also the irony.
So Dylan, I trust the wheels are spinning. If I may suggest, and reiterate, there is a lack of humanity on the web, a lack of what Strand was after (not to suggest he ever found it). What we have is what is expected, and then some more of that. I may be failing to understand fully the revenue side of this, but I have some faith that most of humanity have similar views, but take what’s dished. So, yes I live in a wastland composed of petty, self indulgent, facsimilies of individuals, but there are those who break from this, we look at them and are inspired to break free ourselves, to continue to break free anyway. How to present?, don’t quite know. Just one thought.
good luck to all,
don
Can someone just explain what the scam is?
The scam, in short: You won’t actually be employed by a reputable publication.
Why?
What are they getting out of this?
Am I missing anything here?
Jane, an attorney would have to analyze whether there is truly fraud involved. I would love to read a posting from an attorney here to get a legal opinion.
USA Voice seems to be more a sham than a scam, per se, in my eyes. If they had just called it “Opinion Free-for-All”, waived this ridiculous dedicated phone line provision, abandoned this pretense of real “reporters” and “editors”, and told people they probably wouldn’t make a dime, but might make 1/10th of a cent for every 100 viewers as sort of a fun “bonus”, then maybe it would be OK. Everyone would know the score, have no expectations, and enjoy the idea of getting sort of a free blog for expressing themselves.
Without being an attorney, I feel that the difficulty stems from Truth in Advertising Laws. Have you seen the weight loss ads with the fine print below, “your results may vary” or “results not typical”? The inclusion of this fine print is required for Truth in Advertising. I believe that the initial e-mail solicitation I received was a form of advertising. As such, I believe the following should have been disclosed UPFRONT, e.g.:
USA VOICE is not a recognized journalistic entity and is not a subscriber to any wire services, nor does it have an internal news bureau or any bona fide journalists on its staff. Further, it has no journalistic code of ethics, other than being against plagiarism.
USA VOICE is a marketing company which solicits content from individuals who may or may not have adequate skills to write for the publication, and no guarantee is made that editorial content will be monitored for quality, integrity, proper attribution, or any journalistic standards known to the industry.
USA VOICE makes no representation that writers will make any money from their efforts, and all participants must sign a waiver that they understand there is risk involved, in terms of sweat equity.
Further, USA VOICE discloses that the requirement for a dedicated phone line to be answered “USA VOICE” will cost the writers approximately $25 per month, and that this cost should be construed as a monetary investment required of its participants.
Participants should understand that so-called “Editors” will be making an override on anything click-through revenue a writers’ story generates.
USA VOICE will require you to provide your private e-mail list and also to promote your stories on other forum websites. These are marketing activites and are not normally required of journalists.
Further, USA VOICE makes no representation that it will not sell or use your personal mailing list for its own purposes in the future, so participants must understand they may be indirectly exposing their own mailing list to spammers.
Just to be clear, the above notions are my personal OPINION on what USA VOICE COULD have disclosed if it wanted to be upfront and adhere to Truth in Advertising laws. It is not a legal opinion, just an example of what I feel they could have let everyone know upfront. They recruited me and I actually was stupid enough to think that someone actually gave a damn about my credentials.
Susan,
Your post makes perfect sense. I agree with you as well that it is more of a sham than scam. When I think of a scam, I think of someone taking something from me and this did not happen to me. I gave USA Voice, my name and email but that was it. If they sold my email address it wouldnt matter to me because I would guess that a lot of businesses sell email addresses, even ones that we all do business with on a daily basis.
I equate this to dealing with my children. I have told them over and over again to tell the truth to start and then you dont have to worry about the lies you have told in the past. Their punishment will always be less if they tell the truth. Had USA Voice been truthful to begin with then I doubt people would be upset. Instead, USA Voice would be dealing with people that would be writing stories and doing exactly what this so called newpaper wanted.
I’ve decided address a call-to-arms to the people I’ve met because of the USA Voice debacle. Couldn’t we do this the right way; couldn’t we make an independent, free-press publication, using internet technology? Of course we could! I’ve posted some thoughts about a legitimate example of this kind of publication. What are your thoughts on the subject?
Thanks for posting this information online. I went through the whole shebang as well. I completed the conference call and even entered my code at the end to have access to their Back Office. There was a wait period to be confirmed. After I received the confirmation notice, I went back to usavoice.org, entered my information to access the Back Office … and it wanted me to complete the conference call AGAIN. I wrote to questions@usavoice.org to have access restored. And now I’ve found this information.
I have noticed that my spam folder on Yahoo mail has increased 10-fold since signing up on usavoice.org.
