I have been an Entrecard user from the point it had only about 100 members and am on my third blog registered with them, have been an avid dropper, purchased hundreds of ads and have kept up with what’s going on through the forums. I was active in the forums up until the crisis I mentioned above when just about anything anyone posted was attacked mercilessly and since then have kept my distance.

So what is Entrecard? It’s a free blog promotion service where ads are purchased through credits earned by members visiting other member blogs and clicking on the Entrecard badge. That’s it, plain and simple. Earn credits, buy ads, and then blog readers see the ad and hopefully for us, they click on it and visit your blog. It’s a great idea and if you have a worthwhile blog and badge to attract readers, you will get visitors. When Entrecard was young and growing, this was sustainable for the founders, but as it became popular and thousands of bloggers joined, it began to cost quite a lot of money to maintain. That in itself was the cause of the crisis Entrecard still suffers from and unfortunately will continue to suffer from.

Like any free blog promotion service, users have free access to a means to promote their blog and do so under the rules set out by the service. As bloggers getting a free ride, what right do we have to dictate how the service is run or restructured? None, none at all. The only way we would have any decision making power is if we had some financial investment in the service. This is where I believe the problem with Entrecard began. First, as it grew, it needed money to survive, then when the idea of paid ads came up, it was put to the users to weigh in on the idea. Wrong! If Entrecard wants to do something, just like any other service, they research the idea thoroughly and carefully and if they find it has great potential, they implement it. When the idea was thrown to us users, chaos was a given.

From that point on Entrecard was in serious trouble. The forums became a war zone where many users who felt they owned the service or that their opinion was the only right one literally attacked those who didn’t agree with their opinion. It was out of control and even moderators got into the fight rather than remain objective. With the forums the only meeting point for member to collectively communicate and opinions so widely varied, the true personality of some bloggers boiled to the surface in a scary or childish way. Profanity was rampant and some posts I felt were fighting material and would have ended in a bar room brawl if people were physically together.

The step taken was to restructure the forums and allow only those who had purchased 400 ads to be in this ‘exclusive’ club where the debate could continue in a more mature and controlled manner. Of course this infuriated people even more.

In the end, paid ads were allowed because remember, Entrecard needs money to survive. From here the protest continued with many members displaying their displeasure by adding small badges to their site saying things like ‘no paid ads’. Funny thing was that some of these even had spelling errors. I don’t really understand resistance to paid ads if the structure allows fair exposure of non paid ads and it should have never been put to the masses for our opinion. Entrecard wants it, they implement it. If I don’t like it, I quietly leave. One misconception has been that many users felt that if they left they would hurt Entrecard by leaving. These angry users often put up ridiculous posts on their own blogs ‘trashing’ Entrecard as if they had some sort of blogging power.

It is these posts that aggravate me. They often include statements saying that Entrecard really didn’t bring solid traffic to their blog and that the main traffic was from those who drop and run. These statements I have seen and continue to see quite often, but isn’t it true that if you drop cards, earn credits, purchase ads with an attractive ad, have a blog with good and interesting content, readers outside of Entrecard will click on your ad giving you traffic with substance. I have never bought into Entrecard as a service that will create Entrecard member traffic. I want traffic from beyond Entrecard and that, after purchasing an ad is entirely up to me, not Entrecard. I have a drop list that I use each day. These are blogs I chose because they were likely to return my drop and visa versa. The main goal dropping is to earn credits to purchase ads. During my drops if I happen to find blogs I was interested in reading and posting comments, I would, but that is not the goal of dropping, dropping is for credits. The purchased ad along with great content, social networking, etc will get me readers, not dropping. Now that return credits are no longer earned, who is on my drop list is not so important anymore.

Just today Entrecard announced they would be providing 15% of ad network inventory to sponsor ads. This is clearly a good business model and one that they have adopted as other free services have. I think this is a very good step in the right direction and one that should have been adopted by the previous ownership.

This is a standard business model used by free advertising networks. The revenues generated by our sponsors will help cover overhead expenses and keep our service free to all our members for years to come. To keep things simple and fair, all ads will be distributed evenly in our network.

To wrap things up, I believe the idea of Entrecard is a very good one. Previously some poor business decisions were made, but with good intentions. The resulting backlash was extremely overblown by many members most whom have left Entrecard. Basically saying “You screw me and I’ll screw you”. Entrecard may be better without them and their vanishing act won’t hurt Entrecard at all.

If you disagree with how a FREE service you belong to is being run, quietly leave if you wish. Your outlandish way of voicing your opinions on the forum and on you blog accomplishes nothing and really make you look like fools.

Of course this long winded post isn’t directed at all who have left the service nor is it directed at anyone who have left constructive opinions either in the forums or on their blogs.

Entrecard is not ours and we should remember that.

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Anyway, this trip we are only in Paris for a couple of days before grabbing a car and driving to Chamonix so we don’t have a lot of time. That’s ok because we did an incredible amount on our last visit including stopping at my favorite street, Avenue des Champs Elysees. At one end you have the Arc de Triomphe and way down at the other end the Place de la Concorde with the fontaine, Hotel de Crillon and Église de la Madeleine (Madeleine Church).

In between is the wide tree lined cobblestone street of Champs Elysees filled with cafes and high end shops like Cartier, Omega, Lacoste, and Louis Vuitton, through to the car showrooms of Mercedes, Peugeot, and Renault Sport which boasts 2.5 million visitors a year.

During the year it also is the home of some important events to France like the Bastille Day celebrations and of course it is the scene of stage 21, the final stage of the Tour de France (one of my favorite events in July).

So what could I possible have to say that is wrong with this scene? McDonald’s Restaurant!

This famous street has everything including this horrible blemish of a fast food joint I could find anywhere (very unfortunately) in North America. This most unhealthy fast food giant is scarring this famous street and calling itself McCafe of all things.

Now, I’m not against the North American market entering into Europe at all. I don’t care if McDonald’s wants to set up shop in France or any other European country for that matter, but I do draw the line at specifics. The Champs Elysees is no place for a fast food joint like McDonald’s and the people at McDonald’s who are responsible for locating their franchises in Europe aught to be ashamed of themselves for choosing this avenue. They aren’t the only ones who should be ashamed, the Mayor of Paris, Bertrand Delanoë should also be ashamed. The Champs Elysees has it’s own brand of culture from clothing to jewelery, to cafes and night life. It is a street visited by celebrities of all walks, a street with history and stature and to allow unhealthy North American fast food joints to line this street is shameful at best.

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