Helium.com Deletes Accurate Articles Despite High User Ratings and Relevant Content

Helium Administrators Undermine Helium's Egalitarian Article Evaluation Process

Craig Kohler, Yahoo! Contributor Network
May 14, 2007 "Share your voice on Yahoo! websites. Start Here."

Helium.com has been actively removing questions and answers that address valid issues and contain accurate and informative content. Specifically, Helium.com administrators have deleted numerous submissions that pertain to the Helium website as well as its contents, producers, payment structure and typical per-article payout. This not only undermines Helium's own rating system, it denies content producers earnings from articles that are (in some cases) ranked highly by site users and contain valuable information about the site itself.

All of these deletions have been executed without warning or explanation. This systematic censorship has taken place despite the fact that Helium is a user-driven site for writers that claims to celebrate multiple viewpoints. The site supposedly defers to its users except in cases of plagiarism or offensive material, and largely relies on its writers to rate Helium content. Helium.com also claims that all articles are of value to the site and can earn people money indefinitely. Apparently, these claims do not always apply to articles that point out negative or problematic aspects of Helium.com.

This article provides key examples of censored questions and answers to illustrate this remarkable phenomenon as well as speculation as to the motives of Helium.com administrators who have made a practice of censoring writers on their site. A fully quoted question and answer pair (written by this article's author) and further references and sources are provided at the conclusion of this article.

Censored Questions: Even seemingly innocuous questions that could negatively impact Helium's image have been removed entirely in some cases. In other cases, every one of the answers to a given question was deleted. Some of these questions had over 50 answers. One such question asked: "What am I doing wrong - not getting hits?" This seems to be an honest inquiry about how to improve page views. Still, it was deleted, perhaps because Helium administrators don't want potential new users to know how hard it is to get page views.

Helium also found it necessary to delete all answers to: "Why a long answer isn't always a good answer." Many of the answers to that question were intelligent and insightful, discussing the fact that some questions simply call for a shorter answer than others. Helium.com seems to want to discourage people from writing short articles in order to boost the quantity of Helium content, even at the expense of its quality. Perhaps the most revealing deleted question in this collection is: "Can some Helium members use a dose of intellectual honesty?" If the answer were no, then it seems that the question wouldn't be threatening enough to remove entirely. Conversely, if the question received any yes answers Helium administrators would have presumably allowed those to remain.

Most answers to "What will you do to celebrate when you get your first $25 from Helium?" were upbeat and positive about the site, but all of them were also expunged. Perhaps the sheer number of answers was worrisome to Helium, because they each submission represented a user who hadn't yet reached the minimum payout threshold. Finally, a question asking: "Are there any websites similar to Helium?" had all answers removed, despite 40 (most helpful) articles submitted in response. It seems clear that Helium.com isn't interested in writers expressing themselves or developing their skills elsewhere. It also seems a none-to-subtle attempt by Helium.com to protect the website's bottom line at the expense of free information. Ironically, this specific information was particularly relevant to those most dedicated to and interested in Helium.com: writers.

Censored Answers: The following are merely a few of many answers that Helium.com has deleted only recently on various Helium-related subjects, in some cases despite their (perhaps too truthful) claims. Answers to the question "Is Helium a fraud?" that recommended doing searches for information on the subject outside of Helium.com were deleted. Another answer that suggested some writers on Helium.com get away with plagiarism was likewise censored. Even a well-intentioned article that supported more editorial oversight (to reduce the amount of poor content) on Helium.com was removed. Still other articles that showed rough hourly calculations of average per-article earnings were expunged from the system, though they represented researched and informed responses based on a cross-section of other user testimonials. Obvious (though admittedly obviously negative) answers to questions about getting rich on Helium haven't traditionally survived survive long. This seems strange, given that no one has claimed to become wealthy by writing for Helium.com and that most articles earn only a few cents.

High-Ranked Deleted Answer: Even some articles that contain accurate content and are ranked highly by users are deleted. The following article was rated (by Helium.com writers) number 1 of the 10 responses to the subject in question before it was removed. In other words, the answer was vetted by numerous Helium.com contributors, deemed to be the most accurate and informative response to the question, and yet it was still removed by administrators:

Question: Do I really get paid for submitting a question or answer in here?

Answer: Only if you stick with the site long enough to reach the minimum payout! Look around in the forums and at Helium-related answers and you'll find countless contributors who have spent many months and many hours per month working to reach the bare minimum payout: $25. Many other authors simply give up before reaching that level because it simply takes too long. So, yes, in theory you could be paid for submitting an answer, but in practice many people aren't because they never reach the $25 level!

All of the above answer information is true and reflects common knowledge amongst veteran Helium.com writers. There are many posts in the Helium.com forums from people who have indeed been using Helium.com regularly for months but have not made the $25 required to be paid for their efforts. They also contain personal stories of people who have left before earning $25. So, the answer contained valuable information, and was ranked highest by users out of all answers in the category. Moreover, many other answers were deleted to that same question. Most or all of these answers were not plagiarized, offensive or otherwise in violation of Helium's Terms of Service and yet they were all deleted without warning or explanation. Visit the following site for a complete listing of both questions and articles discussed in this article that have been deleted from Helium.com without explanation. This site also contains a variety of other articles related to Helium.com and associated scandals.

Published by Craig Kohler

Nothing to see here folks. Move along, move along. View profile

Helium.com Get Paid for Your Art...

Helium.com Deletes Accurate Articles Despite High User Ratings and Relevant Content

Helium Administrators Undermine Helium's Egalitarian Article Evaluation Process

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