Here is the latest email I received from USAVoice.org:
From: “Rick”
To: rick@usavoice.org
Subject: First USAVoice Communique!!
Date: Tue, 12 Sep 2006 13:28:50 -0400
Good Morning USAVoice Editors!!!
I really had hoped for my first Editor E-Mail to have a fanfare type acceptance, but I can’t seem to get away from the technical problem corner of the world. Therefore this first piece of news (pun intended) is a quick update on some things that many of you have encountered while managing your team and the site.
Debbie Gerk is no longer employed by USAVoice. Her e-mail is not being monitored and will soon be deactivated. Future inquires should go to managingeditor@usavoice.org or directly to my e-mail address.
I have hired a replacement for the Managing Editor position and will have him start joining the conference calls sometime next week. I appreciate everyone’s offer to help and volunteer – I will definitely be leaning on you – so thank you again!
eMail accounts – I’ve got great news, and then some not so good news. L Our e-mail servers have been restored and everyone now should have access to creating, logging into, and using their email accounts. The bad news is that everyone will need to re-create their email addresses. Mind you, they’ll be the same address, but the need to be reset in the server. Our switch over will take place at 11pm EST tonight, so please re-set your accounts tomorrow morning. Please advise your reporters of the same. Tomorrow should be the first day with our email issues behind us J
Posted Stories – PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE emphasize to your reporters that all stories should have a photo attached and at minimum if they are expecting front page selection the story MUST have a photo. I had a story yesterday that I really wanted to move to the Front Page but it didn’t have a photo. I worked with the editor and reporter and provided a stock photo, but in the grand scheme of things, is something I can’t do for every story.
I’m certain that as soon as I hit “send” I’ll think of 100 other quick items I wanted to touch on, but these were the major issues I had to get out ASAP to help cut down on e-Mails to the help desk, and to make posting Front Page news easier.
We REALLY need business news… Get with your reporters and lets beef up this section. The ARTS page looks very nice. I’m pleased with how that’s progressing. And though very unorthodox, October Jones is getting a lot of visibility to her stories.
Many have asked why we did not feature more 9/11 Stories. This was a conscious decision on my part, which I would be happy to discuss with anyone should you have questions. I promise to keep those decisions at a minimum, but personally, found yesterday to be more personally reflective than take a propaganda approach. Enough said.
A special thanks to Vince, Liz, and Susan for their words of support as I manage 5 e-mail boxes with approximately 1,000 emails in each. J J
Until next time,
Rick
Editor in Chief
USAVoice.org
Later all-
Mike
Like Michael, I also got an email from a regional USAVoice editor. Today must ahve been the day decided for that. That’s funny, I never agreed to sections of the “contract” pertaining to the sharing of any internal materials from USA Voice, but I guess the acceptance we processed nevertheless, and I’m on the mailing list.
I thought that this email was the most professional text to come out of this process thusfar, however it clearly indicates that I’m not actually “hired” for anything. It basically says to submit to another interview, and to send in some writing for consideration. The email said “If hired, you’ll be able to submit articles right away” — so, now they care about my integrity as a writer… but they don’t sem to care about the kind of writing I was “acepted” in order to do.
The interview questerns:
Over the last few weeks I’ve been contacted repeatedly by regional editors about taking a reporter possition. At first they were just e-mails, bgut now I’m getting phone calls about the possition. Each time a new editor contactrs me. The e-mail ones I reply with the same e-mail saying I want nothing to do with USA Voice unless many questions can be answered. Most importantly who is behind USA Voice. Each editor I corrosponded with told me that they too had just been hired and had been given people to contact. They also told me they would take my concerns to their higher-ups to get me some answers.
Interestingly enough, 2 of the editors did try to take my concerns up the ladder only to find out nothing and be totally frustrated with the company. So, they wrote back to tell me that they resigned and that they agreed that something is wrong with the USA Voice company
This is as concise a condemnation of this weird “sham” as I could have hoped for.
If you are interested in how very shammy USA Voice gets, check out the thread at sportsjournalism.com
http://www.sportsjournalists.com/forum/index.php/topic,28181.0.html
Here you can read a truly lunatic and illuminating and sometimes ponderous tale of ridiculousness, summed up aptly:
Quote from: The Big Ragu on June 29, 2006, 07:19:01 PM
This thread is an early favorite for best of 2006. Who needs hallucinogenic drugs when you can brew a cup of herbal tea and watch Klaas, the media mogul who can’t construct intelligible sentences doing battle with his evil twin Klaas, the reviled internet scam artist? It’s like a modern-day Dickens novel as read through the eyes of a stoner.
RE: Actually, I’m reminded of the scrapyard scene in Superman III.
