"Wanted - Opinionated People" - yes, that was the advert that caught my attention (did it catch yours?) on the17th of October 2002. It arrived in an e-mail from "MyPoints.com" and it was offering both a chance to earn money by answering surveys for "Ciao!com - the voice of the consumer" and to gain "points" with "MyPoints" - truly an offer I could not refuse.
[NOTE: * indicates terms with which you may be unfamiliar - I have included a brief glossary after the review - (Not a comprehensive list, but hopefully a helpful one!)]
As you are reading this review, you know what my response to that advert was.
Yes, that's right, I joined. The "Ciao!" member "jesi" started to receive regular offers of surveys to answer, and receive varying amounts of money for surveys started (sometimes 10p or 15p) - or larger sums for surveys actually completed. These are credited to an account in your username, and can be "claimed" at some point when your minimum balance exceeds £5.
Current surveys generally pay if you manage to complete them. Originally, the website was very different, and as I recall, had quite a lot of orange. I actually found it difficult to look at the website's
homepage because of the colour-scheme, and, as I was trying to access it from
college, I found it impossible to login because of the restrictions placed on
internet access (and cookies*).
I would answer the surveys quickly as they arrived while checking my e-mails; it was quite a while before I discovered that you could override "cookie-handling" on your computer and let your computer store a cookie* that would let you enter a previously "inaccessible" site. It was still uncomfortable reading the orange pages, so I generally ignored offers to login. In my first 16 months as a member, just doing surveys, I earned £9.85. As I never logged in, however, I was unaware of this figure.
The "purpose" of the website is as a consumer resource for consumers to find out more about the products on the database - and it IS the most comprehensive database of products that I have found, with the products reasonably laid out and with the reviews ranked in order of helpfulness (subjectively rated* by other members) to a prospective buyer.
Reviews of products are easily found, either by using the search facility by name of product, or by clicking on categories and sub-categories until you find what you are searching. Sometimes you will find a review; searching for other reviews by the same author (by clicking the author's name) may lead you to further related topics. When you see a list of reviews on a member's profile, you have the option to click on the specific review or the product (next column) which will show you all reviews written on the product at that listing.
Ciao! actively recruits ALL non-members to join, in order to get the best value out of the site - as a non-member, taking the tour of both shopping and community aspects, you can access the guidelines for reading, rating, commenting on and
writing reviews.
When any reader (member or not) reads reviews they are offered the opportunity to rate the review as to helpfulness and to leave a comment, although only members are able to actually do this.
Ciao! sees itself as a community. And it is as a community which I regularly use for obtaining information about all products I wish to purchase, films I want to see (or want to know IF I might want to see) that I write this review.
It used to be listed under
forums and
Discussions and is now listed, perhaps more correctly, under
Reward and Loyalty.For about sixteen months I had been answering surveys, and did not like the website because of the orange and black which made my eyes ache. I was aware that there were reviews written by other consumers to inform about different products, with an emphasis on describing one's OWN EXPERIENCE with a particular service or product in order to help OTHER
CONSUMERS to make an INFORMED DECISION, but until the colour scheme was updated to a more dyslexic friendly format, it was of little use to me.
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Moving from surveys to reviews...
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I cannot remember when the colour-scheme changed - late in 2003, perhaps? All I know is that in February 2004 I was trying to purchase some law-books from
Amazon.co.uk and had forgotten my password. And because I could not remember the last FIVE digits of an expired (and thus destroyed)
debit card that I had registered (but never used) on the site, Amazon was refusing to let me in. Purchasing printouts only included FOUR when you use the card...
"I've got to warn others," I thought - and went onto the Ciao! consumer website, found "Amazon" and clicked on the "Write a review" link. Half an hour or more later, I pressed the Preview button and read my review online. Yes, it said what I wanted it to say, so I pressed the Submit review button.
Thus my first review about shopping for books on Amazon was born. E-mails started coming into my INBOX. "So-and-so" has commented on your review. "What?" >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
"The Prospective Buyer"
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I had received my first "alert* " by e-mail of a "comment" on a review.
"More information was wanted about the website? What else did it sell? How easy was it to use?" There were over 500 reviews about Amazon already. Couldn't members just look at THEM? Apparently, they could not. Every review is supposed to be able to assist in making an informed decision without reference to another review. When a "prospective buyer" looks for information, they are searching for a product; clicking on the link for the product, they see a table of the most helpful reviews on the product. The title of the review (and author), advantages, disadvantages and part of first paragraph is visible, with a link to "read review" - thus a prospective buyer can skim through the table of reviews, click on one that catches his eye, and read it for the information required.
