TrafficComplex.com

There is a new problem showing up, URL cloaking, for those that do not know what that is, it is quite simply, hiding the real URL! Yes, there are sites that offer short URLs, like TinyURL.com, and, for some things this could be ok, but, with all of the virus and spyware out there, hidden or “cloaked” URLs are not acceptable on a traffic exchange. Now don’t get me wrong, TinyURL.com is not a bad site, in fact, if you use Twitter, you URLs could show up using that service, and TinyURL.com offers a “preview” feature, which will allow you to see the site, before you go there.

Anyway, I am not just talking about shortened URLs, I am talking about this new wave of “Flash Pages” and the like. Why are they so bad? SPAM! Yes, that and other potential spyware that is being added in these hidden URLs. Now, I know that most folks using these things, think it is just a cool way of advertising both, their site and the third party site, thus giving you more credit on another site, what you may not know, is these pages are adding dangerous tracking cookies and are hiding things that are potentially even worse!

I monitor this site, both by surfing many hours a day, and by checking each and every URL submitted, and, in the past, I had approved many of these sites, just out of ignorance I guess, but guess what, I started getting SPAM email from several new sources, and upon further investigation, I found that it was some of these “flash” or “landing” page sites, some using frames and such that allow a hidden site to pop-up randomly, much like a rotator, which is also not allowed. So, from now on, there is yet another new rule, NO HIDDEN URLs! If you cannot use the real URL of your domain, DON’T bother submitting it! I know there are several currently in rotation here, I am putting a bounty on them! If, you should find a suspect site, report it and if it is a bad site, you will get a bonus! If you are the submitter of these type of URLs, you may as well delete them, as I will be hunting them down and suspending them. Hey, don’t take it personal, you can submit the actual URL for your site, but, I HATE SPAM and those promoting it will be removed! Thanks for surfing!

Well, it is done! I sent out emails, yet we still had many that didn’t come back and login and surf, so, all but the ones that are obvious referrers, meaning, they had well over 10,000 credits on their account, have been deleted. I am going to guess here, but I believe it was somewhere around 50-60 members, that is a pretty good chunk, but, I had to do it to clean up the database so that the surf will run smoothly for the rest of us.

Now that we a consensus on the time limit established, the next step is to clean up the “undesirable” websites. As the rules clearly state, there are certain types of sites that are NOT allowed.

You must Surf at Least 500 pages WITHIN 24 HOURS OR YOUR ACCOUNT WILL BE DELETED!

NO SOUND!, Adult, PTP, PTC, Get Rich Quick, E-mail Harvestors, or SCAM Sites will be approved, so please don’t submit them!

VIOLATORS SITES WILL BE SUSPENDED! ONLY ONE ACCOUNT PER USER!

It is time for another poll, as always, the poll will be there for everyone, it is up to all of you to help me on this, and it will go beyond just the poll. Last night, while surfing, an ADULT site popped up! I am sorry if anyone here saw that and was upset by it. How did this happen? The site was listed as a “Make Money” site, and, when I activated it, it was! This was a blogger site, so, as is this part of this site, the content is subject to change at any time. This leads me to be suspect of other sites of that type, however, it is just like a gun control law, ‘guns don’t kill people, it is the people that misuse the guns that kill people’ so no, a blogger site is not bad, but, and this is where the poll will come in, a “make money” blogger site could be.

We have many members that have legitimate business websites, and that is for whom this site was built, but, a surf site is controlled by the numbers, simple math, we have to have members that surf! Also simple math, is the fact that most of the accounts that were deleted, were of that “make money” group, the user had signed up, surfed 100 pages, and disappeared, see where this is headed?

The new poll that you will find in the sidebar, will address the different types of sites and you should select all that apply.

I know that many of you are promoting these “questionable” sites, so, you in particular need to vote in the poll. As the poll will reflect as many types of site as I can think of, I may miss something, so, just contact me and let me know if I do. This poll is a more serious poll than the others, as it effects many of our current members, and many of the new members yet to come. Don’t worry, I am a fair person, and as always, the final decision will be somewhere in the middle of the poll results, that is why it is so important that everyone votes! If you don’t vote, then your opinion will not be reflected in the results. So, please, everybody VOTE!

