I am not the admin of the program.


http://scour.com



Q: What's the point of voting?

Voting is a huge deal; it's the most important facet about Scour.com. We pull results from the top 3 search engines, but thrive on feedback to make the results relevant. After enough votes on results, the search result can rise or fall in ranking which will make listings across all the engines more relevant on Scour. Your feedback will help millions across the net the next time the same keyword is searched for.
Q: How do you decide what ranks highest?

We briefly cover this in the about page - But to simplify, we take the results from the 3 major search engines, (Google, Yahoo, MSN) Taking into account their current rankings. We then weight them against our own database to see what our users have said about where positions should be, and apply that weight to the results. Sometimes users have their own custom algorithm, and in that case you choose how to rank the results, not us.
Q: What are the Scour community guidelines?

The community guidelines were designed to help you follow simple rules so that you can accumulate points and enjoy Scour.

Below is a summary of the Scour community guidelines, but we recommend you visit them for yourself for more detailed descriptions:

Things we Encourage: Positive community participation, Good Samaritans, Clear and detailed comments.

Things we Do Not Allow:

* (a) Negative behavior or inappropriate language (b) Members who use SCOUR for personal or financial gain (c) Members who use SCOUR as an instant messaging service (d) Members who break local or federal laws while using SCOUR (e) Malicious members (f) Members who try to cheat the rewards system (g) Members who break their local laws.

Q: I have been banned, Now what?

If you have been banned it is because you have violated one of the following usage guidelines: 1)Invalid searches 2)Comment abuse 3)Multiple accounts 4)Point abuse 5)Abuse Promotion.

If you have received one of the banning emails above, we recommend you start a new account and try again. This time though, please try to follow our community guidelines and Scour Community Guidelines.
Q: How do I change my personal email address?

At the moment we do not allow for users to change their personal email addresses. We will keep you posted when we add this feature.
Q: How do I request my new Password?

To request a new password, go to the login page. Type in the email address associated with your Scour account and click on retrieve password. You will shortly receive an email with instructions on how to change your password.
Q: Why does Scour give away cash for searching?

We feel that showing you the ranks from the top 3 engines for each search result in conjunction with user feedback is an excellent solution for searchers everywhere. We are so confident that everyone will feel the same, we are offering rewards to users who use Scour and for referring their friends as well. We just think it's a good idea to share with those who help build our social search community.
Q: Is this the same Scour.com that was previously the Scour P2P file sharing network?

Nope, this is a completely different site, just the same name.
Q: Are there guidelines for what is considered abuse?

To ensure the validity and value of user contributions, the following actions are considered invalid and are grounds for account termination:

1. Invalid searches
2. Comment abuse
3. Email invite Spam
4. Multiple accounts
5. Abuse Promotion

For more information, please visit our Invalid Usage Guidelines or view our Invalid Usage/Abuse section below.
Q: Why does the searching take a little longer?

Scour results are dynamically generated each time you search. In addition to aggregating the rank results from 3 search engines, we also take Scour user network votes into consideration all in real-time. This causes a slightly longer load time than just using one engine, but it's worth it.
Q: What is OneRiot? What is real time search?

OneRiot is a realtime search engine that “crawls the links people share on Twitter, Digg and other social sharing services and then indexes the content of the pages.” Realtime results allow you to stay informed on the latest results pertaining to your keyword of interest.
Invite Friends:
Q: Can I invite more friends after the initial sign up option?

Of course! Scour wants you to tell your friends. Just go to "My Profile" and click on "Invite Your Friends." This will allow you to invite more friends and if they have not signed up yet with Scour, you will be able to collect 25% of their overall points.
Q: How do I get my personal referral link?

Referral links are pretty simple. Simply copy and past http://scour.com/invite/(your user name) and invite a friend.

The link will automatically give you credit for those who sign up from that your invite url.
Q: Do I need an account or an invite?

Why not? It's free! If you want to reap all the great benefits of using Scour like voting, comments and getting rewarded for everything you do. An account will manage all of this for you and also allow you to connect with other users. If you just want to search occasionally, that's cool too, you don't need an account for that.

As for signing up through an invite, you don't have to. But I am sure that your friend would appreciate it. By signing up through their invite, you will be able to generate more points for them (25% of your overall points).
Reward System:
Q: How do I earn money?

Each registered user earns points for each search, vote and comment they do for each keyword searched. When you've earned enough points you can redeem them and get a visa gift card or paypal money transfer for out of US users... cool right?
Q: How do I earn points?

You can earn points from your own actions and from inviting friends.

