How long does it take to get a blue star in Helium?
By estherlou
@estherlou (5015)
United States
February 18, 2008 2:18am CST
I've been on helium for a little over 2 months. I've submitted 62 articles, most of it poetry. I've never been taught, so writing an article is harder for me. As with anything, some of my stuff is better than others. I have 3 yellow stars for rating, but have no blue stars yet. How long does it usually take for your articles to rotate through the "system" and get read and hopefully rise in the ratings? How long did it take some of you guys to get a blue star? I never joined for the money, and have been having great fun trying to write, but it would be nice if I could earn a blue star. Any pointers? If you want to read any of my stuff, you can do a search for EstherLou and find me. I'd love to read some of your stuff also, so tell me your name on helium if you want. Thanks for any tips!
2 people like this
7 responses
@Sillychick (3275)
• United States
18 Feb 08
To have a star at Helium your articles have to rank, on average, in the top quarter. The worst 10% don't count. With 62 articles, you have the potential to earn 3 stars if they are ranked high.
What you need to do if you want to earn stars is leapfrog your lowest ranked articles. Post a couple in the members' feedback forum and ask for feedback, or post them here for tips to improve them. After a leapfrog is accepted, the article will be rerated and hopefully rise in the ranks.
You could also post some new articles to title groups with few articles already in them. Rate as often as you can, since that seems to keep articles moving through the ranks a little quicker.
My profile has a link to my Helium articles if you are interested in reading any of them. I'm always open to comments.
1 person likes this
@estherlou (5015)
• United States
18 Feb 08
I think my problem is, almost all of my stuff is poetry. I don't know how to write articles, or can't seem to come up with enough to say about a subject to make a good article. And I like trying to write poetry. I've recently decided perhaps I can write some restaurant reviews or food reviews as well as movie reviews. We rent movies every week and when I get passionate about one, I can say a lot. LOL. Thanks for the tips. I rate more than I write, so I have 3 yellow stars already. I actually had one blue star one day, but it disappeared before I had time to enjoy it! LOL. That's when I got all excited about having a blue star and ever since then, it has been quite elusive! Thanks for the link to your stuff. I'll check it out.
@thingywhatsit (77)
• France
19 Feb 08
Hello,
I achieved 5 rating stars in two days by concentrating on rating for the day, and it really is simpler than people think it is.
Getting writing stars in poetry channels takes exceptional poetry as these are really busy channels with loads of different poems, but the way to get writing stars is to write to lesser populated areas and to write about the thing you know about, making your article better and more informative than is there already.
If any of the users that have posted on this thread want help, I am more than willing to help any one of you achieve your stars. Just drop me a line at thingywhatsit51@yahoo.com and I shall help you achieve maximum earnings at Helium, because the potential is amazing once you learn how.
Rachel
@estherlou (5015)
• United States
19 Feb 08
thingywhatsit thanks so much for your offer of help. My biggest problem is trying to write 350 words about something and keep from sounding like I'm grasping to fill it out. I just wrote a movie review of The Game Plan and had to go back and add some more to is, which I felt was more on the embellishment side instead of concise thought. I tend to edit it "down" to make it tight, and then I can't come up with enough words. Also, poetry is easier for me right now. It's good to know the more you rate, the more your stuff will rotate through the system. I already have 3 stars for rating, though, and I guess I'm mediocre in my submissions. Oh well, I'm having fun learning and doing, but was really hoping by April to get that one blue star! LOL.
@PearlGrace (3171)
• United States
19 Feb 08
Hi estherlou.
I joined Helium on August 1st and have never had a blue (writing) star. I was advised to use leapfrogs to re-write some of my articles so that I would get higher ratings on them. This seems to work as all of them I've re-written now have higher ratings.
However, I was told by one of the Site Stewards that, in order to get 1 blue star--of my top-rated 90% articles, 51% of them must be rated in the upper 25%. Alas, I'm not even close to that. But I will keep trying and I hope you will also.
I think that the time you spend rating determines how often your own articles are put out there to be rated. Thus, this increases your money and hopefully will increase and raise your ratings, too. I noticed that when I rated everyday for 30 to 45 minutes, my money increased at a quicker rate. Then, when I took a trip for 6 days and didn't rate, my earnings really slowed down.
Hope this helps. I write at Helium under another name, Rita Chaney. Happy writing!
PearlGrace
@estherlou (5015)
• United States
19 Feb 08
I'm checking out your profile as I type and will be reading some of your stuff. Thanks! The first thing I noticed, is you invited 11 people! Wow! I don't even know anyone else who is interested in writing. LOL. You've written a lot on a variety of subjects. Since I like poetry, I stopped and read the one on Foget me not. I liked it. That's pretty much how I write...concise, say what you want to say and you're done. That's why I have trouble with articles...don't have enough to say! LOL I was going to leapfrog a couple of my things and they were written before they increased the word count to 350 words and they were too short. I'm not sure I can add to them and still sound good. I'll have to think about it. Thanks and see ya around.
@kuirqs (512)
• Philippines
16 Mar 08
Hi, EstherLou! Thank you for starting this discussion. I have learned from it. I have only been able to access Helium recently even though I've been a member since beta stage. And so I have yet to earn some stars! I looked you up in Helium and found your chocolate recipe to be really delicious sounding. I guess I'll have to try it soon. Your articles on Christianity also provoke some thought. Kindly do search Ninna P in Helium if you have the time, thank you!
I also noticed you loved to write poetry. Have you ever joined a writing community? I've joined an online one and it's a wonderful site. http://www.onestopwriteshop.com It's a site where you can join contests, forums and classes and also have your work critiqued. You can earn virtual money when you critique other's work. Some contests have cash or ribbons as prize. I think you'll really love it there. I hope to see you at the One Stop Write Shop!
@estherlou (5015)
• United States
17 Mar 08
I might check it out. I find though, that I only have so much time. If I spend too much time at mylot, my writing suffers and I spend less time on helium. If I am into writing a lot one week, I spend hardly any time at mylot. I can't see how I could spend more time at another site. I will check out your stuff. Thanks.
@drannhh (15219)
• United States
18 Feb 08
It is hard for me to say because I was writing on Helium before they invented this star thing and I didn't even know I had a staar until a friend mentioned it. I only have one, but it just magically appeared, and was not something that I was actively trying to get. Good luck and thank you for sharing your pen name. Mine is Janet Jenson.
1 person likes this
@elisheva18 (8)
• United States
23 Feb 08
I started at Helium last month and earned my first writing star after I had written four articles. I was pretty surprised to earn a star so quickly and then I was disappointed when the star "disappeared". From what I can gather, you have to rank in the top quarter for at least four articles, but if your rating scores drop below this, you can lose a star just as easily as you earned it. I wrote two more articles and earned my star back when these ranked in the top quarter.
I think that you might want to try writing on topics that don't have more than 20 articles, try some of the debates and write about what you know. I don't know how poetrty gets rated but I imagine it is very competitive and highly subjective.
Keep writing, but branch out into other areas to see if that helps. Good luck!