For those still reading, you are the more dedicated surfers here, as many will not even read thia, those that do, and make it this far, will be the ones that make the decision, and will be of the most assistance in the next part, the reporting! Yes, the reporting, that has been the basis of the rules on this site since the beginning, it was and is, up to you, to report a site that you find violates the rules! I thank you all for understanding, this site is not just another surf site, this site is a “team” site, you do not get paid to surf and you do not get credits just because you fill out a form.

NEW RULES!

From now on, NEW members WILL NOT receive bonus credits upon sign-up! There will also be no referral bonuses on the new members signing up! OUCH! I can hear it now! The way it will be, from now on, NEW MEMBERS MUST SURF 500 PAGES at the time of sign up!

Referral Bonuses will also be applied, once the new member has surfed the required 500 pages! The bonuses for showing your referral pages will remain the same, it is just the sign up bonuses that will be effected. This may sound a little bit harsh, and yes, it will stop some from signing up, that is ok, it is these members that surf 100 pages and go away. You may wonder why the referral bonuses are included, simple, there are those that, refer themselves and then disappear!

I have seen a pattern, a new member will sign up, surf 100 pages, get a referral or two, that also surf 100 pages, yet they apply all of their credits, sign-up and referral bonuses, to identical sites, and then go away! Yes, we have all seen that the same site shows over and over, that is one reason why. I have allowed it to this point because they have surfed the required 100 pages, but, this will happen no more!

Those that truly are referring know this well, it takes time to get a referral, maybe a friend will sign up, but identical sites, listed in the same way, with the same amount of credits? Yes, it is obvious! So, after I publish this post, these changes will go inte effect and I will create the poll, then, an email will be sent. I hate to be so strict, but, as always, things get abused, and the rest of us are the ones that suffer, however, this WILL NOT change anything for our team players, you will get your referral bonuses, it will just add more work for me! So, keep on referring! Keep on surfing! We will keep on getting our traffic!

I have saved the worst for the last, but, if you are here for quality traffic, traffic that will help your site, and not just a bunch of pageviews by the same person, which Google and the others, look at as SPAM, the surf timer must be changed, sorry. I like to see that my site was visited 2 or 3 thousand times a day too, but, those of you that wish to truly help your website, and not just throw a bunch of crap in the wind, this will be good news to you!

Let me explain, anything less than 30 seconds, actually hurts your sites pagerank (PR)! In the early days of this site, the timer was set at 30 seconds, and one of the sites I have in rotation, had a PR of 4, after 6 months or so of the 5 second timer, that site has a PR of 2! That is not the goal for those trying to help their site! So, as of now, the surf timer will be set at 30 seconds! You will see less of the “questionable” sites, and it will weed out those that are here to just “hit and run”! Yes, we will lose a few members over this, but I would rather get 1 good visit to my site than 6 bad ones, I hope that you feel the same, if not, we will miss you, and I am sorry, but I have to clean this site up.

Well, the vacation is now long over, and after getting a few other things done, I realized that I had forgotten to write a post here, sorry. During my vacation, I somehow managed to shop, fish, eat, spend time with the family, and even get sites approved and surf! I have to admit, when my daughter first got here, I didn’t think I was going to survive. Since she is only in her twenties, she still has the ability to run all day long, doing those things young women do, like shop! I must have walked a thousand miles!

Based on your votes in the poll, (I went with the average) it looks like the time limit will be set to three (3) months for inactive members, after that, the accounts will be deleted! Consider yourself warned, if inactive members have not logged in and surfed a bit by the end of March, come March first their accounts WILL be deleted.

Anyway, it is time to get back to work! Traffic has been steady, but it is time to crank it up again! Lets see if we can set a new record! I will be sending out an email to let everyone know, but lets get this machine rolling! Lets get to surfin’, lets get some traffic! Lets get some referrals! Thanks everybody, you are a great team! Now, GET BACK TO WORK!

Hey, I hate to sound this way, but I have had enough! We are getting about 2-20 new members, every day, yes, this is a good thing, BUT, there are a few here and there, that sign-up and never surf! As you all know, I will not activate any sites that belong to an account that has not surfed the required minimum, and I had been sending one email a week, on Tuesday, alerting New Members that if they did not surf, they would lose their account, but, there will be NO MORE emails of that sort!

I have put it on the Sign-Up and Log In pages, and now this post, NEW MEMBERS MUST SURF 100 PAGES AT THE TIME OF SIGN-UP, OR, AT LEAST, WITHIN 24 HOURS, OR THEY WILL LOSE THEIR ACCOUNTS!