[NOTE: This is why it is worth writing a better summary of pros and cons - and not just "see op" or "see review" - and starting the review with a paragraph that introduces the review enticingly.
I try to make my review "summary" for the database table view as helpful as possible - perhaps even enough to make the decision without even reading the review although, of course, I DO want everyone to read my review!]>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Ratings and Comments on reviews (*see [£] below, as well)
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Under my "profile" information (next to the title of my review) there were some statistics now: Very Helpful* (with a list of names); Helpful* (with a list of names). This was only of vague interest to me - I was glad that people appreciated my review and found it helpful - hopefully they would not end up with the same problem I had had.
And there were comments on the review on a webpage linked to my review. Suggestions that I pick a memorable password. Wow! they were trying to help me, too! I left my own comments as replies to the points raised by the comments written by others. It never occurred to me to consider that, having read the review, rated it, and left a comment, the member was unlikely to come back and read my reply...>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
A
Guestbook?
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I cannot remember when I discovered that I had a guestbook of my own.
I think it wasn't until March. I think it happened like this: I clicked on a blue-underlined link under the name of a member who had commented and found their profile page. I then went to their reviews and started reading them, rating them and commenting on their reviews. I clicked on name-links of those who had commented on those reviews, and found new reviews to read and rate. If I didn't understand something, I'd ask a question in a comment and not rate.
One day, I spotted a link to "leave a message" for someone. Clicking, I discovered a whole new world of conversation. I found my own guestbook and some weird and wonderful messages. One said, "Well, done, you're halfway to green!" "Pardon?" what was that all about?>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Community Points and Statistics
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Another member kindly explained "Community Points" to me. Apparently you received some sort of "points" for writing reviews (30), rating them (1) and commenting on them (3 per comment). You also received points for your own reviews being read by others (2 per read) and rated by others (depending on rating).
You had different coloured dots by your user name to indicate how many points you had earned so far. Of course, you could also earn points by being trusted by other members, and by introducing friends, but these were "once only" points - 80 for being trusted, and 150 for introducing a friend who went on to participate by writing their own review(s).
When you exceeded 1000 points you changed from having a "white" dot to having a "green" dot by your user name. I hadn't even noticed that I HAD a dot... You could also upload pictures with your reviews when you had a "green" dot.
How could you find out how many points you had earned from what? Well, you had a "Statistics" link. Clicking on this gave you access to ALL SORTS of wonderful information, including new comments made on your reviews (without having to check each review individually), remember comments you had written on other members' reviews - how many ratings you had given, and the percentage of each type; how many ratings received, and the percentage of each type. How many persons you trusted; how many trusted you, and for how many the feeling was mutual. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Attitude Check and Getting to Know You
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I found, too, that to assess another member's attitude, all you had to do was to go to THEIR statistics and check out their "comments written" - this told you a lot, and incidentally introduced you to absolutely loads of other interesting reviews to read and rate.
I had begun to discover "Community" - the comments received were, for the most part helpful, as were the guestbook messages. Kirsty1 was first to trust me, and, having read her reviews and liked them, I returned the favour.>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Update your Review?
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People were suggesting that I revise my reviews. How did you do that? Someone told me about the link above the profile/ratings boxes opposite the title of the review. Oh. Easy to do, really, when you know how.
One of the first things I did was to update
my "Shopping for Books on Amazon" review to include much more general information as well as the information about making a note of the LAST FIVE DIGITS of any debit/
credit card registered or used on the site. I was chuffed when people found the review more helpful now, and some even rated it Exceptional * now that I had covered more information.>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Who rated my review?
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A member suggested that I had rated his review "not helpful" because of a low rating I had received. This is termed "Revenge Rating" and is against T&Cs of the site. Although it is sometimes difficult to prove, it is considered abuse, and can be the cause of having your membership suspended.
I explained my reasons for not finding the review helpful, the reasons were accepted and the review in question was both revised by the member in question and re-rated by myself.
But, how was I to know WHO had rated what rating? I hadn't even been aware of the rating concerned… Only three names EVER appeared at any one time on each rating level. If the member has not left a comment, they become invisible very quickly...
A helpful member let me know that it was by clicking on the "and a further xx members" link below the visible names. WOW! It showed a picture of the member (when there was one) and the comment written, if appropriate, as well. That was WELL worth knowing.>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Privacy and
security of information
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I discovered by chance (SERENDIPITY?
) that when you were not logged in, your profile was not visible next to your review. However, all comments made WERE visible to the casual reader of reviews (aka "the prospective buyer" for whom we are writing to assist in making an "informed" purchasing decision) - therefore, comments should be written with care, as they are meant to ALSO assist in the decision-making process if possible.
