Does it drive you crazy that your articles aren't reviewed instantly by our editors?
We've been considering this for 2 years now and it's time to introduce a premium level of business class service for members who want a faster experience with EzineArticles.com. Before we release this, we'd like your input.
Deliverable: Priority article review. Your submissions would go to the front of the queue and our editors would review your articles BEFORE any non-premium level members submissions. Instead of waiting days to a week+ for your articles to be reviewed, most would happen same or next day (Mon-Fri).
Being a Premium level member would not guarantee any editorial favors. This is purely a speed-of-service priority thing. Our editors would not know if you are a premium member or not as our article review back-end systems manage which articles are loaded in their daily review queues. It would also not grant any membership level advantages (ie: It wouldn't help you get from Basic to Platinum any faster).
Deliverable: Priority email support. Your email tickets to our Member Support center would go to the front of the queue.
This would not deliver higher personalized service nor is it article writing & marketing training of any kind. You're simply buying a speed pass to the front of the line with your questions sent to Member Support.
Most likely would be a reasonable annual fee with an introductory charter discount for the first members who become clients.
PayPal subscription services will be the payment method.
Most likely would not come with a written SLA (Service Level Agreement) because we'd have to price it too high to guarantee a level of service. Instead, we'd price it to be attractive for the masses of our most active members with hopes that the value received far outweighs the price paid… to encourage annual renewals of the priority review & support service.
What issues should we consider as we price and bundle/package this EzineArticles Premium membership speed/service?
What kind of additional fee-based premium services would you like to see us offer?
Any hints as to what the price slab would be?
Many of our members routinely invest thousands in advertising per month or quarter. We'd hope that the price we attach to this service would be a 'no brainer' for those who are already getting a high economic ROI from their investment of labor to submit their best quality original articles to EzineArticles.
If you're not getting a high ROI already from EzineArticles as compared to everything else you do to attract leads & traffic back to your site, then no price would be right to make this offer of speed/priority to be attractive to you.
Target ideal EzineArticles member for this premium service: They already have sales in excess of 6+ figures in their business, can see the rewards already from their articles listed with EzineArticles and know that speed of service is worth something when you're under competitive pressures to 'make it happen'.
I think this is a great idea. Writers who are looking to get their articles faster are sure to recognize the value in such a service.
I'm new at submitting my articles, so the cost would be important to me. However, I really don't mind waiting to have my articles approved . The last article I submitted to you was published within six days, but I suppose that may change and it will take even longer with your new program.
Our goal is to not change the average speed that it currently takes us… and that ebb & flow's with the volume of incoming submissions.
Speed is expensive. Guaranteed speed would be really expensive.
Time is money… and we'd hope that clients who already appreciate the traffic we send to them will easily be able to justify a nominal fee to have their articles and email questions go to the front of the line.
We're really in the dark on this one and hope to introduce the service, learn from client feedback and adjust to improve the value & consistency of service.
When exactly will this service be implemented?
Then we listen & learn.
At least a week if not a month. We've got 50+ projects in our development hopper at any given time. This is just one more of them.
The main benefit of article marketing is that it is a free form of web promotion.
It will be a sad day when this changes.
There will definitely lead to a delay in processing the articles from people that do not choose to pay.
This is no doubt the start of a full roll out of a paid service for all members.
I do not blame you for attempting to earn additional revenue from the site however it will open the door for a new article site to take over the top slot.
A famous saying in business, never forget the people who helped you to reach number one.
What would happen if the current speed of service you enjoy today does not change regardless as to whether you become a premium speed/priority member or not?
Then will it still be a sad day?
I have to disagree with you Steve.
It would be up to the author if he or she wants to pay for the premium service or not.
I don't thing Chris is looking into it as a way to increase revenue, rather it is an optional service to make some of the impatient authors happy.
If they are in a rush to get their articles published, they have the option to pay for it.
Hmm. When I first started out with EzineArticles, it took less than 24 hours to approve an article.
I submitted an article last Thursday (I think) and am still waiting for it to be approved.
Now, using my amazing powers of deduction, it seems EzineArticles has grown by leaps and bounds – both in new authors and adsense revenue.
New editors are hired but it seems the workload is just too much. What to do? A new service.
I'm all for it but I won't be using it since I no longer sumit on a regular basis. Just wish for the good old days when the turnaround rate was swifter.
I think this is a great idea, both from your standpoint and from your users standpoint.
You're in business to make money and offering a premium service with greater benefits in exchange for money, makes great sense.
As to those people who feel "cheated" because high ranking article listings are no longer free, they are the ones who need to grow up and stop living in the make-believe world of entitlement.
That is diametrically opposed to successful thinking, anyway. In business, you can only measure ROI. That means return on investment.
And you can't have an ROI if your investment is zero. If you're not willing to invest in your business, then you don't have a business.
It's been a long time since I've submitted articles, but seeing this has fired me up again and I've already contacted my assistant to start cranking up the machine once again.
Good luck with your new program. Count me in!
Yes, we have authors who have more money than time and know they would appreciate a speed pass.
Yes, we would like to offer this premium membership to help us attract more revenues so that we can continue to expand and hire the best people possible. The best people in the market are not the cheapest, but they make less mistakes and are more efficient at production.
It's a lot of things… There used to be a day when one editor could review an article alone and it was enough. Now every article is touched by two humans along with an array of additional proprietary software tools to identify when we're dealing with truly original content.
We'll be at 40 full-time humans behind-the-scenes by mid-Summer if not sooner. Seems like our efficiency per person has gone down as our head-count has gone up; but that's an operational thing that will improve over the year as we continue to innovate.
Our primary focus is on investing heavily to improve everyone's experience when interacting with EzineArticles.com. We operate with the fear that a stronger competitor is just around the corner. The only way to beat them is to provide a significantly better user experience through innovation, listening to the feedback loop, and workin' our tail off.
What has also sky-rocketed: The millions of monthly visitors we send to our members. Our value proposition is stronger and our system of attracting pre-qualified eyeballs to visit your website has strengthened as our market trust improves.
I'm more than busy improving my new site and rebuilding (yet!!) my old site, and interpreting dreams, etc!. But I saw quickly this page!
My opinion? I believe that the fast service must be free for the best authors.
I also believe that EzineArticles must pay the best authors for submitting here their wonderful articles! There are many sites that pay the content producers.
Have you considered a once in a life time fee like Knowledge News?
So what you're saying is that perhaps rather than us improving our speed of service on the article review and/or member support side… that you'd rather see a premium membership where we help you save time by submitting your articles to us?
We're looking for ways to improve the leverage of the expertise & systems we have in-house while saving our members time.
If you're an entrepreneur; they say you should never trade time for money, but for many; it makes great business sense to trade money to buy back 'free time'.
One of our focuses is to significantly improve the article submission process speed for everyone. This is a great priority for us because we want our members to have more time to write articles rather than be bogged down by the article submission process.
We're considering a lot of possibilities right now. Not sure.
It would not bother me to have this option available. Whether I, personally, took advantage of it or not is another question. I probably wouldn't right now.
But I can see where those who submit time-sensitive material that needs to be published quickly could be offered the ability to pay a little extra to get this done.
A reasonable price for this service would be $50-$100 per year.
I would definitely be willing to pay for expedited processing of my articles.
Just stuff to keep my spirits up, as oftentimes uncertainty creeps in when you are in the throes of a three week article marketing bender.
But, even with Stuart Smalley stuff left out, I would be more than happy to contribute if it's offered.
I like this idea, but PLEASE have a monthly fee, not just annual. Some of us absolutely can't afford to pay a large chunk of change all at once, no matter how important the service may be. If the service was $72 per year, I'd be perfectly willing to pay $10 per month for 12 months just to avoid having to pay that much all at once, because it would be way out of my budget to pay $72 all at once.
To me, it would depend on what the cost would be to see if it was worthwhile.
I would weigh what the cost is as compared to what the article is actually doing for me and my site. If I write a new page, it's a matter of the article helping that page get indexed more quickly…sometimes. The matter of more visitors to my site….I would have to gauge what I am getting monetarily from that compared to your charge.
You are asking for an opinion when we don't have an inkling of whether it would be $5.00 or $100.00.
I know the value of your Directory to me. I do think it's a good thing that you are contemplating this as an option so that it can be considered.
