Techdoctordeals is a new forum. Though my assumption is that it's a technology forum, hence the 'tech' in their name, there appear to be other topics apart from technology --- so you don't necessarily have to be tech savvy to participate.
The forum is free to join.
Posts...
- any post you make cannot be less than 250 characters. On the forum, that's about a line and a half. If it's less than 250 chars, a message will display notifying you that you haven't reached the minimum. If you really get into each post, reaching 250 chars won't be a problem at all.
- I'm not sure what the position is on creating threads. I don't know who and who can't create them. I'd say just stick to replying to threads as there are plenty to go through.
Pay per post/thread...
When I joined in late Sept/early October, it was 75 cents per post/thread, then it dropped to 50 cents, then around 30 cents, then threads went up to 40 cents each and posts down to 15 cents each. As of today (2nd Nov), posts/threads have been changed to 3-5 cents each. Yes. Not a misprint. 3-5 cents.
Minimum withdrawal...
Used to be $10 Canadian dollars, then they changed the rules. Two memberships: free and premium. Free members could only withdraw $10 a week. Premium members could withdraw as much as they managed to earn.
Then it got changed. Only premium members could get paid. Free members could withdraw a one-off $10 payment which they could use to upgrade to premium. Minimum payout for premium members was changed to $100. Yes. $100. And you could only request payment once a month.
As of today (2nd Nov), minimum payout has been reset to $20. I don't know if this applies to free and premium members.
You must have a verified
Paypal account. (Alertpay's recently been added as a payment option)
Premium membership...
This was introduced around mid October. Was $9.99 a month, then some weeks later, it was changed to $14.99 a month if non recurring payments were made. Now it's $5.99/month (as of 2nd Nov).
As well as being able to withdraw as much as they'd earned, premium members were also able to take advantage of Techdoctordeals' referral program (which used to be available to free members). I say 'was' because as of Nov 2nd, free members are now privy to it too.
The whole idea behind introducing premium membership was because some members had unverified Paypal accounts and apparently Techdoctordeals was finding it very problematic. I don't completely get why it was a problem. I also don't get why they considered monthly payments of $9.99 to be a solution to that problem. Does $9.99 a month automatically make an unverified Paypal account verified? For me, it felt a tad opportunistic and exploitative.
When are payments made?
Used to be every Friday, then it changed to once a month, then to twice a month. When it was every Friday, I received my first two payments on time, in fact days before. My 3rd payment took longer - almost two weeks (before it was changed to once/twice a month).
PROOF OF 2ND PAYMENT
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PROOF OF 1ST PAYMENT
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If you log in and you're taken to a message...
Right, Techdoctordeals do a number of updates throughout the day. These are messages they consider to be important and that every member should read. Therefore, every time you log in, if there's been a new update, you'll automatically be taken to a box prompting you to read it. Once you read the message, you can continue on to the forum. However, if there's more than one message, when you click to go to the forum, you'll automatically be taken back to the box prompting you to read the next message. There's no way around it - it'll keep on looping you through the box and onto the next message until all updates have been read.
I definitely won't be upgrading...
Techdoctordeals is a relatively new forum trying to find its feet and adapt to more members joining every day. I get that. But I feel the admin's made a mess of something that was working OK. The sheer rate at which the rules change is head spinning. First, premium membership was introduced, then the referral program was only available to premium members, then the posting pay rate was changed, then pay-request limits were phased in for free members, then free members could only make a one-off withdrawal, then the minimum payout was increased for premium members... the list of changes goes on.
I don't think I'd been a member there for more than a month, and in that time, all this (and more) had happened.
I must be special.
They didn't have to put on a show for me. Really. They didn't.
Whereas I was toying with the idea of possibly upgrading once the forum found its own groove and settled, it's now looking veeeeeery unlikely that I will.
I really can't, in all honesty, recommend this forum. I think it's too volatile. It doesn't foster trust and loyalty if the rules change so frequently. Also, at 3 to 5 cents a post, I hardly think it's worth upgrading to premium (at $5.99 a month).
If you really are gonna join Techdoctordeals, I'd advice that you stick to being a free member. Whatever you do is totally your choice, though, so if you do decide to upgrade, good luck.
This is the last update I'll be doing about Techdoctordeals as I don't plan on using it much longer. For any future changes/updates, please visit the forum.
Ebele.
(Updated: 3rd Nov.)