As your "about me" is visible to any casual (non-member) visitor to the site if they decide to click on the underlined link of the "author" of the review they are reading (as well as on the Ciao
Home Page if you are a Featured Member), it is good to not put anything too personal there. This is why personal websites URLs are banned ~ as protection for yourself.
But your Guestbook is only accessible to members; your Private Guestbook is only accessible to you (although the number of messages can be ascertained by the member sending you a private message); your Account link and amount earned are only visible to you, and points and coloured dots are only visible (anywhere on the site) by fellow members who are "online" and logged in.
I have had no problems with the security of my information, and I have found the site friendly (on the whole). There are those who do not appreciate the "community" side of Ciao! - but they write good reviews, and our site needs the good reviews to encourage other people to come to our site for information. The more "hits*" the better. And the more we write for the prospective buyer and not just for our little circle of friends, the more helpful the community will be!
Although there are times when other members (after all, we joined because we were "opinionated" in the first place) can have disagreements - remembering that it is only a website does help.
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Ciao! guidelines
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Any questions about guidelines for writing reviews, rating reviews and commenting, as well as questions about Ciao!
in general, will be answered by clicking on the "Members Centre" link at the top of the page when you are logged in, or by clicking on the appropriate link when you are writing, commenting, or rating. Even non-members can access these links when reading the reviews or "taking the tour" of the site.>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Using the site as a consumer (aka Prospective Buyer)
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I use the site for researching products myself - and have found it quite useful - either typing a product name into the "search" facility (specifying an area of the site or "all categories") or clicking on the specific tab relating to the category and working my way through.
Sometimes, I research in what I would consider "reverse order" by starting from a related review, clicking on the product category instead of the review name in the list - and then narrowing it down to the individual product required.
When you visit the site by typing www.ciao.co.uk, you come to the homepage, which invites you to read reviews and compare prices for millions of products. If you are a member, and login, it will welcome you by username.
NOT YET A MEMBER? or NOT LOGGED IN?
Not logged in, it offers a chance to learn more about Ciao! and have a site tour; it also then invites you to join. If you choose to just search for products, you may either use the search engine or pick a category. When you decide to read a review, you see everything the member sees except for the author's profile and the ratings the other members have given the review.
You can also click on the link "xx comments on this review" and read other members' comments, if you choose. These ought to help you make an informed decision - even if the member has merely said, "I agree" - or "good op" - as long as the reason for saying "good op" is that you are adding the weight of your advice to the prospective buyer - in other words, "good op" should signify your full agreement with the arguments propounded by the reviewer.
Should you decide you want to respond to the invitation to rate the review, or to "leave a comment on this review" you will be taken to the Member login page. This has a very soft, easy-on-the-eyes green and white colour scheme, and is split between "already registered at Ciao?" and "New to Ciao?" which again invites the non-member to join (for free) in order to fully participate in what the site has to offer.
LOGGED IN?
Logged in, it offers the categories, and some community links - New Reviews, a Featured Member, More Members (further broken down into "New authors" and "Most read authors").>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Product Proposals (and unreviewed products)
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The most frustrating thing has been to want information, find the product, and then see those little words, "not yet reviewed" after the name. This has spurred me on in several cases to review the product myself. You get a "First opinion bonus" equal to the payment level, for the first month or so after writing, when you write the first opinion on a subject, because it is just that sort of frustration that Ciao! wish to eliminate.
If I wish to review a product which does not exist in the database, or if I wish information about a product which does not exist in the database, I have proposed the product.
Only once have I failed to write the first review after proposing the product, and that was due to the long interval between the proposal and the product appearing.
Sometimes members have waited five months or more for a product to be added; personally, if it is not added within a couple of months I would be inclined to re-submit the proposal, trying to include better information or picture, in order to encourage Ciao! to see the product as worth listing. If a product is not included, it may well be because there are a lot of similar products available. One solution might be to review something similar and use your "favoured" product in a comparison to the product you do NOT like.
If you put your unaltered review up under the incorrect category, you might be wasting your time, as the correct Rating would be "Off Topic*" - you would get paid nothing, and you would lose 12 CPs* for every OT* rating you received.>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
My "Account" and
earning money writing reviews
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Another exciting thing I noticed was that, even when I didn't have surveys to answer, my total earnings figure started rising. Very slowly, but surely. Looking along the line of tabs (where I had found the "Guestbook" tab, I found a tab which said "Account"
This is laid out like a monthly statement, with different sections showing how much you have earned (to date). It is updated in the middle of the night, so if you are logged on at some "unearthly hour" (like 4am?) you might get a shock as your "total earnings" suddenly drops to a negative figure. This is merely to do with the programme which does the update, and does not mean that you have committed the unforgiveable sin and are about to be knocked off the site without explanation. By morning it will all settle down.
