Bubblews May Have Been A Scam From Day One

The one thing I always found a bit confusing about Bubblews was that whenever the question came up as to whether or not Bubblews paid its members, the answer largely depended on who you asked. Some members reported that they were paid consistently, and others reported that they were paid some of the time, or had several missing payments.

After the now infamous New Year's post posted by the CEO, Arvind Dixit, which told members that redemptions before a certain date would be erased, and any pending payments after that date would have a new pay structure applied retroactively, thereby dramatically slashing payments due, it became clear that the pay structure Bubblews was using was flawed.

Bubblews never had the ability to pay its members one penny per like, one penny per view, and one penny per comment from day one.

Instead of changing their pay structure, the owners of the site, I think, simply made active decisions about who would get paid. The fact was that the owners of the site were getting some media attention, and their site was booming with new signups every day. It is my opinion that the owners of the site believed that the money would eventually work itself out.

In some ways what Bubblews was doing was closely related to a Ponzi scheme. The difference was that they were not relying on new members to supply money, per se, but content.

So who got paid? Members who provided richer content, and who were relatively active on the site,


Arvind Dixit, CEO of Bubblews

and who potentially would draw in more ad revenue. Those members were put at the front of the line to keep them paid and keep them providing content that would draw in the most ad revenue. Others who were less active, or who provided less rich content were sent to the back of the line, and were either paid late, or not paid at all.

What happened to the money?

Just like in a Ponzi scheme where new money pays old investors, the money that was not paid to less contributive members was funneled into the accounts of those who provided richer content and who were more active. Again, to keep them writing and keep them onboard.

I was one of those members, having been paid every single redemption I ever made, aside from the final payment which had been slashed due to the retroactive pay structure being applied to it. In fact, if you go back and review many of the posts by members during times when there were severe complaints about payments you begin to notice a trend.

Those who were saying they were missing payments had less rich content. Those who wrote posts saying they could not understand the complaints, and who said they were being paid, and defended the site were typically those who had richer content.

It helps to confirm for me what was going on. It helps to make it clear that the owners of the site were actively deciding who got paid and who did not based on what they felt was "best for the site," and I think overall, "best for their bottom line."

What is sums up for me is that Bubblews was never truly able to manage itself, and was a scam from day one. Only it wasn't apparent to everyone since probably half the members were getting paid. To me there really is no other explanation as to why there was so much inconsistency in how redemptions worked for some, and not for others.

The smart members, the ones who were the rich content providers, mostly left the site after the New Year's post. And the site is now basically a shell without a body. Can Bubblews recover? I have a hard time believing that it will since the Internet is such an easy place for people to talk about their experiences there, and share their opinions about the site, which when it comes to the smart members, is all bad press. The bad press always outweighed the good press, and these days the bad press has grown to a point that it buries any good press there could have been. Bubblews is dead.

Ass Kissers At Bubblews?

They are everywhere! We see them at work especially. Ass kissers. Those guys who have their noses so far up the boss' hindquarters you can tell by their smell what the boss had for lunch, and even dinner the previous day.

And at Bubblews, there are a few of those there as well. Of course there are. Like I said before. They are everywhere. Like flies congregating on a fresh kill. Ubiquitous.

Of course, Bubblews is having problems paying its members. And while I cannot beat the dead horse anymore than I already have many times in the past about the fact that like the site and like the concept, I also cannot simply discount the fact that fun aside, the site says it will pay its members.

And yet it does not.

Well, not always. They mostly pay their members. But the real problem is the why factor. That's the part that no one can get to the bottom of. And certainly the CEO Arvin Dixit isn't saying anything about it. He's as hush as a mute.

One member, who I am beginning to think is one of those Bubblews ass kissers I am worried about, Mike Pugh, says, "The Bubblews Team is working both night and day on these issues and due to the fact that so many countless redeem rewards were lost in the process of the cut over from the old Bubblews to the new Bubblews."

My question is where on Earth did he get that answer from? The Bubblews team? The CEO? The president of the company?

No one from the Bubblews team has said a word about payments, or how hard they are working at getting them processed and paid. No one.

Oh sure, the Learning Center on the site says payments may take up to 30 days, and even goes on to say that they plan on taking on more payment processors in the future. But let's be real here. The number of posts both within the Bubblews website, and outside the site are stacking up big time. People are not happy and they are saying so.

