Comments for Brain Handles

Comment on Want Netflix on Linux? Try Amazon! by Greg Bulmash

Greg Bulmash — Wed, 18 Jul 2012 20:22:11 +0000

Worth noting. Tried a Ubuntu install with the closed-source codecs and Amazon video played out of the box.

Comment on Possible Spam: Articlebat.org's New vacancy for you by Greg Bulmash

Greg Bulmash — Fri, 22 Jun 2012 15:52:21 +0000

Ed: "what reliable source did you use to find this information?" Did a "whois" lookup. It looks up the domain record from the public domain name system (DNS). You can access a whois search at most registrars, or if you're on a Mac or Linux system, just open a terminal window and type "whois nameofdomain.com". You can hide your info as the registrant by providing fake info (your domain can be cancelled if it's found out you did so) or by using a proxy (GoDaddy and many other registrars will act as your agent for a fee), but you can't hide when the domain was registered, which registrar was used, and what your name servers are. The "created-on" date for the Articlebat.org domain is 5/21/12, a week before I got the e-mail.

Comment on Possible Spam: Articlebat.org's New vacancy for you by Bob

Bob — Fri, 22 Jun 2012 15:38:38 +0000

I too responded with the "pilot" submission, then balked when they asked for paypal info. Prior emails however, do show my website and social media links.

Comment on Possible Spam: Articlebat.org's New vacancy for you by Dan

Dan — Thu, 21 Jun 2012 22:00:25 +0000

If I responded to their email which contains my name & phone number, is there any reason for concern? I have not sent any kind of financial information such as bank/routing/acct number or paypal. I don't believe i'm in jeopardy of any sort, but just want to be sure. Thanks all, i've found a great deal of information about this company on this site. Good job!

Comment on Possible Spam: Articlebat.org's New vacancy for you by Ed

Ed — Thu, 21 Jun 2012 19:26:01 +0000

Thanks for all of your information. How do you go about doing this research ? You said that the domain name has been in existence for only one week, what reliable source did you use to find this information ? I didn't even know that .org was mostly used for non-profit organizations. I understand the broken english "warning sign" and the more obvious signs of a scam, but can you give me a few of the finner or less obvious things to look for, like the ".org " sign and etc ?

Comment on Possible Spam: Articlebat.org's New vacancy for you by Al R.

Al R. — Thu, 21 Jun 2012 17:43:25 +0000

Thanks for doing this research for us. I love to write and have written articles before and was looking into this when it came across. You may have just saved me some trouble

Comment on Possible Spam: Articlebat.org's New vacancy for you by Matt

Matt — Thu, 21 Jun 2012 17:07:04 +0000

Just 'cause we didn't fall for getting paid $2500 for editing $140 worth of product doesn't mean some other buffoon with an IQ around the freezing point of water won't!!! P.T. Barnum said it and I believe it! "There's a sucker born every minute!" I have gotten three in the last week with different names on them so they must have a reason to believe in a return. Like Rich said, Pidgin English aside it is excellent compared to the ones about lottery tickets and the estate of some Royal Uncle in Uzbekistan.

Comment on Possible Spam: Articlebat.org's New vacancy for you by SPYDER

SPYDER — Thu, 21 Jun 2012 14:26:08 +0000

This is a scam. It has been confirmed by the legitimate website as a copycat ripoff. It is being perpretrated by the same scammers who created a copycat site for Contentproz...which was another ripoff. Unless you have supplied detailed personal info they can not access your Paypal account.

Comment on Possible Spam: Articlebat.org's New vacancy for you by David M. Kasprzak

David M. Kasprzak — Thu, 21 Jun 2012 12:27:04 +0000

I received an identical email, although in my version the "Apply here" link took me to tikkawraps.com, and the address of the sender wasn't Cambridge, MA...it was Round Rock, TX. I have been to both of those places in my life, but I doubt it would warrant a contract writing position......

Comment on Possible Spam: Articlebat.org's New vacancy for you by Rich the Geek

Rich the Geek — Tue, 19 Jun 2012 14:12:24 +0000

Oh, c'mon. It's an obvious scam once you do the research. Although I do admit that except for the pidgin English, they did a better job of making it seem legitimate than most others.

What tipped me off was the impossibility of their paying a contract writer $2,500.00 a month while selling submissions to their clients at the rate of 550 submissions for $140.00. The numbers don't add up. Either it's an information-gathering scheme rather than a true employment offer, or they have no intention of actually paying their writers $2,500.00 month -- if anything at all.

What made it seem somewhat plausible to me, before I did the math, was that I received two emails from them, addressed to me as the webmaster of two of my highest-ranking, most popular, most well-written sites. If they were looking for an English-language writer whose style is liked by search engines, contacting the person who (presumably) authored a very popular, very well-ranked, English-language site would be a sensible approach.

I might even have overlooked the pidgin English. After all, they were looking for native English-speaking writers for a reason, right?

Again, it was the math that gave it away for me. Had I still any doubts after realizing that they could not possibly be making money by paying their writers more than they were charging their clients, the Chinese connection would have removed those doubts.

Comment on Possible Spam: Articlebat.org's New vacancy for you by Maxxi Katz

Maxxi Katz — Sat, 09 Jun 2012 16:45:16 +0000

Whenever something online appears to be the solution to my problem, it's probably not legit. Thanks for confirming.

Comment on Possible Spam: Articlebat.org's New vacancy for you by Angel

Angel — Tue, 05 Jun 2012 16:54:13 +0000

Got one today! Naturally hit search for "scam or not" and here is your comprehensive research! Thank you so much for doing all this work for the rest of us. SCAM!

Comment on Possible Spam: Articlebat.org's New vacancy for you by Sam

Sam — Mon, 04 Jun 2012 13:56:05 +0000

I had the same email last week. Thanks for confirming my thoughts about the situation.

Comment on Possible Spam: Articlebat.org's New vacancy for you by Bill

Bill — Tue, 29 May 2012 18:05:37 +0000

Thanks for doing the research Greg. I got a similar email today, and it was very tempting. Too good to be true, as usual...

Comment on Restaurant.com Sucks / Rip-Off Alert by John E. Bredehoft

John E. Bredehoft — Wed, 16 May 2012 04:22:31 +0000

Did your certificate also include the statement "Don't forget to tip your server"? Some 2009-2010 discussions about restaurant.com indicated that this statement appears on all certificates, even those with the 18% gratuity requirement. So far, I haven't found any other self-serve restaurant that required the 18% gratuity. Odd "deal," which just shows that you ALWAYS have to read the fine print.