I understand the need to develop new revenue streams but there seems to be two questions here.
2. Need to streamline the editorial process.
The more articles that are accepted the more pages are available for AdSense revenues so it makes sense that you would want to get the articles on the site ASAP.
I'm a professional writer. That's how I make my living. I've turned my writing skills into developing websites and promoting those websites through article writing and distribution. And of course I'm paid to write articles. I have an article on freelancing on the Internet in the upcoming July issue of the hard copy The Writer Magazine.
EzineArticles.com is one of the better article directories which is why I submit here.
The way I look at it is, I'm giving you articles in exchange for traffic. You require exclusivity of the article to my name. I'm not in favor of now having to pay for the privilege of having articles published on EzineArticles.com.
Yes, I know you're not charging me to publish, only to go to the head of the line. However I see it as the first step to being charged to be published.
If the problem is streamlining the editorial process, is there a way to flag those authors who rarely have an article rejected so they only have to go through a minimal editorial review?
As other people have stated, the speed to accept an article has already slowed due to many reasons, I currently have eight articles pending.
I think you should have a top rank of authors, authors who have been submitting articles regularly over the longer term, people such as Lance for example. These authors should, in my opinion receive priority without the need to pay. They are the life blood of EzineArticles and have been very loyal to the site. The site has no doubt been very beneficial to them in return of course.
For members who only submit the odd article they could perhaps pay for a priority listing.
Lance where are you? What do you think to this idea?
Nice plug for the new site Christina!
I am surprised that you are still allowing this form of spam Chris after stating that you are going to put an end to the practice.
There are many ways to monotize the site Chris. Do you have a web promotion DVD on sale as I am sure you would sell thousands of them, not to mention ebooks.
You have only two items in your shop which no doubt sell very well, these both concentrate on article marketing. I am sure people would like to hear your opinions on other forms of web promotion.
Why not write a book about yourself, your history, likes and dislikes, the story of EzineArticles from start to where it is at now? I would buy it!
This time next year you could be a billionaire, as opposed to the millionaire that you are currently. You could then employ 4000 staff. WOW just think of that.
I think this is a great idea for those who desire a faster level of approval. I hope you would consider an additional level of service where a person could choose to pay a additional fee per article rather than a flat monthly reoccurring fee to expedite an article.
This isn't the slippery slope that I think you may be perceiving it as.
We're always streamlining the editorial review processes…that will never end, regardless as to whether a member pays to go to the front of the queue or not.
We have a huge incentive to streamline the article submission process and review/acceptance process… because this leads to happier members…who in turn become more engaged with us.
I would support it just for the fact that EzineArticles is a great source for quality traffic by maintaining good quality standards and I am appreciative.
Hard to say a price point without a concrete set of services.
I will be extremely interested in how this works out for you. Seems to me that this could go in three directions.
– Nothing will change for the non-paying members. This will fly under the radar and everyone will be happy.
– Your reviews for the non-paying members will slow down even more, resulting in possible problems.
– Your paying members will not grow to the expectations you might have and you abandon the project.
I really think it will come down to how the non-paying authors are treated. If they see no difference then I think you have a hit. But if they see a slow down because paying people are jumping in front of them, they may have a problem with it.
All this being said, personally I would continue submitting to EzineArticles whether I pay or not and whether reviews slow down or not. The volume of traffic coming from your directory to the author websites is nothing short of monumental…and that's what it all comes down to…getting people to your business.
Provided that it isn't too costly, I think it is a good idea.
I don't think we will charge a per-article fee because managing micro-payments is expensive… but I also won't rule it out.
We hear that from members quite a bit that they would like a higher level of personalized service from our review team when an article isn't accepted.
The challenge in providing this is that we're setup to be an operationally efficient business rather than a highly customer-intimate business. Conflicting focuses.
Thanks for your comments (and that of everyone's so far) as you're providing us with excellent insight into what's important to you.
I've recently written an article about this topic.
If you can garantee that EA's solution will not impact the standard service, than go for it. BTW: Do we get to know the other 49+ projects on your list too?
This is sort of like Economy vs. 1st Class service on an airline, no?
Either way, you still arrive at the destination but a small handful get to board & leave the plane quicker and in some cases, their baggage comes off the rack sooner. If you value speed, you win; if you don't value speed, you still win and saved a few more bucks.
If you have enough people complaining about timeliness then offer a premium service to them. There is no consistency now……….sometimes they are approved in one day and then the next is 6 days.
It seems that all sides of this issue have been discussed. I can only say that you need to do what you need to do. While I appreciate your asking our opinion it sounds to me that if you can find a way to do this thing you are headed in that direction.
For those of us who may not be able to pay for this fee, we will have to live with whatever the results are.
As for Craig's comments, I feel sufficiently grown up, my business just isn't. So I am looking for things that don't cost me money and this has been a great place. If Chris decides to change things my new venture will still not be grown up enough to pay for a premium service. But, such is life!
It's kind of like a "they think they're better than me" feeling. The question is, how many of the coach passengers would take it before they switch to another carrier?
EA is definitely the one that guarantees you get there, but will another one have better seats?
Since I became a platinum member my articles get reviewed within four days which is fine with me.
My opinion is I don't mind the new premium membership for those who are using EzineArticles for their main article marketing and can afford to pay the extra money as long as the free service to regular and platinum members remains the same.
Chris, one feedback regarding your new service is to weigh in the balance if this new servce is worth all the hard work and extra hours your business would be putting in. Yes it may bring in extra revenue but in the end would it be worth your time and energy? Just some things to think about.
So I'm happy to pay for a faster response with getting articles online. The Web is becoming MUCH more competitive; I can see a huge difference between now and this time last year.
Anything which helps us to get noticed online is worth paying for, so I'm very interested in a premium service.
As you said, this service will be primarily valuable to people already making money online, and will help them to be competitive.
For those people just starting out, it will be less valuable, and until they start making some money, your free service will continue to be a great tool for them.
I would welcome the pay-to-play submissions!
Just keep it so we can all join in and have fun!
I don't mind an optional paid service for quicker review.
High volume writers could buy (discounted) bulk credits.
Christopher. No. I prefer the old system. If I were "leader" of EzineArticles: Firstly, "quality". To be frank, there are many poor articles ("opinion"…) from top authors (500-1000 articles). "Money vs quality". Quantity is not quality…visits per day? Under the new system the quality will be deteriorate. Many talented people can not write (Third World countries).
I would be really interested in this if you would also provide approval for articles on saturday and sunday.
I'm not really sure I see a major benefit of this service. If you submit articles regularly, whether it's 1 a week or 10 a day, then you'll have your articles published at the same rate surely – 1 a week or 10 a day, even though there will be a delay of 5 days or whatever for each specific article.
This would only be of benefit for the first few articles you submit, once you've got that regular flow or consistent submission rate it makes no difference surely?
I like the idea of faster approval, but what I would love to see more than anything is more options for greater exposure! Even with this new idea, okay your articles are approved and posted a few days earlier, but then they just get buried as more and more come in right after. Not that they still don't get exposure – but I'd definitely pay for a way to keep them front and center for a longer period of time.
Maybe a bidding system for front page placement like I've seen done elsewhere, or maybe a "premium articles" insert at the top of each topic section?? Just some ideas for you to add to your list.
I am torn by this entire idea. I agree, at times I may not have a large chunk of money to invest in publishing my articles. I also write sporadically making a "premium service" less important to me. I am impatient, but have other things to do while waiting for my articles to get published. Now, what I would really like is the article feedback. That WOULD be worth some money because it will help improve my writing skills and let me know I am getting the correct message across.
Like most things in life, you get what you pay for. I guess for me, the deciding factor would be the knock on effect for those that don't pay.
I understand the problems you're facing, but good, committed authors, may well be penalised because they can't afford to pay. Do you have any idea of how much longer non paying customers will have to wait compared to the waiting times now?
If it's only a couple of extra days, it shouldn't make too much difference. But if a non paying author will have to wait a week or possibly longer because paying customers keep 'jumping the queue', then you could be in trouble.
I think charging a fee for impatient authors wanting faster publishing is fine. Personally, the turn-around (even the slower turn-around) isn't really a problem. If I had a complaint, it would be that the turn-around time is inconsistent. I try to space my writing/submission so that my articles appear somewhat regularly. With the longer and inconsistent lag time, this has become impossible. I can submit 3 articles and have them all published on the same day 3 days later, or I the 2nd one I submit might be published 3 days later, and the 1st one 5 days later, and the 3rd one 7 days later.