I hate to have to be so strict, but I sometimes feel like a Kindergarten Teacher! I have been surfing for many years, and on every site, every time that I sign up, I surf at least the minimum, I have never signed up just to get the bonus, all I have ever looked for is to be treated fair, and to be able to earn a realistic amount of credits for my time! Yes,  on some sites it is almost impossible to keep credits on your account, unless you surf that account for hours and hours, every day,but here, you can.

Depending on how many sites you have, and how much you surf, you can earn thousands of credits, just by watching the surfbar, so cheating is not necessary, and I have to be a bit tougher on the new members.

Let me explain why, when a member signs up and surfs, that member expects to have their sites activated as soon as possible, and rightly so, but when ten sign up and only 6 surf, those members who do not surf, still have sites in my queue, that I have to check, and it is a PAIN to look at the same sites over and over and verify if that account has surfed or not! So, from now on, if a member signs up on the first but hasn’t surfed by the second, I AM GOING TO DELETE THE ACCOUNT!

This is a simple process, sign up, surf 100 pages or more, then, and only then, will your sites be activated! Those that DO NOT, might as well not sign up! Do not waste your time or mine, if you will not surf a minimum of 100 pages and earn 50 credits, to get 3050!

Many of our members are hard workers and surf very regularly, that is why this traffic exchange is one of the exchanges that are growing, and not shrinking in our traffic output.

Unfortunately, there are many, that just sign up with as many traffic exchanges as they can, they get the sign-up bonus, surf the minimum, and then go away, never to return! For those that do this, we will miss you, but, unless a member is productive, in some way, either referring others, or surfing on a regular basis, it does not do the rest of us any good anyway, right?

If you received the email, with a link to this post, you still have time, just log in and surf a few sites, that will give you a fresh start, and let me know who is serious.

Everyone here that has read my posts, knows that I hate Rules, but, rules are necessary, and any rule that I have put into effect, or ever will, are simple to follow, and are to the benefit of everyone, after all, we are a team here, and a team needs a coach, right? Since I try to get input from all of you, before I make any changes, you will find a new Poll on the Sidebar, in addition to the one about the Surf Timer, you will find one about “Inactivity”, as of now, I have the Inactive list set at 6 months, I believe that if someone goes away for 6 months, odds are, they are not coming back!

Believe me, I do not want to Delete anybody! However, it is something that I have to do! I used to try and surf close to 300 different exchange sites, I was surfing like a fiend, 24  hours a day, seven days a week! Even with this effort, I was not able to surf every site as much as I needed to, so, I thinned out my list and have cut it down considerably, and with my duties here growing, I am still not as active as I use to be, so, my point is, I understand that many of our teammates also surf a lot of different sites therefore are not here as regular as those that only surf a few sites, however, most of these members are also referring tons of new members. Using myself as an example, I am more lenient than many other admins, because I do understand how it is.

Those that either surf a lot, or refer a lot, get away with more than the rest, you know who you are, and of course the upgraded members, you really have it made!

Anyway, back to the point, the new poll will tell me what you think, and I will act upon this accordingly. As I said before, any member that Does Not sign in and surf, at least once every six months, will lose their account, regardless of credits in the account! Believe me, if a member has not logged in, for 6 months, their sites have no assigned credits left! It doesn’t take but a few minutes to log in and surf a few sites, this is what I do on those sites where I still surf, some are once a week, others every two weeks, but the ones that I surf the least, I am there at least every 3 months, so, tell me what you think, post a comment here and vote in the poll, I need your input on this! Thanks!

I am sure that I am not alone in this, but I hate Rules! I am the kind of person that just tries to do what is right, without having to follow any stupid, stinkin’ rule! Unfortunately, there are those that will not do what is right, even if there is a Rule!

I am sure that you have noticed that I have been sending out a weekly email titled: New User Weekly Update (Read This)

What this is all about is pretty simple, new members not following the RULES! I hate having to send this email, it is a pain in the butt to have to be like a Daddy telling the kid what to do!

New Members Must Surf! This is a biggie, when a new member registers, they are required to view at least 100 pages to get their sites activated, but, from now on, there is a time limit! New members must surf those 100 pages within 2 days! That is more than ample time, it only takes less than an hour, so get surfing, those members that haven’t surfed the required amount, within that time limit will be deleted!