Our revised points schedule for all territories will be as follows:

* 1 = Search
* 1 = Vote
* 1 = Comment

Max amount of points per search = 3

*Points are earned from the first 100 daily searches with a maximum of 300 total points per day.

Remember that for every friend that you invite, you will earn 25% of the points they make! Now that's a good friend!
Q: What is the reward program for my country?

Countries participating in the following rewards program include: Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Spain, U.S., and U.K. :

* 6,500 Rewards Points may be redeemed for a $25.00
* 12,500 Rewards Points may be redeemed for a $50.00
* 25,000 Rewards Points may be redeemed for a $100.00

Countries not listed above are still eligible to participate in the following rewards schedule:

* 50,000 Rewards Points may be redeemed for = $5

We want to assure you that our goal first and foremost at Scour is to build a superior search experience through global community participation and secondly share our success by rewarding the users for their contributions. We understand that these revisions will be an inconvenience to some, and appreciate your patience. As we continue to grow and fortify our technology, we are confident that we will be able to offer an expanded rewards system in the near future.
Q: What is the daily cap for points?

Out of the cap of 300 points per day, you may earn points from your first 100 daily searches. There is no cap on community contributions.
Q: How many points can I earn per search?

You can earn up to 3 points per search through any combination of actions. Repeat searches in the same day will not count for additional points.
Q: If I cap my points in one search, can I still vote and comment?

Sure, there is no limit as to how many votes and comments you can do per search.
Q: I have done searches but there are no changes in my total points, why?

This could be a result of a few things:

1. You need to be signed into Scour for us to be able to track your searches, votes and comments.
2. You have maxed out your total points per search: 3 max points/search
3. You have maxed out your 100 search opportunities for points for the day.
4. You have maxed out your total points per search or for the day: 300 max daily points
5. We have not yet refreshed your points.

Q: Why did my points total decrease?

We often conduct manual reviews to ensure quality contributions across our network. During this process we may delete inappropriate comments or ban abusers that may be within your friends' network. When reaching the "Cash Out" stage - your activity and friends points will require review to ensure that they are legitimate - while this process can drop your points below "Cash Out" level, this is to ensure quality participation across the Scour community.
Q: Can't people abuse the system?

You can try, but Scour has several checking systems and algorithms in place to spot and block those who wish to abuse our feedback or points system. BUT since nobody is perfect, if you notice of a way around our system that you think we have not addressed, please let us know, it will be your good deed for the day!
Invalid Usage/Abuse
Q: What qualifies as invalid usage or abuse?
Invalid Scour Usage Guidelines

To help ensure that user activity is valid and of value to the Scour community, below is a list of excessive behaviors and activities that may result in a reduction of points or a user's account being banned:
Searching:

* Searches of invalid characters:
o Example: asdfadfadsfsadfadslkal;kjfdlakjfdalsjfa, $@#%&^%^
* Suspicious non-human search patterns: Searches conducted by an automated script
o Example: X5648, X5647, X5646, X5645, X5644
* Repeated searches
o Example: a, ab, abc, abc1
* Spam Searches: Excessive one word searches that do not exhibit normal user behavior.
o Example: dog, park, vote, starks, green, sand, box, filled
* Erratic Searches: Excessive unrelated searches within very short period of times.
o Example: Dog, **** ****** TV, Einstein, newyek, repsev, newyork,...

Commenting:

* Excessive amount of short non-descript comments.
o Example: great, i like it, cool, fun etc...
* Repeated comments
o Example: recommended site, recommended site!, I recommend this site
* Invalid words within comments
o Example: asdfadfadsfsadfadslkal;kjfdlakjfdalsjfa, $@#%&^%^
* Vulgar comments: Profanity or offensive content.
* Self promotion: Excessive promotional statements about your own site.

Promotional efforts

* Instructing others on how to game the Scour rewards system (Youtube videos, blog posts etc...)

Email Invites:

* Emails sent to users who you have never had any previous interaction with.
* Emails that cause multiple spam complaints from users.

No Self Invited Accounts or Multiple Accounts Under A Single User

Notes:

* Any banned account within your friend network will deduct points earned from that friend.
* Please do not violate the rewards system. It is something we are trying to offer to you as an incentive. Don't abuse it.

By working together we can build a better search experience and you will be rewarded for doing what you do already - Search.
Q: What can happen if I violate the Guidelines of Invalid usage?

If there is activity that we feel is invalid we reserve the right to deduct to points or ban your account.
Q: But I search for the same thing several times a day, is this considered abuse?