I wouldn't even mind a 7-day publishing time frame. But it would be nice if I submitted an article a day to have them published 1 a day.
It will be quite an inspiring idea. Ezine has always been highly cooperative and responsive to the requests of the authors.
It is sad to say that this has to be an improvement to your present level of service which has declined dramatically in recent months. I also think it is sad that a site as successful as this has not found it possible to maintain its previous high level of service which used to see my articles approved in a matter of hours (frequently as little as 2 or 3 hours). I guess its just another sign of the world we live in today.
A good idea, but a sad day!
You say that this is unlikely to interfere with the present turn around/approval of articles for non-paying members. As a Platinum author I hope this is correct but I just can't see how this will be the case.
I don't like the idea personally as in many similar cases that I have experienced once payment for premium service is introduced into the equation the service to those who cannot afford to pay deteriorates despite all efforts to the contrary.
I also believe this will be inclined to take away the incentive for authors to strive to qualify as Platinum particularly those who can afford to pay for "jump the queue" service .
Taking the above factors into consideration I can only conclude this is purely a "revenue raiser".
I think you should be very careful that you don't alienate the very people who helped you put your business in the position it is today.
I'm not sure I like the idea, but I'm stressing over other issues, far more intense at the moment. So, I haven't given this a lot of serious thought.
You have a great article directory and if the new service provides you with more income, allowing you to stay in business, then I'm all for it.
To everyone who is worried about this being the opening gambit for a pay-per-publish site, I wouldn't worry about that, the market is fiercely competitive. The vultures would swoop in right away to provide free article sites if we started getting charged.
Chip: I agree… the market is fiercely competitive.
Norman: It's a revenue raiser. Sure. We're not hiding the motive. More revenue = better quality of service and increased consistency.
Don: 2-3 hour turn around speed on a consistent basis is very expensive to deliver. Heck, we're investing in new systems to improve our accuracy as that's as important to us as 'consistency of review'. We have a 3 month plan here to improve that we'll be sharing as new systems come online that are in development right now.
All: I guess it's human nature to be cynical and think that our service will degrade for everyone who doesn't become a premium member. It's as if you think we won't care unless you pay us money. That's simply not true as this premium level fee (the amount which has not been decided on yet) will only be a fraction of the true cost to deliver the service. Our primary model will continue to be ad-supported.
Cheree: I expect the consistency of our service to improve for everyone in the middle of July when we make a major QC process change we're already on plan to achieve. Sorry that we're not able to deliver a more consistent article review services today. It's something we're aware of and working on.
Susan: If premium members keep 'jumping the queue', then we'll be in a better position to continue to hire more editors.
I expect the bulk of our membership WILL NOT become a paying premium member. It would be pretty dumb of us to not pay attention to the needs of the BULK majority of our members.
Wendy: We've thought about this also. Right now, we have too many ideas and that's why we chunked down this premium service into something very simple to understand and implement. Once done, it'll open up our ability to add other business-class services that I'll save for another discussion.
All: The ability to schedule when an article is released is a premium level feature already on our drawing board.
P.Pal: Guaranteed Saturday & Sunday article review and Member Support is probably not going to happen due to premium labor costs and lack of member interest in perceiving it as valuable.
Filoiann: I was thinking the same thing. We won't roll this premium service out unless I'm perfectly convinced that it'll have a significant positive impact after all of the additional time & capital is invested to deliver it.
All: Feels like we really set ourselves up for failure when we catch up some weeks and are ahead of the incoming loads vs. other weeks when we're 7k+ articles behind (like the past month). ie: If we catch up and can provide faster service, we normally will want to do that; but then a false expectation is set that our members think we can guarantee that speed of service when in fact, we don't have the excess labor to deliver it every day.
Allen: I flew coach from SFO back to Wisconsin this past week..so I know what it's like to be in the back of the plane in seats with a tiny pitch that has my knees jammed into the seat in front of me… but flying 1st would have solved my problems (I value SPEED and I'm 6'1″ tall plus I like computering while in flight (nearly impossible in coach)) regardless as to which major airline I'd be on.
I do agree that this will be successful if our non-paying members don't feel like they are missing anything critical to their business. I belong to plenty of free-based websites where I don't feel left out at all by not being a premium member.
All who have posted so far: Thank you! Your input is appreciated!
Let's be honest, this has very little to do with providing a better service to your writers (who have seen the service decline considerably over the past year) and has everything to do with making money.
EzineArticles.com is an extremely successful and very profitable site not simply because of your past business model but because you have a team of high quality writers providing you with thousands of dollars worth of free content every day which you are able to monetorize to very good effect because of the standing the site in the eyes of the search engines.
To suggest that the service will not decline further for those who decide not to become premium members simply flies in the face of the evidence.
The sad fact is that all successful Internet entrepreneurs eventually loose their passion and focus their attention on the bottom line and that is exactly what is happening here.
Yes, speed deserves a premium. But there is an inherent anomaly in charging a uniform rate, preferably per year, because some high producing authors will submit upto 5000 articles while some may submit only upto say 100.
Article slabs will be a better idea.
This reminds me of PRWeb.com, with their generic free membership, and their paid subscription levels.
I would say that if you're going to start charging, do a better job of weeding out the crap articles. The other day I came by to visit and there was a "most viewed" list that you had posted. The first article I clicked on was utter, keyword-phrase-stuffed junk.
Why are you letting this stuff pass?? Make it truly prestigious to be a part of the EzineArticles.com experience. Then maybe more people would pay for high priority service. Get the forty editors to put their foot down already. Then maybe the guy who said he'd pay for compliments (ha ha!! so funny) can know that he's not just getting sweet-talked.
I am new to the business of submitting articles, but I would like to add my "two bits".
I would not have any real problem with your proposal to pay for preferential review so long as the review time for non-paying authors is not extended beyond the present length of up to 7 days approximately.
I agree with Dan that, provided it is consistent, the length of time required to review your articles should not greatly affect the frequency at which they are published. I can appreciate that some articles could be time sensitive and it would be helpful to be able to pay to have them reviewed with the least delay.
Michelle's comment regarding paying for article feed-back interests me, though it would be one more task to squeeze into your schedule. That idea would be of more benefit to Newbies than to experienced authors.
I agree with Norman Holden's point that paying for preferential review would erode the value of gaining Platinum status. That would be a pity. Would it be practical to give greater preference to Platinum Authors with regard to reviewing their articles? Again, with a view to preserving the status of Platinum authors, payment for preferential review might be restricted to Platinum authors only.
I look forward to hearing how this goes. Any chance we can get an update in the future as far as how it's working for you on the backend?
Do you have a better idea yet as to when you will implement this one?
p.s. I am 6′ 4″ and I flew all over the country (US) in my last J.O.B.
My first thought is that I'm not comfortable with the idea. I know you keep emphasizing "what if the current speed isn't affected by the premium level?" Realistically, I just don't see how that would happen. The fact is that speed for those who choose NOT to pay would get slower.
About a year ago you mentioned something similar to this without a cost, but instead based on # of articles you've submitted. (platinum, gold, silver, expert, basic levels I think is what you called it).
I liked that idea better because it rewards those of us who are regularly providing EzineArticles with high quality and high content which benefits both of us.
Is that idea now off the drawing table with this fee based one replacing it? As I recall, you got A LOT of positive feedback from people when you pitched this idea.
So really all it is, is making it a bit faster for articles to go 'live'? Nothing else? If you are an experienced marketer and doing a lot of different marketing tactics, I don't think it's that big of deal to have to wait.
I think Dina has a great point in comment 55 above about article quality.
Some of the articles on EzineArticles are very poor, and it does no-one any favours, least of all the authors who DO provide quality, informative, useful and well written articles.
First I am not a NEWBIE feed back will help when they are slashing your article to pieces! Second, I feel the quality of your articles must improve. I just submitted an article I was very unhappy with due to the many restrictions placed on my by your editors. I have read articles that are very short (251 words) with very little real content. Just JUNK! So, unless that can also be addressed the people writing the junk will just write more of it and pay to have it published!
Michelle: Members who become premium members will not be granted any editorial or membership favors beyond speed of review and speed of email support priority. I thought I made that very clear that we can not be bought into accepting crappy thin articles.
