Administrative Message - Site Update
December 16, 2009
Happy Holidays! I have added 100 New Surfer credits to everyone's account. Be sure to assign them to sites (or submit a new site for approval and then add the credits to the sites after it has been approved) so that people will see your advertisement.
Paid to Sign-Up
I've considered this for quite awhile and have come to a decision. Since the Paid to Sign Up section has always been a draw for false credit fraud and the increased purchase fraud for that section, I have decided to stop accepting new advertisements. Existing ads will be allowed to expire. If the advertiser wishes to change their ad to a PTC ad, they may contact me for a very good exchange rate. I'll be going through the ads to weed out the sites that have disappeared and contact those advertisers for substitutions. Once the ads all receive the purchased number of legitimate sign ups, the page will be permanently closed.
Payments
Since PayPal changed their policies in June, 2009, I have been paying for the Mass Payment fees for requested payments. After January 1, 2010, all cash out requests for PayPal will be subject to a 2% fee. I will still cover the mass payment fee on any and all future Random Payments that I issue...it is just the requested payments that would have the 2% fee. AlertPay payments will continue without fees as normal. All PayPal requests made prior to the end of the year will be fee free as I will still pay for the fees for those payments.
Administrative Message - Happy New Year (and a site update)
January 1, 2010
Happy New Year! I want to wish everyone a happy, healthy and prosperous new year.
December Click Rewards
I've created a post at the forum as a place saver for the official list of qualifiers for the ad prizes. That information will be entered later tomorrow morning/early afternoon as the software I need to quickly convert the stats into the forum code is on my other computer. The ad prizes can be claimed right away for those that qualified. Anyone who had 250 or more clicks in December receives a cash and ad prize. The cash prizes will be awarded no later than January 10, 2010 as they have to be applied manually.
Forum Post:
http://www.globalfriendsonline.com/index.php/topic,5390.msg128144.html#msg128144PayPal payments
As stated in the admin message a couple of weeks ago, starting in 2010, DreamMails will be imposing a 2% fee for PayPal payments. I've updated the front page of the site, the terms, the payout plugin and also added a note to the withdraw page to explain the reason for the fee.
AlertPay Shortage
I noticed today that my AlertPay balance has dipped below the minimum amount that I feel confident that I should keep to cover all payment requests for that payment processor. I have a fund transfer set up, however that can take up to 5 business days, meaning that it might not complete until the end of next week at the earliest. Any member who makes a purchase with AlertPay will receive their choice of 10,000 banner impressions, 500 NewSurfer credits or a Contest PTC to 100 for every dollar spent on ads, upgrade or an affiliate page with AlertPay. Mixing and matching is allowed. This offer will be valid until at least January 10, 2010. Simply send me a support ticket after submitting your ad purchase with your choice along with the ad information if necessary.
Thank you for reading,
Heather
Administrative Message - Two sites added to the banned list
January 10, 2010
Both SchoolBusOfCash and BangTheLinks have been added to the banned list. The reason for the banning is that the site owner is still very far behind on payments and is using creative debt control to reduce the amount owed. I have attempted to contact the site owner several times and have not received a response. Ads submitted as of this morning have been approved, however any future ads will be denied. The banned list is linked in the account menu and on the advertising and upgraded ads pages.
http://www.globalfriendsonline.com/index.php/topic,3553.0.html
Administrative Message - February Update
February 1, 2010
I would like to thank everyone who e-mailed me condolences over the unexpected passing of my cat. I really appreciate it and will respond individually when I have a chance.
January Click Rewards
The list of January Click Reward qualifiers has been posted on the forum. I'll be creating a new post each month so that the post with the list of qualifiers isn't lost in a sea of previous months ad claims. Cash prizes will be awarded no later than February 10th (I should have that part completed much sooner than that). So far, the top 25 positions have been manually awarded.
To claim the ad prizes and to see the list of qualifiers, please see the forum post.
http://www.globalfriendsonline.com/index.php/topic,7546.0.htmlSupport Ticket
http://my-ptr.info/support/dreammailsFebruary Click Rewards
The February click rewards are going to be a little different. The cash prizes and levels will remain the same. The ad prizes are going to be cumulative...for instance, if you finish with enough clicks for the 3rd prize, you will also receive the ad prize for positions 1 and 2. Cash prizes remain and is and are not cumulative.
Referral contest and Free Upgrade
The referral contest has always been until 1,000 active members. Active members and total members are different things...an active member is one who has logged in at least 1 time over the last 90 day while total members include all inactive, non-suspended or canceled accounts. Once that number reaches 1000 and I verify that there aren't any accounts with issues, the contest will conclude and the cash prizes will be added to the winners balances.
The Free Upgrade is until 1000 total members. This number briefly grew to over 1000 members at the end of January, however when the inactive accounts and accounts with other issues were suspended today, the number dropped to just under 900 members, so there is still plenty of time to claim a free upgrade if you do not already have one and to advertise that the site is giving away free upgrades.
Heather
Administrative Message - New Surfer Contests
February 1, 2010
For those that participate and win the New Surfer Contest prizes, here are the instructions for claiming your prize. The majority of the winners already do this each month, so this only applies to a few members.
1) Locate the congratulations e-mail that is sent to the e-mail address on file. This will arrive around midnight eastern time on the first of each month.
2) Open the e-mail and locate the unique link inside. Click on that link. Your prize will automatically be added to your account.
The only person that has access to this link is the account holder that wins that specific prize.
I will be going through old click contests and manually crediting those that did not click on that link. At that time, the old contest will be deleted to prevent double crediting. Once I get caught up, the unclaimed prizes will be manually processed once a month. For example, January's New Surfer Contest will be reviewed for unclaimed prizes in March. I will no longer individually credit accounts to avoid accidental double crediting.
Thank you for reading,
Heather
Administrative Message - May 1 Update
May 1, 2010
First and foremost, I would like to apologize for the issue with the images and support ticket system yesterday. As it turns out, the host for my reseller account upgraded the reseller plan that I use from 300 GB in total bandwidth to 3,000 GB in total bandwidth, but never upgraded my specific account. This is all fixed now and I have that account set for 200 GB of bandwidth usage a month (was at 125) and I can add additional bandwidth when and if the account comes close to that mark. What this means is that there shouldn't be any reason for the images and support ticket system to not work again.
The April Click Rewards have been finalized and the cash prizes have been manually credited to the qualified member's accounts. There were 146 qualified accounts.
The list of prize winners has been posted to the forum at:
http://www.globalfriendsonline.com/index.php/topic,8303.0.htmlAd prizes can be claimed via the forum (registration is not required as guests can post in support forums) or through a support ticket at
http://my-ptr.info/support/dreammails Ad prizes must be claimed by May 31, 2010.
I also manually credited the couple of remaining accounts who did not click on the unique link for March's New Surfer Contest. Those that do not click on the link in the e-mail for the April New Surfer contest will be manually credited on or after June 1, 2010.
Due to multiple people joining the site, requesting the free upgrade, submitting the ads and then leaving the site, the free upgrade will only be given to members who have been with the site for 1 week's time. The free upgrade is valid until 1000 members have joined and can be claimed at the support forum.
Have a great May!
Heather