But that’s just me.
I was hired four weeks ago as an editor for USAVoice. I have undergraduate and graduate degrees in journalism and have worked in the United States and abroad for a wire service.
I have never been asked to provide anything more than my name, phone, mailing address and email address. (The password to log in to the site is NOT the same as the one I use to access my personal email.) In my individual phone interviews with prospective reporters I have never requested any additional personal information; the purpose of the call is to ascertain interest areas and to explain about filing stories. I have spoken with about 25 people who will file reports for the metro area I supervise and most have journalism degrees or experience.
I edit the stories submitted by my reporters and then post them. (An option is to let reporters post directly online but I prefer to check for grammar, spelling, etc.) Copy submitted by my reporters must be factual with attribution and not merely copied from somewhere else. Columns and reviews can reflect the reporter’s personal opinion but must be clearly labeled as such. I agree that the site needs greater direction; it reads too much like a blog in this initial stage.
I have been told that paymentwill be by check on the 10th of the month for the previous calendar month – that means 10/10 will be my first “pay day.” I am hoping for the best for USAVoice because I really enjoy editing copy, making story suggestions, and working from home.
Deb, since you seem to be the only one actually having a good experience with this company, perhaps you could tell us what company is behind it and EXACTLY how you will be making your money.
While I am frustrated by the lack of easily accessible information about the corporate side of things, I remain optimistic and will let you know if my paycheck arrives by mail next month as promised (percentage of advertising revenue – based on the number of visits to pages I’ve edited). My confidence in my own ability as an editor may have left me overly optimistic. Nothing ventured, nothing gained…
Deb, no offense but what about their confidence in your ability as an editor. As you say Ask any other editor, for any other publication, about the information they provided in order to get their job.
Granted the hiring process was different than when I first looked for a journalism position. I have more than 20 years experience in this field but needed to change employers because my husband was transferred out of state. I was contacted by USAVoice after posting my resume on Monster.com, JournalismJobs.com and CareerBuilder.com, and I have received frequent spam from online diploma mills as a result so perhaps Internet-based job-hunting has its drawbacks in general. I discussed my educational background and professional experience during a one-on-one phone interview with USAVoice and thought the editor’s job looked promising (and in my experince in four weeks still does). There are few reporting/editing job openings in my mid-size metro area and no possibility of returning to New York because of my husband’s job. The alternative was to take a job as an administrative assistant (i.e., secretary), and I prefer a job that reflects my education and training. Most of the people who have commented about the site did not complete the hiring process; I do not think it has been proven that USAVoice is not a scam. I am willing to give it my best shot and will let everyone know what happens once “pay day” rolls around in October.
Actually I meant to say that I do not think it has been proven that USAVoice is a scam. It may be. I hope it is not. I will be glad to let you know what I find out howver.
For the record, I have also completed the process, albeit for becoming a writer, for USA Voice. I never agreed not to disclose anything, in the contract, though. I’ve got a USA Voice business card and everything! I’m waiting to hear whether I’d get paid for my work before I’d ever submit anything, and even then, I would also prefer a job that reflects my education and training, but also one that deserves it. If thery’re not legitimate, then they don’t deserve it.
I’ve posted on here a few times to give you all my ordeals with USA Voice. I told you how I was contacted repeatedly about taking the reporter job. I told USA Voice I wanted nothing to do with them unless I knew who was behind the company (as well as a few other things.)
I never completed a 1 on 1 interview and didn’t submit a sample of my writing for any editors.
Yet, amazingly, I seem to have the job. I got an e-mail saying I was hired. Wow! I wish all my job interviews could go like that.
I don’t trust a company who hires me without A) answering my questions and B) bypasses it hiring process for some unknown reason just to get me.
This whole thing is crap.
Oh yeah and apparently I was hired to do Celebrity/Book/Movie reviews and news. I don’t remember even picking the possible category to cover
Deb, you seem like a nice, sincere hard-working person, and I wish you luck in all your endeavors. However, I think you are more than a little naive. We wouldn’t be having all these discussions if there weren’t so many red flags about this organization.
I am a reporter. My editor already quit out of disgust. I am doing a bit of “wait and see” to see if they can get their act together, fix their messed-up website and actually pay people. Meanwhile, I am looking at my stories as a way to build a current portfolio to segue to something better.
I have made previous comments here, and some of my initial worries were unfounded. For example, they haven’t made me turn over my contact list or made any intrusions into my privacy. No one has called my phone to see if I am answering it “USA Voice” – which I am not! Actually, no one except the former editor has contacted me at all.