Dan & Dina: I agree and this is an ongoing objective for us to continually raise the editorial standards that new article submissions must meet to be accepted.
Alyssa: Yes, you're referring to a new level of membership status that would represent QUALITY & QUANTITY instead of only QUANTITY (what Platinum is now). This never got off the ground because we have had an impossible time figuring out how to draw the quality line so that it was fair and consistent… In addition, we didn't believe it would lead to an increase in article submissions to warrant all of the alienation that would occur if an expert author didn't feel 'respected' because we didn't agree with their quality levels.
The idea is NOT off the drawing board.
Other quality-focused things are on deck right now that are more important…that I'll be able to talk about in the coming month.
Allen: "WHEN" is a great question. I thought within a few weeks to a month if all objections were handled. This is one of several concurrent changes on deck that we're evaluating.
Right now, I just authorized more servers (most people don't know that we've been adding 2 or more dedicated servers every month this year) because I believe we could make more money if we can improve the speed of our member experience… IE: The goal is a frictionless & fast article submission experience, regardless as to whether you paid a premium to get your article or email support question to the front of the line.
Norm: The "pay for feedback" would be something we may never offer due to the huge cost to provide such compared to what we perceive we could charge for it.
Let me give you an analogy of what that would be like: You go to McDonalds to order fries, but instead of paying your money-getting the fries-and running, you want the person behind the counter to explain for 12 minutes how they made the fries, where this batch came from, what kind of cooking oil they are using, what changes they've experienced in the quality of their fries and so on. McDonald's isn't setup to give that level of service and to provide intelligent responses to such questions would be hugely labor expensive.
We did consider only allowing Platinum authors to become premium members, but the reality is that less than 9% of our members are Platinum and Platinum doesn't mean that their articles are QUALITY only. Many many many many of our BASIC level members have article qualities that far exceed our Platinum members content. Not always, but enough that we've learned to treat BASIC level members with respect until they prove they deserve otherwise.
Don: So you really think our service has declined considerably over the past year, eh? You must not be seeing the MILLIONS of visitors we're delivering our members this month that we weren't delivering this same time last year.
You are wrong about this Internet entrepreneur. I love this job and I'm far from bored.
You are right, that we are under pressure to improve revenue as I currently perceive that we're leaving a lot on the table compared to what we're delivering.
If you came here for link building, you've found the wrong tool for that purpose. Being on EzineArticles is about exposure and attracting pre-qualified visitors back to your website where you can monetize that traffic & convert them from prospects to clients.
Do you really think that taking 7 days to approve an article is an improvement over the 6 hours it took a year ago?
Do you really believe that declining perfectly acceptable articles for no good reason at all while allowing people to post thousands of cra**y articles is an improvement.
I have been submitting articles to you for a long time now and indeed an amongst the top 150 of your more than 94,000 authors so I think I know what I am talking about when I say that as a customer the service which you provide to me has declined.
As you say yourself "You are right, that we are under pressure to improve revenue as I currently perceive that we're leaving a lot on the table compared to what we're delivering." This is about making money and not improving your service.
Christopher, I don't want to start an argument here but please read what people are saying here. They are not happy with the performance of your current bank of editors and you will not convince anyone that introducing a paid service will not result in a further worsening of the service for those who remain as free users.
You will also have a hard time convincing people that you are not already enjoying a very considerable revenue from the site!
You've chosen to not reveal who you are to everyone else in this blog and I respected that choice.
Your comments have been heard.
I am new to the world of ezine publishing and only on the threshold of what it is all about.
I guess I'm looking for a hand to become more effective in web marketing for my site.
For me, speed doesn't matter much as you are as fast reviewing as I am in generating articles. What would be good is feedback on what I write from your reviewers; and direct consultancy so that I make the most of this medium for my business development.
Your ezine guidance articles are very helpful. Please tell me how you syndicate articles, whether I can influence this and if I can find out which articles have been taken up where.
I have been watching this thing unfold since the first comments. I am amazed at the direction this simple question has taken. While I am new to the article writing business, I feel like I do my best to provide quality content to my readers. Now what I consider to be quality content might not make you jump up and down but as any new writer knows you can never get off the ground if no one will publish what you write.
Chris, as far as I can tell you are doing a good job. If you feel like this premium service will benefit some and not harm the rest then go for it!
At the end of the day I believe that you are going to go down this route despite what anyone says – I just hope that you do not live to regret your decision.
I wouldn't mind a premium service – assuming it is really low cost. And I agree with the comments that it should be a monthly fee and not an annual fee. I understand that an annual fee would be easier for you to manage and would create a reliable source of income but there are months when I publish so few articles, I would be happy to wait for "regular" service.
Speaking of which, it seems that the time required to review my articles grows longer by the week. Will we ever see an improvement in this?
There has always been an unwritten rule when it comes to article marketing. This "rule" states that the article authors will give content to the directory in exchange for the backlinks. Nowhere have I ever heard of any guarantees about timeliness.
I always hear us authors getting upset because the directory owner makes money…well, we got our backlinks right? Deal done. Why should we be concerned with what the directory owner is doing with his end of the deal?
As a few article direcetories have become successful from awesome marketing and a lot of hard work, I am seeing more and more demands being placed on them that were never assumed before!
If the service degrades further, then it is what it is. If I want backlinks and traffic from EzineArticles, then I just have to deal with it.
After reading most comments I think the older members of EzineArticles (myself included) haven't been sold on the value of this new service since we remember getting speedy article approval rates from the beginning.
If you do go this route, I would address this "problem" so you don't alienate those who already are loyal members and who have added much value to EzineArticles.
When you look at your throughput levels of article approvals, number of editors, processing time, etc., consider the 80-20 rule.
You probably spend 80% of editors' time on 20% of the articles submitted and 20% of their time on 80% of the articles. The slowest, worst authors drag down the efficiency of the whole process for everyone.
[Reading articles approved in recent months it is clear that many authors submitting articles struggle with basic competence in the English language. This has got to take loads of time for your editors to deal with.
So keep scores on authors/submissions/rejections.
You already keep score on number of submissions. Just add a private (between you and the author) score on rejections, with say, A as O.K. passed first time, B bounced for a simple mistake like a non-working link C. returned for a more serious error, D. returned for substantial re-write F. returned for complete re-write; or use some similar graduated scale.
Then give the faster service for free to the Platinum plus authors with A-B averages. Charge the rest for faster service (because these are the ones that are slowing things down).
You will thus encourage the better quality authors who tax your approval system the LEAST, which will mean more of them, more articles from them and faster, lower-cost throughput for quality articles for you.
You will get compensated by the others, the C-grade and below, to pay for and offset the cost of their drag on the productivity of your approval system.
And you process the rest, who can't or don't care or don't care enough to either A. submit quality, no problem articles or B. pay, when you have the time.
You want to encourage something, like better articles that you can approve faster and at lower cost to you, then make it easier for the authors of such articles.
You want to increase your bottom line, identify the high-cost articles to process and charge the authors (pass on your higher costs) for a fast service.
And use the rest for filler, handling them as you do now.
Don't just add an across-the-board charge for speed, where the non-problem authors have to pay to offset the higher costs of processing articles from authors who are more writing-challenged.
That would tend to drive away many good authors and attract and bring in more marginal ones.
It's really been very interesting reading all the comments about the possibility of a premium service for faster article approval.
It is the authors choice whether or not he or she makes use of the service. From what Chris has said, the difference would be that those who pay for it would have their article pushed to the front of the line.
If you want speedier acceptance, then pay for it. If you are happy with waiting, then don't pay for it.
Your article isn't going to get treated any different as far as being approved or not, just the speed in approval will be affected. No one is going to receive any preferential treatment.
I agree that a monthly subscription rate would be best. As one of the posters said early on, for those of us in the process of building a business, a large yearly fee is sometimes difficult for us to manage.
Overall, I think the concept is good and whether to use it or not is clearly a personal choice. So, I say, Go for it Chris!
I may be blind and daffy, but I'm not sure I see a decline in service here. My articles are still #1 on Google just days after I post them, for keywords – not title. They also show up near the top of Yahoo, and several other search engines. When they show up at the top of the search engines, the beating drums get the message out.
