I'm grateful to Steve Johnson for introducing this to me. If you're interested in getting free backlinks, I think you'll find it interesting. http://qassia.com The site is still in "Private Beta", as they call it, but has already hit 12,000+ members. It defies direct categorization.. Is it article marketing? It is blogging? A bit of both, I think. There are many imaginative and creative features that are worth looking at, including:

• Its viral-incentivised approach to getting new members
• The fact that YOU get the Adsense revenue from displays of your posts
• Its member-based quality assurance
• The simple rules that help minimise abuse of the rating system
• Strong competitive element for getting more exposure

The purpose of anyone being active there is pretty blantantly to get backlinks. Provided Google doesn't impose a penalty on the site, this has very good potential. I think (but am not sure), that there is an advantage to getting in early and clocking up your Q$ account before too many people get too wealthy. The $100 - $500 per referall? That's what you get for referring others to sign up. It's not real $s. It's Q$s. And the only reason to get Q$ is to get better ranking. Overall, I like the site and the ideas behind it. If you want to join, you need a member to refer you. Use this link: Alex's Page on Qassia.com

I've just spent a whole day downloading "free stuff" from one of those "Giveaways". Free? Absolutely not! If you factor in the value of my time, those downloads were pretty expensive. Now comes the burning question? What am I going to do with it? Well, in the immediate future - nothing - but I will want to go back later and use some of the content. But the reality is... It's 99% certain I will never use any of that content, and I will have wasted a complete day... because I'll never be able to find it again!

"But Alex - you've got the IM Index Mind Map! Why don't you file it all away in the right places so you'll be able to access it again?"

The truth? I've spend a day downloaing that stuff (and fighting off One Time Offers, and list sign-ups and confirmation page sales pitches etc.etc.), and I really don't want to double the cost of those downloads by spending another day sorting it all out. Actually - I went through that exercise as an experiment: and it was a very successful experiement. I've proved to myself without a shadow of a doubt that the only way to bring sanity into the crazy world of IM downloads is for people to use DAO Installers! By downloading and running 34 DAO Installers (one from each supplier), I would have completed all my downloading in 2-3 hours AND have everything filed away with a record of the location of every file. Compare that with 2 days' work and a dead brain at the end of it! We NEED DAO Installers! So I guess I should stop writing and continue developing! Regards Alex