That is what was written previously as the Rule about new members not surfing, but this “2 Day” requirement is too hard for me to keep up with, so, I am changing it to this. Every Tuesday I will send out the above mentioned email warning new members that they must surf the required 100 pages or their account will be DELETED in about 24 hours if they do not surf.

Hey, I am a nice guy, this site is here to help everybody, I don’t want to delete or suspend any sites or accounts, but I have to, it would be unfair to the members that do surf if I just activated everything! Most of our new members do surf at least the required 100 pages, but every week I have about 3 or 4 that don’t, and most of those register over the weekend, usually Friday night for some reason, then never come back!

I send out a welcome email, most of the time, and warn them at that point, and most do come back and surf, but, those few that don’t clutter up my control panel and make it a pain in the ass to even look at the other new sites, so, every Tuesday afternoon or night, I will be sending this “Last Chance” email, then after 10pm, central time, on Wednesday night, these “Inactive” members, will lose their account. I am sorry to have to do this, but that is the way it is, if you want to be a member here, Welcome to the Team! Just like any team, there are always those that get cut, it is not personal, it is just for the good of the team!

If you wonder what the rules are, the main rules are everywhere, like on the Registration and Login pages, but here is a link to the Blog Posts about the Rules, check it out, and if you have any suggestions or comments, write them, I value your input.

Recently there has been a lot of new members trying to get sites with auto-play sounds approved, but, sorry, that will not happen if I can help it.

What I define as “Auto-Sound” is quite simple, it is any sound, from anything, that automatically starts when you visit the website. If the site has a “Click here to listen” option, that is ok, but not anything automatic!

First, you may wonder why these sites have sound, that is simple, it is kind of like when you are watching TV and then the commercials come on, louder than the show you were watching! It is to get your attention and make you look at the site!

Second, you ask why these sites with “Auto” sound are not allowed, this is because NOBODY wants to hear it! Most surfers are trying to surf, and don’t want to be bothered! Imagine, you are surfing at night, while sleeping, then some site pops up with a blaring announcement, or cha-ching cash register sound, or worse, and it wakes you, or your family up! I heard one on another site the other day while surfing and it was a very loud ‘HEY WAKE UP” along with some sort of sales pitch for a get rich quick site!

Most people that have ever had this happen know exactly what I mean! It is an unneccesary noise! For those of you that want to add one of these sites, there are many traffic exchanges out there that allow it, I WILL NOT! All that happens is that it makes others mad, not to mention me! If you have a traffic exchange that allows these sounds, post the info in a comment so these people can find you. Just know, that when I get slapped in the head with such noise, I stop surfing, even during the day, I don’t want to hear it and neither does anyone else!

I have never seen a site using this tactic that was worth listening to anyway, I am here to surf and get traffic, not to hear some sales pitch! So, turn the sound off, or make it an option for those that may be interested, or DO NOT SUBMIT IT HERE! If one slips through, usually by adding the sound to a site after it has been approved, please submit an abuse report, or make a note of which site it was, which browser you are using, and email me, or use the contact form, and I WILL SUSPEND THAT SITE! Sorry, don’t want to upset anybody, but that rule is not flexible!

The reason we are all here surfing is to increase traffic to our websites, right? There is one thing that many people may not know, but here it is.

Yes, more traffic is a good thing, but which traffic is better, fast or slow? Fast being visitors that stay on your site for only a few seconds, slow being visitors that stay longer. Which one is best?

Well, if you are looking for statistics that show a lot of visitors, then it really doesn’t matter, but, if you want Google and the other search engines to really respect you, you need both!

Quantity is important, but as usual, quality is always better. As an example, if a person visits your site 6 times, but for only 5 seconds each visit, it makes your site look less important than if that same person visited only once, but for 30 seconds or longer.

There are many hundreds of traffic exchanges out there, all with varied timers, some as fast as 3 seconds, some as slow as a minute, and then you have the manual exchanges. If you have ever surfed a manual site, which many are now “Hover” exchanges, which means you don’t have to click, just move your mouse over the image, and it restarts the timer, then you know that many times you forget and end up staying on that site for several minutes!