The quality of articles often ebs and flows with who is writing the articles. That's the content providers and different writers create different levels of quality. What Dina considers high-quality, may lack emphasis or style as compared to Jeff. Or visa versa. The point being, each person has their own veriation of quality, and EzineArticles does a good job of allowing each individual's style to come through.
Not everyone writes tight copy and hardline perfection.
So many messages in my inbox!! I really don't have time to read what everyone in this thread said, but I want to say something else: in the beginning, when I was a newbie, I used to wait until my articles would be approved and I wanted very much to become a Platinum member, etc.
Now I really don't care. As soon as I finish writing an article and my reviser revises it, I submit it to EzineArticles and then to one of my blogs and many other sites, without waiting for EA's approval.
And you know what? I have 50 visitors guaranteed for each article as soon as I publish it in one of my blogs (and of course, many other visitors follow later!). This result is much better than the result I have when I have a fresh article at EzineArticles.
So, when the EA's team decides to finally accept my article, I already have received a lot of traffic from it.
And the traffic is all mine: it goes to my blogs – it doesn't go first to EzineArticles or any other site.
Wow! This really stirred up the pot. It's easy to sit on the outside and underestimate how difficult it is to balance service to the authors, service to the visitors we are all after, income, and efficiency. Particularly when you can't really predict what the volume of submissions will be at any given time.
I'm far from one of the most prolific authors on here, but hoping to change that in the near future. I can still track definite increases in traffic and list sign ups to article submissions. I wish I had been around when it was working better than it does now!
I do agree that I see some crappy articles (in my opinion) get through, but I haven't had any trouble whatsoever getting any article through that I took time and care putting together. I see the efforts being taken to stop the junk from getting through. Nothing is perfect.
The net effect of all that is I can see a definite advantage to a premium service. I know from my own business experience that this could provide the means to actually provide better service in the long run. Most people would roll right along as they always have and get the benefit of improved systems funded by those paying for the premium service.
Of course it could go the way some have imagined and turn into a service valuable only to those who pay, but I think there are economic incentives enough to prevent that.
Instead of making this a monthly or yearly fee, I was thinking about maybe introducing a 'credit' system where authors can actually purchase credits for their account and where maybe a single credit would be worth around 2$ to 3$ and would get their article 'guaranteed' approval within 24 hours?
Also I must say that it is not surprising that many people have taken this opportunity to actually attack you on your revenues from this top notch directory….
This article directory strives on original unique content, if it didn't then we wouldnt see our articles getting ranked in the top 10 of google within a few days of approval.
Final thoughts… Chris, give it a try and we can all see how it works out, and congrats on your success of running such a top notch high quality directory which is not only loved by its members, but also by the almighty Google!
We're both in business, that's why we are here. At the same time, creating a fee for faster review seems to erode one of my reasons to become a Platinum author.
Additionally, to try and comment intelligently on a fee structure without the benefit of a fee model to evaluate is more than difficult.
Iwould suggest outlining a possible model, or more than one model, and then ask us to evaluate and comment.
In the past, I've spent many years proposing changes but none of these proposed changes were void of minimum outlines of the details that needed to be considered.
Fact: EzineArticles expert authors who are PROFIT driven are MORE ideal to us than authors/members who are not profit driven.
Everyone here is exchanging their time & expertise for traffic & exposure.
You take that traffic & exposure in the form of qualified leads to your website where you then convert or monetize the additional visitors to become paying clients of yours.
We're simply considering adding priority queue for those who are already profiting from the EzineArticles system.
If you didn't already get 50,000 page views for your EzineArticles and 500-750+ URL clicks… you may not be an ideal client for the premium member speed service.
Said another way: If you didn't already profit from EzineArticles, then we prefer that you stay a free level member until you do.
Why: We're always about making sure you GET more than you pay for; including getting more traffic bang for your time investment.
For those who think service will become really crappy for non-paying non-premium members: You're wrong.
I've seen at least 7 new editor candidates in our hallways this week already interviewing and know that we're hiring even more editors (regardless as to whether we offer this premium level of service or not) and I just returned from touring a 2,000 sq. ft. addition to our existing 2500 sq. ft. office.
We're already motivated by the fact that we know that faster article reviews = increased submissions.
Price: If SPEED & PRIORITY is the deliverable for what you pay for by becoming a premium EzineArticles client/member, then you might compare this to the difference between a coach vs. 1st class airfare ticket.
Coach round trip here in the USA is about $250-$600 per trip and 1st class is about $600-$1300 round trip…so the difference for the speed of priority boarding & unboarding, priority luggage handling sometimes and better legroom/food service is about $500-$750 in cost per trip.
But this not a perfect comparison.
I'd prefer that you think about this speed & priority deliverable as being an advertising/marketing investment.
If you're not already investing $10k or more annually in advertising or marketing your business, you may not be an ideal client for our premium service; no different than you might not fly 1st class if you earn min. wage. Hey, we all gotta start somewhere.
UPS/Fedex/DHL charges about $6-$8 USD to deliver a package via GROUND service here in the USA… but they also offer an express overnight delivery option for about $12-$27 USD… a premium of about 2x to 3x the regular ground cost.
If you're currently paying nothing because our service is free, then the real cost is your time and the ROI is equal to the quantitative fair market value of the traffic per lead generated and the qualitative value of the exposure opportunities that come your way (media interviews, job opps, high-profile pubs that pick up your content, etc.) because of your content on our high traffic site.
Yes, of course we're grateful for the 98% of our members who may never become premium clients and we won't stop daily improving our service to everyone… no different than any major theme park continues to run a clean, safe & efficient entertainment experience whether you pay for the ride waiting line speed pass or not.
At some point, the economic and other value you receive from EzineArticles HAS to exceed your perception of the time you invest to engage us and submit your quality original articles; otherwise you wouldn't make the continual investment of energy to do so.
This is my third comment on this idea. I think that a lot has been said and Chris I respect your willingness to take the heat from some of your customers.
I am new to this game and really don't have a dog in this fight (at least not yet) but I am finally coming to the conclusion that Chris is trying to do right by everyone here.
Anytime you offer a free service and an outlet to get information to the greatest number of people, folks like us will take advantage of it. That said, when things go well and the word gets out more and more people come in to get the benefits (can anyone say Southern California). This has produced slower times for some of you who were here first, but for those of us who are new arrivals we don't know any different.
For those of you who have been around for a while and whose businesses are more established and financially secure, Chris seems to be offering an alternative. Whatever the cost (within reason) it should be something for you to consider. While I can't fly first class as I travel today, I certainly hope I can someday soon!
Dave – In one sense you are correct by saying that EzineArticles is offering its authors a free service but don't get blinded by this. If I want an article written I will have to pay about $7 to $10 or more for a good quality article. EzineArticles receives thousands of such articles every day which they have turned into a content rich site which the search engines love and which brings in a huge of amount of traffic which they turn into cash through Adsense advertising.
As somebody who has tested the water by running an article directory I can tell you that if you do it right it really is 'money for old rope'.
Yes, those authors that have been submitting articles for some time also benefit and I have had hundreds of thousands of page views for my own articles which have driven significant traffic to my sites from which I have earned a fair amount of money.
This relationship has worked well for a long time now and works perfectly well for many of the other top articles directories. Yes, EzineArticles is very much a 'top tier' directory but it is far from being the only high PR high traffic directory and I also receive substantial traffic and thus income from articles submitted to other directories for which I make no payment and can get my article published far more quickly that I can now here.
The model on which EzineArticles has operated so far, and on which the other top directories also operate, works just fine and both parties happily profit from it. I believe that there is no sound case for altering the balance now and profiting further by simply upsetting those partners with whom EzineArticles has worked to help grow the businesses of both is not a very good idea.
This is a simple concept therefore complicating it is useless. If your articles bring you enough revenue then going premium should not be a problem but if you are not generating enough revenue then you should stay with the free service it's as simple as that. I am just waiting for this to come into existence as this concept would be real interesting.
Speed is my middle name, actually "speedy" and I like fast service where ever I go. My favorite Starbucks knows my drink and starts making it when I drive into the parking lot. I like that a lot.
Don't you love it when your favorite coffee is ready for intravenious injection when you get there?
Sheesh, I'd be a millionaire if I didn't drink Breve Cremes.
Getting the articles approved fast would make a big difference. I'm not sure thought that I would be will to pay much many an extra $10 per month or something like that.