We will not ban your account for searching for the same thing throughout the day. This only applies to search abuse by searching for the same term with slight variations like: search1, search2, search3, search4, etc...
"Cash Out" Requests:
Q: I requested "Cash Out" and have not heard back yet

At the moment, the "Cash Out" process takes 2-4 weeks once your request is received. Once we verify the validity your account, we will confirm your mailing / paypal information and proceed to process payment your reward.
Q: I requested "Cash Out" and received an email stating I was banned, why?

If you received an email stating that you were banned from Scour, it means that during our "Cash Out" review process, we noticed a great deal of invalid activity on your Scour profile. Please read our Invalid Usage Guidelines for more information.
Q: I requested "Cash Out" and then received an email stating that my points were reduced, why?

If you received a deduction of points after cashing out, it means that during our review process, we noticed some invalid activity on either your Scour account or that of your friends. If your friends are banned, it will cause your points to decrease since they are no longer part of your friend's network.
Technical:
Q: Isn't this entire system vulnerable to search result manipulation?

The way Scour was built, it's impervious to manipulation. Because of the social aspect, if people aren't finding the results they want, those negative results will have a negative score, and will disappear after time. We also have several systems in place to monitor for bots and exploits which might try and influence any rank. Additionally, as a user becomes a trusted searcher, his click weight will grow.
Q: Can you add support for search engine x, or add a bookmark feature for site x?

Coming soon - widgets and plug-ins will be available to be developed. You will be able to do anything and everything to determine your results.
Q: How do I replace the URL Bar in Firefox to search with Scour instead of Google?

1. Type about:config in Firefox location bar and press Enter
2. Type keyword in Filter textbox and you will see only the preference keyword.URL.
3. Double-click on keyword.URL and change the value to: http://scour.com/search/web/.

Q: How do I replace the URL Bar in Google Chrome to search with Scour instead of Google?

1. Right-click on the Google Chrome location bar and select 'Edit search engines...'
2. Click the 'Add' button.
3. In the 'Name' field, type Scour
4. In the 'Keyword' field, type scour.com
5. In the 'Keyword' field, type scour.com
6. In the 'URL' field, type http://scour.com/search/web/%s
7. Click OK.
8. Select 'Scour' under 'Other search engines'
9. Click the 'Make Default' button.
10. Click 'Close'.

Q: How do I set the Search bar in Opera to search with Scour?

Firstly, if you cannot see the Search bar or Address bar, you must do the following:

* Click 'Tools' in the menu bar at the top of the window.
* Select 'Appearance...'
* In the Appearances window, select the 'Toolbars' tab
* Make sure that the Address Bar option is checked

When you can see the Search bar:

1. Click 'Tools' in the menu bar at the top of the window.
2. Select 'Preferences...'
3. In the Preferences window, select the 'Search' tab
4. Click the 'Add' button
5. In the 'Name' field, type Scour
6. In the 'Keyword' field, type scour.com
7. In the 'URL' field, type http://scour.com/search/web/%s
8. Check the 'Use as default search engine' box
9. Click OK
10. Click OK in the Preferences window

Deleting Your Account

Looking to delete your account? No problem. Click here or log in and go to the "Settings" tab. Once you are there, press "Delete My Account". Follow the steps here and soon after, you will receive a confirmation email that will ask you to confirm your account deletion by clicking on the link. Once that is complete your account will be deleted. You can always re-join at a later date.
Toolbar:
Q: How do I not use scour for my 404 page?

In Firefox...
On the Scour toolbar, open the options menu by clicking on the arrow beside the Scour logo. Click toolbar settings, and uncheck "404 Error." Click "Save." You're done!

In Internet Explorer...
On the Scour toolbar, open the options menu by clicking on the arrow beside the Scour logo. Click toolbar settings, and uncheck "404 Error." Click "OK" and you're done.
Q: How do I uninstall the Scour toolbar properly?

In Firefox...
On the Scour toolbar, open the options menu by clicking on the arrow beside the Scour logo. Click toolbar settings, and uncheck "404 Error" and "Address Search bar Error." Click "Save." Then go back to the toolbar options menu and select "Uninstall Toolbar." Follow the uninstallation process and restart Firefox.

In Internet Explorer...
On the Scour toolbar, open the options menu by clicking on the arrow beside the Scour logo. Click toolbar settings, and uncheck "404 Error," "DNS Error," and Address search bar Error." Click "OK." Then go back to the toolbar options menu and select "Uninstall Toolbar." Follow the uninstallation process and restart Internet Explorer.



For more information, visit
http://scour.com

Added for discussion

rajhere


Note:
Please do your DD before investing in any program.