Newsvine - The Least User Friendly Site I Have Ever Used

I am not a dumb woman. I consider myself reasonably smart and computer savvy. I make websites for other people and while they are not super slick high graphic sites, they are still good websites that are easy to navigate and always work. I think I have been on the Internet since its inception, which pretty much gives away the fact that I am old.

So why can't I figure out how to use Newsvine? And am I the only person that finds this site NOT user friendly? For example just trying to find my daughter's articles is a major undertaking. I have her as a contact and it still takes me forever to find and read her articles. And what is gives with the whole voting thing? Sometimes I can vote a 4 and sometimes I can only vote a 1. Is there a method to the madness?

And seeding articles! I have completely given up on this. Once I seed them I can never find them again. They seem to be like socks in the dryer. You know you put them there, and then you open the dryer and they have disappeared never to be found again. My listing by my name says I have 2 seeded articles, yet when I go to find them I arrive at a blank page. I have given up hope that I will ever obtain more then the one poor sad leaf on my vine.

I can't remember how long ago I signed up on Newsvine, but I'm guessing it's been close to 8 months. And I still have no idea how this site works or how to navigate it. Even with my smart daughter's help it is hopeless. Since smart daughter is an avid Newsvine junkie, you would think I could get a little support and help. When I beg for help, she quickly gets irritated with me followed by "I cant believe you don't understand this!" My account shows I have a whopping 0.28 cents in it and I have no idea why I got paid or what it was for. Maybe it's payment for my persistence in coming back and trying to figure out how this site works? No that can't be it. Because if it was, I am way underpaid for my time and effort in trying to navigate the almighty Newsvine.

And while I'm on the topic of navigation whose idea was it to put the tiny links in little white lettering on black backgrounds? Yes I am old, but I am not yet vision impaired enough to need bifocals except when I log on Newsvine. Years ago when the Internet was first invented there were two color rules. Never use white or yellow for text colors. I think even all these years later it's a good basic Internet rule.

I recently signed up with another similar website that pays you to submit articles. Within 15 minutes I had signed up. Within one hour I had written and submitted my first article. Within 24 hours they had made me a money offer and accepted the article for publication. I felt so much better after signing up with this site as I had thought after all this time trying to figure out Newsvine, that I was hopeless and had lost my Internet touch.

Now I am going to try and publish this and see if it work's. Hopefully none of smart daughter's buddies (or my daughter) on here will hunt me down and burn me at the stake.

Update: I thought I published this and of course I didn't. Yet another Newsvine blunder for me. I am going to try one more time to publish my first Newsvine article. If it doesn't work this time I am going to just crawl back under my rock and try to placate myself with the knowledge that I can navigate almost every other site on the internet. Just not this one!

Back To Top