I am actually eagerly waiting for some word on pricing, ETA, etc – as I think it's a great idea, and well worth supporting – especially by those of us who make our living online. Speed has a tangible value – and one that you can really only appreciate if the ebb and flow of your income relies on it.
In my humble opinion – if a subset of the EzineArticles community feels it's a worthwhile expenditure of a small part of our marketing dollars to fund FAST on the article marketing side- (which translates into more predictability for me on the profit and scheduling side) and adds a new stream of revenue for EzineArticles as a benefit, and the other authors don't suffer as a consequence ( which I agree is centrally important to continued success for ALL) – how can the proposed implementation of the idea be a bad thing? If you don't want it – don't pay for it – or am I missing something?
Ultimately – it's a symbiotic relationship through and through. If speed suffers for non premium members ( who undoubedtly will represent the vast measure of the membership) EzineArticles suffers as well – ( people quit, leave or mutter nasty things under their breath as they type) If it works – it's quiet, seamless, and in the background – an efficient way for those who have a lot of skin in the deal invested, on both sides of the street, to stay motivated and innovative alike.
That's a fine line we've already decided to never cross.
Hey, do you like the new feature that we added earlier this week for high volume members where you can now see ALL of your PENDING articles instead of only the first 10?
Wait till you see the new cool graphical reports that everyone will get access to in a few days to a week. I just saw the internal demo and it'll help many of our members to get a better visual understanding of the performance of their articles.
Our first dozen Premium members have trickled through as we test the back-end systems before going officially live with these features.
Being a Premium member does not guarantee your articles will be accepted.
All article submissions must still meet our editorial guidelines.
You will not receive editorial favor of any kind.
We reserve the right to deny Premium service to any member at any time for any reason.


All modern commercial ships and most yachts are equipped with AIS and DSC allowing universal worldwide use of the Nautilus Marine Rescue GPS.
No special or dedicated base units required. No registration, subscriptions or service fees required.
Nautilus GPS is waterproof! It is diver depth rated to 425 feet with the cap closed.
Your GPS position accurate to 1.5 metres and a man overboard distress message will be broadcast to all AIS equipped ships up to 34 miles away as well as a special DSC message to the marine radio on your own vessel.
Just keep the o-ring clean and forget about it for the next 5 years!
Each GPS is programmed at our factory with an MID number allowing automatic AIS functionality as soon as your unit is powered up. Your ship's MMSI must be loaded with the simple to use built-in optical sensor to activate DSC functionality.
Your Nautilus GPS floats! It is waterproof in all sea conditions.
The Nautilus GPS is less than half the size of our original radio and is incredibly simple to use. Easy to attach to a BCD or tuck into a pocket.


Milan, 17 April 2019 – A digital graphic novel to tell the story of Pirelli and its 147 years of activity characterized by technology and innovation, in terms of products, corporate culture and communication. The five episodes of "Pirelli an Italian in the world" constitute a kind of 4.0 'company profile' that the company will present through a dedicated platform at www.pirelli.com. The format uses styles and techniques that include illustration, archival images and motion graphic design, offering the viewer the possibility of accessing additional extra content during the viewing.
In the first episode, The Future's Rubber, Giovanni Battista Pirelli, the company's founder, looks from his window in the factory at Sevesetto and asks himself what drives a crowd to rebellion, in May of 1898, as the angry throng moves through streets of Milan. These thoughts and reflections inspire the history of the company and in the second episode set in the 1930s we see his son Alberto inherit his father's entrepreneurial and cultural legacy. Alberto Pirelli, in A Brand is Born, leads Pirelli into tyre production and in its first steps towards internationalization. Pirelli continues to grow through to the middle of the 20th century (1932-1967) and needs to find new forms of communication. It needs a language that is direct and immediately recognizable, a Rubber goes pop – the title of the third episode – as revealed in the first edition of the Pirelli Calendar, in 1963, and the launch of innovative products that revolutionized mobility: the Cinturato.


As modern film award acceptance speeches go, it's a nanosecond long. The couple of minutes in which actor Julie Andrews received her 1964 Golden Globe award for her role in Mary Poppins encapsulate joy, thanks, and humor, as any good award acceptance does. But hers had one thing more, the thing that made it famous: A deft back-handed compliment to the man who didn't cast her in the lead of a competing film, My Fair Lady. Not just any man, either: Her target was Jack Warner, president of Warner Brothers, in front of a film industry crowd that laughed as much in surprise as at the cleverness of her speech.
Like any good film, this has some backstory. Andrews was cast in the lead of My Fair Lady on Broadway in 1956, a role that requires serious singing skills as well as acting skills. The success of the stage version led to plans for a film. Warner Brothers paid an unprecedented $5 million for the film rights. And then they cast the decidedly non-singing actress, Audrey Hepburn--a choice seen as a major slight to Andrews.
But the move freed her to consider Disney's film of Mary Poppins, which is what she was acknowledging when she said, "And, finally, my thanks to a man who made a wonderful movie and who made all this possible in the first place, Mr. Jack Warner."
What can you learn from this famous speech, one of the shortest in our collection?
Shade thrown with a spoonful of sugar: Playing on the persona of her film character, always correct, Andrews managed a competitive one-two punch with such speed and charm that you might almost miss it--except that it wasn't lost on the audience at all. She merely praised Warner and thanked him, but the meaning was clear. It's a great bit of acting: She stayed in character as the sweet, polite woman while showing her competitive spirit.
Speed and brevity help with a surgical strike: This rapid-fire bit of cleverness was over almost before it began, aiding its impact. Andrews didn't need to elaborate, and got the last laugh as a result. Andrews, a good actor, turned to look at Warner with sincerity as she began her last sentence, then turned straight to the audience, starting to laugh at her own joke--two good non-verbal underscores to her verbal punch.
Use your endings for impact: Strong starts are important, but endings offer another opportunity for impact. Placing her dig at the end let Andrews leave the stage with the audience (including Warner) still reacting and applauding.
Andrews got the last laugh in another way, winning best actress awards at this ceremony and at the Academy Awards. Watch the very short video, which includes interviews that tell the story, as well as the speech itself.


WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama promised this time would be different, that if he won re-election, a Republican "fever" would break and legislative gridlock would ease.
Yet just over a month into his second term, Washington is once again mired in a partisan budget battle. And rather than figuring out a way to work with Republicans, Obama is largely ignoring them, trying instead to build public support for his approach to averting automatic budget cuts - and perhaps overplaying his hand if the dire consequences he's warning of are not quickly felt by many Americans.
For their part, Republicans are ignoring Obama, too, choosing biting news conferences on Capitol Hill over negotiations with the president.
As a result, $85 billion is almost certain to be yanked from the nation's budget beginning Friday. After more than two years of bitter, down-to-the-wire negotiations over raising the debt ceiling, shutting down the government and preventing tax hikes on most people, a failure to push off the looming cuts would mark the first time Obama and Congress actually had blown past a crucial economic deadline.
That's hardly the rosy scenario Obama promised as he ran for re-election and tried to convince voters that Washington would be a different place in his second term.
At a fundraiser in June, the president told donors that if he won re-election, "the fever may break, because there's a tradition in the Republican Party of more common sense than that."
"My expectation is that after the election, now that it turns out that the goal of beating Obama doesn't make much sense because I'm not running again, that we can start getting some cooperation again," he added.
Obama advisers insist there are some signs the "fever" has eased since the November election. In a major concession, Republicans gave in to Obama during the year-end "fiscal cliff" negotiations when he insisted on higher tax rates for upper-income earners. And the GOP decided last month to extend the debt limit for three months after previously demanding that any increase be paired with an equal amount of spending cuts.
But that doesn't mean the GOP is ready to give in again as Washington lurches toward Friday's deadline. Some Republicans see the sequester battle as their best opportunity to stand their ground and exact deep spending cuts from Obama - even if it means taking money from the Pentagon, a step Republican lawmakers have traditionally opposed.
After all, many House Republicans believe they have a mandate to cut spending significantly. Despite a dismal national approval rating, the GOP maintained control of the House - even though it lost seats - in the November election, in part by pledging to cut government spending and block Obama's proposals for increasing taxes.