Under "Bonus Programme" you see how much you have earned from members rating your reviews "Helpful" or above. This is listed under Payment level 1, Payment level 2, Payment level 3; and "First Opinion Bonus" also broken down into the three payment levels. (see [£] in my PS * below for a further explanation of the payment levels). If you have invited any friends, this is where you will receive any bonus when they become active (I received a "once-off" 50p when my sister wrote her first review, as well as the 150 CPs*)
If you have received any money from the Premium
Fund* for the previous month, they will also appear at the end of this first section as a set quantity times £0.010 ~ with the quantity being the number of pence you have earned ~ thus a payment of £2.
00 would be a quantity of 200.
Also in this section is a sub-section titled "manual transaction" which will be explained in the "details" if ever used.
You next have a section entitled "Market Research" - This tells you which surveys you have done have been credited to your account. As there are no dates on these, only reference numbers, description of
survey and payment amounts, it is not easy to remember which survey is being referred to. As it can take quite a time for survey partners to get back to Ciao! don't be surprised if you see several surveys (such as "Survey on Movies" which you can only take once every three months) grouped together, as the partner will often send a "batch" together - I learned to be patient and be grateful for any moneys received.
The section "Ciao Plus Offers" merely takes you to a webpage that makes sure you are fully signed up for surveys; "Transaction adjustments" has never been used on my account; and "Payments" is where you request payment, and where the requested payment is logged and the date it is initiated (or paid into your own registered bank account) is recorded.
You have an account balance (which matches the amount owing to you on your "my member details") and links to go backwards though your monthly statements to the month you joined and a link for "more ways to earn money" which basically takes you to a page of advertisments for other online
money-earning schemes, some of which look more helpful than others.>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Customer service?
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PAYMENT PROBLEMS
The only thing which causes me a bit of concern is the slowness of, and sometimes total lack of, customer service response when there is a problem. My payment requested in December 2004 was "initiated on 12th January 2005" according to my Account for January. Despite numerous e-mails (to several different e-mail addresses) this payment did not materialised in my bank account.
All previous payment requests had been quickly honoured and paid, being received within two weeks of initiation in my designated bank account. I gave up temporarily on the "lost" payment, and tried again on the next six months' earnings, not wishing the amount to get too large before claiming payment. I also received that payment, requested in May and paid in June 2005. (Phew!)
Eventually, after obtaining evidence that my bank had never received the payment, a manual transaction applied a "payment refund" to my account in September 2005. All further payment requests have been authorised and have arrived into my bank account very quickly after the "initiated on" notice has replaced the "Payment requested" notice in the Payments section.
ABUSE? HARASSMENT?
I had never complained of abuse towards myself despite certain members making it clear that they consistently disliked my opinions by ratings, comments, and reactions to my own ratings and comments until about a year ago. Others who have had problems have sometimes expressed their concern that it can take a considerable length of time before a reply is received.
About a year ago I had a few concerns which I expressed to the Ciao Team. Their response was swift and courteous, and where I was having relationship difficulties I was told to ignore the other member(s) which I did. I believe that the team are fair, as they will listen to both sides and attempt a reasonable compromise. As we are all "OPINIONATED PEOPLE!" we will not always agree, but our opinions are ALL VALUED by Ciao!
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Ciao.com? differences between sites? where from here?
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Technically, Ciao.com is the (German) parent for a number of consumer websites. If you were to type http://www.ciao.com into your
internet browser, you would be re-directed to the German website, www.ciao.de; the
United Kingdom website, of which we are members, is actually www.ciao.co.uk - and it is moot as to whether this review should be discussing ALL the sites belonging to the group, or just our own UK site. The other available sites are: Ciao Deutschland - Ciao
France - Ciao Italia - Ciao España - Ciao Nederland - which can be visited via the links on the extreme bottom of all the Ciao web pages.
The above rules seem to apply whichever site you are visiting, however, with very minor variations. As far as I can tell, the main differences are to do with how many points are required to change your colour of dot.
I have joined both Ciao.de (as jesi23) and Ciao.it (as jesi) and have reached my
green dot status on Ciao.de at just over 500 points. This is through reading reviews, rating them, and commenting (in English - following a suggestion by MALU / MALUSE, as "everyone wants to improve their English") - as well as being trusted by several members. I have not yet filled in my profile for answering surveys from either "alternative" site, and I am not confident enough to write reviews in a foreign language, particularly one with different case endings, gender endings and grammatical structure.