Here’s the issue – and it’s a BIG issue. This company is operation without transparency, and that in and of itself is making everyone skeptical, insecure, angry or all of the above. Who they are and why they are using porn star names seems to be a popular item for commentary, for one!
But let’s get specific. The site statistics tab in the back office is where we should see displayed the page views and/or click-through or however they are determining our alleged payment basis. It doesn’t. All it shows is how many stories we’ve posted. What a joke.
Second, the fact that no one seems to be fixing their website problems may mean that either they are incompetent, they haven’t paid their web developer, or that everyone has run for the hills! Come on. Do you know, when you try to put in a support ticket, you get an error message? You can’t delete anyone in your mailing list because the delete button doesn’t work. The automatic photo editing system is a disaster and every photo looks distorted. Etc.
Third, no one from their headquarters is contacting us – by e-mail, or back-office posting or whatever – no one is reassuring us that they are doing their job, working through their internal problems, fixing the website, preparing to make payroll, etc. If they wanted to build confidence and have a least some transparency, don’t you think we would be getting status reports? No, you see, they want to keep us in the dark, and that makes people like me very suspicious.
Clearly, they should have done a slower roll-out to get the bugs out of their system. The fact that they are trying to go global right out of the box is likely a function of under-capitalization and poor management. That’s my opinion, anyway.
Lastly, I can tell you that the IRS requires that a W-9 be filled out by sub-contractors (which we are) and at year-end a 1099 must be sent out for more than $600 paid out in any one calendar year. So to everyone who is so paranoid about giving out your personal information (and I am one of those, too), the fact that they haven’t followed such required procedure upon hire tells me more than anything that they either do not plan to pay or they have no money to pay and that this, in fact, may be a complete sham after all. Someone said to me they may be counting on constant turnover by unpaid reporters constantly quitting so they can just keep getting free content and keep hiring new replacements to keep their “mill” running. Heck, if they have 7000 reporters, why should they care if a few hundred quit every month? That’s just speculation, of course, but in summary, if they operated with some transparency, we wouldn’t all be having these nagging concerns.
There are scammers, and there are those who bring us to realize why there are scammers.
Oh, and there are those who watch it all unfold with a perverse amusement.
A note to one of the supremely sunny side of lifers above, it is my humble opinion that trying to use usavoice.org as a spring board into the real world is just plain stupid. Think building a house on wet sand. Having anything to do with that “organization”, is a very bad idea. Stupidity aside, fueling this type of thing only makes the world an incrementaly worse place to live in. So please, for those on the fence, or in the family of usavoice.org, wake up and fly right.
with affection
I appreciate everyone’s feedback. Susan also mentions some of the issues I have encountered on the technical side. I agree with her comment that the roll out was rushed.
I think some of the hiring problems arise from dealing with the large number of applicants. They had a backlog of people to contact and apparently haved started speeding up things by having the Reporter’s Back Office available before the prospect completes the multi-step hiring process (group conference call, one-on-one phone interview with an editor and group training call). For the Back Office to function, an editor still has to hire a prospective reporter by pushing a button that transfers the name to a separate file. That has been my experience at least. No one is being forced to activate the office. Editors don’t get reimbursed by the number of people signed up as reporters but by the amount of traffic to the stories filed in their area. It is not to anyone’s advantage to hire someone who doesn’t write articles.
No one told me this venture would be easy or would have a huge financial reward. The people who interviewed me and led my conference calls were very up front that the job would involve building the site. In turn, each person I have spoken to about a reporter’s job knows that as well. It all comes down to expectations in the end. Personally I like being at the start of something with this much potential for changing how people get their news. I don’t think that is being naive. Until someone gives me a real reason to distrust him or her, I try to remain open.
As promised, I will let you know what I find out about the payments, etc., when payday rolls around. Thanks for being willing to share your thoughts with me.
“Until someone gives me a real reason to distrust him or her, I try to remain open.”
To trust who? Him or her?
I am brought to think of all of those people who held Enron shares, some had 100% of their portfolio in Enron. Most of these were employed by enron, and had the view that the company had their best interest in mind. Never mind that they had been made rich many times over on this stock, and wanted more of the same. The writing was on the wall for all of them, and when it all came down they cried, and wanted blood. Damb those rascals to the low level. For argument, it was they, the share holders who allowed it all to happen. Few things can be counted on in life, but greed, and vanity are solids.
There appears to be no harm in jumping on this sham (usavoice.org} and letting it ride, but when it all comes down, it will be those who participated and should have known better that made it happen.
Deb.. I think you should start looking for a second job or I hope you got a job on the side as this is going on. There are other ways to get into the journalism. usavoice is not one of them.