"Republicans feel very strongly that they have a substantive argument on the spending problem, particularly given the way the national debt has increased over the last four years," said Kevin Madden, a Republican strategist and former adviser to GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney. "They believe that in the long run, having fought on those issues is going to be a part of bringing back the Republican Party."
And Obama isn't budging on his insistence on higher tax revenue along with spending cuts.
The White House has warned that the broad-based $85 billion in cuts could affect everything from commercial flights to classrooms to meat inspections. The cuts would slash domestic and defense spending, leading to forced unpaid days off for hundreds of thousands of workers.
But the impact won't be immediate, giving negotiators some breathing room to work on a deal.
That is, if both sides decide to actually start negotiating.
No serious talks to avert the budget cuts are under way, even among White House and congressional staff. There have been no face-to-face meetings between Obama and Republicans this year. And there's been just one known phone call this year between Obama and the top congressional Republicans, House Speaker John Boehner and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.
Instead, Obama is focusing his efforts on rallying public support for his sequester offset plan, including a trip Tuesday to Newport News, Va., an area that could be hurt by the defense cuts. His message to America: The cuts will be drastic; they'll result in job loss, and Republicans will be to blame.
Polling suggests the president's strategy may be working. A new Washington Post-Pew Research poll showed that 45 percent of Americans would blame congressional Republicans if the cuts took effect, while 32 percent would blame Obama. An additional 13 percent said both sides would share in the blame.
But getting the public to blame Republicans doesn't ensure the president gets what he wants in this latest budget battle. It could also deepen the mistrust between the president and congressional Republicans.
And that may put Obama right back where he started: still searching for a way to fight a Republican "fever" that may have eased but has hardly broken.


text:
Les Levine
Dennis Manoloff on Denzel Ward's return and the Chiefs' offense on Wednesday's 'More Sports & Les Levine'
By Ellis L. Williams, cleveland.com
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Don't miss tonight's episode of "More Sports & Les Levine," brought to you by Tri-C, from 6-7 p.m. exclusively on cleveland.com, as Les and his guests debate the hottest issues in Cleveland sports.
Tonight, Dennis Manoloff joins to discuss the significance of Denzel Ward's return for the Browns and preview the playoff matchup with the Chiefs. We will also be joined by Matt Derrick of chiefsdigest.com as he gives insight on Kansas City's offense and defense.
We will take your calls live from 6-7 p.m. at (216) 575-0403. Leave a voicemail at (216) 200-6650. Watch today's episode above. Want to catch up on previous shows? You can find them all at www.cleveland.com/les-levine.
Watch tonight's show (1/13/21) live on YouTube.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Official club name: The Friendship Force of Otago
Closest major airport: Christchurch International Airport over 400 km (250 miles) away.
Closest regional airport: Dunedin Airport, which also has flights from Australia, about 40 km (25 miles) away.
Cost of transportation between the local airport and our city: About $NZ20 per person.
Maximum number of Ambassadors our club can host: 15-20
The club began as the Dunedin Club in 2006 and, since then, has had two name changes, the most recent in 2010 to the Otago Club. Otago covers an area of approximately 32,000 square kilometres (12,000 sq mi) and we have two bases, one in Dunedin and the other in Alexandra. The distance between the two is a 2.5 hour drive and, because the ambassadors are spread between the two, we endeavour to have a combined function at a central point.
The vastness of Otago, the country's second largest region, has a population of approximately 210,000. Otago spreads from the Pacific Ocean to the mountains and is the adventure capital of New Zealand. The major residential centres of the province include Dunedin (the principal city), Oamaru (made famous by author Janet Frame), Balclutha, Alexandra, and the major tourist centres of Queenstown and Wanaka. Kaitangata in South Otago is a prominent source of coal. The Waitaki and Clutha Rivers provide much of the country's hydroelectric power.
Otago has a diversity of industries, the main ones are sheep and cattle farming, forestry, horticulture, wineries, gold mining and technology. New Zealand's first university, the University of Otago, was founded in 1869 as the provincial university in Dunedin. It attracts 20,000 students to the city each year. The Central Otago wine area produces award-winning wines made from grape varieties such as Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Merlot and Riesling. Central Otago has an increasing reputation as New Zealand's leading Pinot Noir region.
Our area lends itself to water sports, e.g., fishing, boating and water-skiing, to mountains where there are walking tracks, snow skiing and scenery as well as adventure sports like bungy jumping, mountain biking and 4WD off-road driving. If you are really keen, there is the Otago Central Rail Trail for cycling and walking (150 km) and many marvellous golf courses to mention but a few of our attractions.
About a typical programme
Alexandra: Museum visit with a slideshow by a local geologist, perhaps a 4WD drive through the hills, a picnic in the Maniototo area, visit the Cromwell area, lots of food and chatting.
Dunedin: A Peninsula Day to the albatross colony and Nature's wonderland, Port Chalmers, Baldwin St (the steepest street in the world), Olveston, museums, gardens and again food and chat.
As indicated above, one day where the two groups meet.


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Q: Weird Font Smoothing Issue As the title says, I'm seeing a weird font smoothing issue. It appears to happen randomically, mostly in Safari. I don't know exactly how to explain it, so here are a couple of screenshots from Safari:
Normal screen:

After the problem:

As the images show, it appears that font smoothing is simply disabling itself at random. It happens out of nowhere (the part of the screen where the text is quickly blinks and goes to image 2). Usually if I just reload the page (in this case) it goes back to normal.
I started noticing this a couple days ago. I'm using Snow Leopard 10.6.7.
Any suggestions on what could be causing this?

A: Well, to answer my own question: the problem was that my GPU was overheating.
I forgot to mention that this specific machine is a hackintosh. I don't know if such thing can happen to a real Mac, but anyway: here where I live it's pretty hot and dry, so there's a lot of dust accumulation inside and around my computer. The GPU cooler stopped because of this (last time I cleaned it was back in March), so I just opened up the computer case, cleaned it and now everything seems to be back to normal.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


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DATELINE: KINGMAN, ARIZONA
by jimhinckleysamerica | Jun 10, 2015 | Uncategorized | 0 comments
These are the latest exciting press releases from the Route 66 Association of Kingman, Arizona:
Scott Dunton
Route 66 Association of Kingman Arizona, Inc.
scottrdunton@hotmail.com
Captain Kirk, Big Al Is Waiting for You
Kingman, Arizona, June 7, 2015
"Captain Kirk, Big Al is waiting for you." This is the first in a series of innovate slogans that the Route 66 Association of Kingman will be using to capitalize on William Shatner's forthcoming Route 66 adventure. Building on the success of historic roadside promotional campaigns for Burma Shave, Rock City, and Wall Drug, the association is launching the campaign to entice Mr. Shatner as well as Route 66 enthusiasts to stop and discover Kingman.
Additional slogans planned for distribution along the Route 66 corridor include, "Mr. Shatner, you may have gone where no man has gone before but wait until you see Big Al"; "You've seen the Grand Canyon but wait until you see Big Al", and "The 43rd wonder of the world, Big Al."
The promotional endeavor that centers on Big Al, which will be housed at 119 E. Andy Devine Avenue (Route 66) next to Mr. D'z Route 66 Diner, is step one in a multifaceted campaign to promote the City of Kingman's central location on "162 Mile of Smiles" which is the longest uninterrupted section of iconic Route 66 remaining. The restructured Route 66 Association of Kingman that dates to 1994 has a goal of facilitating and assisting with the development of marketing for the Kingman area and the Route 66 corridor between Seligman and Topock.
162-Miles of Smiles
With Scott Dunton as President, Keith Walker as Secretary, and Craig Graves as Treasurer, the restructured Route 66 Association of Kingman is spearheading development of a multifaceted promotional campaign that manifests the vision of the revitalized organization. Building upon the cities centralized location on the longest remaining uninterrupted section of Route 66 that stretches from the Crookton Road exit east of Seligman to Topock on the Colorado River, the "162 Miles of Smiles" campaign will highlight the vast array of attractions and sites along the Route 66 corridor in western Arizona as well as in the Kingman area.
In addition to this being one of the most scenic sections of Route 66, the corridor features an array of iconic and natural attractions including the historic Hackberry General Store, Grand Canyon Caverns Resort, and the Havasu National Wildlife Refuge. Additionally, the cities historic district is the venue for an array of events, and a number of businesses associated with Route 66 including motels and cafes are undergoing renovation.