So, this presents a bit of a problem, we all want a lot of traffic for as little work as possible, and at the same time we want it fast! I know, I am guilty too, and more page views in the statistics looks good, but it is not as effective in the long run. When I set up this site, I had planned on keeping the timer between 10-15 seconds, but after experimenting, I found that when I moved the timer faster, more people showed up to surf, when I set it slower, people stopped surfing, so, what do we do here?

At this time, I have the timer set at 15 seconds, that will give us all better quality but less quantity. I know that will make some people unhappy, but, at this time we have many members, and if we all surf, it will improve the quality of our traffic even more, and I feel that we are ready to make this move to the benefit of us all. Besides, it will give us some incentive to surf even more when I drop the timer down a notch. However, this traffic exchange belongs to all of us that surf, so, if you want the timer to go back to 5 seconds, and you are a regular surfer, send me an email, use the contact form, or whatever, and let me know. If I get enough response, I will change it. At the same time, if you want the timer set slower, tell me that, or, if you like it set at 15 seconds, tell me that as well. Remember, it is up to you to tell me what you want, it is our traffic exchange, and those that surf and make it all work deserve to have a say in how it works! I need your input, I can’t read your minds, so take the time to drop me a quick note, let’s all work together on this!

This isn’t a normal Friday post, there is are a few things that I need to address now, before it gets out of hand.

As the site grows, and more new members sign up, as with any traffic exchange, there are those that register just for the bonus credits, but that does not happen here! So, if that is your intention, don’t even bother to register!

It is becoming clear that there are some rules that I need to make clear, so I am doing that now! I am an easy going kind of guy, and a fellow surfer, so I will not impose any restrictions on anyone else that I won’t follow myself, it is quite simple really, follow these rules and you won’t get bothered!

1. Suspended sites will be deleted! Getting your site suspended is not the end of the world, but all sites that are suspended, from Monday through Friday, will be deleted over the weekend! Many times there are credits allocated to these sites, and if you don’t go to the Allocate Credits section and deduct them yourself, they will be lost! So, if you see that a site has been suspended, do this by Saturday at 01:00 Central time, that is when they will be deleted! Starting tonight!
2. New Members Must Surf! This is a biggie, when a new member registers, they are required to view at least 100 pages to get their sites activated, but, from now on, there is a time limit! New members must surf those 100 pages within 2 days! That is more than ample time, it only takes less than an hour, so get surfing, those members that haven’t surfed the required amount, within that time limit will be deleted!
3. All Sites Must Have Credits! This one is the easiest to follow, with the surfbar bonuses, and the way that I hand out credits, no one should ever have a problem keeping plenty of credits allocated to their sites. From now on, sites with zero (0) credits will be suspended! (See Rule #1) Being the nice guy that I am, I may add credits to a members site, if we have had a busy night or something, but sites that have no credits for a day or two, will get suspended. You can avoid this, by simply clicking the black arrow to the right of your site and placing it “On Hold”, I will not delete it.
4. Sites that are not Allowed: If I approve a site, that later changes, and becomes a problem, or any site that violates the rules, (PTP, PTC, ADULT, NOISE, Etc.) will have a bounty on it! Yes, we need active surfers, and if you don’t feel that your site breaks the rules, submit it, if it is only marginally a violator, I will approve it, but, if it gets reported by 3 members as a problem, it will get suspended, (See Rule #1), no, this doesn’t mean that I want everybody reporting every site they see, just those that are a problem. After a site has been reported by 3 members, I will look at it, if it is a violator, I will issue bonus credits to those that reported it!
5. Members need to subscribe to the feed! Follow this link, SUBSCRIBE, or the one at the top of any TrafficComplex Blog page, and simply subscribe, you can do this using any reader you want, or select to Get TrafficComplex.com delivered by email, this will keep you up to date and keep me from having to send you an email! Those that don’t, won’t be getting any notifications of the contests etc., so Subscribe Now!

The goal here is to have a clean, safe, and friendly site, where people new to surfing don’t have to worry about problems, I know, many of you have sites in rotation now that are “marginal violators”, if you are an active surfer, and maybe the site is legit, I will leave it up to my fellow surfers to decide. This traffic exchange is for everybody, and can be a great community if we all work together, but, it is not entirely a democracy, I have the final say, but everyones input is very important to me, and shapes my decisions, so if you have any issues with these rules, questions, comments or suggestions, please reply to this post below by leaving a comment. This post is going to be referred to elsewhere to help everyone understand and participate. Thanks for being a Team Player, that is what this site is all about, so, participate!