I know there are members who are successfully writing on multiple sites - but you are only paid for reviews on a site if you have a bank account into which "local" currency can be paid, i.e., in the country to which the website is related.
Thus, our members, whether living in USA, other European countries or elsewhere, only receive payment if they have a UK bank account. I would need a German bank account or an Italian Bank account in order to be paid for reviews written on the other two sites which I have joined.
"Opinionated People" are STILL WANTED!
© jesi 2005, 2006 ………………………. - ♥ - jes ≈≈≈≈{; -)-{{::::: |||||>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
* PS: What DID they mean? - GLOSSARY of TERMS
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* terms with which you may be unfamiliar (Not a comprehensive list, but hopefully a helpful one.)
….."alerts" = Messages from Ciao! to your registered e-mail. Informs you of comments, ratings, new reviews by other members - you choose which alerts you want to receive and how often - however, any frequency other than "immediately" tends to get lost.
….."cookies" = information placed on the
hard-drive of the computer accessing
internet site by the website visited - some expire as soon as log-off (session cookies), some expire later or never. They help in navigating the website.
….."hits" = visits (particularly by non-members) to the website, to links for
individual products, to advertising and shopping "partners" and to member reviews.
…..>>>>>>>>>> = see Private guestbook
…..Other book = see Private guestbook
…..PGB = see Private guestbook
…..PMSL = "pi--ed myself laughing"
…..ROFL = "rolls on the floor laughing"
….. = "laughs out loud" (not, as I once thought, "lots of love")
…..r/
r/c's or r/r/c = read/rate/comment - essential activities by members in order to rank reviews for the "prospective buyer"
..... Ratings - the way to earn money from certain reviews:
…..Es, or E = "Exceptional" rating - a positive rating, which "pays" (if applicable - see [£] below) - nominates a review for a share of the "Premium fund" (but if want to recommend for a diamond, use "recommend" link as well or instead)
…..VH = "Very Helpful" rating - stands alone to help prospective buyer - a positive rating, which "pays" (if applicable - see [£] below)
…..H = "Helpful" rating - helps prospective buyer make decision - a positive rating, which "pays" (if applicable - see [£] below)
…..SH (or FH) - "Somewhat Helpful" rating - insufficient information to help make decision (lose 6 Points) - a negative rating, which doesn't get paid for - FH is because there used to be a "Fairly Helpful" rating which meant same thing - possibly on other review sites like "Dooyoo"
…..NH (or UH) - "Not Helpful" rating - either very misleading or with no relevant information (lose 12 Points) - doesn't attract any payment.
I believe UH stands for "Unhelpful"
…..OT - "Off Topic" rating - in wrong category or talking about something different (lose 12 Points) - doesn't attract any payment - if you have a review in the wrong place, you should e-mail the Ciao! team to ask it to be moved to the right category.
…..CoT, COT, or Buddies = Circle of Trust - members whose opinions you trust (and members who trust you)
Helps you rank reviews when there are a lot on a particular topic.
Each member can only add 100 members to their CoT, but can receive "trust" from any number of members.
…..CPs = Community Points - help to demonstrate/encourage participation on the site - given (and taken away) according to participation:
…..30 CPs for review written
…..2 CPs for "member read" of your reviews
…..1 CP for rating another member's review
…..3 CPs for commenting on a review
…..variable CPs for ratings received (see above, ratings)
…..150 CPs for an invited friend writing their first review
…..80 CPs for being added to a CoT (removed if removed)
…..[£] = seen next to product name when click on product instead of review - indicates a product
paying 0.5p per positive rating on review - (payment level 1)
…..[£][£] = as per [£] - a product paying 1p per positive rating on review - (payment level 2)
…..[£][£][£] = as per [£] - a product paying 2p per positive rating on review - (payment level 3)
…..Premium Fund (aka PF) = A sum of money divided by Ciao! each month between members who have written excellent reviews of paying products the previous month. It is only given to persons who have written reviews in "paying" categories.
…..Diamond Reviews = Excellent reviews chosen each month to receive a Diamond Gif beside the Title and a share of the PF. Previously there were 30 Diamonds (worth £10 each) awarded to reviews each month. Currently there are only ten each month.
NOTE: although many people wonder about the criteria to receive PF money or diamonds I have personally noticed a possible connection with non-member hits, good database views and interesting titles, as well as good information, layout and personalisation. Spelling and grammar don't seem to be as important (but then I expect those choosing the reviews might not be English).
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Thanks again for reading - any comments welcome and will be appreciated (besides giving you 3 CPs)!
"(STILL) WANTED - OPINIONATED PEOPLE!" 