And Bubblews remains silent.

Mike Pugh goes on to tell us, "Many of us have tried contacting the Bubblews help email thingy. That didn't work, but I believe it shall begin to work soon for the folks who haven't violated the rules. It's just a matter of time before they catch up to your emails, and please for assistance. Hang in there folks!"

Sure. That sounds like a fine way to sort things out, now doesn't it? Your boat capsizes. A little birdy comes and assures you a rescue boat is coming. Don't try to swim your way to safety. Don't try to hold onto that capsized boat until rescue comes. Just lie there, floating and hoping.

You will not drown I promise you. The rescue boat is being launched any minute now. JUST HANG ON!

Thanks but no thanks, Mr. Pugh. Tread water till your heart is content or stopped for that matter. But I'm not going to take my chances.

So, this is not a life or death situation. Certainly it is not. But it is a situation, and one that has no explanation. So I voice about it. And so do others. Because it is something to be concerned about and is something to be explored, and questioned.

I am not an ass kisser. I feel no fear voicing my opinion. And voicing my opinion does not make a Bubblews hater out of me.

In fact I would go as far as to say that I am a Bubblews lover. I state my concerns because I am concerned. For the other members who clack away at the keys there. For the site that gives us a place to clack away at the keys.

The site says it will pay. When it does not it makes the whole point and the very site itself moot. And that means that the site will have difficulty treading its own water. I don't want Bubblews to drown. I want to be that rescue boat to help save them.

I will continue to beat the dead horse for as long as I can because I do care what happens. As for ass kissers? Well, we all know where they ultimately wind up when the company goes kaput!

Bubblews Payment Issues

The worst press that Bubblews gets happens to be around payment issues. Pull up a search on Bubblews on Google or Bing and what you get on the first pages of results is nothing but bad press. Words like liars, cheaters, crooks, scammers, illegitimate, and not worth the time are in all of the titles and summaries. It is harder to find good press on Bubblews than bad press on Bubblews.

I like Bubblews, and I spend a lot of time there. That is without a doubt. I will also say that in the past I have never experienced any issues with getting paid by the site. In fact, my last redemption only took 28 days after a change in redemption time was announced to be around 30 days to get paid.

That all changed with a redemption I made on July 23rd for $53.10 which is, as of this writing, still missing. That puts that redemption at 43 days without having been paid.

In the Bubblews Learning Center the site says that payments may take up to 30 days. Where I come from up to means perhaps less than, but not more than. So 43 days is certainly outside the parameters of what they are claiming is the time it takes to process a payment once a member redeems.

I have two other pending redemptions; one made on the 7th of August, and another made on the 25th of August. I am set to redeem right now with over $60 in the bank. All said, the Bubblews website now owes me to the tune of $231. Not a lot of money by any stretch of the imagination. But certainly an amount worthy of my wanting to receive, and pay attention to.

The troubling part for me is that the CEO and president of the site regularly post articles. The CEO tends to do this more frequently than the president. They like to write about new features, and other developments for Bubblews members to enjoy. They write about inspiration, vision, and what Bubblews wants to be. But they never speak about missing payments, or on the fact that right now there are hundreds, if not thousands of members who have redemptions outstanding for well more than 30 days. Some have claimed to be waiting for nearly two months with no communication whatsoever from Bubblews about where their payments are. Or if they will be paid at all.

A site like Bubblews, which wants to change the face of social media, and have any prospect for a strong future need to be extremely engaged in the one thing that truly separates them from the competition.

That they pay their members.

When they do not, or when they do not pay in a timely fashion, and do not pay in accordance with their own parameters set by them in the Learning Center of their own site, this erases their niche. It makes their claim moot.

Worse, it causes members like me to speculate about where payments are. It causes members to make potentially false accusations. It causes members to write outside of Bubblews, and add to the throngs of negative press that overload any information someone might pull up on Bubblews while surfing the Internet. It causes members to question the integrity and legitimacy of the Bubblews website. It causes members to speculate on the integrity of the president and CEO of Bubblews, and it simply makes Bubblews look bad.

Whether the perceptions are true or not, Bubblews cannot escape the speculation if they continue to contribute to it directly.