I’m not sure why they even bother, I sign up, supposedly have a job, and every single link is an error message. Don’t waste your time, I’ve been in business long enough to know that if their tech support doesn’t work, not much else will. If I knew of what to do legally I would, just to shut them down completely.
here\’s how it works –
a person writes an article for a website that is currently sensational
assume the website is usavoice.org
assume one of the backers of that website, or the brains behind that website also owns a termite company
assume the article is entitled
\”obtaining a piece of the american dream\”
assume the termite company does a lot of advertising on a bunch of their web sites
every advertisement warns about termites and how their damage to a person\’s home can rob them of \”obtaining a piece of the american dream\”
naturally, everyone who reads the sensational article on the sensational web site is going to tell their friends – they might not remember the name of the website but they WILL remember the title or part of it.
they will go searching for the title or a piece of it.
they will find:
another example was a couple guys who went around the country selling a get rich on the internet package.
for $500 bucks (sale price) you could attend the seminar and get a software disk that would guide you through to your riches.
mind you, most of the people in that seminar are people whose IT skills add up to the ability to maybe write a short webpage in html with help.
the software package is gobbledegook. you would have to be a genius with years in the biz to install it to find it did nothing. they cannot reach support (there is none) and they give up.
but all through the \”documentation\” the esteemed seminar instructors who have \”gotten rich\” with program tout the phrase \”most used keywords\”
you cannot make the software work but the phrase \”most used keywords\” is stuck in your brain. when you search the web for \”most used keywords\” you find many sites saying they will show you how to get a list of most used keywords. and they will sell you some other stuff while you are there
when you look closer at those web sites you will see they are all from the same template. they look exactly alike. they don\’t have independent urls/domains. they are domainname clones.
you have to follow the crumb trail all the way, from the chicken to the chicken feeder
caveat emptor, everybody emptor, wear your high boots.
if yo momma says she loves you, check it out!
Jack,
Have you even looked at the site? The ads are for national companies. The ads are placed by Google. They have nothing to do with the accompanying stories. Before bashing someone, perhaps you should do some more research.
Deb,
Are you for real?
The flat earth society is seeking members, no dues required, only that you believe…
Actually I’m not sure if they require dues, I haven’t checked them out thoroughly.
Just to note, usavoice.org seems to be down at the moment 10:47 am mon. morning. Must be all the traffic over there…I stand corrected they are up, but you have to be a little patient, to the tune of 180 seconds or so, then if you want to read anything, another 180. This could be a good thing, we all need to just slow down a little, take it easy, why in such a rush anyway.
Oh, you say they are a start-up, they are in the throws of a great new adventure, they assuredly will have some hurdles. That link has not timed out yet, how could that be, it’s been almost 5 min.s’, oh, there it is the old “cannot find server”, did I really want to read that anyway? This is a new form of editing probably, and throw in some self help for good measure. Just read some headlines, and stare at the monitor, just sit there, calm down, take a deep breath. Try another link, just for kicks, and then stare, and breath.
I’m starting to understand this all now. Wow this is revolutionary, I’m sure it will take the web by storm, to think I passed up getting in on the ground floor. What a pity.
Please Deb, don’t spend all those wooden nickels in one place, ok?
don
Ok .. now I do NOT feel sorry for the people who got sucked into this and when paycheck time comes.. nothing arrives.
There are still things that any respectable company would give you.. and yet, you have to get your own business cards (and you can order it through them.. which many will probably do because they’re lazy). And you’re also suppose to have a different line that is dedicated to USA voice and you’re suppose to mention USA voice in the voicemail and when you answer the phone. Plus, there’s some press pass you’re suppose to print out or something like that… which I’m sure people will just laugh at when they see you try and talk to them with it. Honestly, all this stuff are things that company would just give you.
Anyway, I just went to the site.. wow there are actually people posting up stories. When I read the stories, however, it’s like I’m reading my high school newspaper all over again. You have got to be kidding me. No one is going to take a newspaper seriously if it still sounds like a 16-year-old or 10-year-old wrote it.
When I first started participating in this conversation I assumed that people really did want to engage in intellectual discourse. I figured that I would give it a try and report back what I found out. Sorry The lack of respect I have been shown and overall juvenile nature of the latest round of comments shows that I was too optimistic about YOU. Figure it out on your own.
Deb,
sorry if we’re too pessimistic for you. But I think most of us can agree that it’s just really hard to trust any corporation and person nowadays. It’s a dog eat dog world. If you’re not the one being screwed, you’re the one doing the screwing. It’s just how it is. It would be nice to be proven wrong about this kind of thing for once in my life. but I have found that.. if it looks shady.. if it sounds shady.. it is shady.