To assist in the development of this multifaceted promotional campaign, the association is retaining the services of internationally acclaimed author and lecturer Jim Hinckley to serve as a consultant. In addition to developing the 162-Miles of Smiles campaign, Hinckley is the published author of more than twelve books including Travel Route 66, Ghost Towns of Route66, The Route 66 Encyclopedia, and The Illustrated Route66 Historic Atlas. He is also a member of the Route 66 economic development committee that is a part of the Route 66: The Road Ahead initiative facilitated by the National Park Service Route 66 Corridor Preservation Program.
If you enjoy Jim Hinckley\'s America, take a second to support jimhinckleysamerica on Patreon!
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Through the Years: Geno Auriemma
(David Dow/NBAE/Getty Images)
In all, USA teams with Geno Auriemma on the sideline have won seven gold medals and have posted a 50-1 record in official FIBA and FIBA Americas competitions. Including exhibition games, Auriemma has helped USA teams compile an overall record of 90-9.
(Garrett Ellwood/NBAE/Getty Images)
Geno Auriemma was honored in 2010, 2012 and 2014 as the USA Basketball Co-National Coach of the Year, and he was named the 2000 USA Basketball Developmental Coach of the Year.
Geno Auriemma has been involved with USA Basketball since the 1993 U.S. Olympic Festival, when he served as head coach of the West Team.
Geno Auriemma was head coach of the 1996 USA Basketball Women's Select Team, which trained in Colorado Springs against the 1996 USA R. William Jones Cup Team and the 1996 Russian Olympic Team.
(Andrew D. Bernstein/NBAE/Getty Images)
Helping to coach two USA teams in the summer of 2000, Geno Auriemma served as an assistant coach for the gold-medal winning 2000 U.S. Olympic Team. He also led a USA junior national team (U18) to gold in 2000.
Geno Auriemma (back row, left) was head coach of the USA team that earned a gold medal with a 5-0 record at the 2000 FIBA Americas U18 Championship in Mar del Plata, Argentina.
Geno Auriemma was head coach of the 2001 USA U19 World Cup Team that finished with a 6-1 slate and the bronze medal in Brno, Czech Republic.
After Geno Auriemma was named as head coach of the 2009-2012 USA National Team, he helped the USA to a 3-0 record and gold medal at the UMMC Ekaterinburg International Invitational in Russia. He is pictured here with USA point guard Sue Bird, who he also coached at the University of Connecticut.
(Jesse D. Garrabrant/NBAE/Getty Images)
With the 2010 USA National Team, Geno Auriemma guided the team to a 4-1 exhibition record.
(Stephen Slade/NBAE/Getty Images)
In his first major international competition as the USA National Team head coach, Geno Auriemma led the USA to a gold medal and 9-0 record at the 2010 FIBA World Cup.
During the 2011 USA National Team European Tour, Geno Auriemma and the USA compiled a 3-2 record.
(Terrence Vaccaro/NBAE/Getty Images)
In preparation for the 2012 Olympics, Geno Auriemma and the USA National Team wrapped up a 5-0 exhibition record.
In his first appearance as the U.S. Olympic Women's Basketball head coach in 2012 in London, Geno Auriemma led the USA to an 8-0 record and the gold medal.
(Catherine Steenkeste/NBAE/Getty Images)
With Geno Auriemma on the sidelines for his second quadrennium as the USA National Team head coach (2009-12 and 2013-16), the 2014 USA National Team earned a 4-1 exhibition record.
Geno Auriemma led the USA to a 6-0 record and gold medal at the 2014 FIBA World Cup in Istanbul.
Geno Auriemma and the USA National Team compiled a 4-0 record during its 2015 European tour in Spain, Italy and Czech Republic.
(Nathaniel S. Butler/NBAE/Getty Images)
Under the leadership of Geno Auriemma, the 2016 USA National Team earned a 4-0 exhibition record.
Geno Auriemma captured his second Olympic gold medal as the USA head coach with an 8-0 record in 2016 in Rio de Janeiro.
Geno Auriemma also serves on the 2017-2020 USA Basketball Women's National Team Player Selection Committee and the 2017-2020 USA Basketball Women's National Team Steering Committee.
Restart Gallery
FIBA World Cup Quarterfinals: USA 71, Nigeria 40 (9/28/18)
Celebrating Tara VanDerveer
Tara VanDerveer, the 1996 U.S. Olympic gold-medal-winning head coach, became the winningest coach in women's college basketball history on Dec. 15, 2020.
Teresa Weatherspoon
Through the Years: Teresa Weatherspoon
Teresa Weatherspoon is a two-time Olympic who has won a total of three gold medals with USA Basketball.
Tina Charles
Photo Vault: Tina Charles
Tina Charles is 85-6 in USA Basketball games played, including a total of nine gold medals.
Lindsay Whalen
Through the Years: Lindsay Whalen
Lindsay Whalen is a two-time Olympic and FIBA World Cup gold medalist.
Rudy Tomjanovich
Photo Vault: Rudy Tomjanovich
As a USA head coach Rudy Tomjanovich led teams to aa Olympic gold medal and a FIBA World Cup bronze medal.
Chelsea Gray
Tiffany Hayes
Kayla McBride
Arike Ogunbowale
Katie Lou Samuelson
Jasmine Thomas
USA WNT Members Begin EuroLeague Play
Arike Ogunbowale paced all scorers in EuroLeague play this week at a clip of 23.0 points per game. She and six other USA National Team members wrapped up the league's first hub of the season.
Dan Hughes
Jewell Loyd
Jordin Canada
Morgan Tuck
Seattle Storm's USA Basketball Ties Run Deep
The dynamic duo of Sue Bird and Breanna Stewart were the one-two punch that helped lead the Seattle Storm to a fourth WNBA title – all four of which featured Bird.


CLOSED FOR VACATION - July 23, 2018 through July 31, 2018. We will return Wednesday, August 1, 2018 and your inquiries will be answered upon my return.
I've received your scheduling request and I can't wait for you to sample our menu and choose your wedding cake flavors!
I will be reaching out when I return to verify your availability and answer any questions you may have. In the meantime, please look over our fantastic menu and consider what flavors tickle your fancy!
You may also browse general information regarding our booking process and pricing.
I look forward to helping you design a stunning centerpiece cake for your wedding and making it more delicious than your guests could imagine!
Mary at Cardinal Cake Co.


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United States All Galleries
30 galleries
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George Floyd Memorial in Minneapolis
Iowa Reaction to Death of George Floyd
Friday, May 29, there was vigil in memory of George Floyd, the unarmed black man killed by Minneapolis police officers. About 1,000 people came out. After the vigil some people picketed the Des Moines police station. There have been protests against police violence across the country after the video of Minneapolis police officer killing Floyd was released.
Iowa in the Time of Coronavirus
Pictures made in Iowa during the COVID-19 (Coronavirus/SARS-CoV-2) pandemic.
Pro-Impeachment Rally in Des Moine
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Interment of a World War II Marine
US Marine Corps Private Channing Whitaker joined the Marines at age 17 in 1942. He died less than a year later during the Battle of Tarawa in the South Pacific. His remains were recovered earlier this year, his identity confirmed by a DNA match with a family member, and his body returned to the US. On November 22, 2019, exactly 76 years after he died, he was reburied in Glendale Cemetery in Des Moines.
Fall Harvest in Iowa
The Iowa State Fair
The Linn County Fair in Central...
Eid al Fitr in Des Moines
6th Annual Powwow for Hope
May Day at the Minnesota State Capitol
Minneapolis Climate March
The Great Minnesota Get Together
The Minnesota State Fair is one of the largest state fairs in the United States. It's called "the Great Minnesota Get Together" and includes numerous agricultural exhibits, a vast midway with rides and games, horse shows and rodeos. Nearly two million people a year visit the fair, which is located in St. Paul.
March for Science in St. Paul
Well over 10,000 people marched to the State Capitol in St. Paul, MN, to support the sciences and fact based decision making. Organizers said the march was supposed to be non-partisan, but the emphasis on science and fact, politics were always just below the surface.
Anniversary of the Death of Prince
Prince died on April 21, 2016. On the one year anniversary of his death hundreds of people visited Paisley Park, his home/recording studio in the Minneapolis suburb of Chanhassen, to leave memorials for the music superstar.