To build on what Gil said:

We're not going to share the exact equations for either LensRank or PayRank because, like Google's PageRank or McDonald's Big Mac Sauce or KFC's Seven Herbs and Spices, it's proprietary information. LensRank and PayRank are our PageRank.

(If either of the fast food examples have already been revealed by a third party but not the company, they're less valid, but not _invalid_ examples. I know that "special sauce" is a variation on Thousand Island dressing. I also know that McDonald's doesn't fully disclose the ingredients of what it terms its Big Mac Sauce.)

We _will_ tell you in general what LensRank and PayRank draw on -- and give you ideas on how to improve both. We do that all the time right here in SquidU, and lensmaster activity indicates that those ideas and insights help lensmasters improve the performance of their lenses.

As a content co-op -- and a business -- we do our best to be as inclusive and transparent as we can possibly can... when there's clear value and benefit to lensmasters, readers and Squidoo as a business.

Sometimes we err on the side of "may" and "likely to" in order to keep our options open -- and to communicate that we reconsider our standing policies based on lensmaster feedback. We aim to interact with you as people and co-conspirators as well as business.

But sometimes, there are inner workings that we can't open up. That means that we won't always share all of the details behind major processes or calculations, and that we make decisions about improvements to the platform based on what's best for most but not all lensmasters, readers -- and the company.

So, in terms of LensRank and PayRank, consider them a trade secret. I appreciate your curiosity -- and understanding!

I made 8 cents on my highest ranked lens - nothing on the others. I didn't sell anything so that was my share of the co-op pot.

In June, one of my lenses sold some amazon stuff - 2-3 books I think - and I made 1.99 on those sales.

So if your plan is to make money, focus on selling things. Make lots of lens and sell lots of stuff.

I made 4 times any previous month, which means I get to pay my utilities this month using Squidoo money.

That's all well and good, but for the 2nd month running, what Squidoo said I earned and what PayPal paid out are different.  Gang, you've GOT to get that bug worked out or I'm going to come to your offices and draft volunteers for demos of stuff relating to my CBT lens.

Mine says I have a couple of bucks "in reserve." It also says my payout is $1. Anybody know what gives?

(Now I can take a bus, Rachel! By the way, I misspoke before. .60 is the one-way fare for kids and disabled. A normal daypass is $2.50 or something.)

Angela

Hi everyone

Here's a mini-update that I hope clears some things up.

So, yeah, Friday was a bit like Friday the 13th for our little team. First the payment bug where some people's hard-earned cash was mistakenly reported as charity. Ugh. Then, for a few hours late last night, a totally baffling lens creation bug. Ugh x 2. Not to mention we have ants in the office. (They got into the cheesecake!).

BUT the GOOD news (yes, there is some) is that:

a) anyone whose money was erroneously paid to charity WILL get paid. we'll send it to you manually by early next week.

b) the lens creation cockroach should now be fixed. one of our contract developers, a great guy named Ben, spent all Saturday morning and got it straightened out.

c) and finally, I'm blown away by how understanding our lensmasters have been about the  payment mix-up. i said it on the statusblog, but i'll say it here too: thanks for hanging in. we're going to great lengths to make sure this doesn't ever happen again.

Last edited by megancasey (08/05/2006 12:25 pm)

Thanks for the updates, Megan and I'll get an email off to your shortly.

Your lenses have generated $1.44 total.

$1.44 has been donated in your name to Squidoo Charity Fund. Great work!

AND again, how many times did I change 'Charity' to 100% cash? I can't recall...

We're also looking into why people's payment settings might not be sticking or staying consistent. Thanks for continuing to work with us on this!

Correction: Payout WAS set to $1. It was back to $10 when I went back to look at it. I suppose I'll get my $2 next month, unless the setting changes back.

Angela

July 2006

Unbelievable amount! as I did very little work due to vacation and beach/sailing time

Paid again! Thank you

Curious  tho" my other user accounts all seem to have earned $14.09 each, is this the adsense share?

Cheers
Jeff

squidoo_engineer wrote:

PayRank is a scale we use to determine how to distribute AdSense earnings. We have a formula which factors in the average LensRank and traffic for all of a lensmaster's lenses, then compares that to other lensmasters. Then, the earnings are distributed based on that scale.

Gil

If I maintain two seperate lensmaster logins, will that negatively affect my PayRank? Will I get paid less as two people than I could receive as one?

megancasey wrote:

Hi everyone

Here's a mini-update that I hope clears some things up.

So, yeah, Friday was a bit like Friday the 13th for our little team. First the payment bug where some people's hard-earned cash was mistakenly reported as charity. Ugh. Then, for a few hours late last night, a totally baffling lens creation bug. Ugh x 2. Not to mention we have ants in the office. (They got into the cheesecake!).

BUT the GOOD news (yes, there is some) is that:

a) anyone whose money was erroneously paid to charity WILL get paid. we'll send it to you manually by early next week.

b) the lens creation cockroach should now be fixed. one of our contract developers, a great guy named Ben, spent all Saturday morning and got it straightened out.

c) and finally, I'm blown away by how understanding our lensmasters have been about the  payment mix-up. i said it on the statusblog, but i'll say it here too: thanks for hanging in. we're going to great lengths to make sure this doesn't ever happen again.

So, did you every get the ant infestation taken care of?  Just curious.